Last day for my ATC Giveaway and a chance to win 4 more ATCs

It's the last day for my ATC giveaway for my followers. Just leave a comment on this post if you'd like a chance to win.

And my sister Patsy is having her own giveaway that you might want to join.  Four ATCs of lovely ladies with chain necklaces.  She'll be picking her winners by the second weekend of April.

Vintage Collages in ATCs

I thought I'd share with you my latest Artist Trading Cards.  There are a lot of great sites that offer beautiful vintage images so I decided to use them in some collages.  I combined the images with book paper, magazine cutouts, a part of a sandalwood fan, and added touches of watercolor, colored pencil and some gold poster paint.  The first one with the sandalwood piece is my favorite.  Hope you like them!

If you would like to have a chance to win my ATC giveaway, please visit this post.

Every Child is Precious

Such sad news.  My friends' 2 1/2 month old baby died in his sleep the other day.  He was a premature baby but we all thought he was out of danger, having overcome many challenges in his first few weeks.  We had just celebrated his baptism last February 12 and then, we were back in the same church compound, only this time, to say goodbye.

I was reminded of a poem which I came across some time ago and it is about how our children are just lent to us.  

TO ALL PARENTS
"I'll lend you for a little time a child of mine, " He said,
"for you to love the while she lives and mourn for when she's dead.
It may be six or seven years, or twenty-two or three,
But will you, till I call her back, take care of her for me?
She'll bring her charms to gladden you, and shall her stay be brief,
You'll have her lovely memories as solace for your grief.

I cannot promise she will stay, since all from earth returns,
But there are lessons taught down there I want this child to learn.
I've looked the whole wide world over in my search for teachers true
And from the throngs that crowds life's lanes I have selected you.

Now will you give her all your love, nor think the labor vain,
Nor hate me when I come to call to take her back again?"
I fancied that I heard them say: "Dear Lord, Thy will be done!
For all the joy Thy child shall bring, the risk of grief we'll run.
We'll shelter her with tenderness, we'll love her while we may,
And for the happiness we've known forever grateful stay;
but shall the angels call for her much sooner than we've planned,
We'll brave the bitter grief that comes and try to understand."
by Edgar Guest

Isn't it so terribly sad and ironic that this beautiful baby, so beloved by his family, died in a world where so many abortions take place?  This site says approximately 42 million abortions take place in one year.  "Every child born into the world is a new thought of God, an ever fresh and radiant possibility"(Kate Douglas Wiggin) and I believe even the ones who have not yet been born are already so very precious.

In the Philippines, March 25 of each year is celebrated as the "Day of the Unborn". This day is "devoted to the vast number of babies forbidden to live and partake in this world."  Who knows what potential a baby would reach if he were allowed to live.   

Listen to "A Baby's Prayer"...

  

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart..." Jeremiah 1:5

Let us treasure our children and the precious time we have with them.

An ATC Giveaway for my Followers

As a heartfelt thank you to all of you who have decided to follow my blog, I'm giving away the ATC I made for my previous post, the tutorial on drawing a face using the tracing technique.  When I started my blog, I didn't know if anyone would be interested in what I had to share.  And so, I am truly so grateful for each one of my followers.  That's why I decided to have a giveaway specially for all of you who follow me (I wish I could give each one of you a giveaway!). 

All you have to do to have a chance to win my ATC (I've named her "Tracy", an appropriate name don't you think?) is to be a follower and make a comment on this post before March 31.  If you aren't following my blog, you can still join my giveaway if you decide to follow it.  If you would like a chance to win an ATC sized print of my OWOH giveaway, please let me know in your comment.  I will be giving them away as consolation prizes if anyone wants them.  Let me know if you have added a link to my giveaway in your blog and I will also give you an extra chance to win.   

GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED.

Thank you so much for joining!

I will announce the winner on Easter Sunday.

Drawing a Face: Tracing Technique

When I made a tutorial about making an ATC portrait in this post, I realized that the part about making a pencil sketch could be difficult for some.  So, I decided to make a tutorial about tracing a face as a guide for your portrait. You can use this technique for ATCs as well as for bigger pieces.

Tracing is something I used to do as a young girl making paperdolls.  At first, I didn't know how to draw the whole body so I would just trace some drawing or photo of a woman and use the tracing to make a paperdoll.  Eventually, I was able to draw my paperdolls without tracing.  Perhaps, if you try this technique of tracing and studying the proportions of the pictures you trace, you will later be able to draw faces without tracing.

1.  First, you need to find picture that is the right size, something that will fit the size of your ATC (or whatever other size of artwork you are making).  It should be a picture with strong contrasts so that it will be easy to trace.  There are a lot of pictures available in magazines and even in the newspaper.  Here is a picture I found in a newspaper...

