Buzz Buzz Buzz

I woke up bright and early at 6:30 am on a Saturday. It was not entirely my idea, the cats were demanding breakfast. But that’s ok, I had been trying to find time to get back to my Dina Wakely Media journal.

I knew I wanted to work on the kraft paper and bees kept coming to mind.

I put down a layer of color using Gelatos (Butter Cream, Kiwi, and Aqua Dolce) and Scribble Sticks (Tangerine, Ruby, and Night) I blended these with a Gelatos blending stump.

I then stamped a honeycomb design randomly over the page using KaiserCraft’s Honeycomb clear stamp and Distress Ink, Walnut Stain.  I thought I took pictures of just the background with the stamps but I can't find them in my files. :-(

My next step was to spray a layer of Krylon’s Workable Fixatif. My hope was that this would keep the Distress Ink and Gelatos from fading away when I added my layer of gel medium. (it worked pretty well, I had very minimal bleed/fade in the Distress Ink and no noticeable color change in the Gelatos)

I applied Golden’s Gel Medium (soft gel, semi gloss) with a palette knife and set it aside to dry. It can take several hours for the gel to dry completely. Let it set and dry on it’s own and it dries clear. Dry it with a heat tool and it dries with a milky cast.

Once the gel medium was dry, I rubbed on some Snow Cone and Watermelon Gelatos on top. I then brushed these places with water to make the color move down between the gel medium hexagons. I then, while still wet, wiped the excess color off the gel medium areas.

You can see the base colors and stamped lines under the clear hexagons.

I applied some more gel medium ‘honeycombs’ to capture a bit of these new colors. The gel is partially dry in the picture below.

I drew the queen with Prismacolor pencils (Dark Brown, Peach, Light Peach, Black, White, Tuscan Red and Violet) the highlight in her eye is white acrylic paint. Her hair is a mixture of Prismacolor pencils (Black and Dark Brown) and Scribble Sticks (Black and Lemon). Her crown is Scribble Sticks (Lemon, Tangerine and Black). I ended up going back over her crown with Prismacolor pencils (Black, Canary Yellow and Spanish Orange) to make is show up a bit more. I colored in between the gel hexagons that overlap her face, with black Prismacolor, to make them stand out.

I found a photo of a honey bee online. I resized it and added 3 of them to my page. The largest is about ¾ of an inch. I then colored the edges with Dark Brown Prismacolor to tone down the brightness of the body and the whiteness of the wings.

I am debating back and forth as to whether it is finished. Part of me wants text or scribbles along the left side. Part of me says don’t mess this up lol

Thanks for stopping by!

**Update

I added bits of text using Distress Ink, Walnut Stain and a rubber stamp from Non Sequitur from a stamp plate that I bought maybe 20 years ago. If you have a choice, always by red rubber stamps! They will last a life time!!! 

As always...Happy Crafting!

I love long weekends!

I got off work early on Friday and being Presidents Day weekend I don't have to go back to work until Tuesday!  I've had a lot of fun!

Did you know that February 16th was Chinese New Year? I did but I forgot that when I made my blog post on Friday. 

They had a local parade and celebration here on Saturday. The hubby and I debated about going and opted to stay home....mostly because I had been up since 6 working on a spread in my journal and didn't want to leave lol

This is in Dina Wakely's Media journal. 

I first put down some gel medium through a stencil. I then used acrylic paints in reds, yellows and oranges. I also added  Dina's paints in Turquoise and Cheddar. I wiped the wet paint off the stenciled areas.

There are some bits of newspaper (in Chinese) from a Sunday paper I picked in San Francisco over 10 years ago. It comes in handy when I need Chinese text (although I have no idea what it says....these bits are from the ad section)

The rubber stamp is from, I believe, StoneHouseStamps. I colored her with alcohol markers. The shadow on her right side was done with black Scribble Stick.

I drew and painted the lanterns. I tried to make them look like they are glowing.

