I went to the paper crafting class last night at the Newton Public Library. It was really nice! Susan and Andrea were very pleasant company to play around with. The Hour and a half session was just long enough to finish a fun vignette project. It was pretty easy, really, and I may spend a little time and put together a tutorial for it. It will be fun to try, because I have never done a published tut before.

Anyway, here are a couple of photos of what I did last night.

It is made from old map book pages for the frames and gussets. The grass is from a children's french primer. The instruments are from a reproduction of the 1908 Sears catalog and the figure is from an old book with pictures of 18th century clocks. It was supposed to be an Easter vignette, but I just couldn't resist this banjo playing darling! Trust me when I tell you that the pictures just don't do it justice!

If you are interested in a tutorial, leave me a comment and let me know! :)

Good Morning! I am here today solely to spread peanut butter...erm...love.

My blogger friend Holley Barnhart does this thing every February. She celebrates life, and the love of art! She had a very debilitating condition, and some years ago went through a dangerous proceedure to correct it! I admire her courage greatly! Instead of celebrating just one day in February, she celebrates the whole month!

What she does specifically is this. She posts beautiful inspiring photos of her fabulous work every day in February and draws names from the comments left on the posts. To the names drawn she sends fantastic envelopes full of wonderful goodies! It's kinda like Christmas all over again!

I make it a point to check up on holleybarnhartsblog.blogspot.com almost every day, but during February I just can't wait to see the next post! It's so much fun to watch the list of winners grow, and to read the comments of excitement and anticipation everyone leaves! Even if my name were never drawn again, I would visit just for that!

My name was drawn a few times this year. I am so thrilled! It is so exciting to anticipate a surprise. And it is always a surprise! She never just puts the prize in the envelope and calls it good. Nooo...she stuffs that envelope so full of stuff it practically BURSTS out when you open it!

My package arrived yesterday! I took a photo of the contents, and will share it now.

It contained a few sheets of rub-ons, which I really love to use! They are fun to transfer onto projects! There are a couple of sheets of word stickers...they will come in VERY handy! Washi tape...I have an ongoing LOVE AFFAIR with Washi tape. I can't seem to get enough of it and I use it all the time! Some teeny tiny gems in a box...they will be fun to use too. There is also a beautiful stamp with a butterfly that says 'Every possibility begins with the courage to imagine'. I love it! There is a whole pile of string wrap closures, and I am very excited about those! I have always created those myself, and I am looking forward to seeing what they are actually supposed to look like! She drew my name for a grand prize again this year too! It is a beautiful book making template from c-thru Ruler company! I will use the heck out of that! I have already promised a sweet little boy in my neighborhood a new story book just for him! Finally...last but most touching...Holley sent me 3 chunks of beautiful LACE! I don't know if it is from her famous Istanbul stash or not, but it is very pretty, and I am excited to use some!

Thank you so much Holley! I am so happy to celebrate another year with you, and so thankful for the beautiful gifts! May you celebrate many more years, and give away mountains of delicious goodies to your followers!

Hi there!

I don't know that I will ever become a full fledged blogger, but I am going to try to post stuff here now and then. So now that that is out of the way....

Have you all seen the 'NEW' adult coloring books yet? They seem to be everywhere! I have seen them in the grocery store even! They are a bit on the pricey side, but if you shop around, you can find some that are a little less so.

I received a couple of these for Christmas and love them! I got a few more for my birthday, and love them even more! There are so many choices! I soon discovered that I personally prefer the books with the picture one one side of the page only. I like to use watercolor paint, and markers, and sometimes they tend to bleed through. That really stinks if you like the image on both sides of the page.

I have also discovered that the type of image that appeals to me at a given time depends entirely on if I have a plan for it already or not. The above image I painted specifically for an Artist Trading Card swap I participated in using Coloring pages for ATC backgrounds. 

This last one was just a random time killer. It turned into a coloring nightmare sort of though...I ran out of colors to finish all the intricate details with. So I spent 11.50 and got a slew of markers just for coloring books. Sigh... I stuck it and another time killer into one of my art journals. They will make great backgrounds.

That brings up an interesting question...what do you do with the pages once you have finished them? I have used 5 sheets for art backgrounds now, and one I have finished will be gracing the wall in my moms room I hope. 

I think most of mine will wind up parts of other artwork. What do you do with yours?

I'm looking forward to your answers!