Holly Doodle Designs

Hello girls.  My BRILLIANT and handsome husband fixed my computer!  YAY!  And he even was able to save every single picture of my little ones as well as all the spreadsheets I already started for my taxes.  Oh yeah, he’s a keeper.  He also scolded me for not backing up my pictures, but I think my tears at the thought of losing said pictures made him realize I had learned my lesson, and good.  I’m so grateful.

I still have no camera, but I will next week.  However, once again I borrowed my sister’s camera to show you a peek at the tutorial I’m going to do on Friday, right here on my blog.  It’s totally free, just for fun.  I’m going to try to have some things ready for sale by then, but I may not.  Either way, I will still be showing you how to make these darling little pedestals.  Aren’t they fun?

So gather up your ruffles, trim, millinery, ribbon, paints, berries and bows and be ready for a fun day on Friday.  

I’ve had a few emails from people asking me where I learned to paint (see the rose painting in my last post).  I did not take classes, really.  Well, I take that back.  I did take a few classes on china painting years ago, and even though it’s a completely different concept, it made me think about things differently.  I would recomend finding a local teacher.  You could check local craft stores, or even adult education at colleges near by.  But mainly, I read books.  I recomend finding books by artists who’s style you like.  But, here are a few basic tips for painting flowers (or anything really):

* Think about light and shadow.  Nothing in nature exists without light and shadow. 

*  Colors are not pure in nature.  A flower may read “pink” to you, but if you look closely you’ll see taupe, gray, even blues and greens. 

* A little bit of yellow brings flowers to life

* Practice drawing the shapes first.   Take photos of your subject…. roses in your garden for instance, or even from gardening books.  Trace the shapes with tracing paper.  This helps you remove the distraction of color and see the actual architecture of the flower.  Then add shadow only, and you will be surprised how it starts to change the look.

* Think about how petals wind around, are not perfectly shaped, wrinkle and fold, have insect bites, etc.

* Lifelike flowers are not perfect.  They’re not flat like in a presser.  Niether are leaves. 

* Get good brushes.  You will paint like a 5 year old if you use your little kid’s brushes.

* Really, read books on the subject.  They’re so helpful.  Amazon.com has TONS of them.

Maybe someday I’ll do a blog showing the stages of a painting, but I’m not organized enough for that right now!  ha ha….

Anyway, hope this helps.  Now, meet me here on Friday for a fun spring play day!

Hello friends.  Guess what?  My computer is completely gone.  Crashed.  Dead.  Done.  Won’t even boot up.  Thankfully, I have a brilliant computer geek for a husband, so I’m hoping he can breathe a little life back into it for at least a little while.  ALSO, I still have no digital camera!  It bit the dust a week or two ago.  So, thank you to my sister who loaned me her camera and laptop to do a little blogging today.  

After the computer died this week, while I SHOULD have been doing my taxes (but couldn’t because of the computer issue), I painted this rose painting.  I haven’t painted in a year or so.  I wanted a more realistic look.  It came out a bit more cartoon-y than I wanted, but it was fun to get my paints out.  I was dreaming of spring and roses and gardening.  I’m SO ready for summer!

And I also have been cleaning out and organizing my “studio” craft room.  My husband calls it the “crap room” because it’s always such a shameful mess.  I’m talking can’t walk on the floor kind of mess.  It all looked so lovely, if just for a day, so I thought I’d show you.

Tonight I have a class at Paper Crown and the rest of the week will be spent at my 6 year old’s t-ball tournament.  They won their first game of the tourney last night in TRIPLE overtime!  Isn’t that funny?  The bad part is we were out until 11:00 on a school night.  Ridiculous.  Who makes these schedules?  Obviously not someone who has ever had a kindergartener.  On Saturday, they have to play a minimum of FIVE games.  SO crazy. 

Oh, and next Friday I am planning a fun day.  I’m going to show you a free tutorial for a fun project you can make, and I’ll also actually have a few things for sale!  It’s my Spring Fling Friday Fun-day!  I hope you’ll join me.  More peeks in the next few days.  When I have access to a camera again.  *sigh*

I hope you’re having a lovely day.  If you’ve emailed me, I’m not ignoring you, I just can’t get to my email right now.  See you soon (I hope!).

I’ve always been a doodler.  Hence the name of my blog.  I remember doodling even as a little kid on napkins at resteraunts and the back of my mother’s checkbook on long car rides.  Isn’t that funny?  Anytime I’m on the phone, there is a piece of paper in front of me with a million swirls, flowers, birds, hearts, whatever scratched out on the sheet.

