Paying It Forward #1

A week or so ago there was a challenge going around Facebook which said:

Pay it forward 2013, I will make something....handmade...for the first 5 people who comment on my post...you will receive it in 2013 before the year is over and it will be handmade To qualify, you must repost this and commit to doing the same for your first 5. Have Fun. 

My friend who posted this is a ceramist and I jumped right on that band wagon, so reported and some of my friends signed up with me. I've been wanting to so come canvas work, and when I saw Hels Sheridian's theme for Sunday Stamping this week was DREAM, I knew where I was going.

This is where I ended up:

I've been following Creative Jump Start - an amazing group of lessons brought to us by the dedicated, talented, and oh so kind Nathalie Kalback. If you haven't heard about this jump over to her website and sign up for the newsletter. Every day there is a new post with the possibilities for give-aways by the sponsors and a lot of video lessons from a lot of folks I was unfamiliar with...what a gift!

The canvas is for a good friend that I had lost touch with and incorporates a lot of what I've been looking at, but I feel like it is also totally mine. Which is a VERY fun feeling. Colors I love, I've always loved and still are drawn to. Lots of misting and water, and drying and re-misting and stencils and stains and my absolute "can't make art without it" Picket Fence Distress Stains.

Something too dark? A couple of coats of picket fences and your problem is solved. I even used it on the corner pieces...which I stained with alcohol inks but then they were too dark. No problem. Picket Fences Stain to the rescue. I had a ton of fun with the alcohol inks too....I really like how the clock came out. 

In the lower left hand corner is one of the hand made beads I made last spring from small manilla tags covered with all sorts of Distress Stains using Tim's distress marble technique. 

There's a couple of things I would do differently next time, but for a start, I'm good. Thanks Hels!! If you want to play with Sunday Stampers, pop over to Hels' blog Ink on My Fingers and join the fun. 

WOYWW 188

Today, or more precisely tonight, I am getting a jump start on the weekly What's on Your Work Desk photo sharing that the ever so nice Julia Dunnit hosts on her blog, Stamping Ground. Each week we post a picture of our work spaces and then are invited to go see what others are doing. One week I found a great jeweler and managed to score a cool, and reasonably priced pair of earrings from her Esty shop. You just never know what you will find.

This week I  started Lifebook 2013, a year long journey through art taught by Tam (can't seem to locate her last name on her blog) and a number of other folks. I've taken classes from a couple of the teachers and enjoyed those and even though I've only watched one video from Tam, I'm thinking I'm really going to like it. 

Our first warm-up was drawing a whimsical Fairy Art Mother. Because all of this is new to me, I practiced a couple of times with my new water soluble crayons in my small art journal. OH MY. They are just TONS of fun. I can tell I want more colors already. 

Since this is OUR Fairy Art Mother, she says nice things to us like

 and

And although I can't draw yet, I sure do like color, so I used just about every one of them to draw her...

It's going to be a good year!!

WOYWW #187

Wow - It feels great to write that!

I've been away. Not really, but we moved a couple of times and are finally settling down into the new house, and I feel like I can get back to the wonderful Julia Dunnitt's What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday (even though it's Thursday - I took the photos on Wednesday).

I really wanted to do it because I caught that New Year's organization bug and after hastily setting up the craft room in September, and then not being able to find anything during the Christmas craft season,  it is truly organized. And I'm sure it will never again be so clean.

So what's on my work desk? NOTHING!

And here's the rest of the new room!

And some eye candy.

When my sweetie looked at this he said "Laugh, is that what you do when you see all that stuff?" Nope just some things that make me happy. Have a great week!

2013 - Bring It On!!

It's gonna be a great year. And one of the reasons I know is because I like my January calendar page. What 's a calendar page you ask? Well, the talented and beautiful Kate Crane came up with a lovely little challenge which you can find on her blog, The Kathryn Wheel, three years ago. Each month you make a page with a place to make art, or notations every day, and we all link up here. It's a great way to keep track of things, try new ideas, etc, etc, etc.

I was new at this last year and used little squares all the time, so my goal this year is to play around with daily shapes and layouts and see what I like. Small problem though, can't count, so the middle row/week has eight days. Whoops.

So voila! I have a bonus entry for the new year. Lol. I wanted the page to reflect the blues that are so prevalent in the Alaskan winter skies this time of year. I also want SNOW - badly. Today it was 38 and raining. Bummer.

My background started with gesso, and then a layer of London Blue Dylusions Ink and Tattered Angel blue of some sort with lots of water. I let it sit for a bit and then wiped it off with paper towels. A layer or two of Picket Fence Stain, a bit of an accent here and there with Shaded Lilac Stain and then white acrylic paint through one of Dyan Reavely's fabulous stencils. Actually white acrylic paint through a couple of Dyan's stencils. I thought it needed a border so I just drew a couple of lines with dashes and dots with a gel pen.

The tickets were made pretty much the same way but with some added extra Evergreen Bough Ranger stain applied in many ways, including plobbing it down a few times to get splash marks. I cut the tickets out with a Tim Holtz Sizzix die,  and a nod to Marjie Kemper who really opened my eyes to the possibilities with a ticket. I mean, who knew?

Lastly the snowflakes had to bring some glitz, and some of the purple back in by applying the Shaded Lilac ink pad directly onto grunge paper covered with Picket Fences Crackle Paint. I also took the Dusty Concord Distress marker to the top of the flakes.

This seems more me, than my December. But I still loved HAVING a December...

That's us dancing in the upper right corner....you can tell right?

Here's the rest of my year.

Hearts & Words

Last night one of my daughter's best friends got married. She looked beautiful, as did my daughter who was in the wedding. But I digress. The marriage definitely warranted a handmade card. And because I actually had time, it was fun to do. When I was making it I thought about Hels Sheridian's weekly challenge. LAST week it was hearts. But I got lucky. This week it's WORDS. So I'm going to post a link to this over on her blog,  Ink on My Fingers.

And because Hels does call it Sunday STAMPERS I would like to point out I used two stamps on this little collage. On the background is one of Tim's Stamps, and the large heart is a Memory Box stamp.

I cut three hearts from Grunge Board and that made the heart really stand out from the card. Stickles brought the sparkle!

I wanted the card to have lots of layers and although this photo doesn't do it total just there were four different layers. Kind of like love...lots of layers.