the blog of Illustrator Erin Sherman

Hanging kids' art

2012-01-10T14:12:00.003-05:00

I have always let my kids tape up their art to their walls-- it's their space and I will be painting over it again anyway. (Wow the camera is showing up the residue from tape....) Well I wanted to get some reins on the abundance of tape and art going on, so put up some rolls of clearanced ribbon and we now only clothespin the art onto the ribbon on the walls. Looks fine even if they are empty, and it is more orderly. Fun project anyway. (hey, to view the above bedroom's farm theme, here is the old post when we did it).

(This kid is def a little artist --you should have seen the "before" picture!)

Winter arrangements

2012-01-10T13:59:00.005-05:00

It's always fun to switch certain decorations in each new season. Putting away my Christmas stuff finally, I arranged new Winter decor--snowflakes and frosted pine cones a necessity. New idea this year: pussywillows in the water jar around river rocks.

(wouldn't it be fun to be an artistic florist?) bonus: the picture in the frame above is:

Collage on stretched canvas

2012-01-06T23:51:00.002-05:00

So I got some kinda craft bug, and I painted over a dollar-store "stretched canvas." ...I pasted a female cardinal from a magazine cover, and a (picture of a) Bible page. My favorite experiment in it was the letters: I placed letter stickers over the first layer of paint, then painted/sponged a darker color over them, then I peeled off the stickers.

Of course the Scriptures paired with a bird in the snow were: from Matthew 6... "look at the birds of the air, they do not sow or reap or store up in barns, yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable to Him than they?" :) ...Hence the lettering of "Be still." (--which is like Psalm 46:10 "Be still and know that I am God."

And, randomly, I had this idea to add to my beach-y bathroom. That was fun. Thanks for visiting!

Crayon art

2012-01-03T23:18:00.004-05:00

Just for fun, I made a crayon decoration, inspired from a pin I saw on pinterest. Right now it is at our children's art table. E (for all our names) was easier than S (for last name)!

Critters for the stockings

2012-01-03T22:42:00.003-05:00

Made some new stuffed felt critters for our kids' Christmas stockings. This koala (5yo's fave animal right now) has a pocket in which I included some felt leaves for the koala to "eat." And that is an E, for her name, on the behind.

For our 7yo, I made a lizard (and the name also starts with E).

On the other side of this critter I have a pocket as well, with felt bugs.

(below is some felt monsters the kids are making, with hot glue instead of sewing)

Gingerbread Houses 2011

2011-12-27T15:52:00.005-05:00

This has become my favorite part of our week between Christmas and NewYear's :)

All 4 of us do it quite easily this way: begin by building a structure with old cartons & boxes. Then stick graham crackers onto cartons with frosting (below). (Mine in foreground is an elbox pasta box laid down with a mini cereal box on top of it.)

Gotta have waffle-shaped square pretzels for windows. Icecream cones are great for towers, both triangular cones & classic cones (below).

Good variety of sizes and shapes of candy below, which you just stick on wherever with frosting.

These are an exciting addition too: gingerbread people cookies...

both our kids were hard at work and did a great job pretty much all on their own! foreground is our 5 y.o.'s, and our 7 y.o. is still working on the front of hers...

silly hubby's...

above: 7yo, below: mine

above: 5yo, below: hubby's

So fun. A family project for a couple hours. This is becoming a tradition to do in the week we all have a break, and one idea if you plan on this is: the candies and supplies could be the treats that are in the stockings on Christmas a.m.

New Christmas card 2011

2011-12-22T00:08:00.005-05:00

My newest Christmas illustration! pencil & digital mixed media. Inside the card I wrote, "Merry Christmas from our small home to yours!" I wanted to feature a handprint wreath that we just made which includes all our hands (our two childrens', my husband's and mine). So I placed it on a front door, and naturally around the door I included things that are commonplace in winter in our home of small children-- boots and mittens scattered, little creations strewn, and decorations creatively added to, such as a car in the nativity scene, and a frog in the vase of Christmas flowers. This tells a story, as do the Christmas cards and invites on the door and the lightswitch, telling of this busy time of year. But the meaning in this crowded season is small, however-- and easy to miss if you don't look. On the back of the card I included this poem by Ann Voskamp: "Power plays and big takeovers, it's the way the world and Wall street turns. But God, when He comes, He shows up in this fetal ball. Just this seed unfurling, impossible power contained in the small." ~Ann Voskamp :) fun fact: on the printed card, the other mitten that matches the one on the front was found on the back of the card. My mom, forever a mother, told me she was excited to find that missing mitten on the back :) lol i love her. Does anyone else notice anything else in the illustration? :) ...... (to view my past Christmas card illustrations, click here and browse) Merry Christmas!

new book coming

2011-10-09T23:06:00.002-04:00

Until these October posts, it had been quite a while since I shared some art. This is good news! It is because I was very busy all year in my spare time, illustrating a new book. It will be revealed finally very soon! :)

T-shirt design: owl

2011-10-09T22:55:00.003-04:00

I got to play with my mom's embroidery machine! Before I chose the fabrics (all scraps--woohoo for thriftiness/recycling), I designed it first, of course, with pencil...

