little paintings

 

 

I've been doing some postcard size watercolors using inspiration around me. I'm not too concerned with them being perfect, they are just little snipets to keep my hand and eye in painting. I think I'd like to make sure I try one every day.

Summer holiday

 

Not long now until Summer is fully here. The Summer storms have already begun with spectacular lightening shows. The heat is here and so are some of the bitey insects. But the butterflies are out and enjoying the full blooms. We have tomatoes maturing and grapes are just starting this seasons, maybe more will show next year. I like the Summer for one reason only Christmas! - I would prefer a Winter Christmas.

 

The mini album I made has a very summery feel. I didn't buy anything in particular for this mini album rather using up what I had. Papers include Kaiser Craft and some random mixes. The image on the cover is from my stash and I'm not sure where it came from. I printed off some images from Clearly Vintage blogspot to use on the inside pages as I thought the colors went well with the summery theme. I used long enevlopes for the pages and some wide lace on the sides gives it an overall light cool look we all want in the summer heat. The big large tigerlilly looking flowers on the cover came from a thrift store fake basket of flowers. They are plasticy-y but look fine enough for the cover after I added the big huge bling stones.

 

Stay cool in the heat. Drink lots of water and don't forget to slip, slop, slap!

Pretty Goods - a tutorial of sorts

 

For this simple card you will need:

 

One Card Blank of your choice

Self Adhesive labels

Your photos printed out 2x3 (Wallet size)

Some stickers or papers of your choice to decorate your card

Alpha's

Glue of your choice

Ink

 

Step 1:  Glue your photo to the paper side of the self adhesive label - the side of label you write on. Pay attention to how you are 'cropping' the image to get the best out of your photo. Glue Image to face upwards.

 

Step 2: Cut the image to the size of the self adhesive label.  (Do not remove the sticky back yet!)

 

Step 3: Ink around the edges if so desire.

 

Step 4: Use your photo label to decorate your card with. When you are ready simply peel off the sticky back of the label and stick to your card.

 

Further Ideas: If you want you can also keep your photo labels for your junk journals and so on. The same approach can also be used to decorate postcards. Scrapbookers could use the photos and fill a whole 12 x12 page maybe with a December Daily theme. If you don't want to use your own photos cut some from magazines.

Bliss and Joy

 

 

 

 

These sisters are lovely, I brought them from Artstock on Etsy. I'll use them for paintings and such. Summer is so much into fullness here even though it is just beginning. The purple Jacaranda trees are all in bloom and covering the ground in a carpet of pale mauve. Every time I see a Jacaranda tree it reminds me of the painting: Under the Jacaranda tree by Godfrey Rivers. Have you seen it?

 

I almost have a new mini album finished...very summery... and I am thinking of some paintings I want to do.

 

 

 

Peacock green

 

The mask I started here is now finished. I wasn't sure quite what to do with it, only that I wanted it to be very peacock-ish. I used real peacock feathers and lots of shimmery, glittery, jade colors for the mask. There's stamping on the mask and pearl ex powders and tulle all together to create a lovely textured surface. I added some hand made flowers and thrift store find flowers and snippets of lace and shells, a fairy charm and butterfly beads as well as more pins from the pin swap. Finally I used a Tim Holtz stamp for the words.

 

I then stamped and such for the canvas background using lots of techniques and using a mix of watercolor crayon, gesso, and pearl ex powders to get a back ground color I like. I added more flowers ( I like flowers) and more of the bling used on the mask to trim the sides of the canvas with.

 

I can imagine a series of these masks, this one for summer. One for Autumn. One for Winter. One for Spring. Wouldn't they look nice together!

 

 

early summer greens

 

Today is a good washing day as the older women in the house would say. You know, warm and with a good breeze to dry clothes on the line early. The weather is changing to summer and you can see the difference in the greens to know summer time is approaching fast. For me grapes have always been a summer time memory, our grape vine is a young one and is now just starting to show new fruit.

