Christmas Coloring Picture

 My teenaged daughter has discovered the coloring books that have become popular for teens (and adults) right now.

I have to admit, I've been tempted to rip out a few pages from her books and lose myself in them with colored pencils or markers.  She guards her books too well though, so none have been nabbed yet.  She has done some beautiful pictures, carefully tearing them out before she starts them and, when completed, neatly filing them in her treasured notebook.

I thought it might be fun to make a coloring "Christmas card" for friends that is actually a bookmark rather than a card.  Something inside me hates the thought of a Christmas card getting thrown out, so I'm hoping a bookmark will be more practical and may have a longer lifespan.  (Is it strange or does anybody else relate to feel a perplexing dilemma when it comes to Christmas cards?  I can't keep them all forever, but throwing them away seems so sad.  I loved looking through and cutting up my mother's old Christmas cards she kept rubber-banded in old shoe boxes...they seemed to hold a bit of the glitter of cheer from years gone by...)

Anyhow, I thought I'd share the bookmark here in case anybody else might enjoy coloring it.

 Here is the colored version I did using Copic markers.

 

 If you have paper-wasting issues like I do,

or "Christmas-can't-be-lost-to-trash-cans" dilemmas,

or if you just feel the love of coloring calling to you from days gone by,

this may be a happy choice for you.

Here is an image you may print up with four bookmarks on it.

 

As are all the printables I share on my blog, these are free for personal use, just not for resale.

You are welcome to use them in Sunday school classes or such as well.

I hope you have a Merry Christmas!

 

A Valentine Love Renewed: Recycled Crafting.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

I wanted to share one more valentine decoration before the day passes by.

Frames seem to be a weakness of mine.

When I see them at yard sales or second hand stores,

if they are unique and sturdy,

 I tend to want to pick them up for future projects.

 This frame held a unique piece of artwork: a paper crafted quilt (maybe paperclay?)

It was dated.

 It reminded me of when my sister loved making quilts back when we were teenagers in the 80's.

It was hard to think about just throwing it away,

so I thought I'd try to revive it for Valentines Day.

Using markers, I started carefully changing the quilt colors.

(Wouldn't it be nice if we could do this so easily with real quilts when they fade or our color scheme changes?)

I also painted the mat and background bright colors to go with our living room.

The finished quilt in a frame was set on one of the living room tables.

This addition was a lot less work than creating a new piece of artwork;

and it is kind sweet to think that somebody else's lovingly created piece

is given a second time around to be loved.

Thanks for stopping by!

Valentine's Day Decorating: True Love.

For some reason, Christmas seemed to go too quickly this year,

and the thought of taking the Christmas things off the mantel was disheartening.

I was ready for my everyday things I had in the summer.

So I thought we'd make the winter a bit more fun with some Valentine's Day decorations.

 I noticed that my kids seem to learn verses better when they see them around the house,

so I thought I would create something from some wonderful verses I wanted them to know in 

I Corinthians 13.

 

To create the verse hearts, I started by folding a paper in half

and drawing half a heart shape on it,

pushing the pencil hard so that the pressure of the line would go through.

I then outlined the lines of the heart to complete it.

Depending on the verse I was going to work on,

I used fatter hearts for ones that needed more wording in the middle of the verse,

or thinner hearts for verses that were shorter and could be broken up more.

I lightly drew some lines with a ruler to help keep me somewhat straight while lettering,

and began trying to place the wording in,

(this took several tries, not such an easy task)

 using letters at the beginning and end of words to make curls and swirls

to form the outside edges of the heart.

When I had the verse the way I liked,

I rubbed charcoal pencil on the back of the verse page,

laid it onto a larger sheet of good art paper,

traced the letters so that they would copy onto the good paper,

and then worked the lettering with red copic markers.

 

 The largest one, I did on a canvas with paints because it had a lot of wording in it,

and I knew it would be impossible for me to try to fit them all on smaller paper.

When finished, I took pictures of each so I could shrink them to whatever size I needed

and then printed them onto cardstock paper.

 

I had picked up frames from yard sales, the charity store, and an aunt who was getting rid of some,

so I used gold rub-on gilding paint from a tube to turn the two that were different colored into gold

and to touch up a few chipped spots on the others.

(I also rubbed it onto the decorative hearts also on the mantel).

 The other pieces on the mantel were all things we found at the second hand charity store for a very small price.

(I was actually going to paint the birds like peacocks since I have a thing for them right now,

but  my daughter liked them as they are.

It's nice to have the daughter's impute...sometimes. :) )

I have one more simple project I did to decorate the living room for Valentine's Day,

so I'll try to post that in a few days.

Thanks for stopping by!

(If you would like to use these verse prints below for yourself for decorating or cards,

I am happy for you to copy and print them;

just not for resale, please.)

 

Sharing at:
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Tipjunkie.com

Art Lesson: Drippy Watercolors

Hi there!

I decided it was time to get these pictures of the bee picture on here.

I wanted to do a bit of experimenting with letting the watercolors be bold, loose, drip down the canvas.

