Illustration Friday - Octopus

Octopus

In Clearprint's Vellum Field Guide Journal
using Pigma Microns and Dylusions Ink

for Illustration Friday

The front side of the page is where I drew the outline of the wine glass and his head peeping over the water. Colored in the stem, the water in the bowl of the glass and the top of the Octopus's head. Then wrote Octopus on the bottom portion of the glass.
*** Note to self: wait for pen to dry on vellum before adding wet medium***

On the backside of the page I drew the entire Octopus along with a small sunken ship and painted him in.

Unity blog Hop

Hi everyone, I am joining in today with the Unity group on their blog hop.

I am guest hopping because my Susan K. Weckesser inspired tag won the Unity {be inspired} Challenge using the What's Up Gnomey? stamp set! You can see it here. It was an awesome prize package too, I cannot wait to get it!!

I love their challenge because you get to choose what style inspires you to be creative. There is a color challenge ( my favorite ), a card and a layout sketch challenge. Really, something for everyone!

This is my card ♥

I was inspired by the beautiful colors and used the Susan K. Weckesser stamp One of a Kind Winter { Christmas Campaign } to create my card. I stamped him once on the Kraft paper and then again on a piece of white paper. I cut out his little body and adhered it over the top of the stamped image.

I also love doodling and added some whimsical borders of my own using my Sakura Pigma Microns and Signo white pen.

I love that the Sakura Moon Glow pens show up so well on top of black ink! I colored in the fringe of his scarf and hat and also the buttons in a bright pink. The rest of his hat and scarf were colored in with Dylusions inks using a water brush. 

Make sure to leave lots of comments so that you can win an awesome hop prize from Unity Stamps!
I can't wait to hop along and see the awesome designs from the Unity team!

Halloween cards

This has got to be one of the easiest cards to make and so cute too. Just tear and inks strips of paper!

 I love the gelli print eyes, they have so much more character because of the paint layers! I just cut the circles from the left over scrap from a pull. LOVE!

This might be the scariest thing yet about Halloween! ;)

And for a little one, something fun and not too scary! I enjoyed using my Susan K. Weckesser Insta Cute stamp for the photo strip.

Once you go gnome...

We are asked to make cards this month over at the {my sweet earth} blog and to show fun and different methods.

My favorite method ( which I happen to think is fun ) is altering a stamp.

Currently, my favorite stamp to alter is the gnome from the "What's Up Gnomey?" stamp kit from Susan K. Weckesser.

You know what they say..,

Once you gnome, you never go home.

Not sure, exactly what that means, but nevertheless it seems to fit!

lol

Here's a sneak peek at my card...

Please bop on over to the {my sweet earth}blog and leave me a leave gnomey love ♥ You gnome you want to ♥

Deer pets

Deep in the forest is the theme over at Art Journal Journey.

This isn't a stretch for me as I live right by the woods, and my favorite visitors are the deer.

Here is a picture taken of the newest members to join the wooded landscape of North Carolina. Aren't they cute?

As you can imagine ( or maybe not if you look at my "garden" ) it's quite a challenge to try and grow flowers with my deer pets. But, the New Guinne Impatient has stood the test of time as they aren't so tasty. As you can see, mama knows but the babies had to learn on their own. It didn't take too long for them to give up eating them.

I am just finishing up my page for Clearprint and will be sending it in on Monday. Again, using the front and the back page of the vellum to create my page.

The front is painted with DecoArts Multi Surface paints to bring everything to the forefront.

The back page was painted with the same black and a greyed down version of the paint and then stroked over with various inks to create, hopefully, a misty view of the mountains in the background.

I really love the dimension that painting ( or drawing ) on vellum creates! You should check out Clearprint and order your own.

Rebels by Jill Williamson

Jill Williamson is a novelist, dreamer, and believer. Growing up in Alaska led to love books, and in 2010 her first novel, By Darkness Hid, won the Christy Award. She loves working with teenagers and gives writing workshops at libraries, schools, camps, and churches. Jill lives in Oregon with her husband and two children. Visit Jill online at www.jillwilliamson.com

This is a teen fiction about forgiveness and hardship and how you handle both of these in the face of adversity. The 2 main characters in this book, Omar and Mason are trying to handle the Safe Lands upheavals in their own way. By uniting together to discover the truth about Liberation they understand that "Tomorrow is everything." 

One of my favorite quotes from this book was from their mother who told Omar "Worry doesn't take away the dread of tomorrow. But it does take away today's strength." Their continuing struggle to improve the lives of everyone, (even their enemies)leaves you with a strong sense of hope for humanity. That not everyone in this world is looking out for number one. What a great concept to give to teens reading this book.

I would recommend this book, not only for teens but for everyone. I liked Jill's writing style, it was clean and descriptive. Even though I had not had a chance to read the previous books in this series, I was able to catch up to the current circumstances of the Safe Lands and was able to follow the plot very well. 

Overall, the message here was very inspiring. Trust in God and help your fellow man as much as possible. We never know what another person is going through and sometimes we may forget that they are struggling too. It's not as easy to forgive people for the hurt they caused you but we know that everyone has personal hardships; whether we inflict them upon ourselves or caused by another person.

You can get this book at any of these locations:

• Amazon
• Barnes and Noble
• Christian Book Distributers
• Family Christian

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers <http://booklookbloggers.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Illustration Friday - Silence

Titling this one as

Space

which I think is very silent.

So this is my new page.

Front page:

 The large and medium stars, outlined in black and then again in a sparkle pen, filled in with a sparkle paint. The moon's shape is outlined in black and the word silence in black.

While I was taking pictures the sun decided to come out and let me show off some of the sparkle that the page actually has. 

And the back of the page.

The moon and the background around the stars are water colored in with Inktense Blocks.

Now, let's see how each page affects the other pages.

This is where the fun comes in...well, for me anyway!

Remember the first page?

This is how it looks layered over the second page.

The stars are put even further in the background...and yes, I purposely choose stars for my silent theme knowing that it would double nicely with the wish theme.

1.Blowing out a candle, making a birthday wish.

2.Wishing upon a star.

Now, I got an unexpected plus with the backside of the silent page, with the boys face showing through the moon. Always fun to get a bonus image.

I'm really enjoying playing around with my new journal from Clearprint :)