Bowl

For our last lesson in the watercolor class, we painted on collaged backgrounds.  I used pages from an old book written in German then added a small bowl from Anthropolgie.  I really like the printed page showing through the watercolors.

Smile!

Today was the last session in Jane LaFazio's watercolor journal class.  It was really fun and we learned so much from our wonderful teacher.  The good news is that many of us will be back with Jane in 3 weeks to start another session! 

From Scratch

Early last year, my husband decided to make a classical guitar completely by hand.

After a lot of hard work and dedication, his beautiful guitar is finished at last.  Vivaldi has never sounded so good!

Great job Storm, I'm very proud of you.

Surfin' U.S.A.

Just a few miles from our house is Bird's Surf Shed.  Located in an old quonset hut on Morena Boulevard in San Diego, it is quite a sight to see over a hundred old surfboards decorating the curved ceiling. 

The shop is filled with surf merchandise and surf memorabilia - we really enjoyed our visit.

Quilts and Beads

I was the lucky winner of this wonderful book, "creative Quilting with Beads" by Valerie Van Arsdale Shrader from the blog "Sherrie Loves Color!"  It is full of great ideas for sewing and adding beads to your art quilts.

Sherrie even has an article in the book, quite an honor.  Visit Sherrie's site at sherriequilt.blogspot.com to see more of her beautiful quilts.

Thank you Sherrie for the opportunity to win this colorful book!

D'lish

These little individual cheesecakes are a Weight Watchers recipe.  If you are familiar with their program, each cake counts as 3 points and they are sooooo good.

Watercolor Doodles

In art class on Tuesday, we doodled!  First we drew doodles in permanent ink on watercolor paper and then painted them.  Using vellum, we doodled some more and colored them in with pencils.  When layered, you get a great transparent affect.

Doodling - a perfect pastime for cold, windy, rainy days.

Happy Valentine's Day

Wishing you chocolates, flowers and a little heart quilt filled with love on this special day.

Journal Page

I created a page in my journal in honor of the watercolor class and our wonderful teacher, Jane LaFazio.

I even got Jane to autograph it.  This page will be a great memory in my monthly journal.

44th

I received these beautiful flowers this morning from my husband in honor of our 44th wedding anniversary.

Sweet Dreams

Cover Story

In our watercolor class, Jane taught us how to prepare the covers of our journals.  First, I sanded the front to roughen it for paint.

I applied a thin coat of gesso.

Using a stencil and a product called Wood Icing, I added dimension.  The numbers represent the calendar days of my journal.

I completed the cover with acrylic paint and spray gesso using another stencil.  The numbers were lightly outlined with pencil to make them really pop out.

New Quilt

In between house guests, watercolor classes and playing nurse (my husband fractured bones in both elbows from taking a bad spill on his bike - he's on the mend) - I have been able to squeeze in some sewing on my sister's new quilt.  The photo shows gray but the fabrics are much bluer and hopefully she won't be waiting too long to receive last years Christmas gift!!

Painted Blocks

I decided to paint some of the blocks from my Block of the Month quilt to add to my watercolor journal.  For the page on the left, I drew in pencil, painted the blocks, then top stitched the image using black thread in my sewing machine.  On the right, I drew in pencil, outlined in permanent ink then watercolored the squares.
I discovered that it was much easier sewing the original quilt than painting it!