A WINNER!

My sincere thanks to everyone who stopped by and left me a comment during the OWH Memorial Day Bloghop.

As promised, I made a Random.org pick from all comments received, and the winner of my blog candy is:  LOUISE at Trinity Paper Arts. 

Congratulations Louise....I'll be in touch with you later this week for mailing instructions.

Do hope everyone enjoyed all the inspiration at the hop and is now busy creating the next million OWH handmade cards for our deployed heroes to use.

~~Dolores~~

Welcome!                                         

So glad you've stopped by to visit my corner studio.   Normally I share some of my paintings with you, and since I posted a couple just a few days ago, today it's dedicated to the Operation Write Home Memorial Day Bloghop.  If you've arrived here from Lisa's blog, Stamping with a Mission, then you're in the right place, but if you need to start at the beginning, just click the bloghop badge shown on the right -------------   

Since we are honoring Memorial Day this weekend, our mission is to make a "missing you" card for a deployed hero to write home on, and here is mine:

This is an example of the "Dimensional Ruffle card Tutorial"   posted by Sandy on April 29, 2011 on the OWH Stars and Stamps blog, and can be found under the Tutorials section,  along with a great U-Stream video.  I used scrap pieces of blue and white design paper for each of the ruffles trimmed with a scallop punch, then glued onto a blue base front and attached to white cardstock.  I felt it only needed a small flower and a little butterfly punch to finish it off with blue ribbon.  Amazingly enough, it really levels out with each row and isn't too bulky.

BLOG CANDY
To entice you to leave a comment for me on what you think of my attempt with this card, I'm offering some sweet blog candy for one lucky person:

A winner will be chosen through random.org on Wednesday at 9:00 pm EST, so check back then to see if you've won. 

But, before you leave here now, please scroll down to see a previous post of some paintings I've done recently in my studio and let me know what you think of them.  I'd really appreciate that.

NEXT STOP!
Then you can proceed to the next stop on this hop which is Nancy's blog Scrap Happens!!!  You won't want to miss Nancy's inspirational work, as well as those who follow.  This is fun and a great way to get new ideas for your own creations.  Enjoy the hop and have a great Memorial Day weekend!

~~Dolores~~

My Paintings

It's been a while since I've posted here, but I really have been busy the past weeks attending a pastel painting studio at our local Art Center, and working on them at home as well.  Want to share just a couple of them here with you today for your comment:

This "Foggy Mountaintop" is a
pastel that I made from a photo and
sketch done while in Bar Harbor,
Maine.  It's 11x14 on Wallis paper.

And this pastel, an11x14 on Colorfix
paper,  is a  wooded scene done after a
hike along the CandO canal here in
Maryland.  Can't decide on a title, but
perhaps you can give me a suggestion.

I would really like to receive a serious critique of these, and don't hesitate to
say what your thoughts are or what might be changed to improve it.  Hope these photos are viewed clearly for you... maybe I need some better ones?

Thanks for your input..... and for stopping by to see me.   Now I have to get busy making a card for the OWH Memorial Day Bloghop.  Do plan to come back this weekend, starting on Saturday at 10am EST, and be inspired by all the creativeness being presented to honor our deployed military men and women.

~~Dolores~~

Welcome Spring!

Spring greetings everyone!

It is not officially spring...yet....but it is looking like it today as it's a pleasant 50 degree Sunny day here in Frederick, MD and hopefully, where you are as well.  

As many of you probably already know, the celebration of spring is being kicked off by Operation Write Home this Saturday, March 5th, with the Spring Bunny Hop on their Stars and Stamps blog,  and I'm sure all the cardmakers are geared up and ready for this marathon of inspiration.  I look forward to checking out as many of the blogposts as I can, but am not actually participating myself.  However, thought I'd better put out the welcome mat anyway in case some of my blog comments entice one of you to visit me here too.  And here's  my greeting card of welcome to you in honor of spring's lillies and approaching Easter season.  The photo doesn't really show up the green base or the gold embossed cardstock.

I believe I mentioned in a previous post that I had planned to attend a pastel painting studio at our local arts center, which I have been doing the past few weeks.  It's been great to get me motivated as I've been hibernating too much all winter and needed this inspiration to paint again.  So, thought I'd share a couple of the pieces that I created.

This is done from a photo of a fall scene with a chapel tower, and I liked the layout design so tried my best with it.  I haven't titled it as yet, or framed it, but plan to do that soon.

Another one I completed was also taken from a photo at Loch Lynn, Scotland, and the foreboding stormy sky inspired me to want to paint it.

I completed another woodland scene and am still working on a floral, but will share those with you at another time.   I was pleased that I was able to get these done in the past few weeks, and now with spring coming,  hope to keep this going. 

Thank you again for stopping by to visit me,  especially if you got here during the OWH Spring Bunny Hop, and hope you'll continue checking out the creativity there.  And in that spirit, here's a card using Sandy's great little

digi bunny.

Bye bye now!

~~Dolores~~