...then used the applique feature on the embroidery machine, onto the smaller fabric. I then hand-stitched that onto the shirt and hand-sewed the buttons (flowers have buttons as well as the eyes).

[she's saying, "wise up!"] ;)

Fall pic

2011-10-09T22:47:00.004-04:00

Just for fun today, because I can't resist a nice pack of decorative papers. I've got it up with my fall decor! favorite season.

T-Shirt design: moose

2011-10-09T22:22:00.003-04:00

Made my own souvenir from our trip to New Hampshire :) I chose the fabrics, cut the shapes, and hand-sewed them on. Put the second flower onto a hair-clip to match.

New Christmas Card illustration!!

2010-12-22T14:45:00.003-05:00

I am so excited to reveal my new illustration for this year's Christmas card.

See detail below: (I draw the drawing with pencil, then color it digitally, mixed media) It includes the Scripture: "He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?" Micah 6:8 Have a merry Christmas!!

New Print

2010-11-30T23:15:00.003-05:00

I have created another frame-able piece of Scripture art. This is called Resurrection and it goes with 2Corinthians 5:17. Below is a detail.

(This was created in the style of a piece I made back in 2002 called Anchor, with Hebrews 6:19. I have almost sold 100 prints of it so far.)

Anchor detail:

Bed Canopy

2010-11-13T13:14:00.002-05:00

Giving my now-4-year-old's room a makeover into a Tinkerbell room, I made one of those bed canopy things. From top to bottom, the things sewn onto a wire coat hanger circle are: an old tutu, a dress-up skirt, an old sheer dance costume, and longer pieces of new tulle fabric. I came across Tinkerbell ribbon, and I already had the embellishing flowers.

retro design

2010-09-14T13:48:00.002-04:00

As an illustrator/designer, I was delighted to notice this cereal box's retro style! Anyone else see this yet? I wonder if this is exactly what the box used to look like... (btw can anyone guess the cap'n's first name? (i found out what it is on the back of this box) hahaha)

Art Camp for Kids 4 (tissue collage)

2010-09-13T16:23:00.002-04:00

The last project we did in my week of teaching art camp was based on Eric Carle's work: Carle works with tissue paper; he paints strokes on it. So to begin, we played with tissue paper, creating third colors by overlapping two. (below) Then the kids planned to make either of my examples--a caterpillar or a ladybug. (or bee, butterfly or firefly) After drawing their bug with pencil, they painted what colors they needed, painted onto tissue paper: The next day they cut the pieces from the painted tissue papers that were now dry. And they assembled their bugs!: In this particular Carle book (below), he has a lot of lettering as well, which is what inspired the letter cut-outs and stories that we added. One of the best parts of the week is the reception for parents on the last day! Here is one picture of all their projects displayed! Thank you so much for visiting! Continued in next posts!

Art Camp for Kids 3 (fingerprint art)

2010-09-13T16:22:00.001-04:00

Another project in my week of teaching Art Camp was based on this book above by Ed Emberley. We made our fingerprints and thumbprints into drawings, using stamp pad ink. After practicing dragons and lions, (below), we then made people with our fingerprints, (like this from the book)-- I had the kids make the fingerprint people be themselves, doing a hobby they like. Then they pasted their fingerprint self onto a chosen setting photo:

continued in next post!

Art Camp for Kids 2 (found object collage)

2010-09-13T16:20:00.003-04:00

At my week teaching art camp we also made collage from found objects!

Two artists we looked at together were: G. Brian Karas (below),

and one of my favorites, Holli Conger (example below).

After sketching an idea, we began by choosing the "junk," and then arranging them...

And after they painted each piece, they glued them down!

Here's three more cute examples: a pig, a robo

continued in the next post!

Art Camp for kids 1 (stenciling)

2010-08-03T21:56:00.021-04:00

This summer I have taught a couple weeks of kids' Art Camp at the Art Center.

Above is one picture of all their projects displayed at the end of one week! Below you can see some things we did together. I had come up with some great projects! The first of which was inspired by this book: Swimmy by Leo Lionni...

In Swimmy, Lionni made schools of fish by repetition of stamps, as below.

So the kids made their own repetitions by stenciling, either "fish in the sea," or "birds in a tree." Here are some of the kids' masterpieces! Continued in the above posts! Thanks so much for visiting!

good ol' paint

2010-07-09T23:36:00.005-04:00

It was so nice to see you again, Messy Paint Palette!

I spent some time working with real paint! (I have been working entirely with pencil and computer for a while).

I made some textures on tissue paper, and more, for I am about to teach 6-8 year-olds at the Art Center... (more on that to come...)

You might be a budding artist if you...

