Zooming In - IF

After taking the plunge and posting something for Illustration Friday last week, I thought I'd give it another try with this week's topic. 

The word was "zoom". Easy, right? Not so much for me....

Do you go with zoom like "zoom-zoom" for a car? That's what I thought at first and sketched and water colored a little car.....Meh.

Or how about zoom as in "zooming in" on something? Well, maybe, but nothing really came to mind. No inspiration. Zero. Zip. 

So, I gave up. IF just isn't for me. 

Then this weekend, I picked up a book I'd had on my nightstand for a while by J.I. Packer - Growing in Christ.  (My book's cover art isn't nearly as pretty or inspiring as the current edition on Amazon, btw.) In this book, Packer takes the Apostle's Creed, baptism & conversion, the Lord's Prayer and the Ten Commandments and drills down (i.e. zooms in on) into each with short, readable essays. Starting with the Apostle's Creed, I've made it through the "God the Father" portion. While reading, I was reminded of this pin a friend had put on one of her boards and I thought I'd try it with this part of the Creed. So - here's the black and white version:  

And here's the colored version via Photoshop Elements. Doodling this while reading Packer's essays (not at the same time, of course!) definitely made me "zoom" into what these words really mean when recited. 

There was so much I liked about Packer's essays. The view that "Almighty" speaks of God's sovereignty and how "men treat God's sovereignty as a theme for controversy, but in Scripture it is a matter for worship." Or in the essay on "Maker of Heaven & Earth" and his view on how Genesis 1 & 2 "tell us not how the world was made, but who made it" and that "Rather than criticize these chapters for not feeding our secular interest, we should take from them needed rebuke of our perverse passion for knowing Nature without regard for what matters most; namely, knowing Nature's Creator."

But, finally, the part that has stuck with me most from my reading is from the very first essay on "I believe in God." Packer says the more literal translation from the Greek would be "I am believing into God" which means "I am living in a relation of commitment to God in trust and union." "When I say "I believe in God," I am professing my conviction that God has invited me to this commitment, and declaring that I have accepted his invitation." 

And I even like it printed! So, here's my IF submission - "Zooming in on the Apostle's Creed."

CONTINUE READING...

New Tree and Mary Doodle Frame

A friend sent me this new tree shape as an idea for a Christmas tree doodle on our 2012 cards. Not sure that I like it, but I'll probably color it in today and see of it appeals to me more. 

And I played around in PSE with the doodle frame I did for E's picture....worked with the masking tool to get a better fit in the frame. Much better. (This is a picture I took of Mary some months back at Hobby Lobby. I just happened to snap it in front of the LOL! sign. Ha!)

Ok - off to work! Have a good one, bloggy friends! And go check out AEDM for some creative inspiration if you get a chance.

CONTINUE READING...

A Day with E

Yesterday was a good day... I got to spend all of it with my girl E in Raleigh. Her boyfriend was with us, too. We went to church, had lunch, shopped and shopped some more for a new "big girl" outfit she needs for a speech on Wednesday, had dinner, and then picked up a few groceries. She's such a good girl. And I love her puppy. And her boy is  pretty good fella, too!

I took this picture just before we left for church and doodled the frame this evening.

CONTINUE READING...

Down Time, IF and the Kitchen Project

Today started out with taking Mary to an early morning swim practice (for those who know me well, can we all say "deja vu" together?) and then about an hour of quiet time at Panera, sipping a latte, eating a very good (but very fattening) cranberry orange muffin, working on a new doodled Christmas tree, and scooting around on the internet visiting some lovelies from AEDM. Ahhh....

And guess what? I clicked over from somewhere to Illustration Friday which I've looked at before but never been brave enough to submit to. And who would have thought it but the topic for this week was "Tree"!!! Ha - sweet serendipity! That gave me the courage to submit my tree from yesterday's post. So, here it is posted with IF under pen-and-ink for the medium and cartoon for the style. I wasn't sure at all how to categorize it.... digital? traditional? Dunno, but I'm sure it doesn't really matter, the important thing is I did it! Yay, me! And maybe I'll give it a try again next week.... Here's a screen shot of my tree on the IF page:

Back at home it was time to start THE KITCHEN PROJECT. This involves a 15-year-too-late redo to remove floral wallpaper and orange Formica. (Secret: I actually like my orange Formica.) Today was a big step - removing the wall that separates the kitchen and one of our living areas. Gulp. A couple of friends came to help. Here is buddy John pulling off the wallboard. (Sorry for the poor quality picture.)

And here's the view into the living area with the wall gone.

And another from the living area into the kitchen...Sitting on the counter with his face hidden is The Boy home for the weekend from Savannah! So good to see him!! We always seem to have a lot of belly laughs with him around. 

This has been a long time in coming and - true to our typical form for home projects - probably will be a long time in finishing. But, you know, I'm so thankful for my home, for a husband who is willing and able to tackle almost any project, and for friends who will help him along the way. Next step: the plumber is coming Monday to relocate pipes from the upstairs bathroom. Hooray! I can tell I'm going to like this wall being gone so very much already!!

