Its been awhile

 It's almost the end of 2025 and this is my only post this year. I'm not sure why- perhaps it's because this format is 'fading away'?  I don't see much posting here. Am I wrong? I always enjoyed this format, but it seems to have become passé. 

The One

Watercolor on paper

This is one of those happy accidents. I was painting backgrounds for mushroom paintings. I've been on a thing of painting mushroom paintings. This particular background- as I looked at it to study how to use it, it occurred to me that if I turned it upside down, it looked just like the ocean. And then I got to thinking what to paint in the ocean waves. The tortoise came to mind as I had recently heard a podcast about how for every 1,000 eggs laid, only one makes it.  This info astounded me and stuck with me. So this little guy was born.  I am very pleased with it.  Its tiny, only 3" x 3".  So now I'm on a tortoise painting binge. 

I recently ordered a whole bunch of Lavinia Stamps

and have been having fun creating whimsical and magical images. 

This is my favorite so far. 

I seem to have a connection to the idea of a

frog and a snail in a friendship, as this is the 4th in a long standing series.

 

 It's been awhile.  Does anyone still read blogs?  I hope so.  I know I do. Here are some recent pictures of what I've been up to...

making bobbins for wrapping ribbon

making tags and journal cards

a trip to Washington D.C.

making a polymer clay frog skeleton.

enjoying the beach while I can! 

Winter is here. 

It's a quiet lovely time of the year. 

I tend to become a hermit at this time. 

Lately I've been loving coloring in fanciful coloring books.

But I did paint this experimental watercolor (with a bit of collage) the other day. 

20 days until Spring! yay! 

 

Collage Snippits

 

I love making these small collages. I use them in my journals as an embellishment, on cards and as tuck spots on pages of my journals. 

These are to become greeting cards.  It's such a great way to use up odds and ends of papers and such. 

Gelli Printing

I once attended a workshop with Elizabeth St. Hilaire in Italy. It was a week of collage technique under a Tuscan Sun. Stunning and so much fun! 

We made collage paper using paper and acrylic inks on a gelli plate. This week I wanted to do some collage work, but needed more collage papers, so I pulled out my materials and went to town! I ended up with an amazing array of  beautiful paper!  The above are just a few. I printed on music paper, book paper, deli paper, rice paper and regular old copy paper.  It all works...any thin paper really. 

On to collage!   Happy Crafting! 

Mixed media experiments

 

After seeing Jane Chipp's artwork, I was inspired to try it myself. I am learning what I like and what to change with each rendition. A great learning experience!  I love to learn new or different techniques. What I love about this is it combines painting with collage - a real mixed media project. 

Happy crafting!