Well hey there and Happy Hanukkah to all who celebrate! Hope your season is going well so far!

I thought I might pop in with a little how’s-it-going myself as I’m on a sabbatical-that’s-not-very-sabbatical-ish. Commissions are underway but as most are gifts I won’t share them til after Christmas.

First, one expectation that seems to never fail to happen: getting sick when I have down time. It’s as though my body says “Hey! We have time to lay around and not do anything for days on end!” Fortunately these two nursemaids pin me down to administer pup snuggles.

That artisan fair

It went fairly well, all in all! Not as organized as I’d have liked, but I sold a decent number of the tags, bookmarks, and ornaments that I’d made for it, and a few paintings as well. Plus some commissions. All good!

The atmospheric river

Wreaking no end of havoc where I live….but so far so good at my house.

The ballet

I got to go see the Nutcracker this week! And surprisingly enough I met the mom of one of the dancers on Threads who’d posted about being SO PROUD of their child who’d wanted to be a ballerina since 3 years old….and now is a soloist at the Pacific Northwest Ballet. A lovely night out!

The destash and more….

I’m having a big ol’ last sale of the holiday season since we’re approaching the time when the post office can’t get art to you in time for Christmas. 

Some new pieces are in the shop, and even a destash, and tags, and ornaments, and, well, I gave early access to patrons (another reason to become one, lol!) and they bought up a lot of the treats.

But there’s still lots left, and I’m fundraising for World Central Kitchen! So if you need a set of alcohol markers, or a mini painting or ornament for a gift, or, well, anything there – I’m going to the post office next week and can ship it out to ya.

The story of the bears

One of the group of items that’s in the shop has a special little story. I found these little bears at Goodwill a few weeks ago – partly painted. Their noses and toes only. At first I picked up the bag and wondered, what the heck? Who paints just part of something? Then the thought occurred to me that it might have been an artist who didn’t last long enough on this earth to finish the project. 🙁 And I made it a little mission night after night to finish these babies and make them the best little bears they could ever be. I’m not sure I’m ready to part with them yet, but I added them to the shop if you want to give one a home. And think of all the half-completed craft projects that never get a chance to be finished. Go complete that one you’ve got sitting around, okay?

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So tell me, did Eggnog Lady crack you up too? By the comments she received, I think she served her purpose! ha! She’s not making another appearance, but she DID whisper an idea that was a good one: ADD TO the goodies we’re giving away this weekend!

First, there’s the original drawing – about 8×10 – that I knew would make a lovely printable. I needed to not only create this so I could work out the drawing details for the line drawing, but then make samples. 

Black Friday deals made sweeter

Watch the video below and scroll to the end to leave comments or questions — or click HERE to watch it on YouTube and leave comments over there. I read both dutifully!

(If you missed Eggnog Lady…)

Watch the video below and scroll to the end to leave comments or questions — or click HERE to watch it on YouTube and leave comments over there. I read both dutifully!

Beary Good Friends printable & class

The course is ONLY available when purchasing the Beary Good Friends printable…so it’s not listed publicly on the site. But since you can get the printable just by adding $50 to your cart, then the class comes along with it automatically! (After this weekend it’ll be priced at $14, but if all you want is the printable and class, you can get that for a sweet $10!)

YouCan Toucan class

At $100 you’ll ALSO get the YouCan Toucan class — which has three printables in it too! The lessons are in colored pencil, water-based marker, and alcohol marker. If you get to $100 you’re getting plenty of stuff! This class will be available after Black Friday weekend, but right now it’s on sale for only $23.99.

Happy art mail, anyone?

I was talking with an art bestie recently about how our overflowing sketchbooks are full of a lot of stuff that’ll never see the light of day. And there’s some good stuff in there! So I’ll be willing to part with a few of those for people who purchase $200+ in the Black Friday sale at Art-Classes. I’ll probably look at the kinds of things you purchased, and maybe send something related if I can! 

Check others’ art shops today!

If you have a favorite artist—I’m talking an indie person, not a multiperson shop—may I encourage you to go look and see what they’re up to? We’re all frantically trying to get eyeballs today, and everyone can use YOUR help in getting the word out. Artists appreciate that kind of support so much!

