Periwinkle-Paisley

Paisley of the Week - Paisley Girl

2012-02-02T15:39:00.003-05:00

I haven't done a Paisley of the Week since before Christmas and for that I appologize. I've been lazy about it to be honest preferring to take the passive approach that if I saw a worthy paisley, I'd post it. Mousing around on Etsy this morning I found this super cool watercolor "Paisley Girl" by Jessica Stride of Purple Tree Bird on Etsy. I love her style, it's whimiscal and weird which is a lovely combination. It's reminiscent of Teesha Moore who motivated my Person-a-Day project. Synchronicity at work, eh? Be sure to visit the Purple Tree Bird blog as well!

Person A Day 1-31-12

2012-01-31T14:03:00.005-05:00

These are not in order, I've been somewhat lax about dating my daily people. Need to start doing that. Also, the gap between 1-16 and 1-20, I did some digital drawings but they aren't done yet. Stay tuned :D

Weekend Peeps

2012-01-20T16:34:00.011-05:00

Upside down girl, tiny punk rocker and Leonard from Big Bang Theory.

What's been going on here is that I haven't been doing much with this blog. I haven't done Paisley of the Week for almost a month. My apologies! But I have been keeping up with a person a day.

Both of these girls have have weird awkward arms. I never know what to do with the arms so they end up looking stiff and strange. Leonard from Big Bang Theory new and improved. Notice the lack of arms....

Person A Day Project

2012-01-11T19:14:00.007-05:00

I came across this great tutorial by Teesha Moore (thanks Pinterest!) and it has really helped me a LOT. Anyone who knows me knows that my people drawing skills are not up to snuff. (How high up is snuff anyway?) She starts with the eyes and draws the person around them. For some reason this works really well for me. Mind you my proportions are still wonky but overall I feel that I've improved!

Teesha's also doing a 'Drawing a Day' project which a lot of artists do. That isn't much of a challenge for me as I do about 1-3 drawings a day anyway. But it gave me the idea that I could improve my people drawing if I practiced them every day and so I am going to do a Person A Day and post them from time to time. I hadn't formally formed the idea until 3 days ago but I've been practicing since after Christmas. This first one is a sketch dump. I LOVE the girl in the middle left with the black boots and short curly 'do. She came out perfect except for her hands.

You know what's cool about this one is that one of my other drawings showed through when I scanned it and it looks like wallpaper.

Girl by a stone wall wearing a ruffled dress.

Yesterday and today's people, diggin' the zig zaggy sweater. I need to draw some guys.

In Which I do 2 Tutorials I Found on the Web...

2012-01-09T15:01:00.004-05:00

...and tell you how they came out.

If you have a 10 (or older) computer game obsessed boy in your home then you'll know what Minecraft is. I made this for my 5th grader who is Minecraft obsessed. This simple design is a virtual creature called a creeper. This shirt was very quick to make using Celtic Mommy's easy tutorial on freezer paper painting. I have used this tutorial before and I really like how simple it is. Freezer paper acts like a simple silkscreen once you iron it onto your fabric. It took me less than an hour to make this design (not including drying time.)

This is another creeper shirt I did for my 8th grader who is also a big fan of Minecraft. I used this tutorial from a great blog called The Craft Patch. I ironed on a square piece of an old black tee shirt using Wonder Under. For the creeper's face I used a piece of light green fabric from my stash, which I then colored with darker and brighter squares in a grid pattern using Prismacolor Markers. I Wonder Undered this over my black piece, marked off where I wanted the creepers face to be and sewed around those lines with green thread. Then I carefully cut away the fabric on top revealing the black. This took me about two hours but I think it was because I had to color those squares onto my fabric. If I hadn't, it would've taken at least a half hour less.

I'm definitely planning other projects using these techniques, they were easy and fun to do! The first one is pretty kid friendly. You do the ironing, they paint inside the design.

New Collection

2012-01-07T20:27:00.005-05:00

You know that feeling of I-don't-know-what-I-want-but-I'll-know-it-when-I-see-it? Ages ago, I created the above design "Star Wishes." I was thrilled with it and I knew there was potential for a whole collection with this design as the central piece. I figured it'd be easy to develop a collection around it as I loved the colors and design element of playful stars. Actually took me a whole year. I created designs but they wouldn't quite fit the overall feel. Finally, I found the "piece" that fit and The Star Wishes Collection is finished!

Wishing You a Very Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T06:59:00.005-05:00

And a Prosperous New Year.

Paisley of the Week will resume next week.

Doodling Helps Me Think!

2011-12-13T18:45:00.006-05:00

Last night I went to a meeting. While other people furiously scribbled notes I drew this. Some people feel that doodling while other people are talking is rude. I got a couple of *looks* for the above. But actually it helps me think and process information. It seems that science (and a woman named Sunni Brown) backs me up!

Yay!

Paisley of the Week Plummy iPad Pocket

2011-12-08T13:57:00.000-05:00

This Christmas seems like the hottest gifts are e-readers like Nook and iPad. Once you get one you need something to keep it safe and sound. I love this purple paisley carrier by Jennifer from Sewing Amity on Etsy. So pretty and feminine!

But it's not just a pretty package, as you can it stands up for itself! While paisley is bound to be my favorite, her shop has oodles of cute designs to choose from as well as adorable cases for your other electronic gadgets!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-12-07T07:33:00.000-05:00

Just Casual

2011-12-04T09:12:00.003-05:00

Just Casual by periwinklepaisley featuring a cable knit cardigan

This is my newest favoritest thing. Polyvore. Last week my newest favoritest thing was Pinterest (and I still LOVE Pinterest) People I've been checking out were posting these cool looking style pages there. After a little detective work I saw they were getting them from Polyvore. What was MORE exciting was finding out that you can make these style pages yourself! It's like paperdolls and playing amateur magazine editor and shopping (only without busting your bank account and wrist strain from too many bags!) all rolled into one. Above is a style page I put together myself of stuff I'd like for Christmas....hint hint.

Diamond Angels

2011-12-03T21:57:00.000-05:00

I've had some diamond pendant trays in a drawer forever. I had designed some gothic looking crosses to put in them but I wasn't happy with the way they looked. Since I'm going to be in that Craft Show I thought I'd do some Christmas Angels (and 1 Fairy) pendants. My favorite is the yellow and blue on the right.

Paisley of the Week! Mom & Me aprons

2011-12-01T17:59:00.000-05:00

How cute are these? Your young helper in the kitchen will love teaming up with you in matching paisley aprons while you bake cookies for Santa or a homemade holiday meal. Comes with a matching set of napkins!

