My Life In Sketches

painting in progress

2014-09-22T17:18:00.001-07:00

I've been working on this painting for-next-to-ever,

mostly because I hardly ever paint these days.

I'm back at it again, though!

In this last round, I decided to darken up the background

and block in flesh tones. I'm happy that the figures

at least look humanoid at this point.

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waiting for the game

2014-06-22T14:53:00.001-07:00

My favorite bit of this sketch is those couches:

You just never know what wonderful little surprises

you're going to get with watercolor.

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fun with woodburning

2014-06-14T11:27:00.001-07:00

Oh, summer...

fountain pen messes

2014-02-19T16:00:00.001-07:00

Refilling fountain pens...

the outcome is well worth the mess!

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save the date

2014-01-15T15:55:00.001-07:00

So, this is what I've been up to lately.

My dear friends Layne and Mark are getting

married soon, and I had the privilege of

designing their "save the date" postcards!

Scroll down to catch a glimpse of the process.

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dylusions

2014-01-07T17:03:00.001-07:00

Having fun with Dylusions Ink Spray.

I just picked up the London Blue and Lime Green

for collage purposes. But in the meantime...

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travel art supplies

2014-01-06T15:26:00.001-07:00

I'm looking forward to painting a bunch more this year

than I did last year!! As such, I have packed up

some of my drawing/painting accessories to tote around:

a couple of General's Sketch & Wash pencils,

a mechanical pencil, a blending stump,

a waterbrush, and a mini mister.

I also toss in a travel watercolor set,

some tubes of gouache, or the cutesy

watercolor pencils I received for Christmas.

Ooh -- there's also a Pentel brush pen in there. Tasty!!

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happy new year!

2014-01-02T21:42:00.000-07:00

tether ball

2013-12-27T11:39:00.000-07:00

Tether ball is the newest

addition to our yard and family

entertainment. Elliott loves it!

the clock

2013-11-13T11:12:00.000-07:00

it's caramel apple time!

2013-10-30T21:46:00.001-07:00

I've been trying to figure out how to make caramel apples

for several years now -- not the Kraft Caramel kind,

although those are great. I wanted to learn how to

whip up my own caramel from scratch!

So I found a recipe (can't locate it at the moment,

but it had condensed milk, brown sugar, and corn syrup,

for starters) and cooked up the ingredients to the

"hard ball" candy stage as instructed.

Well, the caramel tasted great!

But it set up so hard that we could barely cut through it

with a knife -- think Sugar Daddy chewy.

It was delicious, though, so I might give it another go.

This time, I'll only heat it to the "soft ball" stage

and see what happens.

Do you have a favorite way to make caramel apples?

How 'bout favorite bits to roll them in

while the caramel's still gooey?

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hello again

2013-10-03T09:31:00.000-07:00

Hi there! As you may have guessed,

the past few weeks have been crazy busy

around here! They have included:

one (1) new school (my son's),

one (1) tonsillectomy (my daughter's),

and one (1) new part-time job (mine).

All good transitions, and we are

happily and healthfully looking forward to fall.

I hope you are as well!

Now that I have a blog app on my phone,

I hope to resume posting on a regular basis.

So see ya soon!

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in the bookbag

2013-09-10T16:03:00.001-07:00

Here are my favorite reads of late:

1) The Wisdom of Stability by Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove

A meditation on the beauty of staying put in a world that's on the move, and a consideration of the ways God uses constancy of place and people to accomplish His work. As I read this, I find myself grateful for the place where I live and the people who have shared it with me these many years. The book has reframed some things for me.

2) Creative Lettering by Jenny Doh

This beautiful primer is a collection of samples and alphabets by lettering artists. It includes instructions for how to letter the alphabets and suggested art projects to go with them. Tasty!

3) The Complete Photo Guide to Cookie Decorating by Autumn Carpenter

Includes thorough supply suggestions, recipes, and instructions for accomplishing a variety of cookie forms and decorations, including flood icing, painted and filigree frosting, decorative buttercream frosting, candy coatings, and fondant. This book answered some questions I had about cookie decorating, and I've done my fair share of it!

4) Color Recipes for Painted Furniture and More by Annie Sloan

Don't know if I'll use this one for practical purposes, but it sure is fun to look at.

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party time

2013-08-26T14:14:00.001-07:00

200 water balloons + 4 pounds of bacon + 90 degree

weather (what a relief!) + one kajillion kids =

PARTAY!!!!!

Happy Birthday, little buddy!

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beaded journals

2013-08-21T19:23:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned previously,

I've been beading up a storm lately.

My favorite thing to bead at the moment is

these little (3.5" x 5.5") Moleskine journals.

I just love the contrast between the

shiny beads and the plain cover stock.

These little, hand-beaded journals are now
available at my Etsy shop...
which is finally open! Yay!

I don't have much in the way of packaging
and logos yet, but I do have sewing labels!
So here's the way they ship:

Whee!

