Homemade Stationary

I love Sumi ink. I was introduced to it in a Fashion Illustration a couple of years ago and just fell head over heels in love with it. Since I wanted to start creating my own handmade stationary I decided to put my creative mind to use and get busy.

First off, I searched out some Japanese and Chinese illustrations, took some cues from them and painted little scenes on the paper. At first I made two different ones, but then my creativity took hold later in the day and I sketched out a few more ideas.

For coloring them I had originally wanted to use watercolors, but this paper would ripple with a single drop of water so I thought, hey, how about chalk pastels? But no, I didn't want it to smudge when the letter was being held and read. So I chose colored pencils and the results were very satisfactory. My artwork wasn't limited to the paper but also put on the envelope as well.

(Not bad for being a couple years out of practice, huh?)

This type of artwork isn't very difficult at all, so I believe anyone can do it. You just have to believe in yourself and go for it!

Organizing IS an art form!

Ok, so some people may argue that organizing your life and your possessions is not a form of art. I disagree. You have to use a lot of creativity to organize things properly. When I started this quest of all things creative and artistic and found myself in another definition of creativity.

In order to plan for new projects I must first know what supplies I will need. In order to that, I first have to see what supplies I have, so I set about gathering my arts and crafts stashes. You know, a simple day job.Turns out I'm now going into Day 9 in organzing everything. Yes, you read it right. 9 days!

I had no idea how many different things I had. This ranges from all my art books to fabric and down to several types of erasers. I have a lot of stuff! Seeing it all together was mind-blowing so I made myself a promise to try and keep everything together, you know, like-with-like. AND in plastic tubs I already possess. NO EXTRAS!

(Fabrics and trims...this pile was large, then raided by a friend and has grown again after another bout of purging)

So I am posting a picture of all the tubs that I have sitting in the living room. Some filled to the brim, others have some space left and others....bursting out of the box. But, it is all together now and a lot easier to find. Next up...SHOPPING!!

Beginning Cake Decorating

For as long as I can recall, I have always wanted to learn how to decorate cakes. Sure, sure, I've done the standard frosting, sprinkles and even delved into some carving but I have always wanted to make roses, and stars and those little frilly borders.

Well for Christmas this year, my wonderful husband gave me a Wilton Cake Decorating class through Michael's. He even bought me the professional kit! Woohoo!

This post is actually about the 2nd class because that's when we taught to make the little stars and got a sample of rose making. My sister-in-law, Karen, joined in on the fun too. Let me tell you though, I followed Wilton's instructions on making a cake using their 8" diameter, 2" deep pans...oy.....took forever for the cakes to bake. And frosting the darn things?! LOL It was hilarious because we were only told to make the frosting in certain types of thickness without actually having seen samples of each. Nevertheless, through all the mistakes and laughter, I had my cake ready for class.

We first practiced making the little star, and I'm sorry, I was so caught up in it I forgot to take pictures! LOL But Karen and I took a few snaps of us decorating and so, I give you .....pictures!

The Beginnings of a Rose

If I had more hands, I could have taken pictures of the actual process.

Ta-Da! These are my first two roses. Pretty good even if I do say so myself.

Karen is mixing color into the icing mix so we can make our stars for the cake.

Karen was very quick in getting her rainbow done...I took a while but only because I tend to be too much of a perfectionist. LOL

This is me applying the stars onto the cake....

I wish I'd of taken a closer picture but you can see how it is starting to turn out.

And VIOLA! We have a rainbow cake! I put my youngest sons name on it because his birthday is this week. I do need to practice with actual writing because the letters were pretty squiggly.

Doodle Art

Today's creative endeavor is just a simple project, Doodle Art. Nothing fancy or time consuming, just quick fun. The instructions are pretty straight forward:

Take a piece of paper, a pen or pencil, place the tip on the paper, close your eyes and swirl your drawing instrument up, down, around and sideways on that paper. Don't be afraid to turn the paper around at different angles and keep on squiggling until you just can't squiggle no more!

I actually did two different doodles on two separate pieces of paper.

Take a look at what you got then, start looking for familiar shapes. When you find them trace over them with another piece of paper to make for easier identification.

Next take a few of these images, transfer them to another piece of paper to make a complete picture and color them in!

As you can see...EASY artwork that ANYONE can do! Are you up to the challenge?! I'd love to see what types of doodle images you can create too!