Get creative with me!
This time I’ve given myself a facelift! It’s nice and Holiday’ish around here now, what do you think?
Not to worry, if you prefer my main skin, just go over to the “Themes” on the sidebar and select “Artist by Nature” (this one is called “Wrapping Paper”), and you’re all set!
Well? ::spins around:: you likey?
Now, here’s my annual Make-a-Flake plug, because it’s fun.
Every year, we make dough ornaments. This is one from the first year we made them, Caitybug and I, obviously Chickeymonkey was too little (she definitely looks like her nickname!). I have heart cookie cutters, a whole set of them that nest into one another, so we rolled the dough and cut a little heart inside of a big heart, then we used a straw to make holes where we hung them with pipe cleaners. We painted them, sealed them with glitter glue, attached the image to the back and covered the back with fancy colored foil (sheets from the art store) to reflect the lights on the tree. It was so much fun, a project that you remember from year to year because it hangs right in front of you. The acrylic craft paints available make it even more fun now, they’ve added metallics, iridescents, all kinds of different paints to choose from. They even make great gifts, straight from the heart (oven)!
Needless to say, I need to get on the ball in making this years ornaments.
How to make dough for ornaments:
2 cups flour
1 cup salt
1 cup water
Knead, add more flour to make it really doughy if needed, sprinkle water to make it more pliable as needed. Roll on very lightly floured surface, cut shapes using regular cookie cutters of your choice, bake at 250 for 2 hours.
Custom Winter Blog Skin Design
(Graphics, Layout & Plugins!)
Once Becky saw the design I did for MommaK’s blog, she headed my way to find out if I could winterize her place, too! Unfortunately, in the process, her server went down and she lost (gulp) all of her archives. Can you imagine?? The poor thing!!
Well, I finished the design, and now she’s starting from scratch – so please stop over and let her know how you like her new look!
(One skin closer to EW Designer status, WooHoo!)
If you would like to inquire about a custom illustration, blog or website design, please place your inquiry/order through E.Webscapes. Thank you!
In the early 90’s, hubby and I lived out in the San Diego area. Between wars (Desert Storm, Desert Shield), we were able to spend a Christmas together there before moving back to this frozen tundra. His mom had a ceramic shop back then, and shipped a box of blank ornaments for us to paint. Santa was my project, he’s a little guy (fits in the palm of my hand) but I took great care in painting him, drybrushing the dark shadows in his beard, giving him rosy cheeks and bright blue eyes. He’s worn over the years, and paint has chipped away. We still have all of those ornaments, dinged up as they are.
This one has a very special place on the tree. He sits near the top, but not too close to the top, so he doesn’t distract from the top of the tree – which has it’s own meaning and order to us. I’ll show you that soon. 🙂
Another ornament from our tree, this one is a beautiful depiction of Bethlehem. I received this from my hubby’s mom years ago (it’s dated 2000). It’s 18K gold, the gold is paper thin which makes this an extremely delicate piece. It’s about 3 inches tall, 2 1/2 inches wide or so, and about 1/2 inch deep, designed like a shadowbox. The north star is its own piece and hangs from the top center of the arch. It’s hard to see all the details of this piece, but the photograph captured the mood that the ornament brings to the tree so I didn’t want to modify it at all for the sake of detail.
It’s quite lovely, I actually keep this one out all year.
Now that I’m sharing my ornaments, will you be sharing yours? Tell me about your favorite ornaments as I post mine for you, and let me know if you post any pics of them on your own blog, would you? 🙂
I had intended on starting my “Ornament a Day” project today, so I will do that. In addition, I received an amazing photograph in e-mail taken by a dear family friend and coworker of my hubby that I have to share. My hubby does travel (from time to time, ahem.) and this last project has him in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. On top of that, it was Dan’s birthday (Happy Birthday, Dan!), so they went to the Caverns. Dan snapped a shot of my hubby within the caverns that he calls “very Blair Witchy”, and I agree! It’s a great shot. He is an aspiring photographer, with a pretty dang good eye for composition, I’d say.
First, the ornament:
I hate snow. Regardless, (whose blog was it I was reading who has a major pet peeve for the overusage of the non-word “irregardless”, I laughed my butt off at that one while nodding my head! I digress.) it’s pretty, and there you have it.
Now, for the Amateur Photographer Highlight of The Day:
For about 4 years now, I’ve been learning the in’s and out’s of HTML, tables, and graphic design. My own gallery has gone through a minimum of one revamp a year, sometimes two, and I am always changing things around in it. Same with my blog. Since I moved from Livejournal to Blogger to WordPress on my own domain, I’ve been teaching myself CSS. I’ve never been confident enough in CSS to do anything spectacular from scratch, so I learn here and there and use online tutorials as much as I can.
I know my limits.
When I met Lisa, who runs EWebscapes, I was looking for someone to revamp my blog for me after spending hours of frustration elbow deep in code that would not listen to me. I knew I could handle the graphics, I knew exactly where I wanted everything to be, I could just not get it to go there. Thankfully, CSS code is her second language. And through Lisa, I’ve learned a ton. I’ve offered to design for her from day one, if she could hold my hand and teach me as I go, which is an impossibility – she is just too busy to teach. From day one though, she’s said that if I got a few (like a dozen or something, ouch) great designs under my belt that showed my flexibility and creativity, she would consider bringing me on board as a designer for EW. Right now, I do illustrate for her clients, but I don’t code the design.
Obviously I’ve not met those conditions, because, well, I’m a painter by trade. And I should be in my studio right now, but I’m here. Coding. And I’m having fun. A few more designs, I keep telling myself, and I will be adding “blog designer” and “graphic artist” to my dossier.
So, ya need a new WordPress blog design? 😉
You’d think this just fell from a tree in my yard, but it didn’t. I took this pic last spring while we were vacationing in Florida! Now I’ve spoiled the wintery-ness and want to fly south for the winter. How about you?
