Art Calendar - All the Pages

Here are the pages of the calendar.

January is a stand of trees with frost on them.

February is an orchid.  I think this one turned out the best.

March is the mountains in Canmore.

April is a swan on a pond.

May is a pink lily.

June is a pink Alberta Rose.  I will have to take another try on this one as it did not turn out as well as I expected.

July is a pelican on a lake.

August is a sunflower which is my favorite flower.

September is the sun setting behind a stand of trees.

October is a pine cone.

November is a decorative bird I took at the garden center a few weeks back.

December is a red poinsettia.










We had some great projects made of our Handmade Christmas Gift Exchange.  There was a quilted table mat, woodworking snowman ornaments, a handmade paper calendar, a bird feeder, gel medium transfer of an old barn that stood in our yard for years, baking, felted wool accessory bag, wood scroll wall decor, a photo frame with 5-6 original photos, a scarf and a few more.

Art Calendar - Handmade Gift

I created this art calendar with some of my photos. As I indicated in this earlier post, I processed each photo in hopes of creating an image that looked more like a painting.  Some I'm really happy with others not as much.  Pretty good for my first time. I printed them at home on matte photo paper so they would be more like paintings.

The calendar pages are 8.5" square with a half inch added to the binding edge. The calendar was printed on the 8.5 x 9 inch sheet of white card stock.  The binding is Zutter.

Then I wanted to create a frame.  I could not find a die in my collection large enough and to the right proportions so I turned to my Cricut. After spending a long time with several cartridges and doing some test cuttings I selected the Elegant Edges cartridge.  I cut the borders to 6.75" wide which filled the 8.5" square pages nicely.  I added a piece of vellum under the photo which helped define the space for the photo as well as align all the pieces. I centered the vellum on the page then added the pieces over top. I cut all the borders from black card stock.  I did have to trim the vellum where it showed through the holes in the borders. That was tedious.  I added one of the die cuts from inside the borders next to the photo to balance the rectangular space.

The cover has the numbers 2015 cut with the Sizzix Go Go Boots Sizzlet Alphabet dies.

Photos into Art

I took some time recently to play with photo editing software to see what I could do with  my photos as far as making them more like paintings.  There a many filters and it takes a lot of time to figure out what pieces play in the process.

The photo, the background and foreground colors, the filter and how many times it is applied as well as the layering of filters all go into the mix to produce a result.

I found that I liked to apply a base filter which seems to breakdown the image into small pieces which then will be affected by any other filter I apply.

Some of my favorite filters were watercolor, palette knife, paint daubs, and dry brush.  The textures were great but I was unhappy with the level of repetition in the pattern which was very visible.

Picking the right photo is challenging as well. Some just did not work at all.

I was working on this to produce a handmade gift for our family gift exchange this year.  Check later for the final project.

Merry Christmas

I'm wishing you all a very Merry Christmas.

This is the Nativity Set I bought last year for my home. It is black metal and is quite large at nearly 2 feet tall and 3 feet wide.  It allows me to add lights, and other embellishments with magnets if I choose. Here, I chose back lighting with real candles in pillar vases.  I added the electric candle holders in the front as well.  My blown glass birds were added for some dimension and color.  A large pine cone was placed in the center.

I'm sending this card to my on-line friends and those whom I communicate mostly by email.

Photo - Nativity Display

I attended a Nativity Display held by a local church yesterday. These are lent to the church from the congregation and those farther a field.  They were so well displayed with lots of room to have each have it own space.  I so enjoy seeing the variety in materials and design expressed.

The top left is a marquetry piece which is the method of using different colored woods to create a design. Wonderful simple design.  Top right is a corn husk set in a wood stable.  The centre one was quite small and likely made for children. It had 2 navy hearts as the platform and background then fabric and wood for the persons.  Add a glitter star and it's done.  Bottom left is a wonderfully colored resin nativity which was hung on a string.  The bottom right is ceramic in plain white with a matte finish. It is lit from the back.

Community Christmas Concert

I attended the Community Christmas Concert with my friend this evening.  It was a great concert.  I love Christmas music so there were many religious songs, carols and hymns.

My aunt's service group was handing out programs.

It was a great time but it was pretty cold.

Community Sing - Trumpet Angel

I attended a community carol sing in my neighborhood this afternoon.  I brought a friend with me who enjoyed it as well.

We will go together next year!

Another concert later this week.  I hope I have whittled down my to do list a bit by then.

Letterhead - Digital - Christmas 2

Here are the letterheads I designed this year. These are great  for Christmas letters.  The blue one on the left is a collage I did last year to which I added the caption of O Little Town of Bethlehem.

The brown one is the same image altered with photo editing software to be in warmer tones.  I kept the same caption for this one.

I created one with my office nativity and added Christmas Blessings as the sentiment.

Banner - Merry Christmas

I added a Merry Christmas banner to my office decorating for this year.  I have set up the nativity a couple of years now.

The banner was created by cutting the letters from gold card stock with the Cricut and the CM Tiny Treasures cartridge. Then I layered them onto eggplant card stock which made the letter that color. Once pressed, I then trimmed the purple card stock by hand leaving a small border all the way around.  I punched 1/8" holes in each corner and strung them onto a gold ribbon. I want to add a star but did not get to it yet.

I've submitted to the Anything but a card Challenge at Fantabulous Cricut.

Happy Phrase - Birthday

I made this card for my Dad's birthday. I started with a panel of card leftover from these cards.  I thought with his birthday this close to Christmas red and green would be appropriate.  I cut the plaid card stock with the Sizzix Happy Phrase die.  I cut the dark green at the same time.  I made use I collected the holes for the A PP so I could glue them in place.  I layered the plaid layer onto white then glued the green word into the hole then added the plaid pieces I collected earlier. I glued the white layer to to a red card.  I printed the birthday on white and flagged each end.  I mounted it to the card front with 3D foam tape.

Christmas Card Challenge - December - Window

Here's my card for December. I used the Memory Box Grand Madison Window. I selected a recycled Christmas card which was the right proportion for the window with the man and his dog being in the bottom left hand corner pane. I selected deep grey card and cut the window.  I selected a light blue green card which worked with the scene I chose.  I cut the scene and glued it to the back of window.  I added a piece of white to the bottom half of the card to create interest.  I chose a orange red cardstock for the wreath and the back of the greeting which matched the man's coat.  I punched the 1.25" circle then the Stampin Up Scallop Circle to make the wreath.  I added a SU flower in white with a circle punch of silver glitter in it's centre.  I punched the greeting from the original recycled card with the Word Window punch and the red orange with the Modern Label punch.
It's time to start addressing these!!