We did it! Day 30! (And Diva #174!)

So I finished off the 30 day challenge with a weekly challenge piece from The Diva, #174 which was string over a string. Lots of fun to do! (I really like more intricate strings!)

I've had a lot of fun, forced myself out of the box a few times and tried some new stuff. I hope you enjoyed it.
I'll announce all prizes tomorow night. (If you want a doodle together membership put ENTER ME! in the comments today as well. I have a total of 3 of those to give away! 2 are gone, 1 still to go!)

What kind of challenges would you like to see next? I hope everyone had fun! 

29 days in a row!

Did you think you'd get 29 days in a row complete? I know I didn't know how I'd do. I toyed with the idea at the beginning of having some posts pre-done, etc just in case but that didn't feel fair to the challenge, so some days have been early, some have been late some have been simple things and there were even a few days where I really didn't feel like doing something but I have created EVERY day for the last 29 days. 

Got some stuff to work on today too and then tomorrow is the last day! 

This is for the #Doodletogether project.

Today's art prompt is the word WOVEN. 

Garden Party!

Garden for the win!

Today's art prompt is sunshine. Either create outside in the sun, or create something in your garden, or if it's raining something sunshine themed.

We're closing in on the end of the challenge. Remember you have until the end of the week to submit anything for the past week!

I didn't forget!!! I promise!

So I am going to be taking a class in Adobe Creative Cloud stuff, so, InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator. A friend of mine sent me a project that she'd done in a class she had taken in it so I could kinda screw around and see what I could do with it.

It's not super exciting to anyone else I'm sure,  it's pretty simple, and my technique sucks, but hey I'm working from a PDF and a video, and this is my first real attempt in Illustrator. I'm kind of impressed that I didn't give up in frustration. (Already know I don't like Illustrator!)

It's late... but I had some stuff going on today that kept me from my computer, so I'm not going to list an art prompt, but if I was going to it would be do something outside your comfort zone. (and if you don't get your links posted til tomorrow that's ok! I count them anyway!)

See you tomorrow friends!

Music again and my diva challenge #173 (redux)

This feels a little anti-climactic after doing the actual guitar. LOL

Art prompt- revisit a project you did way back when. The diva's was to revisit a tangle and I'd like to expand on that.

For me, I had tangled musical instrument shapes right when I first started and now it was time to revisit, I included some of my favorite tangles as well.

Such a simple one

This is for the doodling together project, and it's so easy,it almost feels like it shouldn't count but I wanted to try some dangles and some new thing and this seemed like the perfect time.

I didn't sleep very well last night, and this week has been sucky in a lot of ways. It isn't the way I want the challenge to wrap up so I will come up with some good and fun stuff for the next few days! I promise!

Art prompt for today, take inspiration from a how to book!

Cards

I needed to make a few cards today.

This is my favorite


Short on time today so here's the linkey.

Happy Monday!

As always it didn't end up the way I planned, but I do really like it. There are no "beetlejuice" roses like I mentioned because I decided they needed to be red instead.
For an example of what I mean.. you can see here on my instagram. :)


So here's what I came up with. I don't love it, but I do like it. I'll play with the idea some more another day.
I do love the colors, but I'd planned on it being more intricate. I'm not sure though, I like the playfulness of it.

For tomorrow I'm going to be working on The Diva's challenge, which reminds me to slow down and enjoy the process while revisiting my favorites.

So that'll be interesting. If you don't participate in her challenges, you really should. Check them out here. 

Today's art prompt.
Use your favorite color. I used turquoise which is my current go to color in the sugar skull and that's my favorite part.

Here's the linkey thing. Can you believe it's been 23 days?! Are you proud of yourself?

A little different- guess that means it's Sunday!

This project is a little different than most of what I post, but I'm going to have so much fun with it. It's not any bigger than most of my tiles, but I think it's going to be in full color. I just started it so there isn't much to it, but I wanted to get today's post up for you and I have a feeling this is going to be one of those projects that just grows.
Sundays seem to be my day for tackling something new.

