Art Happens with Lovely Linda

April 15, 2008

• Tax Day
• STARS meeting tonight

Last night I flipped through old magazines while watching recorded shows upstairs. Should've spent more time in the studio since the stamp club gals are coming over tonight, but I was too easily distracted. And what jumped off the pages at me everytime? Photographs of flowers. Snipped beauties from your own garden (or the neighbor's) presented in jars, tin cans, bottles, and juice glasses. Phlox, tulips, poppies, daffodils, even greenery stems were so simple and yet so lovely. Today's first item of business is to find a bouquet of flowers, no doubt from the store. I have so few blooms in my yard that it would be stripped naked long before I had enough to make a display. I'm sending the photos to my mother-in-law via the mail to brighten her day, with a handmade card and note of course.

Around 11pm I finally tackled the studio. It's still not tidy enough, but I wanted to participate in this month's swap, so I pulled out watercolor pads, stamps, spritzer bottles, and my favorite Lyra watercolor crayons. There was a bit of trial and error but I finally came up with 6 pretty gift enclosure cards using butterflies & dragonflies. These will be the item I'll trade. But I was to make one other item for show & tell, again with the theme of April Showers, which meant anything created with water. So I selected 2 white silk flowers, separated the layers, and spritzed them with Ranger's Color Wash sprays. The secret to success is to spritz the flowers with water first so that the sprays begin to bleed into the fibers of the fabric immediately. However, having said that, if you've spritzed your color first and now have specs of intense color in spots, simply spritz with water afterward and the blending begins. It's a totally different look but not a bad one at all. Look for photos tomorrow of all the different things members brought for show & tell and to swap.

Income tax returns go out in today's mail. I signed my name on the dotted lines and didn't see any checks attached so I guess that means we're due a refund. I can live with that!

As many of you know I've been losing my battle with allergies since mid-February. Today I'm sneezing non-stop. Do you think it's from the photographs of flowers? What's going to happen when I actually buy them and put them in vases in the studio tonight?

I'm also shopping this week for camp supplies for kids. At church last weekend I picked up tags for 2 little boys, 5 & 8, who need beach towels, flip flops, ball caps, juice boxes, snacks, and of course art supplies. My son, David, is 32 so I'm out of practice but looking forward to stuffing those bags!

Speaking of shopping, have you visted your local Target lately? Last week I bought 5 pair of the most fabulous reading glasses in the Dollar Spot. I now have specs in zebra stripes, black with white polka dots, some with checks, just too much fun to pass up on the possibilities. Join the trend...go buy a pair, or two!

One final thought for today... I got a magazine in the mail yesterday that I've been flipping through and something caught my eye. They used a cardboard egg carton to sort craft supplies: beads, sequins, buttons, threads, yarn, and fibers. I don't know about you, but I've got far too many of my craft supplies to use an egg carton for sorting and storage. But I must say the array of colors & shapes was a beautiful display of eye candy. And I'm all for that!