Funky Cardinal and Free Vintage photo

hi everyone. Meet my latest critter done on a vintage book page. I thought since I've done so many girls, may as well draw a  cardinal. Yes I know he looks funny, but he is supposed to be a cardinal, lol!

Today I went to the Antique market  and picked up some nice vintage photos, as well as a couple of old childrens books. Here is one of the photos I purchased, that I would like to share with you.
 If you make anything with it, I'd love to see. I've been collecting things like this for a while now, but can't bring myself to use the originals in my art, even though that was the idea

Click on the image to bring up the larger size, then save it to your computer.  I will be adding more freebies in future posts. 
Can you imagine what it would have been like to be dressed like this in the summer heat? I'm pretty sure the women weren't allowed to shorts, lol!

Natalie baked you a pie...

Do you like it? The pie I mean, lol! Here is another of my ink on vintage page illustrations.

Did you all notice the nice new feature blogger has? The preview button now let's you see exactly how your post will look. Very cool!

This is a very short post as it's past midnight and I have to get up early tomorrow for work. Note to self: do NOT drink a Starbucks bold coffee a few hours before bedtime , haha! Now I'm paying for it.

have a great night!

My 7 card Draw prizes!

Every month I take part in an ACEO thread on Etsy, called the 7 -card draw, and last month I was the lucky winner! You get to choose 7 cards from the pool - there were I believe, 30 or 40 cards to choose from last month. Today the last of my winning cards came in, so here they are! it's not the greatest photo, since today after many days of sunshine, it decides to rain, lol!

Here are the links to the Etsy shops of each of these lovely people, starting from the top.

Lee Pierce
Art by Marlene
Tapestry316
AdventuresinArt
Journalartz
LD Photography
Mag Moment

Thank you to all those who participated, I am beyond thrilled at my new cards! and for any of you out there, any one can join in, just read the instructions on the first page of the thread, add something to the pool, and have fun!

Big Eye'd Mermaid Illustration.

hi everyone.  I'm still trying to figure out the best way to offer illustrations in my soon to be opened second Etsy shop. It's a lot of work! I'm not sure it's worth the effort, it's hard enough keeping one shop active. I won't bore you with all the details, lol!

Here is my latest big eyed character, with a visitor tagging along for the ride. Not sure how I would describe this illustration, it is sort of a print, but also original. The mermaid was printed on a vintage book page, then re-drew some of the lines, and added paint and other details.
I got lucky with these vintage books...they were being discarded, and I managed to get a few before that happened. This particular one is dated 1918, and I even found one dated 1890. It's nice to give old books a new life, as well as recycle. Watch for lots more illustrations on vintage pages.

It's been so hot and muggy the last few days, that it makes it quite difficult to sit in a hot little room and create. I hope you are all keeping comfortable where ever you are.
thanks for reading!

Hot and Lazy Sunday afternoon

hello everyone! It is gorgeous out these days, yet I've managed to get some new illustrations done. These are a bit different from my  last, but they are still on vintage pages. I was very lucky to salvage some old books heading for the dumpster, so I don't feel bad tearing them apart. One is from 1898, I haven't used the pages yet but I will.
These may have to be listed in my regular Etsy shop, since I haven't opened the second one yet, depends on how much time I have. It's been fun playing around with art, and being a bit more carefree.

The above piece was done on watercolor paper, and I added lots of various vintage text on top. I didn't have a plan, just let it go where it wanted to go. Sorry about the poor photos!

Today I took a drive to the Antique market that runs every Sunday, and I scored some wonderful paper to use in my art. I found 2 very old books filled with vintage wallpaper samples, and I got them for $5, for both!
Now it's a matter of figuring out how best to use them, the papers really are beautiful!
I also picked up these cute little Japanese made dolls. I know nothing about them, other than that they are story book characters.

It was a good trip. I went alone since everyone I know wanted to watch the World Cup final. Congratulations to Spain, and to the Netherlands for what I hear was a wonderful game.

I thought I'd mention a funny thing that happened to me this morning. I have a sweet little canary which I adore, named Lucas.  I took his feed dish to fill it up with seeds, and he flew out. I heard fluttering and when I looked around, he was on the floor looking at me, so I let him stay out for a bit and stretch his wings. When I went to catch him, naturally he tries to fly away. He flew into the bathroom, and I figured, no problem, this will be easy since the bathroom is so small. Before I had a chance to even walk towards him he flew right into the toilet! I quickly pulled him out, poor little guy! His belly and wings were wet so I dabbed him with a paper towel and placed him in his cage. He was perfectly fine, he's such a little trooper.

Last but not least, I mentioned buying lots of new plants in my last post and someone asked for a photo, so here is one that shows some of them. This is the stand by my kitchen window, and yes, that is a cat on top, lol! It's my sister's persian/himalayan cat.
I have to put 2 plants on the floor because she likes to lie on the shelf and watch the birds outside. The plants are throughout my home, but this is where most are.

hope you are all having a wonderful weekend
thanks for reading!

Finally, an update

Ahoy there friends! you probably thought I sailed off into the sunset, it's been a few weeks since my last post.
Do you ever feel like you have nothing interesting to say even though you may be busy?  Seems the longer you wait to post, the harder it is.
It has been so hot and humid the last few days in Ontario. I've had a few days off work, hoping to get caught up on some of my online classes, but it's been difficult due to the heat. I've managed to create a few of my little owl  ACEOs though.

 Years ago, I  used to have over 40 houseplants when I lived in a larger home, but I let them go when I moved into the home I am now in. I guess I got tired of maintaining them. It felt like the right time to start over, so I went to one of my favorite green houses and walked out with a dozen new plants. Check out this photo of their cactus section, it's quite incredible to see in person.

A couple of days ago I went with my friend to see the horses again. I always take my camera along hoping to get some good reference photos, but every other time, something prevented it. Like freezing cold conditions, or a dreary cloudy day, rain, etc...but this time I thought my luck would change. It was super hot and sunny. Everything was going well, until the red battery light on my camera started flashing! At least I got a few photos before it totally died on me.
Here I am giving one of the horses some scritches, lol!

This little guy below is an orphan. He's being hand raised right now. We thought we would go in his pen and play with him a bit. Well, he started getting quite rambunctious, running towards us and bucking, so seeing as we were both in flip flops, we thought we'd better get out of there pretty quickly.

Now art wise, I decided I need to open a second Etsy shop for my illustrations. I haven't done this yet, since I don't have enough art to add to it ....and I need to decide on a name for the new shop.
The shop I have right now has too many different styles of art, that it lacks cohesion. The new one would be my drawings on vintage paper.
Once I get a few more of my illustrations finished, I will show them on my blog. Right now, I'm still working out some details.

Forgive me if this post seems all over the place. That's what happens when you don't blog regularly...I promise to try to do better next time.
thanks for reading!