Stray Flower

I discovered this gem in my backyard. It's a single red tulip, standing tall against my fence and rooted in the grass . I did not plant her. She just wandered into my yard and woke up this week. I snapped a photo and then played around in Photoshop. I used a watercolor filter on the background, leaving the tulip as it is. 

I'm thinking of framing this and hanging it in my trailer. It caught my eye and it makes me smile whenever I glance at the photo. Spring is shyly waking things up, even with the unexpected snow we had a week ago! I can't wait for my lilacs and cone flowers to bloom in the front yard. It will be a nice change from the dandelions that my neighbor so generously shared as he doesn't believe in getting rid of them. I can't complain too much because he is such a help when it comes to house and car maintenance that I can't tackle by myself...

Mad Tea Party

 

I have two pages left in my newest Art Journal!! I've been doodling away and have finally completed the journal. Lucky me, I have a brand new one red-hot and ready for me. Meanwhile, I wanted to feature this Zen Doodle which was inspired by Alice in Wonderland. I saw something like this on Pinterest and wanted to try my hand at my own magical teapot.

I freehand drew the whole pge before coloring it with Copics markers. Doesn't it look sweet?! Makes me want a cuppa...

The Girls' Night Out Invitation

 

Yesterday I posted a card for my sister's birthday. My other sister and I have been prepping her for a surprise overnight...somewhere where we've never been to. Kathy sent her a card she made with a 2-verse poem about the overnight, without adding a lot of detail.

Mine is going out next week and I took photos of the cover and the inside. I used more of the same paper from yesterday's birthday card along with the butterfly stickers. The font I used was Comic Sans Regular.

While the front of the card says, "On your mark, Get set..." you won't find the word GO anywhere. That's because our birthday girl wants to be completely surprised by our surprise, so she won't get into the GO portion of the trip until we arrive at our hotel! And don't worry, she doesn't use Blogger (her loss) so she won't get a sneak peek from me and mine!!

Another Trip Around the Sun

 

This is my birthday card for my youngest sister. Her birthday is early in May, and I wanted a playful tone to it. It's a milestone birthday so I think she'll love the humor. The actual greeting is one I found on Pinterest. I put it into my "Words" board, where I save the funniest, punniest, most affirmative, positive sayings, quotes and greetings.

This is a 6x6 inch easel card. I love making these because it gives impact when there is an opening line and a closing line. The first photo is with the card closed-what would be pulled out of the envelope. The 2nd photo is open and standing up. That's why you see the words "Did you know that" twice. I pulled out butterfly stickers from my folder to decorate the card and some designer paper I had left over from a previous project for the base. I used a Posca marker for the words. I have a stash of letter tiles and Scrabble tiles that I was able to use on the inside.  

I remember when my mom came home from the hospital with my new baby sister. I ran home once the dismissal bell rang. There she was, in my mom's arms, a little blondie. It's great that she and I have a supportive, meaningful relationship. We live in the same town and often get together for weekend grocery shopping.

My other sister lives in Germany. She's coming in to visit during the birthday weekend and we're surprising my youngest sister with an overnight to a location we've all never been to. I made homemade strawberry schnapps for us to toast to. It's going to be awesome...

Challenges I am Entering:

Beyond the Blue - Birthday card 

Crafty Catz - Anything Goes w/optional twist: Celebration

Seize the Birthday - Anything Goes w/option: Alcohol (markers or liquid)

Through the Purple Haze - Anything Goes

I Find This Piece of Art Very Mooo-ving

It was a good day at my local thrift store. First, everything in the store was half-priced. Second, I kept finding items I wanted to paint or change in some way. Third, they even gave me my veteran's discount on top of the half-off price!

One of the treasures I found that tickled my Muse was this ceramic cookie jar. It was just your standard white and black calf, with various scuffs and dirty as all get-out. So I took her home with me and we've become very good friends. Her name is Elsie, after a (very) old ad gimmick for Borden Milk products. According to Wikipedia, "Elsie the Cow is a cartoon cow developed as a mascot for the Borden Dairy Company in 1936 to symbolize the perfect dairy product...the character has continued to be used in the same capacity for the company's partial successors, Eagle Family Foods (owned by J.M. Smucker) and Borden Dairy.

