Merry Christmas to all of you!  

I've posted on my website homepage and here on my blog the finished card which is in the Tole Town Cyber Palette online magazine.  If you are unfamiliar with this publication be sure to check it out at www.toletown.com, Susan and Lorrie have done a great job of publishing a terrific online magazine full of painting hints and techniques as well as recipes, crafts for children, and a terrific variety of painting projects.  

This project is called Crisp and Cold Snowman and is a card but he could easily be made into an ornament or put on a variety of surfaces.  I've also posted using watercolor pencils on this little guy on my blog but in the actual magazine article are the instructions for using Copic Sketch Markers to color him as well as using acrylic paint.   

In this design I've used the Spellbinders dies for the background and I absolutely love the dies.  I have quite a collection of them now and recently acquired a set of ornament dies that I am hoping to use on a card/ornament design for the future.  

If you like this little guy leave a comment because I am considering designs for stamping and am trying to get a feel for which designs will be good as stamps.  It is quite expensive to develop a line of stamps and I am trying to get a feel for which designs the public will be interested in.  Fewer missteps that way.  

Have you read the magazine Scrap & Stamp Arts by Scott Publications?  It is a great magazine for card makers, stampers, general crafters, and painters.  When I approached the magazine about my idea for an article they were very open to  incorporating painting techniques into their magazine.  I've been a subscriber for the past few years and love the magazine but wasn't sure if they had ever published articles using painting techniques specifically for card making but thought that I would give it a shot.  I discussed the idea of providing photos showing me painting the background papers as well as the design for the bees and the editor thought it was an interesting idea.  I am a very frugal artist and like to be able to control the background papers using media and materials that I have at home rather than running to the store to invest in more papers and came up with the idea to paint my own papers using a batik style of painting. You can also find the process on this blog under my archived articles.  It took a little time to get everything together for the article but it was well worth the effort as the article is fantastic and I hope it will be interesting to the readers of this magazine.  I have been considering developing a line of stamps from my designs but the costs can be staggering and decided to print out good quality line art printed on good quality card stock instead and have tried to keep the costs down so that card makers and crafters can afford them.  You can find these on my website under the Supplies Category in the main menu.

This article is designed for painters and crafters of all skill levels and I hope that you find it to be interesting and leaving you wanting more articles.  If you feel that way please contact the editor of the magazine so she continues to be interested in publishing painting designs.

Watercolor Pencils

The instructions for painting this snowman and then making him into a darling card will be available in the December issue of the Tole Town Cyber Palette and in that issue I painted him using Deco Art Acrylic paints as well as have given you the instructions for using Copic Markers.  Prior to painting this little guy I wanted to experiment with color and chose to use my watercolor pencils. I will often use my watercolor pencils when I am working out color in the design process.  The watercolor pencils allow me to play with color before painting the finished version.

 I have a couple different brands of pencils that I use but used my Faber Castell Albrecht Durer pencils on this snowman.  I had just received them as a gift this spring and hadn't had a lot of time to play with them.  I love them but they are a little fatter than many of the pencil brands and I had to purchase a new electric pencil sharpener for them because they wouldn't fit in the old one.  If you are interested in watercolor pencils I would recommend this brand highly but be forewarned they are more expensive than other brands also obviously fatter.  I also have a set of Derwent and a small set of Prismacolor that I've used in the past.  Of the two I prefer the Derwent but both are about the same retail price. 

I hope that you take a look at this article when it is published in December.  http://toletown.com/ezine/ 

New Patterns

I have a new pattern that will be available during NET in the Turns in Time booth as well is currently available on my website.  I recently sent this pattern off to Italy which means that I have become international.  Very Exciting!!!  This pattern is called the Chicken Coop and is a repeated design done on two candleholders from Turns in Time, one is designed to hold a tea light and the other a 2" votive or small candle like I've painted up.  They are marvelous to paint on and fairly flat so they would be so easy to store.  Let me know what you think about this pattern, your feedback is so important. 

