Oodles of Doodles - May

I've mentioned before that The Petit Planner on Instagram publishes a monthly doodling challenge.   In  May, the challenge was a list of foods.  It's fun to do - and fun to think of creative ways to interpret the words.

Some of my favorites this month were cookie (I drew the Cookie Monster) and hamburger (Hamburgler).

Snowshoe Scarf

Often, when we travel, I'll buy yarn. I like my yarn souveniors - when I knit with the yarn and then use the knitted article (usually a scarf), I am reminded of our trip.

Last weekend we went to the mountains of West Virginia. I knew I wouldn't find a yarn store there, and I wanted to knit in the car while we traveled, so I ordered yarn to take with me.

I am drawn to blues and greens, so much so that many of my scarves are shades of those colors. I do buy a few other colors, but not beige. I like color.

I ordered this yarn because the name of the color is snowshoe - we went to Snowshoe mountain for the weekend. I couldn't reisist it! And it will match my coats (which are black with taupe trim).

I'm knitting a 2x2 rib with Knit Picks City Tweed, Aran weight. The yarn is soft - 55% merino wool, 25% superfine alpaca, and 20% donegal tweed. It's a heavy worsted weight yarn, so I'm using US size 9 needles.

On the trip, I knit one skein - 164 yards. I purchased three of them.

The top image is the scarf sittig on a rail of the deck at the hotel. The second one is the scarf sitting on the dashboard as we aproached Seneca Rocks.

Bicycle Card

Friends of ours are bicycling buddies of Steve's. For their anniversary, I made a card using Lawn Fawn's Bicycle Built for You.  If you look at that set, you'll see that it includes a bike for one - not for two, so I used a little creative masking and stamping to build a different bike.

Notice the left legs of the bikers. Those should be on the back.

Here, I fixed it. Stamped bike frame on white paper. Glued over.

Masked to add background - brushed on distress ink.

Finished anniversary card for friends

Mitred Crosses, Take Two

Many years ago, when the older son, Grant, started college, I made this blanket for him.  It is a Mitred Cross blanket, knit in his college school's colors (orange and black). It was a surprise for him, and for me, it was the largest object I had ever knit. That was in 2011.

Fast forward to 2014. Our younger son, Josh, graduated from high school and started college. I

decided to continue the tradition, so I knit him a Mitred Cross Blanket, using his school's main color, kelly green. Since son #2 is the same height as son #1, their blankets were the same size.

I wasn't blogging on this blog then, so I didn't write a post. It seems that I didn't take any pictures, either, which is very unlike me. To write the post, I had to text Josh and ask him to photograph his blanket for me.

Yarn: Superwash Wool of the Andies. This was a change from Grant's blanket. His was not superwash. Since I knit the blanket, I have machine washed and dried it, which was scary for all of us, but worked just fine. The colors were coal, cobblestone heather and dove heather (all three the same as Grant's) plus two green colors - a kelly green and a forest green, whose real names I have not recorded.

Needles: I don't remember, but I knit the first one with size 6, so I'm betting I used the same size with this one.

Pattern: Mitred Crosses Blanket by Mason Dixon Knitting. Here is the link on Ravelry, There used to be a post on Mason Dixon knitting, but it appears to be gone now.  In the corner of the blanket, I stitched musical notes (my deviation from the pattern). Those are symbolic of Josh, who is a musician.  I also made it longer than the pattern calls for - Josh's is a total of 15 squares. I added a black edging to the finished blanket.

Travel images

How about some images from our recent weekend trip? These were taken with our Nikon 5100 (details about our camera at this page).

Bird on post, near Summersville, WV

Blue flowers - what kind? Near Summersville Lake

Near Summersville Lake.

Female cardinal near Gnats Run, WV

Male cardinal near Gants Run, WV

Cathedral Falls near Glen Ferris, WV

White dogwood in Summersville

Process vs Project Card Making

I was thinking about card making today. I was kind of regretting that I hadn't had much time to just "play" with my stamps and supplies. For me, playing means to explore media, to pull a set of stamps and see what I can do with them, to experiment, to use up a card kit - playing is a great creative outlet.