2010-06-28T21:59:00.003-04:00

You might be a budding artist if you play with your food. This was fun. Yes I did it, not my child. :)

Life Cycle in Felt 2

2010-05-18T11:13:00.004-04:00

I made another life cycle set with felt. I already had made a frog, which is a puppet... The first portion of the cycle, the frog eggs, are a bundle of beads on felt leaves. Then tadpole, then tadpole with back legs, young frog with tail stump, then adult. (view my butterfly life cycle here)

Song bird Tshirts

2010-05-05T08:53:00.004-04:00

Made a t-shirt for a little buddy of mine who is a song bird.

one of my daughters wanted one and I had her color it herself. a fun project!

Life Cycle in Felt

2010-04-14T21:21:00.004-04:00

Made a life cycle set: the egg on a leaf, the caterpillar (using my centipede), the chrysalis, and the butterfly!

(view my frog life cycle here)

First Felt-ustration: Farm

2010-04-08T23:39:00.003-04:00

I've always wanted to make an illustration using felt. I completed one for my nephew's nursery! His room has a John Deere Baby theme.

It was fun!

Hallway Pattern

2010-04-08T23:31:00.002-04:00

I've planned on making this pattern on my hallway walls and finally did it!

A couple years ago I scoured Lowes for stencils and/or stamps that I had in mind and these were the only two I liked. Didn't know how I would end up using one or both. Figured out that they nested into each other a bit.

Viola! Ambitious is a better word than crazy. (finally got baseboard too, yippee!)

Felt Critters continued

2010-04-08T22:55:00.004-04:00

made some more: a chipmunk, requested to go with the squirrel :)

and chicks for the girls' Easter baskets (those are dangly thread legs haha)

Felt Critters

2010-02-27T16:00:00.005-05:00

I've gotten on a felt kick.

Here's some critters I've been making to satisfy my creative bone!

(Yes, it has one hundred legs.) See my daughter's related centipede project here

New christmas card design

2009-12-22T23:12:00.006-05:00

I have revealed my Christmas card illustration /design for this year. See it here on my portfolio :)

My latest project complete!

2009-12-18T23:40:00.005-05:00

Self-published author Elisabeth Hurley and I have finished her latest book: Here are a few of my favorites out of it... I also had posted more here. The book is available on lulu.com !

Light house bathroom

2009-11-17T21:43:00.006-05:00

I re-decorated the bathroom...

after! lighthouse soap, trash, even toiletbrush!

Love the lighthouse curtain hooks. I have a good place for mister Otter now too.

Here is one of the wall art I stuck to the wall (just cut cardstock, glued on, painted over)...

another shell on wall and lighthouse toothbrush holder...

more shells on wall above sink and all over...

in that frame (above) is this that I made (below)...

we're very happy with it all.

tooth fairy design

2009-11-01T14:17:00.002-05:00

tooth fairy costume: $2. 1 skirt and 1 pair of wings at dollar store. tooth design and ribbons on shirt. old sock with coins and tooth design on it for pouch.

tooth design on back of wings, tooth design on crown.

milk jug for tooth bucket! "property of the tooth fairy." 1 funny theme = happier kid who doesn't have to be "just a fairy."

my latest: recipe illustrations

2009-10-23T10:53:00.002-04:00

My latest illustrations; this is a recipe at the end of a book. Cinnamon almond stars...

This is the very last illustration for the book! Working on the cover and page layouts to finish it all! Stay tuned...

Fall Collage

2009-10-23T10:50:00.003-04:00

Collage made from magazines, tea bags and old cards! Got to help some kids make this at a booth one day at the Art Museum too-- fun fun.

Current work: ad design

2009-09-17T14:46:00.003-04:00

I designed a flyer for an upcoming performance by this musician. Just interesting to also see what I made it out of: I made use of two photos (below). I decided the first one was the most attractive...

And this second one showed just a great face/smile & showed her with her instrument (important), but obviously it didn't need that background...

Here is the ticket design as well:

(Come on out and have some "downtime" with Melissa Eason. Buy tix here, and/or see & hear Melissa here.)

Serendipity Stencil

2009-09-17T14:10:00.002-04:00

The Squirrel and I set out to make a stencil. I grabbed a file folder because of its thickness. She drew a cat on it and I cut it out.

The file folder worked out great for a stencil because of the way you can set the paper inside it-- the bottom edge helps with aligning and keeping it in one place.

And when we decided to do a second color (the cat's stripes), I could easily trace the shape onto the back of the folder when closed, then open it up and cut out the stripes...

...and if she aligned with the folder's bottom edge when painting the second color, it turned out pretty good.

Cute, huh?

Feet Painting

2009-09-14T23:42:00.003-04:00

Using the fingerpaint we made, I set up a sheet in the yard (next to the kid pool to wash off!) for feet painting...

well soon the brushes proved to be still more fun...

but this was an adventure on a very nice day...

Current Work: Hope Ills

2009-09-14T23:09:00.004-04:00

posting something I'm currently working on (more stories by Elisabeth Hurley). The first sketch of this particular illustration:

The final line:

The final colored illustration. I use scanned textures and photo textures.

It was interesting to have to research and draw specific various ethnicities.

And here is the title illustration for this particular story, about cleaning up their neighborhood.

