A weekend wrap up

Whoa what a weekend! Leila was off of school for parent teach conferences (boy do the kids need to know a lot for kindergarten, when I went to school the biggest lesson for kindergarten was dont eat the glue!) we did a little house hunting, had some meetings at playland (love our real estate agent!), put an offer in on a house (!!!), found out someone else wanted said house, put in another offer, and found out we got the house (!!!!), had a celebration meal (Chinese style).

It has been a whirlwind weekend, and this I know is just the beginning.... to be continued!

Wrapped in Faith

So first thing if you dont follow me on Facebook this will be news to you. I am taking a break from facebook for lent. It seriously may be harder than the year I gave up chocolate. It is sad though this day and age the thing that is on top of my list as "hard" to be without is a social media format. pretty sad indeed.

So lets say I am giving a myself a self-imposed break because I am TOO contected and its all thanks to my handy dandy phone, man it makes it too easy to have everything you need at your finger tips! I am an all or nothing type of gal so once I finally agreed to join facebook (which took a long time of my best friend begging me to join, thanks bff!) I have jumped in and havent looked back. I check that dang thing more than I care to admit to! So time to take a break and refocus!

So coming up in the month of March each day for thirty days I will be partaking in the 30 days of lists. I am really excited and I am finding I am driven by challenges.

Speaking of challenges I will do a wrap up post about my 29 faces in 29 days (hello leap year!) I am at face 27 so I feel pretty confident I will make it to my goal.

Love you all, and if you practice the "art" of giving up something for lent do share, and if you dont, what do you think you desperately need a break from?- see you in the comments!

Lunch trays-not just for lunch

So last month when I was teaching a class at DIY studio & gifts they had placemats and trays for each student to use, instantly I thought that would be great for at home for working with the kids.

So when I came across a few trays last week and my hubby thought I was crazy and that i would never use them. I sent him this picture last night:




The perfect portable art tray! *smile*

A weekend in photos

This was an extra long weekend for us. Thanks to Mr. Flu knocking on our door and hanging his hat to stay for a few days. Momma and baby seem to be the only ones to stay away from him :( So in between checking temps, repositioning blankets, and making sure everyone stayed hydrated I somehow was able to get ahead of my 29 faces challenges and as of yesterday hit number 21. So that means I am giving myself a break from painting today (If I want) and hopefully take a nap.... if I can get all of the kiddos to have quiet time all at the same time *smile*

Wish me luck!

It was bound to happen

I have a strong pull towards circles and in particular embroidery hoops. So it was only
time that I would take and use the hoop with original artwork!




I love this gal she was created with a 10" hoop. I used duck cloth as the canvas but I'm thinking of using actual painting canvas and see if it's easier.


The duck cloth is thick and really takes in the paint. I'm a pretty impatient painter so waiting for paint to dry is not my favorite thing!




Leila sat with me at my new art area and collaborated with me on the piece(she picked out the shirt color)



And kept me in giggles.

What art has taught me

Face 7 of my 29 challenge.

Last night as I sat down to create I had in mind who I wanted to create an art piece for. The last few times I had done this it went swimmingly everything turned out how I had envisioned it and I loved them so.

So #7 had a person in mind and went to work. And then the painting decided it didnt want to be what I had in mind. Normally at this stage I would walk away and most likely gesso it to turn it into something new later. But last night, I played, I let the painting come to life on its own and show me what it was meant to be.

I am a person who normally goes with the flow I'm not known to fight my way telling the waves I know a better way, except when it comes to painting oddly enough. So last night art taught me how to trust in the process and go with the flow.

Because of that I got to paint a portrait like never before, the paper and paint blended blue and yellow started showing up from layers below. A touch of pink and purple where it would normally not be found. I got to paint a portrait I have always wanted to try but was too scared to. A portrait where "non-traditional" colors were used mixed in with the flesh tones.

So this painting will not be gifted to who I had in mind, in the end she has been gifted to me.

Trust in the mess folks and enjoy the ride!

29 faces

So I briefly mentioned this challenge which I had heard through the grape vine of other blogging artists. Only problem? I found out about out oh 10 days in or so. Ugh. But none the less I am committing to making 29 faces (minimum). The lovely lady above? She is number 6 and she is destined to an artist that I am a huge fan of. Ack my first fan art!!! I hope she likes it, she recently dyed her hair pink and I am envious of her awesome hair color *smile*

So 6 down 23 to go! I am really excited about this series as time goes on I have a feeling a few (or more) of these lovely ladies will be making their way to the studio.

A gift

My good friend Michelle from Dainty Daisies had her Grand Opening celebration for her new store. She recently closed her store in Oshkosh and moved to an amazing space in Appleton.



So to celebrate we took a mini family vacation and went Appleton. I wanted to give Michelle a little gift so I painted a picture (one of my 29 faces for this month-more on this later).


I have never painted glasses before but I was ready to give it a go since Michelle just recently got some cute glasses!


I stole this picture from her Facebook page *smile* so if you are from the Appleton region love vintage clothes and handmade goodness go stop by Michelle's store you wont regret it oh and tell her I sent you!

What a year!

Happy Birthday baby boy Valen! As baby number three I was terrified and excited for you! You have been a game changer in the fact that I now have to learn to manage my time so that all kiddos get the right amount of attention and because of that you sir have been planted on my hip since birth. Me and you are like this *fingers crossed* which has been a blessing and curse (somedays) all in one. It means that no babysitter can take my place and you are very vocal about that! It also means I get the biggest best hugs and smiles all day long!

As many moms will say this last year has flown and at the same time it feels just like yesterday and forever you have been in my life. It is an odd and unexplainable feeling until you have children yourself.

Thank you for all that you are.

Happy
Beautiful
Deep big brown eyes with long eyelashes (like brother and sister)
Dancing King
Snuggle Bug
Funny oh so funny

Happy birthday my Valen (tine)

Love you hugs and kisses- Momma

Oh sweetheart

Thanks to an extra long nap from both of the boys I was able to get some hoop gals finished up and loaded on to my studio. Each time I make these I seem to change it up a bit. The newest thing for me is to use my over the top stash of fabric as the background. I am also creating the shirts for the gals with paint and gesso.

If you would love a made for you piece (a quote, hair color, combo color) I love to do custom orders just send me an email and we will get all the details down and get it made for you! Normally it is a 1-2 week lead time but if you contact me within the next day or two I could get a specially made one for your sweetheart for Valentine's Day! (limit 3 customers)

Let the hue talk

Odd thing happen yesterday... I went into an art store to get a pastel or two and out walked with a small bag of things. While that in itself isn't odd what is odd is that my color choice heavily leaned towards red and I am not typically drawn towards reds! Maybe with valentines day quickly approaching I have a soft spot towards the color of love!

What about you? Drawn to a particular color lately?

What's been going on

This past weekend Kenson turned 3! Boy time is not on my side as it keeps flying by!

This last years has been an up and down roller coaster mainly due to your lack of talking and doing everything we can do to help you communicate.

Kenson at this moment:

You love anything with wheels in particular trains you have more trains than one little boy needs but my how your face lights up!

What lack of words you have you make up for in huge character and facial expressions, you crack me up like no other!

Words...a lot if focus on your talking or rather you not talking...we have faith that what is meant to be will be

Love -you have it and love to share it! you have became a great big brother even though you don't shy away from showing your unhappiness with your baby brother either. Your sister on the other hand you look up to her with stars in your eyes unfortunately your sister doesn't share the same love but I know one day she will.

What a year it has been baby boy I don't know about you but I am so excited to see the little guy you are growing to be and 3 is gonna be such a fun adventure!

Love you Ken-Ken