Watercolor

One of the reasons that I have not been posting as often this summer is because I have been taking a watercolor class.  I've been interested in refreshing my skills for a number of years now and finally was able to work it into my schedule.  I have to say that I love this class my teacher, Kendall Jan Jubb who is nationally known and recognized, has been just amazing and has allowed each one of us taking the class to go at our own pace and paint what we wanted to.  I've focused primarily on landscapes this year as I've really felt that was not one of my strengths.  The first class that I did was an all day watercolor on canvas class.  As we were instructed prior to class I went in with a couple ideas and we were told by the instructor that we were not going to draw with pencil on the canvas rather we were going to draw with yellow paint.  Well after I had a minor panic attack because I am usually a planner when I paint, I sketch, resketch, and may even lay it all out on the surface prior to painting.  When I had very privately hyperventilated I decided to suck it up and try something new and chose the aspen trees as they were a looser format and I felt that they might be something that I could truly learn from in the class.  I'm not sure that anyone in the class really knew exactly how terrified the thought of no control when I started to paint made me, I hope that I masked it very well.  At any rate I allowed myself the freedom to just experience the medium and the watercolor canvas and I loved every minute of it.  I chose to use color very freely and make the painting a very impressionistic loose painting.  As I have shown this piece to family members I get a mixed reaction, most of them say "Oh my".  I'm not sure if that is good or bad but I have chosen to think that they are just shocked at how completely different it is for me in style and format.  I love the piece and felt an incredible freedom when I was painting it because I felt removed form the confines of any "rules" of painting.  I'm curious to see what any of you think.  Now that you know that I love the piece I'm sure that you will all be kind.  LOL.  You can also say "Oh my".  I'm now working on my second landscape which I'm painting on watercolor paper and it too is different for me stylewise.  I can't tell you how much fun I'm having in this class and would highly recommend Kendall as a teacher if you ever have the chance to take one of her classes. 

New Patterns

I have finally gotten myself out of my painting room in the basement and can see the light of day.  LOL.  I must be super slow because it took me most of the summer to complete these new projects.  They are on my website and available for purchase just in time for HOOT.  Look for these patterns and many of my other patterns to be available at the Turns in Time booth at the HOOT show.  I have a number of new patterns as well as new products in the Supply Category and of course paint brushes as usual.  Come on over and take a look at all of them under What's New.  I'd love to hear from you about what you think of these.  I'm in the process of working on another pattern that will be out later this fall. 

Where has the summer gone?

As I was having coffee with some friends the other day, one friend mentioned that I haven't posted on my blog since the beginning of June and it is now the beginning of August.  It made me laugh because I can't quite figure out where the summer has gone to.  In my defense I have been so busy painting and designing and will have 5 new patterns available at HOOT and those seem to have consumed my time, as well as a new Tole Town Project that will be available in September that can be previewed on the front page of my website.  I'm planning to get a preview up on the blog of the new patterns very soon and should be able to get them on the website very soon as well.  I've also been taking a watercolor class that I have enjoyed tremendously and will share that with you as soon as we get the photo taken. 

We've also had quite a bit of company during the last few weeks which we have enjoyed thoroughly.  It is always fun to see family and friends.  We were up in the mountains last week and checked on the Huckleberry crop and they will soon be ready, I think that they need a couple more weeks to ripen and then we will get started picking to take us through the winter.  My son loves my Huckleberry Cake recipe which was given to me by a friend years ago.  In fact my son requested it as his birthday cake this year.  I'm posting the recipe here for those of you who love Huckleberries as much as we do.  I am not sure exactly how well you could substitute other berries but you certainly could experiement.

Huckleberry Crumble Cake
1/4 cp butter
1 1/4 cp sugar
cream the butter and sugar and add:
2 eggs
2 cp flour
1 t baking powder
3/4 cp milk
1 1/2 t almond extract
2 cp huckleberries
Mix in order and pour into greased 9X13" pan

Crumble Topping
1/2 cp sugar
1/2 cp flour
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 cp butter
Mix until crumbly.  Sprinkle over batter in pan.  Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until done.  Serve with ice cream or cool whip. 

This cake is similiar to a coffee cake and is wonderful at any time of the year.  I always check the cake at 40 minutes because it bakes quicker in my oven. 

Enjoy

End of June?

I can't believe it is the end of June already.  I have been keeping very busy painting and designing.  My most recent submission to Scrap and Stamp Magazine was accepted and will be in their January issue.  I was thrilled and hope that you will all be able to find the magazine to see the project.  They seemed very interested in promoting painted card designs to their readers.  I have a subscription to the magazine and really enjoy it and would recommend it to any of you who like to make cards.  They have very interesting technique articles in the magazine as well as cards made by very talented designers.    Hopefully the article will be well received and the editors will be interested in other projects as well.  The project that I submitted will be a technique project with painting that is appropriate for any beginner or non-painter. 

I also just found out that I will have an ornament project in the Paintwork's Ornament issue and was delighted about that.  I have been trying for a number of years to get a project in the ornament issue.  I'm not sure when that comes out on the newsstands but if my memory is correct it seems to me that it is in August some time. 

I have been working on a number of new patterns and hope to have a few of them ready for the HOOT show in August.  I'm planning to have some new bug designs painted on a plate and then sculpted and attached to a wood piece.  They are fun and I hope that you will enjoy painting them as much as I have enjoyed designing them.