Here is one I loved of a butterfly from a shop on Etsy by Dean Crouser.

www.etsy.com:butterfly-watercolor-print-by-dean

Also, the beautiful, colorful artwork of Slaveyka Aladjova which can viewed at her esty shop here:

www.etsy.com:SlaviART

(I think the lion, horse heads, cow, and rooster are my favorites.  FANTASTIC!)

I wanted so much to create a beautiful piece like these, so I used the bee sketch that I partially outlined with ink, took a picture of it,

and then printed up 4 or 5 copies of it onto cardstock paper to experiment before I completed the large canvas.

I started by using masking fluid on the areas I wanted to keep lighter or white.

On my first try, I was very careful and conservative and basically just painted without letting any of the paint get too drippy.

For the next image, I decided to brush water all over the areas I was about to paint,...

and add the paint right away, letting it drip and wash where it wanted.

(I am a bit embarrassed to show this image as I obviously got impatient and the masking fluid was not completely dry and it ran down the wet paint.

I knew this was just a rough run-through of experiments that I would be throwing away,

so I was not as patient as I would be with a real canvas

One cannot rush the masking fluid.

I wiped it up with a bit of paper towel.)

I followed the same wetting down of the paper procedure before I painted on some yellow.

For my next sample, I wet the page down, but used less water, so it would not be quite so loose.

I did the same with the light blue.

I painted the pink on the petals with a fine brush.

I finished with a bit more detail and some loose green for the stems and leaves,...

and then added more wet colors for the dripping effect.

 

For the other pages, I basically continued experimenting with putting down washes,

letting colors drip, putting on heavier colors where I wanted more detail.

(heavier paint on flowers)

(cleaner, more bold colors)

(more warm colors, blended colors)

It was a fun experiment and I am glad I did them on the cardstock instead of going right to the canvas.

When it came down to it, I did not like the results I had achieved with the dripping watercolors enough to go through with them on my canvas,
at least, maybe for this scene.
I loved the images the other artists have done with this, but I am not ready to frame my own attempts, so I chose to go with what I was comfortable with for my canvas:
copic markers.




Here is what I chose to do, partially finished...

and this is where I decided to stop.

I enjoyed the dripping watercolor method and hope to try it again.


Have you ever given the drippy watercolor method a try?

Here is a video I found very useful for explaining the technique.


Thanks for stopping by and have an excellent day!

Coloring Page: Easter.

Hello.

Today I am sharing a coloring page in celebration of Easter.

Today is actually Good Friday and it is impossible for me not to think about the pain Jesus suffered on the cross for the sin of the world,

for me.

My daughter has this verse in  her school curriculum as a memory verse, so I made this page for her to color and thought it perfect for Easter as well.

Here is also a colorized version I did with Copic markers.

These are free for use, as long as they are not used for resale.

Happy Easter to you!

(or Resurrection Sunday, as it is sometimes preferred to be called).

(To copy these coloring pages, click on the image, right click, and then click on "copy".

Open up Microsoft Word and right click on the screen, and then click "paste".

 The image should paste onto the page.

You can then click "print" to use them as coloring pages.

If you have difficulties or suggestions, please let me know.)

Educational Printable: Preposition List

Happy Sunday to you!

Today I am posting some grammar pages I created for my daughter to help her learn the prepositions

(There seems to be various lists of prepositions, so I printed the list that came up most commonly).

I created a black and white version for coloring...

and a colorized version.

These are free for use as long as they are not used for resale.

Thank you for stopping by!

(To copy these pages, click on the image, right click, and then click on "copy".

Open up Microsoft Word and right click on the screen, and then click "paste".

 The image should paste onto the page.

You can then click "print".

If you have difficulties or suggestions, please let me know.)

Sharing at:
Tipjunkie.com
wearethatfamily.com
Sewmuchado.com
DIYbydesign
Savvysouthernstyle
Wise-woman-linkup

Abowlfulloflemons.net
Betweennapsontheporch.net

Using a Light Box to Transfer Doodles: Free Valentine Cards.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Today I wanted to share a trick with you that I find very helpful for creating art from sketches.

I do this with some of my kids' sketches as well and make cards with them.

Sketches are often done on any paper that is handy.

I was sitting somewhere and wanted to get my kids' Valentines done,

so I used the paper I had available.

When I was ready to put them onto good paper,

I got out my light box: it is just a plastic box type thing with a light in it that plugs in.

Once I put the drawn image onto the light,

I put the good paper down on top of it.

The image shines through.

 Then I can trace the image onto the good paper.

 Once the image has been transferred, I usually outline it with a fine-tipped Prisma liner

(or any good fine-tipped pen or marker will do).

Here is how the images turned out.

(You are free to use these images as well, if you'd like,

just not for resale.)

Here are some colorized versions that are also free for use.

I did these with Copic markers.

 

 Here is how I used them for Valentines.

The light box is such a handy tool to have around.

Have a sweet Valentines Day!

(To copy these pages, click on the image, right click, and then click on "copy".

Open up Microsoft Word and right click on the screen, and then click "paste".

 The image should paste onto the page.

You can then click "print".

If you have difficulties or suggestions, please let me know.)