2020 holiday cards

One of the reasons I blog about what I create is to remind me how much fun it all is so I don’t get side-tracked or lost again.  

This year felt like a good year to start sending holiday cards again, not having done so since 2013 when I started my organizing business. I pretty much stopped doing anything creative and put all my energy into my business. Fast forward nearly 5 years and I closed the business - one of the reasons was because I really missed this part of my life.

Last year and early this year, I focused on learning watercolor. The past few months I've gone back to my roots - card making. I'm woefully out of practice but damn am I having fun getting back in the saddle again. I've always made our holiday cards, whether paper crafting or printing one of my photos onto card stock. Sending cards this year meant getting back into production mode. I got out a couple tools I haven't used in eons - my original Wizard and my original Silhouette. I'd purchased both back in 2007 and was concerned they, especially the Silhouette, might not function anymore. Thankfully the Wizard worked like a charm. The Silhouette on the other hand, needed new software to function in Windows 10. Luckily, after going down a few wrong paths, I found what I needed. A big shout out to Silhouette America, Inc. for making a product that holds up over time, an online system that retained all my old purchases and making thousands of new designs available that function even on their first machine. I’m a happy customer! Oh, and shout out to Spellbinders too - the makers of the Wizard. These tools were financial investments for me back then, but buying quality paid off (as usual - lol).

So, without further ado, here are this year’s creations… 

napkin cards

  

After seeing a lot of posts about napkin cards in some of the Facebook groups I'm in, I decided to try them out for myself. There are several tutorials on YouTube and from what I found, three options to choose from. I tried them all, starting with the simplest - a glue stick. This was messy and ineffective. Next up was double sided tape. This method made the napkin buckle and bubble up. Using cling wrap with an iron was the most effort, but it rewarded the best results so was the option I used going forward. Over the past two weeks I made these Thanksgiving, birthday and thinking of you cards. They turned out well, especially considering I'm still not back in the swing of creating cards again. Oh, and I learned that as much as I enjoyed listening to an audiobook while crafting last Sunday, it slowed me down quite a bit. I kept having to rewind the book when I realized I was too focused on what I was crafting to pay attention to the story. No more of that. I'm back to listening to music while crafting. 𝄞𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅮

October birthday cards

I made it into the craft room to make cards a couple times last month, grabbing this photo before a couple of them were placed in the mail. The top two were made specifically for friends' birthdays and the bottom two have been added to my stash so I always have something on hand. This afternoon will be my first time making napkin cards, having watched 2-3 YouTube videos this morning. I'll post photos at some point... 

treasure chest urn for Odin

 

Before

After

We lost our beloved Odin at the end of 2019 and I've been looking for the perfect urn ever since then. I take great care to select urns that are appropriate for the four-legged family member we've lost. Odin was such a treasure that I ultimately decided to alter a small treasure chest I found at a local shop. Off came the patterned faux leather. To replace it, I embossed copper, inked it, cut it to size and attached it. Hubby and I are both pleased with the results and last night I placed Odin's urn among the urns of the others who blessed us for their short time on earth. 💗

copper dragonfly plant stake

 

My summer was spent outside rather than in the craft room. I'd craft only when it was raining and since it was such a dry summer, crafting was rare. It rained this week though, so I was able to complete the copper dragonfly plant stake I started in late May. My soldering skills definitely need some work, but overall I'm pleased with the results. When the sun shines through the glass beads, they sparkle and shimmer!  

rain means craft time!

It's been over a month since I posted, but that's to be expected this time of year. Spring means yard work and gardening, which means less time for crafting. Today it's been raining off and on so I finally made it into the craft room. It was tough getting started (I'm out of practice), but ultimately I had fun making these simple cards. 

Oh, and a couple weekends ago, upon request, I made a couple face masks with ties. I didn't feel like making the ties out of fabric, so instead used shoe laces - a quick and easy route to go. 

 

improvisational quilting, face masks and a pendant

These are the improvisational quilt squares I made the end of March. Lots of room for improvement, but all in all not bad for my very first attempts. I like the randomness of the gray one. I'll probably make pillows out of these. Then again, who knows? 

Next up are a few of the face masks I've been making the past couple weekends for friends and family. I exhausted my elastic supply and it's nearly impossible to score online, let alone locally. Luckily a friend had extra and dropped off a few yards for me today, so I can make a few more. I've heard hair ties work too, so I might have to try using them when this elastic is gone. 

Lastly, when I initially ran out of elastic, I took a sewing break and created this pendant. I'd made the front a while back, but didn't add the back and bail until this weekend. 
 
 

last watercolors for awhile

Although I haven't posted for three weeks, I have spent a little time each weekend creating. The pieces here are from weeks one and two. I don't care for either of them and am about ready to throw in the towel on watercolor. After eight months there continue to be more flops than gems. It's time to move on. This past weekend I put the watercolor supplies away and started my first improvisational quilting project. I had thoroughly enjoyed it and time flew by. I'll post photos, probably my next post. 

jewelry for me, cards for friends

 

When I lost one of my moon earrings recently, I knew it was a sign to take a break from watercolor. It felt so good last weekend to make new moon earrings and this quartz bracelet. Quartz protects against negativity, attunes to the higher self and relieves pain, all qualities I'm in need of right now. 

