Christmas Bookmarks

Christmas papers mean Christmas paper scraps.  And Christmas paper scraps mean mosaic bookmarks

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

Talkative Tern

Reference Photo by Sandy Scott, Paint My Photo

Crafty Experiments and Using Up My Stash

Like most stampers, I have a stash of embossing powder, which is used for heat embossing.  I don't do as much stamping as I used to and I rarely emboss, but things seem more sparkly at Christmas, don't they?  Crafters too share the desire to bring light into this dark time of year.

This crafty experiment combines brush lettering with heat embossing.  First, I wrote "heart" with a Pentel waterbrush dipped in glycerine, and then I sprinkled on the embossing powder.  The heat was provided by a heat gun.

The Gift of Music

Stamps by Magenta and Clearly Wordsworth

Music is one of the mysterious gifts we have been given, like sunsets and rainbows.  Earlier in December I went to the Westcoast Calligraphy Society's Christmas Tea.  I'm an introvert, and not a very social person, finding casual chit-chat difficult.  But I very happily spent an hour singing Christmas carols and I'm very grateful to the people who made this possible.  We had a talented pianist and carol sheets for all who wanted to join the fun.

Stamps by Stampin' Up

The added bonus from all of this was that I found myself in the Christmas spirit!

A flurry of Christmas card-making ensued.

Stamps by Stampin' Up

It seems that I couldn't get "Joy to the World" out of my head:

Sketch with Sue Kemnitz

Reference Photo by Sandy Scott, Paint My Photo

Hubby gifted me a wonderful on-line sketching course for my birthday.  One of the lessons encourages us to draw a bird - I didn't need much encouragement.

I'm loving the course - you can watch a preview here.  Sue's style is very whimsical and fast, both of which match my approach to drawing.  

And then this crazy, wierd thing happened

While I was painting gouache flowers in my art journal, I found a background done in acrylic.  I drew some flowers and added some gelatos and more acrylic and the background became a foreground.

Using Up Gouache

Often my inspiration comes from practical projects like "using up journals".  I'm currently trying to clean out all of my paint palettes, so I've been painting in gouache.  This little piece is in my sketchbook.