I then borrowed a technique I saw in a video from Kristin Van Valkenburgh. Spread some gel medium on the page, let it start to set up and get tacky then lay down some foil. (The foil you use in the Minc.) When the gel medium is dry, pull up the foil and bits of it are stuck to the gel. I used it on the lanterns quite a bit and then little bits all over. I love how it turned out!



Today I was able to get back to my journal again.

I have been wanting to draw one of these Slender Horned Gazelles ever since I saw them on an episode of The Zoo a couple weeks ago.  

This is on a kraft paper page in my journal. I drew and colored the gazelle with Prismacolor pencils.

I painted yellow and brown acrylics on the right side and stenciled over top with DW media paints Turquoise and Cheddar.

I rubbed Distress Inks on the left and stenciled again with Turquoise and Cheddar.

I used Scribble Sticks for the sky in Night, Blackberry and Magenta. I brushed it with water to blend then stenciled dark blue acrylic over top.

In case you are wondering, there are less than 2500 Slender Horned Gazelles left in the wild. :-(

And I also finally had time to work in my Bullet Journal. Continuing with the March theme of ... In like a Lion, Out like a Lamb ... I drew Mufasa from Disney's The Lion King. I printed the images of Simba because I just couldn't draw him that small.

My daily 'blocks' are based on African shields. As I look at it now I may need to add some color along the edge of my left page. Hmm.

That covers my long weekend. I wish I had more art time and less work time but I guess I should be thankful since the work time pays for all the supplies I use during the art time. :-)

So, until I get more art time....Happy Crafting!

The Ground Hog Saw His Shadow

I feel bad for the rest of the country. Six more weeks of winter! Ugh!  But here in the Pacific Northwest, at least where I live, we haven't really had winter this year. It got cold (into the 20's at night) a couple times. But no snow, no freezing rain. Heck, I've only worn a coat 3 times this winter!  Maybe by having six more weeks Mother Nature might actually get around to sending us some of the white fluffy stuff....just so we can say we had some. :-)

But for the friends and family back east, I'm sorry. Bundle up, burrow in and stay safe and warm.

I always have a hard time getting back into the crafting groove after the holidays but this year, since I started Bullet Journaling, I seem to be more on track. I guess that is kind of the point of the Bullet Journal lol.

I have a couple more spreads to share with you today.

Here is my Valentine week spread. I wrote "Love Notes" in a Mickey style font and then created day spaces to mimic notes and cards tacked onto a bulletin board.

The mailbox holds my To Do list.

I drew Mickey, Minnie and Pluto with a Sharpie pen and colored them with Inktense pencils.

I've started setting up my March pages. Here is my title page and the first (partial) week of March.

I drew and colored the lion with Prismacolor pencils. I stamped "March" with my Kelly Creates month stamps and added the geometric boarders with Prismacolor pencils.

I continued the geometric theme on the daily page.

Here is a close up of the lion. I just noticed that I never went in and added the white highlight dots to his eyes (I use white acrylic paint to do that). 

And now to projects that my journal helped me get done on time...

My niece has a birthday coming up. Due to my post holiday funk I am always late mailing it out (just like my nephew's cards in January)

Not this year, card done and mailed! WooHoo!

I used a base card from a set of cards I picked up at Michaels. I got the idea from Ken at Ken's Kreations.  Michaels sells sets of cards, 80 cards with envelopes. 4.25 x 5.5. They come in patterns or plain and a multitude of colors. They go on sale all the time for something like $3 for a box. $3 for 80 cards and 80 envelopes! I can't make them for that! They make a great base. All I need to do is add the goodies on top. 

The trellis background is a die from Anna Griffin's heart die set from a couple years ago. 

The stamp is Winnie from Polkadoodles called Teacup full of wishes. 
I colored her with alcohol markers then used dip dotted white acrylic paint to highlight the ruffle on her collar and hem of her dress. The cupcake wrapper is colored with copper and gold gel pens.

My college roommate just had a birthday (ok, so I didn't get this made in time but I did get it made lol)

I convinced her to start virtual racing with me. She has already completed two 5k races and has started a 77 mile race!  Go Helen!  

