Wishes for the Holiday's

Holidays around the corner. What is your wish for your family for these holidays? Is your wish simply to get through it in one piece without ulcers and with a bit of money left in your wallet? I wish for a healthy prosperous 2012 for my family. It has been a tough year for many and my family certainly wasn't exempt from this. 

Justice Card- 4 ways

So give "Justice" her justice on a decent background is a dilema for me. I can't pick. It is such a personal choice for people. It can make or break how you feel about a tarot card.

Dragons Blood Ink- 2 new cards

More serious Dragon's Blood Ink Cards.

Lady on the Moon

Same thing. Do I like the purple frame behind the wings or in front of the wings. Do I want swirls under the moon? Purple flowers on the hat? See isn't that the best part about play time? You can try all kinds of options with no one telling you what you can and can not do. 

My usual-Can't decide

Typical can't make up my mind. One card three ways.

Bee-utiful

Anotu

I had never heard of this name before. But a couple days after I finished this card I was looking at it and the name popped into my head. So be it. That is the name of this card. I googled the name just out of curiosity and found that it does exist.

Dragons Blood Ink

I finally learned what Dragon's Blood Ink is from reading Candle Magic. The new book by Jackie Smith. Great book and her candles are fantastic. Check out her site on Coventry Creations. She is a walking encycolpedia on candle magic.

Anyhow I wanted to do a card with Dragon's Blood ink. If you want to know what it is, well I am going to make you do a little research and find out for yourself. You learn more that way.

A Little Drop of Poison

I was sitting playing around with this card and watching Dancing with the Stars. This card was just sitting there going nowhere fast and as the dancers came on and danced to the Tango I heard the words to the song "A little drop of poison". Perfect. That is what she reminds me of. So thanks to Dancing I found a theme for this card. The Damselfly Lady. I like the one on her hat.

I love Steampunk but I find it hard for me to do for some reason. I will just have to keep working at it.

Home or Cemetery Plot?

You may wonder what the? Well let me explain by going back a little bit. When I was a kid I always wanted a two story house with a white picket fence. So when I was finally able to buy a house in my 30's I bought an old two story 4 square built in 1910. Way to big for my needs but I bought it anyway. Then when I realized the utilities were high and the big lot was a pain to keep mowed I decided to downsize. On and off I had the house listed for 6 years. Yes you heard me right! I guess no one else wanted this old house either. When I finally sold the house I bought myself a cute little 1000 sq ft house. Added my picket fence and arbors planted it full of roses and flowers. It was cute!! I put a lot of work and effort into the inside and outside of this little house and when I was done I felt pretty much "stick a fork in me done". I guess I was rather over the whole owning a home thing. It just really didn't do it for me. I felt scared all the time that I could possibly loose it if I lost my job or what would happen if something major went wrong and I didn't have the money to fix it. So I put the house up for sale and with the luck of the goddess sold it to the first couple who looked at it!! I felt no regrets as I moved into a wonderful rented duplex. After 18 years I am no longer a home owner and I have never felt more free and relaxed. I love going home to the little duplex. I don't have the home owner stress anymore. Yes I pay a little more for my monthly rent. Don't care. The peace of mind is worth the extra money for me personally. After all the years of owning both homes I actually lost money. The homes did not go up in value (even after all the improvements). The only thing that went up was my home owner insurance and my property taxes. So for me I listed my "grave site" and sold it.

I guess that leads me to the fact that when you buy your cemetery plot and they put you in it, you are not really there anyway. Your soul is long gone. When you own a home it is the same way, you work like a dog to keep it paid for and fill it with collections of accumulated "clutter". So here is a toast to my new "renters life". Have not slept this good in 18 years.

Joie de Vivre Tarot Deck

I waited a long time for Paulina Cassidy's newest deck. The difference I noticed right off was the fact that the backgrounds on these cards are not so ornate. She left them a bit quiet so the main characters stand out. The colors are calming and lovely. I think this would make a great deck for a young person or someone who might fear the tarot decks for one reason or another. It is not intimidating or scary. For me personally I like the deck very much and it was worth the wait. It does not come in a big fancy box like some of the decks do but the book is nice and the price of this deck is great. I guess I don't have a favorite look in a deck. I love the light pastel decks just as much as I love my dark decks.

