June Garden 2011

So far the weather here has been great. It’s already June, yet we have not had extreme heat – thank goodness! So, this month, I am featuring some “projects” as well as my beautiful passion fruit:

I planted Kyoho, and American concord grapes last season.  It grew to the height of the trellis. This season, I am supposed to let two vines spread. Then next year I can allow multiple vines to grow and fruit – I’m half way there! As for the blueberries, I initially planted them in the ground, and they did not thrive. Last season with the advice of my neighbor, I planted them in containers.  I am actually getting fruit now – yay!  And, last but not least, my passion fruit plant.   I think it must be the hardiest plant in my garden.  It has survived a freeze in the past, and  recently survived being strangled by our ever growing banana trees.  These beautiful flowers turn into the most aromatic and delicious fruit – can’t wait!

Strawberry Summer Kit & Freebie

Just in time for the summer! Created By Jill Scraps has a new kit out.  It is called Strawberry Summer, and is filled with lots of fun summer elements and papers:

And here is a layout I made.  My model is my Blythe doll Blue, appropriately dressed in a strawberry outfit with a basketful of strawberries from our garden :-):

And here is a Quick Page for you to download:

I also made a cluster frame:

 And you can download the frame here:

Zentangle Challenge #25 “Zendala Magic”

Guest artist/challenger Genevieve, has given us a zendala (a fusion of mandala and zentangle) template to work with this week:

And here is what I came up with:

Square Polka Dot Lampwork Beads Bracelet & Earrings

I am still in the mood for pink and green.  This time, I made hand pressed encased beads with polka dots.  I added my pink rosette rounds to make a fun dangle bracelet and matching earrings:

The earrings and bracelet can both be found in my Etsy Shop.

Digital Whisper 100 Themes Challenge #49 Stripes

Hmmm… this theme was kind of fun to do:

Credits:

Background: Rucola Designs

Frame: Maya De Groot

Prisoners: The Graphics Fairy

Zebras & Barbie: Google Image

Digital Whisper 100 Themes Challenge #94 Hope

This theme, “Hope” is the 25th out of 100 that I have done.  Since I started late, my goal is to finish at least 50 by the end of the year. So, I am half way there :-).  And here is my “Hope”:

Not quite sure where I was going with this…

Credits:

Poem: Emily Bronte

Background: Google Image of Dante’s Inferno

Woman: Rian Design

Wings: Farrah’s Designer Scraps

Bird: ?

Bird A Week Challenge: Week 22/52

I saw these cute bird motifs in the scrapbook section of our local craft shop, and figured they would come in handy some time.  Well, I used it for this weeks challenge, and made Pinkie a birdie bonnett:

 

 

 

Drawing Lab 2011: Student’s Choice #2

This week was another student’s choice lab.  My fellow lab student Melinda was kind enough to e-mail me the first two assignments I missed at the beginning of the year.  One of these was to draw cats.  Here are my two favorite ones.  The first is a drawing of a vintage/kitschy cat salt & pepper shaker that I remember from childhood:

I’m going to have to find one of these for myself one day.  The second drawing is based on cats I saw a drawing of some time ago by artist Rosina Wachtmeister.  She draws wonderful cats that have slightly human like expressions, and sleek elongated bodies. After drawing them in pencil/colored pencil, I extracted the cats and used some digital graphics and quote to make a layout:

“Wild Girl” Bracelet

Another style of bead that I like to make are the animal print beads.  Here is a bracelet made with a twist of pink for the “Wild Girl” in you:

I made the usual animal print core, encased it in clear and finished off with one of my favorite glass – rubino oro.  The bracelet also has vintage jet glass buttons as well as Thai sterling silver flowers, Czech pressed glass, fresh water pearls, and swarovski crystals.  You can find it in my Etsy Shop.

CT for Created By Jill Scraps & Freebie

I have been invited to be part of Created By Jill Scraps Creative Team.  Yay!!!  I first came across Jill and her designs when I participated in  a challenge featuring one of her kits.  Jill has a fun and colorful style that just seems to work for any project.  Before her next kit comes out, she asked me if I wanted to work with one of her other kits, and of course I said yes :-). I chose her Hey Birdie Bundle:

And here is a layout I made using Hey Birdie. I ran into my daughters physical therapist at the local farmer’s market with his adorable daughter:

And here is a quick page freebie for you to download.  It differs slightly from the layout above: