To decide on a look for a new manicure, I took to Pinterest and did a search for "Summer Nail Art". The one I was ezpecially taken with was this:

Unfortunately, those particular colors were not in my selection of polish so I selected some from the same color families but more subdued and came closer to this:

I first did a sample chart combining various purples, reds and copper. Then I overlaid these with a variety of clear polishes with glitters.

You can see the set of polishes I selected as the one that is circled on the chart.

I started out with liquid latex surrounding the nail to keep sponged colors off my fingers. Then I gave the nails a clear base coat and a single layer of white polish. The white gives the colors life as it is brighter than the plain nail color and allows sheer sponging to show up in true color. (Think of the difference you get when using a marker on a brown paper bag as opposed to a white paper.)

For the application of color, I painted stripes of each polish, in order, onto a plastic sandwich bag.

This was picked up onto a makeup sponge by dabbing onto the bag.

The sponge was then tapped onto the nail moving to and fro to blend where the colors meet. I did two coats on each nail. After this I tapped a little more red over part of the purple for a smoother transition.

A clear coat with fine irridescent glitter was the next step, followed by clear top coat.

The latex peels off easily leaving little cleanup required.

I find that complete drying overnight will allow the little bits in the cracks of the cuticles to be removed with soap and water when scraped with the point of my nail file.

Yep, I like these just fine.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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The assignment for today on the lettering part of the Bible journaling Facebook page I am following was to use that new 'Praise' font we learned to write a scripture in our Bible.

There are so many scriptures that have the word 'Praise' in them. I decided to focus on Psalm 150 where all 8 verses use it:

Praise the LORD.

Praise God in his sanctuary;

  praise him in his mighty heavens.

Praise him for his acts of power;

  praise him for his surpassing greatness.

Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,

  praise him with the harp and lyre,

praise him with timbrel and dancing,

  praise him with the strings and pipe,

praise him with the clash of cymbals,

  praise him with resounding cymbals.

Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.

Praise the LORD.

Well, I sure didn't have room to write out all of it so I paraphrased it like this:

Praise God in his sanctuary.

  Praise him in his mighty heavens.

Praise him with the trumpet,

  with the harp and lyre,

with the timbrel and dancing,

  with the strings and pipe,

with resounding cymbals.

Let everything that has breath Praise the LORD.

For the illustration I drew a trumpet, harp, lyre, and cymbals. Then I added a flute for the pipe and a tamborine for the timbrel.

Another assignment completed.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 10:17 PM PDT

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The Bible Journaling Facebook page I've referenced over the past few days had an area I had not explored yet. They have a chart of scriptures to write out, one for each day of the month.

I joined in today, writing the assigned verse (plus one) in the margin area of the Bible page and illustrating it with a lighthouse from a photo I recently took on Gibraltar. It is such a pretty lighthouse with the diagonal gridwork around the light and the weathervane on top.

For the text I used a font recently taught on that same website, that the instructor named 'kindness'. However, I used a double line on the left downstroke of all the letters so I would have an area to add color. I used red to go with the lighthouse.

I realize that light would not show up like this, especially during the daytime, but it is meant to illustrate a point, not be literal.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:57 PM PDT

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The impetous to do this scripture was the new Facebook page I recently joined. One of their activities is a daily devotional.

They are working in a published devotional book that includes black and white illustrations to color as well as a decorative writing of the scripture text. A little devotional is included along with a lined area to write one's own thoughts about the lesson.

Not having the book, I decided to just illustrate that scripture in my Bible in the style I have been doing.

I went to the internet to find a picture of a stethescope and one of a male torso. I drew these out on scratch paper and then traced them onto the Bible page.

I used the new alphabet I learned yesterday for lettering the text.

All the coloring is done with Prismacolor colored pencils over the Prismacolor 0.05 fine line pen.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 4:22 PM PDT

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I added a new category to the topics list today.

I have joined a Facebook group that (among other activities) teaches, via video, new decorative alphabets. 

They start with a single word and teach the letters necessary to write it out in the new font. Then we are to practice it.

This is my practice sheet for day one:

The next day we were given two other words to write out. 

I went ambitious at this point and decided to construct the whole alphabet in both upper- and lower-case using the clues in the letters I already knew.

Here is my worksheet:

What I didn't know was that the whole alphabet was supposed to be the homework for day three!

I actually came very close to the instructor's alphabet and decided to just use my own as the final version (for me).

The blended coloring was part of the lesson as well.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 4:10 PM PDT

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The illustration for this entry came entirely from my head. I had, long ago, photographed some churches on my phone to use as references but they were just too formal-looking. I wanted more of the 'church in the wildwoods' feeling to it.

My original sketch was way too small and I didn't want to do a lot of 'fill-in' of landscaping and such to expand it. The church needed to be the centerpiece. So I re-sketched it freehand into the Bible using pencil and then added a few trees and a hedge in the background.

