Button and Lace Trees

I had a great time this past weekend teaching this small group of ladies how to make Button and Lace Trees. This was such a fun way to get in the holiday spirit. I just love doing these trees. The ladies did a fantastic job.

Angela

Kathy

Kim

Have you done any seasonal creating yet?

Keep Creating!

Wendy

Still challenging myself

   I haven't kept you posted here about my monthly challenges but I have been continuing to do them most months with the exception of a little break in October. A few months things got busy so I didn't get the challenge done every day of the month but I kept going and did what I could. 
   In November my challenge was to draw or doodle every day. This was a fun a easy one to do. I made a small book to work in so even though I was away for a few weeks I could bring it along to work in. 
   I'd like to get better at drawing so I thought doing it everyday would be a good idea. I probably didn't draw as much as I doodled so I might have to do another month of drawing next year. 
   Here are a few of my drawings and doodles:

Day 4 Whimsy

Day 6 Layers

Day 7 Remembrance

Day 11 Chinese wine glass

Day 18 Museum of Anthropology UBC

Day 10 Whimsy with dangles

If you'd like to see more you can go the facebook group page Dragonfly Dreamers Monthly Challenges. 

For the month of December the challenge is more of a theme. I'm going to try to do something seasonally creative each day. This is leaving it pretty open ended so I hope you can join me in this challenge. You can share your seasonal creativity here or on the facebook group.

Happy Creating!

Wendy

Metal embossing workshop

It's been a while since I've taught a metal embossing workshop or even played with metal, so this was so much fun. These ladies were very creative and totally inspired me. We had a busy day learning a variety of ways to emboss on metal and they each made a very unique piece by the end of the day. Metal is always a difficult thing to photograph and these do not do them justice but you'll get the idea.

Annie

Cheryl

Deb

Jane

Janice

Jill

I really should bring my metal out to play more often. Just need a few more hours in each day.

Happy Creating!

Wendy

Notan ATC's

I learned a little about Notan art this month since it was our theme for our ATC's. Notan is Japanese for light dark harmony. I also learned that they are a little addictive and it was hard to stop at just one or even two when making them.

Kathy

Louise

Lucie

Marie

Olive

Wendy

Have you tried to do Notan before. If you haven't, give it a try. It doesn't need to be ATC size. I think I will have to try some other sizes and maybe colours too.

Happy Creating!

Wendy

Oops late ATC's

I thought I posted last month but was asked if was going to post both months now so I guess I forgot!! Oh well better late than never. 
September's ATC meeting was our annual Baggie swap and the theme was texture. This means everyone brought a small baggie of goodies with the texture theme in mind and we swapped the baggies and made ATC's right there. Usually during the meeting we keep the same baggie and make a few cards from it but this time we decided to swap baggies every time we finished a card. This made for a very fun afternoon of ATC making.

Kathy

Louise

Lucie

Marie

Olive

Peggy

Wendy

Virginia

Group ATCs

As you can see it was a very productive meeting with lots of ATC made. 

Happy Creating!

Wendy

Lettering continues

Day 17

This months lettering challenge has been interesting so far. I've enjoyed it even though it's a busy month for me and it's hard to keep up. It's been an exploration of a multitude of pens, pencils and markers. I've used pens that I've had for years but never appreciated and tried some from friends that makes me think I may need more. 

Day 8

Some days the pages have been fun little creative pieces, like Day 17 and others like Day 8 are just about trying out some different pens and lettering styles. 

Day 7

So instead of sharing every days page I will just share a few of the ones I like best.

Day 11

Day15

Day 3

You can see more pages on Dragonfly Dreamers Monthly Challenge page along with a few from other people. If you'd like to play along feel free to join the group too.

As in previous months I'm already thinking about next months challenge and can't wait to start it. But for now I will keep lettering and hopefully have a few more pages to show you by the end of the month.

Happy Creating!

Wendy

September Challenge- Lettering

I'm kind of surprised that I'm starting a third month of challenges. It was not my intention when I started, to do more than a month of collages but it seems to have taken on a life of it's own. Each month I get to a point where I struggle to finish the challenge but then at some point I get an idea for the next months challenge and it motivates me to finish so I can start the next one. It's funny how things take on a life of their own and yet feels so right.

Day 1

So this months challenge is Lettering. It's going to be a busy month for me with 2 shows coming up and some fall workshop planning to do, so I wanted something that I thought would be easy to do. I've been reading Joanne Sharpe's book The Art of Whimsical Lettering and I guess it inspired me for this month. It doesn't have to be fancy or a finished product, it's just about playing around with letters and maybe making your own font or 2. 

Day 2

I'm going to be working in a small book I've made that's about 8 1/2" by 5 1/2" but you can work on or in whatever you like. I've chosen a 110 lb cover stock because I wanted something that can take a little ink, paint and/or water to do some backgrounds. 
As you can see from my first 2 days, I plan to have some simple days of just doing different letter styles and when I have time possibly a more finished product like day 1. Well it was the first page so I had to do something special on it!

If you'd like to join in and share your lettering, I will be posting again on the Dragonfly Dreamers Monthly Challenge group and would love to see your work too. 

Keep Creating!
Wendy

End of the Tag A Day challenge

I'm at the end of another monthly challenge. I realized I've learned a few things from these challenges that I thought I'd share with you.  

Day 27- Perspective

Firstly, there is a reason they are called challenges and each month there has been a point where it really was a challenge although not always in the same way. Usually there comes a point in the month where I struggle to keep going. Wondering where all the ideas have gone and why did I think I could do a whole month of these!

Day 28- Art is...

And then at some point during the month I realized I'd gone a little off track from my original idea. With this months tags I did keep with the tag and stencil idea part but I also had some other things that I thought the tags would be that didn't entirely happen. I had hoped to use a larger variety of products on the tags so they could be reference samples in the future and this did happen on some of them, and it did give me an idea for a project more devoted for that purpose. 

Day 29- Calm

I also had planned for the tags to be inspirations creations that I could enjoy in the future which for the most part I think that happened. 

Day 30 Abundance

I learned that working on one tag(or project for that matter) at a time doesn't work for me. So it wasn't really one tag a day but I did get a tag done for each day of the month. And most days there was some time spent on tags. It is always good when I become more away of how I work best creatively.

Day 31- Past/Present/Future

And last but not  least, I learned that challenging myself is a good thing. I found each challenge made me focus more on the theme of the month and as a result I learned more about it.

Now with August's challenge done It's time to work on September. It's going to be a busy month for me so I think I'll make this next one a little easier. I'll share it will you very soon.

Happy Creating!

Wendy

Tag a Day with Stencils

I'm not sure about it actually being A tag a day but they did get done and that's what counts, right!? Here is the next patch.

Day 21- What if...

Day 22- Choose

Day 23- Another time

Day 24- In the moment

Day 25- Happy Layers

Day 26 Peace

Getting near the end I had to push it to get all of them done and I learned a few things along the way that I will share with you on the next post.

Happy Creating!

Wendy

More Tag-a-Day Stencil Challenge

Here is the next bunch of tags from this months challenge. I've discovered that doing the backgrounds are the easy part and then trying to figure out how to finish them can be a little more difficult. I think this week in Creative Studio we will be discussing ideas for focal points and finishing our tags.

Day 14- Fly

Day 15- Fearless

Day 16- Believe

Day 17- My Story

Day 18- New Day

Day 19- New Growth

Day 20- Explore

Happy Creating!

Wendy