busy hands

my 12-year-old niece alyssa has been visiting me this week.  she loves to swim, go to the book store, and read new books (she also loves the smell of new books.....).  but what she really loves when she comes to stay with me is to play in my studio.......

and i really love it when she's in my studio, too.  
it absolutely melts my heart to see those precious little artist hands busy at work.

we're finishing up some projects today......i'll show you what we've been up to on monday!
have a great weekend, bloggy sweeties!!

all play and no work

practice makes perfect.  :)

  and while i'd love to be more perfect in painting flowers and leaves (i've never had a knack for it), i'm having more of a problem with the "practice" part.  because when i start practicing, and painting leaves, for example, it doesn't take too long for my mind to start wandering.....

and before i know it, i start to think of other things i could be doing with those leaves.  

like doodling little fishies.....

or little birdies flying in for a landing.....

or writing secret little messages.....

or other strange things that pop into my head

(i'm taking suggestions as to what to call this little guy....)

so i really shouldn't be too surprised when i sometimes feel like i don't get too much accomplished......

or why i still can't paint leaves too well......heeheehee.

:))

inspiration monday

i was at the craft store the other day (or maybe i'll just start calling it my "vacation home".....) and as i was making a bee-line towards the back of the store, a bag of these fun little marshmallow-shaped pieces of foam caught my eye.......

and then i started thinking about this little doodle i created last year......and realized that those yummy little foam pieces reminded me of my sweet friend and provider-of-non-stop-inspiration elf-in-chief, lenny!

so i couldn't resist the challenge of bringing that doodle from paper to reality!   i took one of those foamies and added a few embellishments to it.........some red polka-dot felt plus a little gold jingle bell for a hat, some wire for the arms and legs, green felt and gold beads to make a pair of cute little elfie shoes, a poinsettia and leaves cut from some decorative paper, and a micron pen to draw a sweet little face! but no elf-in-chief is complete without a little sign to carry.....a fun reminder of that ever so famous elf-motto to always add some "play, play, play" to your day!!!

lenny was created using the materials listed above.....and his sign was created using this stamp, decorative paper, and a toothpick.

play.....and rest

not too long ago i started to hear a little whisper.....a little voice inside my creative soul that pops up from time to time to remind me that when you play, you also need to rest.  i usually do a fairly good job of ignoring the whisper, mainly because i like to play, and well, i'm not so good at the "rest" part.  but i have a rather persistent whisper.......and a rather impatient one, too.....because it's not whispering anymore.....it's more of a roar now, making it a lot harder to ignore.  

so, i'm going to be a good listener and take some time to rest......of course,  you know i won't be that good and i'll sneak in a little play when the whisper-roar isn't looking.......

but in the meantime, i'm counting on you to play while i'm gone.....

play lots of happy-art-play, sweet bloggy friends!!!

(i'll be back soon!)

pure play

i have a sweet bloggy-kindred-spirit (she actually has sugar-coated-heart-shaped-wool-felt -wings adorned with beautiful beads, sequins, and other fabulous sparkly things!) who has given me some fantastic advice to help me through this creative-tough-spot that i've been in.......take out some of my favorite supplies, don't worry about doing a "finished project", and just play.

so i took her up on that little gem of wisdom, and had a ton of fun trying some things on fabric that i normally would have done on paper. i didn't use any new techniques, i just played!

here's what i used:

*the fabric is called "drill 40"....i bought it at joann fabrics (it's sold by the yard on a bolt with the muslin fabrics). it's a little heavier like canvas, but tightly woven so it's easier to write on.

*a round foam stamp

*ink pads (i used dye ink, but any would probably work)

*micron pens

*watercolor pencils (i used derwent inktense)

*watercolor brush

*pilot fine point fabric pen (sold here)

on a different note.....thank you SO much for your sweet encouragement and fun comments (you always make me smile!!) about the water challenges that we're having in our house right now. after extensive plumber-type-testing, we've been told that the problem is due to a hole in the shower pan.....which is plumber speak for "we're going to tear up the tile, replace the pan liner, re-tile, re-grout, patch up all the holes in the wall, patch up all the holes in the family room ceiling, repaint the wall damage, repaint the ceiling damage, re-stretch the carpet that's been pulled back, clean said carpet, and get lots and lots of dust and other construction-type goo all over the house".

the silver lining: it's all covered by warranty....woo hoo!

the silver lining, part 2: looks like i get to go shopping for more chocolate....woo hoo!

book of play

you may have already heard the buzz in blogland....julie pritchard's new classes have begun! i've seen so many wonderful things from all of you who took her "layer love" class, that when she offered this class about making books, i couldn't resist signing up! it's been a while since i've created any new books, so i couldn't wait to watch julie's videos, get my supplies out, start sewing up the book block....

and then make the covers out of this paste paper that i painted a few months ago....it seems to feed this creative appetite that i'm having for the color orange these days!

julie recommends using fabriano paper for the text pages (which is fabulous paper!), but i decided to use this watercolor paper in my stash. the word "play" was written with my pentel colorbrush....it's definitely one of my favorite toys!

i was pretty nervous punching the holes into the cover so i could do a little hand-stitching....once you punch that first hole, though, you get pretty fearless and just go for it!

thanks, julie.... i'm already looking forward to next week's class!