The Art Challenge~~Day 5, Saturday, January 31, 2015

HOLY MOLY…I just spent a big bulk of time getting these 3 patterns into pdf form and I FORGOT how much time it took to resize stuff and check for words/symbols that didn’t scan…ROFL…NOW I don’t feel so bad that it took me so long last year to get most of my patterns into the pdf format!!  Yep, patting myself on the back!!  

 Today is my last day of my Art Challenge…It has been SO MUCH FUN getting to see the pictures that people have posted.  It has transplanted me, in some instances, to a place where I REMEMBER meeting so many of my Facebook friends!  

 I KNOW that I have never SEEN you in person and probably never will, but let me assure you that your friendships are REAL and I treasure each of you and what you have brought to my life…Thank YOU for accepting ME~~warts and all and I HOPE that you KNOW what you mean to me…

And that brings the reason I was converting pdf files into focus…to SHARE these 3 meaningful to me, Designs that I created to HONOR our Military.  

Our country is NOT perfect, our leaders are flawed, JUST LIKE each one who reads this is, BUT I APPLAUD the HONOR of living in the United States and I SUPPORT our Military and I PRAY for our leaders instead of BASHING them and spreading UNTRUTHS about them…we NEVER know what ANYONE deals with UNTIL we have walked in their shoes, SO THANK you to our MILITARY for ALLOWING us the FREEDOM to disagree, EVEN when we are WRONG and I send my heartfelt GRATITUDE to the families that support our military…Your sacrifices do NOT go unnoticed…GOD BLESS AMERICA and those countries who stand alongside us helping to protect FREEDOMS of ALL PEOPLE! 

The First Pattern is Called: I Pledge Allegiance to the Flag.  It has a light behind it.

The Next Pattern is called: 'Til You Come Home...this is another light design that could be left on while a soldier is away... or to simply help brighten a dark corner in HONOR of your soldier.

The last Pattern is Called Dandy Andy...It includes the line drawings for the 4 branches of the military...

 

 All of these patterns are available as INSTANT DOWNLOADS

 in my Etsy Shop. Go Visit and see what I have been doing!

I have enjoyed sharing on my Facebook page these past 5 days and I hope others have enjoyed seeing the pictures as much as I have...I HOPE that each one who has posted has FELT THE LOVE…I APPRECIATE YOU and your gifts…♥

Never be afraid to SHARE your ART!  We have been given gifts and we need to share them...we can never underestimate the doors that might be opened or the JOY they may cause someone...Blessings to YOU...~charlotte♥

Art Challenge Day 4, Friday, January 30, 2015

This was Day 4 of the Art Challenge.  I was NOT going to finish this challenge because of the RUDEST comment that I saw on a fellow artist’s posting by the person who “supposedly” started this challenge saying that it SURE had morphed into something else than what SHE intended it to be...

 WELL, I PERSONALLY am thankful that things MORPH and that people see a GREATER GOOD for inspirations and how simple IDEAS can become SO MUCH MORE than we originally can fathom by OURSELVES…

I am THANKFUL for ALL who have taken the time to SHARE their ART…no matter WHAT type of ART it is~~thread, oil, acrylic, designer, painter, photographer, mixed-media…For you see, the MOMENT any of us ATTEMPTS to put OURSELVES above someone else, THEN YOU WILL ALWAYS become a failure…It is ONLY through SHARING and SUPPORTING each other that we become ARTISTS…

GOD is the MASTER CREATOR. No matter how beautifully we paint, WE ALL are mere imitators of the MASTER…NONE of us can create something that is NEW because GOD has it all covered, BUT what he has done, is to give us a DESIRE to improve…to DEVELOP the skills He has planted into our lives…whether we create or admire ART, we ALL play a part in the appreciation and the furtherance of ART, so Today, I took my friends advice and decided NOT to let ONE MEAN-SPIRITED WOMAN ruin the JOY of SHARING the gifts that I have and that are DIFFERENT from any one else because we are ALL UNIQUE BUT we are FEARFULLY and WONDERFULLY made…

I am THANKFUL for those who have inspired me to work harder, paint longer and delve deeper into my creativity in WHATEVER form it appears on a surface! 

THANK you GOD for being MY MASTER inspiration and for giving me the GIFT of ART...it is to GOD that I give ALL GLORY and HONOR for the gifts he has bestowed on me and it is my prayer that I will be SUPPORTIVE and that I will be an ENCOURAGER for those who work diligently to get their art noticed…we ALL need each other and we have NO room for pettiness or selfishness…

SO since I am on my SOAPBOX (again…sigh), I guess it is ONLY fitting that I share a pattern that I designed for painting on SOAP! LOL (yeah…I DARE anyone to come up with a BETTER transition than THAT one…BWAH…see there I go, patting myself on the back…sigh). 

Next, is a simple sign designed as a reflection of what I believe…

and the last just about sums up my faith…we are the sheep of HIS pasture and we should LOOK UP for guidance, no…we need to look in our hearts and ASK, BELIEVE and we WILL receive…

I design QUICK and EASY designs in hopes that EVERYONE who wishes to paint can see that THEY CAN...I use BRIGHT colors and HAPPY faces because life is hard enough and I WANT to be HAPPY and to spread CHEER...

Be a SUPPORTER of Art...Be an ENCOURAGER of ART...

Be the BEST YOU that YOU can BE...Blessings to YOU...~charlotte♥

Art Challenge, Day 3, Tuesday, January 27, 2015

This is DAY 3 of the Art Challenge.

