Love Vintage with a Paris theme

I am so inspired lately with all the talented girls that do vintage altered art.

I found this wonderful group of artists on the etsy forum.  They have provided incite to some wonderful blogs that feature vintage papers and such.                  .vintage themed and inspired collage thread on etsy

Of course this is right up my alley, nothing gets me more excited than vintage styled art, antiques, jewelry etc....

Clean as a lady      
 Clean as a lady
  cool as glass
  fresh without
     fragance
  the tulip was.

By Humbert Wolfe

1924

Thinking along this line I thought I would post a link to this free downloadable pattern.   This will include a line design of the tulip, instuctions and a larger sized picture to create yourself.
Here's the link titled Tulip Full Pack Download

The paper is not included, but feel free to personalize from your own inspirations!         Enjoy!
Thanks for stopping by.

.....tonight.........

             Tonight I am a bit later to give my  critters their last hay.





Out side, immediately I am struck with awe at all the stars that can be seen, looking upward.  The air has a little chill to it, but such a clear and crisp evening is refreshing.

                            

                             Just a hint of mist, but you can clearly see the big and little dipper.

 I am wary going out, now that the nights are longer and it darkens quicker. The moon is only showing a quarter of it's normal size.

 My mind plays tricks, and I worry,  just in case I stumble on momma bear and her cubs.

My trusted companion is near at hand, and notifies me of anything that may be a miss.







 In the distance I can hear the slight sound of the rumblings of a train
on the tracks

Taking away a little from the ambiance, is some loud noises off towards the eastern way. I guess  someone is being entertained with
early fire works.
                            

Back inside the  house warmth is appreciated.  My thoughts go to pouring a rich glass of  wine, but instead, content with a cup of tea.  Will save the wine to share with friends at a later date.

........Vintage mix..........

I love vintage.  The detail, that old world feel of another time and place.  This obsession must have started very young.  I remember having a Bessie Peace picture forever.  My Aunt gave it to me when I was two.



















 .
I was also given a beautiful Children's Shakespeare book at the age of 4.  The picture on the right is from this book from the story Pericles.   Dedicated to my dearest daughter, dated 1896. It is a little worse for wear, but I love the soft sepia tones.
I guess it makes me wonder who owned this book, did it come from England and who was dearest daughter. And so the love of old continues on.

.....things I've seen lately..........

First let me explain where I live.  We live near the river, where it is very flat, and not a many trees. We have a few on the banks of the river, and ocassionaly eagles will be spotted there. 

A lot of fields are farmed in this area, and when they cut hay, your attention often times will be caught by the huge wing span when looking upward.  Usually a bald headed eagle, looking for mice from the newly cut field, and sometimes hawks.


Recently I happened to be looking out the window, and  three black objects, caught my attention. They  were moving across an open field in the distance.   At first I thought it was dogs, but upon closer observation, I noticed that they didn't seem to walk like a  dog.  I found to my suprise it was a momma black bear with two baby cubs in toe.  Very cautiously she moved watching for any pretators.  Her main aim, to get her babies safley across the wide open, down to the river where the salmon are a plenty due to spawning right now. Definatley not a site seen every day.   If I hadn't been so enthralled looking throught the bicnoculars I would have snapped some pictures.  Hind site.  I am so happy to have the privledge of seeing these wonderful creatures, and be in  a perfect place where they can survive in peace,  not having to struggle to leave their homes, and where their seems to be plenty to eat.

 Last week it was raining pretty hard, so out the window in the field behind our house were the herrings, maybe 5 or 6.  I really want to get a snap shot, but the day was dark, and they often come to the fields when it is raining.

The winter birds have arrived, when driving out our Hillybilly road, so I call it, because of all the bumps and lumps in it, I seen some junco's swooping across.  Such an non evasive bird, but nice to see  them dropping by for winter.

.  I love this picture, wonderful work.   You can view more of Steve Gosser's photo's here at his site http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=3943124

I really enjoy painting birds, especially the chickadee's.  I love their spring cheet cha cheet song, a little quieter now, that it is not mating season, but you still see and hear them flitting about.  Some other wonderful pictures like this
chickadee dee picture are found here http://www.weforanimals.com/free-pictures/birds/index-birds.htm  

Although we have no cable or hi speed interenet, which can be a pain, I love the bits of nature we encounter. 
I hope you have enjoyed my notes for now on this journey, through life. 
I would love you, to share your comments or thoughts.

New Winter Cards

 I thought it would be fun to create some winter cards, from my original paintings.  On the week end I played around with a few things and this is what I came up with.
This deer design was originally painted on top of a wooden coaster box.

The snowman scene is painted on a textured background with raised snowflakes, and is a fitting winter welcome sign.
If you would like the patterns to these, to create you own design you can go to my website.

The deer pattern is under the pattern packets section, and the snowman scene is under the epattern packs section.


When making your own cards, the key  is to make sure you have a good photo's.   You can ensure your  photo is nice and clear, by a couple of easy steps. Try taking your pictures outside.  Having a bright day works well, but no direct sunlight on your picture.  Also make sure you don't varnish you piece until after you have gotten in a few nice shots of your piece.Try to keep an eye on having your item straight in the camera.  This sounds easy, but I actually find it difficult, because if you move ever so slightly, your picture will not be straight.  If you have a tripod, this will help to avoid any shaking that might occur.
Another thing that can be very helpful is a photo editing program.  If you don't have one on your computer  you can go to www.picnik.com , a free editing program.  This will help to lighten your photo if needed, crop it, or adjust a few minor things.
Once you have your photo edited, you can now enhance it by using borders, and trims to frame it.  For this step again, I use a photo editing program.
Have fun creating and remember "imagination awakens creativity."

If you happen to be short on time, and you would prefer to purchase these cards, you can also find them at my etsy site here www.carolforsythca.etsy.com

Cute Cuddlies (link to critter care)

If your anything like me I am sure you love critters.  All these sweeties are pictures of  the animals from Critter Care, an organization which helps orphaned and injured animals. Their just so sweet!  I had the oppurtunity to go into the pen where the ophaned deer were kept until they were strong enough to be released. I learned their, that deer become tame very quickly, so they try to handle them as least as possible.  Hope you enjoy the pictures of these wonderful creatures.

Fall Favorites

New Painting

Well I feel so embarrassed I haven't posted for quite a while,
life just seems to get in the way lately.

I thought I would share one of the canvas's I have just finished.
It was created from a a picture of my favorite things, found on my coffe table,and adding some fresh flower nearing the end of summer. Here is a picture of the painting and another of the photo where the inspiration came from.
First I added textured to the background. When it was dry, I painted Raw Umber over the texture paste to create a dark background, a little different from my usual style. On the right side I slip slapped a few colors from the palette and softened the colors out. Between each layer of colors I used glazing medium.
Usually red fades, but by using Traditions acrylic's and glazing in between the layer's it became quite vibrant!
The last step was to add a stencil. I placed it on the right side, where I had left space and used Tracy Moreau's stencil, adding texture paste over the stencil to raise the design, giving a little more dimention to the painting.