Two new paintings

So me thinks this is going to be a proper mix of my love for both cardmaking and painting. I just cannot contain myself to just one : )

Here are my two most recent paintings. 

This one was done on 12x15 watercolor paper. I used mostly watercolors on the girl and the background is a mix of acrylics, inks, collage, gesso and even some stickles. She has such a dreamy look it inspired the bubbles floating to the the heavens carrying her dreams and prayers. 

This was done in my new large art journal and includes much of the same mediums as the first one. Here's the full layout:

 Thanks for looking! I don't know what I'll be working on today but I know it will involve color somehow : )

Hugs~

and another card, I am on a roll!

Two cards in as many days...my life has returned to it's proper orbit ; ) Not to say this pace will continue but I am enjoying the ride while I can. I should be cleaning house to prepare for a mother in law visit but this is so much more fun!

Here's one of the images I had inked the skin yesterday:

The image is from Mo's Digital Pencil.  Josh's birthday isn't until August and he'll be three so I'll have to do some last minute adjustments. 

I hate the way the balloons turned out. For some reason I started bringing the red balloon to the forefront. Because red can bleed so easily the more I messed with it the worse it got. Yuck, hate them!! But, it is for a 3 year old, he wouldn't have cared if I colored them with crayons. Geesh, I'm getting lazy since these are no longer DT cards. I should've colored them first off after the skin. That's a good tip for anyone starting out with copics. Start with what you think is the most challenging, that way you don't have to chuck a completed image if you save it for last.  Anyhoo, if you want to see me do balloons properly, you can check my video tutorial. 

What I like about this? His pants and gramma (me) is known for her love of black and white checked floors so I had to add those in. I like the way his pup turned out too. Did you notice the lil' frog I doodled on his bib? Gosh, I can't quit!!

Here's a close up:

The chevron papers are from K & Company. The ticket is available on my freebie page. I think that's about it. Now off to clean. Do you ever feel like your house is clean enough for your mother in law? I mean she's not going to care, but I will. We'll just have to close the door to my craftroom, cleaning that would take a week!

Challenges - 

Mo's Challenge Blog - Masculine using a Mo' image.

CCEE Stampers - Masculine ( I know this is a stretch for "masculine" but he is a boy.. lol)

Crop Stop - For Children

Delightful Challenges - Anything Goes 

Forever Friends - Must include and animal

Hugs~

A card!

Yep, an actual card ; ) I had every intention of coloring three images today. I had them all printed out and started on the skin of all three. This image was the last one to get her skin inked and then I started on the pleats. Well, that was all she wrote! The other two are sitting here with cute skin and no clothes.

The image is from Crafts and Me called Lady of Opal by the artist Sara Burrier. I didn't write down any of my colors. All I can tell you is her dress is V91 thru V99. But then I add the blue to her "transparent" wings and it looked disjointed. So I added in some blues to her dress, I think it was B00 or B02. 

Here's a close up:

The word "Dream" I created using an alphabet stencil. The swirly stamp is from Unity. 

Now I am off to enter in my first challenge since last October!!

Thanks for looking : )

Challenges:

Crafts and Me - Anything Goes

Creative Card Crew - Three of anything ( I used pearls)

Try It On Tuesday - Anything Goes

Make It Monday - Anything Goes 

Hugs~

Nature

I bought a new journal today so I had to christen it. It's much larger than my other one and I really like not having the spiral binding in the middle. The paper is pretty lightweight but since I almost always add collage papers I thought it would do ok and it did, mostly. You can see some curling at the bottom but in all honesty it probably isn't 100% dry. 

I didn't take any close ups. I am lucky I got this one taken.. lol! The quote is from Aristotle and says "In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous".  I doubt that anyone who has marveled at the iridescence of a butterfly wing could argue. 

Well, this was play for the day. I hope whatever you are doing you've enjoyed yourself!

Hugs~

Ballerina Video is Up

Geesh, I thought I would never get these two vid's edited and uploaded! But I'm pretty stubborn when it comes to that kind of stuff, or maybe I should say determined ; ) Needless to say Part 1 and Part 2 of creating the ballerina mixed media box are up.  

Enjoy and I will list products and links down below

Products used:

Plain ol' acrylic craft paints. 

