Progression...and a challenge...

I'm willing to wager that we all have a rock that we just don't know what to do with.  I had one that sat on my table, sat on my table, and then it sat on my table some more.

I finally got tired of it sitting there, and I started drawing zebra stripes on it with a pencil.  I decided to try out the new gel pens on it, and colored them in.

After I got through with that, I knew I needed to trace around them with black, but the gel had to dry very well.  (Hint:  in my experience, gel never seems to dry all the way...it always smears...this one sat for days and I still ended up smearing it.  Please, if someone has hints, comment and leave them!)

Next, I outlined the stripes, and then, the white looked too plain, so yeah, I had to add all those *other* stripes...and then it went back to sitting on my table...

In the mean time, I received my order of glaze pens in the mail, so I decided to try out the black one and see what it would do.  RUN, and I do mean RUN to the nearest craft store, (I got mine at Michael's.) use a coupon, and play with these pens.  Again, they have to dry, but that's like an over-night thing, and they just flow, add dimension, and shine.  I LOVE THESE PENS!

I'm not sure that it is my favorite, but it is no longer sitting on my table.  It sorta reminds me of a Dr. Seuss illustration.

So, here's the challenge.  Start with something, anything.  Lines, a color, a word, a new toy, what have you, and PLAY!  :)

Don't forget to post your finished challenge product on "615 Rocks Sumner County" facebook page!

The Gift That Keeps On Giving...

*NOTE*  Anyone is welcome to join the rock painting/finding/enjoying page "615 Rocks Sumner County".  If this is the first you've heard of this, come on over to facebook and check it out!


I suppose today isn't much of a teaching post, but more of a retrospect/reflection post.

I was asked to do a special order last week.  It was a sad one, but one I felt honored to have been asked to do.  I wanted it to be just right.  I wanted the heart and soul and prayers and thoughts that I put into it to reach out and hug its new owner, who would forever have a hole in her life.  This, my friends, is a suicide ribbon:

I included two photos because the color of the paint was hard to photograph.  And of course, as is with all "cause" ribbons, the color is significant.

Now you are thinking....and this has to do with rocks...how????  Well, it has to do with rocks because they say that if any little thing would spark the attention of someone who is about to do this to themselves, the outcome would very likely be different.  We've all read stories, heard of divine intervention, and probably never dreamed that it could be one small thing that we do that could save another...and we may - and quite possibly won't - even ever know.  Quite simply put, a rock you paint or a kind gesture you may make may just save a life.

So goes with the rocks we paint.  The image, the words, just the colorful rock in a sea of many "ordinary" rocks, may be what makes the finder smile that day.  Or maybe someone picks one up, rehides it, and that is the person that needed the message....we never know what one small, seemingly effortless or small thing that we do, such as painting a rock, may do to change another's day, life, beliefs, disposition...similar to The Butterfly Effect, if you will.

To add to my thinking along these lines as this canvas lay on the table where I paint next to rocks in various forms of done-ness, I open up the page "615 Rocks Sumner County" one day this week only to discover that someone has found a rock that I painted, that I put no label on, with a message, that came back to ME on a day I was very much in need!!!!!!  Who would've thought?!?!?!  Not I!  Another "funny" thing...I never took a photograph of this one, because Anna took it and then wanted to hide it right away, and I was doing something else...and now, I have a photo!

So there I was, at my desk, nearly in tears, and lo and behold, I quite (nearly) literally had to eat my own words!

The moral of the story:  You never know what one small thing could end up being so big to someone else....or even yourself!

I'll go back to tutorials and information tomorrow, but I had debated on posting my thoughts, until Lil Red Rock came around, and then I knew I needed to share, so there it is.

Happy Wednesday evening, friends!  :)

Check this out...

In my last post, I promised to open a door for you into a whole new realm of rock-y, decoupage goodness.  I had said "tomorrow" and I'm pretty sure this is the tomorrow after the tomorrow's morrow, but it's worth waiting for, and my apologies, too.

I explained how I did the clown rocks in a previous post, and this is much the same...only easier.  Did you know that you can Mod Podge tissue paper or napkins onto a rock (or whatever) and then even paint on top of that, should you wish?  Well, you can.  Needless to say...I have a large tissue/napkin collections that I'm happy to be using on the rocks I've been making.

