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Tuesday, January 6, 2015

New Year, New Changes and Projects

Oh my goodness! It has been so long since I blogged!

I had been working two jobs and volunteering for most of 2014. Something had to come out of my schedule. Unfortunately it was crafting and blogging. I was able to quit my night job at a big department store just before Christmas. I have been crafting and creating art non stop since. :-)

I've been working a lot in my watercolor journal. I did this one with water color pencil on a train trip in November.

This flower was so fun I cut it out with my Silhouette and colored it with Distress Ink right on the cutting mat. Then I assembled it and fluffed and that was it.



For Christmas Santa scored a perfect 10. He got me this new set of water colors. I am totally in love. There are a lot of crafters using this set online. It is a great set. The pigments are so intense and the consistency is so creamy. I have used some others that are chalky, gritty, not very pigmented, low quality pigments, etc... These are none of the above. The color variation possibilities, in just one little color pan, is incredible. These are called Gansai Tambi by Kretake. If you like to water color, get them.

Here are some pages I have done recently.



This little bookmark is the first quick try I did using the new paints. I love how rich they are. It makes using them so fun and pleasing.


Another BIG project was cleaning up my area in the basement.  It was a crazy hot mess. I am embarrassed to show these pictures, but decided I wanted you to see the changes.

This picture below was after I had cleaned up a few things off of the floor. I bought the colorful storage boxes shown on the right side counter top the day before. I had so many unfinished projects all over the floor. I was constantly stepping over piles all over the place. It was bad. I started to think a long time ago that I needed to seriously throw some things away. I also wanted to get the projects that are most important in those boxes and then I can just pull out a box and work on that project one box at a time. :-)



It took like 4 days of purging, organizing and sorting. I have to confess there is about 1/2 a box left to go through. I am happy with how it is now, for now.


 
I have to say the best part is this brand new counter area. My husband got the metal drawers and the counter top for free from his work. They were going to be thrown away. He built me the cubbies under the counter out of left overs from the garage. The paper rack was a special purchase. It was from Archiver's, where I used to work, before they closed their doors. I love it. 
 


The drawers are super deep. I can fit tons in them.


The rack fits perfectly. It can be scooted back if needed and I can sit there. So far I just love having more space to spread out.

 
This is how it looks after all that cleaning.
 


Here is my sister in my space. The first project we did was to cut some fabric on my Silhouette and then she appliqued it to a project. She was using her new to her sewing machine that she got for Christmas. You can see we had a computer, a Silhouette, a sewing machine and a cutting area, an ironing board and still lots of room to work and move.  This is what we have been needing!!


Here is one of my daughters helping me finish up the Christmas cards.  We had plenty of room to be stamping together and doing it assembly line style!

 
I am so very thankful!
 
The first project I did was to refill my birthday cards. I had hardly any left.
 







I decided I wanted to try and paint from some inspiring pictures. This one is a Pin from Pinterest. I love the tall flowers bending over the path.
 

 Sorry it's sideways! I can't figure out how to rotate it.
Anyway, here is what I painted.

 
 


Here is another one I just finished this morning. The inspiration picture is at the end.

I used a tiny bit of the silver paint that is in my palette to add some shine to the clouds.

 
I love poppies so this was heavenly to me. I love the transparency of the petals.
 
Thanks for stopping by to see what I've been doing these past few weeks. I am hoping to share a lot more lately. If you are on Pinterest or Instagram follow me to see what I'm up to every day and what is inspiring me. :-)


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