Homemade Fingerpaint

2009-08-15T00:38:00.003-04:00

funny how one kid can work like this:

and the other kid can work like this:

Here's the recipe:

1/2 cup cornstarch 3 Tbsp. sugar 1/2 tsp. salt 2 cups cold water food coloring (added after cooking)

In a medium pan, cook over low heat 10 to 15 minutes. Keep stirring until it is smooth and thick.

(ours was goppy like pudding! adding water afterward thins it if you want...)

Old Card Sets

2009-08-08T23:23:00.005-04:00

Going through these card sets was not only nostalgic for me but very fun to see, as an artist. They were always at my Grandma B's camp-- my brothers and I played with them and I see now how the art influenced me, who grew up to be an Illustrator/Designer! :)

Love the patterns on these ones; they're like the textures I use in my art now:

The retro style in these are very fun-- I see a lot of current illustrators reproducing this style:

I see my style in these ones:

IllustrationFriday: Time

2009-02-12T22:48:00.001-05:00

Time with Dad

a quick drawing of those times a daddy and his child just tinkers around with stuff together. :) --- (And below is a real project my husband recently made with our almost-5 year old.) :) we had a pair of binoculars that looked just like Wall-E's eyes.... and an hour later--viola!

IllustrationFriday: Climbing

2009-01-26T22:03:00.002-05:00

Spring is emerging, and ladybugs & bumblebees are climbing into the sky. Pardon the plug, but this is fresh off the presses in my first book! I've illustrated 'Digging Spring' and it can be viewed on my website or right on Lulu.com! Very exciting. :)

My first book!

2009-01-26T21:45:00.003-05:00

I'm back! With a new book! I've illustrated my first book, 'Digging Spring':

Author Elisabeth Hurley had me illustrate it and she self-published it on Lulu.com. See more of it on my website, or see it on Lulu, where you could buy it and support us. ... This is why I haven't posted for over half a year. Had a great time making it though.

IllustrationFriday: Hoard

2008-06-20T16:35:00.001-04:00

An older personal Christmas card illustration

IllustrationFriday: Forgotten

2008-06-10T22:16:00.003-04:00

In the beginning of a book I'm currently illustrating for Elisabeth Hurley (not the actress:)), the mother doesn't have time for her daughter at the moment.

IllustrationFriday: Baby

2008-06-02T20:35:00.002-04:00

Here's an older, quick personal drawing. I honestly do remember when my little brother was born when I was almost exactly 3 years old. I know the memory is not just from photos because I remember it from my perspective. I was very happy to have him and I still am. (by the way I am no longer blonde.)

Puzzles from drawings

2008-05-29T08:38:00.003-04:00

I know I'm posting more crafts with TheSquirrel than my illustrations. For me, no news on here is good news! I'm not doing IllustrationFridays as much because my time is spent working on a real illustration job! yay! It's a children's book a friend is self-publishing. This was a quick project TheSquirrel (age4) and I did: I asked her what should we draw and she quickly shouted "a great blue heron!" because we saw them canoing and they're always flying over our house. I was very impressed by her drawing, as she looked at a photo of a great blue heron. They have kinda wiggly long necks--hence the strange shape. Then I helped her notice each other feature. I flipped it over to the other side and drew some lines for her to cut it up. (good cutting practice) And we have a puzzle out of her drawing! Here is mine.

Jellyfish with TheSquirrel

2008-04-22T16:41:00.003-04:00

We borrowed a library book involving shapes that become sea creatures in a cut-paper style...

and since today we integrated the letter D to our learning, we looked at the "semicircle" page...

and made our own jellyfish out of cut paper. This is TheSquirrel's, which was great for scissor practice. (The jellyfish I mean; I had to cut the fish for her)

And here is mine:

also check this out at BigAndLittleArt

Rain Painting with TheSquirrel

2008-04-04T08:09:00.006-04:00

I was actually excited that it rained today. That's because we could try this project: Then I used the textures it created to do these doodles with our daughter. (see them all here)

School Visit

2008-03-27T22:27:00.003-04:00

I'm very excited to be going tomorrow to a local elementary school as a visiting Illustrator. I'll be presenting to and drawing with the Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grades. The frog above, and these three other illustrations are some simple things I came up with, to do with the children.

March Lion&Lamb

2008-03-20T14:18:00.003-04:00

IllustrationFriday: Leap

2008-03-05T22:40:00.003-05:00

Here are two different digital styles I've been developing. Above is the flat textural look, and below is the look of watercolor.

Let me know what you think! I began with the drawing below, for our daughter's 4th birthday invites. I put the frog into two different settings to play with, for IllustrationFriday. Seemed like the natural pond setting makes more sense with the traditional look, and the sidewalk setting lends itself to the more modern and fun look that uses odd patterns.

Pockets Craft

2008-02-29T09:29:00.003-05:00

From the library we borrowed a picture book titled "The Pocket Book," in which the character has ten pockets sewn on the front of her dress. I decided to do a dress-shaped project with TheSquirrel, (gluing on) ten pockets of different textures (scraps of fabrics or materials). Then we wrote the descriptions of them, kinda like in the book. We wrote: "A scaly one, a roughy one, a dotty one, a plaidy one, a spotty one, a stripy one, a furry one, a purpley one, a silky one, and one to match my big blue eyes!" What child doesn't like putting things into pockets? And, Hooray for glue guns!

