Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Finding Inspiration to Draw


5.5" x 8"
Fountain Pen and Pencil Crayon

On a wet day I paint from photographs.  The daffodils were from Paint My Photo, a wonderful site offering copyright-free photos for painting.

Another inspirational site is Make Awesome Art.  A recent post inspired me to draw a watercolor sketch from a photo I took in China:







Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Try Your Own Handwriting


4 1/4" x 5 1/2"
Bird Stamp by Inkadinkado

Often it is difficult to get the right size greeting stamp for your card, so get bold and creative and use your own handwriting!  The recipient won't mind and you'll save yourself some time and money.

Monday, September 19, 2016

What Can Be Done With a Solid, Collage Stamp?


Artist Trading Cards
Butterfly Meadow Stamp by Crafty Individuals, on Various Patterned Paper
Peel-Offs for Trim

Look at all the things you can do with one stamp:
and with similar stamps, I've also
I'm sure there are lots of ideas that I've missed.  If you can think of one, leave a comment and I'll try it.

Saturday, September 17, 2016

Another Card from the "In Process Box"


Handcarved Stamp
4 1/4" x 5 3/4"

Unfortunately, this card had to go out the door as soon as it was made.  I hope the recipient is soon feeling better!

Friday, September 16, 2016

It Pays to Shop Locally


It took so long that you might have thought that I was bluffing when I first mentioned it, but I finally got my canvas pencil case made!

It was made possible by a small, local art supply store, Rath Art Supplies.  I went in to buy a Col-Erase colored pencil for drawing, and in the "free" box there was some lovely canvas just the right size.  It already had a coat of gesso on one side so I was all set.

First, I applied a glazing of acrylic paint:


After it was dry I added the designs:


Some lining and a zipper, and voila!


I got the idea from Alisa Burke, who sells similar pouches in her on-line shop.  Unfortunately, she doesn't ship outside of the US, so I made my own.






Wednesday, September 14, 2016

ATC's from the Projects in Process Box


Floral Collage on Various Patterned Papers
Stamp by Crafty Individuals
2 1/2" by 3 1/2"

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Strathmore Online Workshops


Strathmore's latest online workshop has started:  Colorful Creation With Marker.  Week One is about drawing people in a sketchbook.  We haven't got to the marker part yet, so I added a little watercolor. 

The instructor, Will Terrell, recommended I Am Chicago for photos to draw people from, especially if you're reluctant to go out and draw people where you find them.  I do both, but these are from I Am Chicago.


Monday, September 12, 2016

More Clean-Up Cards


4 1/2" x 6 1/8"
Hydrangea by Great Canadian Stamp
Greeting by Biblical Impressions (Eureka)

One of the reasons that fun experiments ended up in the "Projects in Process" box is that they were too big to fit on a 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" card.  (This size is most often used by stampers because you can make two cards from an 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of cardstock.)

I googled "standard card sizes", and found this short and informative post by Kate Harper Designs.  I cut some cards for the most common sizes, 4 1/2" x 6 1/8", and 5" x 7", and found that my projects in process all fit nicely on one or the other!  And envelopes won't be a problem either.


5" x 7"
Agapanthus by Stampendous
Greeting by Biblical Impressions (Eureka)

Sunday, September 11, 2016

The Clean-Up Yields Some Cards

I like stamping and playing with the pencils, the mechanics of card making (measuring, cutting, matting, etc.), not so much.  Often my stamping ends up in a box labeled "Projects in Process".   During my recent clean-up of my office/studio, I vowed to turn these into finished product that can leave the house.  Kind of a "use it or lose it" pledge.

Here are the first two cards:


5" x 7"
Wheat Stamp by Hero Arts
Greeting by Biblical Impressions (Eureka)


Inchies
5" x 5"




Saturday, September 10, 2016

Silly Scraps Saturday


Inspired by this, at Peony and Parakeet, I decided to try my own version.  Paivi demonstrated a simple loop pattern in her tutorial, but I used the alphabet.


Script on Watercolor

 Next, I added the brighter marker:


And finally, the pattern in white:




Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Finished Basket


I have finished my first basket, (and begun the second).  This is about the size of a coffee mug.

Monday, September 5, 2016

In My Sketchbook


Watercolor, Pencil Crayon
Sketchbook, 5.5" x 8"

Sketchbooks are wonderful places for quick experiments, this one inspired by something I saw in Calligraphy: A Book of Contemporary Inspiration

Saturday, September 3, 2016

Watercolor Brush Holder


Well, the big "reorg" is finished, and I must say, I'm thrilled.  Mostly because I can find everything I want easily, and my office/studio is much less cluttered.  My desk is entirely empty except for my laptop, speakers, printer, and OttLite, leaving me lots of room to create!

The inspiration and methodology for the reorganization was this post on Peony and Parakeet, who recently did her studio by using the Konmari method from this bestselling book.  One of the foundations of the method is to store common things together, and as I was trying to declutter my desk (another foundation of the method), I needed to find a way to store paint brushes inside a drawer.  So I made this cute little roll-up brush holder, which also gave me a fun sewing project to satisfy my creative urges.

Here's a picture of it rolled up:


and one with the pencil case that I made some months ago.