Here's the look we're going for but with yellow walls. I'll keep you posted, bloggy friends!

A very full day and still not over yet! Hope your weekend has been as good as mine so far!

CONTINUE READING...

Tree Doodle with Color and PSE Tutorial

I spent some time today coloring my doodle-tree in Photoshop (I use version 10.) I find coloring in a doodle electronically so relaxing. There's no worries of messing anything up like there is when you color with paint or markers. And I'm pretty pleased with the results. I still don't think this is the tree for our Christmas card, but I've really enjoyed the process plus I figured out something new with Photoshop: How to color in spaces without boundaries (like the petals that fall out of the "edge" of my tree shape).  

Here's a quick tutorial to fill an object without a boundary. I needed to fill in this green petal, but there's no boundary because my tree shape is design doesn't have any edges.

1. Select the eyedropper tool.
2. Pick the color you want to fill the petal with. (See the green color box in the bottom left-hand portion of the screen? Now the "paint" I use will be this color.)

3. Select the paint brush tool and choose a regular brush.
4. Set the size to about 6 or 7 pixels.

5. Draw a boundary line at the tip of your petal connecting the black outline.

6. Switch to the paint bucket tool and paint the line you just drew with the brush. (This makes it thicker and gives a more secure boundary.

7. Now you can use the paint bucket tool to fill in the empty space in the petal (make sure you have "contiguous" checked on the top tool bar) and "TA-DA!", you've filled in an object in Photoshop that appears to not have a boundary!! Yay!

I've never had a class on PSE so I mostly stumble around trying to figure things out as they come up. I'm sure there's a smoother, more elegant way to do this but for now, this works for me. 

Have a lovely weekend out there, bloggy friends!

CONTINUE READING...

Doodle Tree Attempt #1

I scanned in the doodle ornament and darkened the black lines with Photoshop. I like it!

Then last night I worked on my first attempt for a Christmas tree. That's the direction I think I'll go for our Christmas card design this year - a doodled tree with the four of us around it. And maybe something about Savannah since The Boy and The Girl are there now.

I scanned this first attempt in and darkened the lines. It was drawn with a Micron .01 pen. I might play around with coloring it in Photoshop and see how that goes. More to come....

Don't forget to check out the lovelies on AEDM!

Hope you are looking forward to a long weekend as much as I am, bloggy friends!

CONTINUE READING...

Clean Up

Here's my doodle ornament scanned in and black lines darkened in PSE. Loving AEDM! Making me DO SOMETHING CREATIVE every day! 

Go forth and create, bloggy friends!

CONTINUE READING...

Doodle Ornaments

Last year the Christmas cards we sent out were hand drawn.

The year before that they were a photo of Mary as the angel Gabrielle inserted in a hand drawn frame.

The year before that..... they didn’t exist!

Yep…. It took me 25 years of marriage to get it together enough to send out Christmas cards. *Sigh.*

But now, this year, I’m looking forward to coming up with a new design. And, like I often do, once I have a project in mind I’ll look to other artists for inspiration. I’ll practice their style and let it morph into my own with some new ideas. Last night I found this artist, took one of his cards, and gave it a try. Mine’s a bit more crowded than his and not nearly as smooth, but I like it just the same.

  

I especially liked the way he colored each flower in with one or two colors and left a good bit in black-and-white. I think I over-worked mine, though.

I’ll be thinking on this one…. Maybe not a doodle ornament, but a doodle Christmas tree? And how to show the family? Maybe I can show us decorating the tree with doodle flowers?

For more doodle inspiration, here’s one of my favorite artists – Jennifer Judd-McGee. Isn’t she awesome?

Have a thrummy Thursday, bloggy friends! And stop by AEDM for more creative awesomeness!

Update: Scanned version posted here!

CONTINUE READING...

Sisters

Ok, so since I want to make an angel garland, I thought I should try to figure out how to make these little girls a bit more efficiently, so I tried another one. Bleh. Not too efficient… but my blond angel has a sister…. She’s pretty scraggly looking, though!

Grrr…. part of her bangs fell out but, oh well! I need to rethink this whole hair process. And I’d like to find thicker felt….. Like this.  It’s expensive and I’d rather find a local place that sold 100% wool felt or a high wool content blend. I’ll keep looking.

And here’s a little felt inspiration for you at Checkout Girl. Pretty stuff, huh?
Have a lovely Wednesday out there! And stop by AEDM for even more pretties!

CONTINUE READING...

Angel Ornament

I had coffee with a crafty friend last week and she was making these sweet little angel ornaments from a pattern at Crafty Staci.  I decided to decorate the dress and put some hair and a mouth on mine. The feet need some work! I can just see a garland of five of these little girls on a golden cord, though. I’ll keep working…. I think I need better felt, needle nose pliers and a more organized workspace!

