Hippo & Tortoise

I definitely do not call myself an artist... but I think I can be creative. I wish I were better at drawing. Nonetheless, I have been trying to illustrate animals using watercolor - colored pencils to add color. My favorite animal to draw is the giraffe.  I have been practicing different animals... turtles, squirrels, and owls,  none of which I am ready to share. But two animals I feel pretty good about are the hippo and the tortoise.

There is a story about the hippo and the tortoise. The hippo, named Owen, was separated from his family after the tsunami and bonded with an 120 year old tortoise, named Mazee. Together they formed an unlikely kinship formed along the coast of Africa.

Why do I want to illustrate these two animals? I am the tortoise and Erika is my hippo. Together we form a pretty good pair of friends. When we are not separated by 800+ miles we are like Owen and Mazee, joined at the hip.  I just wanted to send her a card to brighten her day. I hope she likes it!

Hippo

Tortoise

Crafting in 2011 gets underway!

Happy Birthday Mary! 

Mary and I share a love for little owls! 

It has been a crazy first week back to school after Christmas vacation. I had a lot of meetings before and during school, I started my winter quarter class at The Ohio State University... and my sister is visiting (or should I say waiting for me to take her back to college). Somewhere in all of this busyness I carved out an hour or so to make a some cards to give away and a birthday card to accompany the gift. Without further ado here is the first handcrafted gems of 2011.

Christmas Cards

Christmas cards are a funny thing.  I am wondering if it is something I want to keep up. It takes a lot of time to get them out in the mail before Christmas... especially when you decide to make them. Usually I make 3 or 4 different designs, this year I decided to simplify and make one. What do you think about Christmas cards? So until I make a final decision here's what I came up with...

Christmas Wrapping!

I had some natural colored wrapping paper in my stash. I love the look, but it didn't have a very Christmasy feel. I added red and green curly ribbon or raffia and then used stamps to add a little something-something to each package. Simple and easy.

2010 Christmas Ornaments!

I love the new tradition of creating handmade Christmas ornaments for all my nieces and nephews. It is fun seeing them (or should I say their moms)get excited about them. I hope someday in the future when they are helping decorate the tree they will have fun adding each new ornament to the tree. My favorite ornaments are the one my aunt gave me each year.

I used a new recipe for salt dough. I think I will go back to the one I used last year. I liked how they puffed up... they made them even more unique. I made moose, stockings and stars.