Dipping my toe in...

2011-11-30T13:14:00.000-05:00

Garden Gate Digi-Paper Pack

So I have taken a step that I consider pretty scary (for me!) I've signed up to do the Holiday Craft Fair at my kids' school. I have an idea of what I'd like to offer as far as merchandise. I know that rather than buy art, people prefer to buy art that does a double duty such as jewelry, notebooks or mirrors. I've got less than a month to get my act together. One thing I am mulling over is selling my digital designs somehow. I am wondering if people would actually buy something that they couldn't take with them, only a promise that it'll be in the mail the next day?

More free Paisley Wallpaper!

2011-11-21T13:05:00.001-05:00

I haven't done a free wallpaper in a while. I had to share these 4 new paisley backgrounds in the season's most popular colors: Harvest, Frost, Plum and Teal. For use with your desktop, Twitter, blog. Simply right click to download and then set it to tile in whatever format you're using. Under creative commons license. You may not resell, redistribute, or claim as your own. I hope everybody has a Happy Thanksgiving!

Paisley of the Week! We have a Weiner!

2011-11-17T10:24:00.000-05:00

Well it wasn't ruff choosing this week's Paisley of the Week! This funny little paisley weiner dog plushie from Friends of Socktopus on Etsy was my page mate in a Paisley Treasury on Etsy and he made me laugh. What a charming Holiday gift he'd be for anyone who likes weiner dogs or paisley....

Friends of Soctopus doesn't just have paisley weiner dogs, but all sorts of unique hand stiched lovies and other fun fabric coolness! Be sure to like Friends of Socktopus on FB too, I did!

Wednesday Doodles in Color

2011-11-16T08:22:00.000-05:00

Crayons.

Sharpies

Blue Pen

Paisley of the Week! Red Hot & Random.

2011-11-10T16:36:00.000-05:00

Red Hot & Random, by Laura Stinson of Designed by Laura on Etsy is already as eyecatching as a coral snake, but it was the fun title that caught my attention. I have said in the past that people who are searching on Etsy will not be looking for your art by title and while that's true, if you can fit it into your Etsy description, a catchy title is definitely worth a click in my opinion! I was not disappointed. Like mine, Laura's Etsy shop features more than one kind of product. You can find funny painted candy bowls, original artwork, Christmas ornaments, paisley of course! all sortsa stuff, just like a regular store, I definitely enjoyed having a look around there, so will you! Go like Laura on FB and visit her blog too!

Doodle Tuesday

2011-11-08T21:05:00.000-05:00

Always have paisley on the brain...and a strawberry which was added by K.

Oh yeah, Halloween...

2011-11-07T09:45:00.000-05:00

I realized now that it's been a WEEK since Halloween passed and I hadn't posted the entire finished nailpolish costume. Sorry folks! Here it all is. The tights really don't have much to do with nailpolish but they matched perfectly so on they went. Sewing on vinyl was not so difficult. I have a walking foot and I used a jeans needle rather than buy a leather/vinyl needle and it was just fine.

R went as the UPS man courtesy of an official shirt we found at Goodwill and C went as a well-dressed-demon only his mask's not on in this picture. A Happy Halloween was had by all and I'm currently trying not to eat all my kids' candy on the sly.

Squirrel Nut Papers

2011-11-04T07:08:00.000-04:00

Just posted in my Etsy shop. I'm so excited about my newest paper collection! I wanted a little polka dot but something a little more fun and so I came up with a tiny acorn. You can't have acorns without squirrels and there's always room for paisley. I'm not so sure about the orange though. What do you think? I'm thinking about a second collection with a different color. Blue maybe. I am running a contest on my FB page in which you may be able to download one of these papers for free!

Paisley of the Week! Nostalgic Slippers

2011-11-03T08:35:00.000-04:00

I used to have some slippers very like these beauties that I found on Buckle. My dog ate them (yes really) and I've never found any like them since. Alas, Buckle is out of my size so I have to keep looking.

So it's November 1...

2011-11-01T12:49:00.000-04:00

The finished nailpolish costume. It worked out pretty well! It all came down to the hat I think.

I hope everybody had a Happy Halloween!

Red, white and green

2011-10-29T14:03:00.000-04:00

Pretty, no?

Paisley of the Week! Top This!

2011-10-27T07:29:00.001-04:00

Cupcakes are not just for bringing into your kid's class on birthdays anymore. There are whole shops dedicated to just cupcake making; one just opened up around the corner from where I work. This philosophy makes much sense. Why have just one cake and cut it all up when all of your guests can each enjoy their OWN personal confections? Still, they need to choose between the having and eating. Making this a choice little easier are adorable cupcake toppers like these which I found in an Etsy Shop called Paisley Tree Creations. You can savor your treat and save the prettiest part forever!

Nail Polish Costume Part II

2011-10-23T13:52:00.001-04:00

Here we have the top and front view of the nail polish 'cap.' I used the peel and stick gold mylar to make the letters, then a gold paint pen to write the smaller print. Too hard to cut.

For the front of the hat I went to Revon's website and downloaded their logo, cut it out very carefully and glued it on.

Next came the bottle part. I went to the Little Bean Workshop's 20 minute jumper tutorial to figure out a pattern. This one is super easy and easily adaptable to any fabric and any sort of strap you might want. But I digress...

Next peeling and sticking the gold mylar letters for the front of the bottle. The back has even more writing but I am NOT doing all of that. It just says a bunch of stuff about flammability blah blah blah anyway.

Paisley of the Week! Dashing Dog Collar

2011-10-20T09:28:00.001-04:00

Just look at this fantastic paisley dog collar from the Etsy shop My Fabulous Puppy. I don't own a dog (though my kids have been lobbying hard!) but if I did my dog could not be a cool canine without paisley bling like this. Sasha, the diva doggy who was rescued from a shelter and knew she had to be fabulous, found that sparkly, pretty dog collars and sweaters are usually made for more dainty dogs. So unfair! Who says you have to be petite to have the poshest pooch apparel? Although I wouldn't fancy toting a German Shepard/Greyhound mix around in a Gucci bag, I agree with My Fabulous Puppy's motto that All Dogs Deserve to be Fabulous! Sasha asked her owner to rescue her once again--from boring and utilitarian dog accessories and My Fabulous Puppy was born! You go grrrrrl! (Sorry, I had to do that!)

