I know i  have been away from this blog for a really long time. I didn’t mean for that to happen, it’s just life gets in the way and my poor blog(s) suffer! I have every intention of  continuing to post and do my tutorials, but I am afraid i will not be able to live up to my own expectations until i finish with school ( i graduate in May of 2011!!)

anyway I have been feeling so neglectful, that I just had to come post my newest crafty project that i made for my new house. i made it from and old washboard that i got at a yard sale for a buck. I picked up another one and am going to make one for my sister, so i will do it as a tute soon
hope you will still pop in even though I have been so remiss

xokp

I have been a bit ‘off kilter’ lately. I don’t know what’s going on with my art! I just cannot seem to focus and I don’t seem able to create anything really cohesive. I don’t know who I am or what I want to be when I grow up! haha I say it in jest, but I really feel it is true. I am so hard on myself for not having ‘a look’ or ‘ a theme’. What does this mean? Is it okay? Um I don’t know. I just keep telling myself to embrace what I am doing and that it’s okay if I am still ‘finding my voice”. I am, after all, still a student…right? yeah.  

I have been really into experimenting with watercolors lately. Probably due to the fact that I have taken (and am taking) watercolor classes from an incredibly amazing watercolor artist! Anyway she has inspired me and encouraged me to explore and experiment with this wonderful medium. I have been playing with patterns and textures. I think I want to try to create a line of fabrics and scrapbook papers using watercolor. I made a couple of sketches. I like it. What about you?

any thoughts on these?

thanks for looking

xo kp

Well I have been remiss in my blogging duties and it’s crazy because I now have two blogs to miss posting on instead of just one! The sad thing is, I LOVE to blog, I just find it difficult to have the time to post because, as any blogger knows, there is more to it then just slapping up a quick paragraph (well at least most of the time)…haha

Anyway, I just wanted to post a few random things here today.

1) You know how I was saying that I would love to get an atc trade going? Well, instead of just hoping to do one, I actually emailed some of my artist friends and specifically asked them to participate. And guess what? They said “YES”! Well, at least most of them did!  I only got one “no” and 3 non responders, but 11 fantastic artists are going to contribute (plus myself)! I am really excited and, of course I will definitely share here when the time comes. The artwork is not due until August 5th. (more on this soon…)

2) One of my friends sent me this link and I think it is pretty cool, especially if you like to see other peoples creative work spaces!  It’s the Stamping Ground blog and the have a feature called What’s on Your Work Desk Wednesday check it out!

3) A new little illustration from my new collection, I am really happy with them and I love this sentiment:

so, yeah, I told you it was random.

xokp

none

Well my ‘Junior’ year is just about wrapped up!! Tomorrow is my portfolio review and then I will be DONE for the summer WHOO HOO!! I am doing an internship and have lots and lots of projects that I want to take on, so I am really looking forward to it….Anyway, I digress. like I said, tomorrow is my portfolio review so I have quite a few projects that I am trying to finish up. Here is my life sized portrait that I completed yesterday. Now keep in mind, I started this over two weeks ago but when i sat down yesterday to work on it, I was not happy with it so I completely started over. This was all done in about 10 hours. It is close to being complete but there are a few things I am still going to work on.

I started with a large piece of plexi-glass placed in front of a mirror. I ‘traced’ my reflection with an alcohol based marker…

here is my outline

I painted with alcohol inks, clear blending fluid, paintbrushes and dry paper towels

I also referred to a few photos taken as I was working...

almost complete..I am still going to add some background and possibly work on the eyes a bit more...