First, I'll show you the one I did with tissue paper:

All I did was paint some podge on my rock, and I do this generously.  Then, add the tissue, smoothing it down with my brush full of podge until there are no wrinkles and it is laying flat on the surface I want to write on.  Then, I podge down around the edges, and you can wrinkle, fold, crease, or tear to lay those down, however you choose.  The paper becomes more pliable, of course, with the mod podge on it.

After that coat dries, you can doodle, draw, paint, what have you.  Here, I used my medium Posca paint marker, then my gold ultra-fine tipped Elmer's Painter marker.  I'm calling this one done, writing the info I want on the back, and then dropping this baby off somewhere for someone else to find.

This next one is actually a kleenex that I had saved (NOT USED!) and the word "love" is written on it just like below about 16 times...this is the first one I've used, so there's lots of potential still in store for that kleenex!

I put this one on a rock I had already painted white...the "background" of the kleenex was white anyways, and when you take just the layer of the tissue with the writing on it, it's very, very thin, so this almost looks like a tattoo on the rock.  I used the same method of adhering this as I did on the tissue paper pineapple.  The rock is pretty thick, so I'll likely sit and put vinery and flowers around the edges during a movie or something, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE the way this one turned out because of how thin it is.  Lesson learned:  don't overlook even the thinnest of pieces that you think could be podged...try them!  You might be surprised!

Run!  Look through your stash!  See what you come up with, and don't forget to SHARE!  :)

Remember, I post updates about my blog on my personal facebook page, and on this page:  615 Rocks Sumner County.  Anyone is welcome to join, and participation is a treat to me!

I am not satisfied with the color of this photo; it was taken under my Ott light.  The room was actually dark, aside from it.  I suppose here would be a great place to post about the Ott light, too.  This is a magnifying, LED light that helps you see the lines you've drawn, and it is something I love and never want to do without, because light has always been a big thing for me, and I can see everything well with this when I'm painting.  Often times, I sketch things with a pencil, very faint lines, and not complete ones, but more like a shadowy light ghost of a line to use as a guide.  My Ott light helps me so those faint lines perfectly.  They are pricey, but remember you can use a 40% off coupon at Michael's, JoAnn, or Hobby Lobby to purchase one.  Word from my experience:  Spend the money and get at least a standing desk light, nothing smaller, because it's too small and doesn't serve the purpose you need.  Again, that's just my thinking and experience, but one I would have found helpful if I had been able to ask someone before purchasing my first one.  Amazon had some that were less expensive, but with the coupon at Michaels, what I got was a better deal.

When I was making this, I knew it would be my next post, because this is such a simple look to replicate, but it looks so...well...fancy.  Time-consuming.  Advanced?  Or maybe all of the above, but really, all it is is lines and coloring.  You can do this with anything you make....add the black and white (or in this case, I used lavender) to make a "film strip" looking outline.

Here are the steps:  trace on the edge of your drawing.  Trace it as close and as steady as you can...but don't worry if you waiver.  It can be part of the dance.  You can see that mine is thicker in some places than it is in others.  Once you get that outline done, leave however much space you want around your outline, and outline that.  Again, don't worry about being perfect.  Next, just pick your color and start coloring a space and skipping a space, until you meet up with the point at which you started.  I color according to my shaky-ness in the lines.  You can see that some are skinnier than others, and some are wider.

Here is a closer-up view:

I played with some white in the striping, too, and didn't like it, so I mostly covered it back up.  Like I said in a previous post, I just keep painting until I"m happy with the way what I'm working on looks.  Some of the white still shows, and I am OK with that.  Also, as I previously posted, I love to layer and mix colors until I get what is pleasing to my eye.  At first, I didn't have the leaves on there at all.  Just the flower petals, and the center.  I colored the center yellow, but thought that made the petals look like they needed some, so I started just drawing some yellow lines and just drew until they looked ok to me.  (So scientific, right?)  I added the black to the center and then added the little pucker-y lines of yellow coming out from the center, then a few black spots here and there...then a little hither-skither white lines about.  My art is sooooo not-perfect!  After that, I decided that a leaf or two were in order, and started in on those.  THe "stripes" you see in them are just from a different paint marker, and that's the look I got.  I kinda liked it, so I just left it that way.  Last, I had a gold glitter gel pen laying there, so I ran it over all the yellow lines in the flower.  I tried to make the sparkle show in the photo, but it just didn't quite work.