2.  Trace the main lines of the newspaper photo with a soft, not so sharp pencil.  You don't have to be so accurate since we're only using the picture to help us draw a face.  We're not actually trying to draw the face itself. 

(Sorry for the bad photos, so full of shadows!  I was making this in bad lighting conditions. Oh well, better bad pictures than none, right?)

3.  After tracing the newspaper photo, flip the tracing paper over such that the side which has the pencil lead touches the card you are making your portrait on.   Position your tracing on the card and perhaps you can tape it to the card so that it won't move while you're transferring the lines.  

4.  Trace heavily over the pencil lines with a pen or pencil so that the pencil lead marks the card under it. I'm using a card that I've coated with wall putty, as I described in this post.  

The picture below shows how the card should look after you trace over the pencil marks.  Notice the faint pencil lead markings that you have made on the card, a mirror image of the picture you traced.

 

5.  Now you can trace over the pencil marks with a pen or even just a ballpen. You can make changes in the final pen lines and you can add details like eyelashes and eyebrow hairs.

6.  Erase the extra pencil lines with a kneaded eraser.

7.  Looking at the photo you are using to help you draw a face, use watercolor to add volume.  Notice the dark areas in the picture.  Remember your ATC is a mirror image so your shadows should be on the opposite side.  Don't worry about uneven watercolor shades.  We're not making a photo realistic painting (People may not believe it's a painting if it looks too much like a photograph just like this artist's work).

7. Add colored pencils in various shades (just as described in this post.)

The finished card...

 

You can also try out this technique with photos of family and friends which you print out to the right size.

I hope this was helpful.  Let me know if you try this out.  I would love to hear from you!  
(Linking this up with Tutorial Tuesday)

Hot Air Balloons

Last weekend, we took an early morning trip out of the city to attend a Hot Air Balloon Festival.  There were balloons in different shapes, sizes and colors.  Aside from the usual balloon shape, there was a turtle, a sun, a beer bottle and even a farmer in a barn!

Watching the teams set up their equipment, blowing air to fill up the balloons, and heating the air up so that the balloons could soar up in the air was a fascinating sight.  Hot air can make such big, big balloons rise up to the air.  Amazing!  

Thinking about hot air reminded me of the time we were in Thailand and we experienced lighting up our own paper Sky Lanterns.  What a wonderful sight in the night sky!

Isn't it interesting that the word hot can convey both positive and negative things?  Hot air can make these beautiful balloons and lanterns soar through the air but hot air can also mean "empty and usually boastful talk."  "Hot" can mean something popular or successful, but it can also mean trouble, like when we say we're "in hot water" or "in the hot seat". 

In life, we can find ourselves in challenging situations.  These situations can affect us in different ways and we can respond to them either positively or negatively.  Can we turn our "Good Fridays" into "Easter Sundays"?  Can we use the "hot water" situations in our life to make us soar to the heavens?
I hope so!

 

 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4

A Season of Grace

In life, we go through different seasons.  Christians also celebrate different seasons in the Church calendar. Yesterday, as Catholics, we started the season of Lent.  Our foreheads were marked with ashes in the shape of a cross.  It reminds us that "Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return" (Genesis 3:19).   I think that is something good to remember, to remind us of what is important in life.   For me, Lent is a good time to "fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." (2 Corinthians 4:18)

Many of the things that seem so important to us will pass, just like the seasons.  But "what is unseen is eternal" and will always remain.  As I thought of this, I was reminded of this beautiful song...

The Vintage Moth's Excited Winner!

The Vintage Moth is Abbie's wonderful blog where you can get FREE vintage and antique images for your projects. Abbie offered a lovely Antique Egg Plate Print for her OWOH giveaway (It is an actual antique, NOT a reproduction).  And guess who won!!!  Yup!  I am The Vintage Moth's excited winner!

Thank you very much, Abbie for your generous giveaway!   I am honored and blessed to win it!

Happy Day!

Well, this is certainly a happy day!  Another surprise in my inbox!  Martina from artymarty emailed me with news that I won her supplementary prize!  It is a beautiful soldered pendant, something i have been wanting to try my hand at!  Last year, I even bought the supplies for soldering but never got around to starting.  Maybe this will give me added inspiration!
Thank you so much Martina, for your lovely pendant!  I'm so glad you decided to add another prize!

I won!

More excitement for me!  I received an email from Jenn of Just Jenn Designz informing me that I won her second prize giveaway, the Oriental Journey paper bead necklace.  Well of course, I am jumping up and down!  It is always nice to win something, isn't it?

But, more than just winning,  I found it interesting that I won this particular giveaway because I have been going to the Quezon City Jail every Thursday for the past five months (more about that in this post) and one of the things we've been trying to start is a livelihood program for the inmates.  We are going to have them make paper beads!  Isn't that interesting?  

Thank you, Jenn!  I am delighted to win this lovely necklace!