Painting and Petunias...on the Porch

Edit: Thank you for all the nice comments today ladies! To answer.....the turn about that I have my Copics in is from Pottery Barn Kids. Making Memories also sells one that has drawers in the bottom and it's on sale from time to time at Michael's. And just so you know, it's okay to store your Copics vertically. If you find that one end seems a little dry, lay it flat for a while...or the best thing is to purchase refills for each marker at the time of purchase...add in a few drops and it freshens right back up. I usually don't notice any problems though.

On Mother's Day, I found Jordan sitting out on the back deck with her easel and paints. She has her very own collection of very good quality art supplies that she got for her birthday last year. She takes very good care of them and when she sets up shop, she means business. She set out to paint the back gate with the trees, bird bath, and fence. This photo of her little hand touches my heart so much. Her little nail bitten fingers holding that brush...just creating for the sake of making something. Life is good.

Well, I sure didn't want to miss out on all the fun....so I brought out my Copics and some newly stamped Lockhart images. On my new picnic table with two matching benches that I got for $50 bucks at a junk shop, thank you very much. Such a good find. Jordan decorated the table for me and brought me wild flowers too.

Just me and the budding little artist........side by side........visiting about nothing much. Just watching the garden grow and listening to the gentle rain.

Here's Jordan's finished artwork. You can see the gate she was painting in the background. I so wish someone would have snapped a photo of us together.
And now a little show and tell of my own with an image I colored. First, let's make a fun background out of scraps. All you have to do is layer on scrap pieces of patterned paper onto a solid rectangle that is smaller in size than your card base. Adhere the little scraps and then machine stitch around the rectangle.....then adhere to the card base. My papers are from My Mind's Eye.

Then just top the layers with a colored image. I cut my new Lockhart Porch Petunias image out with Spellbinder's Rectangle and Scalloped Rectangle Nestabilities. Then I added some vintage buttons that I found at an antique shop....already tied, gotta love that!

And here's a close up of my colored image with glitter on it. Karen's images just beg to be colored with Copics. They make such a good match. I used my color chart to color my petunias to match my patterned paper. You can visit the Copic website for a printable color chart.

And below are all of the Copic colors I used to color the petunias. Looooove my Copics!!

Do you have a little artist friend in your household or neighborhood? I highly suggest doing some artwork together with them. It doesn't have to be perfect....just spend time together....create something.....have fun. It's good for your heart and soul.

ALSO: Be sure to check out Elle's Studio today. I'm their guest designer for May and today my tutorial should be up. I'm showing how to create 365 album inserts using Elle's new My 365 Stamps.