I used to work as a service rep for a phone company when I was in my early twenties.  We had to keep a log of our calls both in the computer and by hand.  You could tell if the calls were going well based on the amount and type of the doodles in the margins!  ha ha….  I’ve designed T-shirts, banners, and other illustrations for churches and parades in our little town just for fun.  And at the beginning of my little art business, I painted art for children’s rooms.  I’ve always loved to draw.  I’ve never kept a journal, I probably should, because all those little sketches are lost to time now.

So yesterday, my youngest son couldn’t sleep.  He had a late, loooong nap and you know how that goes.  So we were up coloring and I thought I’d work on a round robin project I’m involved in.  But, instead, I ended up just doodling all over this vintage photo album page.  I was thinking about my blessings and just randomly started drawing things I love.  I actually even took the time to color them in.  I think this is going to make me start an entire journal of doodles and illustrations.  It’s kinda cool to do them spontaneously and just for the joy of doing them.  I couldn’t get a good photo of them.  I need a new camera!  But just wanted to show you anyway.

So today, my oldest is on spring break!  SO excited to have no alarm clock this week.  We’re still in our jammies.  OH yeah.  I think we’re going to just hang out and enjoy our time off.  What are you up to this fine March day?

I love the decorations for spring and Easter.  They’re just so darn pretty and cheerful, aren’t they?  My digital camera is still broken, but I borrowed my sister’s camera again (thanks, Amy!) today just to show you my pretty little Easter basket.

These eggs all came from One Hundred Wishes last year.  The big ones are from the Nicole Sayre line that Andrea sold, and the small one is one of her famous millinery ostrich eggs.  She said on her blog she’s making more, I hope I can snag another!

Aren’t they all so loverly here in my pretty little basket?  Those are the really old, thick, velvety forget-me-nots.  LOVE them.  And isn’t that spray of roses and lily-of-the-valley so perfectly springy?  Just wanted to share because it’s making me happy every time I walk by.

Soon, we’ll be able to have real, garden-fresh roses.  I can’t wait.   I know my friends in Australia are in their fall.  Autumn is such a lovely time too, but all I can think about after this yucky winter is the warmth of spring.  There’s just nothing like it.  Fresh flowers, breezes, getting my hands in the dirt and planting something. Ahhhhh… spring!

My digital camera is broken.  Total bummer.  But I borrowed my sister’s camera today so I could show you pictures of the another class I’m teaching later this spring at Paper Crown in Oklahoma City.

It’s a sweet little paper cake box with a millinery arch over a family of doves.  Isn’t it pretty?  I love this one and I’m excited to be doing it as a class.

Everyone who signs up for the class will get a kit with all the pretty things here to make this project.  If you’d like to join me, please call Paper Crown at (405) 848-2389 to register.  No official date yet, and I’m taking my sample to them today.  The class is $60.00 (which includes the kit) and there are 10 spots available.

EDIT: There is a date now, Saturday May 16 at 1:00 pm.  Come join me!

In other news, an old friend recently told me about this site called Think Geek.  OH MY GOSH, it’s so cool if you are married to or are or know a super-cool geek.  My husband loves it and I think we found a new source for fun t-shirts with silly slogans like “Talk Nerdy to Me” and “No, I won’t fix your computer”.  Love that!  ha ha….

It’s crazy cold here again today, which is just miserable!  Come on, let’s get OVER the winter already!

Hope you’re having a lovely day today my sweet friends.  I will be back to show you some more flea market finds later in the week.  I had planned several blog posts, but without a camera it’s kinda hard to do them!  I guess I’ll have to break down and buy a new one.

Have a happy Wednesday.

I wanted to share something I found with you because I have a feeling you might want one too.  Isn’t this the cutest little stand?  It’s perfect for a little dress or slip and just right for displaying necklaces.  I bought this from a lady who makes them herself.  Her name is Becky Rich.  If you would like one of your own, you may email her at littleb47@cox.net .  Mine was only $25!  She will custom make them in any size.  I just love mine because it gives me a way to display little dresses or slips OTHER than on a hanger.  Dress forms are much too large for little baby things.  Becky is someone I almost always buy from at our monthly flea market.  She’s so lovely and so are the sweet vintage baby and doll things she sells.

And I had to take a picture of the lamby and chickie.  Spring is creeping in ’round here!  My bulbs are pushing up, awakened from their winter slumber.  But, I know that Jack Frost isn’t done with us yet.  As soon as all the pear trees bloom, we’ll get another frost and it will cut short our blossoms, but for now I’m enjoying the signs of life around here.

Oh, and before I go, how pretty are these old clasps on the vintage pearl strands I picked up at that same flea market for $3 this weekend?  I hope you’re enjoying your week.  I’m getting my kits together for the crown class I’m teaching this Saturday.  It’s going to be a great fun day!