I dropped some of the text in thse verses and combined them to create a shorter phrase. The full text says, "And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds,  not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching."

The highlighting shows the parts I used.

The lettering is based on a font I had photographed into my phone to use as a reference. I wanted something that walked the line between formal and casual.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 3:13 PM PDT

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This is the second sketch I did on vacation for use in my Bible.

I used a photo that I had saved to my phone to reference the hand and sword and drew the rest from memory.

The lettering was all done without reference. I wanted some of it to look like knife blades and some to look like it was in motion.

I used the lightpad to transfer the drawing to the page in the Bible.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 2:57 PM PDT

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I did some sketching for Bible journaling while on a recent, short vacation trip. I have all my supplies in a large canvas tote while at home and this includes printouts of drawing ideas and lettering styles as well a books on both. I also have a book about Bible journaling, a collapsible light and a box with a variety of pens and pencils. My lightpad fits in there, too.

When I travel, however, I put my favorite pen, one drawing pencil, a sharpener, an eraser, my index of verses I want to work on and some sketch paper into the box that holds my journaling Bible. I wrap an elastic band around the metal box that holds my colored pencils and I have all I need to work 'on the road'. I have photographed many of the lettering and sketch ideas into my phone and I can use these for reference.

I did three sketches while on vacation and waited to transfer them to my Bible until I got home so I could use the lightpad to trace them.

This is the first of the three that I finished.

I worked from a photo on the internet to get the poses for the runners, though all the sketching was done free-hand (no tracing). After lots of re-drawing, editing and refinement I did use the lightpad to trace my own drawing into the Bible using the fine-line black marker.

I colored all the illustration with the Prismacolor colored pencils. Then I used one of the photos of lettering styles on my phone to write out the scripture and colored that as well.

All of the lettering and the runners were gone over with the lightest colored pencil I have to smooth out the coloring.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 2:39 PM PDT

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I've welcomed summer by decorating the house with red, white and blue items as I do most every year. Soon after, my manicure began to chip so I decided to carry that theme onto the new nail enamel.

I chose a berry red, shimmery blue and silver to work with. Red was first applied in wide stripes to the the outer edges of the nails leaving a wide opening in the middle on the diagonal. I skipped the ring finger on each hand.

Those ring fingers got solid blue.

After giving all the colors a second coat and letting it set I went back to the red nails and added a wide silver stripe across the open area. Then the blue nails got tiny dots of silver.

I added a second coat of silver to the red nails and let everything set.

Finally, I gave everything a coat of clear that has a fine irridescent glitter in it (this is the 'frosting' refered to in the title). A coat of topcoat protects the finish.

These are all Dollar Tree polishes and a manicure will last about 10 to 12 days.

I'm hoping this lasts until the 4th of July and then I'll think of something else fun to do.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 10:01 PM PDT

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I had a spot of time while on a short vacation and worked on this page in the hotel room. I hope I didn't use too much data over the phone lines as I was having issues with the Wi-Fi there.

I chose a photo of clay jars to illustrate 2 Corinthians 4:7:

The lettering was from a photo I had taken of a form online onto my cell phone. It was easy to replicate and I really like it in this setting.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 5:08 PM PDT

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Even though I did this page yesterday, it was late at night and I had already done a post for the day so I didn't mind delaying it.

The kernel of the idea for this illustration came from someone else who had used the skirt of a woman to write out character traits from the Proverbs 31 woman. When I saw it, I thought instead of this scripture and sketched out the idea on scrap paper.

I did better on this drawing than I expected to as I admit I am not great at drawing people. I think the key might be to keep it stylized and not use too much detail.

I had completed the skirt with the list of 5 virtues and then,when I kept reading, noticed that there was further instruction in verse 14. I added this along the hemline and then added the bit of lace to contain it in the fabric area.

I really like doing mixed typeography in the text section, too.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:49 PM PDT

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After a couple of ho hum nail painting sessions I asked for ideas from my hubby. He suggested 'something with flowers'.

I started with clear base coat, as usual, followed by two coats of silver.

Then I used the brushes in the bottles of three soft colors to dot on 5-petal posies and added yellow centers to them. Lastly, I brushed on a few light green leaves.

When everything was set, I put on clear top coat.

I think they turned out really cute!

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 2:06 PM PDT

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Sitting in the library waiting on someone I had some time to sketch. I have just recently begun carrying a sketchbook in my purse and this was the first time I have used it!

I sketched a flower. Not sure what it is because it is strictly out of my head, but it looks a little like a gladiola, some like a lupine, sort of like a hollyhock.

When I got home I traced over my pencil drawing with marker and then used my very flat light box to trace it into my Bible. I did the front flower on the right and then turned my art over to the back and traced it for the flower on the left. Finally, I used parts from the front view and the back view to construct the flower in the back.

I added veins to the petals and leaves and then erased all the pencil marks before using colored pencils to color and shade the flowers. I added sky and ground very lightly in the background.

