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 :)

Striped Heart Watercolor Tutorial

I just love hearts..... I can't get enough of them.   I can't get enough of watercolors either, so this project is a perfect combination of both of these loves :)

  Here's my simple tutorial for making your very own unique Watercolor Valentine's Heart Art.

Materials:
scrap paper or heart stencil
watercolor paper
watercolor paints
paint brush
pencil
ruler

Step 1:  Cut out a heart or use a stencil or cookie cutter to fit the size of your watercolor paper.  I used some junk mail to save paper :)

Step 2:  Place your heart stencil on the center of your watercolor paper and lightly trace the outline in pencil.

Step 3:  Using a ruler, lightly draw horizontal lines across your heart drawing to create sections.  You can draw as many lines as you would like, but I think it looks nice with four sections.

Step 4:  Pick out four colors (or as many as you need to fill the sections you drew) to fill in your heart.  If you are mixing colors, make sure you mix enough to fill an entire section.

Step 5:  With the color of your choice, paint in the top section of your heart drawing.  Then, fill in the other sections below it with different colors leaving a small space between the sections.

Tip:   If you want your lines to be clean and distinct, wait for each section to dry before painting the next section below it.  Personally, I like it when the paint mixes a little between the sections, so I painted one right after another without letting them dry first.

Step 6:  Let your heart painting dry and don't forget to sign your masterpiece!

These would be great as Valentine's cards too.  Hmmm...... maybe I'll do that next year.  I've already made cards for this year.

Happy Painting!

Colorful Crochet Hearts

It's my first time making crochet hearts....

They're really easy and fun to make!  I followed the tutorial over at Cornflower Blue Studio. It's a really good tutorial, so you should check it out.

Then I had to turn all my colorful little hearts into a garland, of course. They make me happy!

Photo of the Week

Happy Monday! Ok, so Monday is not my favorite day of the week.  I usually have lots of errands to run and laundry to do on Mondays, but the sun is shining today.  It's been a while since that has happened.

Here's a shot of my neighbor's pine tree with the snow starting to melt off of it.  I don't mind the snow so much if the sun comes out after to melt it :)

An Artist's Dilemma

I've noticed that birds are what's selling on Etsy for some time now.  I thought it might be fun to try my hand at birds, but then I didn't want to be painting just for the market, just to sell my art. Somehow I've felt like I'm selling out if I do that.  It's a battle.  Do I paint for myself or for the market? I guess it depends on how much I want to sell my art, right?

 Well, I've taken the plunge and tried my hand at birds.  I've done roosters before, but nothing else.  It's more challenging than I expected.  This bird on a branch is in no way my best work, but I'll still show it.  I don't want this blog to be about being perfect all the time.  It should be about growth.  So here ya go.  

I hope to be growing my skills in bird painting in the future.  And I'm ok with that.  Maybe I can find joy in painting something even if it is mostly to fit the trends.  We'll see!