Bookmarks in Watercolors

 

 I am an avid reader. This last year I must have set a new record for myself--14 new books!! I found several new authors I like, while stepping out from cozy mysteries into some fantasies. I just finished 2 books last month by Evie Woods, The Lost Bookshop and The Storyteller. Her newest book, The Mysterious Bakery of Rue de Paris, is waiting for me at the local library.

I've been trying to keep my reading down to one book at a time, but I have to admit to temporarily "losing" a book for a while, and starting a new one until I find it. So, bookmarks are important to me. I love printed books--I spend enough time in front of a screen as it is. And because of this, I have blended two past times into one by water coloring bookmarks!

Above are three of my newest bookmarks. The first is a beach scene with baby turtles crawling out to sea. A trip to Hawaii last year (and the photos I took) inspired e to paint these. The second was again inspired by my Hawaiian trip. I had sketched a scene from a lagoon we snorkeled at while my daughter borrowed my mask. It came in handy while I was thinking about the next water color to paint.

The last is a theme I've painted often, one with greenery, water and a moon. I decided to highlight the sunshine with a white Sakura pen to give it more depth, as it was a very small canvas.  Of course, what's a bookmark without a frivolous amount of ribbon sticking out the top of your book?

Something Old, Something New

 

When I was growing up, my Gramma and Mom were always crafting. Gram because she was a frugal German, and my mom because she was a Girl Scout leader for several years. One of their earlier projects was a kitchen shadow box. It was filled with botanicals, uncooked beans and whatever else they could fit into the small cubbies. The beans (Pinto, Navy, Split peas, etc.) were coated in Mod Podge, an up & coming craft supply that quickly became a household name. Sealed behind glass, their boxes  made lovely, homemade decorations for the kitchen. In fact, after Gram passed, I inherited her shadowbox...

...which gave me the inspiration to create a new" shadow basket". Using a shallow basket (maybe it's the top to another container?), I gave it new life by adhering bright, blue tissue paper as a background (with Mod Podge, of course).  I then arranged flower blossoms and petals and blossoms and adhered them into my "garden."

To make it more earthy, I stuffed green moss, into the empty pockets between the flowers. To tweak the scene, I used a small piece of a succulent in the corner, and then added a butterfly to finish off my basket shadow box. It's now hanging on my own kitchen wall. I'd like to give a shout out to my Gram and my mom for passing down their crafting genes. Gram also had the greenest thumb in the county, and Mom wrote poetry as  well as crafting projects for family, Girl Scouts and in her later years, craft fairs. Love you both, miss you with all my heart...

Challenges I am Entering:

Dragonfly Dreams - Butterflies

We Love 2 Create - Anything Craft, Card making & Scrapbooking Mixed Media

Beautiful Blossoms - Anything Florals Goes with Optional Mood Board #29

Morgan's Art World - Anything Goes

The Crafting Challenge - Anything Goes

The Four Seasons - Summer season

A Little Bovine Humor

 

I love a good pun, especially when I create a card. The inside continues the punny theme, as  it reads: "Celebrate 'til the  cows come home".

I colored the cow with a very pale blue, adding yellow for the flower. The DP is all one piece (!), To embellish, I added some black adhesive jewels and part of a black paper border I had left over. Do you like to make square cards? I have a box full of square envies so finding one is no problem. Mailing it, however, takes2 stamps if you don't have any forever stamps left. I don't, so I guess this card will be hand-delivered.

CHALLENGES I AM ENTERING:

THE ITSY BITSY HALLOWEEN SPIDER

 

My Halloween project today features a couple of small wooden signs, wall decor if you like. I found a bag of five thin pieces of wooden boards about 6 inches long, 2.5 inches tall and about a 1/4 inch thick. I used Tim Holtz's Alcohol ink (Rusty Hinge) to stain 2 pieces of wood before adhering felt spider web borders horizontally onto them. From each I added a thin ribbon and attached a black plastic spider.

I used Viner Hand ITC Regular font in Photoshop to make the plaque with the poem. Since I had a bag of these wooden boards, and enough felt border for two, I doubled my project.  When I was finished, If you can't quite read  rhyme, here it is:

The Itsy Bitsy spider was hanging on a thread

When a bird swooped down, she thought she was dead.

The bird missed the spider and sadly flew away

and the Halloween spider lived to spook another day.

