October!

I can't believe how October has flown by!  Life is busy busy and yet there has been some time for reflection.

I did dig out my one bin of Fall/Halloween decor and put up a few things in the cubbies.

I love the colored glass and this will stay until Christmas but the Halloween bears and owl will go back in the bin soon!  Maybe a few Thanksgiving items will take their place. 

My favorite witch is out with some lovely handmade pumpkins 

I can't seem to take a decent photo lately.  I guess I need to get out my 'better' camera.

These two continue to bring me such JOY!

Tiger is 6 going on 16 his Mother says! He is doing well in school and just getting to be such a big boy.  He has started calling me Grammie which I love!  

Scout at 2 and half is a tall girl and so smart! She is a mixture of rough and tumble and girly girl!  Her favorite color is pink!  I have such a good time buying her clothes and indulging her princess personality!

This little girl just celebrated her one year Gotcha Day!  She has brought much love into my life.  She has turned into a complete snuggle kitty.

I love this little face and those eyes!

Annie Belle I'm glad we found each other!

I haven't done much watercolor painting

I am happy with how this tree turned out!

I was happy with this wreath until I tried to add 'give thanks' to the middle and then I ruined it.  I need to practice before I try this again.  I'm hoping to make some Christmas gifts this year.

I have been having some health issues and would ask for your prayers

After my gallbladder surgery over a year ago I was feeling really good.  Then this past July I had an episode of pain that sent me to the ER.  They said it wasn't pancreatitis which was my fear but didn't give me any diagnosis.  The pain went away and I was just trying to be careful of fats in my diet.  Then about 3 weeks ago I had another 'attack'.  Almost as painful but this time it has been up and down in intensity.  I had blood work done which showed that my pancreas and liver functions are fine.  Monday I had an MRI to check to see if I have stones or some other blockage in my bile duct or whatever else is in there!  I'm waiting on the results.  As of now my pain comes and goes but the discomfort seems to be constant.  I've been eating but very small meals and very low fat hoping that will help.  All this has taken a toll on me.  No energy and doing much of anything has been hard.  We really need an answer to this.  Mom and I have a big trip planned for Thanksgiving for a family reunion in Texas.  She will see her brother and sisters and visit other family also.  We are praying that whatever is going on with me doesn't cancel this trip.  So prayers and good thoughts appreciated! 

Wishing you JOY,

Linda

Thrifting, Flowers and Painting

August!

This was my July cubbie display but it will be changing this weekend!

Mom and I went thrift shopping one day last week and had a really good time.  She found several books and some bowls.  I hit the jackpot it seems!

Another pottery piece to hold more paint brushes.  I like this one because it is tall and holds them upright really well.  I took one off my desk that didn't work as well. Only .50!!

Brand new Pier 1 mug for $1.49

I love the Fall colors and it's big!

I've been looking for a plate rack to hold smaller saucer size plates and this one was $l.49 and is perfect for some of my Paris plates.  Now to figure out where I want to hang it...hum???

A Bible from the free pile! 

I love it and it is in great condition. I'll use this in my weekly Ladies' Bible study group. 

I must say I got REALLY excited when I saw this duvet cover.  Paris, Pink, Polka Dots!!  Someone made it and the fabric alone would have been more then the $7.50 I paid for it!  Washed and on the bed, it looks great!

This was my favorite find of the day.  It is a Napco Madonna vase and even if she does have a broken thumb, I love her.  I thought I might give this to a friend, but she seems so happy here by my Bible collection.  Only $1!!!

I also found two frames for $1/each.  One for this photo of Scout I had printed at Shutterfly and the other was my watercolor painting of Bluebonnets I did for my Mom.  She loves it! 

Watercolors!  

I've been painting again!

This was a photo from
'The Eggs and I'  Facebook page. 

Again I painted from a photo but decided not to put them side by side,  the colors are hard to match and then photograph but it's an inspiration not a copy :)

If this is your photo please let me know! I promise to start being more mindful of the photos I download so I can give credit!

This was really fun to paint! 

I was looking on Amazon for a travel case for my paint brushes.  I came across this one for $4 and it had brushes in it (yes all for $4)

So I ordered it!  Love the case and my good brushes will fit in there and be safe for travel!  The others will either be used for gouche paints or for the Grands!

I am a bargain hunter always!

I thought I'd leave you with a photo of my craft room.  Still a work in progress but the wall of shelves is finally done.  I need to go through all my art/craft/scrapbooking supplies and decide what to keep and what to donate.

That's a lot of stuff!

Wishing you JOY,

Linda

Watercolor Wednesday #4

I have a few new projects to share.

I didn't paint much for a week or so.

I've been sick again.  I really am thinking I need to work on my immune system.  This time it went to my chest and I saw the Dr.  Several meds later I'm better but still not well.  I've been resting, sleeping, reading and watching TV.  Trying not to do much of anything and give my body a chance to heal.  

A class on wreaths with flowers

I did two and like them fairly well.

Then I decided to add 'Choose Joy' to the center of this wreath.  Disaster! 

So I kept adding and adding until I ended up with this mess!

So less is more and I also find I'm not good with painting words.  Still I learned from it and that is the whole point in it!

