art from the well

yesterday someone asked me whether there were any highlights to 2010 for me.  i realized that a big highlight has been joining the world of bloggers and engaging with this generous, talented community of people.  thanks so much to all of you for all you do and i wish everyone a glorious 2011!

ooo-wee gang this year is just about gone.  i'm just savoring these final days of 2011 and making a note to be more mindful in the coming year.  i've had what i'll call a luxury this month.  because i had surgery at the beginning of the month i've been off work all of december.  although the early part of the month i wasn't up and about, since then i've had the opportunity to read a lot, laze about, enjoy my family, make things and think about how to have more sanity in my life once i return to the busyness that awaits me in january.  we've also had a number of ups and downs this month and i'm grateful i've had the space to deal with each thing in a more relaxed way.  thus my hopeful pledge is to make more time for art, for meditation, for kindness and for patience in the new year.  i've also decided to do the "52 prompts for 2011."

i learned about this via stunning artist dale anne potter's wonderful blog http://daleannepotter.com/blog/ and she got it from emily falconbridge's fabulous blog http://embers.typepad.com/.   if you are interested you can download the 52 questions for 2011 from daleanne's blog here http://daleannepotter.com/blog/page/4/.  or try this: http://daleannepotter.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/52-Prompts-for-2011.pdf. as an example, the question for the first week is "list something you are proud of", the next week is "what is powerful to you?"  you respond to the questions by doing an artful journal page or a tag or ATC or whatever fits your fancy. dale anne's blog is full of lovely examples, i've followed her 52 answers all this year. so i'm planning to play along and we'll see how it goes. this will be challenging as i've got to both decide the answer and deliver the answer artfully.  like i said, we'll see!


'til then here are 2 more new years cards to share.  again we've got 2 different cards utilizing the same image from http://twistedpapers.com/. i also did a layer on both cards with the "marker tapping" technique from the good technique junkies newsletter. http://www.techniquejunkies.com/.  the green splotches on the background of the second card are just random ink pad splotches, nothing unusual.  the rest of the embellishments are from the all-familiar stash.  since i was a little slow with the christmas cards i'm having fun sending out new year cards.

enjoy, and love to all.

hello all.  i hope everyone is well and happy and being safe in the winter weather.  i came across a sketch challenge at the technostamper sithttp://technostamper.blogspot.com/2010/12/monday-lunchtime-sketch-challenge-154.htmle  and decided to try the sketch for one of my new year cards.  i also noticed that sweet pea stampers had an "anything goes" challenge at http://sweetpeastampschallenge.blogspot.com/ so i am entering this card in both challenges.  it is on a 6x6 brownish card stock with various delicious papers from my stash to make the sketch design.  the focal image is a sweet pea stamp designed by Ching Chou Kuik.  i colored the stamped image with markers primarily but then filled in the skin tone and background with colored pencils. the saying came from the same Ching Chou Kuik stamp.  a flower and a couple other embellishments seemed called for...  so here she is.  please enjoy.  and of course i wish the blessing to all!  along with... love to all.

now it is time to make new year cards and thank you cards!  here are two cards using the same image from http://twistedpapers.com/.  the first one is glued onto some fancy colorful card stock (came from a card kit, origin unknown) and embellished with a butterfly and flourish from a pack of goodies obtained from http://www.alphastamps.com/.  the second is on simple white card stock with a blue card stock layer.  this one is simply embellished with a very sparkly raised butterfly sticker.  i hope to mail these out shortly.  more to come soon!
love to all.

look here http://www.alphastamps.com/blog/?p=1086 because every day starting today and until january 2 there is another chance to win gorgeous goodies from alphastamps. these products will make you drool artfully -- which is the best way to drool.  enjoy and love to all!

greetings.  another of my favorite christmas images is the wise men bearing gifts.  here are two cards with wise men.  focal images are from twisted papers with various papers from the stash including an odd bit of wrapping paper, k &company borders and bo bunny papers.  oh, and a hero arts sparkling star.  enjoy.
love to all.

thanks for all the nice messages about our loss.  i got back last night from california.  DH will be back in a few days.  it was his dear mother who passed away.  although we are so sad about it she was very ill and was suffering.   it was very good to be together with all the family.  i was also lucky that we could stop in to visit my dear grandmother.  she fell and broke her hip right after thanksgiving and it has been a terrible time for her as well.  but she is in rehab and although it was dicey at first she is now doing wonderfully and has even taken a few steps.  so onward.

i guess all my christmas cards will arrive late but hopefully they will be well-received.  peace on earth is one of my favorite holiday messages.  these two cards feature the same image from twisted papers, just layered and embellished with different little treats. 

enjoy.  love to all.