Hope you like my newest Halloween project. The Halloween & Other Occasions Challenge Blog accepts all types of projects, as long as its theme is Halloween, Birthday r the monthly occasion. See you there!

 

Happy Friday!

 

Hello, crafters! Today I'm highlighting my second faux stained glass piece of artwork. I placed it on a piece of white paper so it would show up better. I drew this seascape for a coloring book I'm working on and thought it would make nice window decor.

I used my Posca paint markers (I'm so glad I made the decision to by these). Outlining my drawing first, I then used glass paint and glitter glue to fill in the colors. This my second stained glass work I've created. I'm planning on drawing my dog, Honeycomb, and then paint it onto glass and frame it for my daughter. She's the mommy; I'm the grandma. My daughter's birthday is July 4th.

when she was little, I used to tell her that the town had a parade and fireworks to celebrate her birthday. We had a red VW bug at the time and I made big magnetic black circle and placed them on our car for the day. So we drove around in a ladybug car on her birthday. Sometimes pedestrians would wave at us as we drove past. Ah, to be young again!

Always Trying Something New

 

It's another Faux stained glass artwork kind of day. I took out another glass pane that I had taken out of unused frames this year. I took one of my own coloring book drawings I've been working on and placed it under the glass. Then I took out my Posca paint markers and used the black to copy my drawing onto the glass.

Once dry, I carefully colored in the scene I drew. I love the look of my mushrooms. I plan on adhering a length of chain around the glass so that I an hang it in my window. It's pictured on a sheet of white paper so you can see the colors better (no sun today).'

My local library held a craft swap last week. I donated a box of craft supplies and received a "golden ticket", an early admission to look over and pick up any supplies I may like, at no cost. Later this month,  you'll see another new craft I'm trying out. In the meantime, I have one more "stained glass" art piece to show you later this week.

Until then, happy crafting!

One for the Guys Today

 

I used a playing card from a box of assorted, mismatched mini cards I've collected through the years. This one is of Charlie Brown and Snoopy.  I decorated the card to be given to any gender with its browns and blues. I used a punch on a paint chip for the card face, as well as punching my birthday greeting with a circular punch.

The inside reads, "How many fingers are you?" I think that sentiment is hilarious. It could be a card from a child, or a card to a a child, or to someone who has a good sense of humor. I like making funny or punny cards. Anything to give the recipient a smile or a chuckle. How about you?

Starting My Halloween Crafts for the Fall

 

Today I'm showcasing another Halloween card. This one features a Stella image from Bugaboo Stamps. I colored her with Copics and you will notice she has a drink in her hand (potion, drink, what's the difference?). When stopped by W.T.C. (Witch Traffic Control), she calmly tells the officer, "The ghost? He's my designated driver".

My card is a folded in the middle, and I had a difficult time keeping the card closed. I ended up adding a border on the bottom that easily slips off when the card is opened. I lined it up with my card face and the spooky rub-on I used as a background and then colored it in so it would match. I have to say I did a bang up job!

The ghost is one of a mountain of leftovers from Halloween crafts past. It took longer to dig it out than it did to adhere it to the card! I used a digital element from Pixel Scrappers at 50% opacity to frame  my sentiment, tearing the one side of it and inking around the whole thing.

Do you love Halloween? Check out the challenge and all the inspiration every month at Halloween Crafts All Year 'round!

Something New--Stained Glass Dog Portrait

 Ever since COVID, I've promised myself to expand my comfort zone with new techniques and media. Today I tried faux stained glass painting. I pulled out a square shadowbox frame to experiment and I think it went well. This is our rescue dog, Honeycomb, Honey for short. She is a mixed terrier with a longish nose and long legs. When a groom is postponed, her hair starts curling. It is soft and fine and creamy white with areas of tan and brown.

I used my black Posca paint marker for the outlines and any leftover window paint for the rest. I had limited colors so I had to mix the white with the brown. It came out a lot more opaque than I thought it would, but maybe I just have a heavy hand. I had to remember to paint from the "front to the back" since the finished product would be the flip side of where I laid the paint.

I used a left over piece of Recollections scrapbook paper for decoration. My daughter loves it, so I hung it in the living room where she normally sits. It makes both of us smile. So I think I'll try another. 

Since COVID, some of the "new-to-me" art I have dabbled in include embroidery, jewelry wrapping, making earrings, outdoor decor, handmade wind chimes, flower arrangements candle making and novelty pens (with peacock feathers). Some were short-lived hobbies while others have sold or are being displayed in and out of my house and others'.

