Year long slump.

I feel like I've been in somewhat of a creative slump this past year..I've really struggled with finding "my style" because I felt like everyone that is successful has a very distinct flair to their work. But then I realized that subconsciously, I apply "my style" to everything I do. It's in the way I dress, write, decorate, draw.. It's just wired in who I am! So I started thinking about what really inspires me and what gets the visual juices flowing.. I found this AMAZING illustrator who started in the 60's, Alain Gree.

Also, an illustrator from the same decade, Roger Duvoisin.

These illustrations are so beautiful.. The next painting I do is going to be inspired by these mid century artists and I'm really excited about it.

On another note, I was featured on Confessions of a Paper Freak for a post on owl obsession.. because as we all know I really do love owls :)

Daily inspirations.

I'm really in love with these lockets from Marisol Spoon. Her paintings are so cute and whimsical.. This ship locket is definitely at the top of my list of things I'm saving for.

21 Things to do Before I'm 21

• 1. learn 5 impressive recipes (the kind I can take to Thanksgiving or make when my mom comes over to trick her into thinking I know how to cook :)
• 2. sew a dress for myself
• 3. have a craft night with mom and kylee
• 4. go fishing and have a picnic with dad
• 5. reach 30 sales on etsy
• 6. plan a scavenger hunt for Danny (I feel like this is 6 years overdue, because everyone has planned a scavenger hunt for their boyfriend, right?)
• 7. ride my bike to the farmers market for fresh veggies. And make something delicious.
• 8. go to a movie by myself
• 9. make a scrapbook of Danny and I's first year of married life adventures.
• 10. learn the names of trees and what their leaves look like
• 11. learn the names of birds and what they sound like
• 12. keep track of everything I eat for a week
• 13. keep track of everything I spend for a week
• 14. compose a list of important addresses and birthdays to remember
• 15. back up my photos
• 16. paint paintings for both of my grandmas
• 17. explore a town I've never been to in Oklahoma
• 18. figure out what my all time favorite movies are and rewatch them
• 19. take more pictures with my Holga
• 20. paint something on my huge 50x42 canvas
• 21. build an awesome fort in the living room. And play in it.

What do you want to do in the next year?

What's something you want to do before you die?

Ima list maker.

Always have been. Does everything on my list get accomplished? Never. Do even half of the things get done? No. But making lists always helps me organize my thoughts and get everything off my chest and onto paper.

I've been working on my "21 things to do before I'm 21" list. It includes some things I've been wanting to do, like sew a dress for myself, and some things I've been needing to do, like write down important addresses and birthdays. Once I think of my 21 things, I'm hoping to blog about all of them as I go, maybe that will help me finish them. Sort of like this girl, a fellow list maker.

In the meantime, I've been in a "small painting in an embroidery hoop" kind of mood. Just finished this little guy.

Late night biking.

Mine and Danny's sleep schedule is seriously out of whack. We get tired and go to sleep around 5am, sleep almost exactly 8 hours and wake up around 1 in the afternoon. I'm basically okay with it except for the fact that we lose a lot of daylight. I'm the type of person that doesn't feel fully awake for about an hour, so I really dont get around to starting my day until 3.. yikes.



There are a lot of nights we find ourselves wanting to go biking around 1 in the morning.. It's actually the perfect time because there's no traffic (biking in traffic scares me) and it's a bit chilly outside. I'm just glad to be biking at any time of day or night, because I love my bike so much and I've pretty much neglected it for 2 years.

On another note, the LOST finale is coming up (which I just want to warn everyone that I'll probably cry) and I'll be attempting to make smoke monster popcorn.. blog more on that later.

Renegade Craft Trip.

So even though we only spent 12 waking hours in Austin, it was still so awesome! We stopped by Round Rock Donuts on the way there to get some famous glazed donuts and they were soo delish. Once we got to Austin we went on a bike ride downtown and even though I felt like I was going to die (Danny and I have only taken 2 trips and he's tried to kill me both times by taking me on extremely long bike rides) it was so fun. We stopped at Waterloo records and rode around the capitol.. hopefully I'll get to go back soon and spend some more time exploring.

I want one of these airstream trailers SO bad. I have big visions of this thing sitting in my backyard and using it as a studio.

The craft festival was just as amazing as I expected it to be. I came away with two new buttons, an awesome poster, a lot of inspiration, and a handful of business cards.

Austin Bound!

Tomorrow I will be on the road with Danny and James, well on our way to the Renegade Craft Fair. Waahh! I'm so so excited. This is like Austin City Limits for me, or Bonaroo. Instead of a collection of all my favorite musicians in one place, under one roof, at one concert, it's all of my favorite crafters and DIYers all in the same place at once!

Berkley Illustration will be there.

Red Velvet Design will be there.

Laura George will be there.

Even Etsy themselves will be there! .. plus SO many more faves!

I'm a little too excited about this. Can you tell?

Anyways, I'm off to pack, clean, and get over to Erin's baby shower!

PS- I added this little painting to the shop yesterday.

Have a great weekend :)

Wanderings.

My friend went to Portland and brought me back the most amazing book. It's called "love life" and is full of the most beautiful and inspiring quotes about appreciating the simple things and doing what you love.. the theme of my summer. (Thanks Porch :)

"Wander a whole summer if you can. Thousands of God's blessings will search you and soak you as if you were a sponge, and the big days will go by uncounted." -John Muir

I've been busy doing this and that and trying to make new things to stock up the shop.

Also, I'm selling some of my items at a new boutique in Moore, Handmade with HeART! So that's really exciting and keeping me busy.

I also got a new, bigger, and better sewing machine. It's a Singer Esteem and although I don't know that much about it yet I DO know that it has a light, automatic needle threader, and capabilities of sewing through more than just one layer of cotton. So I feel sorry for my other tiny machine, but I'm leaving it behind for now.

Mother's Day Lovin

It's that time again, find your mom and give her a big hug.

(I hope she still enjoys arts and crafts gifts as much as she did when I was 5.. )

I went with my mom and the rest of my 30+ family members and surprised my grandma with lunch. She lives a few hours away and it was really nice because she wasn't expecting it at all.. Tears of joy= Mother's Day success.

Love you, thanks for being my mom.

Summer Kickoff.

Welp, school is officially out for the summer. Let's just all take a minute and think about how awesome this is....

Yep, it's really awesome.

And I've actually been productive so far, so maybe that's a sign of good things to come for the rest of the summer.

I've listed a few new things in my shop, did a good amount of spring cleaning, painted some new pictures, and ate some delicious sushi.

I'm also in the midst of revamping my blog, it's pretty fun and sort of addicting.