Put Bird On It

I finished the ATCs I made for the Put A Bird On It swap, on Sunday. Birds are really lovely but hard to draw, their little heads always give me trouble.. Well, for the most part they are pleasant, although I had a bird as a pet once and he drove me nuts with his squawk. Oh man, that was not wonderful.  I love the mourning doves that we have here, they coo-coo so beautifully!

 I also received an ATC for this swap already. I was so pleased with how beautifully made it was. Here are some shots of the ATCs I made:

ATC 1, mailed Monday

ATC 2, mailed Monday

I made cards to tuck the ATCs into

Here's the other card:)

This is the first of two that I receive. What a nice ATC and she sent some wonderful additional goodies!

Spring is almost here, I can just feel it. I am so looking forward to it this year. The winter was so mild that it will be nice when the fair weather is here once and for all, to stay for good. Have a fantastic day!

Small Steps Will Lead You There

When I paint realistic its more stressful to me than doing an abstract. I feel so much more relaxed when I paint abstracts. So that is my intention going forward. I am not going to stop my journalling and sketching but I feel this strong pull to paint much more intuitively. I need this in my life right now. I have so much going on with work, the new house and just things in general. I need to slow down, get meditating a little more/longer every day and stretchhhh :)

My son is back home and all is right in our house:) Joe took a mini vacation at Grandma and Grandpa's. He got to have a sleepover with his cousins. I know he loves going there and spending free time with the kids. Now that he's back the dog is a bit more settled. Poor Einstein was concerned about our missing child. And, boy, did Joey get a welcome home from the pooch. Very touching. I hope everyone has a wonderful, relaxing weekend. Take care:)

And I thought spring was on the way....

The flowers are in the shops and markets but it feels colder now than it did in December and January!

There are crocuses coming up earlier than I expected. The poor plants are confused:)

I'm a little disappointed that my swap-bot swap didn't go so well. I made my card and sent it but the person who was to send to me never did. Well, its my first time so I will give it another go. I signed up for an ATC swap related to birds. We'll see what happens with that one!

Daffodils -  I used Schminke paints and Arches text laid paper

But on the very bright side I received a wonderful package from Pat. She was so kind to mail me an envelope with goodies. What a nice friend! Thank you Pat you made my week! :)

I got to visit with my neice recently and she is a crafty, creative little artist. Emily and her girlfriend Brenin are so cute. They spend time doing crafts, drawing and such. I showed them the bunting I made for the valentine swap and right away they wanted to make one too! And they did. Unfortunately I left before they did but the girls did show me something that they had made together. At a previous visit, I shared Jenniebellie's YouTube channel and they got to work trying to make a journal. They told me the one they picked was too hard (they are 9 and 7) and instead of giving up came up with some wonderful little things! Just adorable.

the happy couple

bunny and pup

Well thanks goodness its Thursday, the weekend is almost around the corner! Work has been a hectic and this week has lasted for what seems like forever! That always happens when there is a day off in there. I hope to post more, the past few weeks I have been preoccupied running here and there. Take care everyone and hope all is well! Good night:)

Happy Valentine's Day

Back to the blog... I've been out of the loop. My uncle passed away last week and I have been with family, helping to celebrate my uncle's life. Art and internet have taken a backseat as can be expected. My aunt will sorely miss her sweetheart of 50+ years and I'll be thinking of her today with love.

Today I'm posting more images of the valentine I sent through last week for the swap I participated in. The person's profile indicated that they liked vintage pin-ups. It also said that she liked buntings. So I made a card set with bunting to hang.

The full image of the card

  

The bunting is shown in this shot :) The images of the girls are so cute. The pocket was made with a paper lunch bag! The bag folds up from the bottom to create front pocket. The edged top also opened up as that is the actual top of the lunch bag. I got the tutorial here, a link was posted by April Cole on her blog. Great timing!

I put the card in the front pocket and the back pocket held the folded bunting.

 Later I'll be searching swap-bot for another swap to join! I encourage anyone interested to try it out!

Speaking of swaps, I've received some terrific from April too!

We did a nice swap which she posted about too! Below are the wonderful ATCs she sent.

 April was so sweet to have sent TWO cards for the one I sent to her! Lucky me! :) 

 My sweetheart had a gorgeous bouquet delivered, and now I have fantastic subject matter to draw and paint. Lucky again :)

I hope everyone has a lovely Valentine's day.

If you can't be with the one you love, love the one your with.



Super Sunday




First Quarter



 Well, our Sunday night was an exciting and fun one for all of us. Our team won! 

I was able to do some sketching which I am so happy about.

I love capturing the events in our lives on paper.

I don't do it nearly as often as I could but when I do I am so glad. I sketched last year's game but produced only one page so I thought I would try to get in all fourth quarters...I was semi-successful.

No fear, there is always next year's game! And of course, all the days in between.  I've also posted some photos as well, below. 



second and third quarters

 

Duncan Hines extra dark chocolate cake. Delicious.



On the look-out

  

Yankee sleeps thru it all

  

Taking in the halftime show

Carl and legs

 

Dessert plate



   Have a good day and I'll be seeing you on the blogs this week:)



Happy Sunday - SUPERBOWL

Hope everyone is enjoying their Sunday!

Getting ready now to get over to our friend's home for SuperBowl Sunday:)) I'm bringing a salad. Hopefully I can stick close to that bowl, rather than the bowl with the chips:)

I hope the Giants get their win! Enjoy your day!

Valentine Swap

Here is a quick look at what I am working on.

It's my contribution to a Valentine's card swap I'm participating in. I am really excited to have found swap-bot.com! I found a link to it on April Cole's blog, it was the cute little envelope widget that caught my eye:) You have to check her blog out! April is always posting, along with her wonderful art,  interesting information! 

 The pocket I made for this project was also found on April's blog as well. It was made out of a paper lunch bag! Now I am on the hunt for paperbag projects:)

Now I'm off to visit an old friend. Oh, happy day!!

Have a wonderful Saturday:)