Today, I share the reason I got on Facebook…A friend told me I NEEDED to join because EVERY business in town is on and it could help me…

WELL, once again, keeping the theme of BEING LATE, I got on Facebook in 2013, but it has opened doors for me and friendships beyond belief.  My desire was to help get my pattern business going, but I have gained so much more through the friendships that I have made and the support and encouragement that I so needed after a difficult time in my life…

I am sharing 3 of my favorite patterns…ALL of these are painted with MY FAVORITE paints...DecoArt Americana. GO VISIT THEIR WEBSITE to see their wonderful products and their projects to inspire you.  You will ALSO find a list of shading/highlighting charts and other helpful files under LEARN.

The Heart is my newest pattern…The front of this pattern is what I shared on my last post...This original piece is NOW at my friend's house in New York...

the Bunny is my first Painting with Friends Pattern…

and the scarecrow and crow are doing my FAVORITE pastime~~sitting around and eating!  LOL…

All of my patterns are available as instant downloads in  MY ETSY SHOP

BE an ENCOURAGER...Leave someone a NICE note for no reason at all...LET people know that you are thinking of them...Blessings to YOU...~charlotte♥

Happy Birthday, Mother...Sunday, January 25, 2015

Today would have been my Mother’s 83^rd Birthday.  

Mother was ALWAYS ready to go!

She was my greatest cheerleader and I would often bring WHAT I had painted out in my craft house into the house just to show her so she would go on about how creative I was…sigh…The last years of her life were tough for BOTH of us…while I did the best I could at the time, I STILL struggle to forgive myself for not having been a better daughter to her…I was a DADDY’s girl, through and through, but she was an excellent Mother who LOVED beyond belief…she really did LOVE her enemies and would pray for them… 

As I was thinking about Mother’s birthday, I started recalling her friends that had joined her in Heaven during this past year…Margie and Hoyte Bundy were special friends of ours and we spent many meals together after they moved to our town from North Carolina…They had belonged to the church where the Chrismon Tree was started and were instrumental in helping my church get one started…IF you don’t know about the Chrismon Tree, google it…it is an AWESOME concept of a Christmas tree that is adorned only in gold and white with the various Christian symbols…

Dixie Counts was a special friend of Mother’s and the husband of one of her classmates…he started a GOSPEL night at the Downtown Baptist church in our town and I KNOW there is BEAUTIFUL music being sung by all of them!

 Uncle Johnny Harris, as I called him was Daddy’s childhood buddy.  One of the LAST times that I remember him just STOPPING by to say HI was when I was about 6 and my brother was about 8.  Our 100 year old house was built with a fireplace in every room, but we got to where only 1 fireplace was used, so Daddy would gather starter wood whenever it was offered to him.  This one batch came from a local manufacturer of shoes in our town and they were GREAT pieces of round wood about 2 feet long…my brother thought they would make GREAT Bats…So, he and I were PLAYING, while Mother, Daddy and Uncle Johnny were talking behind us…Brian through the ball in the air and swatted it with the “bat” and then I heard a commotion and I turned to see Mother sitting on the ground…Brian had lost the grip and had cracked mother’s head!  We went to the ER and took care of it…BUT it all turned out REALLY well because we got to stop at the Dairy Queen to get a Dilly Bar on the way HOME!  Mother always said that Brian was the child who always seemed to have “things” that just happened to him…YEP…he is the middle child…LOL…

 Bill Woodard was a dear family friend that I KNOW is having the best time with Mother and Daddy…And with his parents, Jay and Woody…Oh man…what a vision!

I KNOW that my sweet Roamie is there with Mother and Daddy and Mother is STILL feeding him his daily pimento cheese sandwiches…HE was the reason that Mother got out of bed many days toward the end of her life…SOMETIMES he did NOT want to eat the sandwiches, but he was always a trooper and obliged…he was the BEST dog that I EVER had and I miss him, too!!  NEVER did I think this house would hold an INSIDE dog, but Roamie changed that…He would have NOTHING to do with Mother while Daddy was alive because he seemed to FEAR that White headed, red coat wearing woman, BUT when Daddy died, it was as if he KNEW that it was NOW his responsibility to take care of Momma.

All four of Mother’s brothers, her 3 sisters and her Mother have CELERATED today…Mother was a twin and was the BABY of the family…

When my Daddy died in 2003, I decided that I could NOT let every special day be a day of depression because I wanted to HONOR him for his life.  I then tried to start doing SOMETHING for someone else on those special days, even if it was just to tell someone that Daddy loved them…

Today, as I was struggling to go back to sleep after Charcoal’s potty break, I tried to THINK of what I wanted to do TODAY, since I hadn’t yet planned anything special…THIS magnet came to mind since I had painted several the last few days.  NOTHING could honor Mother more than to spread LOVE in her name…SO I wish to offer this pattern to you for the next week (until 2-3-15).  in the HOPE that you WILL paint one and pass it ON to someone…I can’t think of anything better to HONOR the memory of Martha Fletcher…Thank you for being my NEW cheeerleaders…

I envision this pattern used with SEVERAL mediums…it can be stitched…written on paper with colored pencils or markers…made using scrapbook paper…mixed media…SO simple yet the message is the MOST important message in the world!

Either comment below with your email address, or send me an email at:  romaland2.1@juno.com with the message:  LOVE and I will email you the pdf file of the pattern…

Thank you Mother for loving me EVEN when I was a selfish, spoiled BRAT…I miss you and I love you…Blessings to YOU…~charlotte