3 Cards and a Layout

It's been a few weeks since daughter and I have been to cropping night, so yesterday we returned to our favorite scrapbooking store and got some projects done. I was able to get three simple cards finished; 2 birthday cards (the same), and an anniversary card. I love the new papers they had, as well as some nice "Springy" metal embellishements. I hand-painted the flower on the anniversary card metal tag to match the paper.

Birthday card

Anniversary card

I also finsihed a very simple page about the evolution of my painting an oil portrait of Ted Neeley. Called the "Evolution of (a) Man" I hand-painted the title and used some great Basic Grey paper that was just perfect. Bazzil cardstock and silver eyelets finished off this simple page.

Day 5, and finished

I've put down my brushes; my oil painting of Ted Neeley is done after 5 days (I actually took a few days off as I was not in an artistic mood).

I think I like this one better than my first:

I really struggled about how to do his hair; then it hit me today to shadow it... I think it worked.

Painting, Day 4

A lot more work yet to do on the hair and beard... but it's coming along, albeit slowly:

Painting Day 3

Just a bit of work done yesterday; touching up more on the face, adding some finer details to the mustache, beard and starting on the hair. Lots yet to do, but here it is as of yesterday:

Painting Day 2

Just had a short time to work today; a bit of work on the face, and blocked in the background and hair. I need to let this set before I actually paint the hair with details. I also have yet to do the beard and overall details. But here it is so far:


Lots of work left to do, but I don't want to rush it.

At it again

Don't know why, but when I came across this photo, I knew I just HAD to paint it... so here it is, so far this first night painting:

Not your typical Easter eggs

Although daughter kept the family tradition of doing her eggs in Ukrainian style (hot wax and dyes), I decided to do two eggs of my favorite men. Unfortunately, they look so distorted when photographed; because of the curve of the egg, they look much better in real life. Done in oils, they actually dried quite quickly!

Ted Neeley in Jesus Christ Superstar (singing Gethsemane)

Captain Jack Sparrow (Pirates of the Caribbean)

Easter cards

Another holiday, another opportunity to make cards! This year, I hand-drew my own bunny design on gray cardstock and colored them in with pencil crayons and outlined them with black Zig pens.

Next I took some patterned paper and glued it to thick board cut in egg shapes. I made the paper a bit larger than the egg shape, glued it on and then used a sanding file to sand off the edges...it worked great!

I added Bazzil cardstock to the front of each card, glued on the bunny and egg, added patterned paper to the inside and stamped a flower and "Happiness" on each.

Easter table decor

Here are two things I've made for my Easter Sunday dinner table:

Easter Egg Candles:

Easily made using real eggs, blown and washed out. Color the egg as normal, then break open one end. Make sure you seal the bottom of the egg if there is a hole. Melt parafin wax and pour into egg, using a toothpick to hold a wick in place until it sets. I also used white glue on the bottom of the egg to seal it well. Display in egg cups!

Easter Bunny Baskets

One of these cute bunnies will be at each placesetting at our table. Made using paper muffin cups, I cut green Bazzil cardstock just a bit taller than the cup (in this case, 2 inches high) and long enough to wrap around the cup with a 1/2 inch overlap. Using scissors, cut out the grass shapes, varying lengths as you go. I also used the same paper to cut the handles of the baskets, about a 1/4 inch thick. Before assembling, I attached white Prima flowers with yellow brads to the handles for daisies. I used my Cropadile to punch holes and set rivets to attach the handles to the base of the basket. I then painted the inside of the basket with white glue and slid the muffin cup inside to attach it. Once dry, I added Easter grass, little Lifesaver jelly bean Easter eggs, and sat a Lindt chocolate bunny on top.

I can't take credit for these ideas; they both were found at Martha Stewart's website...I just improvised with what I had on hand. Happy Easter!

Lotsa croppin'

Since daughter was on Spring Break, I took two days off work. One of those afternoons (and evening) we spent at our local scrapbooking store cropping. In over 5 hours, I got a lot done!



Just a simple page with Bazzil cardstock, Karen Foster paper and a few brads. (Our backyard March 17th)
Believe it or not, this was our First Day of Spring -- Snow, ice AND rain!