"Art is my vehicle through life; may we share the ride together." Ron Wickersham

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Paint Chip Swap

Earlier in the summer I participated in a paint chip swap. We had to use the large paint chip samples (Behr brand) from Home Depot and use one of the color names as inspiration for our art on the back side, leaving the colors intact on the other side. We made eight to send out and received eight different ones in return.

After some time perusing the paint chips I chose a blue sample - one of the color names was "American Anthem" and I decided it was perfect for a patriotic theme.  This was my piece.



And these are what I received, along with the color name that inspired the artwork.

Atlantic Blue from Gwynn Thoma

French Castle from Kelli Martin

Solitude from Julie Wicks

Windmill Wings from Jeri Aaron

Red Hot Pepper from Donita Behrends

Mermaid Harbor from Cher Blasengame

Peacock Feather from Liane Ceglar
Neon Light from Roxanna King

It was such fun to see what everyone did with their paint swatches and how they interpreted the color name.

Saturday, August 23, 2014

Calling all Art Journalers!

There are still openings in this month's Art Journaling Workshop at The Little Blue House next Tuesday. Hope to see you there!
Art Journaling Workshop
Tuesday August 26th 
Image

We still have space in our Art Journaling Workshop this Tuesday!!! 

This month in Art Journaling we are playing with Scraps! We have some fun techniques to share with you on how to create art masterpieces with just Scraps of Paper! 

Call (817-431-7930) or come by (118 W. Olive, Keller, TX) to sign Up for our Art Journaling Workshop $25.00

10am-1pm or 6pm-9pm

Get the What to Bring List on the Art Journaling Tab on the LBH blog here

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Catching up

The summer is flying by! 

We spent the weekend in Austin celebrating my oldest daughter's 40th birthday (yikes!). The family surprised her on Friday night - my son flew in from San Francisco; my youngest daughter and her boyfriend came from Chicago; another daughter, her husband and 2-yr old Drew came from Albuquerque and we drove down.  The ruse was that my husband and I were taking her to dinner but everyone (including two friends and their husbands) met her there. She had no idea anyone was in town and I think she was truly surprised.




On Saturday we surprised her again with a "Duck Tour." She has always dissed this and said she would never be caught dead doing it. She thought we were meeting for brunch and was not a happy camper when she found out the truth. But she was a good sport and, I think, had fun. The grand boys had a blast, especially with the "quackers" handed out.







The rest of the weekend was laid back, hanging out at Kelly's house and just enjoying being together.










It was a great weekend and, as always, fun to have the entire family together.

Monday, August 11, 2014

Red Hot Christmas!



We at the Little Blue House have been busy little elves, getting ready for our 5th annual Little Somethings Christmas Workshop! Yes, we held it in August this year.  We usually present it the first weekend of December, which is a busy time for everyone, and gives little time for anyone to actually use the workshop as intended - to re-create "little somethings" for friends, co-workers, children's classrooms etc. for Christmas.  And last year our workshop fell on the weekend of the record-breaking ice storm of the century in the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex and all three days had to be canceled and re-scheduled during the busiest time of year! At any rate, I think everyone concurred that this was a perfect time to hold the workshop as we sold out in record time.  Despite the over-100-degree days, everyone had a fabulous time!

We always create 8-9 projects, including some kind of bag, for this workshop.  This year we used a brown handled bag, decorated with some pretty patterned paper and a lovely folded star.  Participants received enough pre-cut elements to create a second star - they look great glued back-to-back to form an ornament!

Designed by Lynette Chiles
Designed by Lynette Chiles

Next was a treat box made from envelopes created with the WeR Envelope Punch Board. This is 4.5" square but can be made in just about any size. Everyone received a small bag of popcorn to include in the box.

Designed by Tracy Pounds

Another little box, intended for giving handmade gift tags.  This was created from card stock to be just the perfect size for the manila tags, two of which were embellished for the sides of the box. This would also work well for presenting small gifts or baked goodies.


Box designed by Lynette Chiles

This cute little Rudolph was made using the Reverse Confetti Treat Tent Die.  We added a Tootsie Roll Pop inside (hmm, looks like someone had a treat!) but it could be used for various treats or even a gift card. 

Designed by Susan Tidwell

This darling Santa hat hides a gift card inside. What a fun way to present a card!


Designed by Elaine Howell

This is a fun little gift to give a special someone - a notepad holder, complete with little pencil, made from a mousetrap! Yes, a mousetrap.  (Elaine got lots of stares when she purchased these!)  It is so, so cute - and unique!

Designed by Elaine Howell

This beautiful shabby flower was made into a pin, but would be lovely on gift packages or glued to little clips to adorn your Christmas tree, garland or wreath.  It is made from many layers and textures.

Designed by Susan Tidwell




 And, last but not least, another great gift-giving item - a decorated dry-erase board created from a picture frame. The best part of this is you could cut several different patterned papers to size (maybe one for each month?) and include them in the frame for the recipient to change out.


Designed by Tracy Pounds

And that was Little Somethings 2014! We taught 6 sessions of 18 people each over three days. Needless to say, we were exhausted by Saturday evening, but, as always, it was tons of fun and we're already thinking about 2015! 

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

July Rolodex Cards - Art Journaling

OK, I lied in last post. I forgot there were 31 days in July! So, I made 30 cards during July.


Dylusions and HS Color Shine spray inks, washi tape, postage stamps, collage image

Embossed background with images cut from old notecard

Spray ink background, doodles and ad for "Moo" cards - loved the striped stockings
This photo is a bit skewed. Image left over from my page for the annual retreat book. Fountain is image transfer from catalog


More 1920's scraps from the Roaring Twenties retreat

Embossed and inked background; steampunk images cut from mail art I received in swap

Dylusions spray inks and stencil

Scraped paint background, stamps and white pen

Painted background with painted paper scraps, strips cut from business card, collage image

Kleenex box background and collage of various elements

Painted background, thin wash tape and portion of a tag I received in a swap several years ago

Paint scraps - circles are hole reinforcers colored black with Sharpie and doodled with white pen

Background is a ghosting technique. Remaining elements from Jenny Holiday papers colored with Distress Inks

More 1920's scraps on a stencil and spray ink background

"Speckled gesso resist" with magazine cutouts and stamped word

I hope you enjoyed seeing my month of cards. My Rolodex is getting so full. I have had to remove the several months' worth of cards I did at the end of last year to make room, but I may have to now remove more months in order to fill it with the remainder of the year!



Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Another month of Rolodex Art Journal Cards!

July has come and gone and I've completed yet another month of the daily Rolodex Art Cards. I did really well this month, completing 29 cards for the 30 days!

Without further ado, here are the first fifteen.

Similar to the swap cards I made for my annual retreat - made a RCAD while doing the others

Scraps and part of a paint chip

Summer/beach scraps 

In honor of the 4th of July - stamped image on vellum and paper pieced background

Playing with my new Tim Holtz "Frameworks" die and stamp

Trying out an alcohol ink technique with stencils

To commemorate my grandson's 2nd birthday on July 8 - papers and stamps

Background is security envelope liner; collage images from Jodi Ohl

Collage of paper scraps

New Dina Wakley acrylic paints; DIY embellishments from pony beads

Distress Inks, Whipped Spackle, stencil, stamp

Stamped metallic paint chip background and paper collage

Stencils and paints

Scrap paint background; stamps; image from catalog

Dylusions spray ink background; Dina Wakley bird stamp painted with acrylic paint

The remaining photos will be in the next post.