Is It Spring yet???

I am so sick of rain and gray skies. I know most of the country is being slammed with more snow and I truly feel for you all!  It seems like winter is really pushing the limits of what we can handle this year.

Thank goodness it is March and spring is just around the corner!

I am still playing with my Cricut almost every day. (and seriously debating as to whether I need the new Cricut Explore or not)

Last time I shared my 'in progress' Art Nouveau hummingbird project. Well, that is done now. 

I mounted the bird and flowers on maroon cardstock (I cannot tell you how many colors I debated over until, with hubby's help, I decided on this maroon). I cut the shape from the Elegant Edges cartridge. Then, after another exhaustive search for another background color (pink), I decided I needed a 'shadow' layer of white to break it up. The pink is also cut from Elegant Edges. Such a great cartridge!

 

 

 

I honestly think it is the weather! My artistic muse seems to have gone into hibernation so I am extremely thankful for my Cricut and all my cartridges! I want to create and yet cannot put pencil to paper and have anything show up.

So, waking up yesterday morning with the urge to create and nothing flowing from my fingers, I grabbed the Pet Shop cartridge and made this little card. (actually it hasn't technically been mounted on a card yet so maybe I should call it a portrait?)

 

I welded the Shih Tzu with a frame from Elegant Edges. I then built the puppy right on the frame. This is a portrait of Molly, the little fur baby of my friend Crystal. Notice the frame and background are the same colors as my hummingbird backgrounds. I am all about using up my scraps! I keep them all sorted by color in gallon ziplock bags so I can rummage through them quickly to find what I need.  :-)  The background was embossed with Darice's Paw Print background folder and then I rubbed it with an ancient ColorBox pigment stamp pad in Frost White. Do they even make those anymore? I think I need to hunt for a re-inker, this poor thing is a tad on the dry side.

 

And finally, last weekend, my friend Mary came over and was checking out my Cricut storage system and my cartridges and fell in love with Teddy Bear Parade. I can't blame her, it one of the most adorable cartridges out there...assuming you love teddy bears, which I do!  So, I just had to make a bear! And seeing how Easter is coming up soon (although I am not sure of the date yet and really need to check my calendar!) I made this adorable 'bunny'.

Now, I have been painting for over 30 years and if you ever saw my fence post pumpkins or egg Santas (I am pretty sure they are way back in the ancient history of my blog lol) you will see that I have been painting cutsie eyes for decades.....so why did I never think to paint them on my cuts? It took seeing a couple of them on the internet to give me one of those V8 moments! Duh!!!

The eyes are painted with acrylics, all shading was done with either pencils or chalks.

Happy Sunday! Keep warm and dry and try to find some creative time....even if you let a machine do half the work  :-)