It's a sugar skull. I love them, I'm fascinated by them actually both the images themselves and everything behind them.
When it's done I might have it made into a phone case or a tshirt or something. I have so many ideas in my head for this one! Beetlejuice roses maybe. (My kids will be the only ones that understand that reference until I post it!)

Anyway, so today's art prompt is to find an image or symbol that calls out to you. Whatever it is and make it into something. I've been wanting to do something with a sugar skull forever but never knew what i wanted to do until I talked with a friend about it yesterday.
Don't be afraid to step outside your comfort zone!

Day 21- and I'm not feeling it today

It happens sometimes, a day when you just don't feel like creating. I'm tired and I've got some stuff that's bothering me, and that doesn't really lead to me being all that creative, or what I make doesn't turn out the way I'd like it to. So, this morning, I'm going to take a nap and then work on some stuff for the business side of my art.
Tonight, I'm going to do one of Ben Kwok's butterfly templates but I haven't decided which one. I'll finish that up in the morning and share that with you.

For today, I'm going to show you the flyer I made this morning to include with a gift certificate I gave as an auction item for our local animal rescue.
I'm big on adopting animals and people who take them in.. well I have a great deal of admiration for them. Since I have ZERO room for more adoptees... I try and donate stuff when I can.

This auction is getting a certificate for a pair of customized converse and then this little piece that includes some of the customization I've done over the years. I may redesign my logo too. So that's what I"m doing today.

Today's art prompt is to use a medium you don't normally use or if you have something related to your art or your art business if you have one.... do something you've been procrastinating.

Trusting my process

I find that a lot of times when I let things come easily I think no one is going to like the finished project, or that I won't, and yet more and more what I've learned in the last month is that the more "natural" or organic I let my process be, the more I just let things come to me, whether it's writing, drawing, sketching, doodling or painting, the pieces that have the most likes anywhere, that people respond to the most are the ones I almost didn't post because in my head they were "throwaways."

My perfectionism is still there. I'm going to continue to try and make it be quiet.

Here's what I have for you this morning.

Have you ever tried a mandala? Not a template, but creating one yourself? This was my freeform attempt. I liked doing it. My technique needs work. (see there I go again with the perfectionism) 

So today's art prompt for you is to find a mandala, use it to inspire you in some way, either to create your own, to tangle it or to see what it inspires you to make. 

Have fun!

(10 days left!)

Day 19- Monotangles

Sometimes I like just working with 1 pattern. My original inspiration for this was a picture of a box of ribbon candy. It reminds me of my Gramma and that always puts a smile on my face. I found a tangle pattern that I've used in the past that looked like ribbon candy and thought I'd just go with it. Instead this reminds me of bees or mummies. I'm not sure why. Not quite what I was going for but I think it's visually interesting.

Today's art prompt...
Find inspiration in a piece of candy. I'm often inspired by candy. Some of my favorite pieces have ended up reminding me of tasty treats! If you have to eat it to be inspired, that's ok too!

Something blue Day 18

This is one of the past Diva challenges that I never did. It was the 12th and it was called something blue.
I needed a simple one sitting, no thinking, pen on paper project for today.
This was perfect for that. I did it while drinking my cup of tea and listening to the rain on the windows.

Today's art prompt for you is to do something basic, something that doesn't take a lot of prep time, clean up time or to force yourself in any particular direction. Make it a "take it easy" kind of day.

18 days in a row so far! 12 more to go!

I'm thinking about next month and the weekly challenge I may start. There are several paths I can take with this, and I'm trying to decide which one, so I'm going to ask for your opinions.
It will obviously have more structure but would you rather I post a theme/idea weekly, or a string or template?

Also would you rather I posted the challenge during the week or on the weekend?

"O" it's Tuesday

Cheryl over at Artful Creations runs a weekly Tuesday challenge for Tackle it Tuesday.

