You are special

Hubby took my on a date last weekend. We ate dinner then went to a place called As You Wish

I had so much fun. It was hard decided what to paint, but in a stroke of genius I remembered something my husband did growing up. His family had a dinner plate that said "You are special". You got to eat off the plate when it was your birthday, when football team you played on took state, had a hard test and you Aced it, got straight A's, rocked a piano recital, what ever! All of my in laws LOVE that plate. It was a big deal at their house and I decided to make our family a "You are special" plate.

Hubby made a small square vase to remember our time in AZ 2005-2012. Here is a view of the front

Here is the back.

The Last Present

If you are my mom, STOP READING NOW!!!! You don't want to ruin your Christmas surprise:)

Here is a free "no peeking" tag I whipped up on photo-shop.

I feel like I can finally relax. I finally checked off finished the last present for Christmas. I am super excited because this one has been a long time in the making.

I have been working on this for about......... 1 1/2 years;) Here it is Nov of 2009.















Here it is finally finished and ready to be shipped to my mom (not a great picture because I used my cell). She has been extremely patient with me. I didn't know what to give her for Christmas this year. In a stroke of genius I realized I could give her the painting. So, I buckled down and finished it last night. Hubby had the week off so I worked on it every day this past week. It is now officially in the mail.

I've Been Framed

I finally framed the art I did for my son:) It took me awhile to get it done because I was busy doing other things. I still need to frame the art I did for my daughter:)

Take a look:

Space Exploration
medium: colored pencil

P.S.
I really love doing art so if you NEED something for your home, let me know and we could work something out.

$5 Challenge

Living with Lindsay has laid the gantlet down. She has challenged all crafters to make a craft for $5 or less from any $1 store. Find out more HERE.
I got my creative mind to work and came up with this really great wall decor~

I got three 11 X 14 frames.

2 packets of stickers (I forgot to take a picture before I took the stickers off:) for a grand total of $5!!!!! YEAH!

I had this from an art class I took. it's 18X24

Using the paper from the frame, I traced and cut out the rectangle to fit the frames from the water color paper.

I just squirted some water color paint onto the paper.

 













Using a lot of water on my brush, I just smeared it all over the paper. Just keep dipping your paint brush into the water and it will glide smoothly over your paper. The more paint you use the darker it gets.

Here is what it looked like when I was done.

I didn't like the yellow with the stickers so I changed it to blue and green.

Here are my rectangles drying.

I just slapped on the stickers where ever I fancied. I put 'hula girl', but I think a girls name would be just as cute.

 

It needed something, so I printed these off my computer for some inspiration.

 

Then, using colored pencils, I free handed it onto the pages. Some swirls and leaves.

I sprayed this over the whole thing because I didn't want it to smear. Plus, this will protect the art.

Using water color makes the paper dry bumpy, so I placed lots of books on it to flatten the pages out.

I painted the frames hot pink and put the pictures in. Wallah! $5 art work!

Art

I have been really into looking at art. I wish I had a few pieces, but we are paying off student loans, so that is a wish for now!

A classic!


Wish I could be there.....


Does this make you want to relax?


Gorgeous


Ditto!


What is she pondering?


I found this and I am wondering if it's just me and my husband's profession, but what does this look like to you?

I seriously think it looks like an ovary and egg, but it could just be me.

Can you feel the cold air, the trill of speeding down a snow covered hill?


Do you think he will get the cheese?

I just wanted to pose these questions for you.... to lighten your moods and get you thinking about art. You can never have too much of it!

My Art Show

Ladies and Gentleman come one come all! Put your hands together for the world renown artist, the one, the only, B-dowg!!!!

The following medium is color pencil: Enjoy


This is "A Wonder Land" I did for my niece. She is really excited about it! I just kind of got a few inspirations off the internet and then went to town.


This is "The Puppy" This is my first ever attempt at color pencil. I copied it from a card I had. Don't compare them too closely because it's not perfect, but I'm pleased with the results.


This is the card I copied it from. I used a grid and just went square by square.


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This is the picture framed. I thought my sister picked out a great frame for it. My nephew carries all around because he loves it so much!

Water Color Portrate

I saw this idea at Craftsters and decided to give it a whirl. I didn't have a light box, so I made my own! I just took a piece of glass out of a frame that I wasn't using. I cut myself on the edge, so I recommend putting tape around the edges to protect yourself!


I just pulled my table apart and put the piece of glass over it. Put a lamp underneath the glass and WALLAH! A free light box!


Tape the glass and the paper down. I needed my light a little closer, so I just propt it up with some boxes.


I used adobe photoshop and turned my photos black and white. If you are using this program the easiest way to do that is to open your photo, press D. Then at the top go to (Filter-Sketch-Stamp).


I would like this better if I had shaped her face better and used better colors. Oh well. This was my test run #1!

Test run #2. Better, but I still am learning with the colors. Hhhhmmmm any suggestions!?!

An Array of Crafts

I took these photos and never posted them. I did some applique onesies for some friends having baby boys! They turned out really cute! I got the patterns for the guitar and tie from 'Trey and Lucy'. The rocket ship and octopus patterns are from 'Crap I've Made'


If you google bath bombs, there are a million cites that have a recipe for them. I decided to try my hand in making some for a 'Thank you' present. I just used cookie cutters and napkin rings for my molds. (Tip: make sure to take them out of the mold within a few minutes.) I waited and it was really hard to remove the mold and some wouldn't even come out.




I made these flowers for a friend. She wanted some cute hair barrettes for her 3 year old.


Medium: color pencils.
I did this for my nephews. I got some ideas off of Rosenberry Rooms. They turned out really cute.