Autumn Wall Hanging

I'm ready for Autumn! It's been a long, hot summer and I'm looking forward to the leaves changing and the temperatures dropping at night. And because I was ready before summer was really over - I started on a project that was all about fall colors. Orange, Red, and Green.

Now there are many other fall colors as well; like a yellow-brown, or yellow-green, or brown itself, deep purple (with more red than blue in it). But this one was about Pumpkins.

I started with heavy watercolor paper and just had fun painting it with orange and green and a brownish-red.

I let that dry overnight - mostly because I had other things to do, it was probably dry long before the next day!

I found some free clipart of pumpkins online and then printed it in the size I wanted. Then I cut the pumpkin out.

I traced that pumpkin onto the back of the already painted watercolor paper. I cut a couple of extra ones so that I could play around with the ink I was going to put on it, without worrying about running out of pumpkins or making mistakes!

I inked the edges with Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Vintage Photo, with a little extra for the stem. I did end up going back later and adding another edging of Black Soot Distress Ink.

I did the exact same steps for the leaf in the middle, with the exception that I used more red in the color. And instead of wire, I used an actual leaf stem from my yard. I dipped it in Mod Podge, let it dry, and then glued it on.

Then I took copper jewelry wire that I already had, and some green floral wire and wrapped them around a pencil. I then glued those to the back of the stem with glossy accents glue. Any type of glue would work there, that's just what I had on hand. I had to lay the pumpkins upside down on a roll of tape so that the curled wire could hang down and the flat part I was gluing would stay in the glue!

I then cut out the rectangles for the letters and inked the edges with Distress Ink in Tea Dye - a little lighter in color than the Vintage Photo, but still a soft brown. I had these old letter stickers that had sticky on both sides called Stickeez by Art Accents. I just got some new glitter from Sparkle N Sprinkle at a Scrapbook Expo called Guava Nectar. Such a beautiful color! That's what I used on the letter stickers for the word Autumn.

I adhered everything with dimensional pop dots. And then I bought a cheap frame at the Dollar Tree! I removed the glass since I knew the dimension on the art would get smashed with it in.

And that is now hanging on a wall in the entryway of my house! I love the colors and it makes me happy when I look at it - what more could I ask for!!

Amazing Class

I follow several blogs - some artsy, some about scrapbooking, some about card making. You get the gist. One of the blogs I follow is Ronda Palazzari. I came across her youtube channel when I was searching on stencils and techniques. I love her style and was checking out her blog one day, when I suddenly realized she was actually based in the same state I was! Really, total shock. It just seems so rare to find that artists I follow ever come within driving distance of me. And then I noticed not only was she based here, she actually had a class coming up at a scrapbook store not too far away!

Okay, not too far away meant a 2 hour drive, but that certainly is better than having to fly somewhere just to take a class!

So I signed up! Looked like just what I was wanting to do these days - painting on canvas, layered, altered art kind of stuff.  And it was as great as I thought it would be!  Loved her casual teaching style! Loved that she tried to push each of us artistically. I wasn't too sure about free hand painting the face in the bottom - but she walked me through the process and I decided to just give it a try!

Now the truth is, I didn't finish the project in class...I'm slow, sometimes thinking too much about it all.  But I did finish it the next day when I had the chance...definitely a sign I loved the class since it didn't get tossed on the shelf to collect dust!

Here's my finished project! I learned lots of fun new (to me) techniques - like transfers, and a new way of stamping. Never thought of rolling a stamp for a partial image - loved the look!

I took a color theory class in college - quite awhile ago - and loved having to pull that knowledge out again!

I will be searching for more classes to take from Ronda that's for sure! Okay, and she enabled my interest in stencils by having her prototypes for us to play with - there's several new ones on my wish list already!

Debbie

New Beginnings

Blogging. Something I've thought about, wanted to do, for quite a while now. Why am I getting around to it now? School...maybe.  I have three girls, they went back to school this week, and my time is my own again for a small portion of the day. Mine to do with what I want. A blank page, so to speak. It's kind of like starting a new journal...a little scary, a little exciting, a little intimidating. Hhmmm. So here I am.

I also want a place to call my own - a place to document my artist journey. A place to share what I make. And to share the ups and downs of creating.

Oh yeah, I love color. Really. I love all kinds of color, subtle, bold, vibrant, subdued. You get the idea. When people ask me what's my favorite color (yes, with kids that seems to happen a lot), I have a really hard time answering the question.  It seems so simple, doesn't it? So I say Red, but then I think no, maybe it's purple, no really I love green. Then I think, can I say combinations instead? Not that I only love one combination, I love all kinds of those too.

This is my journey. I hope you'll join me.