I made her this sign to display her medals. After the photo, hubby added hooks across the bottom and hangers on the back. :-)

I used vinyl as my stencil to paint the lettering and mermaids. I painted the edges then wiped off the paint while still wet to give the edge a beachy, faded paint feel.

I really like how this turned out. I think it is my favorite sign so far. I was tempted to keep it and make another one for her.....but I didn't. I mailed it. I hope she likes it as much as I do.


And lastly...

I wanted a new sleep shirt but I also wanted to play with HTV (heat transfer vinyl)
I purchased a blank t-shirt at Walmart for around $4.

I thought the saying was so appropriate for me lol

That wraps up this blog post. I received my Dina Wakely Media journal the other day and have been playing around with one of the burlap pages. I will share that with you next time.

Until then stay warm and Happy Crafting!

We are officially halfway

Can you believe it is already July? I told hubby last night that I think I need to start Christmas shopping. lol

Summer is probably my least favorite season. I am not a hot weather loving person. I prefer the spring and fall temperatures. I tend to sort of shut down as the heat rises which makes the Index Card a Day challenge an actual 'challenge'.

It was a struggle to get my cards done this week. I did get them all done but I was very uninspired on a few (which you can only view on my Pinterest board)

Day 26: Green

I think I finally got around to doing this one on about the 29th. Give me just a color as a prompt and I struggle. But here we have it. Nothing but green (and 2 little red eyes). This was done with Inktense pencils.


Day 27: Farm

My first thoughts were pretty basic...a barn, a cow, a pig, maybe a chicken all standing around. How it morphed into a barnyard selfie with photo bomb I do not know lol  But I like it!

This is done entirely with Prismacolor pencils. 


Day 29: Polka Dots

Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot bikini.  In that song is the bikini yellow with polka dots or are the polka dots themselves yellow? 

This is outlined with Sharpie fine line pen and colored with alcohol markers. The sand and sky are Pan Pastels.


Day 31: Faux Wallpaper

I am not quite sure what 'faux' wallpaper is. I tried to create a vintage type wallpaper. I remember in my grandmother's houses, the wallpapers had pale colored backgrounds with something either painted or stenciled or stamped (be it flowers or geometric patterns...) and then the wallpaper had a raised, embossed texture that seemed to have nothing to do with the printed pattern. So, I used Distress Inks to create my background color. I then stenciled the swirls (this was from a Tim Holtz cutting die) and once it was dry I ran it through my Cuttlebug with Couture Creations Tied Together folder.

Have I done my card for today? Nope.  The prompt is "desert or dessert" (which I think was a prompt from last year too) Nothing has come to mind yet. Let's hope is does soon.

Until next time... I hope you all have a safe and happy Independence Day and Happy Crafting!

The Challenge continues...

So far I am still caught up on the Index Card a Day challenge. I will admit that a couple times I missed a day and had to do 2 cards the next day but life happens and right now I am on track.

I only share a few of my cards on the blog (because I am not thrilled with every card I make). If you want to see them all...the good, the bad and the meh you can see them on my ICAD 2017 Pinterest board. 


Day 20: YinYang

This was drawn with Sharpie fine line pen and colored with Inktense pencils. I then rubbed Distress Ink Peacock Feathers around the edges.


Day 22: Vanishing Point

This is outlined with Sharpie fine line pen and colored with Prismacolor pencils.


Day 23: Alice in Wonderland

This was done with Inktense pencils.


Day 24: Caravan or RV

I am NOT a camping person. I love indoor plumbing and hate bugs! But I think the 'glamper' campers are super cute.
This was outlined with Copic liner pen and colored with Spectrum Noir alchohol markers.


Day 25: Portrait

A pencil sketch of my favorite baby giraffe, Tajiri. 

Here is the photo I used for reference. 

I did more than just index cards this week.
I received my order from Create and Craft. I ordered some hot foil stamps for my GoPress and Foil machine.
I think my biggest complaint about the machine is how difficult it is to find stamps in the USA.

