choco-treats

i hope you all have a spooook-tacular halloween.....

and make sure you set aside some of those sweet choco-treats 

for yourself!!!

happy weekend to you!!

:))

the bats are back....

it's that time of year again.....bat season!!  they're hiding in my bushes....

and hangin' out with the jack-o-lantern......

and even found their way inside and are playing in my fabric stash!!  but these aren't just any bats......they're martha stewart bats!!  click here and you'll find the bat template and video instructions for these super easy-to-make little cuties!!!  

p.s.  i shared these little guys on my blog last year, but they're SO adorable i couldn't resist showing them again!!  have fun!

inspiration monday

i recently finished taking an online color class with master calligrapher and color expert teri martin.  she warned us when we began that we would probably get addicted to painting these color wheels, and boy was she ever right......i can't seem to stop myself, and i've started to accumulate quite a stack of them!

but the really great part is that after you've mixed all of that luscious color, you get to do something fun with it......like something a little 

yellow-green and blue-violet doodle kind of fun!!

wishing you a colorful day filled with inspiration!!

this doodle art was inspired by the colors aureolin yellow, 

quinacridone violet, and ultramarine violet. 

  other supplies:  micron pens, 2B pencil, and fabriano medioevalis paper

click on image for larger view

journal sale!!

i'm doing a little reorganizing, rearranging, and general tidying-up in my etsy shop, and thought this would be the perfect time to put a few things on sale!  

and after chasing some dust bunnies around for a while, i decided to put these on sale, too!!  

if you're looking for a nice gift for that someone who has everything.....

or maybe just want to treat yourself......

now's the perfect time......take advantage of 30% off!!!

(dust bunnies not included)

more information about these journals can be found in my shop here!

amazing artist

just a little wednesday reminder......

whether you're near or far,

high or low,

east, west, north or south......

you are an amazing artist!

p.s.  and you're also 

bold, fearless, gritty, sassy,

and quite bodacious, too!!!!

:)))

inspiration monday

my little dutch sweetie treated me to a weekend getaway to a beautiful resort about an hour north of where we live.  since we would be gone for just a couple of days, i definitely wanted to pack light.  throwing the clothes, make-up and various hair paraphernalia into a suitcase was the easy part......but when it came to packing my "art bag", i ran into a bit of a challenge.  how do i "pack light" when it comes to art?!  how in the world do i narrow down all of my art-loves?!  so i decided i would take only my journal, and a small case to hold some supplies.  now.....what to fill the small plastic case with......

i thought about taking my watercolor pencils, but they're all my favorites......it would be hard to leave some of them behind, and that little travel case won't hold them all.

and then my pen collection came to mind.......it looks like there's too many of these to fit into that tiny travel case, too!

finally, i decided that my pencils would be the perfect thing to play with......and my travel case is the perfect size to hold several pencils, an eraser, a couple of smudging stumps, and a sharpener!

and at the end of the day, i decided it really doesn't matter what supplies you have......as long as you're inspired (and maybe sitting poolside!), you can always make it work!!

this journal page was finished using a 2B pencil, a 6B pencil, and an eraser.

and the treats go to......

the random integer has chosen three numbers as the recipients of the giveaway tags and bags, and they are......

number 10, julie bagamary!

number 13, marcela!

and number 36, chrissy!

thanks to everyone who played along with me!!!

and thank you again for your sweet support of my blog......

i appreciate each and every one of you!!!

xoxo

giveaway treats

that time of year is upon us......the time for pumpkins, apple bobbing, hay rides......and trick-or-treats!!  i've never been so much into tricks......i've always been a treats kinda gal.  especially where chocolate is concerned.  or candy corn.  so i pulled out these little tags and bags i made last year......

and decided to add this spooky guy to the mix.....

meet my "going-batty-thumbat"!   

this year, the tag is much larger in size (about 4.75" x 2.25").....and it may just be a little too large.....but i made some a little smaller, and somehow his wacky-goofy-eyes and little i-want-chocolate-now-fangs got lost......and let's face it, if you're gonna do treats, you may as well do them large, right?!!

so with treats in mind, i'm celebrating my 300th follower*  (woo hoo!!) and giving away not one, not two, but three sets of these tags and bags.....that's five of the candy corn tags, and five of the thumbat tags,  along with ten twist ties and ten plastic bags to put all of your sweet goodies inside.  