IllustrationFriday: Theory

2008-02-19T08:25:00.002-05:00

IllustrationFriday: Blanket

2008-02-05T21:28:00.000-05:00

Our first daughter's name begins with "E." Her nickname is "the Squirrel." Her special blanket is yellow with snaps she can fasten around her neck like a cape. "Duck" was one of her first and favorite words. She has always loved books and she loves to color with crayons. She owns a pair of snazzy red Mary Janes, and she is growing up like the pretty pink flowers in our garden. Her clothes I chose to hang on the line are some of my favorites that she has grown out of. 2005

Fingerprinting Pictures

2008-02-05T20:44:00.000-05:00

The Squirrel (age3) and I discovered we can make little things with our fingerprints. So cute! Got it all from a book by Ed Emberley (view here).

IF: Stitch, in color

2008-01-26T15:23:00.000-05:00

(click to view larger) With my mom owning a quilting business, we know a few elderly ladies who really stitch up a storm. This one, we'll call her Millie or Tillie, quilts so fast that it goes straight from the bolts of fabric to the sewing machine to the bed.

Fishing Craft

2008-01-26T11:30:00.000-05:00

The Squirrel (age3) and I made some fish we can "catch" with a magnet. View more pics from this craft here.

IllustrationFriday: Stitch -line

2008-01-17T10:20:00.000-05:00

(update: I finished adding color to this, click here) (click to view larger)

New kid's room

2008-01-11T10:50:00.000-05:00

Our almost-4- yearold daughter's room has been turned into a "Farm Room!" It features a tree with apples to actually pick, fluffy sheep to actually pet, cloth clouds, a barn for a closet, and flowers we crafted together.

Here's what we did: Below is "before" (baby nursery decor we put up when I was pregnant for her...this was a little sad to take down)... I had given her choices like Under the Sea, Jungle, Farm etc, and I was pleased she picked Farm because of my great idea to make her closet doors the "barn." Anyway, here's the story: I started with penciling on sheep next to her bed: When we began with the blue sky together ("stay above the horizon line"), she eventually started to paint a person next to the sheep and cleverly told me it was the shepherd: I thought it was very special so I never painted over it; here remains the shepherd as I added darker green around each sheep and the horizon: and then painted in a brighter, cheerier green: The clouds are a sheer fabric that matches the valance:My favorite part: I glued on (stretchedout) cotton balls to the sheep to make them fluffy: (here's the shepherd up close):In the tree trunk I drew a squirrel because that's our daughter's nickname:I made the barn by painting red around the closet doors and using white tape for the lines (so we don't paint the wood):As an excellent cute touch, we added these flowers we made (great craft out of empty paper towel or toilet paper rolls from Big and Little Art this summer!):

...more flowers above her toy bins: ...& more flowers below the window:

And you can see there we added fake apples that attach to the tree with Velcro-- she can "pick" them from her tree and stick them back on! We found bouquets of 7 small apples at A.C.Moore (craft store)

And to top it all off, if you can see them below, I wrote subtle words all around the top of the wall: it's Psalm 23, usually known as the Shepherd's Psalm:

Back when I had drawn the sheep in pencil, our daughter drew a sheep the way I drew them so we made a frame to put her sheep drawing up in her farm room:

[this craft can be viewed by clicking here]

IllustrationFriday: "100%"

2008-01-07T22:58:00.001-05:00

Although she is a tomboy, she's still 100% female and so he is 100% in love as his opponent is 100% beaten on this 100% wintery day. (Boy is this a stretchable topic if i've ever seen one.)

You can get this design on a junior's or women's tee for a tomboy you know, in my store.

My Christmas Card

2008-01-07T21:15:00.000-05:00

Every year I make a new illustration to send as our Christmas card to family and friends. (I couldn't show it until after I had sent it to everyone.) My message behind this started with the Scripture "Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow." in Psalm 51 So I came up with snowmen. What will they be doing? A mother snowman is straightening a child snowman's scarf. Wouldn't it be cool to pose real snowmen like that? But only a photograph would deliver the idea that they're not actually moving snowmen but posed, unless I really brainstormed little indications for it in an illustration.

After I drew the basic drawing, I wanted it to be more specifically for Christmas, as opposed to just a winter illustration. Besides the red and green colors, this is where the symbols come in: Christmas trees on the scarf, gifts on the hat, and then drums on the mittens (the little drummerboy being one of my fave seasonal songs), and of course hearts for Love on the mother's hat.

Plus, I decided Christmas light bulbs were more fitting objects for eyes than coal is.

To view the context of this card, and other Christmas cards of mine, go to my Portfolio

IllustrationFriday: Little Things

2007-12-13T22:34:00.000-05:00

Here's my series of the little things that are evidences of having little ones in a family:

To me, these little things are blessings.