I cleaned her up before pulling out my acrylic paints. After several coats of different colors, I decided to make her a purple cow. Have you ever heard of the Purple Cow? It's a short little poem written in 1895 by  Gelett Burgess: 

"I never saw a Purple Cow,

I never hope to see one;

But I can tell you, anyhow,

I'd rather see than be one.^["

⁽ "The Purple Cow". Poetry Archive. Retrieved 26 March 2013.)

I added patches of different colors and gave each patch "stitches" to give her a country vibe. I covered her with gloss varnish so her new paint job won't get scuffed. Her back end comes off so you can stash cookies inside. I hope you enjoyed the history and poetry lesson for today. LOL

Challenges I am Entering:

Dream Valley - Four-legged friends

Challenge Up your Life - Cute ANimals

Crafty Animals - AG w/an animal

Critter Crazy - AG w/a featured animal

Path of Positivity - AG or twist: Inspired by literature (purple cow poem)

Here Comes the Sun (sing it with me)

I found a terracotta smiling sun the other day at Goodwill that needed a redo badly. It took me a while just to clean the thing, and then discovered that it just needed a paint job. I think I painted this piece three times, using different colors and combos of colors, but i didn't like any of them!

Then I remembered I had some acrylic paint that was "ready to pour". I decided to try my hand at fluid acrylic painting with this sun instead of a canvas, and I like the way it turned out. I added a border of tiny shaped sequins in a subtle color. Now all I have to do is put a final coat of varnish on him to seal the sequins and I'm satisfied with the outcome.

I paid almost a whole dollar for him and can't wait to hang him up in my house. I find some amazing items at thrift stores. In fact, I'm meeting my girlfriend next week to one that offers 50% off the whole store on Mondays. Wish me luck!

Challenges I am Entering:

Meow's It Going?!

 Last time a attended thrift therapy, I picked up a lightweight, carved wooden cat. She was pretty beat up, but I saw her inner beauty so I paid the dollar and took her home with me. After several color changes, I ended up with a medium pink. I used cotton swabs dipped in various colors of paint to give it a general flowery coat. I recolored the eyes and tail as well. She now poses gracefully in my living room window. I used both acrylic paint as well as Posca paint markers.

Thrift therapy is what I call it when I have the urge to roam a thrift store. I may not have something particular in mind while shopping. I may not even buy anything. But it is perfect for destressing. I just need to remember that when I do find something to upcycle or paint, that I take a photo of the item BEFORE I change it! LOL

Architecture Can Be Inspiring

 

There's a saying that "Idle hands are the devil's work." If you look at my art journal, you will not see any "idle hands" LOL When I sit down to relax, my hands automatically reach for my black gel pen. Sometimes it takes a couple days to finish a page, but I always finish my doodles.

I decided to break the page into parts to give me more freedom to create different doodles. I like the architectural look I achieved. I hope you do too!

More Spring Door Decor

 I created a second Spring hanger, this time using fishing wire and sea glass only. It was a lot quicker to put together, but needed extra time for the E6000 glue to dry. I'm not liking the pearls on top of the stick, so will take them off before selling this at the craft fair.  I think I will be very busy for the next 2 months. I'm so glad I retired...

Looking forward to Rainbows and Butterflies

 

I am never far away from my art journal, so when it rained earlier this week and the sun suddenly burst out, I found a rainbow curving over my neighbor's house (no pot of gold, though). I've been want to create a rainbow in my journal, but all alone it wouldn't look "postable" (as in Blogger).

So I drew out a few butterflies randomly across the page before adding the rainbow. I didn't want the rainbow to take over the world the page, so I drew my favorite way to doodle - drawing lines close together and all in the same direction.

It was very relaxing, taking my mind off the little day-to-day worries and anxieties I may have had. It's one of the best therapies I've discovered so far!!

Happy crafting, y'all!

Challenges I am Entering:

Country View - Things with Wings

Triple B - A/G with Blossoms, Birds and/or Butterflies

Card, Craft & Art - Pastel

Back to Nature with Spring Decor

During Covid, I went a little crazy trying new techniques and media. One of my new hobbies was wired jewelry. I now have a bin full of sea glass, polished stones, seashells, wires, needle-nose pliers, etc. I was just about to give the whole lot away to my niece since I either sold or gifted family members my jewelry.

