Elegant Lily Cards

It's always exciting to discover a blog where the artist posts often and showcases beautiful and inspirational art.  It's even more exciting when this artist puts together great tutorials and videos.  Recently I found just this when I discovered Jennifer McGuire's blog.  It's definitely worth checking out!  About a month ago I fell in love with her card using the My Favorite Things Lily die.  You can see her video tutorial here.  

Since we were invited to my Mom's cousin's house for Easter Sunday, I decided it would be nice to give her a card.  (I'm always looking for an excuse to do something crafty!)  Here is the card I made using the My Favorite Things Lily die and Jennifer McGuire's tutorial.   

I always feel a bit sad when I make a beautiful card and then give it away on the same day.  I guess I really enjoy having a few days to admire my work.  Fortunately my iPhone allowed me to take some pictures so I can look back and remember the beauty.

I like orange flowers . . . but I like pink flowers even more!  I decided to make another lily card (that I will probably hang onto until Mother's Day) using some pink Copic markers.  I'm happy with how it turned out!  The little pink dots really made me love it!

I definitely could use a lesson and some practice in shading and layering colors with the Copic markers.  I'll have to add that to my list of classes to take!

Thanks for stopping by!

Tall Birds on a Mixed Media Background

A week or so ago I found a tutorial for Stenciled Coffee Filter Art on the Crafters Workshop blog.  I had some old coffee filters in the pantry so I went to work collaging and stenciling.  You know how sometimes you end up with a bunch of leftover paint after a project?  Well, I had some left over aqua and green paint that I couldn't waste so I grabbed my small art journal and sponged away.  I decided to follow the whole stenciled coffee filter process in my art journal.   I absolutely love the results!  I'm  sure the fact that these are my favorite colors has nothing to do with it!  Then I used my new StencilGirl Tall Birds stencil for the birds.  I colored the birds' bodies in with a few of my Faber-Castell Pitt Big Brush pens and stamped a swirly stamp through the stencil.

Here are the coffee filters I made.

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Gelli Printing With Green Pepper Press Masks

This past weekend I pulled out my Gelli Plate and did some gelli printing.  Oh my goodness!  Gelli printing is so much fun!  I think part of the fun is the surprise of not really knowing what you're going to get when you pull a print.  Then you can layer more and more paint onto the same print if you want.  The possibilities are endless!  And an endless source of fun it is!  

The stencils and masks that I used are from Green Pepper Press:  The Frond Collection.   I love them!  They are natural and organic and I think I will come up with many uses for them.

Do you have a Gelli plate?  Have you done any Gelli printing lately??

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Documented Life Project Planner Page and a Sweet 16 Birthday Card

Last week's Documented Life Project Planner challenge was to do something monochromatic - use shades, tints and hues of one color.  Here is what I came up with.  It's not green!  I decided that I would use different shades of blue.  I used my new Crafter's Workshop stencil called Retro Bursts.  I also used my new Tim Holtz Sizzix Frameworks Honeycomb die.  Along the left side I laid down
some deli paper cut into a scalloped pattern.  Around the rest of the edges I used blue washi tape with white stars.

All in all, I like the blue.   But I must confess . . . it's not near as much fun to create using just one color.   I really prefer to use lots of colors!

On Sunday my older daughter turned 16!  Wow!  This certainly felt like a big birthday.  Here is the card I made for her.  It was fast and fun!  I really like how the enamel dots coordinate well with the polka dot paper.

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Frilly and Funkie Challenge

I had so much fun entering a piece of my art into the Frilly and Funkie challenge last week that I decided I would participate again.  This week's challenge is called 'Flights of Fancy'.  You can read about it on the Frilly and Funkie blog here.  I was inspired to create some fun backgrounds using the techniques discussed in this Frilly and Funkie blog post.  After I applied some ink and paint and did some stamping on the background, I set out in search of all things pink that might fit in with the 'Flights of Fancy' theme.  Butterflies, birds, bees . . . anything with wings was fair game.  I was also trying to grab things that I felt fit in with this 'frilly' look and feel.  The tag below is what I created.  It's pretty busy and very pink!

A closer look.

Have you created anything frilly or funky lately?  

Thanks for reading!

A Birdcage in a Secret Garden

Here is an art journal spread in my large art journal that I completed almost a year ago.  In the back ground I used some self-adhesive drywall tape in the bottom corners.  I also used a piece of wide elastic lace across the top.  I painted it with gesso and then adhered it across the top before I laid down the background color.  I used a combination of die cut branches with leaves, stamps and a stencil to form the leaves/greenery hanging down from the top of the page.  I had fun adding the birdcage with the bird to this Secret Garden of sorts.

A close-up of the birdcage and bird.  The drywall tape and lace are also more visible in the background here.

I think it would be fun to create a Secret Garden themed journal page every couple of weeks.  It would also be fun to create a Pinterest board showcasing Secret Garden related art.  What would you include in your Secret Garden creation?

Thanks for reading!

A Mess of Greens and Blues

A close up of the stenciled feathers on canvas.

Last weekend I decided it had been too long since I'd used my Distress stains and Distress paints so I pulled them out.  Sometimes I really like to work in a messy but fun manner.  Other times I have more of a picture in my mind and I work in a more orderly fashion.  This was definitely a more messy day.

This spread in my small Dylusions art journal called for a lot of stenciling.  I used stencil after stencil after stencil and a few stamps.  I also used some washi tape around the edges and some small scraps of gelli printed deli paper.  In the end I decided I wanted to adhere these two stenciled feathers which I made using a Crafter's Workshop stencil called Fancy Feathers designed by Ronda Palazzari.  I stenciled them a few months ago onto some canvas material and hadn't yet incorporated them into a project . . . until now!  I also used some My Mind's Eye enamel dots that I've had sitting on my craft counter.  They add a fun bit of dimension.

As usual I adore this combination of aqua and lime green.  Nothing makes me smile more!

 Do you have a combination of colors that you like to go back to again and again??

The whole spread.

Thanks for reading!  Have a great weekend!