IllustrationFriday: Excess

2007-12-01T22:17:00.000-05:00

For "excess," I thought of a girl playing dress-up. This girl is 100% girl. You can buy this on a shirt for yourself (women's size) or for a girly girl you know (girl's size), in my shop. Since you're here, want to check out my new Christmas decorations ? :)

Christmas Decor

2007-12-01T12:48:00.000-05:00

This year I've decorated for Christmas in all blue, with silver. There's a space on our large wall that I switch out a wall-hanging seasonally. I just made something blue to put there:

I had some blue fabric and ribbon from my chair slipcovers I made a couple years ago (they are below). I covered a piece of cardboard with the fabric and the ribbon then in the center put on 2 silver foliage "picks" (all assembled, in an assortment of colors and designs at walmart, 97 cents each). Then stuck on these decorative snowflakes I bought. Aren't glue guns great, you can adhere anything to anything. Here's a closeup:

And there it is on the wall, in context to the dining area.

(I love making different decorations in some themed color by gathering whatever I have already in those colors--any candles that are blue, a silver platter, a pine sprig from our tree, more of the above snowflakes, and another decorative foliage "pick", a blue Christmas card from a previous year framed on that shelf...) Here is that centerpiece on the table, closeup:

Here is the chair slipcovers I made a couple years ago; blue tone-on-tone fabric and satin ribbon. (Our dining set consists of a table my dad made when my parents first got married, and a set of old banquet-hall sort of chairs from a garage sale...so I made slipcovers)

In this vase I'm usually switching out seasonal decorations so for my blue theme I got some blue poinsettas (.94 cents at walmart) and also what I spread around with the snowflakes are some frosted pinecones.

So also our Christmas tree has all blue lights (we've always liked those, every year) and I'll be wrapping the presents under it in only blue paper. (Some are faintly seen down there). We just draw the line at restricting the ornaments to all blue, because I think it's more important with some things in your house to have sentimental ornaments or things that our kids make, etc.

All this and I said goodbye to my fall decorations (my favorite season!). Here's what my fall decor looked like-- the centerpiece on the table: I already had the candles, platter and fabric napkin. Added decorative fabric leaves I got last year and the walnut shells from our friendly neighborhood squirrel.

I switch out this shelf too: The left side is another already-assembled foliage decoration from walmart, and you can view/buy the vase here, and I added some pinecones we found:

The place where my new blue wall decoration is now, I had this art flag:

I got this great metal tree decoration by Kristina Frye for my birthday: (view/buy it here)

Here's that vase again, 2 foliage things I bought:

On another shelf of a "window" in the wall, another assembled foliage thing on top of more of those purple berry things above:

(Whew that was fun)...thanks for looking!!

IllustrationFriday: TheZoo

2007-11-27T22:22:00.000-05:00

Coincidentally, the Friday we get the topic "The Zoo" was actually Black Friday. I immediately thought of the shopping malls being like a zoo! click to view larger, but here are some details:

Don't know if I'll be coloring this any time soon but I really enjoyed this!! I say the most fun about making an illustration is telling a story in a picture.

IllustrationFriday: Scale

2007-11-19T13:29:00.000-05:00

I am always teaching my kids. I like to let my 3yearold weigh the produce on the scale at the store.

IllustrationFriday: Stuperstition

2007-11-19T13:01:00.000-05:00

Around Christmas time, there's been a superstition since the Olde Tymes that you have to kiss whoever is standing under the Mistletoe. I was making this male cardinal as a secondary character in my new Christmas card illustration...thought I'd use him in this IllustrationFriday. The Christmas Card? I can't reveal that until after I've mailed it out to friends and family :) It's a surprise every year. Hey I finished last week's "Scale," view it here .

IllustrationFriday: Scale, line only

2007-11-13T12:37:00.001-05:00

(I finished this one now--view it here)

IllustrationFriday: Trick or Treat

2007-10-31T09:21:00.000-04:00

Drew this a couple years ago for line art on a flier for our annual harvest festival at church. Colored it for fun and practice. (Normally I have pencil line on top of my textures but this worked with no line.)

IllustrationFriday: Grow

2007-10-21T23:26:00.000-04:00

When I plant, I see that area which appears empty on the surface, as it will be when it has grown. I love that this is how God sees us: not as we are right now but God sees us as who we will be! Here are some details... the thing that gave me the idea to do something farm-ish was also the part I was most excited about doing: the bandana/handkerchief print in it.

"For you [believer] are God's husbandry [cultivated field]; God's building." ~ 1Cor 3:9

Leaves

2007-10-17T21:12:00.000-04:00

I love Autumn. These are a couple things I made for fun with pressed leaves that had fallen into our yard. The paper they're on is dark brown and shimmery. Nicer in person. I had a couple matching wooden 5x7 frames laying around...I don't know where i'll hang them yet or if I'll give them away.

(view this craft with TheSquirrel at BigandLittleArt)

IllustrationFriday: Extremes

2007-10-16T23:12:00.000-04:00

Who to put on the highest peak, I thought of a Yak because of a book I'm writing that has a yak on a peak...

