Merry Christmas 30

Hi! It's been awhile since I've blogged. Just busy living the American dream :) ... Enjoying my family, the holiday season, working, traveling, exercising and working on my brush strokes. I am trying to get a jump start on making Christmas tags and cards so I joined along with this week's PTI Make It Monday challenge where Dawn has challenged us to create Double Layered Gift Tags:

I made a collection of tags and coordinating cards featuring a variety of PTI dies and stamps:

All the Christmas cards feature one of the fun stamps from the PTI Winter Swirls  stamp set:

I also need a masculine birthday card for a dear friend:

I've been painting a few birds here and there. Here is a sweet male cardinal on an 8" x 8" canvas painted using oils:

and I've also been painting various flowers. Here is a poppy garden inspired by Nancy Medina's e-course on a 12" x 12" canvas also painted in oils: 

I'm linking my paintings up to the current Paint Party Friday site:

Thanks so much for stopping by! I'll be hopping around later this evening to see what my creative friends have been up to :)
Be Sweet ;)

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halloween WISHES 24

Happy October! Today I have a couple of very different projects to share. First up is a rather clean and simple Halloween card featuring a combination of PTI stamps from the Spooky Sweets 11 stamp set along with Tim Holtz Halloween themed patterned paper:

For sketch inspiration, I joined along with the Pals Paper Arts sketch challenge:

 and for theme inspiration, I joined along with The Paper Players challenge:

Up next are my two different attempts to paint poppies on 12" x 12" canvas panels as I followed along with Nancy Medina's Poppies video tutorial. Practice, practice, practice...

I'm joining along with this week's Paint Party Friday site:

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Be Sweet ;)

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an update, a blossom and bookpages 29

Hi there! First things first...Thank you all so very much for keeping my family in your thoughts and prayers. I feel so blessed to have an extended family here in blogosphere :)  My sister is the bravest women I know and has the most positive outlook on life at the moment. To bring you up to date, she is terminally ill with advanced stage metastatic breast cancer which has traveled to her brain. She has had brain surgery a few weeks ago to debulk one large tumor and the other is inoperable. To weeks post op, the MRI revealed that the cancer is continuing to grow. She has opted for 14 days of full brain radiation. I can't even put into words how heart wrenching it was to have a conversation with her regarding hospice and end of life decisions. She is quite the trooper and my shero :) My other sweet sister has been spending the last week with her, taking her to her daily radiation treatments. 

Today I have a mixed media painting to share! I was inspired to join along with the July  Creative Cart Blanche challenge where the theme is to combine blossoms and bookpages. This is my first time combining mixed media with oil paint and I am lovin' the results! I carefully tore out several pages from an old oversized dictionary that my sister gifted me that she purchased from a thrift store and proceeded to collage them on a 12" x 12" MDF board. After collaging them in place, I washed with gesso to create a surface for oil paints.

I only painted one LARGE poppy blossom as I followed along with one of my favorite artists - Gary Jenkins. I'm hoping the sweet ladies at Creative Cart Blanche won't mind that I bent the requirements... 

 You can still see the print from the bookpages peeking through the transparent layers:

I have to play around with the mixed media and oil paint technique. I'm not sure but I don't think the turpenoid likes the matte medium that I used to adhere the bookpages unless it's paper towel pillings that remained on the surface after wiping off the thin layer of linseed oil that was applied prior to painting the blossom. Trial and lots of errors will surely help me find what works and what doesn't ;) It's all a learning process and I'm loving the journey ;)

As I mentioned at the beginning of my post, I'm joining along with the July Creative Carte Blanche challenge, Blossoms and Bookpages

as well as linking up to the current Paint Party Friday post:

Thanks so much for visiting and don't forget to get your mammogram!
Be Sweet ;)

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a trio of luminescent poppies 24

Happy Summer! I've been practicing painting poppies AGAIN. This time, I painted a trio of luminescent white poppies on an 11" x 14" canvas panel inspired by a lesson in The Beauty of Oil Painting book by Gary Jenkins.

After painting and repainting each poppy 2 or 3 times, I stepped away and called it complete. I can see where I need improvement so on to the next. Each brush stroke is quite a learning experience. 

I'm joining along with the current Paint Party Friday site:

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Be Sweet ;)

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a trio of bright poppies 20

Hi there! I finally did it! I pulled the trigger and painted on a large canvas for my home :) I painted the trio of bright poppies on a 24" x 24" canvas inspired by a lesson in The Beauty of Oil Painting book by Gary Jenkins.

I reworked each poppies several times before moving on. I can step back and see where I need improvements but for now, I'm going to hang this one proudly on a wall in my home :)

I'm joining along with the Paint Party Friday site:

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Be Sweet ;)

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