Nursery Rhyme - Mary Had A Little Lamb

I had a blessed week filled with family, art, and children.  First of all, my oldest daughter turned 19 years old.  I am so proud of her, not only is she a God loving young lady, but she also finished her first year at Texas A&M successfully.  I also got to help my wife, who is the Christian Education Director at our Church, with the Vacation Bible School (VBS) arts and crafts portion of the program.  Unfortunately, we did not have a large group this year, but at least we got to spread the word of the Lord to some of God's children and had lots of fun!  Last, but not least, I was honored by an invitation from Mike R. Baker to become a regular contributor to Monday Artday, which is a group of over 600 artists and illustrators worldwide.  (Mike is fighting cancer, so please keep him in your prayers.)

The current challenge at Monday Artday is Nursery Rhyme, which was perfect considering this week's events.  I decided to bring back the original character whom I introduced in the From a Dream post on May 20th, 2012.  I thought she was perfect for the leading role in "Mary Had a Little Lamb."  I designed her Zentangle costume using the color story from this week's The Play Date Cafe Challenge #138, cotton candy, ruby, citrus, and dusk.  I used Sharpie markers to illustrate her.

I decided to use my illustration to design two greeting cards.  The first one I designed for Three muses,  who is challenging readers to use frames.  It is a similar layout to the CPS #266 I used my character in last time.  However, I didn't use the diagonal line/cut, but instead added a ribbon and button embellishment.  I used a pink Zig chalk writer to simulate a child's invented spelling and print in my sentiment.  The second card I designed for Card Positioning Systems CPS #271.  Except for a couple of modifications such as the Hemptique orange baker's twine, it's baskically the same layout.  I used a couple of fruit print sheets from a DCWV The Four Seasons stack, scraps of blue cardstock, and Clearsnap pads for edging both cards.  As to the frame and "funny" sentiment, they are both from a K&Company handmade die-cut set.  

I also incorporated my illustration into a Tin Can CD or photograph gift box, so I can submit it to Crazy Amigo - Scrapcard and Craft Artwork - Cans in the New Version.  I used an old AOL CD tin can that I've had for years, and couldn't get myself to throw away.  Yes, I'm a packrat - LOL!  I sanded it down and coated it with blue acrylic craft paint.  I took a scrap of the paper I used for my cards, cut it to size, rounded the left side corners, and distressed all the edges.  I took a print of my illustration and distressed the edges as well.  When the tin can was dry, I coated it with decoupage medium and attached my papers.  I coated the whole tin can with more decoupage medium.  As a finishing touch, I added a strip of vintage classroom alphabet tape and a strip of recycled orange ribbon.  I also punched a miniature tag from the scrap paper to stick under the ribbon.  I need to confess that the acrylic paint scrapes of easily and believe spray paint for metal would have worked best.  We learn from our mistakes, right?

My Drafting Table

The 5 & 6 year olds learned to spread the Gospel like busy bees spread pollen.

The 4th and 5th Graders learned they need to grow in their faith in Christ,
just like a caterpillar grows and turns into a butterfly.

In closing, I present to you my drafting table and 2 of my VBS tables for "What's On Your Workdesk?" Wednesday 160.  As you can tell, it was a busy week, but I loved every minute of it.  I got to work on my art projects for this post, as well as help develop children's creativity skills as I reinforced the Word of Lord.  By the way, did you notice what I wrote in my art journal?  My little girl character needs a name, and I'm considering Abna or Anby, which are combinations of the first syllables of my girls' names.  However, my girls don't like either one of them - LOL!  Do you have any suggestions?  I'd love to hear what you think about the names and/or of my work, as well as to follow my blog.  Blessings!