We are working our way through the alphabet and are on the letter O.
That means that all the tangles start with the letter O.

Here is my tile for today.

I used 

• Onamato
• Opus
• Ole

Very few of the tangle patterns that start with O are ones I really like, but I did use Ole for the first time and found it to be really versatile. I think I'll use that one more.

So, we're on day 17, and as much as I am a creative person, and I really do try to work on something every day, wow.. it's hard to do it EVERY day! The guitar kind of took a lot out of me getting it done on time, so I am going to go with something really simple tomorrow I think.

So today's art prompt is:
Round.
Either do something round or circular or with the letter O.

The guitar- or... what I did last week. :)

So here is my Diva challenge for last week first... #171, she talked about Beads of courage which is an amazing program and one I firmly believe in. Go check it out. Get involved.
Anyway, this is actually a program I really believe in so when she talked about it and incorporated that into the challenge I knew it wasn't one I wanted to skip. I used my watercolors to add some bright splashes and I like it even if it isn't my "normal" style.

 And because it's Monday again and I didn't want to fall behind and I've been awake since 5.
Here is a duotangle for the Diva's Challenge #172, Auraknot and Mooka. I mssed up my auraknot but I like it enough to keep it!

Ok, and now... The guitar. 

This was a Father's Day gift for my dad.

Here are some completed shots and then I'll add in a ton of wip pics too. 

(not all photos are even worth looking at but I wanted them for my own reference in the future)

Here it is all displayed after I gave it to him.

And here is a better shot of it all completed. 

There is meaning in every stroke on that guitar, from the little dipper that you won't notice behind the tree branches to the stars over the moon, which my dad taught me to draw, sitting on his lap at my Grandparents house as a little girl. 

There is a campfire and the song around the edges is the music from Country Roads by John Denver, which was my favorite song to listen to him play when I was a little girl. I called it my camping song. There are dandelions for wishes and a quote that says everything.

I'm a lucky girl. I have the best Dad, and I am glad that I could give him a gift that he told me he'll always treasure. 

Here's a few WIP pics. I'm a messy artist. :D

Ok, so today is day 16.
Create something that reminds you of your childhood!

Happy Father's Day!

I finished the guitar early this morning. I'm tired. LOL

I was going to post the finished pictures and the story and everything today, but I really want him to see it first.
I was going to post a pic of the card at least, but I'd already sealed it.
I'm batting 1000 today, but hey... it's done and hopefully he'll love it.

I didn't want to wait to put up the post until later so I am going to put this here and I'll post everything I was going to post today... tomorrow.
Except this. Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's out there, especially the ones in my life.

Art prompt for today is... Family.
Do something creative with your family, or for your family.

We're halfway through the challenge! I'm proud of all of you!

Have a great day everyone!

Another quick one for today (Day 14)

Today's post is going to be another short one. The guitar is coming along nicely, I was up too late working on it cause I had *gestures vaguely* stuff yesterday that interfered with my creative process and I was hoping to be further along than I am.

The really hard part is done,which was writing out the music around the edge.Music is a foreign language and has so many nuances, etc. It was funny as I was adding the music, all I could hear in my head was my dad's voice counting it out like he used to when I'd practice my violin!
Good times! :D

So here is where I am today.

I promise to do a complete "guitar" post when it's done with all the wip pics and the completed project and the story behind it, but for now, I want to get back to it.

Tomorrow is Father's day, so today's art prompt is cards! Do you need to make a card? Decorate the envelope? Simply remember to go pick some up? That might not be that creative, but I hate trying to make cards the day of something, so if you don't need a Father's day card, what about one for a day in the future? 

I have to make 3. One for my Dad (which given his gift is going to be pretty simple, but hopefully he won't mind) then I need to make one for my brother, since it's his very first father's day! And one for my husband too, with a thank you note for giving me the 2 best gifts in the universe. 

