5th Set of Doodle Directory….on Sale in etsy

                 “S” is for SALE!!

Sometimes it’s a hard choice….do I doodle my alphabet or do I doodle my directory???



I was running out of doodle ideas until I read this comment from jinxxxygirl (thank you Deb)

6 There are so many doodles out there waiting to be put to paper that your doodle directory could be never ending!
on this post.  And I realized she was right!

In honor of this 5th set being released, I thought I should have a sale.  Now until June 4th, you can get my Doodle Directory prints for 33% off.  

Pricing List:

• 1 Set-   $8.99   (10 prints)  Sale $5.93
• 5 Sets- $24.99  (50 prints) Sale $16.50

Use Coupon Code DOODLE33 when you check out at my ETSY store and you’ll get the sale price plus shipping and handling.

Have a safe and Happy Memorial Day :D

Diptych….God

 

All I have to say is “I’m impressed with the Catholic School System here”.  Having moved here almost 18 years ago, when my daughter was one and my son was ready for kindergarten, all I heard about was how good the Catholic Schools were in this area.  This isn’t a city that hosts only 3 or 4 catholic schools, it’s got about 33 grade schools and about 7 high schools.  These are not your “nuns in habits whacking the knuckles of the boys with a ruler” schools.  These are normal, respectable, good schools that reinforce the values that are taught at home, simple as that.  They aren’t following the dictate of the government or some public schools for that matter where they’ve done everything they can to take God out of the equation.  Personally, I think that God helps keep things in perspective.  Anytime kids (people)  realize that it’s not all about them and that there is something bigger than themselves out there it’s a good thing.   This picture was taken as my daughter received her high school diploma from a Catholic High School.  The schools aren’t perfect, they still have to deal with drinking, drugs, stealing and cheating.  What’s good is there are consequences for these behaviors and the kids take note.   What was interesting is these 199 girls received over 13 million dollars in scholarship money.  Not petty change……btw, I’m not even Catholic.

If you don’t stand for something then you’ll fall for anything.



That pretty picture on top was taken by Chel at Wild and Precious life.  I wonder what she’ll say about God there.

Diptych….shelf

Since our word was Shelf, I want to show you my favorite shelf in my house.  These IKEA shelves  are in my bedroom.  I love them!  Not only are they 10 feet long, they work great as a TV stand.  I can put so much stuff on it and in it.  It fits my indecisiveness when I don’t know what I want to do with something.   I can just shove it in a cubby.

To find out more about Chel’s picture on top, we need to visit Wild and Precious life.

Doodle Directory….Set 5

I completed Set 4 three months ago.  Wow!  That means this group of ten prints took me as long to complete.  Well, I must confess, I didn’t really work on it much, just between projects and all. 

Lots of pictures coming, be FOREWARNED.  Above is print 41.



Next, Print 42.



Here’s 43….



Then there’s 44….



And now Print 45….



Can’t leave out #46.



Some of my favorite designs here in Print 47.



Some visual interest in #48.



#49….the monitor in the background definitely did not hold its true colors in this picture.



And last…but not least….Number 50!

These will be available in my etsy shop as soon as I get my act together.  I’ll let you know.

Diptych….History

History was our word this week.  My picture (bottom one) represents the History of our High School years.  Since it was Senior Walk out day yesterday for my daughter, I thought I’d use this for my shot.  As you can see just about every human emotion is displayed in this picture:  happiness, sadness, crying, excitement, embarrassment, humor, thankfulness, shyness, compassion and friendship.  What a day! 

What these girls don’t yet know is that these years aren’t the best years of their life (these are the formative years) and their worlds are just going to get bigger and better (hopefully).  But what they have is a history of tradition!  We make an investment into our kids.  My philosophy has always been “you either pay now, or you pay later”.  This scene is very different from my last day of high school….I think our tradition was to skip school and go to the beach.  Rebel that I was!!

I love pictures of books.  We’ll have to head over to Wild and Precious Life to find out what’s behind Chel’s shot.

Winner Chosen

First of all I want to thank everyone that took the time to answer my questions for this Blog Survey.  I’ve jotted down a bunch of suggestions from you all.  You guys always amaze me with your insight and positive feedback.

I used the Random Generator to pick the winner and she is:



I wish I could send out a directory to all of you, really!   Please stick around because I’ll be doing this again sometime.  I think they’re fun!

Phoenix Peacock please email your snail mail address to me here: elg921 [at] yahoo [dot] com

Thanks again EveryOne!

Cool stuff from my Bloggy Artist Friends

I’m going to spotlight some recent etsy purchases from my bloggy-friends.  The one thing they all have in common is the above statement written by my 12 yr old niece.   (She’s a precocious child…not too much gets past this one).  She had a birthday last month and since she’s always interested in the stuff I do when we visit, I thought I’d add to her little artsy-stash.



I went to Borders in search of Dawn’s book “Doodle Diary, Art Journaling for Girls".  I had to go to the children’s section and I almost missed it.  As you can see the size of this book makes it easy to overlook.  I was lucky to nab one before they were all gone.



Last week I got this nice handmade Thank You card from said niece.  In it she wrote the following:
Thank you for all the art supplies.  I love them!  I especially love the doodle diary.  I’ve already learned a lot of new art things in it.  In fact I’m using some of the things I learned in this card.

Just sweet, this card is!  I just wanted to let you know, that 12 yr old girls dig this book.  Kudo’s to you Dawn for creating it!



I was so happy when I received these prints from Rachel last week.  I had to hunt down white frames for them, and then I added some red textured poster board (in lieu of $13 matting per piece) to the back to make the 9 x 12 prints work in the 10 x 13 frames. 



I’ve created a Rachel wall in my spare bedroom, where I can share these colorful and insightful messages with family and friends who visit.