Have you stepped out of your comfort zone lately? Be brave, be curious...you'll be surprised and feel a little empowered so I would suggest taking a stab at the untried...

 

Another Month, Another Birthday Card

 

I love the sentiment on this card. It's a two-part greeting. And it goes  perfectly with the image I chose. The image is from Lynn Stansberry of Squigglefly. I colored her with Copics and double-framed her. All the papers I used are leftovers from previous projects.

The inside of the card reads: "and on my birthday, you must tell me that I look marvelous!" Isn't this the perfect image?! LOL

CHALLENGES I AM ENTERING:

Can't Get Halloween Out if My Head (and off my craft table)

 

Hello, Halloween lovers! Today I made a square card featuring skeletons. The background paper featuring Mr. Skeleton is from the Dead or Alive Paper collection from Rucola Designs. The Copic-colored skeleton child is from Kenny K Stamps. I haven't bought cardstock in months due to a towering stack leaning precariously in my basement, so all papers are "leftovers".

I framed my card face with lacy die-cuts I made from a scrapbook crop (and I haven't been to one in years!).  It showcases the paper well, I think. After coloring my image, which is called "Skull Man", I fussy-cut him out to place under the outstretched hand of his parent. He's so very anxious to go trick-or-treating like all the little goblins and ghosts.

I had forgotten to print my greeting, so I used my circle punch and wrote on black cardstock with white ink the words Trick or Treat. The only other embellishment I used was the cloth Autumn leaf in the top left corner.

I hope you like my Halloween card today. I am building a nice new stack of cards to send out this year. Unless I find a craft fair before the holiday, and on make a little money (m-wa ha ha). All's fair in love and crafts, right? Don't forget to check out the challenge at Halloween Crafts All Year 'round

CHALLENGES I AM ENTERING:

March Means Spring So Where Is It?

 

No matter, Mother Nature is off her meds anyway. So today I have a birthday card for you. After organizing my finished cards last month, I discovered I was very low on birthday cards. So I pulled out a small baggie from my magical file of stickers and die-cuts and held in my hand a plethora of circles.

I used to frugally make use of every inch of designer paper. If a scrap was big enough, I would bring out my circle punch until the paper looked like a skeleton. I think that was about 6 years ago (at least). Anyway, I decided to make rows of circles to "create" my own designer paper.

I also stamped and embossed several circles with a happy birthday greeting to goon card fronts. Now I have a box of circular greetings and deco's for quite a few cards.  Looks like I'll be filling that box of birthday cards sooner than I thought!

CHALLENGES I AM ENTERING:

Everybody ART - For a Boy/Man

Unicorn - For Boys/Men 

Sharing Another Two-fer Card Today

Last month I offered an easy way to create two cards at once by using the same materials for the card base. Both start with a piece of 8.5"x11", cut in half and folded to make my two cards. While decluttering and organizing my card-making supplies, I found my old crimper and it inspired me to put it back in circulation today. I crimped both card faces and chose a strip of designer paper to add to each, again giving each card a different orientation.

I used an alcohol ink from Tim Holtz to color the grooves left from the crimper, a quick and easy way to add color to any card face. During my decluttering I found a lot of items I had made some years ago and I had thought lost. The shaker box made a home on my new card, as well as a cool Halloween rhyme (and a cute cat rub-on that I did just because he's so cute!)

For my 2nd card, I found an image from Ike's Art called Devil May Care. After coloring him with Copics, I decided to keep my card face white. It makes a stark contrast with my Devil. I added a flourish and a feather, on which I pasted on my greeting, cut out and framed in black. Easy peasy, especially since I didn't have to hunt down all the supplies.

Don't forget to check out the inspiration and challenge at Halloween  Crafts All Year 'round!

CHALLENGES I AM ENTERING:

Two Old Bats Halloween - Anything Halloween Goes w/optional mood board

Your Help Please

As many of my followers are aware, my husband was diagnosed and passed duhe to ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. We were very blessed to have healthcare from the VA, wo supplied us with medications, supplies,  rehabbing our house, everything he needed up until the day he died. The most important part of his care was the knowledge that the newest, latest information, medications, tests and therapy were all available to us, due to the government's funding to expand access and activities towards ALS support and research.

With the new government cutbacks depleting "overly-unnecessary" funding, research and support in agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, families of people diagnosed with ALS, as well as other terrible fatal diseases, will be unable to support new therapies, drug treatments, and medical breakthroughs for these diseases. 

