It's Spring!

Spring is here!  Spring is here!

Spring is that delicious time of year when the Earth renews its loveliness and reveals secrets once hidden in the frozen ground.  Let's celebrate!

I love the contrast of the riotous pink against the stark bare tree branches.


Magnolias are so glorious!

A robin delights in the day.

Flowers are medicine for the soul.

species tulip

redbuds!

Daffodils dance in the breeze! (12 second video)

Click to activate.

Spring audaciously revels in its glorious renewal!

My Blogging Business Artisans team on etsy hosts a new Challenge every month. The purpose is to encourage us to explore our creativity, to stretch our imaginations.  
Cynthia of Antiquity Travelers set forth the following Challenge for the month of March:

"Early Spring.  Since our friend Punxsutawney Phil said we'd have an early start to spring...let's celebrate!  and hope he is right (fingers crossed)."

(He WAS right!  at least where I live.)


QUESTION:  What inspires you to create?

© photos by me  all rights reserved 

Exploring Tints: a Challenge

My Blogging Business Artisans team sets forth a new Challenge every month.  The purpose is to encourage us to explore our creativity, to stretch our imaginations.  Perhaps we are re-working something we've done in the past or still do.  Perhaps we're making something entirely new.

Linda of Pruitt Creations gives us this Challenge for the month of March: 

Let's explore color in terms of tint.  In color theory a tint is the mixture of a color with white which increases lightness.  We often create with bright color and ignore tints of color.  Create a project with muted tints....


When I'm dyeing fabric, water, not paint, is my medium for creating tints.  I love to play with color!  I'll mix my dyes to create new colors or add varying amounts of water to make lighter tints.  Below are two scrunchies.  One is dyed with full strength of the particular dyes I used, the other with muted colors created by adding specific amounts of water.

 
 



 



For the March Challenge I decided to explore tints with paint.  I got out my acrylics and an ATC size card (2.5" x 3.5") and began.

I'm using a piece of glass for my palette.  These are the original colors.  In my painting I never used one of these colors full strength.  Every one was mixed with varying degrees of white.  Below is the range of colors I used including the colors in their full saturation.

My palette looked like this at the finish:

It was fun playing with color in a medium I rarely use.  I need to play more often!  Thanks, Linda, for a wonderful Challenge!

I swirled and daubed the blue paint, adding more white or blue as the mood struck me.  There is even texture created by the paint (difficult to see in this photograph).

LINKS:
BBA's list of monthly Challenges
Linky Party for the March Challenge 
April's Challenge  

photos by me © 2013  all rights reserved

Turquoise and Red: a Challenge!

"Your challenge is to create any item with turquoise and red as the primary colors.  You can incorporate other colors, too, but turquoise and red must key components." Thus states the Challenge given by Rose of Random Creative for this month's Blogging Business Artisans team.

Since I've been making a lot of cards the past couple weeks, I decided to challenge myself to make some in this color combination.  The two colors are gorgeous together and I had fun creating!

° light turquoise cardstock 

° design stamped in chocolate ink and  colored in with chalk

° red frame left over from another project

° turquoise chalk edged around the inside of the frame 

° 2 more stamps colored in with chalk and edged with turquoise chalk

° details added with chocolate marker

° nest stamp popped up

The base of this card was made in a class.  The card was stamped in black ink on white cardstock and then run through the Cuttlebug to pop out the daisies.

 

° daisies colored in with red chalk

° card edged with turquoise chalk

° light turquoise organdy ribbon tied along the folded edge

° butterfly punched out of turquoise flowered paper, edged with turquoise chalk, and 3 silver metallic beads glued along center  

° the butterfly's wings are folded up slightly for 3-dimensional effect

° turquoise cardstock with cuttlebug embossed design along bottom front edge

° strip of red and cream flowered paper

° strip of solid red paper

° and yes, crazy me, I cut the grass by hand!

° 2 pre-made designs attached (3 silver metallic dots on fence, googly eye on ladybug)

° turquoise and red tags cut with Cricut Expression, both edged and marked with chocolate stamp pad and glued together

° printed nest from The Graphics Fairy, torn out by hand, chalked with light tan and edged with chocolate stamp pad

° "thanks" and "many thanks" stamped in chocolate
° copper glimmer mist sprayed on

° yarn tie

more about the team and monthly challenges:

Blogging Business Artisans was formed last October to support and help its members grow artistically and professionally.  It's been a great joy to be a member of this team!

The idea was conceived of holding monthly Challenges to help us grow and stretch our imaginations.  Team members must complete 6 of the 12 challenges within a year.

LINKS to my past BBA Challenges:

January  New Mittens, Old Sweater!  a challenge! 

February  LOVE: a Challenge!

photos by me © 2012 all rights reserved