Watercolor

I told you I was drawing a flower the other day. I finished the roses, then decided to paint them instead of using colored pencil. Okay... I'm biting my lip again... but here they are in all their amateurish glory. I have never taken any painting lessons and I really have no idea what the heck I'm doing. I just read art books, and must look at pictures in order to draw at all. My art classes in college were geared toward education majors not art majors, so... well so it shows. The one talent I have always wished I had was the ability to draw and paint. I don't have that natural talent. I simply have shear determination and force of will. This is the best I can do. I'd love to take lessons but the only available painting classes are just out of my $$$ reach. If I lived in more populated area, then maybe they would be more affordable. That's okay, I have many blessings and thank goodness for rubber stamp art ya know! How wonderful to be able to have them to allow us to make our own art. And  you know what? I had FUN doing these!! 

These are all the paintings I've done in the last few months. The poppies on the right were the first. I see many mistakes (I struggle with perspective even though I'm looking right at a picture) but I also see bright colors and they make me happy.

Am I going to hang any of these?  I don't know, maybe the doors. They might look nice on either side of  the collage of Dublin doors. I made the collage in Photoshop after visiting Ireland last year. This is my studio/craft room by the way.

So, why did I take all the pictures of doors in Dublin? Well all the houses in this area of the city are row houses, with connecting walls. Back in the day, the doors all looked alike and when the men came home from an evening of drinking with the boys, they sometimes went into the wrong house. So the women, wanting to keep their husbands in line, painted their doors bright colors. Some men still entered the 'wrong' houses, claiming they were color blind. So the resourceful Irish wives then added elaborate sidelights and palladian windows. The custom stuck and now Dublin is quite famous for its doors.  I found them to be completely charming, so we walked all over the city so I could take pictures of them! As we walked block after block, my son asked if I was going to take pictures of every door in the city!

This frame doesn't really do them justice. I got it because it was on sale.  I think I'm going to mat them in black and stain the frame a darker color, maybe a rich mahogany.

Teabag Folder Directions

I'm making these for all five of my sisters-in-law. They are going inside coordinating Valentine's Day cards. The teapot and cup stamps are from PSX. I've had them for years and still love them. Sure sad that the company went out of business.

The tulip on the card above is a Magenta image and I used Prisma colored pencils on it. The matching teabag card has a Hero Arts tulip, and a nestibilities frame. The Cala Lilly is from PSX and was done with Prisma colored pencils. The die cuts on the card and the teabag holder are both from Spellbinders.

Embossing Folder & Die Storage

Here are pictures of the Die and Embossing Folder storage I discussed in the previous post. I'm quite pleased with how well it functions and the box is pretty, which is a very big plus:) Since I just got my machine last week, I don't have very many dies, so the white box inside is keeping the folders from falling over. (I didn't want to buy 100 folders right now)

I started with plain old file folders, because you can cut them to the size you need to fit your box.

I LOVE pretty boxes and I'm always looking at them in TJ Maxx, Michaels and Joanns (when I get into the city). I got this one in TJ Maxx on sale for $7.00. The inside is covered in fabric as well and the top is even slightly padded.

I love having embossing and die cut materials all in one place, under a cover to keep out dust and look nice and neat.

Each letter-size file folder was cut down to 5 1/2" by 10" which fits inside my box. I got the file folders in Walmart. A package of 25 was around $3.00. All the embossing are in blue and red folders.

The dies are in teal and green folders. The Spellbinders' dies are on sheets of magnetic vent covers. Other dies like Sizzix, are simply placed in the folder. I have room for some extra cut out pieces, and a note about what sandwich to use in my Big Kicks.

Just Call Me Elly May Clampett

I drove into the big city today. I swear, all I needed was a jalopy and a rockin' chair. I was armed with coupons from Michaels, Joanns and Hobby Lobby oh and I had money too! I sold this ugly old ring that was my Grandma's - not the good grandma that I loved, the other one, so there was no sentimental attachment. Anyway, I took it to this jewelry store that bought gold and sold it. Let me just say this.... gold is really really high right now know what I mean? I may live down south, out in the country, but I know that it is $1,700 per ounce right now.