I happened on a FB post from the ALS Association asking readers to fill in a form that would be sent to each congress member asking to vote down any funding cuts. All you have to do is fill out your name, city and state and they will send it. Please think about it...

A hoax? I just received a letter from my Senator. Read it below:

February 19, 2025 Mr. Pat Martin Dear Pat:            Thank you for contacting me about Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).  I appreciate hearing from you.            Every year, ALS patients and their families travel from Illinois to my office in Washington, D.C.  These inspiring individuals demonstrate courage and hope.  In 2020, I co-founded the bipartisan Senate ALS Caucus to help raise awareness about the difficulties faced by ALS patients and their families and advance policies that improve their quality of life.               Last Congress, I cosponsored the ACT for ALS Act (P.L. 117-79), which would have created new pathways for faster and broader access to medical therapies for those most in need, particularly for people diagnosed with ALS.  This legislation would have facilitated access to new therapies, drug treatments, and medical breakthroughs for ALS patients.  It also would have bolstered an ongoing mechanism to share feedback and information between patients, physicians, federal agencies, and national organizations that facilitate care services to improve quality and access to care.  On December 23, 2021, President Biden signed the ACT for ALS Act into law.             On March 23, 2024, President Biden signed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 (P.L. 118-47) into law.  This legislation raised the budget for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to $48.6 billion, a $300 million increase from Fiscal Year (FY) 2023.  It also included $75 million to expand access and activities authorized by the ACT for ALS Act.   The NIH is the foremost biomedical research institution in the world and offers our best hope for treating and curing ALS.   This funding represents an important victory for medical research worldwide.             I am committed to advocating on behalf of ALS patients and their families.  I will keep your thoughts in mind as relevant legislation is considered by the Senate.            Thank you again for contacting me.  Please feel free to stay in touch.
	Sincerely,       Richard J. Durbin       United States Senator

Is It Too Early to Start Christmas Crafting...

 Happy February, crafters! After an overlong break from creating cards, I am again pulling out papers, images, Copics and more (oh, my!). Today I'm showcasing a holiday card, because, let's face it, it's never too early to start stacking up those Christmas cards.

My image is from Vintage Christmas Sticker Sheet from Conjuror of Dreams. It's one of several beautiful winter scenes. I printed two and after framing and adhering the first onto my card face, I fussy-cut two trees from the second copy and used dimensional tape to add to my scene. Since I am trying to declutter, all my papers are leftovers from previous projects and remaining sheets from raided stacks.

CHALLENGES I AM ENTERING:

If Mother Goose Had a Cat

 

In my spare time (you know, waiting in the doctor's office, trying to get back to sleep at 3am, sitting on the toilet, etc.,), I like to sketch. I'm not great, but I think I have good ideas. Today I'm showing you my not-great-but-funny-idea sketch. It's an addendum on an old nursery rhyme.

Please let me know if you think the idea behind this is funny. I usually create cards that are funny, punny or have a punchline. I mostly use stamped and digital images but thought I would poke out of my creative box little, so comments appreciated...

Celebrating Halloween Throughout the Year

Today I am showcasing the fact that two cards are just as easy to create as one. I used two halves of a piece of 8.5"x11" black cardstock. After folding each in half, I added a piece of designer Halloween-themed paper to the fronts. Using a leftover strip of another Halloween-themed paper, I adhered each piece to a strip of orange ribbon. So far, the only difference between the two was the orientation. I decided one card would be more for adults, while the other for kids. I used an Ike's Art image for the card above, tearing the image out  and distressing the edges before adhering it to my card face, along with the first part of a Halloween joke (the inside holds the punchline).

Next card is decorated with cute ghosts looking out from a cracked pumpkin (a Halloween decoration leftover from a previous year). I also used my metal alphabet circles to spell out my Halloween greeting. 

Making these two cards was easy since I made the bases the same, saving me time and materials My crafting girlfriend, Linda, was the one who turned me onto the idea that two cards are just as easy to make than one. Thanks, Linda!!

And thank you all for stopping by to see what I did today. My cards are being featured on the Halloween Crafts All Year 'round. The blog offers many different cards for each month's occasions, and the extra bonus of at least one Halloween card as well. Hope you get inspired this month!!

CHALLENGES I AM ENTERING:

Creative Fingers - CAS/anything Goes