Be sure to like My Fabulous Puppy on Facebook and follow Sasha's pawprints on Twitter!

Nail Polish Costume part I

2011-10-19T09:33:00.001-04:00

UPDATE: Back from the fabric store and here is what I found:

Some bubblegum pink vinyl, peel and stick gold mylar (yeah, it has stars on it but who's really going to be that picky?) and black posterboard with which to make a nailpolish cap. Oh, and I picked up a bottle of Revlon's Fuchsia Fever for reference at the drugstore next door.

It's that time of year! Halloween costume time in which K has a great idea for a costume and I make it work (to quote Tim Gunn.) This year, K wants to be a bottle of nail polish. I'm going to JoAnne's today to scope out fabric. I have a basic idea in mind. Stay tuned!!

Timeless HOME Consignments

2011-10-15T11:18:00.001-04:00

If you happen to be in Clinton, Connecticut you're in luck! A brand new decorating store called Timeless HOME Consignments has just opened up there and in addition to unique home decorations, hand made jewelry and other things they are selling hand drawn art cards by Moi!

Clinton is one of those charming little towns that you'd love to stroll around, shop and eat lunch, but if you're nowhere near Connecticut be sure to visit their website and take a virtual look!

Halloween Wallpaper Spooky Spider

2011-10-15T11:06:00.000-04:00

Get caught in a fun web of Halloween Spirit! A a cute little critter for you to decorate your desktop, blog or Twitter page.

Paisley of the Week! It just zipped by...

2011-10-13T10:26:00.001-04:00

This week's Paisley of the Week! was actually SOLD before I could post about it! That's no surprise, really, it was pretty awesome. One of the hottest trends out there right now is the use of zippers as a fancy trim rather than just as a garment closure. Luckily the shop where I found this felted zippy pin, Woollyfabulous, has many gorgeous offerings and all the paisleys weren't gone - yet. Odile, the artist behind Woollyfabulous takes old wool sweaters felts and upcycles them into tiny works of art filled with color and swirl the zippers just take it up another notch!

Letter Doodles

2011-10-12T13:03:00.001-04:00

There's an 'N' in the works too...

For those of you who might want an entire set of paisley letters.

Paisley of the Week! So Charming

2011-10-08T14:01:00.001-04:00

I found this beautiful paisley necklace made by Jennifer of Wire-n-Whimsy. I like that it has light and dark. It's upside down too, having the curl at the bottom is an unexpected element. Anybody out there who is looking to start their Christmas list for me I am dropping a big hint!!

For those of you who abhor thinking about Christmas before Halloween has even come, be sure to check out the adorable ghosty and goblin accessories in the Wire-n-Whimsy shop!

Paisley of the Week! Catch of the Day

2011-09-30T13:37:00.000-04:00

Casting about for this week's paisley of the week I caught this super-fun, fancy fish t-shirt. It's designed and handpainted on a sea of pink by Seema of Uncommon Flair. Be sure to check out Uncommon Flair's whole line of hand done block printed clothing and eco-friendly glass pendants.

Cute Kitty Coloring Page

2011-09-24T12:07:00.000-04:00

Here is a sweet little kitty that you can color. Right click to download and print.

For personal use only (school or camp setting is OK) but mass production is not allowed. You may not use this drawing either in whole or in part on any items to be sold such as shirts, bags, cards etc.

Paisley of the Week! Hand Painted Record Clock

2011-09-22T09:53:00.000-04:00

How cool is this? I found this unique timepiece in the Etsy shop of Kailey Hawthorn, also known as Studio K. This clock is crafted out of an old recycled LP (that's a vinyl record for those of you born after the 80's) and hand painted with gorgeous blue paisley! Studio K also offers many other hand painted goodies such as custom designed letters and numbers, clocks and original artwork.

Positive Things About Jury Duty

2011-09-20T17:21:00.001-04:00

Last week I had jury duty. Usually you hear people moaning about having jury duty and they'll look for any way to get out of having to go. It was sorta dull if you didn't get picked (and I didn't) and the chairs we had to sit in were monstrously uncomfortable but at the same time, I found there were some very positive points:

Unlimited drawing time--the above drawing is one of many that I finished last week.
A stack of People, In Style and Us Magazines about 2 feet high and four feet across and time to read them all the way through without people yelling "Mooooommmm!" or a nurse interrupting you just as you get to something interesting.
Unlimited free coffee.
Interesting new aquaintences with whom you can commiserate about the unfortable seating, share insights with about our judicial system and how glad that you weren't on that awful Casey Anthony trial.
Free parking
$9 a day

Not such a bad deal in my opinion.

It's Starting to Feel Like Fall...

2011-09-16T14:54:00.000-04:00

The colder and darker days are coming but at least so are the beautiful colors.

Water Marble Nails

2011-09-12T17:29:00.000-04:00

Nails like Good -n- Plenty!

Want super fun nails that get you noticed? Try a water marble manicure! You know how when you try to artistically enhance your own nails the left hand looks good but then your right will look all shakey and messed up? With a water marble mani both hands will look awesome! For a tutorial visit My Simple Little Pleasures blog. Colette, its' writer, has dozens of easy to understand tutorials on how to get this cool and unique swirly look.

Some things to keep in mind:

While this type of manicure is not difficult to do, it does take a while and it is messy so give yourself about an hour of uninterrupted time plus drying time.

If you're doing your nails for a special occaision, I recommend that you do them a day beforehand. Like I said, marbling can be messy; there's always some nailpolish on your fingers and it's easier to get it completely off of your hands when it's totally dry. You can use nailpolish remover but it may mess up your marbling if you slip up so I found that it's just better to wait.

Pick colors that contrast with eachother. If your colors are too close together (like pink, red, orange) the swirly effect doesn't show up quite as well.

Paint all of your nails with white (or another light color) first. It gives the other colors a backdrop like a little canvas for your 10 mini-masterpieces!

2011-09-11T09:48:00.001-04:00

Paisley of the Week! Catkin Paisley Fabric

2011-09-08T09:34:00.001-04:00

I am very excited about this week's Paisley of the Week! While mousing around on Etsy, I found Moona Fabrics an Etsy shop with a great selection of fabric and very reasonable prices. What caught my eye was this fantastic Catkin Paisley fabric by artist Julie Paschkis. Isn't it adorable? I think she may be my new favorite designer! Moona Fabrics has her whole line plus other top designers like Amy Butler and Kaffe Fassett. All this week, Moona Fabrics is offering a special coupon to you, my readers. The coupon code word is PAISLEY (of course!) Be sure to also like Moona Fabrics on Facebook, I did!

