Animal Silhouette Paintings

Ever since we checked out Have you ever seen a Smack of Jellyfish from the library, I've been wanting to paint more animal silhouettes.  That book is full of beautiful animal silhouette illustrations.  awesome!

I didn't have any stencils for these like with my other Stenciled Watercolor Projects, but I found a way to make it work.  I used the same pencil transfer technique that I used in my Watercolor Portraits to trace the outlines of the elephants and bird.  Then I just painted in the lines.  It worked quite well!

I'll have to do more of these.  The Mom and Baby elephant painting sold within a few days of listing it in my Etsy Shop!  It now has a happy home in Virginia.

A Few Fun Cards

Here are some cards I've made over the last few months.....

I don't think I'll ever get tired of butterflies or flowers or stamping with watercolors! 

This one was an experiment with colored pencils.  It's different from what I normally go for, but I like it :)

Photo of the Week

This might seem like a totally random photo to you, but I took it purely because I like the colors.

 I was eating this lovely pink grapefruit on my green plate while wearing a jade colored shirt (and matching nail polish I might add) and for some reason I looked down and thought "those colors look awesome together!"

Call me crazy, but I notice and think about colors A LOT... like which shades look good together and which ones have a nice contrast next to each other.  Jade is one of my favorite colors right now :)

Sea Penny Bracelet Tutorial

Oh yes.... I've made something else with my little crochet sea pennies... dainty bracelets!

After trying to crochet them together in some manner and utterly failing, I settled on hot gluing them to some felt.  Ha! So simple! I wish I would have thought of that first!  I'll save you the pain...just follow my little tutorial here:

Materials:
crochet sea pennies- make enough to cover all around your wrist.  (I made mine out of a fine shiny yarn, so they look more delicate.)You can find my tutorial for them here.
felt
sew on snaps
hot glue gun

Step 1:  Measure the circumference of your wrist.  Add 1/2 to 3/4 inches to that length, depending on how tight you want your bracelet to be.  Cut a piece of felt in these dimensions:  1/2 wide x Length your wrist circumference + 1/2 to 3/4 inch.  My wrist is about 6 inches around so I cut my felt 1/2 inch wide and 6 3/4 inch long.  The width can vary here depending on how thick you want your bracelet to be and how large your crochet sea pennies are.


Step 2:  Hot glue or sew snaps onto each end, making sure to get them on the right sides so they will close nicely around your wrist.

Step 3:  Arrange the sea pennies in desired order/pattern and hot glue them to the felt strip.  Make sure to overlap the sea pennies a bit, unless you want gaps showing between them while wearing the bracelet.

Strap your bracelet on and wear it proudly cuz, hey, it's not every day you wear crochet bracelet!

For the love of birds

After my last bird post,  I decided to go for it and try painting more.  I stocked up on bird books from the library and practiced a few.

Most of them turned out well (at least I think so)! It was fun too!  I had lots of time over the weekend to paint.  So here ya go all you bird lovers out there!

Just click on the links above the photos to see these in my Etsy Shop.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/124100202/blue-bird-tree-swallow-original

https://www.etsy.com/listing/124099896/eastern-blue-bird-on-a-branch-original

https://www.etsy.com/listing/124100500/red-bird-vermillion-flycatcher-original

This yellow one is my favorite.  It's a happy bird :)
https://www.etsy.com/listing/124099538/yellow-bird-wood-warbler-original

Photo of the Week

Can you guess what this is?  I'm enjoying some "me" time this morning with watercolors and my camera.  Paint swirling around in a jar of water makes some nice abstract art!

I hope your Monday is going well.  Mine is off to a pretty good start :)

Up-cycled Pink Cardigan

I bought this pink cardigan at a thrift store probably two years ago.  I've been meaning to do something with it from the beginning but am just finally getting around to it.  I whipped up a few crochet sea pennies and flowers and sewed them on.  They kind of look like miniature doilies to me.  I like em!

The pattern I used for the flowers come from Little Birdie Secrets and you can check out my tutorial on Crochet Sea Pennies to see how I made those.

Nothing makes me feel more girly than wearing pink and crochet at the same time :)

Love Rocks

I have an endless supply of rocks in my yard.  I may as well turn them into something pretty!

After washing and drying, I drew hearts on my rocks with markers (some washable, some permanent).  Then I gave then a coat of Modge Podge to seal the designs and shin-i-fy them.

I'm planning on leaving these little love rocks around my neighborhood for unsuspecting people to find once the weather cooperates.  I can't leave them in the snow, so it may be a while. Until then, I'll leave them here and wish you all a Happy Valentine's Day tomorrow!

Photo of the Week

Gummy bears anyone?  I was so sick over the weekend that I didn't get out at all and I think I may be going just a little crazy.  I've taken to playing with my food (and eating it of course) to keep me entertained.

I made hearts out of play dough last year so I think I'll start a little tradition here of taking photos of random items shaped into hearts every Valentine's Day. What do you think?

Inspired by "Grandpa Green"

 Every once in a while I find a children's book with AMAZING illustrations and I kind of/sort of try to copy them...

I may or may not be successful, but I'm happy with these two little paintings that were inspired by the book Grandpa Green.  It's a cute book with cute illustrations.

These are now up for sale, just click the links below to see them in my Etsy shop.

                               Grandpa Green 5x7                                                Grandpa Green 4x6

What children's books inspire you?  Right now I'm  liking anything by Eric Carle and a book called Have You Ever Seen A Smack of Jellyfish.  The Jellyfish book has my wheels turning with it's cool animal silhouette illustrations.

Reverse Applique V-Day Tee

I've been wanting to hunker down and practice my sewing skills this winter.  The weather is still cold out so I have no more excuses, except for the fact that sewing can be hard on my back.  Not so fun.

For now I have to stick to quick projects, so I tried out another reverse applique on a t-shirt.  I picked an old one to do this on just in case it didn't turn out, but I was pleasantly surprised!

Now I have something fun to wear on V-day!  Hooray!

If you've never tried the reverse applique technique,  you can check out a great tutorial HERE.  

Photo of the Week

Last week I took a drive out to the west of the city where there are fewer houses and more open country.  Sometimes I just need to get away and be more in nature to feel closer to God and be grateful for what He has given me, even if I am still in a car.   This was just such an occasion.

My son fell asleep along the way and I stopped a few places to take photos of the small patches of blue sky and sunshine peeking through the clouds.  It struck me that this was a kind of metaphor for my life..........trying to see past the grey clouds to find some light.  There have been many grey clouds (a.k.a. physical pain and trials) in my young adult life, but it helps me so much to it seek out the beauty in life wherever I can.

So thanks for coming along with me on this journey on this blog.  I feel blessed to have friends out there in the world to encourage me in what I love to do..... and to read my ramblings on metaphors for life.  It means a lot to me :)