Big Fat Stuffed Envelope!!!

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I recently participated in a swap called "Big Fat Stuffed Envelope".  Wow!  What a tremendous loot!  My swap partner gave me oodles of cool stationary, a nice hand made bookmark, blank ATC's (Artist Trading Cards), a beautiful blank postcard from Louisiana with a Magnolia flower on it...she didn't know it but that has significant meaning to me.  I went to Magnolia Springs State Park when I was a kid and I just had such a wonderful time...It was the first time that I realized how much I loved the outdoors...and can't go too long without being in some natural setting.

I think I may now have an obsession with these swaps.

It's even better than a letter in a way.  I open it up to find goodies that someone hand picked or even hand made for me.

I always have to send a nice thank you note.  And since Jennifer gave me such wonderful things, I decorated the envelope a little.

Until Next Time...

A Few Clothing Sketches...and one unfinished piece

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I thought I would share with you a few clothing sketches that I made back in 2009...wow!  That seems so long ago now.  I was living in Ohio and was starting to dream of making my own clothing for my little one.  I got a little carried away with these as the home I was visiting had beautiful renderings of Victorian ladies and their exquisite dresses of that era.  So, inspired, I took charcoal to paper and here is what I designed.

I like this.  A little more of a modern approach as back in the Victorian days, there was no such thing as a bare arm.

This one just looks comfy.  I was envisioning something that could be played in while not worrying about if it were to be stained.

Can you tell I'm a fan of ruffles???

Cute!

Looks like a circus tent!

This might be more "flapper" era.

Oh...and I found this unfinished piece.  I completely forgot about it.  I started it back in 2006 and I should really finish it.  It was going to be a collage of sorts...but now I don't remember the direction I was going.  It's sharpie and color pencil.

Until next time....

Mail Art: Shannah with an "H"

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Oh, my dear friend Shannah!  How patient you are!

Look at this great mail art from my pen twin, Shannah over at Write Before Your Eyes!

I really can't get enough of the Chinese New Year dragon, very colorful.

I finally got the chance to respond and I gave her some hand drawn stationary.  I just love drawing.  It is really a comfort to me.  

And yes, those are my hands holding a polka dot pencil.

S...for my name, for her name, for my favorite word...serpentine.

I have a thing with trees.  When I was a child, I couldn't stop drawing trees.  We had a giant sycamore tree in the back yard.  The bark was ghostly white and in the winter when the leaves were all gone it was quite a sight.  But I have drawn and stared at that tree all my life.  I was always fascinated at drawing trees mainly because, you can't go wrong.  A tree, in my opinion, is like a face, it can have many different expressions.

The above tree I drew from a memory of a house that I passed every day driving from school.  It had these teeny-tiny little twig like trees lining the driveway and at the top was a mop of leaves.  They always made me laugh.  They reminded me of Carrot Top!

Again, I've taken these photos with my camera phone...and the contrast is no good.  I did my best with editing but to no avail.  The drawings are much darker in person and I hope Shannah enjoyed them as much as I enjoyed drawing them for her.

Here is the handmade envelope for her.  I was tired of the plain manila envelopes and I have been itching to use this paper.  It's simple but it's cute! 

Until next time...