Starving Artist Forum

My group of four Alice in Wonderland themed ACEO cards with colored pencil were created exclusively for my nieces and nephew. My new project encourages me to create monthly and exposes my family to original art.

I have three beautiful nieces and one totally cool nephew. They live almost a thousand miles away so i rarely get to see them. But to keep Auntie closer to them I decided to share the ultimate piece of me.

So for Christmas I created custom albums using three ring binders and scrapbooking supplies. They each have their own book full of empty trading card collecting pages and three original art cards to start them out.

Now, every month they receive one more card to add to their book. For January it was Alice in Wonderland. They get choose their favorite. This month I'm working on a more interactive gift and their cards will be chosen for them.

This is my ACEO project. The front of each book has a history on Art Cards and specifics. They can take them to school and have an artful yet educational show and tell. This is my creative solution to bond over the miles. I would love to hear your ideas, projects, and suggestions!

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I recently made the decision to switch to Zibbet solely and delete my Artfire account. I have had the Zibbet account for as long but was not utilizing it fully. Since the switch I have been in love with the ease and friendliness of the site, company and other sellers.

I was in no wasy interested when I received an email from a "Something Crafted" stating 'Zibbet is dead and they are the newest FREE way to sell'. I researched it a little and determined it was a spam with unknown intent. Just now I see that I have a generic mail message from Zibbet stating that the messages came from a Zibbet account and are phishing for either IDs or account transfers.

Furthermore, I can't  stand it when marketers try to pump up their product by putting down others. So even it had been legit and awesome I would have ignored the pushy message anyway.

This just goes to prove the old adage, "If it seems to good to be true, it probably is!"

Feel free to stop in and see my newly renewed store on Zibbet and see if it's the right fit for you too!

Belle is officially 33! To celebrate over 20 years of sketching and creating, ABB is showing off it's colorful side.

Bohemian Candy is an exclusive, nature inspired jewelry and accessory line that features Belle's love for color, vintage and earthy design.

If you haven't already, stop in to visit and like the facebook page and browse the newly completed web page. You can join through facebook, request custom pieces and truly customize your artbybelle.com experience. While there, be sure to upload your customer photos!

For those of you that read more than one of my blogs... I posted earlier in the Mom's Book of Worries about this amazingly neat idea for making printables into water pages for the kids. True to my word, I'm posting the pictures of my own DIY project here and on the MBOW facebook page.


First I assembled my supplies.

• Printables on heavy weight white cardstock
• Watercolor pencils & Sharpener
• Water glasses
• Paint brushes

 
In the future I want to try printing onto watercolor paper instead of card stock.

Next, I color in where the color should be and create patterns and dots with some of the watercolor color pencils. I chose two each for my kids to paint, and could have easily kept their attention longer had I made more of these for them!

My daughter cried for more, so I promised that tomorrow we'd do it all over again! More quiet time for me so win win! :)

Ok, you may be thinking I've gone completely Country with all these famous Country artist sketches, but I'm just attempting to sketch most of the performers at this month's Show-Me Music & arts Festival here in Springfield, MO.

My latest sketch honors Joe Nichols. I just love his messy hair. I bet it takes a lot of time and energy to look that perfectly disheveled!

I'm very excited to see some of these greats live. I know many of you are also, so I'm sharing my sketches on my blog and making them available to purchase at the music fest exclusively from Kel's Custom Designs. Look for her jewelry booth at the event and pick up your favorite sketch.

I'm even offering my actual original sketches, which I seldom release to the public. Tell Kelly Belle sent you!

Go to Venue Site

I would be remiss to sketch the hunky Country male singers and leave out some of country music's rising stars of the female persuasion. So for your viewing pleasure the first two ladies I have recently sketched in B&W are Kellie Pickler and Gretchen Wilson.

Kellie is most known for finishing sixth on American Idol's fifth season. Gretchen is most known for "Redneck Woman" but has had 5 top ten singles so far. Both are top selling artists and gorgeous gals! So here is my nod to these amazing women. Keep up the good work ladies!

Order Now!

My latest request took me to the Vampire theme of forbidden love once again. For your viewing pleasure, my take on Damon Salvatore of the Vampire Diaries as portrayed by Ian Joseph Somerhalder. This hit CW series is based on the L.J. Smith book series and is currently still captivating viewers of all ages.

My favorite male Country recording Artist is Trace Adkins. The recently crowned American Idol has captured millions of hearts with his low baritone voice, but my favorite booming voice has always been Trace's.

He seems like a good 'ole boy with country character. Maybe that's why he has sold so many records!

Prints of my latest ink sketch will be made available soon.

Have I inked in your favorite yet?

My newest Country Artist to sketch is Matt Kennon. I like to know my subject to get more details, and you might be surprised to know that Matt is adopted at birth. To get this as dark as possible I experimented with permanent ink. I had several sizes in my hand and loved the way it turned out!

OK, so not exactly what you may be thinking...

I'm not getting a tattoo of Tim McGraw, this is my latest sketch.

I wanted the contrast more severe, so I did the entire sketch with ink! No pencil lines and no smudging! The result was very crisp. What do you think?

Originally I wanted to complete a series of celebrity sketches in my sketch book and try to get them autographed, but this one was done on a separate sheet and will be made available in several sizes. Which do you think will be the most popular?

I know I've mentioned VistaPrint before, but I really love this company! I was able to cash in on some frequent shopper deals and totally redesigned my advertising for Artbybelle.com

New Banner

Business Card

Now I'm ready for small set up displays and traveling with my work again. (Once my body catches up with me!) I look forward to showing off my new style and direction soon!

I loved placing large flowers and little hats on my infant daughter's head! I created several myself so she always had a darling accessory for her dresses each Sunday. Now that she's older but not much bigger, hair bow and clips have replaced the charming hats. Oh I still have them and they will no doubt grace my granddaughter's tiny head one day, hopefully far far from now!

But I was delighted to meet and retain the acquaintance of a very creative and posh bow maker here locally! She is like me, a mother and unable to curb her enthusiasm for creating unique accessories for her daughter, and other's daughters as well. Her passion has grown into a business, and I love the name! Princess Elise Bowtique, can be found on facebook. Stop in and like her page. You'll be glad you did!

go to fan page

Once she reaches over 100 fans there will be a giveaway, and who doesn't love those!? Valued at $20 it is sure to be worthy of your time. Make yourself or your favorite little princess, weither new born diva or teenage drama queen, happy with one of her creations today, but as always, be sure to tell her belle sent you!