IllustrationFriday: Little Things

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

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

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

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

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

IllustrationFriday: Stuperstition

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

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

IllustrationFriday: Trick or Treat

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

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

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)