I've got a secret!

If you want to take your drawing to the next level,then check out drawingsecretsrevealed.com. Thats my secret and I wanted to share it with you. The prices are reasonable and the customer service is the best. You can sign up for a membership or purchase each lesson by itself. The first picture that is posted is of my grandsons,they got a professional photograph done and I just loved the picture so much that I wanted to draw it and the second one is one of the lessons from drawingsecretsrevealed that I just finished. I do hope you check it out. Have a great week.

Its about time....

I know,I know, I havent been here in so long or blogger either. I apologize. Life got in the way. Had some health issues that had me worried. I had a ugly mole on my leg that kept getting bigger and scaly,I had it for a really long time and finally got it looked at,they took a biopsy and a couple of weeks later I found out I had skin cancer,called spuamous cell carcinoma,which is really not caused by the sun,its from scar tissue and I did have a little lump removed from that spot awhile ago. And well I googled it and thought I was gonna die,I was convinced that it spread because they found another spot on my lip and had to take a biopsy of that too. I made myself sick over it.(Don't ever google a medical condition lol) After all of that worry,crying,sickness and some stitches later I'm happy to report that they got it all in my leg and that my lip was not anything! On a another sad note, we lost a very special part of our family, our dog Foxy,Which I'm sure all you dog and cat lovers out there know how hard it is. She had a tumor in her stomach that just kept growing,the vet said she only had a month to live which was back in october but we were blessed with a few extra months with her,she was only about eight years old, we always said she found us,she was a stray that just came up to my daughter while we were visiting my inlaws,she really wanted to keep it but I told her we needed to find her real home,so after we ask everybody in the surrounding neighborhood if they knew anything about her and a trip to the vet to find out if they knew anything,got her a clean bill of health my daughter got her way and we brought her home and she became a part of our family. So anyway thats why I havent been blogging,I guess you could say its been a rough start of the year but I'm thankful thats its spring and time for new beginnings.

Playing with Chalk(soft pastels)and a self portrait.

I'm here,sketching my everyday life somedays its just a cup of coffee other days its family members doing their ordinary daily things,somedays the sketch is beautiful and some days its terrible but I keep trying,keep going because life is here today and gone tomorrow. I try to capture my feeling inside my sketches so I remember the ordinary happy days,or scribble out those terrible days but they are there as I am here!

A little sketching....

thats all I got done over the past month,been busy with Christmas and relatives coming to stay with us,you know the usual holiday stuff. I did make sure I had alittle creative time in the evenings,even if it was just to doodle in my sketch book,it keeps me happy. Now that the Christmas decorations are down,house back to normal and cleaned I'm ready to create more. Hope everyone had a nice Christmas and wishing you a happy new year!

The star above

Gifts for your furry friends!

Ok these are soooooo easy! You can make them for cats too! I made mine for all the dogs in your family and a couple for your neighbors dogs too. All you need is an old tshirt and a pair of scissors. Or you could use any fabric really. Cut tshirt into strips, take three strips and tie a knot about 3 inches down and just start braiding the strips,go longer and wider strips for big dogs and shorter and skinnier for smaller dogs. And the length depends on the dog also,I braided mine about 6 inches for my small dog and about 8 inches for my bigger dog. Then tie a knot at the other end and again leave about 3 inches after the knot. The dogs like that part of the toy. There you have it,all your furry friends have presents. I'm gonna bake some of these treats too for them and put them in a cello bag and tie closed with a strip of the same tshirt that I made their toys with. Heres the recipe and have fun!

Peanut butter dog bones!

2 tablespoons of corn oil

1/4 cup peanut butter

1 cup water

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 cups of white flour

Oven 350,Combine oil,peanut butter,and water. Add flour,one cup at a time,then knead into firm dough. Roll dough to 1/4 thickness and cut with any cookie cutter. Bake for about 20 minutes. I bake mine alittle less so there not as hard!

Etsy Sale

Hi,I hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving! I did,lots of family and lots of cooking and eating and Lots to be thank ful for! I don't know about you but I decided I was going to do most of my Christmas shopping online this year,I decided this after I watched the news on friday night and found out how many people got hurt over Christmas shopping. One story I heard was a girl that got her nose broken over a 3$ pair of slippers! I thought that was so sad,it takes the meaning out of Christmas,I know you really can't avoid stores especially this time of the year but I will do most of my shopping online if I can. So anyway I'm joining in on the cyber monday fun and having a sale in my etsy shop! Just type in BLACKFRIDAY20 and receive 20% off. Stay safe and I will be back later this week,I have another fun easy tutorial in the works!

Chirstmas gift bag tutorial

When I had my store I used to make these to give to people to hold their gift certificates that they purchased from me,of course being a country store I made them out of homespuns and vintage fabric but this year I'm making some artsy ones. You can use whatever material you have on hand(good way to use up some of those scraps). I used muslin that I painted alittle white onto. You will need material,string or ribbon,stamp and an ink pad. I used staz on. Cut two pieces of material 4 1/2 x 3 1/2,and about 12 inches of string. Sew the two pieces together,lay string on top and fold over about 1/4 inch over the string,sew the hem,becareful not to sew the string! Sew up the other two sides,inside out and I put a piece of cardboard inside of bag so the stamp won't go through. Stamp image on front of bag,tie a knot at the end of string and there you have it alittle gift bag perfect for gift cards. I painted my bag and added alittle details. This one is for my daughter,she's 14 so you know what she likes to do Shop,Shop and Shop. Have fun.