Are you like me? Love all those fancy funky fold cards with things that have multiple folds, flip and slide? I play with them til they fall apart when I get one because they’re so. much. fun!

However, when I make cards, I’ve focused on coloring for years now – and had gotten rid of a lot of the tools needed for all the fancy shmancy stuff. But I decided to finally get down to finding some funky folds that’ll work with my colored panels for cards.

Tutorial: Funky Fold Cards for artists like me

Watch the video below and scroll to the end to leave comments or questions — or click HERE to watch it on YouTube and leave comments over there. I read both dutifully!

Funky Fold Class

Over at Artventure , the class is mostly available (I say mostly because Apple is slow about getting approvals done; if you’re on an iOS device, you can go to the web and purchase the class and it’ll become available to you also on your phone or ipad.) But it’ll be fun for the folks who want to do something a little special with your colored cards – whether scenes or just an image.

As I had promised a while back, I used the 20 images colored in the 4 Favorite Things classes (all seen on the Holiday page) to create cards in this class that’s all about the engineering of the card bases. There are five templates, some have both horizontal and vertical templates….and since completing it realized I had another idea or two so there might be more added to it, too! 

To get to the class, just pop into Artventure and look in the list of classes on the left hand menu!

Swap is almost closed!

If you were thinking about signing up, get on it! Deadline for signup is October 31. Go to Artventure and look for this orange graphic in the Featured section.

Weekly Zoom calls

I’ll be continuing weekly Zoom calls through Thanksgiving – please do join us! They’re in Artventure (are you getting the idea that’s my social hub? lol!) and the kettles colored below were in the Thursday call. Unfortunately the replay didn’t capture the right screen, so only those who showed up got to see it. But I did post some tips on a post over at Artventure; the kettles drawing is in the Watercolor Favorite Things class but I colored them in pencil. Monday’s Zoom will also be colored pencil, so be sure to weigh in on the medium in the comments on the event page!

Heads up for cardmakers

My next video is also a card video – woohoo! Be sure you’re subscribed to either my blog or YT to get notified!

Supplies

1. Trimmer
2. 12 x 12 Score Board
3. Detail scissors
4. Fingertip Knife
5. Dimensional adhesive
6. ATG adhesive gun 
7. ATG tape
8. Lawn Fawn papers:
   1. textured canvas cardstock – blue 
   2. moonstone cardstock 
   3. blue jay cardstock 
9. Trinity Stamps
10. Colorado Craft Company stamps

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If you’re a blog subscriber only, you might well have missed a few things! So today I’m catching up a tidge.

A few things have changed

This year I changed up my schedule, and it’s very much agreeing with the YT algorithm:

• Videos are at noon on Tuesdays and Saturdays
• These are usually “Premieres” which means if you hop onto my YT channel at noon that day, there’s a live chat you can join in. If there’s a Premiere set, then it means I’ll be there for Q&A or just to say hey.
• Fridays are YT shorts – often cards!

I don’t post about the shorts here on the blog because, well, they don’t “embed” well in blog posts. If you like shorts and want to see them when they post, subscribe to my YT – or check Artventure. I tend to post everything there, though sometimes in chat when it’s small stuff like a little short.

But – below you’ll find some thumbnails to tap on that are linked to that short. OR you can click HERE to see all the shorts on one page.

MOUSE SKETCH

Such a cutie patootie! ( Animals classes)

MATCHING SKINTONES

Just as in the Human Rainbow II class!

PERFUME BOTTLES

In watercolor pencil. Supracolor Watercolor pencils – Honey Bee Perfume Bottles

Instagram break

I’ve been on an IG break – I’m so mad at the changes they’re doing that are treating creators terribly, as well as viewers – so instead I’ve been sharing some of my extra creations instead over at Artventure. It doesn’t mean I’m gone from IG and I might post something there this week just so the site doesn’t think I died. LOL

(I was gone for a week and SUDDENLY I had 100 new followers!? What’s up with that!?)