My challenge to you?  Start with something simple, just an outline, and go from there...keep buildling, layering, drawing until what you see is pleasing to your eye!

I have a new how-to for tomorrow that I am REALLY excited about, and trust me when I tell you that it will open up a WHOLE NEW WORLD to your artwork!!!!

More about paper, and a kitty cat....

*Note:  I post the link to new blog pages as they become available on my facebook group, "615 Rocks Sumner County".  That is the best way to keep up with my posts and new work.  Anyone is welcome to join and participate.*

Hey, ya'll!  I've been bad and neglected you this week.  I always thought "older" people and by "older" I mean anyone older than me, were silly when they said that time speeds up the older you get, but now I'm the old person, and that's the best thing I can come up with for where my time goes...lol.

I'll try to do better.

First, I want to show you the new clown-on-rock I made last night, since everyone loved those so much:

This is another of those vintage cutouts that I told you about in  the other clown post.  I think I still have four more of them left, all different.  This stone is bigger than my hand.  I haven't put the clear coat on here yet, either.

I have lots of other rock projects and tutorials to share with you, but along the lines of paper, I found this beauty today, and I thought she was worthy of a mention on here.  You could use the same technique as for the clowns (if you're new here, just go back a little farther and you'll find that post), only this way, you don't have to have specific cut-outs, etc.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/54676582950819290/

If you have newspaper, sheet music, a dictionary page, pretty much anything, you can do this.  If the paper is too stiff for the rock, just roll it up, crinkle it, make it as pliable as you need/want it to be, then paint it with glue, and etc etc etc.

Yesterday, I sent Anna a picture that I found on Pinterest.  I didn't save the link, shame on me...but here is the one I found:

Animal lover that she is, I knew she would enjoy this one, and told her we would paint some together next time we had the time.  Last night, around 9:30, my lil precious pants sends me a photo.  No words, just a photo.  My heart melted when I saw this:

Happy crafting!

Shhhh....I know a secret....

at least to me, it is a "best kept secret" and I've been crafting and painting for a lot of years, and tried a good many ideas and products to help with this, all to no avail.

Did you know that this stuff is magic:

http://www.murphyoilsoap.com/products/original-oil-soap

Here's why:  you know those paintbrushes that didn't get cleaned?  Or your favorite brushes that over time seem to keep paint in them until they become un-use-able?  Soak those brushes, no matter how full of paint and concrete-like they are in a glass with an inch or two of this in the bottom.  Soak them over night, or do like me and put them in there and leave them for a month, lol.  Even so, they've come out so soft and new...I'm amazed!

Because no blog post is a blog post without a photo, I'll share this with you.

The coloring on this one is so much better than this photo, and tonight, I put the clear coat on and it's even better.  I'll snap another pic and do a follow-up on it.  I coated a lot of rocks tonight that we've done over the last month-ish, so tomorrow might be a mostly-pictures post.

Thanks for coming by and reading!  If you want to know when new posts are done, please find my facebook group and click to join!  Just type in the search "615 Rocks Sumner County" and I'll approve you!

Multi Colored Pencils!

While we were out running errands yesterday, you know we *had* to make a trip to Michaels.  You know, because there are *necessities* there, just like milk and bread are necessities....

While being an awesome sport, Mr. Rock found these really cool colored pencils:

They were $10.00, but you know, we never pay full price for anything at Michaels, because they always have a 40% off coupon.  It was my lucky day, because there was also a 20% off coupon. Isn't Mr. Rock the best?

Here is a close-up view of the neon pencil.  I'm sorry for the not-so-good photo...it was dark and I was excited.

That's also the rock that I used for this little project.

As you can see, it didn't show up very well.  I was surprised.  However, these pencils have a very hard lead in them, not a soft, waxy type like you get from PrismaColor.  I colored two coats, with lots of pressure, to get the look you see.  I still like the rock, but the lightness of the coloration is a bit off-putting to my taste.  I will be using the America one (red, white and blue, of course) tonight on a rock I painted white, and I'll report back to you with how that turned out.

This is what I came up with as the end result:

As always, anyone is welcome to join my group on facebook:  615 Rocks Sumner County.  That is where I post notifications that the blog has been updated, and where I post all of my rocks.