What do I get when I mix one snow day, with a bucket of mud, wood from HD and pot of Annie Sloan original chalk paint? Athenian Black to be exact.
Happiness.
I get happiness.
Plus another new banner using the DIY black photography board and inverse square law (the rate at which light falls off), for the back.
Happiness.
A nice new festive banner, Whisk!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ray! Wishing you lots of fun in the upcoming painting contest!
DeleteContinued happiness. Nice banner.
ReplyDeleteMuch thanks, Margaret! Happy Weekend!
DeleteDear Ivy, I love ❤️ the banner.
ReplyDeleteHi Linda. Thank you. I'm very, very much enjoying your photos - keep 'em coming!
DeleteOoh, chalk paint! I've always wanted to try that!
ReplyDeleteIt's great fun. I have tried a few different chalk paints and so far, Annie Sloan her original line is the best I've used. Water-based, easy to clean, no stinky smells. Hope you get to give it a go. Really fun stuff.
DeleteNew happy banner! 😜! I love to use chalk paint in fact I only use it now.
ReplyDeleteHi Catherine! Great to hear from another chalk painter. I love Annie Sloan, tried a few others and hers to me, is the best of the lot. Her original chalk paint. What got you into chalk painting?
DeleteI got furniture painted with chalk paint!
DeleteOMG! So fun Catherine. Headed over to your blog now to see if you posted about it. Thanks for stopping back in. Chalk paint rocks!!!!
DeleteLooks fantastic. And you had fun making the photography board. Love the Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer characters.
ReplyDeleteHey Ann! Happy Friday and thank you. We do to here. Such great characters to shoot. Wishing you a fun weekend ahead.
DeleteCute!
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteLooks great!
ReplyDeleteMuch thanks!
DeleteThat is such a nice banner. I love the deer with the polka dot bow, SO cute.
ReplyDeleteHi Lori! Thank you. That little deer is super cute. Her name is Clarice from the Rudolph gang. Very fun to shoot. Happy Weekend. Happy Eating.
DeleteThe banner is adorable and so cheerful. Love it. Snow already? How fun!!
ReplyDeleteHi Judee! Thank you. Yes, snow... where I live we've had winter for a bit now and this isn't our first snow. I really love it though. Sooo pretty. Happy Cooking to you. Soups look good!
DeleteYour new banner rocks! And it is lit so beautifully!
ReplyDeleteHey Debra! Thank you for that. I'm learning about light and I just love painting with it. So freakin' fun! Happy Weekend!!!!!
DeleteI love the new blog header. It makes me hear Rudolph saying "Ready Santa!" And Herbie wanting to be a dentist. :)
ReplyDeleteYes! That's a great thing to hear and now that I read what you wrote, I hear it too!
DeleteWell Ivy....you have created a beautiful banner here. I enjoy all of your excitement in the art that you create. I can feel your joy for sure....I would say that this wordless Wednesday deserves a few words. Hoping you keep creating and having so much fun.... Big ol' "booger" hugs to you...
ReplyDeleteHey Shug! Much thanks. Currently sitting in front of the Christmas trees and about to enjoy a cuppa. So peaceful! Loved your little round table. I'd easily set up house there. What a great table to draw, eat, write and just sit and day dream. Happy Christmas Month.
DeleteI love your banner and I agree that it's very happy!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Mari! Enjoying your Wordless Wednesdays and thanks again for getting me into this theme.
DeleteIt's all perfect! :)
ReplyDeleteCheers and much thanks, Martha! Happy Weekend!
DeleteSuch a cute new banner! Here's to our happiness!
ReplyDeleteHi Christine! Here's to our happiness, indeed.
DeleteI'm glad you showed a photo of the materials, as I was originally thinking you went outside to get mud from your garden :-)
ReplyDeletelololololol You know what though, you're not far off on me getting dirt from the garden. That does sound like something I'd do.
DeleteI love your cheery posts Ivy, you always make me smile :) LOVE the Santa and company figure one. That dark background really makes them pop. I also enjoyed seeing your work area. Thanks for popping into my blog too. Happy December!
ReplyDeleteHelloooooo Denise! Happy December and I enjoyed reading your posts. Blogging is so fun! Wishing you a fun weekend ahead.
DeleteI like your explaining how this was done! It's great too.
ReplyDeleteHi Boud. Thank you. For the last half a year or so I've been learning light and having a ball. Wishing you a fun weekend ahead. Thanks for popping in today!
DeleteThe banner is happiness. You are a star!
ReplyDeleteHey Sandra! Happy Weekend and Thanks!
