A few pictures

I did bake some cookies that day, but I burned half of them and the rest flattened out too much and are too breakable. They still taste good though.

I fixed Kira's wings and halo. She's not too thrilled with wearing them, but she looks cute.

The ornament wreath is hanging in my bathroom.

And the slipcover for the couch is done. I was wishing someone could come and finish it for me when it came to fitting it around the arms, but I managed.

A few bumps on the Christmas road

I have crossed a lot off my list, though nothing seems to be going exactly like it should. Nearly everything I do ends up with some problem or flaw. Like the ornament wreath. I filled in the gap with bows, and then started gluing some of the ornaments together to keep them bunched, but one side didn't turn out quite right.

I made a halo and wings for my dog with wire and white garland, and attached them to her harness, then realized that I put them on backwards.

I started cutting fabric pieces for my couch cover, then realized I didn't have enough. I got some more of a different pattern but I'm not sure when I will get back to that project.

I also drew a picture and I was going to scan it and paint it on the computer, but my scanner suddenly quit working.

At least my first batch of cookies turned out good. I think I will do another batch today.

It's looking a lot like Christmas

Over the last few days I have done my Christmas decorating. I do quite a bit and my collection grows every year. All that's left is to finish the ornament wreath I started making. I didn't have enough ornaments to go around the base I have, so I will probably look for some ribbons to fill the gap. I also have an idea using a wine glass and glass pebbles.

I still want to make a couch cover with Christmas fabric. I gave up on trying to make a pattern and bought one. There are quite a few things I want to do for Christmas. I had to make a list yesterday because I would keep forgetting what those things are. I don't know how much I'll actually get done. The days are going by so fast I haven't even done any drawing lately. But at least I got around to trying an eggnog muffin recipe yesterday, which turned out quite yummy.

I have an album online of my decorations.
http://www.forest-of-dreams.com/Christmas.html

Getting ready for Christmas

I haven't had much to post about, but I have been busy making some gifts. I'm making fabric coasters for some family members, which are all done. I made 7 sets of 8, but most of them I will be giving away next year instead, so for a bunch of people on my list I'll be set.

There have been other things that I've been working on, but I can't mention them here because the people who will be receiving them do have internet.

And for today, I have shovelled some of the foot deep snow that fell last night, and we will be celebrating my husband's birthday when he gets home.

Otherwise, I am excited to start turning on Christmas lights, and to decorate the house, but I refuse to start before Dec.1.

Feeling kind of down

Sometimes I have phases where I don't know where the time goes or what I have done with it. I guess I have cross stitched quite a bit, though the picture I am working on feels like it will take forever to finish. I also tried making a few little beaded stars last week, but I think they are too small for ornaments and will probably use them as gift embellishments.

On Saturday there was another craft sale, but all I sold was one card. It was really disappointing and makes me wonder why I try. My mom took a few ornaments though, and will pay me in perogies. Yum.

But now I'm wondering if I'm wasting my time with all the crafting. Maybe I should just stick with making things for myself or for gifts, and spend more time on painting. But I haven't been able to seel many of those either. Am I doomed to not have any success until after I'm dead?

Well, I need to get focused again. Christmas is coming and there are a few gifts I want to make, so I should get started on those.

Halloween is over

I only added one picture to the Halloween album in my MSN group. Not much else was new this year except the body.

I also posted the story I wrote and I made a little illustration to go with it. It took me a while to draw because I had no reference. I kept it simple, outlined with pen then scanned and painted in photoshop in one layer, with the outline on a separate layer on top.

Well, now I should get back to the drawing exercises I was doing before getting into all the Halloween stuff. I have a book from the library on drawing people that I started going through but have neglected lately. I have also been working on a new dragon picture. I think I have finally drawn the dragon the way I want it, now I have to work on the rest of the picture.

And, I have wanted to try making a fitted cover for my couch so maybe now is the time to start on that.

More Halloween projects done

I finished my ghouls and a fake body for the porch. I started a Silent Hill hospital theme last year and I have pictures in my MSN group. I will be updating with this year's pictures soon.
http://groups.msn.com/LavenderFrost

I have also written a short story for Halloween, but I still need to go over it again. So, I have been busy with Halloween projects and decorating. And in the evenings I relax with my cross stitching.

Halloween is coming

And it's time for some Halloween crafts. This week I started making a few little trick or treating ghouls out of clay. They still need some finishing touches. I also decorated a small artificial pumpkin with wire and beads. And on the gory side, I tried using spray paint to make an old hose look like intestines, but I don't think it's working. And I think I sprayed way too much at once and it will probably never dry.

I have some more crafting ideas for this Halloween yet.