Watery Color on a Rainy Tuesday

2011-09-06T12:54:00.000-04:00

I've been having fun trying out watercolor pencils (as I have dearth of non-dried out markers right now) and so far I've been pleased with the results.

Oh Gee, it's another ogee...

2011-09-03T10:01:00.000-04:00

A doodle I did at work.

Cleaned up and colored in Photoshop. I'm not entirely of sure I like this color scheme. I was going for Autumnish colors. That's the beauty of layers though. You can change it really fast.

Paisley of the Week! Reusable Snack Bag.

2011-09-01T09:30:00.000-04:00

This is an ingenous idea. A reusable snack bag for your lunch box created by My Sunshine Designs. You can save thousands of plastic baggies by using tupperware boxes but they are bulky and sometimes too big for just a handful of pretzels or grapes. Not only is this an excellent solution, but in pink paisley it's fashion forward too! Cotton on the outside and washable nylon on the inside. Happy Snacking!

Blue Shirt + Blue Glue = Batik pt.2

2011-08-29T09:06:00.000-04:00

Okay, so here is the end result. I couldn't locate the camera when I did the painting part. I think I didn't choose colors that contrasted enough with the original color of the shirt. You can see my glue design but it's faint. I think if the shirt had been lighter or white it would have turned out more pronounced.

This is the back of the shirt. It came out a bit better than the front. I'm going to try this again on a white shirt next time.

Blue Shirt + Blue Glue = Batik pt.1

2011-08-28T10:43:00.002-04:00

I ruined my favorite blue shirt by being overzealous with bleach in my laundry. Rather than use it as a rag or a grungy painting shirt I decided to give it a glue batik, a technique I've been wanting to try. So this is step one, applying blue gel glue. I have done traditional hot wax batik before and the glue acts pretty much the same only it takes 24 hours to dry. On the other hand, no burns which is definitely a plus! So when it dries and I paint it, I'll post the next part. I'm thinking green and purple.

One person's treasure--is another person's treasure too!

2011-08-26T13:13:00.000-04:00

Why you should curate an Etsy Treasury:

It's fun to do! First you need to come up with an idea of what to feature. Sometimes that comes out of finding one thing that you really love and either wanting to see more of the same or thinking about what might go with that item. Most people like to put together all of one color. I just did one featuring orange paisley.

You're paying it forward. People will want to check out these items and then the shops from which they came. Featuring other shop's merchandise puts out good karma, sixteen spaces worth! When the sellers you feature do their own treasuries, they may come looking in your shop to see if you have an item that fits their theme. Plus, there's all this interacting going on, people visiting other people's shops. It's a good thing (to quote Martha.)

It's easy. Once you get an idea, make use of Etsy's new relevancy search and start collecting listings that fit your theme. All you need do is copy the listing number of an item and then paste it into the little box in one of your sixteen spots. The picture of the item comes up automatically.

It looks really cool all put together. Once you get it done, you can brag about it on Twitter, Facebook, your blog and anywhere else that you have an online presence.

Paisley(s) of the Week! Crochet Pattern and ACEO

2011-08-23T14:59:00.000-04:00

Last week I was on vacation and so I was unable to post a Paisley of the Week! for you all. This week, to make up for it, you get a two-fer! I have two excellent artists to highlight.

First is this fun and very cool Paisley Magic Crochet Pattern I found in Allescaro by Ch1306 's Etsy shop. I haven't done any crochet in ages but this is very appealing both because it's a small project that can be finished quickly and it's portable. Once you crochet these paisleys in your fave colors you can applique them to all sorts of things like quilts or handbags. Be sure to check out the whole Etsy shop for unique and adorable Amigurumi, dolls and patterns.

Next is this lovely ACEO titled Paisley-Blue by ArtByBeata. ACEOs are a favorite art form of mine, they're like baseball cards only way more interesting. They are an excellent way to start an art collection without breaking your budget. Beata has many ACEOs and plenty of great artwork in her shop. Be sure to take a look.

Paisley of the Week! Vintage Poker Chip Pendant

2011-08-11T08:55:00.000-04:00

Hello again Paisley fans! After a long hiatus, I've decided to start Paisley of the Week! again. The reason is that Etsy has changed it's search engine to show relevant results instead of most recent. Bad news for people who used renewing as their main sales tool, good news for buyers who want to find what they are really looking for! Finding a whole crop of awesome paisleys got me all excited and I had to share!

This week's Paisley of the Week is this very cool, vintage poker chip pendant made by Kathy of Kathy Lambert Designs. I just love blue and green together, it's very serene.

Be sure to also check out Kathy's blog and the other hand crafted goodies in her shop. Have a great week and if you, or someone you love, has a suggestion for the Paisley of the Week, please leave me a comment!

Nobody's Lookin' for YOUR Artwork

2011-08-08T18:57:00.000-04:00

After reading this Etsy article about more relevant search results I had an AH-HA! moment. If someone's looking to buy art, they aren't going to be searching by title. The "Title of Item" line is deceptive in that way. Suppose you're looking for a whimsical piece of art to hang in your office or bedroom.

Something...orange....or maybe blue...nothing specific....something abstract like...paisley.

You're not going to search for "Twirly" what's "Twirly?" Even if you saw this drawing of mine at a craft fair or similar, you won't remember the title. You're going to search for "orange blue paisley art" right?

Twirly

Don't waste space listing the title of your art unless it's a very straightforward title like, "Yellow Flower in a Blue Vase." Put your title in the description of the piece instead. There's plenty of room there and you can elaborate about your intriguing titles.

Silk Screening

2011-08-03T17:02:00.000-04:00

First there was this doodle I did at work. Then
I think I must've watched This Video on You Tube about a hundred times.

Then I had to figure out my negative space. This was more difficult than I thought. A lot of details get lost in trying to solidify your design.

Then I cut out my stencil. Paper stencil silk screening is not really worth it unless your design is very simple. I spent HOURS cutting this design with both scissors and an exacto knife. I only got about 5 passes with the squeegee before it started to disintegrate. I did use packing tape to make it stronger but even so, it started buckling after a while. Next time (and there IS going to be a next time!) I'm going to attempt either the filler fluid or the burn method.

Attempt number one done on an old pillowcase for practice. I don't think we used enough paint, or maybe I wasn't squeegeeing hard enough. The top and bottom of the paisleys didn't really show up. Attempts 3 and 4 were progressivley better.