Oh yikes.I just realized that it's my sister's boyfriends birthday this week, and I'll be seeing him tomorrow too. Guess I need to make a birthday card! So that's 4. Maybe I'll incorporate already completed artwork in those! Either way, I better get back to work!

I procrastinate sometimes...ok, a lot

So Father's Day is Sunday... and I have been wanting to do something for a while but didn't really take any steps to do it and now I REALLY want it done to give to my dad so my posts for the next few days are going to be pretty short and everything is going to be work in progress pics on that so that come Sunday, his gift is done, or at least MOSTLY done.

My dad is a musician. I am an artist. Therefore..... this needs to happen.

Strings removed, scrubbed and touched up. This is a pre-loved and now discarded guitar.
It's fully playable and in pretty good condition. I thought it deserved new life. Upcycle for the win!

There is actually a theme to this, I'll explain more as I go.

Rough outlines of things... it's hard to see in this pic

Thank goodness I work fast. :D
Now onto the challenge! We're on day 13. Wow!
Today's art prompt is MUSIC! Do something with music, either artistically or actually musically. If music isn't your thing then listen to music you love while you create!
I am not musically gifted, but my dad, my husband and my daughter all are, which is amazing for me in many ways, but I am the type of person who needs music in my life like most people need food and air. :)

It's going to be a busy couple days, but a good few days. I love to make things for people, even more when there is a lot of meaning behind them.


Link up your work!

Zendala 94!!! and Day 12 of my challenge!

Erin over at The Bright Owl took some time of from posting her weekly Zendala dares and I missed it. I did go back and complete some of the past ones but something about working on a current challenge always motivates me!
I was really excited the other day to see a new one pop up! Wooohoo!
As soon as I saw the template I imagined flower baskets. Then I read further and her theme was HAPPY. Spring makes me happy,and while it's a bit of a deviation from my usual approach to these, I have to say I'm really pretty pleased with the results.

I actually did most of it yesterday but I finished it this morning so it's going to count as my Day 12 project for MY 30 day creative challenge. (This way hopefully I can be almost a day ahead and get these posted for you a little earlier than I have been.)

If you are new here, you've found us on day 12 of a 30 day creative challenge. You are still more than welcome to join in! I really hope you do!

You can find the details here and today's art prompt is.. Growth. 

However you want to interpret that... I actually can't wait to see!

Here's today's linkey thing!

Middle of the week already!

Yesterday I told you about the cool app Doodling Together that I found the other night after my iphone IOS 7 upgrade and diaster-a-thon. It's fixed, it's better. I'm not cranky anymore... and while reinstalling all my apps I found this!

Anyway there is also facebook group called Doodling Together that is built around this concept and I'm in love with the idea.(I have no affiliation other than I joined and am participating)

You can learn more about it here or get the app.  It's $2, but giving a couple away this week.

Prizes will be awarded on  All you have to do is submit something today and leave a note in comments that says "Enter me!"

Anyway, I finished my 2nd square and here it is! I really like it. I used some of my favorite things. I have Budz, which is my tangle in there, along with striping which makes me think Tim Burton and Dr Seuss got together to have a party, then I threw in some dots

If you are new to the challenge you can find out more here. 

Otherwise, post it up! Show me what you did to create today.

My challenge for you today is to use dots of some kind in whatever you make! 

Day 10- 1/3 of the way through the challenge so I'm giving stuff away!

Can you believe we are already 1/3 of the way through? THAT is AWESOME! Because we are already 1/3 done I am throwing in an extra giveaway today and tomorrow!
I missed having pen and paper in hand yesterday! I did put some time to good use and found something new that I'm jumping into feet first.
Here's what I did today.

