Marnoch Homestead

We have driven by this beautiful historic home on scenic loop drive many a times. I finally convinced hubby to stop to let me take pictures and read the historical marker. I love taking pictures of architecture, especially old buildings like this one. Someone still lives in it, so I could not get too close.

Built with 18 inch limestone. I bet it stays cool in the heat of the summer. Something about it makes me think french...maybe an old french manor with a hint of Texas.

Celebrating Fiesta

Our Fiesta celebration in San Antonio wrapped up last week. It's two weeks of fun events, parades, parties, carnivals and etc. It's really a fun time here. I especially love the night parade.....The Flambeau. I got inspired to paint. Whoopee! The color's are so vibrant and all over the place. It's a crazy festive theme. Who wouldn't be inspired. I can't believe it's taken me this long to paint something fiestaish.
I wanted to do a señorita and this is what I came up with.

I've been inspired by the beautiful dresses the dancers wear so I did these pretty little fiesta girl dancers.  I did one in paint and pen only and one mixed media with all kinks of papers.

Doing the same subject in two different mediums is kinda of fun. I think I'll try this again.

Dress Form Watercolor Doodle

Moving on in another direction. Instead of doodling with pen or pencil I'm doodling with watercolor.  I think I like it. Can't wait to try other subject like faces. I'm sure that will be a challenge!

 I love the freedom of swirling the paintbrush all over the page. 

Fun!

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I'm BACK!

My favorite spot on the boat! 

Me and the mister just got back from our first ever cruise. It was fun! We went to the Caribbean and visited the ports of Roatan, Belize and Cozumel. It was a seven day cruise with two formal nights...Yikes. LOL! We never dress up anymore so this was a treat for me. We ate and drank too much but that's what vacations are all about...Right? Now I have to go on a diet. Boooo! 

This is our ship the "Crown Princess". We are docked in Roatan. It was a fun day on the beach. Lying in the shade drinking margaritas. Don't worry...I tried very hard to keep my hubby out of the sun. I made him wear those long sleeve fishing shirts whenever possible.
This was my favorite day.......no excursions!

In the picture above we are taking a Tender to the port of Belize. There is no place for the cruise ship to dock so they come get us in these little bitty boats. I don't know any of these people.

Me and one of the native Mayans in Belize. hehe!

The ship to the left in photo above is the "Oasis of the Sea"! It is the largest cruise ship in the world. The ship next  to it is a Carnival ship or maybe a Norwegian not sure but pretty amazing either way!!! Our ship was huge but not as big as this. This photo was taken in Cozumel.

He thinks he looks like Indiana Jones. 

In Cozumel we visited the ancient ruins of Tulum. This was my husbands favorite part. He loves all the history. I would have liked it but we had to be on the pier the morning of the adventure at 7:15 am. Thats too early for vacation. Not just up and ready to go but off the cruise ship down a long dock to small boat by 7:15 am.

This is the beach in Playa Del Carmen. I would have loved to spend the day on this beach but no time. It was on the way to the Tulum ruins. I want to come bace here.

Now back to reality. My Easter decorations.

In a previous post I did a Pinterest craft using Elmers glue and food coloring. 

This is what I did with the vases I painted with the Elmers glue and food coloring. Ok ......some of them are made with Adirondack Alcohol Inks. I started experimenting because I was not that impressed with the Elmers glue technique. Using the Elmers glue is just a one time thing because if you get the outside of the vase wet the glue gets all sticky and streaky. Ugggg! So I'm trying to find something permanent. The alcohol inks did not fair any better. These bottles will either get tossed in the trash can or scrubbed down and redone.
Anyway they made a great Easter decoration for my mantel.

Birds

Hello all!
I've been taking Brave Girls Art School Wing sessions these past few weeks. We are learning how to paint/collage/doodle and stitch, birdies, butterflies and wings. Sooo much fun.

I was getting tired of painting pretty girl portraits and needed a change of pace. Faces are still my passion but it's good thing to do something else.

The two small doodle birdies above are painted with the watercolor crayons on canvas with black ink pens. They are on small 4x4 canvas and so easy to manage. I think these will make great gifts.

This is my collaged birdie made totally with scrapbook papers and lots of doodling. Love my little hummingbird and love, love, love the bright colors.

This last one is my painted birdie. I love his little tail! I used molding paste for the border to give some texture.
The stitching lessons are fun and not sure if I'll do any of them right now. I learned most of the stitches when I was little. My mom embroydered and taught me all of that. The idea of making my own designs and then stitching on a pillow or whatever is really fresh.
I love taking these art workshops online. I wish I could take them all.  I guess I gotta go sell more stuff in my Etsy shop, but not today....there is always tomorrow.

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Paint Glass with Elmers Glue To Get Seaglass Effect

I love Pinterest! I've pinned a lot of crafty ideas and DIY tutorials there. This project happens to be one that I wanted to try.
I was kinda skeptical at first.  I did not think it would work. I thought it would come out blotchy and runny. But I felt it was just too easy and cheap not to try.
I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised. It's very easy and turns out great.
All you do is take a couple of tablespoons of Elmers glue and mix a couple of drops of food coloring together to make a paint. Brush it on with a sponge brush on the outside of the bottle. Then just leave it alone for a few hours or overnight so it can dry. The results are really nice.... so transparent.  I love it.
I used Starbucks bottles. My husband buys these by the case at Costco, so I have a load of them.
I only found these four in the trash can. Nothing like going dumpster diving in my own garage. But I will be doing more as I collect them. I can see these as cute single bud vases. Perhaps for Easter.

PS
Just a warning on this tutorial. I love the look the glue/food coloring gives but it is not permanent.
You can not wash these. They will be ruined if any water comes in contact with the glue. :(

Altered Art Bottle

I've been seeing a lot of these altered art bottles on Pinterest lately, so I decided to do one of my own.
It's a lot like collaging only on a bottle. I did not want to use the faux mercury glass look on this bottle at this time, maybe next one. I did a lot of experimenting on this project. First of all I drizzled glitter glue inside the bottle, but it took forever to dry so not sure if I will do that again. Then I stuffed the inside with pink tissue paper and sprinkled more glitter in the bottle. I sealed the cap by soldering the cap and part of the neck. Doing this inspired me to buy a new soldering iron. My iron fizzled out a few years ago and this really upset me because I spent a lot of money on the darn thing. It was only two years old when it died. My advice is just buy a cheap one with as much wattage as you can get. I got mine at Hobby Lobby and used the coupon. It has 100 watts and works great.
Then the next thing to do is find pictures, old book papers and fun ephemera to use to decorate the outside of the bottle. It's a good way to use up some of that old ribbon and jewelry that's collecting dust.  I love to doodle so I doodled on mine.
Just have fun with it.
The next one will be sprayed with the Looking Glass Mirror like paint. I used this product on my Halloween bottles from a previous post.

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Those Who Don't Do

Well it's been a while since I painted a girl that I liked. This one I like but I know there are many mistakes. This quote makes me feel better, because at least I'm doing. I'm trying and sticking with it. I don't give up easy. I make plenty of mistakes along the way. Sometimes I learn from them, sometimes it takes me awhile to get it. LOL! I guess I'm stubborn too.
It's so much better to try even if you fail. Without sounding to much like a Niki ad here's to "just do it".

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