Preserving Autumn's Beauty

Has it really been the best autumn ever?

Have the leaves been brighter? 

The skies bluer?

I decided to preserve the leaves as best I could so I could enjoy them after they'd blown off the trees and vanished.

Janelle and I gathered the most vibrant leaves we could find and preserved them simply.

It was lightning fast and so easy we decided to share a little tutorial with you here:

Here's our video showing how you can do it, too.

But that wasn't enough. I sketched and painted and snipped a bit...

Here's how you can do that, too.

First I did a very pale pencil line, simple as could be.

Then I used a pen to ink it in, refining and adding more detail.

Then paint and calligraphy and a layer of cut paper under the main sheet on a matching watercolor completed the piece.

Two ways to remember the foliage of autumn...

What fun!

Red

You may think I've photoshopped these pictures but this is how they came out of the camera.
Untouched.

And in real life it was immeasurably brighter, more vibrant.

 Have you ever in your life seen red leaves like this?

I had not.

The red of these trees has been beckoning me for days, and we decided that Mr. Wonderful's birthday would be best spent by taking a little walk.

We were so stunned by the red that we didn't even notice the mossy green trunks until we saw the photos.

What a gorgeous combination.

May a deep peace fill you this precious autumn day.

I pray you will live this moment with mindfulness

because life is as fleeting as the leaves on the trees

and you are a treasure more stunning than all the red leaves on earth.

Pressing apples with the neighbors

My phone rang.

"Come to Scarlett's. She's pressing cider right now and you're invited!"

So I put on my jacket and walked down the road.

My friends must be some of the most imaginative people in the world.
Take a peek at Scarlett's garden for proof.

It's her outbuildings that capture my imagination the most.
Oh, for a garden shed this rustic!

And a place to sit outdoors under cover of a roof.
Notice that back wall... stacked wood.
Is Scarlett not ingenious???

What a joy to spend a glorious golden afternoon together pressing apples...

Soon the Happy Valley Cider Press was humming along, and the laughter with it.

Picture the sipping of cocoa and the scent of a wood fire as the sun went down...

The seasons fade from one into another and we celebrate them in turn,

each one sweeter than the last.

The last of the tomatoes, the honk of a goose, the harvest of grapes and gathering of both apples and friends.

Afternoon faded into evening 

and the stars peeped out again.

Cheerful goodbyes and waves as we walked home with calls of "thank you" and "see you again soon!" All too soon the day was gone.

But the memories linger and only sweeten as the seasons roll by.

Invitation to snip lickety split!

"I wish I could cut paper like you do!" people tell me and sigh.

Well, now you can, but you can do it much, much faster than my hands do.

Thanks to a new partnership with Ellison Sizzix, you can reproduce the same results I get but it's almost instant, and the quality is shockingly fantastic.

Slated to roll out in just about two weeks is a new line of images for the Sizzix e-Clips.

You can buy designs online, similar in cost and delivery method to iTunes. 

And in just minutes you can reproduce what it takes me hours to do!

When I was at company headquarters last week I met with the technicians who took my scanned originals and turned them into more than 100 patterns for the initial roll-out.

If you simply click on the Sizzix eClips tab here after November 1, you'll find a big list of some of my best designs and be able to cut them out on your own Sizzix machine.

Coming soon will be the ability to print my painted work and follow it up with the cutting, so you end up with a watercolored paper-cut, just like I do in my studio. And the quality of the reproduction is amazing.

I'm working with their creative team on more exciting products which we'll talk about later, but for today, wheee.... 

another new partnership!

There's a lot to love about the Sizzix product line and their philosophy...

Walnut ink... a happy little tutorial

True confession:

I'm an inkaholic.

My stash is almost embarrassingly huge.

But only ALMOST.

An artist can never have enough ink. 

That's why every autumn I get an itch to make a batch of homemade walnut ink.

It's free and lovely and you can boil yourself a batch of loveliness if you want...

It's so easy!

Here's how:

Click here to watch a quick YouTube video. It will explain everything you need to know.

The only thing better than ink from your own kitchen is ink from a friend.

If you would like a bottle of mine, just post me an email here, or comment on Facebook or here.

I'll randomly choose one entry on October 10th and post a little bottle of goodness to the winner.

Tres chic, dear friends!

Far away and back again

It's lovely to see the great, wide world

and extra delicious to come home again.

Home to leaves beginning to turn

to the last of the sweet corn and the beginning of apple season.

Home to mushrooms appearing in the field

behind our house

 

 

...and a little glass of wine sipped by the fire on a rainy evening when a deadline finds me painting late into the night.

So grateful for the joy of going away, and even more blessed by the gifts of ordinary life and home.