Latest Posts

Weekly Photos 48/52

Published by

img_9601

img_9612

img_9608

img_9620

1. Frosty leaves.  We have only had a couple of frosty mornings but I am sure that walking the dog will be a slippery experience very soon as ice starts to creep into the picture.

2. A part done art journal spread, I am not sure where this witchy lady came from but I quite like her.

3. Lots of leaves after a rainfall.

4. Funghi and leaves.

I am also doing two photo challenges in December –

img_9439

December Reflections from Susannah Conway, and

img_9582

December Vibes from Vanessa and Jules.

These are all happening over on Instagram.  Are you doing photo challenges?  I used to do them everyday but I am putting no pressure on myself with these!

Happy Monday x

 

A Christmas Colouring Page.

Published by

Happy December!  Do you have your tree up? Outside lights? Mincepies in the oven? Or is it still a little early for all of that?

I must admit that we wait until the first or even second weekend of December before decorating.  My son’s birthday is at the beginning of the month so we let him have his birthday before Christmas takes over his celebration!

I am itching to get some mince pies made though and I need to get the Christmas cake baked this weekend.

So before or during all of the Christmas decorating and planning I thought you might like a colouring sheet to relax for a few minutes with.

christmascoloursheetblogimage

Click here or on the above image for the printable sheet.

Have fun colouring in my festive friend.  Feel free to share your finished sheets on Instagram and tag me @catseatdogsmakes.

Happy Thursday!

Weekly Photos 47/52

Published by

img_9459

snapseed

img_9565

img_9522

img_9543

img_9545

img_9569

1. We went to a very full, very dusty, very vintage estate sale this week.  True treasure hunting!

2. ‘Fancy work’ box which had a few reels of yarn inside.

3. I didn’t buy much but I did snag this fabulous yo-yo.  I love the colours and the wear on it.  The size is just right too.

4. At the weekend we went to Rockwoods Reservations which is fairly local to St Louis, MO.  This is our favourite trail.

5. The bridge was taken out by a fallen tree so we had to climb down and up the creek bed.

6. Another fallen tree, this one looks as if it has been here a while.

7. Natural finds along the trail.

Happy Monday x

 

My 47th birthday in 47 words.

Published by

img_4857

Sun. Frosty leaves. Green. Art Supplies. Deep turquoise rivers.  Gold paint. Hiking. Family. Marmite sandwiches. Coffee in a flask. Trees. Hills. Couple of miles. Found an ancient bead (maybe).  Cards. Messages. Gratitude. Blue skies. Polaroid photos. Smiles. Missing bridge – good job the creek was dry. Good times.

Watercolor and ink Christmas card.

Published by

baubles2I like to send out Christmas cards which I have made and this year was no exception.

Here’s how I made them.  Watercolor paint in ‘permanent rose’ and white ink (I got mine from our local art store where they mix their own inks – South City Art Supply) is all I used to paint the circles to form the baubles.  img_9189

img_9190

img_9191

I painted very wet circles and dropped on a single drop of ink when they were still wet.

Once they were dry, I used a Pigma Micron black pen size 05 to draw in the details.

Then I scanned the whole thing and cropped and added text in Photoshop.  You could also photo your decorations and use an app to add text.  Of course if you have lovely hand lettering skills, you can hand write the lettering.

There is a little video here on my Instagram feed – catseatdogsmakes.

Don’t forget to share if you have a go!

Happy Painting and Happy Wednesday x

 

‘I Like’ Friday. The secondhand Edition.

Published by

IlikeFriday.jpg

Estate sales.  I love them. Estate sales, jumble sales, rummage sales, yard sales, car boot sales, thrift shops,  Goodwill shops, charity shops and if I went to Australia I bet I would love Op shops!

It is like an adventure in casual shopping, I say casual because you can’t really go to any of these places looking for a very specific thing.  I always have in mind what type of thing I am looking for, but I keep my eyes open and remember to look at everything!

Shopping somewhere like Goodwill means that you are focused on colours you are drawn to, styles you like and your size, rather than what the stores want to direct you to buy.  I love to browse the jeans, where are you going to get a better selection? Goodwill have all styles from Old Navy to Lucky Brand and Gloria Vanderbilt via Levis and Ann Taylor Loft.  I have discovered that Banana Republic and Ann Taylor Loft jeans are the best fit for me thanks to Goodwill.  I have found the most gorgeous scarves in Goodwill, just by spotting the colour or fabric and going to investigate.  All you need is a little time and patience.

Estate sales are a pure treasure hunt for me, you really never know what will be there.  I go looking for old books like dictionaries or encyclopedias (which I use for art journaling) and any old paper including ledger books or any old stationary which can use to draw in or on.  I also look for buttons and vintage thread on wooded reels.  In the housewares, I see if there are any Pyrex bowls or casseroles and I use estate sale jugs and vases to hold my painting water and to store my brushes.  Apart from anything, estate sales are usually so interesting to look around at the stuff people gather and then sell.

 

I am a vintage treasure hunter, but I won’t pass by a yard sale without a look, you never know!

There are three estate sales in my neighborhood this weekend, so fingers crossed that there will be treasure!

Are you a treasure hunter?

Happy Friday x

 

Get Messy Live!

Published by

img_9333

“I don’t know anything, ever. I follow fate around” Dirk Gently.

This week I went on Facebook ‘Live’ and made some art journal pages alongside and in front of the Get Messy community. It was equally terrifying and great fun!

We chatted via comments and I made some pages in various journals, letting one part dry as I hopped to the next and so it went on for about an hour.  The time flew by and I made pages I never planned or expected to make.  Isn’t that the best thing when you start to create and don’t plan the outcome and it still turns out well! It could have gone so horribly wrong so easily!

So here are my finished pages, I added very little after the ‘live’ event because I had finished most of them.  I wrote on a couple of the pages and added some doodles here and there.

img_9341

Black gesso and white paint pen over Germany in my ‘atlas’ journal.

img_9338

Neon, stencil and another ‘Dirk Gently’ (written by Douglas Adams) quote over the whole spread.

img_9331

Collage, stencil and a sumi brush and ink face painted over the spread.

img_9336

Acrylic paint applied with an old gift card, stencil, finger painting, collage and splatters in white and green ink.

Five pages in just over an hour, not bad!

If you are interested in joining the Get Messy Art Journal community, click the link and find out all about it!  I am so happy to be part of Get Messy and my art journals are fat and colorful as a result.

Happy Wednesday x

Get Messy Art Journal Season of Dreams. Week 6.

Published by

img_9282

Processed with Snapseed.

Processed with Snapseed.

Here we are at the final week of Season of Dreams in the Get Messy community and it has been a lovely season even though I remember one dream a month on average!

These pages were inspired by the paints and tools I used as much as the dreams theme, I would never have predicted that the last page would have ended up like this when I was painting the galaxy, but I am so happy that it did.

The top page is half landscape from a magazine and the other half is black gesso with white pen detail along with white gesso ‘cloud’ detail.  I added the figure and gave her wings.  Then I splattered white ink over the whole spread.

The middle page is a base of grey gesso with a collaged figure.  Details are added with more collage, white pen and a neon pen.

Finally, I started with a watercolor galaxy all over the spread then I added the figure and gave her wings using a nib pen and ink. The trees are collaged and the words are stenciled with acrylic paint and pen.

I love to mess about in my art journals and I seem to learn something every time I make a spread, colour combinations and techniques grow in my journal each day I open it and start to play with paint.

Happy Creating and Happy Friday x