DeleteI simply LOVE watching you invent your own happiness and it makes me happy to. in the header shot the polkadot pup is my favorite of the 4 but the way the light falls off the reindeer is my favorite of the lights. I noticed the inverted fall off this morning. I have an underrated tree, 18 inches tall in the nook for five days and just can't stand the though of digging ornaments out of the closet. on our walk I found a maple leaf, 2 of them, 11 inches by 8 inches, the biggest I have ever seen. I stood it on the tiny tree and stepped in front to take a photo, and as I moved side to side I watched the light, and found that the light fell off right when I stood straight in the front of it... though of you. wait til you see what I did with that leaf... I love it so much I am bumping fridays post to show it to you.. had a blast for an hour with 2 leaves found on a walk... happy happy
ReplyDeleteHi Sandra! I love this comment and that you found joy in the leaves. It's so fun to get lost for an hour and take pictures. That's a HUGE leaf. How cool that you found that! I can understand not wanting to dig through a closet. I get that.
DeleteThanks about the characters. That's the elephant from Misfit Island. She's just so stinkin' cute. Thank you for noticing the light falling off. It's so much fun to do this and I'm happy to share it with you.
Thanks for the great comment! Huggs and love to you, WONDER WOMAN!
The dog is a great addition! Love the banner!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I can see how she looks like a dog, those floppy ears for sure. That's the elephant from Misfit Island. She's so stinkin' cute!
DeleteThe new banner is perfect!
ReplyDeleteHi Joanne - Much thanks. And thanks for posting about the decorations you baked. Perfect idea and I just loved it.
DeleteYou know I would love everything about this post. Great explanation of your creation. The little figures are so cute and the lighting is perfect.
ReplyDeleteHappy Almost Wordless Wednesday.
Sue
Hey Sue! Happy Christmas. Just saw part of the Christmas fun of where you live. How cool is that! Love it. Happy December!
DeleteIt's fun when we create something that we enjoyed doing and it turns out great and exactly what we envisioned. Ohhh, those duds from past creations, still haunt me. Very cute banner.
ReplyDeleteHi Debby! I love the little Christmas tree by your name! So cute. Honestly, the photos teach me. I'm the student and learn as I go and I'll shoot something and really love and and learn from it. I'm sorry duds from the past haunt you. Let that crap go! Too much fun to be had, IMO to let past creations haunt. Here's to having fun!
DeleteOh, I love your Header, it's delightful. Rudolph is such a classic show. How fun you have the characters for it.
ReplyDeleteHave a merry and bright December week.
~Sheri
**your orange mocha hot chocolate sounds YUMMY!
OMG Sheri! I told Tim about the orange mocha when I asked him to open the peppermint and he said the same as you. I tell ya' a good swap for sure. Will have this again and thinking it might make a good cookie too. Orange Mocha Hot Chocolate Cookies!
DeleteThank you for your kind words about the banner. Happy Christmas!
You MADE this color black? It is like a witch's potion! I love the polka dot puppy!
ReplyDeleteHi Ginny! I'm sorry, I'm not sure I follow. The black chalk paint is from Annie Sloan and I used her paint to make a photography board and the background is from inverse square law. The rate at which light falls off. I'm sorry if I didn't write that well enough.
DeleteHow cute is the polka dot! She really does look like a puppy. She's the elephant from Misfit Island. So cute!
Thanks bunches for stopping in today. Wishing you a yummy weekend ahead.
Aww Ivy, this is such a happy Almost Wordless Wednesday post.
ReplyDeleteLove your four characters, they make me smile and it's a wonderful new banner.
All the best Jan
Hi Jan! Happy Winter! Thanks for stopping in and postings lots of yummy foods on your blog.
DeleteI love the mini figurines.
ReplyDeleteHi River! Thanks! Got most of them at Five Below - Happy Winter!
DeleteYour header looks great!! I love the little animals ( and Santa, of course).
ReplyDeleteMuch Thanks!
DeleteI like your new header, and all your mini friends.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
Those are minis from Rudolph. They make excellent practice subjects! Happy Winter!
Deletef its is exactly what I am suffering. I have food, shelter, heat/AC, a husband, a dog and my health and am able to do what I do and yet I drag around the house like a half dead cat. I put out the Christmas stuff yesterday and when done wanted to take it down and put it back in the closet
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry Sandra. It's not fun to have the fuck its. For sure, not fun. But it's also normal. You have a bunch on your plate and it's not easy. Though I do hope you get back to your drawing and get that iPad charged. Your art brings joy to you and to others BUT, it's also okay to have the fuck its right now. Just don't stay there tooooo long. And remember we're here for you. Huggs and love.
DeleteYeah, Ivy, for the new banner with white to replace the red cause it really stands out so much better now. And, if you can stand another suggestion, I would make the letters a bit thicker or with a different font because those cuties deserve one that shouts out! Also I enjoyed reading about your chalkboard process but there isn't enough room in our apt for me to have a separate work area and yours is really so nice, my blog friend...I am a bit envious, well maybe more than just a bit, a whole lot more. (That was a nice reply you gave to Sandra, Mad Snapper, as she really has been through a lot this year.)