I thumbed through my reference pages for lettering and found a script that looks very casual. About halfway through the penciling-in phase I just started lettering in my own hand and followed through with that as I was inking the text.

I did follow the guide to add some flourishes before I traced over the ink with colored pencils to coordinate with the drawing.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 10:33 PM PDT

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A bang-up warehouse sale at the HUGE fabric store some months back netted me some multiples of charm packs and some mini-charms which I set aside in my stash. They were of different lines but coordinated well. I also had a yardage for background left over from a previous project.

When Jenny Doan of the Missouri Star Quilt Company released her tutorial for 'Garden Stars' I knew I had all the ingredients for the perfect recipe.

The fabrics have a vintage look to them and the quilt block incorporates two sizes of 'Friendship Star' so I combined these to come up with the title.

I love how this goes right up to the edges with no border.

I used large loops to stitch an overall pattern.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 8:44 PM PDT

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Due to traveling and a lot of books coming in all at once from holds at the library, a couple of quilting project got set aside for a while. Our hospital chaplain will be coming to pick up the next batch one day soon when I won't be at quilting so I needed to get these moved to the 'done' pile.

The one shown today was inspired by a white print fabric with bright colored poppies. I selected bright fabrics matching all three of the colors in the print - coral, tangerine and lime.

These all sat in my stash until just the right pattern came along. I found this one in a magazine at the library. Unfortunately, I sketched it out on graph paper and didn't make a note of which magazine (brand OR issue) it was in.

Now, I had bought a whole rainbow of cones of thread to use for quilting. When I tried out the coral on this quilt I wanted to make huge free-motion poppies all over it. The thread just kept breaking and breaking! I tried new needles, different sizes of needles, different styles of needles, rethreaded..... everything they tell you to do. No effect on the breakage.

I gave up on the poppies after about 5 - 6 of them and then used the thread for straight-line quilting at varying intervals. It looks great and very modern.

This lap quilt will go to the hospital Passages program.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 7:59 PM PDT

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I finally grew my nails back out to a length that I think looks good with decorative polish.

I grabbed two pastels that I got at the dollar store. The first half, from the nail bed, I did in two layers of soft green. Then I painted one layer of frosted lavender on the tip and, when that was set, I used a makeup sponge to blot on a second layer blending it up into the green.

Third step was to run a thin line of black from nail bed to tip and when that was set, I added an overcoat of clear with a fine multicolored glitter.

The effect looks very summery and graphic - almost metallic.

The way I kept the color off my cuticles and fingers was to border the skin around the whole nail with liquid latex - sold at the beauty supply as glue for hair extensions. No muss - no fuss!

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 1:35 PM PDT

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 When I first started art journaling in my Bible I ran across this shoe print with text tread on Pinterest. The original source photo now links back to a women's beauty/cosmetics site so I don't know to whom credit is due.

However, I only used the general idea of text tread and drew my own lettering style that looked more like actual tread. I also used a different scripture reference.

I drew in additional treads and colored them similar to the base of the sole. The text got bright colors so as to stand out.

The text is a little difficult to read due to the unorthodox word breaks but I felt the fit was more importnt.

I filled in the background with grass using SIX different green colored pencils.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 7:09 PM PDT

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I have been enjoying browsing through Pinterest for sketch ideas and for lettering styles to use in Bible journaling. I compile my favorites in folders and then print out so I can have them as references. Sometimes I take a photo of the screen with my phone so I have different resources in various places.

I found the garden sketch this way in a 'drawing 101' series. It was on how to draw a lamppost.

I did all the sketching freehand in pencil, using the original as an instruction guide, modifying as I went.

The lettering was an alphabet also found on Pinterest and printed out. I drew the basic letter shapes in pencil and then worked in pen to enhance each with twigs and leaves.

I think both the drawing and the lettering work perfectly to illustrate this scripture.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 6:57 PM PDT

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I woke up one morning with this image in my head of 'the way of the cross' leading from an earthly path up into heaven. The path literally goes through the cross.

I immediately knew which verse I wanted to draw it for - John 14:3.

Yes, I realize that there will be no sunlight in heaven because God's glory will light it. I know, too, that there will be no clouds but putting in these two elements complete a landscape that our earthly brains will recognize.

The streets were colored with gold metallic pencil but it came off looking more brown than gold - bummer.

I like the wrought-iron gates even though I know that the gales are actually made of pearls. Again, artistic license.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 10:30 PM PDT

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I had some questions on another forum on how I drew the knots in the fish net on this page:

So I decided to put together a short tutorial for everyone.

If you're going to draw elements behind the net, do so now before you go on to the coloring. Otherwise, the coloring could be rubbed away when erasing the pencil sketch lines for the fish or whatever is filling your net.

To color the net:

Yeah, I didn't erase my pencil lines before coloring on this tutorial - but you will do that!

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 10:34 AM PDT

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