 

more holiday cards!  these two santa cards both feature images from http://www.twistedpapers.com/.  my son said these reminded him of a classic coke advertisement. anyway one has a border from k & company along with a "merry christmas" message that i removed from a commercial christmas card received long ago.  the other has a background layer of paper from making memories, a small bit of the same border used on the other card and the merry christmas message is a rub-on. i'll be off line for a few days as i sadly have to travel to a funeral. there is no good time to lose a beloved family member.  all we can do is gather together in love to remember that person and all the good she brought to our lives.  she was in pain and now she is released from it.

more cards next week.  love to all.

good day all, here are a couple of goodies employing techniques from technique junkies http://www.techniquejunkies.com/.  technique junkies is the place to go if you want to learn a huge number of techniques to make your cards more interesting and fun.  the bi-monthly newsletter is a total treat.  some techniques are easy-peasy and others take a little more effort.  two of these fall into the latter category because they required a lot of cutting and adhering. 
i've done the pinwheel technique before but i thought it would be nice for a christmas card.  usually you stamp on every other layer but i had this lovely textured gold paper from  https://www.papertemptress.com/  and i thought stamping would be too much.  the image below the pinwheel is from http://twistedpapers.com/.  gobs of delicious images there for your artwork.

the other card uses the new brick wall technique.  i was able to eliminate some of the labor by using a punch -- but i couldn't find a rectangular one so i used a square punch and then cut the squares in half!  anyway the snowflake stamp is from rubber moon and the "merry christmas" stamp is unknown. the paper that i stamped the images on was actually one of those pale white opaque envelopes you get from the post office when you buy stamps.  i thought that would be something a little different.  both stamped images are embossed in platinum.

finally the wise men image (also from twisted papers) is layered on a sheet employing the fossil stone technique.  if you've visited this blog before it may give you a chuckle because i made a huge amount of fossil stone in that red and pink and it has shown up in several cards.  i think i've used the last of it now.  the shiny snowflakesare from hero arts.

wishing lots of holiday joy; love to all.

yesterday i got my entry in for vicki's "here comes santa" challenge just before that challenge closed.  and now i'll enter her next challenge "o holy night" on day one.  cool!  http://cheerfulstamppad.blogspot.com/.  vicki asks us to depict the true meaning of Christmas in our entries.  the central image on this card is from a painting by Marianne Stokes entitled "madonna and child."  i received this little image in the mail along with a request for a donation to a local charity i support.  it was so lovely i also scanned it so i can use it again.  the expression on her face is so sublime, i just love it.  the base cardstock is a very shiny beautiful gold and the red layer is from a small sheet of opaque red paper i had laying around.  on the actual card you can sort of see the gold thru the red.   there are little graphite pearls on three corners. the butterfly is a clip art from stampington and co.  i liked it because of the color match but more importantly because the message of the butterfly is tranformation.  deep in the meaning of Christmas is the call to be transformed -- to living with a heart of love.  i think about this a lot in a world that sometimes seems fueled on hatred.  the reason i always end my posts with "love to all" is because that is my wish. so enjoy the card.  and to vicki -- hey, i made15 cards yesterday!

love to all...

vicki at cheerful stamp pad has a dual challenge right now. you can pick "here comes santa" or "twas the night before christmas"  http://cheerfulstamppad.blogspot.com/


i've chosen "here comes santa" and here he is. i call this post "odd bits" because this is yet another bits and pieces creation. the santa and the ribbon were both "harvested" from previously received commercial christmas cards (2 different ones). pale green cardstock makes the base with a darker green layer from the stash and the printed layer from who knows where. the "joy" is a rub on.

this is the first christmas card i made this year!
love to all.

hello friends, after way too long away. i had surgery on the 3rd and was down for the count for awhile. now that i'm feeling up to moving around and creating i've made many christmas cards today. before i start sharing from my new batch of goodies i want to share something that came from a friend. thanks to the wonderful world of facebook and art blogging i rediscovered an old high school buddy, Megan, who is quite an artist and blogger. what a treat to find an old friend who has a similar passion to mine! she sent me some goodies in the mail and i'd love to direct you to her blog:  http://peacockpaperie.blogspot.com/ to see her many creations. she's a major cricut and copic expert. she sent me this beautiful "hello" card and also this "moulin for michele" (as she named it) ATC. gorgeous huh?

enjoy, and love to all.