ReplyDeleteHey Beatrice! Yes, I like the white better too. I had white on my older ones, just the last one was red to try and it was very dark on many screens. This is an entirely new photo with the add of Misfit Elephant. Very fun.
DeleteThank you for your thoughts on the current letters. I really love Cinnamon Cake font for this banner. I like a thinner font. I actually prefer no words on photos, but this is a banner so I added my blog name. Though back in the day when I did thumb nails, I'd used a nice thick and chunky font that did well on thumb nails for videos.
For this though, I'm sticking with Cinnamon Cake font. I just love it. But please feel free to offer suggestions any time. I won't always use them but they are always welcome.
Sandra is the best. I call her WONDER WOMAN. If I lived closer I'd offer to go help her or even just sit and play cards. She is a true gem.
I love your new header!!
ReplyDeleteMuch thanks! Happy December!
DeleteAnd such a wonderful banner it is. So professional, but super cute too.
ReplyDeleteHey Jo! Much thanks. Fun to play.
DeleteThose projects.
ReplyDeleteHey Dora. What about them? Love me some DIY. How about you? Fan not a fan? Love to craft? Hate it? Where do you stand on the subject?
DeleteAwesome creative work to make your backround. I found that if I spray cardboard with flat black paint, I can do the same thing on the cheap. I love to make dioramas out of garbage too. Although nature is my love.
ReplyDeleteLove to craft weird stuff.
Excellent on the spray and all your photos from your walk. Was just at your page. Yes, love me some DIY and sometimes a black background I'll use as well. But what's nice about inverse square law, is we get to black out the background anywhere we fancy. Even outside on a sunny day. It's just so flippin' floppin' groovy.
DeleteI am an outside macro photographer and the woods is where my heart lives. However, it was long overdue time for me to get inside and start working with indoor flash.
@Val Ewing - Cardboard is nice. I use foam and cardboard but for what I wanted, I needed a more sturdy surface for the DIY board. And five bucks is cheap. Annie Sloan original chalk paint is matte finish and so is the top coat uses. Annie Sloan is not cheap. But it's very, very, very good.
DeleteSlime mold is pretty cool I found some this summer -->
Deletehttps://mulewings.blogspot.com/2025/06/another-exciting-day.html
Thank you. Headed to see that in 3.. 2... 1...
DeleteGot back from your blog and very cool on the various mushrooms. I love that you added your minis. That's what I like to do as well. Take the minis outside and shoot them in the wild. Your post was bittersweet. I can see how that would be a heart-filled time ❤️
DeleteHello Ivy. Thanks so much for all your visits to Writing Straight from the Heart and for your comments, too. It's always a pleasure to see that you stopped by! Please come and visit any time! Susan
ReplyDeleteRight back'atcha Susan. Happy Christmas!
DeleteAwesome blog!
ReplyDeleteHi Anne. Much thanks!
DeleteOmigosh, your banners just get better and better (cuter and cuter)! Nice work as always!
ReplyDeleteHey Abby! Thanks. Hope your Sunday is a funday!
DeleteNew banner is just so cute. I love it. 😊
ReplyDeleteHi Beverley! Much thanks and Happy Sunday!
DeleteThat banner is really adorable! The black makes the colors pop!
ReplyDeleteThank you for stopping in. Just saw your pretty Christmas tree and the lovely trees with the sky. Very nice!
Deletelove the new banner...it made me HAPPY!!!
ReplyDeleteHi Debbie. I just came back from your page and WOW on the Christmas lights and trees. I mean that is a show and so well done. Really, really, really nice to see all of those. Cheers and Happy Christmas, Ivy.
DeleteCreating something lovely is a form of happiness that is too often devalued unless we can 'sell it and make money." My mother in law did so many crafts and excelled at all of them. Once I asked her why she didn't start a business selling her work. She said, "I wouldn't enjoy that. I do it for the love of it, not for money." I always admired her for that.
ReplyDeleteHelllooooooooo Karen. Great to see you here today. Are you back? I'll stop over after this and see if you are.
DeleteLove that your mom loved crafts so much. Yes, I do as well. Just a joy to create stuff though for me, I have sold various things I've made and written and I enjoy that side of it as well. The thing for me is, even if there were no Internet, no money, no one else looking, I'd still wake up and bake, build, draw and play ❤️
Hi Ivy! The new banner is pure Happiness!! I love it!
ReplyDeleteHiYa Julia! Thank you so much. I look at this minis and same, pure Happiness. Big H! I love that.
DeleteA good way to keep busy.
ReplyDeleteCheers.
Delete