Monday, February 27, 2012

Cornish Hens

So... completely random... As you may or may not know, each month of 2012 I am doing something to make myself a better person (inside or out). In January I gave up my very favorite Coca-Cola Classic, and February I gave up processed foods. This has been an extremely difficult month for me, and I will be very thankful on Thursday when I sit down to have all of the wonderful meals I have missed. Anyway, as we're wrapping up the month (and finishing up the last of 50 gazillion bags of salad) I decided to try my hand at cooking Cornish Game Hens. Random, yes. I saw them at Wal-Mart (in a two-pack!) and just had to try it! I roasted them tonight for dinner, along with a salad (fresh cucumber and carrots!) and a side of applesauce. This will probably be one of the last dinners I wash down with orange juice for awhile! Anyway... I basically mutilated the poor bird, and thought it to be a little humorous.

Before Valerie eats: 

After Valerie eats: 
Yeah, the salad had gone bad, after all... And my lovely pups thoroughly enjoyed some of the leftover meat I was able to pull bones out of. So, this post is completely not-crafty, but truly the highlight of my day!

PS- My goal for March is to go to the Y (or run on the track at school) for at least an hour a day, 5x a week. Kill me now!!!

Monday, February 20, 2012

More Copic coloring

I spent my snow day/President's Day coloring with my markers. Hopefully with a little more practice I'll start making cards. One of these days I'll have some ready when I need one. 
Anyway, here is a butterfly.

Shady snowman #1

Shady snowman #2

blue-violet tulips in a jar

The only actual project I created today

Here are some pink and yellow tulips

I'm really proud of these red tulips. The colors don't show up nearly as well on camera as they do in real life. 


And all of them together


Sunday, February 19, 2012

Copic Classes

This weekend I had the opportunity to take two classes in Richmond on how to use my Copic markers. I got my first 72 for Christmas, and have been adding to my collection for the last couple of months. There are 358 total (sigh) and maybe one day I will have them all! Anyway, they were fabulous classes (especially the Intermediate, as the Beginner was truly a beginner [think "What are the different types of copics?"] and the whole class is like "duh!") and I learned a LOT. The main goal was for me to become a more confident artist, and to learn that I don't need someone else to validate my work- I can be happy with it and like it for no other reason than I like it. We did learn some shading and blending techniques, as well as 9 hours worth of other stuff. 

I drew a tree.

I practiced "feathering" pink and yellow after the beginner class. 



Saturday we learned about shading skin tones. 
I have absolutely NO human stamps/images to practice with.

I did not draw this tree. I colored it, though.

This was my first experience shading with red. And the dog needed spots. 

More skin practice, along with hair. Oddly enough, after I finished I looked over at the lady to my left, and she had colored her girl's hair grey, too. 

Our "final project" we completed from 6-8 Saturday night. 
I didn't like the brightness of the leaves, but she told us what colors to use, so YG03 became my friend.

This evening, after getting home, I colored these violet tulips.

Here is a close-up. I think I'm getting better.

It started snowing on the drive home today, and we're finally getting our first snowstorm of the season. We're supposed to get 5-8 inches tonight... looks like we've already got around 6. 

And lastly, here is my cutie pie Alex wondering why there is no food in his bowl after running around outside tonight. 

Sunday, February 5, 2012

"Congrats" Baby Book

One of my co-workers' wife is having a baby girl next month, and each person is to write a prayer/suggestion for Baby Ava. The nurses asked me to make a book for everyone to write their notes in. Here is what I came up with. 
 The biggest difference is that instead of places for pictures to go, the book is filled with white paper for everyone to write their notes on.

 I made one page big, for those who want to write super-small or super-long notes. There aren't quite enough boxes for each member of faculty to write a note, so hopefully this page will get used a lot!


 The last page is a vellum pocket I made to hold any baby cards.
 And the back cover-



Learning to Watercolor

  My sweet sister bought me a "Learn to Watercolor Nature" book for my birthday, along with a watercolor palette. I've been pr...