Today I took some time to make cards for a couple friends. The glitter at the center of the flowers doesn't show in the photo, but that's ok. I notice with my cards, I tend to lean toward simple and uncomplicated. That's how I like my life too, and when things get overwhelming and out of balance, well, I need quartz - LOL :D

call it done

This is the rework of the piece I spent the majority of the Feb. 8 watercolor workshop working on. The photo below shows what it looked like when I got home that day. I was far from happy with the results, so I spent a little time the last couple weekends tweaking it. Watercolor is not a forgiving medium and it's very difficult to fix things, at least for a novice like me. While I don't love the final results, I like them much better than the 'before' painting. And at this point, I've beyond ready to move on to something else, so I'm calling this one done. 

what fast art taught me

This past Saturday I attended another all-day watercolor workshop. This one was hosted by local artist Debbie Simpson of All Things Watercolor. I learned a lot and had a BLAST! The piece I worked on most of the day isn't done (I'm reworking some things I don't like about it) but the piece shown above makes my heart sing. It's the fastest piece I've ever done, which tells me I'm spending way too much time trying to get things just right instead of just freely rolling with things. So many lessons in art that apply to both art and life itself.

catch up post

It's been nearly three weeks since my last post. I joined a new yoga program that started January 12 and it's been taking increasingly more and more time - far more than I originally anticipated. However, my health is my #1 priority so I'm giving this new program the time it needs. Things will level out a bit after the intensive initial training is complete (end of February) and I transition to "just" continue the practice each day. I've been practicing yoga for 15+ years and have wanted to take it to the next level for the last few years, but didn't act on it until an opportunity appeared late December and rather than overthink it, I jumped on it. So glad I did! The program is beyond excellent. 

Back to creating....  so, I haven't had time to post but I have made time to create here and there. The photo above shows my recent efforts. The landscape was actually done in December, but I didn't get it posted until now. I think it's my favorite to-date. 

Next weekend I'm attending another all-day watercolor workshop. I hope it ignites my waning creativity. There have been many times this month I could've spent more time creating, but just didn't have the energy/drive for it. Part of that was likely work hours/stress, but it's not entirely to blame. We are all in control of our lives, whether we always admit it or not.

it's all learning

This is a mixed media piece I created this past weekend. I do not like it, BUT, I learned some things while making it, and I do like that. Taking a cue from one of the quotes on my 2020 vision board: Make something today even if it sucks. 👍😊

1st snow of 2020

This weekend we experienced the first snowfall of 2020. It seems a good time to post this winter piece I created a couple weeks ago. It's one that started out as something totally different. When it didn't go at all as intended, I just started messing around with it. Once it had the textured background, I didn't know what to do next so set it aside. The next time I looked at it, I imagined a snow scene and this is what happened. It actually ended up to be something I really like. I never knew watercolor could do things like this.

2019 is a wrap

Today is the first day of a new year and new decade. It seems like a good time to refresh the blog with a new look. Gone are the sunlight dappled water background and winding country road header. They've been replaced with a simple, solid blue background and a header made from a photo of a metal bookmark I created a few years ago. 

As for 2019, I'd set specific creative goals and am pleased to say I met them. Blogging definitely helped in that regard, so I will continue blogging in 2020. I doubt anyone but me sees my blog, but that's just fine. I do it for myself, as a way to chronicle my efforts and growth. It inspires me to keep practicing and learning. 

What will 2020 bring? I'm increasing the number of hours I intend to spend creating each month. My initial focus will likely remain watercolor and mixed media, but I'm also itching to use some of that stained glass I was gifted a few months ago, as well as do some sewing - maybe a quilt. The possibilities are endless, and I'm excited to get started! 

By the way, I read (analog and audio) a record number of books last year, grew one of my best gardens ever, spent more time in the pool than in the past several years, and set up a dedicated yoga/meditation space which I've been using daily for 160 days now. It had it's challenges and sad times, yet 2019 was a great year on many levels.

dream the dream

The piece above is one of three galaxy ones I created a couple weekends ago. I've always been mesmerized by space, and decided to try my hand at creating images. It's a fun process with cool results -- pretty sure this will become a regular part of my art. 

space web

This is a piece I did last weekend, but didn't have time during the week to post here. When I was done and stepped back to truly look at it, I was surprised how dark it is. It has a desolate, trapped feeling to it. It started out as something inspired by the science fiction series I've been reading, but it took a turn along the way. I'm wondering if long days/evenings at work have been taking a toll. I suspect whatever I start working on this evening will be lighter. We'll see where my mood and muse take me.... 

discover and joy

 

I finished the WIP I shared last week. Taking a cue from Gina Lee Kim's book, I added sail boats. It was fun to get my alcohol inks out and play with them on photo paper. The masks are washi tape I trimmed down. The "Discover" is copper I cut, engraved and then burned before using brads to attach it to the piece. 

The Joy piece, below, was a quick little thing I did yesterday - just playing around and experimenting. It reflected how I felt about my Thanksgiving weekend.