I'm sorry there hasn't been any freebies the last few days. I am working on a digital altered book for a competition coming up quickly. I am almost finished, so I thought I'd throw together a couple of quick glitter stickers.

You can download the file here.

Silver Aniversary

Today was a very special, wonderful day - Doug and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary! We went out to dinner with married friends and their grandson. :) I have pictures, but I still have to download them. I'll try to post them tomorrow.

I want to apologize for not posting as frequently as I was, but Doug has discovered Hulu.com and their free television shows and movies. Now, I have to schedule my artwork around entertainment. (I really do love him )


Today's freebies are two glittered silhouette pngs. You can download them here.

Happy Easter

Unfortunately, we lost one of our 'babies' last night. She was old and had a tumor that slowly sucked the life out of her. She spent her last days being well loved and doing her best to enjoy her wheel. We humans could learn a lot from a rat.

Cross the rainbow bridge and be happy, Nibbles.

Quilled Cardinal - part 3

At this stage, the cardinal is beginning to take bird-shape. I am using red and dark red 3" marquises. I lay out the outline for a while and then fill in the body, squeezing to fit as necessary.

It's Still Daylight

WOW! I was actually able to finish a freebie for you and write my post BEFORE the sun went down. :) We've been sleeping the sleep of the bear lately. Long naps in the afternoon and short nights. I'll be glad to get out of this pattern and spend more time awake and creating. I'm going to celebrate by veging back and watching a movie tonight.

Today's freebie is part 2 of the Shadow Paper set. This set has a different feel than part 1 as I used more detailed images for the shadows.

You can get this freebie here.

Quilled Cardinal

One of my other major interests is quilling. It is an ancient craft, nearly 500 years old. Basically it is thin pieces of paper rolled around a pin and shaped. I am doing a quilled 'painting' of a cardinal. I will share it with you as I work on it so you can see how it can come together from little pieces of paper.

This is the beginning. I took an acid-free magazine backing board (similar to hot press board) and did a simple watercolor to tone the background. I then transferred my design to the board to use as a guide.

I then took 1/8" wide paper strips and began the quilling.

1. The beak is done with an orange triangle and an orange marquise. I just guessed at the length of the strips to make them fit the outline of the beak.
2. The eye is a 4" black strip glued to a 2" white strip. I made a tight circle starting at the black end of the strip.
3. The black mask is made of 2" marquises. This is to make sure to properly fill in the mask area. I fit the eye in place at this time.

I will share my progress and instructions as I go along. It will not be every day, but at major stages in creation.

ATC Challenge

I entered a challenge over at Authentic Artistry on my favorite art form - the ATC! I wanted to share my submissions. Both are digitally created and 2.5" x 3.5". They will be available on my Flickr pages for trade after the competition.

This ATC started out in color (using Paint Shop Pro) with the background and doodle supplied by Authentic Artistry in their freebie. I then added the period lady and quote. The shading was added on separate layers before converting the whole piece to sepia tone. I then curled the edge to add further age.

This ATC was made in Paint. NET. The background is from a digiscrapping page by DDiva. The images are Victorian images from Dover Publishing. Shadows were added in layers. I then used the paintbrush to make the scalloped edge.

I've been feeling under the weather a bit and have not been as creative as I would like to be. I have several projects in the planning that I will share as they are started, worked on, and completed. Unfortunately, my disability and related health problems can flare up at a moment's notice and last for a long time, or just a short while. I'm not trying to whine (not enough cheese), just explain why I may not post daily or have regular, frequent freebies.

Today's freebie is another set of papers. These are the first in a series of 'shadow' designs. You can download it here.

I've had a very slow day - nothing much has happened. Although I have a new addiction - Sonic's Java Chiller! Espresso, flavor and ice cream!!! What's NOT to love?

Today's freebie is another watercolor background for any art project. This is totally copyright free. You can get it here.

Bright Spring

It's been a lively evening here in Oklahoma. The Spring weather pattern has started with the strong/severe weather. Here, we just had some heavy rain and some lightning. We have rain forcast all week.

I was out yesterday and saw the first flowers on the pear trees. In a few days they should be looking like snowballs on a stick.

TODAY'S FREEBIE

This is the bright color version of yesterday's pastel paper set. You can download the file here.

I have a new freebie today. I was playing around and created a set of Springy pastel papers. Please leave love (or hate) for these, so I will know whether or not to continue. You can download them here.

Quilled Flowers

This freebie is a set of three quilled plants - including a small bouquet of shamrocks. I can't guarantee how often I will be posting these, but as soon as I have some, I will post them. Unfortunately, I have arthritis in my hands that can slow me down at times. I try to work past it, but I can't always do that.

Download the freebie here.

Spring!!! (and a gift)

I went for a 'walk' this afternoon (in gorgeous 60+ weather) and saw 4 robins - forget the calendar...SPRING IS HERE! The trees are starting to bud, flowers are poking up out tof the ground. I am ecstatic!

I've been working on something for the Digital Scrapbooking community I hope you will like. They are quilled doodles taken from some of my own quilling. If you like these, I will design more. You can get the file here.

March Freebies

This is from Lisa vollrath's website:

March Countdown

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Here comes the March Countdown! Since St. Patrick's Day and Easter are both in March, I decided to run them together, from March 7th through Easter Sunday, March 23rd. Every day, I'll post a new printable image---and all you have to do is post a link to the countdown. Catch a preview here:http://countdown. tentwostudios. com

You can log on from here each day.

Is There a Pattern Here?

I think I'm a *bit* fixated on Spring. lol I guess I've had enough of cold weather, a cold apartment, dreary skies, short days and 180 weather changes every other day. I am SOOOOOO ready for Spring to arrive that if I could go out and drag it in, I would!

Spring is one of my favorite seasons - everything is new again and full of life and color. The flowers bloom, the trees bud and bloom (we have a LOT of flowering trees in Tulsa), and the Robins come back.

Let's hear it for Spring!!!

I have another watercolor background freebie today - you can get it here.

Spring?

Early Spring?????

With Easter early this year, it looks like Spring may be a touch early as well. We had thunderstorms and tornadoes to be followed by snow, but it went just south of us and only snowed in a small area. Oh well. I'm still waiting for the first robin and leaf, but the Spring storms are here now!

(this is also a test for posting multiple images and text)

Digital?

Yesterday I started talking about digital art. This collage was totally created in a free graphics program called Paint.NET. It has most of the same features as the more expensive Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro and others. It doesn't do brushes or tubes, but can handle PNG files and layers just fine. As you can see, it is hard to tell the difference between a physical collage that has been scanned and one totally created on the computer. Infact, I feel you have MORE creative leeway going digital (and can help save a tree )

If you would like a copy, here is the link: http://www.getpaint.net/ From time to time I will post a tutorial on how to get certain effects in Paint.NET.

Digital Art

This is one of my original digital paintings done in Poser and Paint Shop Pro. I was never the best in drawing people, so this allows me to add people to paintings. Don't let anyone fool you, digital creativity is as real an art form as the traditional methods. I create scrapbook pages, ATCs, collage, most anything I want.



I am giving you a freebie today to use in YOUR digital art. These are 3 'Irish' Fairies you can use in any graphics program that support the PNG format. You can get them here.

Freebie

I have a quick freebie for you today. It is a 9x12" watercolor background suitable for collage, scrapbooking, digiscrapping, ATCs, whatever. You can download it here. Please do not post anywhere else - if you want to share, send them to my blog. Thanks.