There's a facebook group called Doodling Together that is built around this concept and I'm in love with the idea.(I have no affiliation other than I joined and am participating)
You get the app (yes it's an app, that's how I found it) and there is a small fee ($2 US), but one I thought was well worth it.
Each project is a larger piece that is then broken down into LOTS of other squares. You claim a square in the app, the pattern for your individual square comes right to your email, you print it out and complete it in the next day or two.
Then you upload it and it gets added into the project. How cool is that?
When it's done the final piece is available on all kinds of cool things and you have art you participated in making across the globe.

You can learn more about it here or get the app. 
IN fact.. .I'm going to give one away today and one away tomorrow from the entries on today's blog! All you have to do is submit something today and leave a note in comments that says "Enter me!"

Today's art prompt is to find something you want to jump into and do it (of if you've been waiting to start something)! No procrastinating!

Rules remain the same and this is an extra prize today... so all entries still count for prizes at the end of the month too. I'll be doing the same giveaway tomorrow as well. Tell your friends!

Week 1 is over!

Remember how I said everything had to be posted by Sunday night? It's because today, my project was to give you this.


It's a showcase of the artwork submitted by everyone this past week and I really hope you enjoy it. That amount of creativity and amazing stuff was fantastic and I love to see what everyone is doing.



I tried to get everyone in here, if yours is not here for some reason, shoot me an email at whimsybykelly@gmail.com and I'll make sure to add it to next weeks when I do that one. There were a couple that lead to nowhere.


So that's my creative thing for today... my prompt for you today is to find something in there that inspired you, whatever it is and use it to create something new. If you can't get to it today, then sometime this week.

The rules remain simple.

• Create something. Doesn't matter what. Just do it.
• Post your creation 
• Put your direct link in the linkey thing
• Leave me a comment. 
• Be nice

Past due entries may be posted up until the Sunday of that week, otherwise they can't count. You can still link them but that's the cut off for the video and the contest.

Let's have fun this week!

Happy Sunday!

It's an incredibly GORGEOUS day here, so I'm going to get right too it! I finished this early this morning (after the car alarm started going off in the driveway FOR NO GOOD REASON) and then not so adorable at that moment puppy decided that made it playtime. Heh. I like her more at 8am than 5am.
It's a good thing she's cute right?

If you are new here, the rules are simple. Create EVERY day. I'm not picky about what you create.  I jut want you to do it!
Come here, post a link to where you showed off your creation in the linkey and on July 1 I'll post winners. You must submit previous entries no later than Sunday night each week for them to count.

I will post an art prompt most days, today is "Think color" and put some where you might not have otherwise.

Here's the project I finished this morning, the one that I gave a teeny tiny sneak peek of yesterday.

I love it, even if it didn't photograph as well a I'd have liked.

I hope you do to and I hope this challenge is inspiring you to be creative! I'm having fun with it and I'm really loving getting to see all your blogs and individual pieces as well!






Here i proof that she is in fact adorable and it was worth it to get up.

Plus as an added bonus, I got to see this gorgeous sunrise.

It's not that often I see 5am. I look forward to a nap today though!


UPDATE: Not sure why this didn't post but hopefully it will work now. If you didn't get it submitted because of the missing linkey thing, just leave me a note in comments and feel free to submit it tomorrow. :)

1 week in! Day 7

Today's challenge should be pretty easy I hope!
 Don't worry about trying to finish something. Pick a project you know you can't do at once or work on something you've had in process for a while, but don't stress yourself out trying to make something start to finish. It's the weekend and this is supposed to be FUN! Today I did a little on something I hope to finish by tomorrow, but I've been working on it here or there for a couple days. Here's the corner I did this morning while having my tea.

 So take a quick pic of something you work on today, feel free to make it "just a peek" and save the big reveal for the day you finih it! For more rules and to see the prizes if you are new here... click here

I look forward to seeing what you do today!

Day 6!

Hectic day, sorry this is up later than usual!

I want to make this design into jewelry, so maybe I'll try that later on during the challenge.

Today I haven't done anything yet. I'm going to. I'll update when I do, but I'd like to encourage you to include a heart for today!

I finished this earlier this morning.. Day 5!