Finally, I felt like it might work on an actual T-shirt and it did!

Figure Practice

2011-07-27T15:30:00.000-04:00

I've been doing some people practice lately. I've found several tutorials that I think are extremely helpful Especially this one by Neon Dragon. Setting up a body with 3 dimensions really makes a difference.

One exercise that was fun, in this tutorial by Jeinu, was to make a weird squiggly shape, and then make a face from it. The guy in the upper right corner is one of those and I think he came out pretty interesting. The cute lil' girl in between the spiral rings of the notebook was drawn by my daughter doing the same exercise. The thing on her head is a hat that might have shrunk in the wash. I also tried doing some old people and some homlier faces since these are harder to draw.

Sodie-Pop

2011-07-18T12:53:00.000-04:00

After fiddling around in Photoshop with my snip of a design, I can't decide between lined and unlined. Which do you like better?

A Snip of an Idea

2011-07-14T09:15:00.000-04:00

I've been trying to draw more people lately. This goth girl was inspired by a friend of mine on Deviant Art who combines her doodles and people quite effortlessly. I'm sure I added too many cheerful colors for it to be truly goth. Sometimes you get several ideas at once. Once I'd finished "Much on My Mind" the little pink-orange-peach-brown paisley tucked in behind her wouldn't be ignored and so it became a new pattern idea named "Sodie Pop." Not at all brooding and dark.

Start of Summer

2011-06-11T11:02:00.000-04:00

Is the End of the school year. At the beginning of the year, my 10 year old asked me to design a binder cover for him. Now it's June and summer has officially gotten underway and the doodle has held up pretty well. This summer I have a lot of things I want to do. Silkscreening and tye-dying to name a few. Not to mention finishing up sewing projects that I've started. How about you? What are your summer project plans?

Wordless Wednesday

2011-06-01T06:45:00.001-04:00

Graffiti

2011-05-12T11:25:00.000-04:00

I've had to travel through NYC lately and I can't help but be impressed with the graffiti I've seen despite the fact that it's defacement and illegal. It's got such good flow and rythm to it. Want to see how your name might look in groovy swirling letters but don't want to risk being arrested for destruction of public property? Check out the virtual Graffiti Generator it's

Making a Set of Patterns Tutorial

2011-05-02T11:34:00.002-04:00

After you've mastered making repeating patterns, you may need to use them again and again for mockups or digital scrapbooking or similar. However, if you just leave every pattern you create in your patterns palette it will considerably slow down your computer when you try to run Photoshop. But reopening every jpeg tile and doing edit>define pattern is tedious. Making a pattern set that you can load when you need it is much more convienient.
*Open all of the tiled patterns you want to use and save them to your patterns palette by clicking edit>define pattern. You don't want to open and save every single pattern you've ever made all at once though. As I said before, too many patterns in the palette will slow everything down. Group them together by category i.e. Halloween or Florals or group them as collections that all fit together.

*In Photoshop, click on the patterns palette to open it. Then click the little black arrow on the right side of the box to open the options. Choose preset manager from that drop down menu.

*Now delete any of the pre-made patterns that are already in there that you don't need to be part of your new group. Don't worry, you won't be deleting them from Photoshop altogether, just from the new group. Hit your ctrl button to select more than one at the same time. Be careful not to accidentally select any of the new ones.

When you have only the patterns you want hit ctrl>a to select them all and click save set.

Photoshop will automatically save this grouping in its patterns file. All you need to do is select a name. When you want to use them open the patterns palette, and click load patterns from the drop down menu. It should take you right to your saved files and you can load it from there.

Hippity Hoppity...

2011-04-21T18:46:00.000-04:00

Guess who's coming soon!?

Finished it Thursday

2011-04-07T13:15:00.000-04:00

Pink -n- Black -n- White always look tasty!

Doodle Monday

2011-04-04T17:51:00.000-04:00

This is the start of....something.

Flowers vs. Snow

2011-03-31T13:50:00.000-04:00

Every year the same thing happens: You think spring is coming, you even see little bits of green starting to push their way through the ground and you're like "It's getting warmer! Can't wait!" Then....it snows. Ha ha, April Fool courtesy of Mother Nature.

The other day one of the kids at work asked me to show her how to make a snowflake. Urgh. I didn't want to see any more of those things whether they be actual frozen water or just paper. So I said I'd show her how to make a flower to color instead and it came out great so now I'm going to show you.

You will need: an 8 x 10 piece of paper, scissors and nubby, broken crayons with the paper all peeled off.

* Square your paper off. Fold the bottom corner over to one side like this and cut off that extra bit like this to make a big triangle. Save that extra piece for later!

* Fold your big triangle in half and then fold that one in half.

*Now the tricky bit. Fold the top of your triangle (the side with the fold) over toward the cut edges of the triangle. It makes this sort of wonky icecream cone shape.

* Cut the top off of the "icecream" so it's now just a skinny triangle.

* Now make the top a little more interesting. You can round it off, make it jagged or do a swoop like I did. You can also make some little cuts up the sides and cut the bottom tip off if you like or leave it smooth if you'd rather not.

* Open it up and it'll look like a snowflake.

*Take your crayons and rub them from the center to the edges like the spoke of a wheel. The crayon will be darker on the edges.

If you use more than one color it makes a cool gradient effect.

*Take the extra bit from the side that you cut in step one, and make a leaf or two. Color it in and add some details.

Now make a whole bunch of them and tape them onto your window to blot out leafless trees and brown grass!

The Wearing of the Green

2011-03-14T12:08:00.000-04:00

I consider myself lucky to have a big thrift store like Goodwill right down the street. I buy things there all the time and I also donate things there all the time.

A shirt from Goodwill that I've upcycled. It's green in more ways than one!

But my daughter recently told me that some of the girls in her class have said that wearing clothes bought from Goodwill is ‘gross.’ Now I know girls are mean and kids and teens in general are obsessed with image and labels at this age. I was guilty of this myself. I sported Gloria Vanderbilt jeans and 9 West shoes, and like Will Smith, I remember being MORTIFIED that one time my Mom bought me Zips instead of Adidas sneakers. The bratty neighbors down the street threw yew berries from their bushes at me when I wore them and I ran home crying. Good times.

