More Pinecone Designs

 

Here's a notecard set that I made for a  friend from a new design that I've been working on.

This is the same image before and after I painted it in.

Which version do you prefer? Be sure to leave a comment and let me know.                       

Inspiration and the Things That Bring You Joy

I'm sure by now that you're wondering why I spend so much time drawing and painting on my mail.

The first reason is that I think creating endless piles of sketchbooks that few but you will ever see or have any use for is a waste.

 The second is that as long as you're going to do all that work you might as well put it to good use. There are lots of people that still appreciate time and effort put into making letters fun and interesting.

 Showing even your bad work lets people know that art is a process and anyone who wants to can tackle it on some level. giving them your best work is like giving them a gift. Over the years various people have even framed some of my cards and scrap booked the envelope drawings so I know they appreciate them.

Doing this inspires me to try subjects outside my comfort level and it also allows me to combine everything I love, good friends, drawing, painting and photography. Especially shots of my garden and the birds at the feeders outside of my window. I can't see a down side to it.

My main point is to find the things that inspire you.  Pick up a pen or paint as often as possible. It makes your life and your world a better place.

Don't wait for it to strike, just get started. I'm sure there is someone who'd love to hear from you today. You may just discover your passion along the way.

Mixed Media Christmas Designs

On this card I was inspired by the bright green scarf on the puppy photo so I decided to draw a border in marker that repeats this bright green.

Here's a border design I drew on the side of the inside of the card.

And I went for a fun change of design on the envelope.

This was an envelope for another card. I was practicing along with a you tube video.

This is the back flap of the envelope.

Here's the front of the 2nd card as I got more practice on different holiday plants.

I liked this wreath so well that i put it on white frosted oreo cookies in my zazzle store 

WWW.zazzle.com/julia_art and ordered some for my holiday parties to see how well people like the idea.

The season winds down and so do I

When I sit outside these days I enjoy the last of the flowers, beans an tomatoes and pick a few from time to time.

Things didn't turn out as well as I'd liked. The radishes,turnips and many other things failed but I turned my attention to the things that preformed well above expectations like these marigolds planted from last years seed.

The strawberries spread well but as in many first years in a new bed. There were precious few berries.

 Here's the " container corner"as it looks now. Mostly beans and marigolds. Quite a contrast from when we first started.

As things slow down I'm back to combining garden photos with some drawing as I work on some card designs.

 This leaf border on the inside becomes a nice trim to the deckle overlap you see when you look at the closed card.

The mini tomatoes began to fail in the house so I planted some in soil to finish ripening.

Making Cards with Pencil, Marker and Scrap Papers

I had some textured card stock and garden catalogs to get rid of so I decided to make note cards out of them.

Writing letters is still one of my favorite hobbies so I got my colored pencils and markers out to see how I could decorate them up.

As you can see by the brown areas, pencil just didn't cover well enough. Markers worked really well so I'll continue to work with them.

This card started with a picture from a garden catalog and then I drew over pats of it and added petals and leaves with marker.

This is my favorite of this last bunch of cards. Some simple drawing around the edges and marker around that gave it a really nice look.

I'm also truing some things that i haven't really done before. I'd been saving that old Swedish painting pattern since the early 1990's and may try it with the right colors of paints next instead of just the markers that I had on hand.

There's no real explanation for this one except that I was trying something different with flowers.

It's always good to stretch yourself and shake up your regular routine. Give it a try!

Inspiration can come from anywhere. Your house plants and even your junk mail. 

Flower and garden catalogs can be used in many ways. Sometimes when I'm too tired to draw pictures from it. I just cut out the pictures and arrange them in ways that create new pictures from them.

On this day I started with a simple watercolor that I outlined with markers.

Recycling Greeting Cards, Step by Step

MATERIALS NEEDED:

old greeting cards

double stick tape

scissors

stickers,rubber stamps or stencils

colored pencils

1. The larger piece was salvaged from the inside of a get well card. The smaller
card was a Christmas card and I'll be using that one for a base.

2. Apply double stick tape to the front of the base card and stick it too the card stock that you want to cover it with.

3. Cut off the excess around the edges.

 4. Here you see the "new" card and the scrap piece.

5. Apply double stick tape to the scrap piece.

6. Cut scrap into strips and apply over previous writing and add a few more in random lengths to make a decorative pattern.

7. I thought the design needed something to pull it together so I added some old bird transfers that a pen pal had sent me.

8. When writing on the inside of the card , the strips were at the bottom of the page and made a nice finish around the signature and things.

9. Draw a similar pattern on the envelope.