Spilling Things onto Canvas

 Today I felt like drawing, so I took out my trusty gel pen, opened my art journal and drew a tree- a naked tree. Instead of filling in its leaves, I decided to break out the watercolors and gave the tree trunk and its branches a bit of life. It wasn't until I saw the paint dry that whimsy took over and I opened the kitchen cabinets, looking to find some "leaves".

My first find was a container of dried parsley. I tossed some onto my page and fell in love with my new canvas! I was going to move my journal but the way the sun shone through the open blinds onto the pages caught my eye and I was happy to take the photo before sweeping the oregano off the page..

And then I was off on a hunt to find more leaves...my next find came out of a drawer of baking decorations. I thought the stars would be interesting, so...

I love the way it looks. I just wish I could figure out a way to frame each canvas. While walking Honey, my terrier mix rescue, I spied several tiny branches that were similar to full-grown trees. I picked them up for inspiration. Now I will broaden my search for more entertaining ways to create "leaves" for my trees. I'll feature them in another post. Until then, keep crafting!

Challenges I am Entering:

  A Place to Start - Anything but a Card

Art*Journal*Journey - What Makes You Happy

DL.Art - Anything Goes

  Four Seasons - Anything Summer Goes

WeLove2Create - Anything Mixed Media Goes

Sailing at Sunset

Finally had some time to paint, so I created a water color/ocean scene, and decided to give it a mixed media dimension by adding pebbles and sea glass. My framed art is 4x6 because I snagged over a dozen matching wooden frames this size for $1 each.
I tried watercolor crayons this time, and got deeper colors, although I would have preferred a lighter sky. I also picked up a big bag of sea glass, pebbles and those round colored glass "bubbles" for half price from a thrift store. I originally painted the shore a sand color and then adhered sand to it, but the piece needed some sparkle, so I used this crushed shiny glass pieces (don't know what it's called).
I've created about 7 of these pebble/sea glass canvases  so far,and they are hanging above my bed.

Challenges I am Entering:

Mixed Media Academy - Moodboard

Country View - I Do Like to Be beside the Sea
Crafty Friends - Summer Colors

A Vintage Journey- Water colors

Back to Water Colors

I had some time today set aside for creativity, so I pulled out my watercolors and painted 2 pictures. One is shown here, and one  went into the circular file. No all my paintings are good. A few are awesome, but many are tossed. But the more I paint, the better I get comfortable with paint and water and blending and shadows and highlights and dimension. I won't say this has a lot of dimension, but I like the colors and the promise of a warmer season to come.
My daughter and I discovered a Netflix original series called the Greenhouse Academy. There are four seasons and we just started the 2nd one. I hope to finish that 3rd quilt panel while the show is on. Once I get a 4th panel finished, I can seam them and finally hand-sew them all onto the panels that are damaged. I'll make sure to show you the finished project!

Getting Sentimental at Scribbles Designs Challenge Blog

Today's card is my DT make for Scribbles Designs. When I saw this digi image from the Scribbles Designs Store, called #146 Moon & Stars, I knew I wanted to try creating a scene like I've seen online. I took my Copics and a square of white cardstock and started coloring the night sky. When I was happy with it, I flicked white paint onto it for the smaller stars.
I wanted to make the "land" part enough of a different color but still keep the moonlight effect. Once I accomplished that, I drew in the tree silhouettes and added white gel pen for the moonlit branches. Then I could go on to making the sentiment and adding a few embossed stars and a line of pearls for embellishment. And my card is finished!
The optional theme at Scribbles Designs Challenge Blog is to feature a sentiment on your card. That's easy for me, as I almost always add a sentiment or greeting to all my cards. One lucky participant in the challenge will win a gift certificate to the Scribbles Store. What a treat! I love the digis from the Scribbles Store! You will too.

See the Shades of Spring at Scribbles Designs Challenge Blog

Can it be that Spring has finally arrived? Yes! although it has been known to snow in April and even May in Chicago (I never put up my mittens and boots until Memorial Day). Taking advantage of some very nice weather lately, I created a card for my DT make at Scribbles Designs Challenge Blog. Their challenge asks crafters to create in Shades of Spring. Here's a little photo inspiration for you:

As you can see, my colors show up more vividly than the photo, but my lilacs and greens are there, along with the butter yellow. Anyway, I photographed and then printed out one of my water colors for the card's background. I fussy-cut the Scribbles image, called Hatch in Egg, then used dimensional dots to adhere to my background. I finished off my card with a few jeweled butterflies as well as a 3D one.
Scribbles Designs has a huge variety of whimsical images plus quite a few freebies for you to play with. So color up a Scribbles image (or any image) and come join in the challenge for your chance to win free digis from the store!

Challenges I am Entering:

Moving along with the Times - Birds/Feathers

If You Give a Crafter a Cookie - Photo inspiration

Creative Moments - Anything Goes/optional Easter

Stampavie and More - Watercolor background

Chocolate Baroque - Color Inspiration

Somewhere Over the Rainbow at Ike's World Challenge Blog

One more week before the challenge over at Ike's World Challenge Blog ends. It's always Anything Goes with an Optional Twist. This month the Twist is Over the Rainbow. I used an image from Ike's Art called Shhh! on one of my watercolors that I printed out on glossy cardstock.
My sentiment is difficult to read. It is:

"I can only eat Glitter and Rainbows. Darn my sensitive stomach."

Her hair is colored with a mi of Copics, pencils and metallic gel pens. and yes, the bird is part of the card. LOL I snagged 4 of these cute tiny bluebirds from an antique store for a quarter each. Great deal!

You have until Sunday night to link up your project (anything goes) for your chance to win free digis from Ike's Art store. Good luck and happy crafting!!

A Walk in the Woods

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference."

~from Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken

Hello, crafters! Time for another DT project for Ike's World Challenge Blog. The challenge is at its midpoint, and I wanted to lend some inspiration by creating this hybrid card. Between paper-crafting elements and digital magic, My image, Frankinella (a freebie on Ike's World Challenge Blog), decorates the woods with a colorful yet uneasy appearance. I think this time I would want to "take the road much more traveled..." LOL
My background is a recent watercolor I created. It is framed with the Gold textured paper from Christmas Grunge by Decosse's Dynamite Doodles. My leaves and stars are from a collection called "Hello Autumn" from   , and the "campfire" is from   .
Whether you take the road less traveled or heavily traveled, stay out of the woods on Halloween. You never know who (or what) you might meet. Check out the challenge blog for your freebie. Link up your Autumn Colors project and you have a chance to win a gift certificate to Ike's Art.
Challenges I am Entering:
Forever Dark - Anything Dark not cute Goes
Fan-tastic Tuesdays - Anything Goes w/a Twist: Autumn Colors
Tuesday Throwdown - Water Color (my background)
Get Creative challenges - Halloween