Stampin' for the Weekend Challenge

I guess I'm on a bit of a roll this week! :) This is for another challenge site I discovered: Stampin' for the Weekend. This site uses good old-fashioned rubber stamps to create with. They post a new challenge every Friday. this week's challenge was 'masking'

Since most of my stamps are smaller images, I created an ATC for my submission. Every element was masked by the time I finished stamping. I colored everything in Prismacolor pencils.

More Paintings and a Freebie

Here are some more watercolors. I found a few more I will post tomorrow.






Today's freebie is the latest Fairy-of-the-Month.....


You can download her here.

Back in the High Life Again...

I know I've been gone a while again, but I had good reason - I was feeling the anemia worse than normal and also getting ready for some tests to find the cause. So far, I'm OK, but I have one more test next week. Also, I was setting up the new computer. It is done and I have some neat goodies coming up the next few days.


I have also managed to finish the body of my quilled cardinal. It is ready for the tail feathers next. So far, I am very proud of how it is turning out.

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.

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.