A busy Thanksgiving weekend

Well, I have nothing to post about, but I thought I should post why I have nothing to post about. It was a very busy weekend with putting laminate flooring in our living room. We have a lot of stuff and furniture, so more time was spent moving things out of the way than actually putting the flooring in. I still have to finish putting the room back in order. But the room looks much nicer now, and after seeing all the dust under the carpet and underlay, I don't know if I ever want carpet again.

We also rearranged the yard a bit. We moved the little stone wall that I started building around the vegetable garden, and we moved our apple tree. I hope it lives.

We also had supper at my parents', visited with friends a bit, and watched a movie.

Fall Leaves are Finished

Well, I finally finished playing Empire Earth the other day. Now that that's out of my system, I can get back to work.

I spent about 11 hours on the fall leaves picture. I'm afraid the scan didn't pick up the metallic sheen on it, which is more noticable from an angle. The metallic paints are very transparent, just as I thought, so it was a good thing I painted it in acrylics first. I might try to do something with them alone one of these days. But for now I think I want to spend some time just working on my drawing skills.

Coloured pencils

Here's the picture I did in coloured pencil.









I worked on my leaf picture some more yesterday and got everything filled in with a layer of paint. And I finished cross stitching the birth announcement border. Next I'll be starting another one.

Leaf crazy

Thursday I cut a few branches off my Amur maple to bring into the house to use as a reference. Then I drew leaves on an 8x10" piece of masonite. When I was about halfway done I realized that if I was smart I would have drawn them bigger, and fewer. But I kept going and covered most of the board with leaf outlines.

Yesterday I started to paint the leaves with watered down acrylics. I still want to do it metallics but I thought it would be better to do the first layer with regular paint. All I did was outline the leaves with burgundy and brown, and paint the branches and stems, and that took me 2 hours.

Not much accomplished

Well, I didn't finish that picture on Tuesday because I ran out of patience. I did finish it yesterday, I think. It turned out ok for a first try. I think if I do more with coloured pencil it will be a matter of choosing the right subject, and better paper. Or maybe I would like it better in combination with acrylics.

I'm not sure what I'll do next. Something fall-ish I think. I picked up a bunch of metallic acrylics a while ago and have been wanting to see what it would be like to paint something all in metallics. I'm in a experimenting mood these days.

I am happy to say that I have already inspired someone to start her own blog. Pixie is a very talented and creative lady.

Lazy days

I will just admit it right now... I am lazy. I wish I wasn't, but it just happens. Lately, though, I blame the weather. We had quite a few gloomy, rainy days and it was hard to concentrate on anything. I did start drawing a picture of a bridge last week. Another thing I had been meaning to do for a long time. It's an old bridge that can be seen from the highway. A nostalgic local attraction. On Friday I started colouring it with coloured pencils, but didn't get very far. I haven't really done anything with coloured pencils yet, but I have already discovered that it is hard to use them for very long.

Then I started playing Empire Earth, which I've had for a long time but hadn't played it yet. I played it a lot over the weekend and finished the Greek campaign. I also did some necessary household chores. And I did some cross stitching. Whenever there is a new baby in the family I cross stitch a birth announcement with a Ukrainian border, and that is what I have been working on since there is one coming soon.

I finally went back to that picture yesterday, but only for a little while. My goal this afternoon is to finish it.

So maybe my house isn't sparkling and my yard looks half finished all the time, but I do get things done sometimes. I can't do everything so my priorities are with my art. And maybe I have a bit of a gaming addiction, but there are worse things to be addicted to.

Introduction

Starting a blog has been on the list of things to do in my head for quite a while. Maybe it would help write down this list, but I never seem to get around to it. Here I plan to write about my creative projects. I don't know if anyone will even read this, but at the very least it may make a good incentive to get things done so that I have something to write about.

First, a little background. I have always been interested in arts and crafts, though as a child it didn't amount to much. I did learn to make Ukrainian Easter eggs from my grandmother when I was very young. She also taught me needlepoint, embroidery, and crocheting. And I taught myself tatting and, recently, knitting. Though I haven't gotten very far with the knitting yet.

I do all kinds of crafts. I make jewelry and Christmas ornaments out of different things. I have started sewing a bit, and I recently started getting into polymer clay. I'm always looking for ideas and I like to try something new once in a while.

As for my art, I had a few lessons when I was young and dreamed of being an artist. I had tried pencil and watercolours, but was never really happy with what I did. I had given up completely but in 1997 I was so inspired by the fall colours, that I had to try again. I took out my craft paints and painted a picture that I was actually pretty satisfied with. So I have kept painting since, always learning as I go. I have mostly worked with the acrylics, but have just started trying colour pencil. And I have discovered the joy of painting on the computer.