In knitting, there are process knitters and project knitters. Process knitters mainly enjoy the knitting of the object. The goal for a process knitter is not really the finished product - it is the knitting, The ultimate story about process knitters that I've heard is women in a eastern European country (I think) who couldn't get yarn, so they would knit a pair of socks, frog the knitting, and then knit the socks over and over again, just for the pleasure of knitting.

Project knitters are in it for the end product. When I knit a gift for Christmas, with a fixed deadline, and a rush to finish, I am a project knitter. I just want to get to the end, where I have the scarf or the socks and can wrap them and call it all done. I don't enjoy the knitting as much.

Today, I realized that the same can be thought of in card making - sometimes I am a project card marker and sometimes I am the process card maker.

1. When I make cards for the people on my list, I am a project card maker. This month, I needed to make 11 Mother's Day cards, 7 "event" cards (birthday and anniversary) and a few other, non-categorized and non-planned cards (Get Well, Thinking of You. I've been pushing to get this list done for a few weeks. Today I finished the Mother's Day cards, and I have two more event cards to make for the month. I enjoy doing it, don't get me wrong, but there isn't a lot of "play" in it.
2. Sometimes, I just sit down and enjoy the process. I end up with cards, but they aren't for particular people. For example, the card in the image with this post is a Suzy Plantamura pre-made print. I took it with me when I had time to color during breakfast, and colored it in with Zig Clear Color watercolor markers. Later, I took the finished piece, mounted it, and made it in to an anniversary card for a couple on my list.

It seems to be a small difference, but the first way feels as if I am working toward a deadline. The second way feels less stressful and more like play. It in in the process that I learn new skills, usually, because I'm trying new techniques. It's in the play that I grow as an artist.

I need to remember to take tame to play - not just to make cards.

Lydia's scarf

This is Lydia's scarf. It is also a lesson in how, if I don't write things down, I won't be able to remember them.

I knit this in December for our son's finance.  The picture is bad and my memory of the detail of the knitting supplies is bad. But I'll do the best I can:

Pattern: Ripples from Knitpicks (this much I know).
Yarn: Wool of the Andes Superwash bulky (I think), 3 skeins (maybe)
Color: Aurora Heather
Needles: Size 9

My soon-to-be daughter in law is tall (almost 6 feet), so I knit the scarf to be six feet long. I worked hard to finish is by Christmas, and measured it wrong - it was probably at least 7 feet long when I finished.

I like the look of the pattern, and it didn't take too long to memorize. I'm unhappy with the edges and how they curled. It could be the way I knit it, though, and not a function of the pattern itself.

Also, I was in such a rush to finish it and wrap it that the images of it are bad. This one is heavily edited in Photoshop to try to get the color close to correct - it's ok, but not quite right.

Lessons learned - write details down, take better images, measure better, and work on the edges.

Oodles of Doodles

I am creative; I can stretch that to say I am artistic. What I am not is a person who is able to draw. That would be a great gift, and it is a gift my older son has. He didn't get it from me.

However, I was scrolling through Instagram the other day, and Stephanie Klauk posted an image of her bullet journal - the page where she was working through the Oodles of Doodles challenge for April. It's a list of prompts - 30 of them - and for each of them, you use the prompt to lead you in a doodle.  A few example prompts for April are tulip, bunny, ants, picnic - you get the idea.

It looked interesting  and as I said, I can't draw. But I CAN play. So I grabbed the list from The Petite Planner's Instagram feed, and created a spread in my bullet journal.

The drawings are doodles. They aren't great - as I said, I can't draw. But it is fun. And it reminded me about something important regarding creativity. You don't have to be good at something to do it. Do it anyway. Play. Create. Have fun expressing yourself.

My Raskog Cart

Top Shelf

 I have a cart that sits near my studio desk - it's a Raskog cart from IKEA.  When I was setting it up, I looked around the internet for ideas - and didn't find many. So, this is how I set it up.