Back to the Dark Side

Apparantly I am back to the dark side. I am reading Lisa Williams new book and this is what came from it. Love the new book by the way. I also enjoy her radio show on blogtalk.

Beat to Your Own Drum

Are people always telling you that you just "Beat to Your Own Drum" like it is a bad thing? I guess it could be a bad thing if this means mooching off your friends and not carrying your own weight in this world. If this means you think outside the box and do great things for society than how bad can that be? You would then need to buy drums for all your friends.

Fallen Angels Oracle on Veterens Day

Today is Veteran's Day and also a rather magical day being 11-11-11. I thought of our Veteran's who have passed in the line of duty as our Fallen Angels. This deck came to mind for that.

I bought this deck because I love the depth of the statuary and the layers of colors used in the cards. I don't use them or pull cards from them like I do with Visions of Oracles or The Map Oracles. But all the same I love the look of these cards.

No Explanation

Don't ask I have no idea. The card just popped out of my head and on to the page. No explanation.

Shut Yo' Gob

Couldn't resist with the little Goblin creatures to use this saying. Don't you wish you could tell someone this who can never be quite for just one minute. Just a little peace and quite is all you ask for and they just ramble on about nothing.



Maybe just a little Eye of the Newt slipped in their coffee could get them to Shut their Gob. Of course first someone would have to tell what Eye of the Newt is.

Did you notice I used  the same frame as in Kupids Kisses?

RIP Little Cecily

Rest in Peace our sweet little Cecily. You made us laugh every day with your funny little antics the brightest eyes and the sweetest face ever. You had a kind and gentle spirit and loved everyone. You were my character from Alice in Wonderland, half caterpillar half dog. We enjoyed your presence  for the past 11 years and may you rest in peace with your friend Ginger at the rainbow bridge. We will miss you dearly.

I pulled this card yesterday before she died. All day I had this horrible pit in the stomach dread. I could not shake it. I don't get that feeling very often and usually when I get that someone ultimately looses their job. So it was really getting to me. So when I went home I pulled a couple of cards and this one came up. Which just confirmed my dread and made me feel worse. Unfortunately I found out why the next morning. I pretty much cried like this all day.

( This card is from the Divine Legacy Deck by Ciro Marchetti.)

Star Goddess

I realized that sometimes my cards seem to be a bit dark. But oddly enough, I am not really that way. I guess it is the same way that comedic actors like playing bad guys because it is more fun, I like doing darker cards. They make me think more and are simply more fun to create. But on occasion I have to throw in a lighter more fun card. These two little ladies have appeared before in my cards but not with wings. I wondered how they would like with some wings on and I rather liked it so this is what came out of that thought.

Graveyard Dirt Labels

The Map Oracle (Sharing a couple more)

If you are noticing the line on the left that is actually not on the cards, it is my crummy scanner. I think this deck is pretty cool and you can't beat the price. I think they would make a great gift for someone new to oracle decks.

Work in Progress

Again some tweeking on these need to be done. A bit to plain for my taste. So after some tweeking the end result is below.

Well I like grungy edges. You will notice that on my pages and labels. I still might have to tweek the page but for now I am on to something else.

Change is Good

Sometimes you need to see something alone and without distraction to see what you could not see before. That can go for your thoughts and your work. I realized after posting I dont like the background. It fights with the label. I did not notice how badly it clashed when I was working on it. I guess you need to walk away, take a deep breath and look at it with new eyes. You just have to be willing to be open.

Wishes & Butterfly's

It is hard to just pick one idea. As you see I simply can't so I just do what I like. That is what is fun about digital art and doing something you enjoy. I have no one to answer to or explain why I did what I did. Sometimes when I put things together I have no idea what the end result will be. It is pretty much a big surprise at the end. You either like it or you don't and if you don't then maybe next time. No use getting hung up in the end result before you start. That is what kept me from starting in the first place. It took me two years to get up the nerve to start digitally scraping. What a waste of two years. All because I was afraid it was going to look horrible and that I would suck. So what if I do? So what if you do? Go for something you have fear of doing. Might surprise yourself.