Project 365 - Wizard of Oz and Passion/Love

This is a bit of a catch up post for Project 365 since I've been faily slack this past week. I've done 4 cards for the Pick-A-Theme swap which is due soon. I couldn't decide which reference images I wanted to paint so ended up doing two cards for the Wizard of Oz theme and two cards for the passion/love/soulmate theme. I think I'll be sending the slippers and putting Emerald City up for trade. Let me know which one of the passion cards you think I should send.

Card 22/365: Emerald City

Card 23/365: Ruby Slippers

Card 24/ 365: Passion/Love/Soulmate 1

Card 25/365: Passion/Love/Soulmate 2

Project 365 - Witch's Gingerbread Cottage

This is a very multi-purpose card: it is my submission for Project 365 for Wednesday, my entry for January's monthly competition with the theme of Sweet and Sugary and also one of my cards for the Fairytale Fun swap I'm hosting. It's the witch's cottage from Hansel and Gretal.

Card 21/365: Witch's Gingerbread Cottage

Project 365 - Weddings

Since I missed four days of Project 365 due to participating in a wedding I thought it only fitting to try and catch up on the days with wedding themed cards. I was trying to a looser, more free-flowing/abstract feel for these two.

Card 19/365: Wedding Dress.

Card 20/365: Bridesmaid Bouquet

So I think I'm now running seven cards behind where I should be. :( I guess it's not as far behind as I thought I might fall at least. We'll see if I ever get any closer or if I just keep falling further behind.

Sarah and Michael's Wedding

I was a bridesmaid for the very first time yesterday! It was an amazing experience being able to be part of Michael and Sarah's special day and see all the plans that they had worked so hard on coming together. I just wanted to share some photos from the day with you. This is also the reason for my absence from Project 365 for the past few days. :)

Fooling around in the bathrobes prior to getting ready (me, Sarah and her sister Hannah).

With the hair and make-up done.

The bride and I! Isn't she beautiful?

The Santel girls! I met Sarah when I joined the admin team at Santel, Donna still works there.

My stunning flower bouquet.

Project 365 - Dragon and Rosella

Two more cards for Project 365. Both done using Prismacolor pencils.

Card 17/365: Fire Dragon

Card 18/365: Crimson Rosella in Pencil

Project 365 - Sunsets and Trees

Just a very simple card for Tuesday - acrylic paint background and a rubber stamp foreground. I think it's a bit too plain but I'm not sure what else to add.

Card 15/ 365: Playtime

Another tree for Wednesday's submission. This one is for a Pick-A-Theme swap with the theme of 'Tree of Life'. I struggled to find reference pictures to work from and basically just came away with the idea that it had to involve a lot of swirls.

Card 16/365: Tree of Life

A lot of the card's I'm creating for Project 365 will be available to trade. If you see something you like feel free to either post a comment or check out my available gallery at ATCsforall.com.

Project 365 - Pears and Rabbits

Got to catch up on yesterday's artwork which I didn't have time to print due to going to a hen's night last night. Almost everyone else doing the project created a pear card this week so I decided to hop on the bandwagon too. Pretty happy with this one in terms of shading and colour choices. I know that composition is a bit plain but how much can you really do with a pear?

Card 12/365: Painted Pear

I'm doing a personal trade with a lady on ATCsforAll.com and she requested an Alice in Wonderland character since she liked the sets I did for the Pick a Theme a few months ago. I sketched out a character and ended up doing a painted version and a pencil version. I'll let her pick which one she likes best, my favourite is the painted one.

Card 13/ 365: Pimpin' White Rabbit

Card 14/ 365: Victorian White Rabbit

Project 365- Sweet Dreams

Yeap, another whimsical card for Project 365. These are really fun to make and I've had this design in my head for a while now. Acrylic paints, gel pen and fine liner for this one.

Also, I wanted to say a big welcome to my new watchers! I'm up to 11 now. Love all my old watchers too. :)

Card 11/365: Sweet Dreams

Project 365- Painted Ladybug

Not 100% happy with this one, so I may re-work it at a later date. If anyone wants to give advise I would welcome it. Anyway, it's a ladybug, painted in acrylic paints.

