Tag: birthday card creation

2021 A to Z Challenge Reflections

By the time I arrive to this point of the annual A to Z blogfest,  I’m exhausted and experiencing a bit of a brain freeze.  What can I say about this year’s challenge?  That it’s better to have posts done before things start? You betcha!  Is it easy to just go with the flow without worry?   Not usually, in the past I would’ve definitely said no to “just go with the flow” but this year I actually found myself doing that and was okay with it.  I finally got it through my head that this is blogging and THIS is meant to be fun. 

I had a few shortcomings this year, like replying to messages on my blog and doing all return visits but to my surprise I didn’t have a melt down in the process.  Why is that?  Simple, I listened to a lot of music.  Two of my oldest blogging friends, John and Mary, used music as their A to Z themes creating long playlists for a continual rush of background music to my ears.  Playlists are wonderful! 

Bloggers featuring music I naturally gravitate to and there were a few others but they usually shared one or two songs with either personal sentiments or tidbits about the artist which I fell behind on and plan to finish.  I find it difficult to keep my mid focused on anything wordy.  That’s quite ironic considering most of the content I publish is just that, wordy.  Talk about a screwed up brain, huh?  However, I enjoy reading about someone’s life especially when it clicks with me and that’s what I found with Barbie at Crackerberries.  For 26 days, she wrote letters to herself which were well-written and entertaining, often  putting a smile on my face.  If last month’s challenge wasn’t enough, she started May off with a photo challenge. She’s puts me shame.

Joyce is another one who embodied collective thoughts of what she wants her grandkids to know someday in her April posts.  Isn’t that a beautiful idea?  I love it and plan to borrow it to do a series.

Random posts can be interesting.  That’s what Lissa did this year and while I’m still catching up with her, I like how she presented her posts and naturally I love her accompanying artwork.  She’s illustrates beautifully! 

Travel blogs are nice but what I really like reading is about places people have been that  I know.  Arlee Bird shared his of Rivers of America series which wouldn’t interest me otherwise had it not been for the author.  His words pulled me into his visits or sentiments of the area.  Alana shared her New York Cities (not to be confused with the Big Apple) series of memories, landscapes, and historical sites. 

I touched only on handful of terrific A2Zers.  There are others and perhaps if I can successfully massage the Road Trip into my normal routine that I can tell you about others I enjoyed in April.  

Ultimately, the thing I learned is NEVER think that I will sit out on the A to Z Challenge.  That was not the wisest of thinking.  I knew deep down I wouldn’t abide by my decision.  Lesson learned, won’t make this mistake next time.

Another thing I learned is there’s something magical about unlocking childhood memories.  I felt overall by the comments left that everyone enjoyed my sketch series this year.  My Looney Tune drawings allowed everyone to reminisce of fun bygone days and I think the YouTube cartoon videos helped a lot, too.

I’m looking forward to savoring the experience all over as I bring each pencil drawing to life with color.  I think I’ll do that right now!  Generally, I share my updated A2Z illustrations in alphabet order but I’m breaking that rule.  Why not?  I didn’t keep to my normal way of doing things last month anyhow, so this won’t make any difference. 🙂   I used my sketch of Foghorn Leghorn (direct link at bottom of post) for DS’s 27th birthday this past weekend.  Here’s my Procreate (digital art sketch) re-creation.

 

I added a speech bubble in my revised illustration to use for his card design and if you like how this turned out, then you’re welcome to download a copy of this birthday card below but if you’d like for me to personalize the ‘Happy Birthday’  with someone’s name, then shoot me your request via email and I’ll get it to you asap.  😉

The layout of the second page which is the inside of the card will print correctly if your printer can print on two sides, but if yours doesn’t and you know how to flip the page correctly then you’ll get the same results. 

I invite you to subscribe to my posts via email (side menu) so to not miss a single colorized Looney Tunes Art Sketch issue. 

I’m sending a big round of applauds to everyone who crossed the A2Z finishing line with me as well special thanks to the enthusiastic and dedicated co-hosts who bring this challenge to us each year.   I’m heading over to the A to Z headquarters to see who’s sharing ‘Reflection’ posts.  Join me for my mid-week linky party where just about anything goes with Wild Wednesdays.  Until then,  That’s all folks! X💋X💋 Cathy

 

My Looney Tunes A-Z Art Sketch links:

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