Thoughts for the New Year

Still drinking from my Santa mug...and wondering

when I will find the energy to take down the

Christmas tree.  Every year we joke about making

it a Valentine tree...

Linking up with Elizabeth's Tea Tuesday party

and having some green tea.

Best wishes to all for a 

Happy and Prosperous New Year!

◘  ♦  ◘

Tuesday Greetings!

Watercolor and Sharpie pen 

Wishing you all a 

wonderful holiday...

whatever holiday you

celebrate.

Week 54- Documented Life Project:
put arrows on your page

May you celebrate it with

those you love, in joy and

thanksgiving.

Art journal page- travel mug; watercolor & pen

Linking up with the T Tuesday

link party, and having some

green tea  in my travel mug

this morning.

Have a jolly week!

Tree Trimmings

Sharing some stitched ornaments on our

Christmas tree...

I love making little ornaments, usually

at least one each year.  The

tree is getting pretty full, and that's

the way I think it should be!

Several years ago I started making

ornaments in primarily red and white.

We have an eclectic assortment of

glass balls, country style, cross-stitched,

crocheted, and hand-made ornaments

from artistic friends.  And of course the

traditional homemade ornaments that

my children's kindergarten teacher made

with their photos on them. Where, oh where

did those little children go?!

All grown up...

Well yes, I do like some pink with

my red and white...

A lot of Santas make an appearance 

every year.

Linking up with the T Tuesday party

over at Elizabeth's.  Here is my

Santa mug and its contents:

 green tea with lemon and ginseng.

Ho! Ho! Ho!

It's almost Christmas!

Tutorial: Doodle a Girl's Face

Here's a tutorial on how to draw

a girl's face. Just for fun...

you can click on any picture 

for a larger view.

Start with a U-shape--

the top ends are flared out a bit

instead of parallel.

Add a short diagonal line in the center

of the U- top to bottom and left to right.

Mine is a tiny bit below center...that's ok.

This is the nose. Trust me. It will work out.

Add some curving lines above the nose for

the tops of the eyes.  They curve up a bit at the

outside edges...suggesting eyelashes.

Then add a black dot under each eyelid, and a few

extra eyelashes on each side.  Make sure each 

dot is on the same side of the 'eye.'  Both on 

the right, or both on the left, or both in the center.

Add a flattened "M-shape" beneath the nose

for the upper lip.

Add a flattened U-shape beneath the upper lip

to create the lower lip. Add eyebrows above the eyes.

The beginning of the suggestion of hair. I chose

a side part for her hair style. And I prefer

asymmetrical. Too perfect and the same on both

sides just doesn't look right to me...

Add another curving line for the top of the hair, and

some shorter curving lines to suggest the part

 in the hairstyle. Notice how high up

 the hair goes.  The eyes should end up

being half way between the chin and the top of the head.

A common distortion that beginners make is that

they don't draw enough space or volume 

between the top of the eyes and the top 

of the head.

Add a few more squiggly, curvy lines 

for additional hair, extending the lines

 you originally drew.

Add lines to portray the neck.  These are

 placed beginning/touching the jaw line, and 

 placed below/at about the center of the eyes.

Add more undulating curving lines for hair, 

varying the curls at the end of the strands.

It's more interesting if some curve out

and some curve in.

That's it! You've drawn a cute 

female face, and it wasn't hard.  Just

keep practicing and have fun.  You could

add shading or color, flowers in her hair,

or even a halo.  Let me know how you do

T is for Tutorial today...linking up with

Elizabeth for T Tuesday. Sharing my

coffee in the snowman mug today...

and another taste of 

Christmas Greetings!

A Taste of Christmas

I worked on some watercolor greeting cards

this week.  Above, "Antique Doll Greetings."

"Play Some Reindeer Games"...

like monopoly!

It's always fun to mix up the

fonts, add shadows and dots,

and ignore the sometimes wonkiness

of the shapes and spacing...

An Artist Trading Card from a previous year.

The photo is a bit blurry -- the scanner doesn't

like 3 D embellishments.  This was my

'pink and light green' year...and I will

glue a button on just about anything.

My nod to a beverage for Tea Tuesday

is a 'revival' of a collage in my 

Scrappy Green Journal.

This wonderful gift from Elizabeth

already had random items 

adhered to the pages (including the

IceCafe' shown above) and then I

added even more stuff to the pages.

I do prefer coffee over tea, especially

if I add chocolate to the coffee!

Join Elizabeth for T Tuesday,

and see what projects the rest

of the participants are doing.

Thankful

The Documented Life Project,

Week 48:

"Show how you are thankful

in a creative way."  This is a 

traditional harvest illustration that

I did in extra fine-point Sharpie and

watercolors.  Though the image doesn't

portray it literally, I am most thankful

for my sweet family!

Sharing tea today with the T Tuesday gang

over at Elizabeth's blog...

I loved the illustration on the packaging for this

tea, but have to admit that the illustration is

better than the taste of the tea.  I normally

get herbal decaf flavors, but the only

pumpkin flavored option was caffeinated.

It's almost gone...what should I try next?

Love this vintage post card...

courtesy of Holidays & Celebrations~

Thanksgiving Greetings 

to all who celebrate the day!

♦  ♥  ♦

Tabs on Tuesday

I am still keeping up with the

The Documented Life Project~

I can't believe the year is nearly over!

Above, the challenge was to add Tabs

to the page. I used some scrapbook

papers and a Loteria  card to make flaps

with tabs.

Click on the image for a better view...

I did a bit of collage on the underside of the flaps,

and added my own handwriting on

 the watercolor paper beneath the flaps.

The spread beneath the tip in shown above...

additional collage with scrapbook paper,

another loteria card, and things I've drawn.

You can see the adhesive number showing

that this was for week 45.

The orange, tan and yellow collage was for the

challenge to include fabric on your page.

Stitching, counted cross stitch, and papers

are accented with chalk pastels.

Linking up to Elizabeth's blog for T Tuesday, 

with a re-post of a tea collage, and

the snow man mug...

We had our first accumulation of snow

this week, and it's bitter cold!  Well, at least

to me it is...maybe folks in Alaska or 

Minnesota would scoff at 10 degrees...

but my car won't start.  We are thinking 

a new battery is in order.

Hope you enjoy your tea or coffee today,

and stop by Elizabeth's blog.

Little Things on Journal Pages

Art deco motifs and poetry quotes

combine to create this 

art journal page, above.

I had several restaurant meals

this week, and the temptation to eat

too many high calorie foods can

sometimes be avoided by 

drawing my food!

These colorful tea bag wrappers

went onto a journal page.  The

cranberry muffin recipe is a good one!

You may notice that I've substituted

applesauce for the oil in the recipe.

Still tastes great and less calories.

Now is the time of year when I stock

up on bags of fresh cranberries and

put them in the freezer, then I have 

them to use in recipes most of the year.

Sharing my coffee cup and art with

the T Tuesday link party over at

Elizabeth's Altered Book Lover blog.

She's making homemade tea bags...

what are you creating today?

I am looking forward to receiving

 my copy of the book 

Art Journal Kickstarter, in which

I have had one of my art journal pages

published.  You can see the cover

of the book here.  I hope you will

check it out when it hits the store

shelves, which should be soon.

I love art journaling, can you tell?