www.susankweckesser.com

Friday, June 26, 2015

Trees are poems

Hello, friends. Larissa here with you today. I wanted to create a watercolor to frame for my wall. I am a sucker these days for awesome verses. 
I found this verse while looking around Pinterest one night and have been thinking of something use it on. Today I finally found the perfect image. 
I am using these amazing stamp 


I stamped the tree and bird on watercolor paper. 
I then used my Distress Inks to watercolor the image. I did the background with different blues. 
Once the paper was completely dry I went around the edges with a black and white marker.

Then I hand wrote the quote on the bottom. 
"Trees are poems that Earth writes upon the sky." by Kahil Gibran

To finish it off I added a little red stickles to the hearts on the tree. 


I hope you enjoyed my post today. Have a wonderful day and weekend. 

Larissa 

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Floral Arch by Dana Tatar


Hi! Dana here today sharing an arch I created with Susan K. Weckesser Live In Color floral patterned paper and some of my favorite chipboard. I backed an arch frame with patterned paper and then used a stencil with a Ranger paint dabber to add a layer of white flowers over the colorful background print. I then topped the paper with several chipboard flowers that I colored with ink. I wrote a quote by Mahatma Gandhi around the frame with a Ranger pen, which reads; "To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves." To finish this piece I covered the chipboard with a coat of Ranger Glossy Accents.


Thanks for stopping by today!

~Dana Tatar - Susan K. Weckesser Creative Contributor

Monday, June 15, 2015

A Little Color Equals a lot of Joy


The last few months have been pretty crazy. Some days, I have to admit I feel like I am in a dream. The days swirl by me as I watch so many things come to pass. I try to keep up with my kiddos as their exciting lives explode into so many new adventures. I try to keep a even & delicate balance between family, work. Many times I feel like I am walking I tight tight rope. I don't want to fall off so so I am careful to keep a  balance. Right now my immune system is really out of whack while my body is body fighting this Cancer, so I really make sure that I am getting enough sleep, healthy foods and smiles! It is crazy as I run for this test or that one, and then anxiously wait for results. Many days my saving grace is to go to my studio to work on a piece of art. I can loose myself and relax. Color and art is really SO healing! 
The other day I was finishing up a deadline for an article and I had some paint dobs left on a palette. I started playing with them and before I knew it this appeared. I kinda like it. It really is important that we all embrace our own style whatever it might be! 
(This was painted with Dina Wakley's Acrylic paints from Ranger Ink)
Art and color is fun. We are surrounded be it each and every day! So embrace it and have some fun! Relax and enjoy! 
Have a super awesome a creative day! And if your day starts to get a little stressful take five minutes and do a little paintings or doodling and relax! Life really can be so beautiful!!! 

Hugs,

Susan xo


Friday, June 5, 2015

Wonky Street Book Cover


Hi Susan K. Weckesser fans! Dana Tatar here sharing a colorful book cover today. This journal cover was super fun to put together! I paired Susan K. Weckesser whimsical patterned paper and stamps with the Wonky Street Book Cover Kit designed by Neil Walker. I painted the cover with Ranger acrylic paint and added some textured designs with the Susan K. Weckesser A Little Bit Washi Stamp Set. I cut the sun and clouds from Susan K. Weckesser patterned paper and added a bit of doodling around the edges. I secured the houses to the book cover with adhesive foam for added dimension. Susan's papers make super colorful backgrounds! I added numbers and mini people to each house. The sentiment from Susan's What's Up Gnomey? Stamp Set was the perfect finishing touch.

I'm planning on filling this book with photos from my neighborhood get-togethers. Thanks for stopping by today!

~Dana Tatar - Susan K. Weckesser Creative Contributor

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Hello Gnomie

Good morning, friends. I pulled out my favorite "What's Up Gnomey" set and decided to make a summer card. I just wanted something to send a friend to say Hi!
I stamped Gnomey on a piece of 110 lb white card stock. I stamped him on another piece of pattern paper as well. I colored his skin with my copics and paper pieced his clothes and hat with the pattern paper. I then stamped a few mushrooms, a flower and a butterfly from the same set. I colored them all with Copic markers. I had the little hello die left over from another card so I added it to the top of the card.

To finish the card front, I added a little clear Wink of Stella to the mushrooms and a bow made of twine.

This is by far my favorite stamp ever. I have done so many different things with him. He can be used for every holiday.
If you don't already have this stamp you NEED it. Trust me you REALLY NEED it!!

Have a wonderful day friends.


Monday, June 1, 2015

Gnome Guardian of the Creek Fairies


I'm so excited because Susan asked us to create something for our gardens this month and I am all about creating a new fairy garden...I mean, you can never have too many fairies or gnomes in your garden, can you? I found an abandoned bird feeder last month in a junk yard and installed it along my creek bed. This is going to be my summer project to create a fairy garden and I can't wait to get started!

Graphix sent me some awesome Super Sanded Shrink Film to play with and I just had to make a guardian gnome to watch over the place while the fairies slept during the day. And what better gnome than our own, What's Up Gnomie stamp set to get started with! First I stamped the images onto a sheet of the shrink film with my Stazon ink pad and had a minor oops...I didn't get the whole sun image stamped cleanly so I used my black Faber-Castell Pitt pen to re-ink the lines and used the same pens to color in my images.

After the images were colored in, I fussy cut them out and punched holes where I knew they needed to be. I used 2 different size punches, and you need to make sure you punch your holes before baking them! (Mr. Gnomie is the only one who didn't get a hole punched through 'cause I have other plans for him!)

Then it's off to watch them shrink in the oven following the directions on the packaging. I used Parchment paper to lay them on and a (Cricut) spatula to press on top of them when they came out of the oven 'cause sometimes they can curl up on you a bit. I just love how tiny they are!
Do not use utensils that you are going to eat off of, but dedicate a couple for crafting purposes.

Then I did a little prep work on them by first gessoing the back of Mr. Gnomie since I didn't want him to be translucent and sealing all of them with DecoArt Satin Varnish because they would be outside all the time and I want them to be protected.

Then the fun...I strung the tiny little flower and mushrooms with a gold bead between each one to the sun from the Fly Away stamp set.

And Mr. Gnomie got a special stand created for him by straightening out the bottom ½ of a large paper clip and gluing it to his backside with some Helmar 450 Adhesive.

Here's a picture of the Guardian Gnome and his little windchime that he hung up for the fairies to enjoy!

Would love some input of what color(s) to paint the fairy house gazebo?