It has been a lot of fun to experiment using the acrylic and alcohol ink on such a large scale. It was very challenging because of the how quickly the inks dry and also the way it reacts when you ‘paint’ wet on dry or wet on wet. But I really enjoy the effects and I find that it is a really expressive ‘canvas’ for a portrait. I like the way that light and texture plays a role in how one views the image. I hope you enjoy it  and that you will experiment with this fun medium too!

thanks for looking

xo

kp

So, last week I was looking at Totally Tutorials blog. I wanted to find out more about their exchange program. The deal is this, someone who sells supplies will offer up some goodies in exchange for making a tute out of the product that is being offered. All you need to do is send along an email with your ideas and/or concept for a creative tutorial. If you are chosen, the seller will notify you and send you the product or supplies and you make and post your tute within a given amount of time. Sounds fun right? I thought so when I found out I could get this really cool, burlap coffee bean bag! So I submitted my idea (like maybe i don’t have enough projects on my plate already! LOL) and a few days later, I found out I was one of the three lucky recipients! My bean bag arrived on Friday and I set out to make this really cool bulletin board! I hope that Betty at Donkee House and Dotty at Totally Tutorials both like it…and I hope YOU like it too!

coffee bag message board with coffee bean border and push pins!

Here is the list of items that you will need:

1) Coffee Bean Burlap Bag

2) Cork Board ( I got mine at an office supply for $12. It is 24 x 36)

3) decoupage medium and medium to large paintbrush

4) scissors

5) hot glue gun (and about 6 hot glue sticks)

6) whole coffee beans ( I used approx. 6 oz.)

7) thumbtacks

24 x 36 bulletin board and Burlap coffee sack

besides the burlap bag and the cork boarde, this is the other stuff you'll need!

lay your board and your bag out and measure...

cut the side of bag that you want to use. make it a bit larger than the area that you are covering.

spread your decoupage medium all over the board...make sure to get it to the edges.

place your burlap onto the board...

press firmly and get out any wrinkles or fold marks

once the bag is in place trim bag to the inside of the frame

make sure all the edges are glued down well

I had a little help hot gluing all of the coffee beans around the border!

finishing the border...

make some tacks with hot glue and coffee beans!

hang your pictures, notes, mementos, grab a cup of coffee, sit back and enjoy!

This project really didn’t take much time (about 2 hours) and only cost about $14…it would have cost just a few dollars more if I would have purchased the burlap coffee sack. This was a lot of fun and I think it will look great in my kitchen! Thanks again to Donkee House and Totally Tutorials!

xo

kristen

I recently found a couple of great blogs,  Julie’s Open Window and The Play Date Cafe!  The Play Date Cafe posts a design challenge each week. The design team will post a creative inspiration along with a color swatch. The challenge is to create something using the color parameters that you are given. I have been wanting to enter this for a while now and I have finally done it!

Here is the inspiration:

I designed this image just for the occasion...

work in progress

close up

my finished card for the Play Date Cafe design challenge

The other day I was at the mall and I saw the cutest birdie necklace. So I can’t take full credit for this idea. Actually, I can’t take any credit for the idea! It was completely inspired by the necklace I was too cheap, cheap to buy! Of course, mine is 100% hand made and ended up looking completely different than the one in the store…. Even though it was very challenging to make, I am happy with the way it came out.  If anyone is interested, I may do this as a tutorial. Although it was sort of difficult and gave me fits, now that I have done one, I think I could do it again using a lot less expletives!

Here it is:

so tweet!

Anyway after I got this all finished and I was taking pictures it really  reminded me of a poem I wrote many years ago. Even though I am not a poet (and I know it!) I’m going to share, just because I think it totally goes with this sweet necklace…

…i saw today a bird in a cage

and i saw myself

reflected

in its fluttering wings and sad song

its colors

we both knew

would be more vibrant

in the branches of a tree

closer to the blue of the sky

its beady eyes looked at me

through iron bars

there was no fair trial they seemed to say

then looked away

as my hand reached up in peace

my hand with a mind of its own

my hand that held the key

simple it was

and my heart with the bird

was set free.    -kp 1988

So, if you like the necklace, and would like to see it as a tutorial, send me a comment and I will do a step by step project and post it here within the next few weeks!

TTFN

p.s. clue #8 Like in a wedding, it will be something old, something new, someone borrowed and I was blue.

I have a new tutorial ready to post but I am sorry to say it is going to have to wait a day or two, I just have too much homework and other things that need to be done before I can spend any real time posting here.  oh how I wish it were summer!! I promise to get it posted asap! I did at least want to post…

…clue #6: Sometimes we get a second chance to leave a first impression.

TTFN

thank you for looking at my blog

KP