Drawing fast and furious

Every time I go to a teacher's training seminar, I leave inspired and eager to try new things.  At the last one at CSMA, one of the art teachers was modeling a class in line art drawing.  She gave each of us a photograph, and asked us to quickly sketch the outline in pencil, then work the details in black sharpie -- and there was only about 10 minutes left!  My life is about rushing around half the time, so I relished the challenge, and drew this seal within out time constraints.  It felt so good to be drawing again, and I am definitely going to not only try this again myself, but pass this lesson on to my students.

A distressed tile makes an interesting plaque.

I went to one of my favorite art venues, A Work of Heart, in San Jose. It's a wonderful shop stocked top to bottom with craft supplies, papers, stamps, glues, ribbons, cutters, paints etc. and has tables in the middle to do your favorite projects.  My daughter chose to make a textured mug and necklace, and I made a pretty glass pendant and this old-looking tile.  The stone tile is beige and pitted, and to give it a design, I stamped onto white tissue paper, then used a white paste over the tile and then the tissue paper to make it translucent.  Finishing touches included clear acrylic spray, and a ribbon held on the back with a two-part glue.  Not sure where I'm going to put it, but it'll find a home soon, as it's growing on me.

Jewelry display a true art form

I am blessed to have such creative friends.  My friend Sherie works full time, runs a big house and still manages to find time to create the most beautiful things.  For my birthday, she made this beautiful shadow box jewelry display for some of my necklaces and earrings.  It's such a piece of art, and I'm proud to hang it on the wall for my favorite pieces, many of which I made with Sherie in previous years!

She tells me she was inspired by some she saw in a high-end shop in Santa Cruz, and then she went about rummaging for hooks, vintage jewels and a shadow box and drawer pull from Ikea, and special paper from a specialty store.  More photos will follow of the other gorgeous boxes she made, but in the meantime, I will proudly show you my gift and hope you are inspired as well.