 

Last but not least an art journal page, pinks and greens, showing spring and summer.

vintage lemonade

 

I first made these crazy quilt blocks some time ago. All the fabric I used on these blocks are thrift store finds and I used a lot of pillow cases for fabric. I don't think I would have much luck finding those lemon-y vintage yellows in any other fabric today...except maybe exspensive quilting fabric. A majority of the embroidery I did, like the crinoline lady which was some freebie find off the internet a few years back. If you google crinoline lady pattern you might find it. 

 

There is enough blocks now for me to start embellishing and make up a summery bed quilt, probably for next summer as these things take time. Or next summer some other century if I get distracted with some other project.

 

The weather here has been very blustry, there's no place like indoors when the weather isn't playing nice.

all things frightful

 

I've been working on this project which originally started out its life as a shoe box. Olive, is the witch from number 31 and she has gone out shopping for the day. Unfortunately she left her window open and well...some naughty fairies are playing hide n seek in her house. One, who shall remain nameless, knocked over a potion on the table and she is sitting on the book to dry out---she's ready to go home. There's a little fire place down in the corner and a fairy is looking inside the unused fireplace for her friend who is hiding up on the book shelf. One of the girls is having fun swining off the decorations.

 

I also made a mini book to go up in the 'Attic'. I decorated the pages and the downstairs sitting room using a little kit using graphic 45 once upon a spring time, which I brought off etsy from myscrappyshop. I also used kaisercraft Timeless and Antique Rose 12 x 12 paper pad. The mini album also has a lot of images from The Filigree zine on etsy which I brought a while back. The purple stars were christmas ornaments. The other elements like the skeletons and spiders and such were from those two dollar party favour bags for kids. They were rubber but I painted and did everything to make them look less rubbery. Except the big spider I left them as they were. The stick pins on the front of the box came from shar and I think faith? from the spring time stick pin swap from the old group now known as Scrappers Obessionz. Every thing else came from my stash and the furniture I made from cardboard.

 

Now...to think about my next project!

I love...

 

The buttons are of course thrift store finds, they are not fancy at all, some are plastic-y and some are metal and all are vintage looking. Nothing I'd pass up at a thrift store. The cross stitch I designed and I'm thinking about going back into cross stitch too.

 

My walks take me around the town I live in there are still some pockets of land in amongst the city, this isn't a creek really just a bit of a run off, but there are rolling hills behind it which is part of a larger land that is always pretty to look at and walk by.

Late spring days

 

I've been sorting through some of my things, packing and folding and thinking about what to keep. While going through everything I came across thriftstore finds like the doiley which I will keep to add to one of my crazy quilt blocks...and yes it will be ironed! And I came across a collection of crazy quilt atc's. I once had the thought of making a whole batch of them to make into a quilt. I still might attempt that one yet.

 

The days here are warm and cloudy. We've had some rain too and hail of all things. If the weather stayed like this for summer it'd be a beautiful summer to enjoy...not too hot and bothersome.

goosebumps

 

There are lots of happenings on my art desk. I have a new mini album in progress which will have a twist...can you guess the theme? There are also lots of little ideas from my peacock theme going on including a work in progress painting of two peacock girls and a sort of junk journal idea's book.

 

The lady in the picture is my great grandmother's mother. The image didn't print out right but as I am never one to throw something possibly useful away I'll use it for my mini album!

Green days

 

 Inspiring green. Sketchy drawings, peacock girls from etsy shop buys, fuzzy baby dwarf peaches, and spiky desert greens.  

Cream and sugar

 

I found some lace I brought at the thrift store a while back there was enough to cover a junk journal and some to make flowers for a card too  and there's still left overs. I notice motifs on the lace looked just like peacock feathers! Now I am playing with ideas and trying out possibilities. Some of the smaller motifs left over I am making an art tag with them and using them on the mask I am also working on.

 

Today the wind has been blowing through everything, scattering ornamental blossom petals every where and leaves too. It hasn't been as overcast as the other days and is still warm even with the wind, just the type of warm weather I like.