Dick Blick Matte Medium I really like this stuff! It is thinner than gel medium and Dick Blick brand is about 1/2 the cost of Golden.  I save my Golden Gel Medium for transfers and heavier papers.

Dick Blick Acrylic Retarder You can mix this into your paint or load it onto your brush like I do.

Faber Castell Pitt Big Brush Pens Love these!! You can see in the video that you can color them right onto your stamp and stamp with them.  I also used them to shade around the letters in "Dance". 

Signo Uni Ball White Gel Pen Best white gel pen ever!!

That's all I can recall off the top of my head. If I left anything out just leave a comment and I can edit the list ; )

Hugs~

Mixed Media Painting on Recycled Box

Hi guys!! As you might have noticed I am doing more and more mixed media pieces.  I created a couple of "canvas" paintings using recycled boxes.

  These were both done on recycled boxes. The little one is a generic brand of Crystal Light and the larger one is on the cracker box.

The blue tape is masking tape to hold down the flaps and I added a few pieces to the sides for some added stability. Then I covered the entire box with text pages. I used Matte Medium but you could also use gel medium or Mod Podge. 

Next I covered them with text pages:

Then I put a layer of gesso. You could skip that step and head straight for acrylics. 

I've been sketching a lot and sort of like this little girl that keeps ending up in my sketchbook. Because it takes me so long and I erase so much rather than sketching right on the box I traced the image on tracing paper with a black sharpie.

I tore around the image and glued the tracing paper down to the box.

Then the fun part,  decorate with layers of paints using acrylics and Ranger Distress Inks. The circles were added using bubble wrap and the tube from a roll of paper towels. 

And now for close ups of both of the finished paintings.

I love all of those textures!! And here's the smaller one:

Now I am off to see what other boxes I can raid ; )

Hugs~

Finally played with my Copics again and a Freebie

I am exhausted, but the good kind of exhausted. The kind of exhausted that has my shoulders hurting and still picking glue out from under my fingernails. I am sure you can relate.  I have not touched a copic since last October.  It took me a few minutes for the ol' skills to kick back in but oh what fun when the right brain kicked in!! When that happens I can lose huge chunks of time just lost in the process.  It is so relaxing to just tune out all the wifey, mom and grandma stuff and only concentrate on the next brush stroke. 

So on to what occupied my copic craze today. Quite awhile ago I had drawn this princess.  I am going to make her available on my freebie page. When I first started with copics I wanted a stamp NOW that I could practice hair, skin and pleats on. 

This is not a card but a 9x12 page. I printed my digi on cardstock ( I use Neenah) and then colored and cut her out to add to the background using gel medium. I am trying to incorporate my copics into some mixed media fun.  

I didn't write down my colors of the copics I used but her dress was BG's.  You can see my colors choices for hair and skin here. On the background I used acrylic paints, Pitt Pens by Faber Castell, tissue paper (with the polka dots), micro beads, stamping with white acrylic paint and white gel pen. I made the flower by cutting multiple circles of tulle and heating the edges with my heat tool. It's secured in the center with staples and a pearl glued on top.

Now as promised here is the freebie:

If you ink her up I would love to see!! Shoot, it's time to return to mommy land.. lol!

Hugs~

Butterflies and a Mermaid

Will I ever make another card? I am sure I will but in the meantime it seems that mixed media is taking over. This journey began about a year ago when my friend (and very talented artist!) Anne Fenton told me anyone can draw and after much encouragement I decided to try. Through searching for tutorial youtube videos I found the mixed media artist Willowing (Tamara LaPorte) and the rest is history. 

These are two pages I worked on over the weekend and is my back ever paying the price! I think I tried to catch up on 6 months of lost play time in one weekend. But I had a blast! 

The butterflies on this page are from Bo' Bunny papers and Martha Stewart Punch. I used acrylics, watercolors, stamping and collage.

This page is collage, india inks, acrylics, prismacolor pencils, chalks and alcohol drops. I didn't plan on an underwater scene but after all of the colors merged and the drips formed it just screamed for one. 

One other long missed activity has returned also..... coffee!! So now I am off to enjoy a nice cup on the back porch and listen to the birds. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

Hugs~