Card 10/365: Painted Ladybug

Edit: I firmly beleive that it you're not happy with a card it's not fair to trade it away, so I decided to work on the ladybug some more today (15th). It's fair to say that I didn't so much retouch the card as repaint it, but the end result is that I'm happy with it now. :)

Project 365- Winged Heart

Just a quick card from me today. Feeling a bit depressed since returning from visiting family at home, especially since my fiance has stayed there for a week longer. Was trying to think of a theme and remembered that ATCsforAll.com is running a winged hearts swap. I didn't sign up, but the artwork was looking fantastic so I thought I'd see what I could create. Acrylic paints and pen.

Card 9/365: Winged Heart

Project 365- Friendly Fowl Duck #3

My final duck for the Friendly Fowl swap and also my submission for Project 365 today. The white outline is because he wasn't standing out against the background enough but I think I should have found a different way of making him stand out. Unfortuately, I don't have enough time to re-paint a new card as these will be mailed out tomorrow.

Card 8/365: Friendly Fowl Duck #3

Project 365 - Masquerade Ladies

Two more cards for Project 365. If only I hadn't fallen so far behind at the start, I'm really on a roll now. These were done with a travel set of watercolour paints which I think I've only used once before in 3 years.

Card 7/365: Masquerade Night

Card 6/365: Masquerade Day

Mum's 50th Birthday Album

My Mum turns 50 today and I made her an album to celebrate the occasion. I had made an album for Dad when he turned 50 and tried the apply the things I learnt during that one to this one. Firstly, I chose the Kaisercraft Pennyroyale range and used it for almost everything to get a co-ordinated look. This was much easier than trying to piece everything together individually like I did for Dad. Of course, it would have been easier still if I'd picked a current range rather than an old one that I then had to hunt down on-line, but I'd seen the colours and decided they were perfect for mum and nothing else would do. :)

I think Mum's album looks better but I don't think I got to cover as much of her life as I did in Dad's. Since I had to rely on other people to provide the photos and send them up to me on the Gold Coast I didn't manage to get any photos of mum with her brother and sisters or with her best friend. I also would have liked some showing her doing craft as it's a big part of her life. Still, I'm pretty happy with it overall.

I included a couple of blank pages at the end for people to write birthday wishes to her when they attend herbirthday party.

Project 365 #5 - Funky Snow Queen

While doing various things online this morning I decided I wanted to draw a snow queen ATC today with a funky feel to it. Looked at some different references and come up with this:

Card 5/365: Funky Snow Queen

Project 365 - Vintage Old Couple

I decided to do a pencil drawing for today's Project 365 card, since I haven't done any pencil work in a LONG time and I actually brought them with me to Melbourne. Found a lovely photo of an older couple and worked from that for a few hours this morning. I'm generally happy with it but they look younger in my card than the photo.

Card #4 / 365: Vintage Old Couple

Project 365 - Cards 2 and 3

I always knew I was going to fall behind, since I was flying to Melbourne a few days after signing up for this challenge. When you have to pick between doing an ATC or spending time with your dad whom you haven't seen for a year there is always going to be a clear winner. :) Anyway, I managed to get two done yesterday and will try to get some more done today to catch up a bit.

This first one I did with mum. She had done a similar design for a four seasons swap and they were one of her first attempts at a hand-drawn swap. I made this card as a sample to show the difference adding a bit of shading to the tree and mountain and being a bit bolder with colour could make. We were making the cards with pencils which had been around since I was a kid though and they were so hard to work with!

Card 2/365: Autumn Landscape

Card 3/365: Vase Study

Second card is actually done on a copy of lineart I did in 2008 for a pen and ink swap and just kept sitting around waiting for a chance to colour in. Completed using a limited palette of Derwent pencils I found around the house. It's hard trying to create art without all your regular supplies!

Project 365 for ATCs

One of the ladies over at ATCsforAll.com has decided to run a Project 365 for ATCs this year. For those that don't know the point is to try and create one ATC a day for a while year. While I'm pretty sure I will fail to complete one a day I will at least try to complete 365 in a year. If anyone wants to follow the blog displaying the work of everyone taking part it is here.

This is my first card, a duck for the Friendly Fowl swap I'm part of. Acrylic paints again.

Card 1/365: Duck # 2.

Just realised that I never posted a picture of Duck #1. :( Here he is, completed a maybe a week ago.