Christmas ornaments.

I"ve been busy making some christmas ornaments and I'm so excited to say that they all have a new home hanging in an art gallery along with some prints of my art. Heres how it happened, I was at an arts and craft/flea market kind of show and was trying to sell some of my art. There was a singer there singing for entertainment,when he was on break he was walking around checking out all the stuff when he stopped and talked to me and said how he really liked my art and ask if I was in his sisters gallery and I said no, then he went and got his sister and she said she would love to have my art in her gallery. And you don't know how thank ful I am that it happened this way because I'm kinda of an introvert,not shy at all just like to do my own thing by myself usually and I really don't think I could of took my art into a gallery to show them my work and then have them reject it,I know it happens all the time but I take things personally usually and I wasnt ready for that rejection yet. I was happy selling online,even though I would like to sell more I was content. So thats my exciting story and I just wanted to share it. Have a great weekend!

A little pumpkin painting...

and some pumpkin sketching. I thought a banana was hard to sketch but a pumpkin was a challenge! I know its been awhile since I was here but I really haven't painted much,I think I'm taking alittle break from it but I'm still being creative. Lately I have been all over the place with art and not really getting much done. Trying new things,being inspired by different artists. Taking a few online classes,trying to find myself,my way of doing things. I want my own style, I don't want people to look at my art and say oh she must of took a class from so and so. I want people to look at my art and say I like YOUR style,its different. You know what I mean? I visit and follow so many blogs daily and I always see everybodys unique style and thats what I want. I think the only way to find that is just keep creating,try different things,different styles, Does anybody else ever feel this way? I think thats why I don't post that much because everything I make reminds me to much of somebody elses art. Well anyway enough of my whining,hopefully I'll be back sooner then later!

I'm back!

Ok I know its been awhile but my son decided to give me a project that took alittle longer then I thought it would. He has a game room in his garage and bought a couple of chairs for 10.00 and ask me if I could do something to them and since his gameroom has alot of new york yankee and a few other of his favorite teams this is what I came up with. He was happy with them,I really wish I took a before picture,they had fish and shells all over them. I tried to go over the material with paint but it just wouldnt cover them up so I had to redo all the cushion with canvas material. Can you see my little helper in the background? Her name is talula bell,she was suppose to be a teacup chihuahua but she grew to 12pounds.

The other picture is a journal page that I'm now doing on canvas. She's titleed "The wonders of a sunset" Hopefully I'll have her listed on etsy within a week! Have a great week!

Another book and "In Beauty she walks"

Another week and another book,I love to paint but theres something about stitching the book thats so relaxing. I think because when I paint I'm constantly on my feet moving around and then when I stitch the book I'm usually sitting down sipping coffee. I think I over did it on this painting,not sure if its too busy or if I like it the way it is. I guess its kinda abstract in its own way. My company came and went,it was a nice short visit and my mom never came which was fine so I had a quiet week to paint and sew. Hope everybody else is having a good week and enjoying some cooler weather,its still hot down here,we usually don't feel a change until late october ugggg. Be back soon!

finished my little book of art,making journals,and a girl and the black swan.

Not much art for me this past week,I have company coming and I have been cleaning,changing sheets,organizing my art room,getting ready. They come in tonight, and leave sunday. A short visit,then I think my mother is coming in on monday, deep breath! It will be ok,I just have to keep reminding myself.

I did get a chance to finish up my little art book. I think it would make a great little journal for poems. It has about five little paintings inside it but theres still enough room to journal. Then I finished up my last page in my store bought journal and I didnt have time to go and buy a new one so I had some paper on hand and made my own journal. I think thats what i'm going to start doing,just using what I have instead of going to buy new. After cleaning my art room,I decided I have not an another inch to store anything else! And last is my sketch of a girl and the black swan. I think I might try to put her on a canvas. Well I guess I better go and bake a cake for the company!

Been Busy...

Painting,book making and staying in my sweats until 1:00, does anybody else do that,the time goes by so quickly when you're painting,the next thing I know its the afternoon and I realize I havent showered yet,I feel like such a bum, I just tell my husband that I'm a starving artist but I'm enjoying life! Hope you're enjoying life too!

P.S You can see more pictures of my cracker jack journal on my etsy!

Did you ever have those weeks?

You know the ones where everything you try to do,just doesnt come out! Well thats what has been happening to me,and actually its been the last two weeks! I'm in the mood as my husband calls it. I can't get nothing done because I keep trying to paint and the more I mess things up the more I want to paint. Finally I decided to go to my sketch book and try to paint one of my sketches which is the girl reading the book,and what do you know she came out ok,not one of my best but I'm happy with her. The other girl is from a dream I had,that girl was worked over at least four times! Hopefully now I can get some wash done and maybe some more painting! And I hope to be back sooner then later.....