Holiday Give-Away ...

I thought with Christmas coming it would be the perfect time to have a Holiday Give-Away! I know a lot of you are busy buying gifts for the special people in your life and I think one of my fabulous readers deserves a little gift of their own.

One of my lucky readers will receive 3 fun gifts. The first is a set of 4 cards whichever 4 cards you would like. The second gift is 5 recycled paper ornaments, they can be 5 of the same or a combination of your favorites and the last present is a $25.00 gift certificate to my Etsy Shop.

To enter the give-away all you need is a minute. Please follow my blog and my facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Blue-eYed-DragonflY/178652668856774 and leave a comment here and there. Easy as pie!

The give-away runs from today until December 8th at midnight, on the 9th I will write everyone’s name on a piece of paper, throw them into a hat and let Abbey pick the winner.

This contest is open to anyone and everyone! Tell your fellow bloggers and facebook friends, the more the merrier!

Happy Holidays, Heather

Free Shipping in my Etsy Shop!!!

I wanted to share a quick sale I have going in my Etsy shop from 11/26 to 11/30!!!

FREE SHIPPING !!!

On All Cards!!!

On All Paper Banners!!!

And on all Gift Tags!!!

Thanksgiving ...

The lovely women posing in this picture is my Great- Great-Grandmother, Mammy Otto. This is one of my favorite family photos. I have no idea why she had her picture taken with this pretty turkey but on Thanksgiving my only thought is he was dinner.

As I sit here this morning I feel so thankful and blessed for everything I have. I hope that everyone has a day full of love, hope, and happiness.

Happy Thanksgiving, Heather

Vintage Ornament Tree ...

Here are a few pictures of my newest commission painting. The fabulous customer who ordered the "Vintage Ornament Wreath" painting also ordered this whimsical tree decorated with vintage inspired Christmas Ornaments.

Today I am going to share a few facts about my art. I only buy 8 paint colors, White, Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Yellow Medium, Magenta, Crimson, Burnt Umber, Permanent Deep Green, and Windsor Blue.

I mix my own black. I think hand mixed black is so much richer than premixed. To create black you mix Burnt Umber, Windsor Blue, Permanent Deep Green and Crimson.

Gray is Burnt Umber, Windsor Blue, and White, not black and white.

You never highlight a painting with white you use yellow ochre. Shadows are the opposite color on the color wheel and flesh colors are created by mixing magenta, yellow ochre, and white.

I hope you enjoyed your mini art lesson!

Vintage Ornamet Painting ...

Hi, I hope everyone is having a great week! I wanted to pop in and share a new holiday painting I created for one of my fabulous customers, a Christmas wreath decorated with vintage ornaments.

Here are a few random Christmas facts about me ...

I only buy and decorate my house with vintage Christmas decorations.

I have to listen Christmas music when I create Christmas paintings.

Another random fact, I like colored lights better than white ones.

One of my favorite Christmas gifts as a child was a kitchen for my Barbie's. It smelled like vanilla.

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, The Grinch, and The original Frosty the Snowman are my favorite holiday specials.

Some New Christmas Items ...

I wanted to take a quick break from my busy life and share some new items that I have put in my Etsy Shop.

This is one of my newest Christmas cards, it was created with colored pencils and pen. I thought it was only fitting to feature a beautiful owl on a one of my Christmas cards.

Printed on the front of these pretty recycled ornaments is a print of a Christmas ball that was created with acrylic paint on a piece of wood.

I love how the "Smiling Cat" ornaments came out!!! I am hoping to create a few more cats when I have a little more time.

3 Cats Playing Peek-a-boo!

The black and whited recycled ornaments were inspired by vintage Christmas ornaments. The original pen and marker drawings were created on vintage book pages.

I am selling 4 handmade cards, 3 recycled paper ornaments, and 4 recycled gift tags featuring this beautiful Barn Owl as a holiday set in my Etsy shop. I think it's a fabulous gift for your favorite owl lover.