So I've been working on a project ever since I saw the whole sharpie on mugs phenomenon take off and I loved it.. but I was skeptical.
I made sure to find items that rendered my finish project food safe because..
1. I want to make an entire set to match the kitchen decor I've ALWAYS WANTED BUT NEVER BEEN ABLE TO FIND!!!! (Strawberries are NOT THAT WEIRD people!)
2. As soon as I mention it I had people want to buy sets. Ok then. I'm not going to sell them if they can't eat off them so began my quest until I found items that would be fine.

Here's my test piece. I started it yesterday and finished it up today. It's not terribly intricate because the next step is to pass it around to every member of my family with the explicit directions to try and destroy it, and I knew I'd be sad if they were successful and I'd spent tons of time creating it. Plus, this is a favorite design of mine. (I do promise to update on how it holds up!)

So that is what I did to be creative today.
How are you coming along in my 30 day Kreative challenge?
( Update because I forgot to add a prompt earlier, Thanks Bev for the reminder!so here it is!)
For your project today, consider doing something you've been wanting to try for a while, a new pattern, a new technique, a new project! 

Rules and prizes can be found here... 

Some questions I'm getting asked a lot...
Q:Can I jump in even though you are in progress?
A:Yes, please do!

Q:Does this count?
A: Did you feel like you were creating something? If so.. yes!

Q: Can I submit something for a different day?
A: Yes, but only until the Sunday of that week for it to count towards contest entries.

So add your link to wherever you posted what you made in the linkey, leave me a comment so I can come check it out and make something fun!

Create, Create CREATE!!! Day 4

Ok, we're on to day 4! That means we are over 10% done with the challenge! Feeling creative yet?

GOOD!

Ok, so here is what I did today. It was fast, it had to be, it's a big day here. It's my youngest minion's 13th birthday! WOW! It doesn't seem possible. He's taller than me now, I remember walking the floor with him for 2 years straight!

So I'm feeling a little nostalgic and have a lot going on today...so today couldn't be something really intricate, but I wanted it to have a fun feel. 

My prompt for you today is this...

GO with it. (I was going to say Let it go, but I didn't want to be responsible for making you all sing for the rest of the day)

Don't overthink what you are going to do, put pen to paper, brush to canvas and let it flow.

I'm excited to see what you come up with.

For those of you who are JUST finding my blog, you can find the details in any of the last few posts or you can click here on yesterday's where I listed the rules AND showed pics of the prizes!

Hey, who's on Pinterest? Instagram? Twitter? Let me know so I can follow you! 

Enter your submission on the linkey thing below and then please leave me a comment after you do so I know you did. 

Submissions for today are ok until Sunday.

Day 3 already! Woo Hoo! And my contribution for the Diva challenge 170

So remember, the goal of the challenge is to be creative EVERY day!

Just DO IT!
I have perfectionist tendencies... if I let myself think too long I second guess everything I do, which is the heart of my own personal project this year and the challenge. Stop worrying about it and just DO IT!

For anyone new please check out how to participate.

Complete something. (There's a prize for the person that completes the most)
It doesn't have to be big, or intricate or spectacular. (See above.. just do it!)
Try and link daily, if not, please no later than each Sunday for it to count.
Link on each day's Linkey (There will be a new one each day starting today)
Tell your friends! The more the merrier!
Winners will be listed July 1!
1 winner for the most entries and 1 chosen at random.

Prizes

Sakura Microns in winner choice of black or color

Wooden spiral art set

So today, for MY creative project, I dove in the The Diva's weekly challenge, which is #170! WOW (I'm so behind! LOL)
The challenge is a UMT and to use Bugles. I'm going to be honest, I hated it while I was making it, then all of a sudden it came together. I still don't love it, but here it is. I love how her challenges push me outside my comfort zone. It really makes me grow and learn new things.

I also made tart cherry Zoku popsicles and last night I made homemade granola. YUM.

So what did you create today?