I ordered TODO hot foil stamps which are the exact same thing just from a different maker/machine.

But even the selection from Create and Craft is dwindling down to nothing very quickly.

If you have the GoPress and Foil machine and would like to read my tips for perfect foiling every time go here. 

This is the TODO Seahorse stamp. Isn't he cute? That is the main reason I bought him lol

He is about 4 inches tall and as you can see, he foiled perfectly. I am thinking I will cut him out and create an underwater scene card for him.

I was super excited for this stamp. TODO's All Over Dot background. It is about 4.25" x 4.25". 
Again, perfect foiling, no missed dots or splotchy application.

Image the possibilities. A background on a card (ok that is kind of a given)
But what about foiling dots on your die cuts?
Or foiling the full square and then cutting die cuts from that?
Or cutting the square into stripes or smaller squares to use in mosaic patterns?

I think I am going to have a lot of fun with this one.

I also purchased the Butterfly & Flowers background. It is about an 1/8 inch bigger than the dots but I haven't had time to try it out yet. I will show it to you once I do.

And last week I promised to show you the birthday card I made for my sister.

This is the Adirondack Chair box card from SVG Cuts. It is part of the Garden Party box card set.

Isn't it cute?

That covers my past week. The temperatures have been in the triple digits the past few days. Ugh!!!
I hope you are all finding ways to stay cool.

Until next time...Happy Crafting!

Five and a half weeks to go

Working a full time job really cuts into my art time! Then again it allows me to buy all the wonderful supplies and gadgets that catch my eye. Such a dilemma.

Thankfully my index cards don't take much time (usually) and this is a slow card making time of year.

I am in the middle of week 3 and, for the most part, not disliking any of the prompts.

I have five cards to share with you today.

Day 11: Tetrahedron (I had to google that one....it is a 3 sided pyramid)

Ok, so technically this isn't a tetrahedron because I am pretty sure the Egyptian pyramids have 4 sides but I don't care.
The pyramid and camel were colored with alcohol inks, the sand is Inktense pencils and the sky is Pan Pastels.


Day 12: Wings

The dragonfly body was painted with Inktense pencils, the wings were drawn with fine line Sharpie and then painted with Iridescent Blue Twinkling H2Os.


Day 14: Leaves

So I picked up a new embossing folder a few days ago and then get this prompt of 'leaves'. Seemed like fate to me. :-)

I created the background by rubbing Distress Inks (scattered straw, bundled sage and pine needles) on foil then spritzing heavily with water. I then laid my card into the puddles to create the light yellow/green mottling. Once dry I debossed the card using Darice's Trop Leaf Background folder. I then rubbed Distress Black Soot over top. 

I stamped the leaf (EK Success Nostalgiques Botanicals set) with Distress Black Soot and colored it with alcohol markers.


Day 16: Rainbow

I read rainbow and immediately Rainbow Brite jumped into my head. I'm not sure why. I have never watched Rainbow Brite. I remember seeing her all over the place in the 80s but being an adult at that time and not having kids I'm not sure why she popped up this week. But here she is.  Gotta love those moon boots! lol

Her skin was colored with alcohol markers. Everything else was Inktense pencils.


Day 17: Sprout

And sticking with the animated character theme (lol) we have Green Giant's lil Sprout.
He was colored entirely with Prismacolor pencils. 

I am current with my Index Card a Day challenge (today is day 17) and had a few minutes here and there so I got a jump on birthday cards.


Here is this years card for my nephew. I love it, I think he will too.

This is from SVG Cuts and is the Side of Fries box card from the Pit Stop box card set. 

This was the easiest box card I have ever made. I think from start to finish was less than 30 minutes!

Don't they look real? They do in person too!

I made a card for my sister too but forgot to photograph it so I will try to remember to do that for next week.

Until then, Happy Crafting!

Index Cards :Love Em or Hate Em

I am halfway into week 2 of the Index Card a Day challenge (ICAD). 
I never had an issue with the actual index cards before but this year they are driving me nuts. (and it is still the same batch of card from last year so ...)