I shared these pages from my workbook last time.  I decided to just keep playing with the page on the left and this is how it turned out.  I used a cheap $4 set of pan paints from Michael's as the teacher did.  So you can use inexpensive paints to start and get fair results.

It really was a lot of fun!  I'm feeling more confident in my color mixing.  I'm trying to loosen up and just have fun.  Where I made muddy flowers I added some ink pen to it and saved it I think.

Another class on loose painting with a large round #12 brush.

This was good for me. I find that I like smaller brushes because I have better control but the large brushes can make such pretty blends.  So trying to push myself out of my comfort zone.

More large brush work trying to make Roses at the top from a tutorial.  I think it's a fail.  Then I just played with colors.

Trying some new techniques using different brushes.

More color and this feel like a success to me.  Not complete but a good practice piece.

So that's the watercolor fun from the last couple of weeks.  

Wishing you JOY,

Linda

Watercolor Wednesday #3

April is such a busy month around here but so much fun!  So I haven't had as much time to watercolor as I hoped but have managed a few lessons and practice here and there! 

I finished the Sweets class with

Various fruits...

and Ice Cream Cones

I really messed up the top left cone but after it dried I added some ink pen and it really helped.  Teaching me to keep trying!

I took a class on painting a butterfly

screen shot of the butterfly we are going to paint...let's see if mine looks anything like this.

I started with a pencil sketch.  I really hate sketching because I think I'm horrible at it, but following the lesson I gave it a try.  

Not bad.

I mixed paint to get a color close to the teachers.  It was fun and I'll try to do more color mixing soon.

I'm still having trouble getting the right mix of paint and water, but it will just take more practice.

As you can see I got mine way darker then the example but I like it.  I added the wreath around it just because! 

I decided to make some bookmarks for my Methodist women's circle.  I had the program for April again and last year I made butterfly bookmarks for them.  My daughter Sara really liked the daffodils I
painted a few weeks ago, so I decided it was simple and I could make 15 of them! 

I did!  I think they came out pretty well.

Close up of a couple of them.  Everyone loved getting them and I have some to share with the ladies in my Bible Study group also.  I left them blank so they could add a favorite Bible verse of their own. 

I'm just starting a new lesson on flowers again.  Trying to be 'loose' with the brush and let the color 'flow'

I'll keep practicing and maybe do a bouquet on a good sheet of paper and see if it's frameable!

I do love the new watercolors I told you about last time.  I need to learn much more about mixing colors for sure.  I found a fabulous deal on some porcelain pallets with free shipping so purchased a couple.  

I like mixing on the porcelain since the paint doesn't bead up like it does on plastic or metal pallets.  

I'm hoping to have a thrifty finds post up on Friday!  See you then!

Wishing you JOY,

Linda

Watercolor Wednesday #2

Where did this week go? 

I have been busy but still this week really flew by!  Monday I met 5 of my wonderful Atlanta blogging friends (although I think I'm the only one still blogging at this point).  We had a great lunch at Joyce's and caught up as it had been about a year since we had seen each other.  Lots of talk, good food, fun gifts and more talk. It was wonderful to see Joyce, Sue, Denise, Sandie and Cheri! What I didn't get was a photo...

nope not a one! 

So back to the Watercolor

I wanted to use some orange/yellow colors and had a good time painting.  I love the daffodils and the carrots aren't bad for a first time.  The other 'item' started out as an Easter egg, then looked like a bunny so I added ears and now it looks like an Easter egg with ears. 

Oh well...they aren't all winners! 

This page was more successful I think!

I'm working right now in my sketchbook and trying to paint a little each day.

I love the butterfly and will try to make a larger one soon.  I think I like little paintings as I seem to have more brush control.  

To expand my learning curve I am doing a class called 'Easy Watercolor Sweets & Treats'  I'm not done with all the lessons but this is what I've painted so far.

I like the bigger slice but tried to make two others to practice the technique.  Not so good.  I'm learning about layers and blending.

Next up was a donut and cookie

(I labeled them in case I couldn't tell what they were...keeping it real here)

Next up will be ice cream cones, maybe by next week I'll have that page done. I am enjoying this and pushing myself outside my flower comfort zone.

Back before Christmas I won a $100 Visa card giveaway.  It took forever for it to finally get to me but I've been saving it for something special.  I started using it to buy some good brushes and paints for my hobby.  I am mostly using student grade watercolors and they are great but I wanted a tube set of professional grade watercolors.  I looked at many of them, read reviews, priced them (yikes $$$) but decided on this set I found on Amazon.

These paints got very good reviews and were pretty highly recommended especially since you can get them right now on Amazon at such a great price.

This set of 36-7ml tubes if bought individually would cost over $300 and I was able to buy it for $60 with free Prime shipping.

All these lovely tubes of paint will last me a very long time.  I thought about a primary color set but since I'm not very good at mixing colors yet decided on this set instead.

AND it came with a palette!  

I made a color chart (which I need to redo since I made a mess of it).  I have played with them a little but this week will try to work exclusively from this set and see how I like them.  The colors are vibrant and rich and should be fun!

These last few days of March are full of pollen and my allergies have flared up.  Still I'm hanging in there!

April starts the 'month of birthdays' so hopefully lots of photos of the Grands as they celebrate. 

Wishing you JOY,

Linda