Day 5

"Work"

(Monkey Business!)

These challenges are more fun than a barrel of monkeys!

Index Card A Day

and

Doodle A Day

Day 4

"Things You Carry"

(Trunks!)

An elephant (with a trunk), wearing swim trunks, holding... A trunk!

Index Card A Day

and

Doodle A Day

Day 3

"Fruit"

Index Card A Day

and

Doodle A Day

Day 2

"Local"

(Buffalo Wings)

Index Card A Day

and

Doodle A Day

Day 1

"Color"

It's the beginning of Daisy Yellow's Index Card A Day and

Ello Lovey's Doodle A Day (June)!

Wheee! I'm so excited!!!

I am going to try and post daily, but just in case my daily doodlings don't make it to the blog everyday, I'll also be sharing my index card creations on instagram and facebook.

Are you playing along?

Tutorial Try-Out: DIY Paint By Numbers

This week's tutorial try-out was:

The Ambitious Procrastinator's DIY Paint By Numbers

For this tutorial, I decided to do a funky self-portrait.  I started with a photo that I use as my facebook, instagram, pinterest, goodreads (etc....) profile pic.  (You can also see it tucked into the lower right corner of my blog header.)

It's a pretty goofy photo to start with, so it really wasn't a surprise that I ended up looking like a clown trapped in a lava lamp!

The results were fun, the technique was easy...

All-in-all, I'd say it was a great way to finish off Tutorial Try-Outs!

Did you try this tutorial?

If so, please link up below.

(I can't wait to see!)

And, just in case you've missed any of the tutorials I've tried out, you can view the full list here.

Tutorial Try-Out: Teesha Moore's Fun Drawing Lesson

This week's tutorial try-out was:

Teesha Moore's Fun Drawing Lesson

If you have ever stopped by Teesha Moore's blog, then you know that she is wildly creative and a powerhouse of inspiration!  
When I stumbled upon her fun drawing worksheet, I knew I'd have to give it a try...

A page from my sketchbook.

One of the questions I am most often asked is, "What in the world were you thinking?" "Where do you get your ideas?".  So, I thought it might be fun to give you a step-by-step look into what was going through my head as I played with Teesha's drawing worksheet in my sketchbook... 

1. Actually, not a whole lot was going through my head at this point... I just thought she looked like she needed a bird's nest on her head.
2. The bird's nest made me think of cats (hungry for birds, of course), and I thought that this drawing style would probably be 
pretty cool for a cat face.
3. I started thinking about other things cats eat, but at the same time I was thinking about my crazy haired ladies and how this technique might translate into one of them.
4. I realized that although there were some fish in the last drawing, I still hadn't satisfied my need for drawing fish.  While I was drawing them, I started thinking about the fish in 
Monty Python's "The Meaning of Life".

Well, basically that's a quick glimpse into my typical train of thought.  One thing leads to another... 
Sometimes it makes sense, sometimes it doesn't...

Aren't you completely horrified and disappointed glad 
that you asked?!?

After I finished this page in my sketchbook I thought, "These would be fun coloring pages".  So, this morning I printed out some copies and started playing!

Did you try this tutorial?
If so, please link up below.

(I can't wait to see!)

And, please be sure to read all the way to the bottom of this post for next week's tutorial!

Next week is the last Tutorial Try-Out (for now).  
In honor of that, I chose a tutorial that is similar to (but different from) what appears to have been the most popular tutorial (Easy Watercolor Portraits from 4-23-2013).

Next week's tutorial is:
The Ambitious Procrastinator's DIY Paint By Numbers

**a note about next week's tutorial:**
In her tutorial, Nikki uses the photo editing program picnik.

Picnik is no longer available, but you can substitute the free online program picmonkey instead.  
(Just be sure to use the "focal soften" tool.)

Picmonkey is available for free here.