So I get in the big, no make that HUGE Michaels and Wowwee! There was so much stuff! I really felt so out of it. There were products I'd never seen before and some I had no idea how to use. The variety was mind-blowing. I kept my mind on what I wanted though, got a couple things but saved the rest of my money for online shopping. I didn't fall for just any ole' thing they had, no huh uh... I want Edgeabilities and Heartfelt Creations dies.  Because of online friends, I know exactly what I want for that new Big Kicks!

I did get some magnetic vent covers and colored folders to make a storage system for my dies and embossing folders. (Their Target had a grocery department by the way.) While cleaning the other day I re-discovered this gorgeous box I had forgotten completely about. It's one of those sturdy fabric covered boxes from TJ Maxx. I bought it last summer on sale for about $7.00. It contained all the research and notes for a book I thought about writing. Out came the notes, and in came folders, dies and embossing folders. I'm in the process of cutting down the file folders to fit inside. Each embossing folder and die will have it's own file, with room to keep some already cut out pieces, and sandwich directions as well. The magnetic vent covers will hold the Nestibilities in their folders.

I've seen pictures of how other people store theirs on large sheets of magnetic material hanging on the sides of desks, cabinets or walls. I think I'd rather have mine covered, to keep the dust out. Besides I want all the dies and embossing folders in one place. Some people collect nestibilities, but the Scottish half of me is too practical for that. The Irish half of me LOVES to shop, you know live for the moment, and carefree. What a combination. My husband says living with me is NEVER boring. Poor man.

Ya know I bet my husband is very glad we don't live closer to that BIG city!

Valentine

I know that red is a traditional color for Valentines Day, but I'm not traditional, and I LOVE blue!!  It's been my favorite color since I was a very little girl. This card is for another Sister-in-law, and inside the card will be the teabag folder. I'm going to make a teabag folder for the tulip card below too.

Top is the outside of the card and the bottom is the inside.

This is the teabag folder, outside on left and inside on right.

Experimenting With Shading Colors

I’ve been experimenting with shading colors. I used a Magenta flower with a base layer of pink 928. The highlight colors were deco pink 1014 and pink rose 1018.

For the shading I was using the color wheel and experimented with three different colors on the same flower to see which I liked best.  I was loosely thinking of an analogous complementary scheme:

• Select red violet (magenta) then count two more colors over to the right - violet and blue violet. Now choose a complement by putting your finger on magenta and following the line directly across the wheel to yellow green.

Which do you like best?  I'm thinking the dahlia purple... maybe the crimson red. I think the violet blue, a cool color, is not so good.

I decided to make the experiment into a Valentines Day card for a sister-in-law. I think with the purple background poking out on the right, it somehow makes that part of the flower okay to have purple shading. It fits.

Art Gallery Success!

Yesterday was a great day:) My husband bought me a Big Shot for my birthday, and I got a check in the mail from the art gallery. They sold a lot of my stuff, yipee! I priced cards at 7.50, Junior Legal Pads for 12.95 and the Post-it Note holders for 10.95. I wasn't sure they would sell at those prices because people on forums sell them for a lot less. For the time and cost of materials I thought my prices were fair, and I guess they were. Maybe, they sold well because they were among the smaller, cheaper things in the gallery? You know as opposed to paintings, jewelry, stained glass, etc. I posted the directions for making the Junior Legal Pads on here a while back. I made my own style of cover because I didn't like the way other covers opened and closed. My Directions

Yes, I spent that money already too. Joann's has dies on sale and a coupon for free shipping this week. So I naturally took advantage of that deal. I've never had a die cutting machine before and I'm excited about this new toy.

I've been drawing this week too. I'm working on a flower in colored pencils right now, and then I'm going to do a 58 Ford pickup (my husband's first vehicle). I'm not sure if I'll use watercolor or colored pencils for the truck. I'll post pics when I'm finished. It's weird to be a beginner in drawing and painting at age 50. I always thought I could not draw. Not that I'm any great talent mind you; let's just say I'm passable. I continue to read, learn and practice. It just goes to show you're never too old to learn new things.