La Roue de Snail

This was a dream I had about a year ago. I sketched this up at that time, and it was actually my first post to this blog. So finally I came across this sketch recently and decided it was time to update it and make my dream come to life on paper. This was so much fun to color and let my imagination run wild.

KB :)

IF - Music

     I was enjoying my afternoon / evening working away and  listening to a little jazz, (Dizzy Gillespie) thanks to my Mudder (mother), and my hand just doodled away onto a clean sheet of paper and VOILA! my entry for Illustration Friday "Music".
     I used to play the clarinet for a few years and I would never puff out my cheeks in this manner otherwise it would have made a crazy honky noise I am sure of it! But it was funny to draw anyways :)
     As a huge fan of all music, I think it touches all of our lives in many different ways. We choose to listen to certain music based on our moods, and sometimes certain music playing will change our moods!
     I remember growing up my mother always listened to a lot of classical music and even though I may not have realized it at the time, we had a pretty calm household. Plus, I did much better with my studies listening to Vivaldi than the regular radio. I still do the same thing - music makes me happy... I don't know what I would do without it?
     Music is also a big tool of communication for me, which can be a play off of music affecting our moods, but sometimes their are just those songs that say what you wish you could - but all the easier that the song and the artist do it for you. (which in my case is probably much better! I can only sing in the shower and my car- haha ;)

Happy Creative Weekend!
Happy Holiday Shopping and Creating as well :)
Cheers!
Miss KB

IF - Unbalanced

I have slipped many times and lost my balance.
Typically I am flipped up in the air and then WHACK down on the ground so fast I don't even have a clue what happened!?  Some may call me clumsy... I simply would rather think that maybe I am just too busy looking at the world around me, instead of constantly watching my every step. Life is too short to be too careful all the time :)

Happy Creating!

IF - "Blur"

Shirley Twerley loves to twirl and swirl around in circles until the world around her is in a total blur!

(Haha - makes me dizzy just thinking about it!)

Frozen in Time with Kaleidoscope Eyes

To be frozen in time could be horrific or fun, depending on what time it is!?

This drawing makes me think of things like DejaVu, Wonderland, and Groundhog day,

fascinating in their own strange way.

By the Pale Moon Light...

Well as we all know Halloween is almost upon us. I have been looking so forward to this holiday that it is coming out in my drawings. I am also looking forward to some left over candy, wink wink!

By the Pale Moon Light
I Watch without Fright
As the Ghouls and Fools
Chase through the night!

Trick r Treat,

KB

Luminous Paper Lantern

Since the season turned to Fall here we have the house full of warmly scented flickering candles. Today I was feeling a bit crafty as usual and I wanted to make a paper lantern to go over a candle.

I originally saw the idea for a paper lantern in a Martha Stewart magazine. If you want to make a lantern for yourself, I am sure you could visit her site to find a template or
just make your own like I did.

I had to improvise a little bit, because I only have so many materials on hand. Here is what I used:
8.5 x 11 black card stock, 8.5 x 11 white vellum sheet, sharpies, tape runner, flower punches, scissors and some puffy black paint.
First I designed my template for the lantern onto a regular sheet of paper. Then I cut the template out and traced it onto my black card stock sheet twice and cut them out. Then I taped the two black lanterns together on one side.
Next, I drew some silhouettes onto my vellum sheet (I originally tried to print my images onto the vellum using my printer... this did NOT work, oopsie).
I then cut out my windows to fit the windows in the lantern. I then taped the vellum windows into place on the black lantern pieces.

Finally I taped the final lantern side edges together. I also decided to embellish it with flowers and some pretty puffy and shiny black paint.

For the candle: I used a glass jar and dropped a votive candle in it to protect the fragile lantern from catching fire. This also allows the color of the candle to flicker through the windows of your lantern.

This was a fairly simple project and fun to do! If you decide to create one of your own, please do share!
Happy Creating!
KB

*PS* I just started a new blog that I am posting some of my crafty things on... Please visit www.MyEnchantedMoon.blogspot.com

The "Good" Witch

I am looking forward to Halloween! It's pretty much right around the corner. I have always enjoyed Halloween. Everything from dressing up into what ever you want to be for the evening, the decorations, scary haunted stories to the candy of course! I do miss going from door to door Trick or Treating for candy, since I am an adult (although not at heart)! Trust me though I pushed the limit on Trick or Treating as long as I could into my teen years! Ha!
The candy is the best still, I remember somehow my sister always had WAY MORE than I did... even though we went to the same houses? How did she do that? Must have been her little trick, wink wink!
I think I am going to have to buy lots of candy this year to hand out! Just since I can't trick or treat I guess I can participate the other way! Then I can see all the cute costumes AND it will give me a reason to wear a costume too!

