Happy Thanksgiving

I have been trying to draw more, create more. And just get myself out of a creative rut. It's slow going. Getting the motivation to take the small few minutes I have to draw is hard. There's less time for me to do things, and when I do have free time I tend to squander it on something easy and worthless like TV. Now, TV and reading and escape is great. Sometimes you have to just veg. But I do need to keep drawing, and using illustrator and photoshop, because they are skills that you WILL LOSE if you don't use them. There is so much you forget when you stop using it. I don't want to forget. I don't know if I will ever have a job that allows me to use my creativity, or drawing or hell anything I studied in college and spend years doing professionally. But, I can't quite squash the hope that maybe, I will be able to do them again as a job. Rather than as a hobby.

So I was doodling sketching (It's totally sketching if you doodle in a sketch book isn't it?) and came up with some silly illustrations for Thanksgiving.

So, this holiday is really just about eating for me. I don't usually eat much Turkey (give me mashed potato's, bread and stuffing, and I get all sleepy after eating enough carbohydrates to prepare me for a marathon. (More like a Doctor Who Marathon....AmIright???)

I came up with some silly ideas.

Doesn't everything look better in-between laurel leaves?
So official right?

I'm not a huge fan of roast turkey. Although I love me some buttery spuds. 

Turkey Leg Wreath lying on a bed of cranberry leaves and cranberries. (with outline)

No outlines

 I'm not sure which I like best. I tend to be pretty flat with my drawings. I don't always go for outlines, but sometimes I think it makes a better impact. Also, the shadows weren't looking very good, and drop shadow just looks sooooo.....drop shadowy.  I struggle with color choice, especially when using the pantone CMYK color book. YOU  try to pick out four great colors when you have 5000 at your disposal. There's just not enough value difference, and I think it gets a bit confusing to look at.

I was going to do a chalkboard look for this one but got a bit distracted and just trashed the idea. Maybe I'll add some chalkboard effects, or not.

A little peek at the illustrator work, plus to the right are only "some" of the colors I choose from.

Yep, a bit overwhelming sometimes.

Anyway, I guess this blog and the other one (eep, been awhile since I posted on my humor one-guess I wasn't feeling too funny) will be the repository of my creative work for the near, and possibly forever future. 

Happy Thanksgiving Ya'll. I'm so thankful that I have found sometime to draw again, and I'm also so very thankful I have a life that allows for such niceties as a big day set aside for gluttony and teasing your family members. It's a pretty stunning gift. My thoughts and prayers to the suffering and hurt. My thanks to those reading.

Rudy

Too small blouse transformation

I had come across a lovely grey and pink blouse at Kohls last week on the clearance rack. It was from their Elle collection. As much as I loved the style and the priced (marked down to $12.00) the size 2 is way too small for my more robust figure. It was the only one there and searching for a bigger size didn't help since it was the only one in the store.

I went back and forth on buying it, knowing it would take a bit of time to "fix" it to fit me. The seam allowances were only 1/4" and were serged so letting it out was impossible. So finally, after putting it back and picking it back up again I decided to embark on a Too small blouse transformation. Of course, in my haste to get it done in time for easter I forgot to take a picture of it before I transformed it.

So, I drew out a sketch of what the original style was.

It's not my best flat sketch but it's been awhile.

I found some very old salmon pink shantung (like may 25 years old) that I have held on to for many many years. It's papery and flimsy but it was all i had that matched. It was shredded in places because I think it may have been treated with a chemical that makes it softer but at the same time degrades it. In any case. I found my fabric and I started visualized how to make it bigger. I settled on cutting down the front and adding shantung panels to enlarge it. I draped the pieces on my ole' Seawolf which says it's a size 12 but is more like a size 10 as far as actual measurements go.

This is my first version but I felt it was lacking something. Onto another version.

The pink looked more "intentional" with the pink
sash but I wasn't quite satisfied.

I almost went with this one but didn't want
to spend much more time handsewing buttons.

I liked the idea of the sash better because:
no hand-sewing necessary.

I eventually went with this one, but altered it a bit.

Here's my final piece, all sewn together.

I sewed the pink and grey sash together. It seemed
easier than my final plan before.

If you are thinking the décolletage is a bit risky well then you didn't know that I had always intended to wear a shirt underneath it. And use the grey blouse as a bit of a light blouse-y jacket. No one was offended by my bosoms. I didn't ever get a picture of me wearing it because I got sick on Easter and took it off immediately after I got to my sisters Easter party and laid down in my sisters bed and watched re-runs of NCIS. I did get a couple pictures of my son picking up Easter eggs and really, that's all I'm required to do and I felt happy.

I did end up doing some hand sewing since the shirt never stayed closed. I put in some hooks and eyes to keep it together under the sash. 

But all in all, a nice piece and I'm glad I did it. 

Ruth

Pinterest

I have been stalking Pinterest for awhile now and trying to do the neat crafty artsy stuff that is often featured.

Some are great and work out perfectly, some don't.

For the Christmas season I found some great wreaths that I wanted to make. I don't have any wreaths, I don't have much in the way of Christmas decorations so this year I wanted to remedy that.

Here was my inspiration:

I thought it was beautiful, especially against my blue door.

Here's mine.

All it took were some silver glitter snowflakes from Big Lots, an embroidery hoop, some silver paint, a ribbon, and a lot of hot glue.  I'm really pleased with the way it turned out.

Here's my other try at a Pinterest inspired Wreath.

I thought it was perfect because 1. I love candy canes, and 2. it's unique.

I found out that it was much harder than I thought.

I used the Bob's candy-canes in cherry. Which are my most favorite in all the candy canes and I have tried many. I had tried to avoid using hot glue since it would melt the candy and make it inedible, but alas, it was the only thing that would hold. I also used way too many ribbons in way too many colors. I changed the design too much and it just didn't look right after I finished.

In the immortal words of The Bloggess...."Meh, they're not ALL winners."

I'm not convinced that this candy cane wreath can't be done, I just need to re-think it some more.

Until then,
Ruth