(sorry, candy corn not included......i already ate all of that....)

to participate, just leave a comment on this post by midnight saturday (the 16th)!  

(one comment per person, and please make sure i can contact you!!

also, you must be at least 18 years old since i'll need to ask you for your address if your name is chosen!)

i'll use the random integer to choose three names and announce it on sunday!!!

*i'm celebrating reaching 300 followers.....which means that i'm really celebrating YOU!!  thank you SO much to each and every one of you for treating me to your sweet comments and bloggy love every time you stop by for a visit!!!  i will always be searching, but feel like i'll never really be able to fully express my gratitude for your heartfelt encouragement and support of my artwork!!!  

consider yourself bear hugged three hundred times!!!!

inspiration monday

there is no way i could ever choose a favorite art technique.  my list of art-loves is constantly growing, and sometimes i like to challenge myself to see how many of them i can use in the same project.....this time i came up with a fun "stitch-ionary" idea to house all of my embroidery stitches!  

the first thing i did was carve a little frame stamp.....

and then i stamped it onto a medium shipping tag using black ink.

then i got out my embroidery floss and stitched up a title onto a piece of muslin (i also used a black micron pen for the lettering).

the next step was to trim the fabric and then glue it down inside my stamped frame with a glue stick.  then i added some color around the edges of the tag using antique linen distress ink and a foam applicator.

the final step for my stitch-ionary cover was to add a piece of black and white gingham ribbon and a little tag down at the bottom.  

and here are some of my favorite embroidery stitches, showcased on their own tag using the same methods that i used for the cover.....and they're all held together with a simple 2" binder ring that i bought at the office supply store.....plus there's lots of room to keep adding tags as i go!   

be inspired by all of your art-loves and see how many fun projects you can come up with!!

my inspiration for this project came from my love of paper arts, stamping, stamp carving, lettering, watercolor pencils, and stitching.  

ink study, aka red flower

after spending some time mixing a few of my watercolors, i decided to see how many color combinations i could discover using my FW acrylic inks.  on the left is a color wheel i painted using brilliant yellow, scarlet, and rowney blue inks.  and on the right is a little "study" of painted rectangles,  to see what the colors would look like next to each other......and then it turned into a background for a red flower.  i must admit that i'm not crazy about that big splotch of blue in the middle.....i kinda wish i had known at the time that i would eventually be adding the red flower......but then again, that's the beauty of the creative process, and just allowing things to "happen"......(but i promise you next time i get ready to paint a big blue splotch in the middle of my paper, i'll think twice about it.....heeheehee).

have a colorful, creative weekend!!!

:))))

hello, sweet bloggers!

just popping in for a moment to say hi-dee-ho, how are 'ya?!!

it seems like it's been forever since my "rest stop" began......and as it turns out, my break was quite timely because i've spent most of it trying to nurse a temperamental thyroid back to good health.  i've surely had my share of naps and sleep over these past two weeks......so much so that i'm actually tired of resting!   feeling much better now, i have much more energy, and i'm motivated to be back in the studio again and play with all of my toys!  

i decided to ease on back into things by getting out some of my watercolors and  do some mixing and painting (and i was thrilled to discover that yellow and blue still make green......).  i've also started to get that itch to stitch again.....my fingers just can't stay away from pretty threads and fabulous fabrics......so glad i've had some rest so i can start on all of these projects i've been dreaming about......

thank you very much for all of your sweet comments, 

notes and e-mails.......

i appreciate it so much, and i'm sending you a big cyber-hug!!!!