The fact that I can't get color to lay down smoothly is bothering me (it never laid down smooth before so why that bothers me now I have no idea lol)

And my alcohol markers are bleeding uncontrollably....which is also bugging me.

Maybe I am just in a grumbling mood this year lol

So let me share a few cards from this week.

Day 5: Kawaii/Cute

I know this isn't Kawaii but she is cute. :-)
She is colored with alcohol markers. Gotta love those pink toe nails and spikes!


Day 7: Alliteration

She Sells Sea Shells by the Sea Shore
Again, colored with alcohol markers.


Day 9: Ombre

The girl was colored with alcohol markers.
The mod wallpaper and checked flooring were colored with Prismacolor pencils.


Day 10: Sunshine Yellow

We have a routine at our house. Each morning, after we are up and dressed, we open the blinds so that when the sun comes up it will slowly spread it's beams across the bed.
Minnie loves to snuggle in and follow the beams until they disappear.

If we forget to open the blinds she comes and lets me know lol

She isn't on the bed in the picture but I gave her a pillow to lounge on.

The cat is stamped. I have no idea who makes this stamp. It is part of a set of 16 clear cat stamps that I found on ebay for $2 from China. I took a chance that they were decent quality and they are but there are no markings and no label.

The window, baseboard and pillow were drawn with a Sharpie fine line and colored with Prismacolor pencils.

The sunbeam is Inktense pencil.

I hope you all have sunbeams you can follow this weekend.

Happy Crafting!

Let's hope she's a great cook

because it is going to take some serious skills to make this meal edible! lol

I finished my second page in the Grimm Fairy Tales - Different Seasons book.

I am assuming this is supposed to be Red Riding Hood getting her revenge on the wolf but I could be wrong. lol

No matter who she is she was fun to color.

I used Spectrum Noir markers for "Red" and her dinner.
When my sister gave me this book she also gave me a very large tub of gel pens..100 pens to be exact! I used the silver for the oven rack, cupboard handles and some trim on the top of the stove.
The sheet pan was done with Crayola metallic silver pencil...I wanted metallic but not super shiny like the gel pens. (my sheet pans are far from shiny lol)
The cupboards, floor, walls and ceiling are Prismacolor pencil and lastly the window view was done with Rembrandt soft pastels (crazy weird sky going on out there lol)

I love using alcohol markers! Yeah Yeah I know!

As any of you who have been reading my blog over the years know, I avoided alcohol markers like the plague. I mean seriously ... over $6 for ONE pen???  I pride myself on being thrifty with my money (well most of the time lol)

So, when I finally decided to take the plunge I bought a few Copic Ciao markers....same colors, thinner barreled pen... just a little more than half the price. They are still refillable so why pay more?  But still way more than I wanted to pay.

I then found Spectrum Noir last summer. A wide range of colors, they come in coordinated packs of 6 pens for less than the price of 2 regular Copics (or 3 Ciaos)

C'mon.....this is a no brainer.

They blend beautifully....even for someone like me that does not have much experience with alcohol markers.
I love the effect I got on her dress! I used a couple shades of blue to give some depth to the folds of her dress and then quickly swiped over all the stripes with the clear blender pen.....instant light stripes. It would have been a lot more work to get this color effect with pencils.

I rarely show off my stash....you all wouldn't believe what a person can cram into an 8x10 room! But I want to show you my markers just because they are so pretty!  I just sit and stare at them. Hey, I do the same thing with my paints... don't judge me lol

How can you not get inspired seeing all those gorgeous colors every time you sit down.
See my tiny Copic stash at the top left? lol
The blue pens are the new Spectrum Noir Colorista pens. The rows above them are for the rest of the ones coming on my HSN autoship later this year. (shh hubby may not know about those yet lol)

All I am missing now is the Dark color set and I will have them all! (I just won an Amazon gift card at work so they will be ordered VERY soon)

Kind of like when I had to have all the Inktense pencils last year....the more you have the more you want because they are so wonderful to use.