You can pick your nose, you can pick your friends...

But you can't pick your friends nose! This illustration is a play off of my sweet little niece Asia. Such a cutie! How many times have we all gotten caught just picking or itching our nose & its so embarrassing!

I even remember an episode of Seinfeld where Jerry is in his car in traffic, he's itching the side of his nose and the woman in the car next to him thinks he is digging for gold! TeeHee

I am in love with the color Purple!

My mother has the most beautiful Iris flowers in her garden! The vibrant shades of purple with the sun kissed yellow just stuns me every time I pass them by! Too bad summer is at its end now. But I am looking forward to fall as well. Its seems as though the garden gives one last big hurray before the end of the season.

We have a ton of bird feeders throughout the garden. So every morning it is like a social hour outside with all of the birds. And my goodness I never have had so much fun watching all of the different bird personalities. Cracks me up! Its like a bunch of catty women meeting for brunch to gossip! Haha

Happy Creative week!

Magnify "to increase in signifigance : exaggerate"

Sometimes we make a mountain out of a molehill.

For example, when I cannot find my other matching sock. I will look and look for it until I have completely messed up my entire room! Then I have an even bigger problem on my hands. When all I needed to do in the first place was pick out a different pair of socks. Or like my friends Jenn and Elanna would do... just wear mismatched socks (isn't that more fun anyway)!

Happy Creative Week!

Ben Yonner and his friends return to town

After a fun day and adventure with Mr.Socks, climbing trees and looking for bugs, Ben rides his bike back into town!

Caution - IF

Whenever I am hiking around... I am always curious to nature and exploring, but I tell you what, the minute I smell a skunk I am cautious and on the lookout! I can think of quite a few things I am cautious about so this was a fun IF topic to do, as I could have drawn so many different pictures... and still might!
This was also a bit of a challenge because I don't think I have drawn this expression until now. That is one thing I keep trying to continue to better myself with is my characters expressions.
Happy Creating to all :)

Wrapped - IF

When I was young we had this super long telephone cord (this was before cordless phones and cell phones) and when I was on the phone for any length of time, I would always find myself wrapped up in the cord!!

I am not sure how many phone cords we went through over the years, between my mom, my sister, and myself pulling and stretching that cord throughout the house and wrapping ourselves up in it... they had to stretch out to a mile long!

Happy Creative Week to everyone!

Impatience - IF

Hi all ! I am back to blogging and drawing finally. I have been back from vacation and just worked for 14 days straight - haha. Well I wasn't planning on doing anything for this Illustration Friday, but it came to me right before dinner... so I doodled this up quick and thought what the heck.


I used to love to jump through rain puddles (still do actually). And so I was always excited for the rain. Plus spending the time inside putting puzzles together and playing games was always a good time too on rainy days.

KiteSurfing

I have been fully emerged into the kiteboarding world for the last two months, because the traveling I am doing is with my guy - who is traveling to different locations on the east coast and upper midwest to do kite demonstrations.

The other day we were at a beautiful spot in Long Island and Patrick was riding the waves. Here is a picture of what I saw!

My imaginary little gnomes.

Again while camping in the Hamptons, we spent a lot of time walking and riding our bikes around the small forest we were camping in. The trees were all so big lush and green and full of moss (which I absolutely love because of the bright green color). I kept passing by a special tree that had a big opening in the bottom of it and covered with the bright moss. And so with my imagination, I think that there could be two sweet little gnomes that live in that tree. So I doodled another picture so I will remember that pretty tree. I have always thought of little tree homes for cute animals and imaginary friends since I was a child.

Enjoying some of natures beauty.

I am camping in the Hamptons, Long Island NY and the past two nights I have been so lucky to see a glittering forest full of Fireflies! It is so beautiful! So here is a picture, so I can remember. However it doesn't do the fireflies justice...as there were Hundreds. There is something so magical about them - it always makes my imagination run whenever I see them.

IF - "Craving"

This weeks Illustration Friday illo - Craving!

Any way here is my illo for "Craving" this weeks topic on IF... this is totally how I am feeling right now! I could eat all of these treats! Especially cupcakes - there is something so perfect about a cupcake, it is just the right amount! Enjoy and I hope everyone is having a wonderfully creative week!