To counter this yak I thought of some creature that lives very deep down in the sea: an Angler fish. This also works in that their names are on opposite ends of the alphabet!

IllustrationFriday: Open

2007-10-07T23:19:00.000-04:00

Watch out when you open your junk drawer. We all have one of those right? (click to view larger) I had so much fun making some dimensional art, using my hands instead of the computer. Just had the itch to try some "found object" art. Check out Holli Conger's awesome work here!

Junkin my Pumpkin

2007-10-07T23:07:00.000-04:00

This was so fun! This is my pirate pumpkin. "PumpkinJunkin" is an idea from Holli, who is an awesome illustrator. You decorate your pumpkin with found objects. Join in on the fun here, Holli's first annual pumpkin junkin contest! and here are details:

this is the Squirrel's pumpkin

IllustrationFriday: Juggle

2007-09-26T19:05:00.001-04:00

Juggle: my life as a stay-at-home mom/wife. [quick mixed media: photos, scanned fabric textures, pencil line, PhotoShop.] This is me juggling my life... I'm pulled in multiple directions. Some things that I juggle are relationships, feeding my family, art, chores, and play. Behind all this is a clock. Some real-life things I included in this are: the stuff at the bottom is a horizontal stack of diapers in our changing table. The basket of clothes is a real picture of one of the fast-filling laundry baskets in our house. The "floor" is a real photo of the toy-scattered carpet of our living room. The background is our wedding memory quilt which hangs in our house. [ask Linda about one here]. Also, "my" hair is made of a photo of my daughter's beautiful curls. The dishes are always waiting for me...forget those, they're not the picture. :) Anyway, the two heads in this are nothing but my being pulled in different directions...I am not a two-headed monster, don't have split personality and I don't call myself a gemini or any other astrological sign. Both faces in this have the same content/happy steadfast look because "we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We [the believers] are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed." (2 corinthians 4:7-9) This is named "Juggle," not "Struggle" for me...... because They who wait upon the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] will renew their strength ; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. ~Isaiah 40:31

IllustrationFriday: Wedding

2007-09-20T09:53:00.001-04:00

( i did not paint this :) This is an altered photo. This picture was taken of my daughter peeking out from behind the ring bearer before she took her brave little walk down the aisle in my brother's wedding this summer. I didn't have time to make a new illustration so I put artistic filters on this photo, exaggerated some things, enlarged their heads, and drew her basket, flower, petals, his bowtie and rings.

name tag

2007-09-13T08:38:00.000-04:00

I've been tagged over at Becky's blog. Whoever reads this is also tagged! :) List one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name. (my middle name is long!) Encourager, Learning Love, Introspective, Zebras are cool?, Artistic, Belongs to Christ, Edifier, Tranquil, Hopeful. If you do this, at the end of your blog post, choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged and to read your blog.

IllustrationFriday: Momentum

2007-09-12T22:08:00.000-04:00

Andy measures how far the momentum of the tree swing can launch his sister's doll.

To view my process of this illustration, click here!

My process of "Momentum"

2007-09-12T21:44:00.001-04:00

Here's my process of creating my illustration "momentum:"

I started with a very rough thumbnail sketch.

I scanned in the thumbnail and printed it out larger. Then I worked roughly over that in pencil, refining and moving things. On top of that pencil work, I refined more with pen and made some more decisions. If you notice the boy's legs in the foreground I decided his position was too placid and my little pushing gesture is at the bottom.

I then worked on top of that with tracing paper to move things around and draw even more refined again.

After I scanned that in, I could move or shrink things with Photoshop instead of redrawing the entire boy smaller, for example. The changes here from the previous one are that I shrunk and moved the boy, and I tipped the swing and shortened the ropes.

And finally when I print that out, I can carefully draw the final line drawing exactly how I want it on another piece of tracing paper on top.

I scan the final line drawing and first do color testing with Photoshop--quick coloring in of areas with flat color and making color adjustments. Finally I make swatches of all colors to sample from for the final, then erase this temporary sloppy color.

I fill in each element by selecting an area one by one and "cutting" and "pasting in" different scanned fabrics.

Finally I add a lot of white to the edges of things, and my finishing touches for this one are little shines on some things.

IllustrationFriday: Momentum (Line)

2007-09-11T09:29:00.000-04:00

(I finished coloring this in! click here) Andy measures how far the momentum of the tree swing can launch his sister's doll.

A shiny technique

2007-09-07T18:48:00.001-04:00

I tried a new technique for a birthday card which yields instant good looks: You paint on foil then while it is still wet you draw on it. Here's a closeup although it's kinda crinkled.

that's TheSquirrel's (age 3)

A craft with TheSquirrel

2007-08-31T11:42:00.000-04:00

My 3-yearold and I made a fish tank together. It's a clean empty meat container! This can also be done with the styrofoam kind. That's what I used when I made one of these with my Mommy as a girl...was always one of my favorite crafts I did with her. You can even finish by covering the face of it with clear cling wrap! (wouldn't have photographed well). We started by painting the inside of the container blue, then I cut out "seaweed" shapes with green construction paper and they stuck to the wet paint. I cut the fish shapes out of construction paper and we wanted to decorate the fish with some foam shapes we have. We could also stick the fish to the back but I wanted to try to suspend them from fishing line (no pun intended!) That, however, is tricky because of the way the line stays curled from being rolled on the roll. Well, one of them is hanging without being a little stuck to the blue paint...

