Eye Think Eye'm Addicted...

Here are a few more sketches of eyes...

...this will be it for a while so that I can actually get some of my favourite drawings done in thread sketches.

Oh Baby, You're Hard to Capture!

As I said in last Wednesday's post, I think I prefer drawing older, wrinkled people's eyes, but I wanted to capture some babies and children too.  I'm finding them so much more challenging with their perfect, smooth skin.  I just don't have as much to draw to get their mood on the paper.

January Complete...February Spread Ready to Go...

I've finished all of the little vignettes in my January calendar and I've got February set up and I've started to fill in the first few days.

My February dailies are going to be black and white sketches and or text so that the only colour on the page will be the various pinks, reds and purples that you see now.

Now In Colour!

A little while back I showed you what I was up to in my art journal.  I've been back at it, and have now added colour to the pages using Tombow markers.  I love the wonderful watercolour effects you can achieve with these fabulous markers!

I was occasionally having an issue with bleed through to the back of the page (when I used heavier layers of colour), but I've come up with a solution.  I first tried clear gesso, applying it after the black marker work was done (and completely dry!), but it added a bit more 'tooth' than I wanted.  I guess I could have lightly sanded it, but instead I tried using matte medium.  That works beautifully!  It still gives the page a slight texture, but that adds some extra interest to the page (in my humble opinion).

I'm really loving Joanne Sharpe's "Draw Your Awesome Year" online class.  I'm learning a lot of new ideas and trick to improve my drawing and art journalling.  It's not too late to sign up...all of her classes are 'forever access' too which means you can keep going back and reviewing the lessons as you begin each new year!  How awesome is that!

I've never considered myself much of a 'drawer', but I am really enjoying this process!  What a great way to build my skills. 

Another Media in My Art Arsenal...

Last weekend, Dime and I went to a cupcake decorating class.  It is the first of two that were part of my birthday present from my wonderful husband.










Dime was wonderful!  It turns out I was the only one who had packed a Kong with peanut butter into my decorating 'kit'!  Of course I was also the only one of the 6 participants who brought a dog. ;o)

After he enjoyed his Kong treat/play, he just curled up on his blanket and slept.







I've discovered that I love decorating cupcakes...who knew!  It is just another wonderful artistic outlet, and a tasty one at that!  Here are close ups of my first creations:

A simple rose...

I couldn't resist adding some of my little swirls and dots!

How adorable is this for Easter?

Is it just me, or should this one have another 'flower' in this top right area?

The 'balloon strings' were an after thought, better positioning of the little hearts would make them look more like balloons...next time.

 Yup, there are those swirls again!

I love how elegant this one looks.  It would be perfect for a wedding don't you think? 

And of course I had to play with some text...

We'll have to hurry up and eat these so I can make more!  Thank goodness my husband and I like our dessert!

What Do You Do When You Have No Pockets?

Although pockets tend to inform my shopping to some extent, a few of my clothes don't seem to have them. Although I can't be bothered carrying a lot around with me, I do need somewhere to keep my iPhone, a bit of cash and maybe my Visa card and my keys.

On Monday, I showed you a 6 inch square of my rust dyed fabric that I had embellished using Michelle Ward's stencil design and some hand stitching, and I promised to show you how I was going to use it.  Well, it has become a tiny little pocket/bag!

I created the bag using a simple pattern idea from Jane Davila, which I altered to suit my personal needs. The 6 inch hand stitched square was bound with the same fabric that creates the accents by the zipper and the inside lining.  This creates an open front pocket in addition to the one compartment within the bag.  I couldnt' find a strap that I was happy with, so I made my own by combining some Blue trim and a bit of copper coloured 'rope' trim.

Blog Hop Featuring Michelle Ward's All New StencilGirl Designs

Today's blog hop is really exciting...the creative team at StencilGirl is creating with brand new stencil designs by Michelle Ward.  These stencils are just being made available to you for the first time today and we've been asked to keep them a secret until today's reveal!

Ta da!  Here they are...you can click on the images for links if you want to start shopping right now...(I'm thinking all 4 of them would work so well together in some surface design for art quilting!), but... 

maybe you'd like to see how I used 'RIPPLES' first (that's the second one in the top row, with the wonderful concentric circles).

I started with a piece of rust dyed fabric that I made several months ago and I traced the entire stencil onto the fabric using pencil. I often 'take stencils apart' and only use bits here and there in my design, but for what I'm planning Michelle's composition is perfect just as it is!

I outlined the pencil lines using three strands of blue DMC floss and a simple running stitch.  A finer variegated taupe/blue thread was used to outline the background areas in the same manner. 

I filled the background areas using French knots and seed stitches. I switched back to the DMC, this time using a single strand and began filling the circles in with straight stitches. A single strand of a rust coloured floss was used to add additional stitches in the areas between the 'rings'. 

Here are a couple of close ups of the stitching:

  

 

I'll back on Wednesday to show you how I used this little six inch piece of stitching. Until then, enjoy the rest of the hop!

Great news...StencilGirl has a giveaway! 

All comments left on the hop are eligible for the giveaway so 

the more blogs you comment on, the more chances you will have to win. 

Have fun and GOOD LUCK!

The giveaway will close on Friday, January 31th at 11:59PM Central Time. 

Please note:  I have discovered that blogger will only allow/show 200 comments, including my relpies so as much as I love to leave personal thank yous to each of you, I have stopped replying to make sure your comment shows up and therefore gets entered in the draw.  Please know I appreciate all of your thoughtful words!

Blog Hop Order

StencilGirl Talk

Michelle Ward

Mary Beth Shaw

Linda Kittmer-You are here!

Julie Snidle - Hop to see Julie next please...

Judy Shea

Leslie Tucker Jenison

Carolyn Dube

Mary C. Nasser

Janet Joehlin

Kirsten Reed

Maria McGuire

Drawings and Doodles...

I've been doing a lot of drawings and doodles in my 2014 art journal and I'm loving it.  I feel like I'm starting to find my drawing style and I'm becoming more confident in my hand drawn lettering too!  Thanks to the great inspiration from Joanne Sharpe, I'm learning some great, and manageable ways to record the highlights of my year.  They say a picture is worth a thousand words...well, I think doing these little 'dailies' and vignettes as tiny drawings is more my style than just writing!

I've had a great few days drawing my imagery with pencil and then tracing with a permanent black pen.

I'll show you these again once I get them all coloured.  I'm planning to use my Tombow markers and a water brush to get a pretty watercolour effect.  We'll see if I achieve what I'm picturing in my mind... ;o)