Grandmother's 90th

My grandmother will be turning 90 years old this month. My aunt asked me to create a card to send out  to her friends and family so they could call or write her a note.

Christmas Gifts

This year we budgeted much less for our Christmas gifts, so I decided to knit a few things, as well as learn to crochet a little.

For my sister-in-law, I knitted an infinity scarf with some crocheted flowers.

I asked one of our friends to model it:

For my 2 year-old niece, a little button-up scarf:

Crocheted Scarf for my other sister-in-law:

I made it from the instructions for this 'scale' or 'crocodile' stitch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUNtrp_Vj4o

I'm still working on a few more things:

Scarf I'm currently knitting for my aunt:

For my Grandmother, I wanted to make a basic scarf and then add a leaf trellis with roses (her favorite flower):

For my mom, I decided to take a leap and crochet a sweater:

This is what I hope it'll look like in the end.... :

http://www.redheart.com/free-patterns/filigree-cardigan

I just started a 'swirl' scarf, but I wanted it to have more of a lacy look

(it still has a way to go):

Update: Finished Christmas projects

Grandmother's scarf

Danny's Scarf (brother):

Dad's scarf: same as Danny's, but added legs to make it a gecko....he's a Biology teacher ;)

I crocheted a beard for the family White Elephant gift exchange :)

Our Church White Elephant gift exchange:

And one for Angel:

Church Bulletins

Newest Church Bulletin designs:

topic: "Hiding Behind the Mask"

topic: "Can You See Him?"

JAN Site Design

Site I just finished working on: jesusallornothing.org

L.E. logo design

Logo design for Literature Evangelism:

Church Bulletin

The speaker (an older gentleman battling pancreatic cancer) would be talking about his favorite childhood game: marbles.

Church Bulletin

Heaping coals...

Watercolor with family

My grandmother is visiting. We got together with my mom and had a little "class". Even though I didn't completely know what I was doing, I took them step-by-step to paint their own watercolor scene (first tracing the image from a book). I think they did great!

Watercolor card

A friend's mother passed away recently, so I wanted to make a watercolor card. I wanted to keep it simple, so I went with an almost pattern feel and let the fluidity of the medium give it creativity.

 

Watercolor workshop

Went to a watercolor painting workshop (taught by Gayle Jones) with my mom yesterday; had a blast! She brings all the materials and pre-draws what everyone will be painting so we can concentrate on the painting techniques (she does step-by-step instruction).

Mountain Biking Postcard

The Youth Department will be having a biking weekend in Brown County, so they needed some promotional postcards to advertise the event.

Front:

Back:

Church Bulletin

A new design for the Church Bulletin.

Watercolor -- practice 2

I decided to practice painting a sky and water scene. Beginning by wetting the sky area, I dropped in some blues and greens and let them bleed together. I lifted out cloud shapes with a paper towel and continued with the ocean section. I used a toothbrush to splatter color and, since I haven't yet bought white gouache or masking fluid to keep areas white, I added a little white acrylic paint for the wave spray.
I still have a tendency to overwork the piece.

Indy Jazz Fest Poster

Poster design for Latin Night of the Indy Jazz Fest.

UPDATE: The poster came out on the news for NBC Latino on Sept. 6: (4:38 and 5:51)
http://www.wthr.com/category/235348/noticias-en-espanol

Watercolors -- beginning

I've been wanting to learn to use watercolors because they are so incredibly unpredictable and create so many interesting effects (which I haven't quite been able to replicate digitally --somewhat, but not completely). I want to stay away from the picture realism style and lean more towards the freeness that encourages the unpredictability of this medium.
Deciding to start with something simple, I chose tree silhouettes. After making a loose sketch I began layering on colors, letting them blend and then lifting out color with a scrunched paper towel.
I'm not ecstatic with the result, but still feel it was a good start.

Poster for Seminar

For this poster I wanted a plastered wall look. I used a photo of some tall buildings, a sunset photo, and I made a vector of the praying person. The idea of morphing the type, brown to blue, with the sky evolved once I placed it at the top. I then used a texture overlay.

Church Bulletin