What's on My Kitchen Counter

Hello Friends, My sweet friend Vicki has been hosting this month's **ART*JOURNAL*JOURNEY* challenge, and her theme is music.  Here is my Bible Journal page focusing on 2 Chronicles 5; the dedication of the temple where the people were singing and praising the Lord. The Lord's presence filled the temple, and the people sang while the priests played musical instruments. There were 120 priests just playing trumpets. I am sure it was amazing.  I drew the images and then painted them with Daniel Smith watercolors and a handmade metallic watercolor set my daughter gave me for my birthday. I added some shadows to the instruments and flowers because I also did this for the Friday F4A challenge at Splitcoaststampers.com which I am hosting and just posted. It is all about shadows this week. Hugz, Nancy

Hello friends. It is cold, and I am ready for Spring. I have some pretty flowers to share with you. This one was made with the Spellbinders Geranium and Wooden Bucket dies. I water colored the background, the bucket and the flowers using watercolor paper and Daniel Smith watercolors. I was inspired by the Art Nudge 225C inspiration photo here: The challenge is open to all artists of any type - textile, paper, oil, watercolor, stamping, mixed media, sculpture, cookies, etc.  I have more flowers after doing the watercolor and sketch challenges on Splitcoaststampers.com this week: The watercolor challenge was based on a tutorial video by MarenaArt which can be found HERE . The sketch card is the one on the right.  Don't you love the Unity stamp on the left - so encouraging.  I loved painting the loose poppies so much that I painted the boiled egg I made for my chicken salad - lol. I am late for T-day again over at Elizabeth's Blog - I am always the caboose lately (but at le...

Hello Friends, I am late again for T-day over at Elizabeth's blog where we share a drink related item in our post (actual drink, movie, art, etc). Elizabeth is sharing tons of fun cat mugs in her post this week. I am sharing the happy GIANT mug I bought a few months ago. I use it for days when I need a lot of coffee - lol.  I needed a lot of coffee this past week. Hubby had his pacemaker battery replaced (it went well but he is hurting a bit from the incision), we had some bad news in the family, our washing machine died (they are delivering a new one today - yay), and we have been trying to get all our tax information together. Urgh! I have done some more art and cards, of course.  This first one is the Valentine's Day card I made for a farmer friend who farms cotton and loves to watch sunsets. I painted it using Daniel Smith watercolors and I cased THIS card from Amy Zepeda (she was the Featured Stamper this week at Splitcoaststampers.com). This next one was sent to my son...

Hello friends, I got the results from my blood work after doing a month of no alcohol, desserts, bread, chips, processed meats, soda, etc. and adding in way more veggies and fruit. Turns out eating healthier really does work. All my numbers improved including my blood pressure. I guess I will continue with this journey.  It feels like Spring here so we are trying to take advantage of it. Speaking of Spring, over at the Art Nudge Challenge it looks like Spring as well.  Here is my creation based on #artnudge225A .  And here is the inspiration photo that inspired it: I was inspired by some of the colors and the flowers.  I sketched out the vase, table and flowers, and I used Daniel Smith Watercolors, a Black Micron Pen, Tim Holtz Distress Oxide (mustard seed) and some watered-down white gouache to color it up. The sentiment is an old favorite from Stamping Up! This is going to a friend who needs a big hug. The Art Nudge Challenge is open to all artists and is not jus...

Hello T-Day friends. I have missed you! I can't wait to catch up with all of you over at Elizabeth's Blog . I am trying to eat and drink super healthy in January to see if I see a difference in any of my health issues or sluggishness. I gave up processed sugar, bread, pasta, fried anything, rice, crackers, alcohol, desserts, processed meats, frozen foods, etc. I also gave up peas and beans except for green beans. I have reduced the pains in my side, and I have more energy. I have also lost 6 pounds. I have blood work next Friday and that will tell the real story.  My drink today is POM. I have been drinking a little of this for about a week (a little because of the calories and cost). I really like the taste, and pomegranate is supposed to have some super powers. I mainly got it to add to smoothies, but I haven't done that yet. If you know anything good or bad about this juice let me know.  I am still making cards.  Here are a few of my favorites from the last few weeks...

We hardly ever get snow in Central Alabama, but we had a few sprinkles a week ago and quite a lot of snow yesterday. At our house we just had enough to make some ice this morning, but a few miles down south, they were making snowmen and snow angels.  There was even snow on the beach which only happens. It even broke Mobile's record from 1881.  So, I am ready for the next season - bring on Spring! This week's Art Nudge Challenge (125C) is a darling little snow scene: It inspired me to sketch out some trees, snowbanks, and two cute girls. I painted them up using Daniel Smith watercolors. I used a few colors from the inspiration pallet but added in a lot of pink. My little scene reminds me of my sister and I when we first saw snow when visiting my grandmother in Mineola, Texas. That was such a treat for us Florida girls.  There are lots of great prizes in the Art Nudge Challenge and it is open to any type of artist. You could stamp, draw, paint, sketch, bake, sculpt, do mi...