Big upgrade and more from Pattern Camp

Since Pattern Camp in October, I have been practicing like crazy! You wouldn't know it though from the lack of updates and sharing. I have a pretty short attention span, so I have the habit of quickly whipping things up, then thinking, "oh, I'll go back and perfect this later before putting it on the interwebs." I'm sure you can guess what happens next...

BUT THEN my 6-year-old laptop died. I was pretty devastated that I had lost all of those "just practice" files. So after they were rescued and a new MacBook Pro was purchased, I decided to just go ahead and put 'em out there... perfect or not.

I made the above during Pattern Camp. It's originally this q-tip painting I did a few years ago, turned in to a repeating pattern.

Just a random recent doodle put in to repeat.

Another one from Pattern Camp. It was a little rushed but I was pretty happy with it.

So there you have it. I probably have a dozen more practice pieces so I'll share some more soon!

And can I just say how nice it is to have a computer that doesn't completely melt down when I'm running Photoshop and Illustrator at the same time?! It's a Thanksgiving miracle!!!

Show Me a Sign

A few months back a friend reached out to ask me if I would do some lettering for a chalkboard sign for her brother-in-law's wedding. I thought this was such a cute idea! The sign will be carried by the flower girls as they walk down the aisle.

I did a ton of sketches to try and decide on a final style. I debated some borders, etc. to spice things up. I also wrote the word "girl" too many times and decided it is a really weird word. Here is a small selection...

I used a chalk marker which was a new experience for me. I also got a chalk pen to make baselines, etc. to make sure things were moooostly straight. When I was done I used a moist Q-tip to erase the guidelines. (Q-tips are good for so.many.things)

Before it headed out the door, I took some test photos to make sure it will look great indoors/outdoors/in photos.

Speaking of outdoors... yay for my flowers blooming in the backyard! #unrelated

Also, I'm messing around with my blog header again because I decided my new/old one kind of stinks. But the colors are doing all kinds of weird things on me so just ignore the "construction." :o)

Better than Bubble Wrap?

As promised this is part two of my Pinterest Challenge entry. Sadly perhaps for you, I've decided that explaining how to make bubble wrap art is boring so really we're skipping right along to show you another piece I made a year or two back for my cousin. Let's just say, you cut out a piece of bubble wrap, tape it to some cardboard, paint and stamp. Easy.

So what's better than bubble wrap? Q-Tips of course.

When I'm mixing colors I rarely get the color I intended but I try to make it work. I learned this technique circa 1995 in fifth grade to paint an orange that I still have on my bulletin board. Fascinating, I know ;o) Here's another Q-Tip painting I did in college.

What do you think? Bubble wrap or Q-Tips?