How to Paint a Leaf in Watercolors

I know it's a little late in the season for fall decor, most of you are already thinking about Christmas  by now, right? Well, lets give one last hoorah for fall with some Watercolor Leaf Art! You can impress your Thanksgiving crowd with your artistic skills! 

Materials:

watercolor paper- 5x7

leaf

pencil

watercolor paints

paintbrush

gold acrylic paint (optional)

black ink pen

Step 1: Grab a fresh leaf off a tree or from the ground and lightly trace the outline onto some watercolor paper in pencil.

Step 2: Optional- if you want to add a cool golden effect to your leaf, start out by painting in a few areas of the leaf on your paper in some gold acrylic paint.  You can water the paint down or leave it nice and thick.  Your choice. Let this paint dry.

Step 3:  Pick a color scheme- like greens and yellows for one leaf, or reds, oranges, and pinks.  Paint in the remaining areas of the leaf with these colors, varying the shades throughout.  You can paint on top of the previously painted acrylics in some areas or paint around it in others.

Step 4: With an ink pen, trace the outlines of your leaf to give it some definition.  Let the ink dry before the next step so that it doesn't smear all over your paper.

Step 5:  Now look at your actual leaf from outdoors.  With your pen, recreate the veins inside the leaf and.....you're done!

Photos of the Week

These are scenes from my new stomping grounds, which used to be my old stomping grounds.............kinda confusing I know.  We lived in this area before we bought our first home and, for the time being, we are back! It's more rural out here and there's more nature to photograph!  Yay for me!

My biggest sale ever

I have some exciting news!  This year I'm offering a WEEK LONG BLACK FRIDAY SALE in my Etsy Shop!  This is the biggest sale I've ever had ...... 40% off baby! Starts tomorrow, November 22nd and goes through the 29th.

Please visit my shop tomorrow or sometime within the next week and enjoy 40% off anything and everything I have to offer.  Use the code BLACK40 at checkout.

Cube Infinity Scarf Pattern

It's here!  The pattern for my new crochet infinity scarf is here! 

This was finished over a month ago, as I wrote before, so I'm glad I finally have the pattern all written out and ready for you all! 

Cube Infinity Scarf Pattern

by Elise Engh

Materials:

Worsted Weight Yarn (I used Red Heart Super Saver Yarn in Jade)

Size J/ 10-6.00MM Crochet Hook

Yarn Needle

Size:  6.5 inches wide by 51.5 inches long

Abbreviations:

ch= chain

dc= double crochet

tr- triple crochet

sc= single crochet

Notes:  To adjust the width of this scarf, make the beginning chain a multiple of 8, plus 5.

Pattern:

Ch 21

Foundation Row:  1 dc in 4^th ch from hook (this section counts as dc), 1 dc into each ch to end. (19 dc)

Row 1:  3 ch (counts as 1 dc), 1 dc into each of next 2 dc, * 3 ch, (skip 1 dc, 1 tr into next dc) twice, 3 ch, skip 1 dc, 1 dc into each of next 3 dc; repeat from * to end. Turn.

Row 2:  3 ch (counts as 1 dc), 1 dc into each of next 2dc, * 3 ch, 1 sc into each of next 2 tr, 3 ch, 1 dc into each of next 3 dc; repeat from * to end, working last dc into 3^rd of 3 ch. Turn.

Row 3:  3 ch (counts as 1 dc), 1 dc into each of next 2 dc, *1 ch, 1 tr into first sc, 1 ch, 1 tr into next sc, 1 ch, 1 dc into each of next 3 dc; repeat from * to end. Turn.

Row 4:  3 ch (counts as 1 dc), 1 dc into each of next 2 dc, * (1 dc into next ch, 1 dc into next tr) twice, 1 dc into next ch, 1 dc into each of next 3 dc; repeat from * to end, working last dc into 3^rd of 3 ch. Turn. (19 dc)

Repeat rows (1-4) 17 times, making 18 cube sections total.

Fasten off, leaving a long tail end. Using your yarn needle and the long tail end, stitch the two ends together with a whip stitch.

Fasten off and weave in ends. 

Circles and Florals

A few small watercolors, painted before the move..........

The floral painting was inspired by this watercolor print

and the circles by this large abstract circle print on canvas.

It feels so good getting back into my groove, posting my watercolors and making things I love.  It's my thing :)

I'm Back

Ok, so I never meant to take 2 1/2 weeks off from blogging (that has to be a record for me), but life was crazy with moving, cleaning, selling our house, sending my son to a new school, planning a birthday party, and dealing with an exploding toilet.  The toilet part was not so great, but the rest went remarkably smooth and we have already accepted an offer on our home for more than we thought we would get!  We feel so very blessed and happy that we decided to do this!

The biggest blessing in all of this, is that I have felt well.  For the first time in many many years I feel like a normal person and I can't begin to express how absolutely amazing that feels!  It's incredible what that endometriosis surgery is doing for me.  Best decision I ever made!

I didn't realize how much that disease affected my back and migraines, but it was major.  During this move I lifted a lot of heavy boxes (which I was kind of banned from, but we had to get it moved somehow) and I was expecting some major back pain and migraines, but all I got was some soreness. That hasn't happened since I was probably a teenager! It felt so good!

It's crazy how for so long nothing seemed to be going right in my life, then bam! Everything happened all at once!  I'm humbled to be on the receiving end of so many many blessings right now :)