DIY: Valentine's Day Gift

A simple and easy gift to make using paint, paper, gelli plate, and a Silhouette. 

I wanted to make some art for a Valentines Day gift. No hearts or mushy stuff. Just a sweet gesture. 

Using a Silhouette, I cut out the military men. Then I played around with my gelli plate and paints in Army colors. I was able to pull 2 prints on white cardstock. First a dark and then the lighter one. 

Each one has a different feel and look but I think paired together, they will look great!!

Enjoy the day and embrace the love!!

OLW: Wall Display Concept

I had a late night creative thought. I want to create a wall with my One Little Word. I plan on getting a huge number "1" for the wall from Crate & Barrel.  With hopes of stamping "little word" underneath the number. Then each year I will add a creative display of the word I have chosen.  

Last year I chose HEART. I love Kelly Barton's handwriting and birch pieces. So I found some birch pieces at Michaels and thought I'd give it a shot myself. 

Sketching in pencil. Using Neocolor II. Outlining in Scarlet Lime pen. 

Not sure how I will hang. Maybe ribbon..or maybe just put a mount on the back. But I love how it turned out. 

This year my word is HELLO. I purchased a fabulous feather from Rachael Rice which will be here sometime this month. Here are some she has already made:

The following links are where you can find the artists that inspired me with links to their Etsy shops. 

Kelly Barton. www.kellybarton.com

Rachael Rice. www.rachaelrice.com

STUDYING UNDER THE MASTERS:Matisse Part 1

Started a new online course "Studying Under the Masters" and am slowly getting through week one. The first artist to explore is Henri Matisse. And the first lesson involved creating patterns. 

A majority of the designs I created were taken from his artwork but there are a few random ones of my own. 

After sketching, I used Neocolors II for watercoloring. 

Each are different but give me a direction on which colors and designs I want to use for the next challenge. 

DIY: Juliette Crane Style

Meet my "Wild Flower."

DIY: Script Writing

Pulled out the bamboo brushes + ink and started practicing some script writing with Melissa. 

Kal Barteski is a fabulous script writer. Hence We used her work as inspiration to practice. Not to mention, she has super cute quote comments and affirmations. 

PINTEREST PROJECT: Photo Frame Collage

Once again, Pinterest got my wheels turning. I have several framed vintage (cheap not designer quality) art as well as artist paintings/prints and my own creations. 

(photo provided from this site )

I loved this concept so found the only free wall I had that popped out at a corner. Most others are concave. It is a small one near my window seat.

There was not much room on the walls so I had to do some rearranging of other frames and even use a third side wall. The concept of cutting sizes of frames in paper really helped. Only downfall I had was I forgot to put tape marking the top, so had to rematch the paper and  frames.

As you can see I try to keep the art exclusive to a few walls to avoid too much clutter. It's hard but I do try. 

This art wall is at the bottom of my stairwell. I love looking at it each morning when I get up. And below is on the stair wall next to the laundry closet. 

I did this late at night hence the bad lighting on the photos. 

After some rearranging of a few frames  my art corner is complete minus a few unfinished paintings. And I quite enjoy my take on the design.