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for a friend

2013-08-18T16:35:00.002-07:00

Ever since I made this little zip bag, I've been wanting to make

a small purse for myself out of the fabric. It's incredibly soft!

I'm not sure where it came from, but I suspect it's some sort of

microsuede. And isn't the color just so exciting?

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yum

2013-08-12T22:04:00.001-07:00

Okay, so this is a horrible photo. I get that.

But the marshmallows were homemade and

pretty darn tasty with chocolate fondue.

Recipe here.

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sorting beads

2013-08-07T21:30:00.001-07:00

I have been all into beading lately. I love the texture of beads,

the vibrant colors, and the delicate sheen. Unfortunately, sead

beads have a way of traveling. My whole collection of chartreuse

and blonde beads fell out of their containers into a much bigger

container last week, and completely mixed together. Once combined,

they're not all that easy to tell apart! So I sat down tonight and sorted.

As I was sorting beads, I realized that much of my life these days

feels very similar to this process. I spend so much time chasing

down mundane details that roll away quickly as I approach. This

isn't a new sensation, either. Perhaps I'm just the kind of person who

is always sorting beads. My attempt to start a cottage business has

been that way -- slow and precarious, picking through minutiae.

Beautiful things happen here and there, but not in a Type A person

kind of way. Rolling little balls of color around tonight, it dawned on me that

this is not such a bad way to live. If I can accept my turtlish

tendencies and stop trying to be a jack rabbit,

maybe I'll be able to enjoy myself more along the way.

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ryan preaches

2013-07-27T15:58:00.001-07:00

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road trip

2013-07-25T10:12:00.001-07:00

This week, Eric & I drove to Globe, AZ to deliver the kids to

Grandma and Grandpa for a few days. These are some road

trip sightings, rendered in General Sketch & Wash pencil.

It was a lovely drive -- the desert is lush from the monsoons,

and the sky was full of fluffy clouds. We even saw a bit of rain!!

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clarinet practice

2013-07-21T21:38:00.001-07:00

We're trying to keep the musical process going

this summer, even though many of the scheduley

structures are happily set aside.

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skate leash tutorial

2013-07-11T14:34:00.001-07:00

As I mentioned previously, a skate leash is a handy way of keeping

roller or inline skates tethered together for hauling around or hanging up.

The pictures in this tutorial show my kids sewing up their own skate

leashes in about ten minutes -- it's that easy!

Start with a strap of some kind which can be doubled up and still

pass through your sewing machine. The instructions that follow refer

to grosgrain ribbon, sewn with regular poly/cotton sewing thread

and a #14 sewing machine needle.

1) Cut strap to 48" length (if this skate leash is for a small child, you may wish

to adjust this down -- my seven-year-old prefers a 36" starting length).

2) Starting on one end, iron the ribbon under about 1/2".

2) Fold the ribbon under again, this time another 3 inches.

3) Press.

4) Using your presser foot as a guide, sew down the ribbon at the

3" fold. Secure this end of the loop with a small rectangle of stitches

and then an "x" criss-crossing the rectangle. This encases the frayed ends

of the ribbon and strengthens the loop. Trim loose strings. Iron one more time.

Your ribbon end should look something like this.

5) Repeat steps 2-5 with the other end of the strap, making sure

you are folding the ends under to the same side of the ribbon as before.

6) Your skate leash is complete! Pull the ribbon strap partially

through one end to form a loop.

Repeat with the other end as well.

7) Position the loop you just made over part of the skate --

the toe stop, the front wheels, or the boot itself. Pull to tighten.

The other end attaches to the other skate, and you are ready to go!

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summertime

2013-06-29T09:38:00.001-07:00

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skating

2013-06-26T17:41:00.001-07:00

My failure to blog lately has not been for lack of interesting things to

talk about, but rather for a complete lack of motivation to snap a decent

photo. Maybe one of these days soon I'll strap my camera on and get to it!

Anyway, in search of fun, air-conditioned exercise activities for the

kids this summer, I discovered our local roller rink's summer pass.

I love to roller skate and don't especially like to swim, so this was a

no-brainer. It has, of course, taken the three of us a little time to work

the kinks out of our process, find the right skates, etc. But we're meeting

people, getting into a rhythm, learning how to keep track of our skates,

and even figuring out how to skate backwards!!

In my random skate-related internet research, I came across the

skate leash. This is a strap with some sort of loop at either end

to wrap around any part of each skate (the brake, wheels, etc.)

for easy towing. I figured out how to make my own rather than

shell out the $20 they want online, and I'll post a tutorial on it soon.

Maybe you need one, too!

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back from vacation

2013-06-12T08:46:00.001-07:00

We spent last week in Carlsbad, California enjoying the

60-something degree weather, the beach, and a cutesie

little beach town with plenty of coffee and ice cream shops

(sometimes combined -- what could be better?!).

The week largely felt like this.

We are back now, to the 100+ heat, but fully enjoying being home.

The skating starts today, and the bumming around with friends.

Ah, summer.

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