color drop happiness

i am totally convinced that there's no better play than art-day-with-your-girlfriends play.   and play is exactly what my sweet girlfriends martha, rynda, denice and terrye did yesterday.......in a color-drop flower kind of way!  martha showed us how to paint her adorable little color-drop flowers.....

then, after our lunch break (which was really just an excuse to eat some chocolate), we painted up some poppies!! 

  and the really great news is that you can learn how to paint her color-drop flowers, too!   martha is an absolutely fabulous teacher......i really think you'll fall in love with her easy southern style just like i have!!

thank you martha for a spectacular day......you've made me feel like a painter!!  xo

you can read more information about the color-drop flower class here!

p.s.  a little birdie told me there might be a poppy class in the future.....stay tuned!!

inspiration monday

here's an easy way to add some watercolor flair to your projects......and you don't even have to draw or use watercolor!  all it takes is a few supplies:  your favorite rubber stamp, a watersoluble marker,  a waterbrush or paint brush,  and some watercolor paper.

first, run the tip of your marker across the rubber stamp.  make sure you cover all the areas of the image well.

then stamp it onto your paper.  don't worry if it doesn't come out even.....we're going to change it up a bit anyway!

using your waterbrush or damp paintbrush, touch the lines made by the marker and start to "paint" the color around the image.  the water on your brush activates the pigment of the watersoluble marker, giving it a watercolor look!  {one thing i noticed, though......i used a very damp brush here.  if you add too much water, your image will start to disappear!}

you can go back with your marker and add some of the details and lines that may have been lost during your painting.

and if you want to add more color without putting more marker directly onto your image, you can also swipe your marker across your acrylic stamp block,  or piece of plastic......

then pick up the color off the block with your brush and add it to your image.

once you have your image all painted and detailed, add a title if you want, and presto....
you've got a little faux watercolor masterpiece
(and you didn't even have to draw a thing!!)!


for my faux watercolor, i used these supplies:
framed girl rubber stamp, tombow watersoluble marker #493, niji waterbrush, 
strathmore 400 series w/c paper, pilot hi-tech pen for lettering

love from mom

here's to mom's around the world, 

who speak that "universal-mom-language"......

even though we don't always understand it at the time.

but one thing's for sure, in that universal-mom-language
they always know the perfect way to say "i love you".


happy mother's day!!

p.s.  i love you, too, mom!
xo

discoveries

"you cannot discover new oceans

unless you have the courage 

to lose sight of the shore."

unknown

{wishing you a wednesday full of creative discoveries!}

inspiration monday

i love to letter quotes in my art journal, but this past weekend i was inspired to do something a little different.....instead of writing the quote in my book, i decided to create a little book just for the quote!

i started with two 3" x 6" pieces of torn watercolor paper and randomly painted a few splotches on both sides using watercolors.  

then i folded each piece of paper in half and started lettering and drawing on the pages.

once i had everything the way i wanted......

i sewed the pages together using linen thread......
and voila.....a dreamy little book.....

"you've got to have a dream, if you want to have a dream come true"

dennis waitley

supplies:  koi watercolors, micron pens, pilot G-tech pens, 6B pencil, linen thread