Top Shelf:

• Box with stamps I want to use soon. In particular seasons, this turns into seasonal stamps (like Christmas).
• Box with precut papers I can use for the inside of the cards, bags I use to put finished cards and envelopes together and other small papers.
• Basket with towels for cleaning (paper and cloth).
• Scoreboard and Misti

Second Shelf

 Second Shelf:

• Two baskets of embossing powders: metallic and colors
• Coffee filters for embossing
• Box of acrylic box which also contains basket for ink blending tools and ink swatch stamp.
• Small basket of long strips of paper for sentiments

Third Shelf - one side

 Third shelf:

• Basket of large cling rubber stamps (especially backgrounds and Penny Black)
• Jar of finger blending tools
• Jars of water for watercoloring
• Pencil cases - Prismacolor (the large one), Derwent Inktense and Derwent watercolor

Third shelf - other side

I love my cart. It has made staying organized, and having everything handy for when I need it so much easier. One of my favorite purchases! I also enjoy using baskets to help keep everything organized on the cart. I enjoy how they look. The exception to this is the acrylic blocks, which are in an acrylic storage box.

Easter Cards

 I'm working on Easter cards this week, and I feel in love with Cottontail Cuties from Neal and Tangled.  I belong to an accountability group (called an Emmaus Reunion Group) - I've made cards for each of these women - 7 of them.

As I worked on the cards, I thought a post about these cards - step by step - might be fun to do.

I stamped the images in Hero Arts Black dye ink on Neenah Solar White 80 pound card stock - I like both of these for colored pencils.  I masked the little girl's hand and stamped the carrot, so that it looked like she was holding it. I wanted a soft look, so I used Prismacolor pencils (instead of copics). This design is very much inspired - if not stolen - from Laura Fadora - at this link.  Watching her video inspired me to purchase the stamp set.

I masked the images with post-it notes, and then used Inc. makeup brushes from Target to brush on Distress Ink (Twisted Citron and Broken China) for the grass and sky. I added a few pencil strokes in green to provide ground and blades of grass. I wish I could remember where I saw the idea of using the makeup brushes - they are a substitute for the more expensive Clarity Brushes. This is the first time I've tried them - I loved the light touch of ink they provide. I never could have gotten this soft of a background with the ink applicators I usually use with distress ink.

The panel is mounted on a frame and card base from My Favorite Things.  Seven of them ready for Easter!

Incowrimo - Encouragement Cards

Have you ever heard of incowrimo? It is an abbreviation for International Correspondence Writing month.

Since I started bullet journaling, I've been watching videos by Boho Berry. She participated in incowrimo - at the time I thought it required you to write a 28 letters in February. Cool idea - handwritten letters.

I didn't want to write letters, but decided to accept that challenge and send out 28 handmade encouragement cards in February. You can tell, if you know anything about incowrimo, that I didn't actually go check out their website - until today, as I write this post.  According to the website, "InCoWriMo challenges you to hand-write and mail/deliver one letter, card, note or postcard every day during the month of February." So, my card commitment was write in line with challenge - it doesn't have to be letters.

At first, I thought 28 encouragement cards was a stretch goal Keep in mind that I didn't count the ones I made for Valentine's Day. As the month went on ... Wow. Not just a stretch goal - it was a big commitment.

And yet, the whole process reminded me of why I send out handmade cards. The recipients were surprised - cards for no reason. A "happy" as my mother-in-law would have called it. People need that kind of encouragement, don't you think.

Will I do it next year? Maybe. It was worth it.

(By the way, the image was taken in a grocery store florist department with my iPhone - some day soon I'll write a post about my image a day for a month commitments.)

Bike Doodles

 In December, I started learning about bullet journaling. I decided to give it a try. That month, I pulled a blank book I had on my shelf and a couple of pens, and started giving it a try.

I liked it, so in January of this year, I started bullet journaling daily. I'll write a post about the process I use later - you can see my supplies at this link.

This morning, I was planning for the day. Steve had a bike ride on his schedule, and I wanted to include that in my day. I decided to work on a doodle of a bike that I could draw on my page. I started with a page in the back of my book, a google of bike doodles, and finally with the picture of Steve's bike that is to the right.

It's still a work in progress - I like the one on the bottom row, far right side the best, but fun to play with.

Doodle on.