Ok, as I reread this I thought you all needed to see my paint stash too....it is gorgeous too! lol

Isn't is awesome? I found the wall rack at an estate sale a few years ago. It obviously holds a lot of paint! I love being literally surrounded by color.

Since this is Friday I will wish you a very happy weekend! and Happy Crafting!

Craft Warehouse is allowing us to use JoAnn's coupons for the next few days (they never do that!) and I have a couple 50% off so guess where I will be?!   ;-)

The end is in sight

I am kind of sad about that. 
The ICAD challenge ends on July 31. I really like the motivation to get into my art room and create something every day. I just can't seem to do it on my own.

I need to hire someone to send me a daily prompt! lol

Here are the cards from this past week.

Day 46: Lighthouse

This is Battery Point lighthouse in Crescent City, CA. We stop by every time we go over to Brookings, OR. It is just a few minutes across the border.

I used Inktense pencils and drew from a photo I had taken on a past trip.


Day 47: Monochromatic

I actually did not get this one done on the 47th day. Not that I didn't try. I started several cards and just could not come up with a good idea (so now I have a bunch of cards with random garbage on them lol)

I am not crazy about this either but at least it is done.

I used plain blue/gray cardstock. I ran it through the Cuttlebug with Darice's Fall Foliage Background folder. I rubbed white ink over the embossing then tore out the text from a sheet of scrapbook paper that had blue/gray text. 

Again, nothing too great but it is done lol


Day 48: Aurora Borealis or Australis

I based the card with white acrylic and then used Gelatos for the sky and black acrylic paint for the trees. I then dotted the sky with white acrylic.

I love the creaminess of Gelatos and the gorgeous, rich colors.


Day 49: Superhero

Drawn with Sharpie pen and colored with Inktense pencils.
His hands are horrible. I think I need to practice drawing hands! But his shirt folds and tie came out nice. :-)


Day 50: Paisley

Have you never heard of the rare and exotic Paisley Fish?  ;-)

I used the basic paisley shape for the body and then began doodling.
I then colored him (her?) in with Prismacolor pencils.

I wanted to wash watercolor over it for the water but wasn't sure that the pencil would resist enough so I dug around on my shelf. I found a bottle of Liquitex Glossy acrylic sealer (that says is permanent when it dries). I had picked it up at an estate sale a couple years ago (that and a matte one). Full 16 oz bottles. I think I paid a quarter a piece. I never actually read the labels, only that they were sealers. Well this stuff is awesome! It goes on like any other acrylic sealer but I was able to brush water color paints over it once it was dry and it did not become sticky or anything and retained it's glossy surface. So my fish and bubbles have a nice shine to them.


Day 51: Purple or Violet

Another one of those totally uninspiring prompts.

After several failed starts I grabbed a piece of acetate (I have lots of it from the Cricut cartridge packages lol) I cut it to the size of my index card and dribbled turquoise, cranberry red and 2 shades of purple on the back. I let them blend together and dry. I then glued it onto my card which I had rubbed Dusty Concord Distress Ink on the corners.

It still needed something and my Anna Griffin seasonal embossing die set had just arrived that afternoon so I cut out the feather in white card stock, rubbed the Dusty Concord on it and then some Aged Mahogany and glued it onto the card.

The colors are much prettier in person as it is next to impossible to get a decent picture of glossy plastic lol


Day 52: Staircase

The first thing I thought of was this picture of Tucker from many many Christmas's ago. He loved to chew on fake pine greenery (Heaven only knows why! lol)  And he would sit on the steps and spy on me from behind the swags. I would glimpse him out of the corner of my eye and if I turned he would duck down. Silly baby lol

I am still not sure how I got this picture other than at that time he still like to pose for pictures (he became more camera shy in his old age)

This is my interpretation.
I used Inktense pencils (well of course I did! lol  I absolutely love them. The colors are just wonderful)

So only 9 days left to the challenge. And then back to.....well I am not sure what I will go back to except maybe starting my Halloween cards lol

Until next week....Happy Crafting!