The Elves Are Here!

Holiday Greeting Cards

Scrapbook paper, paper flowers, embossing, ribbon and pearls.

The busiest time of the year has arrived and the elves are hard at work. Well ok, their really is only one elf. Betcha didn't know that this elf makes handmade greeting cards as well. It's a hobby that has grown and now (jokingly) considered a hoarder of scrapbook/crafting supplies by my friends. I'm in denial and if I use them daily then I'm fine, right? I'll share the journey and early photos of my handmade greeting cards in a later blog post. For now I'll let you have a peek at the card stack.

The above photo is of the first three cards made for 2014. I tried a new layout (top card with poinsettia and deer) taken from a card maker magazine. With the added ribbon and tilt of the sentiment it became a present. End result is two thumbs up! The bright cheerful card to the left was fun. A lot of cutting, measuring and paper choices. Color combo was on par and will be revisiting that idea again. The third card had me giggling. Absolutely LOVE how beautiful the outcome was. As you can see (below) I loved it so much I made a billion more.

Gold embossed trees on textured cardstock.

Their has been something about gold that has caught my eye this season. It's been showing up in my wardrobe and card layouts lately. Pair gold (embossing powder) with pretty solid cardstock and you got a simple elegant card. I'm going to run with this gold loving idea until I run out of supplies. Have a lovely day!

xo Starlynn

Rain Or Shine

Show Up Each And Every Day!

Whether it's cloudy outside, birds are singing or your stuck waiting to see the wizard. You as a motivated and creative human being show up. That goes for every thing in life. Showing up for 15 minutes to draw a circle, face or even scribble a few relieving words does wonders. The outcome may not be a masterpiece but it's there and you will feel much more accomplished. 

These two photos are a prime example of what happens when you show up. Faces have been appearing in a lot of my drawings lately. It's a great thing because I have always had trouble drawing them. My drawing mojo was down that day and I was a bit frustrated. I told myself, draw a face and see where it takes you. So I did and ended up with this very delicate lightly drawn face. That was it. I closed the book and went on with my day. 

It wasn't until a few days later that I went back and started making large scribble like marks over her face and onto the next page. There was no "what did I do!" moments, I wanted to see where she would lead me. The Fall weather that week was hitting and the crave for warmth and bright colors overtook me.

 In the end I ended up with her. A girl so full of sunshine and beauty. A life filled with great energy. Her thoughts roaming in all directions and filling with endless ideas. Sometimes giving in to gloomy days but never loosing focus. She is determined. She is a student. She is her. 

This particular day I didn't know what to draw. When I have those moments I usually end up drawing flowers. It may be the same flower I drew the day before but it doesn't matter. 15 minutes of mistakes and layers of oil pastels I came out with this. Bright, beautiful summer flowers.

What did I learn? You don't need a plan. You just need to show up. Not having an idea or any expectations have been very helpful. In life and as an artist. It gives me a lot more room to be creative and the best thing, no right or wrong.

Layers of oil pastels with yellow and dark blue being pulled into the petals. If you look closely at flowers you'll be amazed at what other colors are hiding behind the main color. Look at the sky or a photo of a sky. You can see that there is more to a blue clear sky. You may be able to see grey and salmon colors. Perhaps even orange and pinks as the sun sets. It fascinated me when I first seen and work on a landscape drawing. I'm pretty sure you'll be amazed too! Go ahead, take a look.

xo

Starlynn