Fountain Pens and Ink

I've become interested in foundation pens. Years ago, as a kid, I used a foundation pen, and I played around with calligraphy using a foundation pen with a calligraphy nib.  So this is a renewed interest.

My current pens are:

1. Pilot Metropolitan, violet leopard with a fine nib.  This is a great pen. It was inexpensive, and yet it writes very smoothly - flows across the paper. It comes with a converter and a cartridge so that you can choose which method of adding ink you prefer. I started with a cartridge and then switched to a converter to use bottled ink.
2. Platinum Plaisir, green with a fine nib. I like this pen, too. It doesn't write as smoothly as the Metropolitan, but it still does a good job.  When I purchased it, I also purchased a converter (which doesn't come with this pen.
3. Parker Vector 88. This isn't my pen. It belonged to my husband's grandmother. He bought it for her as a gift, and when she died, it was returned to him. When he saw my interest in these pens, he dug it out for me to use. It still had the cartridge in it that she had used, although it was empty of ink (or dried up). I worried that the dried ink would have ruined the feed or the nib, but cleaning it was rather easy, and it was restored. No one has used it for about 20 years, and now it's working just great. I purchased a Parker converter for it.

Inks I've tried:

1. Blue-Black Pilot cartridge - this worked as expected, but I wanted to try something a little bit brighter.
2. Diamine emerald - It's a nice green ink, but it leans more toward yellow green than bluer green.
3. Noodler's Green Marine - I like this one better than the Diamine Emerald because it is a bluer green. Personal preference.
4. Diamine Blue Velvet - Great blue ink. I like it
5. Pilot Iroshizuku Ku-jaku - a deep teal blue-green ink - peacock. This is the ink I put in the Parker 88.

You'll see that for most of the inks above I've linked to samples from The Goulet Pen Company. They have a nice option that offers small samples of bottled ink to try. Great idea - and it has allowed me to try several before I buy a whole bottle.  The Iroshizuku link listed above was a "surprise" ink. It's another option they offer - you can purchase a randomly selected sample of ink.  Fun idea!

For those interested in finding more out above fountain pens, I recommend The Goulet Pen company Youtube page. It's what drew me into to exploring this world again.

FYI - the notebook above is a Leuchtturm 1917 journal that I use for Bullet Journaling.

Lobster scarf and Maine

In October of last year, Steve and I traveled to Portland, Maine, for a NAUMF meeting. It was a great trip!

While we were there, we visited a yarn shop called KnitWit. I like to purchase "souvenir" yarn when we travel - yarn that I can knit into a finished object (usually a scarf) and when I look at it, I remember the trip. I bought three skeins of Lark yarn from Quince & Co. in the colorway Peaks Ferry (which is red). Since then, I have knit it into a scarf.

I love blue yarn, but I steered myself away from it on this trip, just to have something different.  As I was checking out, the very nice clerk said that this would remind me of lobsters - very true!  See, souvenir yarn.

And we did go to a Lobster Bake while we were there.

Details:
Yarn - Quince & Co. Lark yarn, 100% wool, 3 skiens
Needles - Size 7, I think - I bought them on site at the store
Pattern - Yarn Harlot's one row scarf pattern - one of my very favorites.

Portland and the surrounding area is beautiful. On the Saturday we were there, we rented a car and went Lighthouse hunting.  We were able to find several:

• Bug Light
• Spring Point Ledge lighthouse
• Portland Head lighthouse (pictured)
• Rams Head Light 
• Two lighthouses from Twin Light State Park

The image of Portland Head Lighthouse was taken with my Nikon CoolPix P330.  I left the "big" camera at home, so all of my Maine pictures were taken with my CoolPix or my iPhone camera.

Spring is on the way

I was playing around with color earlier in the week.  The first image is from Penny Black - called Poppy Time.  It's a rubber stamp (not a clear stamp), and, I have to say, it's one of my favorites. I use it all the time.

I stamped it on Strathmore Bristol paper and then colored the image with Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers. I haven't had a lot of luck with them, but this time, it all seemed to work.  I often color this card with reds or orange-reds (like a poppy), but this time, I used teals, aquas and green.  I really like the effect.

