My Winnings!

Over on Ewian's blog I signed up for a give away and I won! I am a bit late in saying thankyou Ewian but I do. I picked up the package last week when we went to town. It was fun to open and see everything in person. It came with a nice handmade note card too. I will love using all these items in my various crafting projects. The stamps are so cute and I've really been wanting to try those Neocolor II crayons. Thank you so much Ewian.

Now, if you will all follow that blog link you will see Ewian enjoying her drawing, painting and the EDM group.

Hey everyone! I know a lot of you live in snowy
areas but look what we got here in sunny, northern Arizona! This is the first time in seven years that it snowed all day. We've only had a few other snow days and they ended and melted off by about 10a.m. but not today. It snowed all day and now that it's night time it's turned to rain. Our big dog Sarah had fun running in it during part of the day but doesn't want to go outside now that it's dark and rainy. Look at that palm tree - and I thought I'd even throw in a pic of me out in the snow. We were only in the mid 30's so it was cold but not freezing! Lol, I even got a pun in there.

Well we thoroughly enjoyed watching all that white come down. It is such a rare occasion for us I wanted to share it with all of you.

And the last picture if I can be allowed a super amount of leeway is my bit of art here with the few ornaments I found in the house (without going out to the shed and unearthing the big Christmas box) put on one of the snowy trees for a picture. I might use if for a Christmas card next year. For this year, it's just a bit of Christmas from me to you.

Christmas Cards

I've got my cards done and mailed. I took part in a card exchange this year and sent the original of this colored pencil drawn card to the person I was trading with (it was a group trade but each person was given one person in the group for which to make a card. That way we could go to their blog to see what they might like and make a card accordingly - a neat way to do a trade. No one knew who would be making theirs). I liked the card so much that I decided to make prints of the kitty and glue them onto cards I made with Elements which I am learning how to use.

Originally these were all going to be red cards with green envelopes but I goofed so many times on my layout of the words I ran out of red cardstock. So now I have red cards with green envelopes and green cards with red envelopes and the recipients won't know it was due to mistakes. The envelopes are handmade out of Dick Blick construction paper. It is actually a nice 80 pound weight craft paper and I don't think they call it construction paper anymore. The colors and feel of it are great. I recommend everyone try it for crafting. I think you'll like it.

Hope you are all busy getting ready for your holidays be they Christmas, Hannukah or Kwanzaa. It's good to celebrate something especially when times are not so good.

A New Inchy

This week's theme from Inchy by Inch is Trees. I can do trees. I didn't have a tree stamp and especially not one small enough to do an inchy but I did have a tiny 3-leaf sprig stamp so I stamped it all over the top of my inchy for the tree top. Then I took a fine tip pen and added a few more leaves and a trunk. Colored the whole picture with watercolor pencils and wet it down. I edged the square with a wet watercolor pencil and felt it was done.
Hope you enjoy this little tidbit and wish some more people would join in. You can draw, stamp, paint, quilt, embroider or bead an inchy. They cover all the art stuff you can think of so don't be shy - come on!

I would really like to see some of you drawers and painters do one. I see so much beautiful work out there and wonder how you'd do on a really small scale.

EDM #34 Draw a Leaf

I'm trying real hard to draw every day but find it a goal I am not always attaining. Yesterday Jessica of Cre8it suggested going small. We don't need to paint a big picture to reach the goal of some art everyday. Her example was a leaf.

I've been wanting to draw a leaf and had even brought some in the house but let them sit until they dried out and crumbled on my work table. But since I am working on the goal of drawing every day and being encouraged by Jessica and her sister Cassie I picked up a leaf at the store where we collect our mail. I sat down last night and first did an almost blind contour (I glanced at my paper just a few times). I surprised myself in how closely I matched the leaf's outline but this is a simpler shape than people or buildings or pets so I'll temper my elation at that. Then I picked out some colored pencils and working very lightly, I gradually filled in my leaf. I was really happy with how it turned out and that I spent some time drawing.

The leaf has a bit of extra drawing overlapping the leaf because I am working on a spread that is taking me much more than a week to do but it's coming along nicely and I'll share it when it's done.

The picture of the actual leaf was taken this morning and the lighting is different plus the leaf is now dried out with the shadows and shape changing a bit because of it. It will be a good picture to draw from later and will make a different one than my current drawing.

Many thanks to Cassie, Jessica and Nina (for the weekly spread idea).

My Work Space

I've been hearing a lot of talk about messy studios and the need to clean them up lately. I thought I'd post some pictures of my area messy as it is right now.

I'll get it cleaned up but in general I am happy with my space. It doubles as my bedroom or I'd be able to get more shelving in here for more storage for more art supplies. I guess that's where I am stuck right now - where to put the excess away. As you can see, even the closet is full! I could add another shelf or two to the bead wall and probably will after I make another trip to California and then to IKEA. In the meantime I have to realize more than space, it's me who is
keeping my space unorganized.

If anyone wants to share what their space looks like, messy or not, I'd be happy to drop in and see. Some people pay for magazines that show studio spaces but we see some by blog hopping to others who want post. Leave me a link to your blog if you do post your space.

Tagged!

Lynn of Cordelia's Place has tagged me to share six random things about myself. I've played this one several times on my other blog but not here so I will join in and tell you:

1. I just had my 55th birthday on November 15th. My body feels it a bit, I see it when I look in the mirror (yeah, I need to draw what I see there sometime, I know) but I am doing more art now than ever before so being 55 is a good thing.


2. I don't like getting messy so I am finding I turn to colored pencils and watercolor pencils a lot. I love collage but it's so messy I tend to avoid it.


3. I'd love to learn to do watercolor with the real stuff versus my coloring with pencils. It's such a beautiful medium but I am afraid I won't do it well and that it will get too messy. Hmmm, maybe I have a teeny problem here to work on!


4. I read the blogs trying to keep up with all the interesting ones and those who just want "someone" to drop in. I enjoy this but it does keep me from getting my own artwork done. Being a procrastinator does not help here at all. It's easier to keep surfing than start a picture.


5. The only TV I watch is some news. I'd rather read or do art than watch TV. I only have one because my husband wants it.


6. I have tried lots of crafts and enjoy most such as: knitting, tatting, bobbin lace-making, card crafting, embroidery, crocheting, needlepoint and bookmaking. I've tried most things to come along usually because I need something or want something so I make it whatever it takes. I call myself a "necessary artist" as if I need something I tend to make it versus buy it mostly because at one time, I couldn't afford to do otherwise. Necessity really is the mother of invention!

Now I am to list the rules and pass on the tag to others who might want to play along.

The rules:1. Link to the person or persons who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

I will tag:

1. Indigo of Desperately Seeking Perspective


2. Lisa of Lisa Reed....How I See It


3. Sema of Motivart


4. David of tactil blog


5. David of DAVID-WASTING-PAPER


6. Stephen of Stephen Hall Art Blog

I included some men in my list as they don't seem to get tagged too often - maybe because these web games might seem silly to me but the ones I tagged seem to have a sense of humor and friendliness so I'm giving it a try.