 

This is… without a doubt… my Favorite-must-have print.  I need this gentle reminder.

 

Then there’s Aimee-with-Attitude!!  I love her sense of humor…she never fails to crack me up because she ALWAYS says what she’s thinking.  What a way with words this girl has.  Like the card above says:  When someone give you an odd look and grumbles “That’s not the way it’s done” just smile and wink and say “I know but its my way and I like it”. Talk about spunk!!  She’s loaded!  I could use a bit of her confidence that’s for sure.

 

Purchased  4 prints from Aimee at Christmas.  I gave one away and didn’t click a pic of it, shoot!



A little reminder on our dry-erase board as I enter or leave the house each day.



And I have to mention my very first etsy purchase.  It was from the VERY TALENTED Rebecca of Penny Lane Ink.  I totally fell in love with her girly-postcards.  I even did a whole post last summer about it HERE.

My new philosophy is I WILL support the artists that I like here in blog-land.  No, I won’t buy something just to buy it.  If I can afford it and it speaks to me, I’m getting it!  Because I’ll tell you one thing …..you won’t find this quality and these unique type of things at Wal-mart or Target.  Why not be the first on your block with a fun artsy item on the forefront?

Water Doodle….Nummer Drei

Went to the local Art Store and bought the thickest watercolor paper they sell (300 lb.).  I wanted the one with a bit of  “tooth” to it, not super smooth and not too rough.  I think the smooth is Cold Press (or is that the one I bought)…..Oh-evie…I didn’t write it down, because I thought I’d remember it.  I avoided the super smooth one because with all my little lines and such…the smooth one would have left no room for error!  I need lots of room for error!  LOL!

 

I had to cut down the paper to 18 x 24 (for the poster size frame I bought).  And I’m telling you….this is a lot of white space to doodle in.  This took  F.O.R.E.V.E.R.  The size did not lend itself to being dragged around with me to work during breaks and such.  Could be another reason it took...so...darn...long.



It’s usually best if I don’t work on this sort of thing on Friday nights.  A wee bit-o-beer introduces a wee-bit-o-wobble!  Ugh!

 

You can see the “tooth” of the paper well in this shot.  I didn’t stick with just Black markers….I have 3 gray Faber-Castel markers that I used in this piece as well.  Makes for more dimension I think.



I prefer to let my favorite color dominate…and it did a good job here.



Pulled in some traditional doodle patterns and added a few new ones on this part.



Things are starting to take shape now….and I’ve only been working on it 11 days!



Making decisions for the background.  Had to ask my daughter for advice.  Feedback sure helps when I’ve been starring at a piece for awhile.



da…Daa….DAA!!  It was decided to use the same background as Water Doodle One and Water Doodle Two, since they were going to be seen together.



This is a quick fix for my WALL OF DREAD that has been sitting bare for 2 years.   I will probably do a couple more of these because it still looks pretty bare.  I am not a very good decorator….I get too overwhelmed.  Should probably change the name of this blog then, LOL!!  Hopefully these pictures add a bit of visual interest to my simple abode.  Unfortunately now,  I have no excuse to not clean or prepare for company any more! 

Blog Feedback with a Giveaway!

I was over at Daisy Yellow the other day and she was talking about blogging and why we visit certain blogs, and what we like about them.  Which lead me to do my own little reader survey about Draw, Doodle and Decorate.



So, I’ll start at the beginning with the obvious. 
1-Would you like to see more doodling on this blog?  Zentangles with or without color?



Or…
2- Are you more drawn to the Sketches here.  Do I post too many pictures of the process or not enough?



I could do more with my Doodled Alphabet.  Incorporate a letter or a Word into my posts more often. 
3-Would this be appealing?



Or….
4- Do you like colorful, whimsical and unrealistic type drawings?



I do a few birds a season….
5- Would you like to see more of these?  Less?  Should I offer a black/white coloring book type print made available for your own use?

 

Then there’s the ever-popular Doodle Directory…..
6- Would you like more posts related to the directory?



Just to keep it fair…..

7- Does the changing of the Blog Header make you dizzy or does it add interest when you stop by?
8- I plan on doing some interviews with other Artists/ Art Journalers.  Would this be of interest?
9- Artsy-type Book Reviews are always fun to read.  I think word of mouth in blog land, can really help a new writer.  Do you buy books after reading a good review?
10-  Product reviews are not my fortee…..I like what I like and tend to stick with what works.  But I love posts where I can see Art studios or Art tools.  Would these types of pictures be inspiring to you?



And now the moment we’ve all been waiting for…

I will give one FULL 40 print Doodle Directory to a RANDOM person who leaves a comment here with a Blog Suggest/Criticism or Insight by midnight EST May 11.  There’s no right or wrong answer, and I’ve developed pretty thick skin over the years.  So, don’t hold back!  Change is good and this is the only way I know how to get you guys to say what you might be thinking.  LOL!!
*Sorry, only open to people with a US snail mail address.

Thanks for playing and stopping by :)

Diptych Day….View

I picked the word this week….View….My backyard trees finally have some pretty green leaves and when the light is right, I can look outside my window and the color of my walls will be the EXACT color of the leaves on the tree.   Love this sort of thing.  However, it didn’t play out that way.  I notice it more in the summer months, and I think it has to do with the amount of light reflected inside the house due to the suns position.  Unfortunately this shot wasn’t as good as my memory of this view from last summer.

I love Chel’s picture on top!  Love the colors and the sharpness of it all.  She has been taking a lot of these diptych pictures with her iphone and I will be just floored if this was taken with her iphone as well.  Check out the story behind Chel’s picture at Wild and Precious life.

And to all you Mother’s out there….Happy Mother’s Day!!