The second image is from the set of pre-printed images called Full Bloom, drawn by Suzy Plantamura on Tim Holtz watercolor paper. The set is from the New Beginnings release at Simon Says stamp.  This is also colored with the zig real brush markers.

I like the pre-printed images - although they make me nervous.  With a stamp, I can always re-stamp if I make a mistake.  Not with these. One shot.  That aside, I like them, and I like the convenience of grabbing them and taking them to color outside of my studio.  These are all great flowers. I look forward to coloring them.

I've already turned both of these into cards.  I mounted the top one a narrow black mat and then on Tropical Teal (MFT) card base. I added some glimmer with a Spectrum Noir sparkle pen and a few blue and green glimmery sequins.  I white heat embossed Happy Birthday on black card stock (narrow strip) and backed that with a black and white stripe washi tape.

I trimmed the hydrangea, and mounted it on lavender and light blue cardstock. I added three clear droplets from Pretty Pink Posh.  This one has no outside sentiment, but became a get well card.

Cards for a Good Cause

I am a member of Alpha Chi Omega, and of a digitally-based alumnae chapter, Rho Phi Rho, formed to support our local collegiate chapter, Gamma Omicron.  You don't need to really know any of this, except I'm offering a group of handmade cards to the chapter in a silent auction as a fundraiser.  I thought if you like cards, you might like to see images of them (the auction is for members of the chapter).

Peony Time

This might be one of my favorite cards.

I stamped the Penny Black Poppy Time stamp with Hero Arts black ink on Arches Cold Press watercolor paper. I painted the flower and background with Mijello Mission Gold watercolors.

The panel is popped up on the card base with craft foam. The card base is MFT Fuse green card stock - I never thought I would use that color, but it was perfect for this card.

Look for the Miracles

I wanted to highlight the "Look for the Miracles" sentiment from the Simon Says Stamp June kit, and I thought rainbow flowers would fit the theme.

The flowers and sentiment are from the Look for the Miracles stamp set. I stamped the flowers (using masks) and then colored them with copics.

Prismacolor on kraft paper

I spent some time playing with colored pencils this week. The card front to the right was made by stamping with Hero Arts black ink and using the stamps from the March My Hero Kit. I drew the stems using a black fine line sharpie (not my usual choice, but it was what I had handy). The paper is kraft paper from My Favorite Things.

I colored the images using Prismacolor pencils. The normal way of coloring of kraft wouldn't provide vibrant color (I imagine), so first, I colored the flowers, stems and bees with the white Prismacolor pencil.  I then added color with the colored pencils. Each image has two of three colors, blended together. I approached it with a Copic mind set - adding the colors, blending, then adding the colors again - from yellow to orange to pink, and then orange to yellow. That seemed to provide good blending. I then used the sharpie to add the lines back (obscured by the pencils).

I like how it turned out. I'm not sure what kind of card it will be, but I imagine a sentiment at the top. We'll see what kind of card I need next - that will dictate the purpose.

Dancer

My son's girlfriend, a very sweet young woman who is an incredible dancer, graduated from college
this past weekend. That's an occasion that calls for a card. I don't have any "dancer" stamps, so I attempted to put my tiny watercolors skills to use.

I googled dancer silouette, and found an image that gave me shape. I wish I could find it again to link here - isn't that always the way? The image was only a shape - no hair, and a tutu shaped outfit.

From that I sketched the shape on Arches Cold Press watercolor paper.  I use a black zig real color brush pen to add black to the shape - not coloring it in, just adding some black.  I added the skirt and hair. Using a wet brush, I painted in the shape of the silhouette from the black I had added.

The background is watercolored with distress inks and water.  I used the My Favorite Things musical score background stamp (Love this stamp - it's been out of stock, and I grabbed it when it returned) with Lawn Fawn peacock ink (I think) to stamp the music.

The card is mounted on MFT card stock. I can't remember the color, but it matches the lawn fawn ink pretty well. The sequins (which I'm not sure if I like on the card or not) are Pretty Pink Posh sparkling clear 4mm.

She's not perfect, but that's OK.  I like her.