All of this got me to thinking; buying a used item of clothing is actually a form of recycling. Buying a new item of clothing means that that item had be manufactured and manufacturing means the use of resources. How much of the Earth's resources does the textile industry actually use? I thought I should do a little research since I’ve been striving to become a part of that industry. Here is what I found out:

The textile industry uses 2.38 TRILLION (that’s trillion with 12 zeros) gallons of water and about 129 BILLION tons of fuel every year to produce new cloth. When they’re done producing it, there’s equally disturbing amounts of waste water and air pollution that is created as a byproduct.

An ordinary cotton tee shirt starts as a cotton plant. This plant needs to be watered, tended, sprayed with pesticides to protect it, harvested (using fuel) transported (using more fuel) processed (even more fuel) and dyed (water and chemicals) to create fabric.

From there it most likely travels overseas (more fuel) where it is cut and sewn, packaged (paper and plastic) and transported Back to the US (again with the fuel) to be sold and then finally bought by you or me. That's more fuel than I want to do the math for. From start to finish this whole process (for one shirt) took 2,000 gallons of water.

But putting the big carbon footprint aside, here are some other things to consider when buying a pre-owned article of clothing:

*Many times I’ve bought something from Goodwill with the tags from a previous store still on it which means it was new anyway and therefore not gross.

*When I donate to Goodwill, I’m not donating my favorite stuff that I’ve used or worn all the time. I’m donating the stuff that my family and I hardly ever wore or never even used. Children’s clothes are almost always like new because they grow out of them too fast to really ruin them. Less gross than you thought.

*Goodwill has standards. They will discard things that are stained and destroyed. They don’t want to sell those items any more than you or I want to buy them. Again, less gross than you thought.

*I wonder how many of these kids have worn USED hand-me-downs from a brother or sister?

Now I don’t expect K to go to school and give a big report on why it’s greener to buy from a thrift store everytime she's teased by fashion conscious mean girls. They will: a. not care and b. not wait around to hear the facts and figures of the whole thing.

But for those of you who may have offhandedly said to your daughter, “Ugh! Who wants to wear something someone else already wore?” Wasting the Earth’s resources is kind of gross. Pass that along to your kids, OK?

J'ai besoin d'acheter de nouveaux marqueurs.

2011-03-09T19:37:00.000-05:00

This is my visual list of the Prismacolor Markers that always need replacing: pomme vert, pervenche, ardois bleue, vert fonce, bleu pacifique clair, vrai bleu, mure, vrai vert, blue deco, blue d'outremer, bruine violette. Yes, they also have English names but everybody knows that stuff sounds way cooler en Francais. A totally mundane sentence like "I need to buy new markers" sounds like poetry, ne cest pas?

Sunday Squiggle

2011-02-20T14:39:00.000-05:00

Reserved

2011-02-18T17:18:00.001-05:00

Reserved for something to come eventually.

Honeysuckle!

2011-02-15T20:22:00.000-05:00

How about that!

With Love

2011-02-09T11:25:00.001-05:00

A free coloring page for you (or your sweetie) for Valentine's Day. Click to enlarge and then copy and print. Mass production is not allowed but you can print several if it's for a school class or similar. Also, you may want to print a copy of this cute card if you're feeling extra crafty.

Star Wishes

2011-02-02T10:10:00.000-05:00

I'm working on a new collection to compliment this design that I created a while ago. Looking at my designs, I notice that I tend toward blue and pink a LOT! I'm imagining another children's theme with this one.

Snow Family

2011-01-26T16:09:00.000-05:00

Today we had the perfect type of snow to make a whole family of snow people + one snow puppy. I've been doing a lot of doodling and will share with you all very soon. So how is 2011 treating all of you so far? What have you been creating?

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T13:15:00.002-05:00

I hope that 2011 brings you prosperity and peace!

Let it Snow!

2010-12-14T21:19:00.001-05:00

For everybody Christmas is a crazy busy time. Shopping, decorating, cards, crafting special gifts and the list goes on. I'd say I'm about half done which is good for me. But the one thing that's been cramping my style is the COLD. Today it was 13 degrees BRRRRR! I say there ought to be a law that if it's going to be that cold it ought to snow. Here's some sketchbook snow for you to look at. Happy Holidays!

Not Following

2010-11-22T15:46:00.000-05:00

So, I have an Excel chart of people to whom I've sent submissions and licensing inquiries. Listed on the chart is are dates that I ought to have followed up with them. As of yet, I've not followed up with anyone. The reason for this is that everytime I think about calling a stranger on the phone I
1. feel like I might puke.
2. Have only a vague idea of what I would even say and this would consist of many Ums, Uhs, You knows and "Hi, my name is..." before probably hanging up on them.

I think I have Telephobia.

So this week I've been catching up on some mending. I won't bore you with pictures of it. If you want to be bored, you can go read my tutorial about sock darning which I still say is a useful topic albeit dull one. And, I've launched four different Christmas paper packs in my Etsy Shop, changed my background on Twitter, this blog and Etsy to a Holiday Festive version of my Candy Dish Paisley design.

While you ponder all of that, please enjoy this drawing of a fancy shoe from my sketchbook.

Autumn Morning Free Desktop

2010-11-09T08:54:00.000-05:00

It happens every year, the trees shed their beautiful colors and we're left with brown sticks to look at. If only it could stay like this just a bit longer.

Halloween and Geranium Fairy part II

2010-11-01T11:42:00.000-04:00

Halloween was a big success. How can you not be a success when people are giving you candy? As you can see, the Geranium Fairy turned out lovely. I think her favorite part was getting to wear make-up. My 9 year old designed and created a TV set mask for himself using a box, duck tape, some mirra-lux paper that I had sitting around and some wire, my oldest went as a hobo. I hope everybody had the happiest of Halloweens!

TV boy, Fairy & Hobo

A Geranium Fairy part 1

2010-10-22T16:27:00.001-04:00

My daughter is always very proactive about Halloween and what she's going to be wearing. About a month ago she put in her order for a custom made Geranium Fairy costume like the one in Cicely Mary Barker's Flower Fairies book. I have the bodice done and I've made a petal-like skirt. What was hanging me up was the little flower buds around the waist. I couldn't figure out how I was going to do those (and so many of them!) and so I've been procrastinating. Inspiration struck when I was looking at something else, a page about making yo-yos that I found randomly. I also found out that the circle hole punch that I recently purchased (I LOVE that thing!) will cut fabric if you have Wonder Under ironed onto it. With this I was able to iron on a circle to each yo-yo to make a bud. There are still details to add, green tights, a wand with a silk geranium on it and maybe some sort of headband. Stay tuned to see how the whole thing comes out.

