Update and Some Cards

     I haven't been feeling well lately....since November really. So it seems my art has been on hold. However I have created some cards...I will share two of them here.

     One of the girls in my Online Art Community, Jess, has been giving weekly inspiring challenges for all of us to do if we so choose. She is very good at making cards and scrap booking and really any art stuff that she tries. I think you would find her work very inspirational. I linked her website to her name, so please go check her out. Anyway that was a little rabbit trail, so back to the cards. I have really only done 2 of the challenges sadly because I haven't been feeling well and I have been trying to finish some Journal Pages for a SWAP I entered, and that takes priority. On top of that I have been crafting from my bed and thats not easy for me. I haven't figured out the best solution for everything...and I don't want to get the wet media on my bed and I tend to be a messy crafter.

     So the first Challenge I did was to make a card that was 75% Orange. This is easier said than done but I finally came up with one that I think was good enough, and it had a good message. If you

can't read the message it says:
               beauty
                  1. SMILE THAT LIGHTS the room
                  2. perfect combination of
                        CHARISMA and CHARM
                  3. my little princess

I used distress paints to paint the background of the card and added a 3 Dimensional sticker at the top with the pink background and the orange daisy. Then in some really ancient stickers I own I found the quote with the message and thought that it was perfect, especially since it was already orange and the lettering is white, I have considered going in and using a micro pen to fill in the white lettering because in my mind it doesn't stand out, but it and the pearls are the only other white to match the stitching on the pink sticker. Although I am considering that I can fill in the letters and make it more legible and then add some white stitching with my white pen to the outer edge of the card as well as to the sticker with the quote. Anyway then I punched out a butterfly and added it to the corner of the quote before I took out some pearls...I used three bigger ones to add to the upper left corner and then added three tiny ones for the body of the butterfly. Oh and as for the white I could also add some dashed white lines as a trail for the butterfly but I also want to do that in black so I left it undone. Then I added shading on everything with a charcoal pencil. So if you can't tell I have been undecided about some of the things in the card and I want to figure out what I should do before I actually make the changes, so as it stands right now this card is unfinished, but I wanted to share it with you because this is how I turned it in for the challenge.

     The next card's challenge was to create a card that was Shabby Chic. Now there are things in this card that I would have changed for sure, however I did turn this in this way and I also gave this

to someone this way as well. My main regret with this card is that I did not reinforce the fan with the lady on it with something like card stock. You can't see it in the picture but that is just paper and it is very flimsy. Anyhow that is some paper I had in my stash and I saw the fan and it just became the center of the card and I designed everything around it. I made  a cut in the paper behind it where that flower is to insert the fan so that it became part of the whole card rather than just sitting on top of everything. I tore a lot of edges and inked everything with distress ink, I believe it was in Vintage Photo. I think it got too dark for what I was trying to do sadly but once it got that dark in one area I had to make the rest dark to match. There are pieces of paper behind some of the torn sections that are showing some script. There is also a doily behind the fan that I feel may be too white but I still like the effect it has. I used some distress stain I have in Spun Sugar to dye the flower trim as well as the flower on the page. I did add some vintage photo to the mix so that it wasn't just stark pink though. Then I added a rhinestone to the flower...but looking at it now I really can't believe I chose a rhinestone...it should have been a pearl to match the three pearls I put up in the right hand corner. However I think I did the flower first and then added pearls without considering what I had already done. So maybe its more that the pearls should be rhinestones? But truly I feel like the pearls match the shabby chic theme better than the rhinestone does. Anyway this is what I entered and then I gave this to my aunt and uncle during the holidays to thank them for throwing the get togethers our family was having at the time.

     Anyway, I know this isn't much of an update on my art and I am sorry, but once I feel better I promise I will try to blog more...I haven't been very good about blogging since I started this blog, but it is something I want to change. I want this year to be different...different for my art, my blog, and me. I need to be more together with things. So once I actually feel better and the docs fix me, I will definitely get better...until then I will blog when I can with what I can.

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