Monday, January 14, 2013

Doodle Valentines

A couple of years ago, I made some doodled Valentines for my family.  Maybe you remember them.  If you need a refresher you can find the original post HERE
Well, the other day, I was going through my blog stats and found that those Valentines are, hands down, the most popular thing I have here on this little blog of mine.  Thanks to Pinterest, that page has been viewed nearly 1000 times and I've seen it pinned EVERYWHERE!  I think it is so cool to be searching around Pinterest and see something that you have created.  I'm so grateful for all of the support.  So in honor of Valentines day, and in gratitude to all of you who like the Doodle Valentines, I have made a little gift.
I made you your own Doodle Valentines.  All you have to do is print and color them.  Now since I gave away the original Valentines to my family, I had to doodle new ones and while they are not exactly the same, they are pretty close.  You can find the PDF HERE.  I used watercolors on the original Valentines, but I wouldn't recommend using them if you print the PDF with an inkjet printer.  Use a dry media, like colored pencils.  If it were me and I wanted to use watercolor (which I would), I would print the page and have it photocopied on 110 lb. cardstock.  You can read more about the other supplies I used on the original post.  I hope that you enjoy coloring them and giving them to your loved ones this year.
Disclaimer:  To say that I am not technologically savvy is an understatement, so it is likely that making this PDF has taken me ALL DAY.  Also, it is highly likely that this link won't work and if that is the case, let me know and I will try banging my head on the keyboard again!


Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Just Can't Let It Go

How can you NOT love the day when the new Dick Blick catalog arrives in the mail?  You know, the BIG one.  How can you NOT cancel all plans and items on your to-do lists on the day that a catalog that states, right on the front cover, "over 70,000 art supplies inside" finds its way to your mailbox?  How can you NOT love when that day rolls around each year?  It is an absolute joy!  (By the way, I think I should mention here that I have not received the new catalog yet.  I can actually hear people yelling, "What's going on?  I didn't get mine!") 
I crazy LOVE the Dick Blick catalog, which is why I think I have such a hard time letting go of the old one.  I have (almost) no trouble getting rid of the old phone book but, while the phone book IS full of good collage fodder, it only has a page or two that are really interesting to me.  Not true with Dick Blick.  Nearly every page contains something that I didn't even know existed, but now must have.  The Dick Blick catalog represents POSSIBILITIES to me.  Beautiful, colorful possibilities.  So, in an effort to make myself feel better about discarding the old catalog, I've been trying to use it up.
See all of these itty, bitty, color swatches?  Well, that's what's left after I used about a bajillion of them making this:
This entire page is made from bits and pieces of the 2010-2011 Dick Blick catalog.  I'd like to say that making use of my old catalog has made it easier to get rid of, but no, I think it has made us even better friends.  Now I am just thinking about even MORE possibilities!