Like I said in my last post we are traveling and the last two days we were tourists in Washington, D.C. - it is amazing and so much to see and do for free! I would recommend to anyone who has not been there yet. Also, we rode our bikes all around town instead of walking the National Mall. The bikes made a huge difference and so enjoyable!

Dreaming Big!

Self Portrait… I am constantly day dreaming and doodling everywhere I go. Plus, I love to keep inspirational quotes that I come across. I think my mom had a huge influence in that, as she is filled with inspirational quotes from her own creative mind and others that she has kept along the way.
Right now I feel so blessed that I have the opportunity to take some time away from the full time work grind, to travel and draw as much as possible. My guy and I are driving the East Coast in "Clark" our camper promoting kite boarding! Which is just so exciting on so many levels - sight seeing, meeting new friends, and the leisurely time to actually draw whenever I want! Times are tight and I know a lot of people are struggling through these economic times, but as long as we do our best to keep dreaming and working toward the next day – I believe we will all be better for it!
So I am going to keep plugging along and drawing (one of my favorite things anyway) and working hard to reach my dream goals! Much Love.

Yummy

I just think it is the cutest when little babies try to eat things (like big toys) the size of their head or bigger!

AnnaBelle listens to the music of her singing blue birds.

AnnaBelle loves music! She listens and learns new notes to play with her friends Bonnie & Bev Bluebird.

Lilly loves Hats!

I love hats, and when I was a little girl my mother had many pretty vintage hats that we would dress up in. Now a days, I still am in love with many different hats in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes I even feel just like this... Lilly can't decide which hat to wear, so just try them all on!

IF - "Adapt"

Here is my version of adapt through a Hermit Crabs eyes. As they grow they must find and adapt to a bigger shell!

We have been traveling the East Coast and this past weekend we were in Charleston, SC... and we just enjoyed every bit of it so much there was no time to doodle. But on this trip I have seen plenty of little hermit crabs so... that is what finally gave way to this IF pick :)

IF - "Cracked"

When I saw this weeks word for Illustration Friday all I could think of was jumping or stepping over cracks in any cracked walkways when I was little. Which was all due to the old rhyme "Don't step on a crack, or you'll break you're Mama's back."

To this day I still step over cracks if I think about it, Haha!

IF - "Contagious"

I really do believe yawning is contagious! I yawned the whole time I was drawing this illo - it was so funny!

IF - "Parade"

Bugs on Parade!

What a food parade these bugs are on! Enjoying a picinic to the fullest!
My take on www.IllustrationFriday.com's topic this week.

IF - "Hierarchy"

Here is what I came up with for this week's topic... "Higher Arcy"!

IF - Impossible

My take on "impossible" topic from IllustrationFriday.com
Anything is possible if you put your mind to it !

Easter egg fun!

These are two duck eggs that were given to me by my mother to decorate, and I was so excited with how they turned out I wanted to share. Creating these was such a delight, I am off to do more!

Like many others, I enjoyed Sex and the City over the past years. And as we all know, it has been put to rest. (which I am okay with)
In any case, I was watching a couple of re-run episodes the other day & doodling, during which I came up with this. . .
A little morbid I know but I figured sense the show has been put to rest why not draw the cast as zombies!?

Dark side

I guess I am still stuck in Valentine mode? Although it is a bit dark, but then again I have been a bit dark lately... I always go back and forth.

Time Clocks, watercolor

Time - illustrationfriday.com

Age over Time

Playing with Retro Media is Fun!

I have always enjoyed collages & creating them is so entertaining for me!

Here is My Valentine - used vintage valentines

I LOVE vintage cards & anything retro!

I want to

make more!

Illustration Friday - "Climbing"

This is a drawing a did quite awhile ago, but I figured it would work just as well

for today's entry into http://www.illustrationfriday.com/

A little girl climbs all the way up to hug the sun.

I had a little doodle bug today...

Here is my little doodle from today.

I guess we'll call her JulieAnne Readin!

She was a tiny tiny little doodle & I decided to take her & give her a little color :) She makes me want to go read!

Today, I have finally decided to get back to writing in a journal, but now through my blog. Might as well put it online - easy access - and I can share my thoughts, ideas, and creative energy with others.

Here is one of my most recent sketches this week... The slow traveling carnival. La Roue de Snail. I have to add plenty more detail and add some vibrant colors of course & then I can upload the update. But at least I got my idea on paper for now!