Happy AEDM, bloggy friends!

CONTINUE READING...

Butterfinger Bird

I made this bird ornament today from a tutorial by Stephanie at Under the Table and Dreaming. For the past five years or so I’ve made a new ornament or garland for our smaller Christmas tree we put in the study. Sometimes I get really energetic and make ornaments for some of my girlfriends, too. I thought I’d play around with this one as a possibility for my 2012 ornament. I think I like him! You can’t tell from the photos, but he’s sparkly, too! Right now he’s decided to perch on the flowers on the dining room table until a proper tree is found.

Oh…and he’s the “Butterfinger Bird” because, as Mary pointed out,  the random dictionary pages I cut him from have the entries “butter dish”, “butter fat”, and “butterfinger.”  I think he and about five of his friends would make a great garland, too.

Well – here’s to one more day of doing something a little creative! Hope you had a great start to your week, bloggy friends! Stop by AEDM to see some creative loveliness all month long!

CONTINUE READING...

A Step Up

Today, finding myself alone at home unexpectedly, I started over on the stool cover I showed you yesterday just using blue, cream and gray. I pretty much followed the pattern here. I like the long double crochets that skip down a row. I painted the stool using cream chalk paint.

Here’s one I did a couple of weeks ago with a pattern I made up myself. I love black and white!

Other than making the stool, I’ve done five loads of laundry, cleaned the kitchen, and vacuumed the upstairs rooms. Oh – and I’ve watched five episodes of Once Upon a Time. A friend told me about this series a while back and I had been meaning to give it a try. Now I’m hooked!

So, it’s time to get my mind around beginning another week. Hope you have a lovely one, bloggy friends!

CONTINUE READING...

Yarning

I’m working on a stool cover from this pattern…. Not too happy with it right now. I think I’ll start over with just the blue and white.... I think….. So excited to get an “extra” hour tonight!

CONTINUE READING...

Happy Books

My daughter, three of her friends, and three of us moms are going through this book together. We meet about every other week and the mom’s have been alternating turns leading the discussion.

This week was my turn and the chapter was “A Girl Who Knows True Happiness.” The main point was  “true happiness is found not in your circumstance but in your thoughts.”  The chapter was long and full of lots of good things. Reading it, I envisioned each girl having a “Happy Book” she could turn to when feeling blue or angry or without hope to remind herself of the truth of God’s Word. So…. we made “Happy Books!”

Here’s the cover to my Happy Book. (The back says “Book.”)

And here are the girls hard at work:

 
The main gist of the “book”:

If you’re struggling with finding happiness, here are some things to consider -

• Tell yourself the Truth (found in God’s Word)
• Take every thought captive (get rid of those negative thoughts!)
• Agree with God (know what He loves, what He wants for your life)
• Forgive (yourself and others!)
• Trash your idols (those things that crowd out God in your life)
• Live a life of contentment (prioritize, simplify, help others, enjoy what you have)
• Find happiness on the other side of heartbreak (trust God’s plan for your life)

Here’s my page on “Take Every Thought Captive”. The girls put an illustration on each page with related verses to remind them of what they learned. You can see my whole “book” here. 

We spent a good bit of time talking about how these verses should be read in context and also that the expectation is not for us to have these happy, happy little lives. As Christians, we know there will be pain and suffering…. We will be sad and we will be hurt. But our faith in Christ gives us the ability to have a deep and abiding joy that is always flowing in and through our lives.

So, AEDM Day #2 was a fun and crafty time with some beautiful little girls I love very much. Thanks, Lovelies, for such a good evening!

CONTINUE READING...

AEDM!

Leah over at Creative Every Day is again (I think for the 10th year running!) hosting the November Art Every Day of the Month Challenge! Click over there and see all the beautification going on in Blog Land! So much talent, inspiration, and nice people to meet!

I’d like to say I’ll be posting something everyday for this challenge, but I’m too old and wise to actually put that in writing. So, here’s to giving it a try without black-and-white commitment! I definitely could use some creativity flowing every day right now, how about you? These days with less and less sunlight are beginning to wear me down a bit… and we’ve so many more months of this to go! Bleh.

I’ll start off this month with a gift I made for a friend who just bought her first house. It’s 5x7, drawn with Micron pens and then colored in just a bit with Prisma Markers. I’m afraid I’m cheating (*maybe*) since I actually drew this on Sunday and framed it yesterday then passed it on to her dad to deliver this weekend. But, I did want to share this and I’m happy with how it turned out. I was also practicing for a similar gift I want to make for The Boy and The Girl’s upcoming 2nd anniversary. Hard to believe it’s already been that long! Here’s anniversary gift #1.

Here it is framed. Not super happy with the framing, but it’ll do.

So’s here’s wishing you a most creative first day of the month and a most glorious November! Grab all the sunshine you can today, bloggy friends!

CONTINUE READING...