I am also currently working on a couple of commission paintings. I am hoping to share these festive pieces of art by the end of the week.

Smiling Cats, Colored Pencil Drawings ...

Yesterday was another beautiful day and I was able to create a few more colored pencil drawings while enjoying the great outdoors. Noah had a day off from school so we sat together outside. I drew and he built Lego’s while Abbey was at preschool. I am working on a series of silly smiling cats that I would like to turn into recycled paper ornaments. Here are my first two kitties. I would really like to create a few more cats, they are a lot fun to draw.

Today my little lady was home sick. So in between cuddling, coloring, and playing games I worked on this new colored pencil drawing, "Three Smiling Cats Playing in the Christmas Tree". I would like to use this image to create cards, gift tags, and ornaments. I am hoping to get all of these new pieces into my Etsy shop by the beginning of next week.

What a Difference a Week Makes ...

Last Sunday the kids were sledding and I was creating a snow witch, this week we bundled up grabbed a blanket and our toys and sat on the porch playing in the sun. It was a little cool high in the upper 50’s but I am not ready to be cooped up inside. Noah played with Lego’s, Abbey played with Barbie’s, they stole my camera and played wiffle ball. Best of all I was able to create a couple of new colored pencil drawings for cards, gift tags, and ornaments.

The first owl I created I am calling my “Rainbow Owl”. He is bright, loud, and fun. When I was creating him I pictured what he would look like as an ornament hanging on a pink Christmas tree.

The next owl I created is a little mellower. I used greens, reds, yellows and whites. Noah was humming Christmas songs all afternoon so when I created the Barn Owl I went with traditional holiday colors for this pretty bird.

It was a perfect Sunday afternoon.

Recycled Paper Ornaments and FREE SHIPPING in my Etsy Shop ...

Vintage Inspired Santa Ornament

I wanted to share some of the newest items I listed in my Etsy shop, Recycled Paper Ornaments. These fun ornaments feature prints of some of my colored pencil, pen, and pastel drawings printed on recycled card-stock. The front of the ornaments feature a little art print and on the back a piece of recycled cardboard colored with colored pencil, pastel, or crayon. After I glue together the ornaments I paint the back and the edge of the ornaments with gold glitter paint for a little sparkle. The ornaments hang from a piece of vintage cream colored thread I have purchased from the flea market.

Last year I used some to decorate Abbey and Noah’s teacher’s cookie bags and also used them to decorate our place settings on Christmas Eve. They can double as gift tags too, you can take a paint marker (I would use gold) and write a little message on the back of the ornaments and then attach them to a gift or a bottle of wine.

Orange and Blue Owl Ornament

Snowman with Tree Ornament

Rust and Purple Owl Ornament

Plastic Santa Ornament

Black Owl Ornament

Vintage Inspired Angel

FREE SHIPPING!

Now through November 16th I will be offering FREE SHIPPING for all of the items in the Spooky Halloween ART section in my Etsy Shop!

This Week ...

Halloween, a broken oven, 2 cars that were in for repairs, and a house full of sick people, it was an interesting week. Halloween was fun, Abbey was a Ladybug, Noah was a Werewolf, I was a Clown and well Michael was Michael.

Every year I try to make something gross looking for the kids to eat. Abbey thinks it's fun and Noah usually gets nauseous. This year for breakfast I made green zombie fingers oozing blood, with a side of brains and toast.

I still can't believe there was snow on the ground on Halloween!

Not everything was bad this week, my washer was fixed and should last me a long time. Yeah, no more laundy mat!

I created 2 new cards at the request of a fabulous customer and they came out beautifully.

We also had a house guest. While I was cleaning up the yard from the snowstorm I spotted this Monarch laying on the back porch. He was barely moving so I brought him inside and set him on a couple of zinnias I had in a vase. I don't think he got the memo about the snow. He lived a couple of days in the house. Unfortunately he did not make it to Mexico.

I love October but this year I am glad it's over. The ending was definitely scary and I am happy its November.