Summer's Green Treasury

2010-10-16T15:35:00.002-04:00

I have never put together an Etsy Treasury, but it was a bit like assembling a quilt. Go and check out these lovely shades of green.
http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4cb9fa0a70c96d912434c554/save-a-bit-of-summers-green

A New Art Tangent

2010-10-06T20:04:00.000-04:00

I was so excited to get my mail this afternoon! I decided that in addition to making 1 inch digital collages, I'd like to make my own magnets and charms with them. I ordered these lovely pendant trays, chains and a one inch hole punch (something I've wanted forever!) from Sun And Moon Craft Kits on Etsy. I couldn't be more pleased with what came in the package! I especially am glad that I gave in to the impulse to buy the colored chains, they are so fun! My daughter has already claimed the pink one, of course. It gives me a great deal of pleasure to buy from a fellow Etsy seller rather than just chucking more money at Michael's or JoAnn's. Look for original art necklaces in my Etsy shop soon!

Paisley Garden

2010-10-03T11:00:00.000-04:00

Lately I've been doing much coloring and less doodling. It's always a stretch to use colors I'm not fond (like brown) of but I'm glad I push myself to choose them. The results are unexpectedly good! If you like this paisley garden, it can be yours...

Wordless Wednesday

2010-09-29T08:28:00.000-04:00

The Secret Pumpkin

2010-09-23T08:03:00.000-04:00

After all the other pumpkins were picked, we were getting ready to dispose of the vine and found this nice surprise hiding under the lavender bush. It's late in the season so it might stay green.

Painted Paisley Chair

2010-09-18T07:36:00.001-04:00

Started out with a plain rocker. I had half a gallon of unused red paint so that became my base color.

I had a French Provincial sort of thing in mind. But I just wasn't feeling it. So I started over.

I went with cheerful colors of purple, green, pink, orange and yellow which contrasted very nicely with the red.

Last year the New Freedom Festival had us paint the chairs there at the event sort of as an attraction. I prefered having time to think out my ideas and to be able to stop and start either just to let one section dry before adding another design layer or just to step back and think some more. I think it came out even better than last year's chair (which was not too shabby!) Anyway, the festival and auction are today. I'm glad I'll be scoping out the arts and crafts and eating Bricker's Fries instead of having to watch my paint dry.

Wordless Thursday

2010-09-16T11:44:00.001-04:00

...

Restful Blue

2010-09-11T09:31:00.000-04:00

Sometimes you just want a background-y background that doesn't hide all of your icons or distract people from your content. Here is a serene, blue, quietly abstract ocean to float behind your Twitter, MySpace, Desktop or Blog.

The Fattybat

2010-09-10T07:32:00.000-04:00

Halloween is going to be here soon!

Two-Fer Thursday

2010-09-02T21:08:00.003-04:00

Wordless Thursday was a wash anyway because I had to go blabbing there at the end of my post. It's rare that I post twice in a day so what's the occaision? Well, I'm a bit of a yesterday's newshound but I just discovered that one of my dearest wishes came true (last month.) Blogger has added a feature that allows us to upload our OWN pictures and papers to use as backgrounds. YAY! I've only wanted them to do that since 4-Eva! So to celebrate I am sharing three new lovely background designs with you. Use them for your blog ('cause now you can!) MySpace, Twitter or Desktop. Designs will tile.
You may not reproduce or redistribute to sell my designs, personal use only, please!

Enjoy these sweet flavors! Top to bottom: Paisley's Candydish Black, Paisley's Candydish Orange, Paisley's Candydish Pink.

A Day Late

2010-09-02T08:33:00.000-04:00

for a wordless Wednesday and oops I'm writing something anyway. Happy Thursday :D

Tempus Fugit

2010-08-31T09:12:00.000-04:00

Sea You Baby Collection Invite Mockup

A little over 12 years ago I was sending out baby boy birth announcements. Today, he gets on the bus to go to Jr. High. The time flies way too fast!

Paisley of the Week! Make it Yerself!

2010-08-30T09:07:00.001-04:00

Who would think that a metal bucket could be this much fun?

At The MacBeth Collection you can pick a tub, vase, tray, bucket, caddy and then choose a (paisley of course) design to make it super cute! They have metal containers, flip flops, desk accessories, big wall letters and more. I wonder if they're looking for artists to license?

Mock Journal Tutorial

2010-08-25T10:41:00.001-04:00

Journal Mockup Tutorial.

You will need Photoshop (or a similar program) and a good working knowledge of how to use it to do this tutorial.

I had a lot of fun doing this mockup and I was very pleased with my results. Many of the companies to whom I've been submitting my designs make fancy journals so a mockup of a nice journal seemed appropriate.

1. Open a new 8 x 10 300 dpi document in Photoshop and name it "Mockup Journal." Add a new layer and make a rectangle with rounded corners.

2. With your marquee tool, square up the left side so that it has sharp corners.

3. Duplicate this layer, close the 'eye' to make it invisible and then switch back to the original layer. Click on the little checkerboard square up in the top of the layers palette to lock your shape.

4. In your underneath color picker, choose a papery sort of color like a very light tan. Hit ctrl >backspace to fill the shape. Change your upper color picker to a shade slightly grayer than your paper color to outline your page edges. Go into edit>stroke> and choose 5 pixels for the size and 'inside' for where you want your line and hit 'enter.'

5. Now here comes the fun part, making some pages for your journal! Choose and capture your paper shape with the marquee tool. Then, with the shape still captured, in the tools palette change it to the wand.

6. Simulaneously hit ctrl>shift>alt> and the Up arrow key. Look what happens! PS makes a duplicate of your shape and piles it on top of the first one. To make the perspective a bit better you'll want to move the shape over while it's still selected. Hit 'V' and move it over.

7. Repeat step 7 until you have a nice stack of pages.

8. Let's make our paper look like it's been read a few times. Go into your Filter palette. Choose Filter>Distort>Pinch. Set your slider to the left at about -25% and click 'OK.' Now our paper stack looks a little less rigid. With the burn tool, shade the pages on the sides a bit to add some shadows, especially on the corners.

10. Turn your 'cover' layer back on then choose a pattern for it. If you have repeating tiles saved in your patterns palette you can just pour it in with the bucket tool. Or, you can open and drag your design into a new layer above your cover shape and then trim it to fit using the wand tool in the layer below. Line it up over your pages.

11. Go down to the lower left corner of your journal and, with the pen tool, make a curved line around the edges of your pages to make it look like book binding. Go into the pages layer and shade them a bit where the binding would make a shadow.