IllustrationFriday:Visitors, with color

2007-08-28T22:05:00.000-04:00

"The visiting team has a disadvantage when they are not used to the weather conditions!" (click to view larger)

Did you notice how the score is being kept? :)

another detail. (mixed media--drawn with pencil and colored in digitally using scanned fabrics )

I posted this earlier as line drawing only. (here)

IllustrationFriday: Visitors

2007-08-25T23:26:00.000-04:00

[I've now finished coloring this! View it here] If you couldn't tell without the color, the visiting team in an arctic setting has a tortoise and a flamingo. The home team has an arctic fox and a polar bear. Hey I missed last week's "Captain" too--that polar bear is the team Captain. ;)

100% girl

2007-08-25T21:48:00.000-04:00

A new little character I made especially for my line of kid's clothes! View/buy it here. (There's also a "100% boy" design there)

The Squirrel's IF: Missing

2007-08-08T20:50:00.000-04:00

My 3-year-old and I made the IllustrationFriday concept, "Missing," with Play-Doh. Here there were 6 "cookies" and 4 are missing--one left crumbs. (The original is below, then she started handing them out to mommy and daddy...and I liked the spots the grease left, showing where each one was on our dull table.)

IllustrationFriday: Missing

2007-08-06T22:56:00.001-04:00

Socks can mysteriously go missing in the laundry. Then you end up with this. See any matches? ...Neither do I.........Why am I even keeping these? :)

detail. (digital mixed media using scanned fabrics) P.S. You know what is a good use for socks without a match or socks that are worn-out? Put your hand inside one, dampen it and dust with it! My mommy taught me that. :) Here is the "Missing" my 3yearold and I did: click

IF: "Poem" finished!

2007-07-30T22:54:00.000-04:00

My younger brother and I played "School" when we were little. I used to teach him things on a little chalkboard in our rooms. This girl is teaching rhymes to her little brother, to go with the IllustrationFriday theme "Poem." (finished now, from july26 post)

detail (digital mixed media)

IllustrationFriday: Moon

2007-07-29T22:12:00.000-04:00

A few crafty critters of QuietThorne Forest were off to enjoy the new serenity back home. Their plan to convince that bothersome woodpecker the moon is made of wood had actually worked!

details [p.s. I've finished coloring my "Poem" drawing here]

IllustrationFriday: Poem

2007-07-26T15:40:00.000-04:00

[update: finished piece here] My younger brother and I played "School" when we were little. I used to teach him things on a little chalkboard in our rooms. This girl is teaching rhymes to her little brother, to go with the IF theme "Poem." At first, the topic was uninspiring to me in the way of making a children's market illustration, until I realized I could make an illustration of kids learning rhyming. This week I could only finish the pencil drawing and I added this limited color very quickly in PhotoShop. Quick coloring can loosen your style up a little bit now and then anyway.

Improvement to my Geeky IF

2007-07-23T12:12:00.000-04:00

For my last IF "Geeky" illustration, (view here), my husband and best critic said, "the horse looks like a My Little Pony." :) So while the horse already bothered me and I loved the style of the zebras, I redrew the horse and here it is!I liked that one zebra on the right so much that I'll be making a T-shirt of him (below).

IllustrationFriday: Discovery

2007-07-14T10:21:00.000-04:00

She was fingerpainting until she discovered how to make a handprint. Distracted by this new discovery, her experiment moved from the hardwood area where she began, toward an area she found a new surface on which to exhibit her work!

TheSquirrel's IF "geeky"

2007-07-09T22:51:00.000-04:00

by TheSquirrel, age 3. Construction paper. Mommy cut the shapes but TheSquirrel chose the placement and glued them down. Then she added glasses and it's ready for IF! :)

IllustrationFriday: Geeky

2007-07-09T21:38:00.000-04:00

But who is the oddball now?click to view closer

Sad that we can add black-rimmed glasses to anything and they're suddenly geeky or nerdy. (Sorry to anyone who sports black-rimmed glasses!) Therefore this IF topic was like, "what animal do I feel like drawing, then just add glasses." Anyway I went further with an actual concept to the glasses theme:

Everyone has the geeky glasses, + Someone without the geeky glasses = coolness is relative. :)

The zebra versus the horse was a great avenue for this. sketching zebras:

a composition sketch:

and Photoshop is a great tool for composition adjustments: Anyway here is something my 3-year-old and I made together: I cut out the zebra shape and she drew the stripes on. teehee

My old blog (pitter patter)

2007-07-02T15:32:00.000-04:00

To you illustrationfriday viewers, I was PitterPatter. Here is my old blog if you wanted to see anything of mine I did previously. I really always wanted the name "White Shoes" and finally realized how I can title it White Shoes!!