Until my gf sent me a photo from Pinterest featuring stones, sea glass and shells hanging from a large stick. Since my sister had her tree cut down, I grabbed a thick branch and cut a piece of it off and got to work. Wiring items that have no holes threaded and are oddly-shaped and slippery is a very tedious, time-consuming job. Half my time was spent picking up those slippery stones or rewiring a shell that kept slipping out. My patience was tried, believe me.

But I persevered and managed to finish my first hanging decor using this technique. And I love it!! I'm already planning which stones, glass and shells to use for my next hanger. I may even have to buy a table for the Memorial Day craft fair if I can make enough of these to sell.

I'm glad I kept my supplies...

Challenges I am Entering:

Creative Artiste - Anything Mixed Media Goes

Creative Fingers - Anything Goes

Morgan's Art World - Always Anything Goes

Halloween is My Thing

Took me a little longer than expected, but here's my second Halloween decor item created from the item pictured below.

I created a scary Halloween scene the first time, but wanted to create a more kid-friendly one to sell at the Fall craft fair. Although it was a Christmas calendar, I couldn't utilize to holes and pegs after revamping it. It still turned out well, I think. I painted the triple-layered scene orange this time instead of black. I discovered I had a lot more cute Halloween craft items than I thought. Everything came out of my Halloween craft tub.

I used designer paper, ribbons, adhesive candy corn stickers, buttons, and even a cake topper that read Happy Halloween. You can see the candy corns on the sides of my piece.

Now the big question. The original Christmas pieces sold for $20 at Michael's.. They measure 8"x3"x6" high. I've been accused of underpricing my artwork and need an opinion. The craft fair is at an RV park where I own a trailer. I'm getting a table for the Labor Day weekend. There is a huge Halloween weekend that is open only for owners and their guests. I roughly give away over 200 pieces of candy to trick-or-treaters. There are prizes given to best-decorated trailers, carved pumpkins, costumes, etc. I've won three trophies from the pumpkin carving contests through the years.

The craft fair is close enough for Fall and Christmas holiday items to be popular as well as only available to owners and guests. I got the items on clearance for $2 each. My question is: How much do I sell these decor items? Anyone have any ideas?

Challenges I am Entering:

Arty Divas - A/G

Morgan's Art World - Anything Goes

The Creative Crafters - A/G

Two Old Bats Halloween - Mood Board (I love the pumpkin head)

Worldwide Crafters & Colorists - Anything Goes w/an image

Using Books to Inspire Your Own Creativity

 

Today was a good day. My Muse returned to me in the form of a diorama, or what I like to call a "short-cut shadow box". I didn't have any action figures from the Harry Potter series, so I printed and colored images from Bugaboo Stamps. I found the perfectly-sized box and background paper, and then painted the inside "walls" a matching blue.

The castle was free clipart that I fussy-cut, along with my characters. To give the illusion of distance between my friends and Hogwarts, I used good old Mod Podge (homemade) and small stones. They clumped and stayed together after I placed them against the back of the box.

After posing the kids at different distances from the back to add more dimension, I added florist green moss to look like they're standing against a stone wall in a field. My finishing touch was the full moon with the sentiment, "Believe in Magic" that I printed in Old English Text.

This month, the Path of Positivity Challenge blog challenges us to create something positive, with an optional twist of "Literature". I of course chose the Harry Potter series as it offers readers a look at loyalty, friendship, courage, justice, perseverance and sacrifice for the good of others.

The challenge at POP begins today so get your Muses started and show us what you created. Anything goes as long as it's positive. You can click HERE to enter the challenge. Meanwhile, happy crafting!

Challenges I am Entering:

    We Love2Create- Anything mixed media goes

   Arty Divas - Anything Goes

   Classic Design - Anything Goes

   Morgan's Art World - Anything Goes

   Worldwide Crafters & Colorists - Anything Goes

   Your Scrapbook Place - Anything Goes

A Fruity Doodle to Tickle Your Noodle

 Today I just have a fun Zen doodle. I love puns, riddles and funny memes. I actually drew the pineapple first and then searched Pinterest for a quote that fit both my doodle and my sense of humor. I will say that creating tiny doodles in each segment of the pineapple was challenging, but I think it all came together well.

I love comments. Tell me what you think. Did it makes you smile? If so, I'm happy. A happy crafter is a creative one.