12. Create a new layer and name it 'strap.' With the marquee tool make a long skinny rectangle. Choose a complimentary color with your underneath color picker, then hit ctrl>backspace to fill it. Click the little checkerboad in the top of the layers palette to lock it.

13. With your pen tool make a few vertical lines through it in a darker shade. Trim off the edges so they're flush with your cover and use the burn tool at the ends for shadowing.

14. Create a new layer and with the round marquee tool, make an oval. Hit ctrl>backspace to fill it with the color of your choice and and in the layers palette choose layer>style>bevel & emboss.

17. Choose some text or a monogram, center it over the oval and you're done!

Now you're ready to wow stationery companies with your designs. Thanks for reading!

Guess the Paisley of the Week!

2010-08-23T10:22:00.000-04:00

I love this paisley watch by GUESS. I want this watch. Anyone out there who wants to buy me this watch please feel free. It's available at Macy's....

Still not too early... I think.

2010-08-21T21:00:00.001-04:00

Making Mockups is almost as fun as sewing real clothes. Wouldn't you love to have a party dress like this for your daughter? I would too. I just can't decide which one I like best.

Paisley of the Week! Not Too Early - no, really!

2010-08-17T12:01:00.001-04:00

There's no time like the present to get going on your holiday stuff. Here are two of the same paisley with two different feels to them. Halloween and Christmas. I'm partial to the Halloween one.

Both of these designs were born out of this one doodle. I left off the fussy bits around the edge because it looked less cluttered with the design.

The cure for Slooow Mo Joe

2010-08-13T07:53:00.000-04:00

Lately, my computer has been super slooooooww. I've been worried that it was a virus although my anti-virus hasn't noticed anything. Photoshop has been particularly troublesome starting out a bit pokey and ending up taking up to FIVE minutes to load. I'd turn it on, get a drink, unload the dishwasher, allow myself to be distracted by the TV for a bit, come back and it'd still be trying to get it self started. And shutting down was the same story. About five minutes to close and any other program I wanted to run just had to wait.

Yesterday morning I was not quite awake, so while waiting for my coffee to take effect I sat there sipping and absently watching it load. It started out going through all of its photoshoppy things and then it got to the part where it loads the patterns and there it stuck....reading patterns.....reading patterns.....reading patterns. It read them for a full three minutes and then *click* the lightbulb went on (I said I wasn't awake yet.)

All of the patterns that I've been creating, I've just saved in the patterns pallette. I must've had about fifty of them in there. Apparently instead of just using them as I need them, Photoshop loads them all. It would be like taking out every piece of fabric you own, unfolding it and lining it up all around your sewing room whether you were going to use it or not. Then, when you were done with your project, you'd have to fold all of it back up and put it away again exactly as you found it.

So the moral of this story is: If you've used my repeating pattern tutorial, and subsequently noticed a slow down in your Photoshop, go into your patterns pallette and reset it (but make sure you have your tiles all saved somewhere else.) After I did this BAM, Photoshop closed itself right down. For the sake of experimentation I restarted it and it took less than a minute to start. And my laptop began running faster as well. Who knew that having a full pattern pallette could cause such a problem?

A Pack of Wet Papers

2010-08-11T13:28:00.000-04:00

The watery scrapbook paper pack that I've been working on is now in my Etsy store. You always need watery looking backgrounds for those pics at the beach, pool and other summer fun. I loved the challenge of creating nine different water designs and thinking about all of the forms that water takes, waves, bubbles, foam and that's just a few.

This one is my favorite. I am sure that you can guess why ;)

Paisley of the Week! Strawberry Swirl

2010-08-09T10:49:00.000-04:00

This week's paisley is one of my own. It is called Strawberry Swirl because it reminds me of sherbet or sorbet (one of those frozen 'bets' anyway.) Last post was called Italian Ice, this one's a sorbet -- can you tell it's been HOT? Anyway, this paisley is one of my traditionally drawn designs that has been mirror repeated. I've been working on some new collections that revolve around hand drawn work.

Cool Off With Italian Ice!

2010-08-03T08:47:00.000-04:00

I've been working on a set of watery background papers for my Etsy Shop (they'll be up soon!) and this one, while I totally LOVE it, didn't quite go with the feel of others. I designed it after a particularly sweltering day when we'd all enjoyed a box of Luigi's Watemelon and Blue Raspberry Ices after dinner. As everyone knows, treats are better when shared so I am sharing this wallpaper with you. It will tile so you may use it as a desktop, Twitter or MySpace background. Enjoy and stay cool.

Paisley of the Week! Slumber Party Style

2010-08-01T11:26:00.001-04:00

I. Love. This.

When I went to slumber parties, hundreds of years ago, just about everybody's sleeping bag was navy blue or dark green. Once in a while you'd see some lucky girl whose bag was red. Everybody's bag was lined with ugly polyester wannabe plaid flannel. Thems was your choices. Then, when my kids were old enough to have sleeping bags of their own there were cooler choices like Scooby Doo or Dora the Explorer to be had and they're fun but ... This adorable chocolate and paisley sleeping bag, with matching pillow case, from PB Teen is just excellent. Carrie, whoever she is, is going to be the envy of everybody else at the slumber party. I hope they don't put her bra in the freezer out of jealousy.

Robots on my Mind

2010-07-30T17:22:00.000-04:00

This week has been a week for robots. My almost 12 year old son was attending a camp all this week where they learned to build robots that could navigate a maze. The robots were made out of Legos and used Mindstorms software to make it move.

I also finished a collection based on one of my favorite drawings. It's one of my favorites because I used shapes I ordinarily don't use, colors I ordinarily don't prefer and subject matter rather than abstraction and it came out really cool.

The way I like to design is to take pieces and parts of a picture and make a new design from it. Like this:

Or this:

See if you can spot which bits I used. And if you are burning with curiosity you can check out the whole collection of Robots and Rectangles.

Paisley of the Week! Oooooo it's Ooze!

2010-07-25T20:03:00.001-04:00

Ooze by Hearthmagick

Angela Till, also known on DeviantArt as Hearthmagick is an artist that I immediately saw as a kindred spirit. She has only been on dA for three months and already she's put up some amazing work! I was hard pressed to pick a fave paisley piece for this feature. Eventually I chose this one because it's in a media that I don't use often, colored pencil, and it's in a palette to which I am very partial orange-pink-yellow. Enjoy, and hop on over to her page to see the rest of her supa-cool doodles!