LAST DAY to Register for Paint & Pixels!

Hello there!

Hope your weekend was wonderful!

Just wanted to pop in quickly and remind everyone that today we will be closing registration to Paint & Pixels at midnight PST!

The class is teeming with activity, excitement and a giddy energy! People are discovering the amazing power of creating on their iPads and Robin and I couldn’t be more delighted and proud!

Check out some of the fantastic artwork from our students so far!

Artists from top left : Erika C. Brothers, Eva-Britt Oderhem Lie‎, Laila Constanse Rygh‎ and Colette Trad

Click below to register!

Later this week, I’m looking forward to sharing with all about my experience at Katie Kendrick’s magical painting workshop! Absolutely blew me away!!!

Okay friends – have a beautiful Monday.

xo,

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Some exciting news…

Hello there. How was your weekend? Ours had everything typical of a weekend including, pizza, thai take-out, a kids birthday party, sleeping in (not) and pancakes. Not exactly exciting, but fun anyway.

I have some exciting news to share with you today. On March 1st, Somerset Apprentice will hit store shelves and little ole’ me will be featured within its inspiring, art filled pages! I feel so lucky and humbled to be included among such wonderful artists!

One of the projects I did for Jeanne Oliver‘s class – Creatively Made – will be outlined in detail with a helpful DIY guide that will walk you thru the steps to create a vintage journal. I can’t take credit for the idea, since Jeanne masterfully taught the lesson within her e-course but I was very pleased with the process and the outcome. It was a joy to build this romantic book. You can check out the full post here.

So, I hope you will check out the latest Somerset Apprentice. If you have never read the magazine, it is bursting with creative ideas and projects – many by very successful and well known artists – all laid out with guides to their processes! Brilliant! It’s a must read if you need to fire up your artistic side!

Thank you again, dear readers, for all the support and encouragement you have given me. I will always be grateful.

xo,

Big Sister Project : Door Hanger

Last week, I was putting the final touches in the nursery when I felt a little hand tugging my shirt. Grace looked up at me, wide-eyed and smiling,

“Mommy, I want to do something for Claire’s room too.”

“Of course you do. ” I replied. I grabbed her hand and slowly led her back downstairs to our studio. I had to think fast. I needed a project that she could handle, using the bits and pieces I had. Then it hit me, a door hanger!

We had done a collage project together back when I was taking the Creatively Made e-course with Jeanne Oliver and I still had some of those supplies. Perfect.

I grabbed one of my 4″ x 4″ canvases, matte medium, brushes, scissors and a stack of vintage papers. She got right to work covering the canvas with the medium and paper pieces. I dug through my scrapbook supplies and pulled embellishments and words that she could add on, plus a few baubles and 3D elements too. Gotta have a little bling! Right?

After she had completely collaged the canvas with the vintage paper, I helped her brush on some white paint and then gently rub it in with a cloth to unify and soften the background. Then I let her arrange the embellishments until we reached a design we both loved. Some glitter, ribbon and a few healthy dollops of hot glue and we were done! Grace had created a special gift for her sister’s room. She was beaming with pride and was anxious to go hang it on her door. Here is the result…

I think it turned out quite pretty and it goes perfectly with the room too! Good job Gracie! This is a super fun and easy project to do with your child. Let me know if you have any questions about the process.

xo,

Learn and Bloom…

Hello everyone! How has the week been for you? I’ve been super busy working on my business and trying to get the nursery finished…but it’s all starting to come together. I have taken moments to run out into our yard, when the light is perfect and snap some pics of all the beautiful blooming flowers and trees! I love this time of year. It’s funny to think that before blogging, I never used a camera creatively and now I can’t imagine being without it. Which leads me to want to share with you my thoughts about learning something new…

Firstly, to all those creatives out there that have their own business or dream of beginning one, I cannot recommend enough that you take this online class with Jeanne Oliver. I’m almost finished with it and not only has it inspired me to really tie up loose ends and improve my business but I have met an amazing network of supportive and caring women! Full of ideas, questions and yes, fears…we have all been able to help each other out! That’s a pretty cool thing to happen these days. So check it out…

Secondly, I wanted to share a list of the other online classes I have taken that have brought me so much inspiration and joy! Sometimes I just NEED someone to tell me what to do and then I really take flight!

1. Unravelling with Susannah Conway (photography, reflection & writing)

2. Blogging Your Way with Holly Becker of Decor8 (blogging, marketing, business, photography)

3. Creatively Made with Jeanne Oliver (mixed media art, creative exploration)

4. Beyond Layers with Kim Klassen (photography, photoshop, inspiration)

These are just a few classes avaliable online. They have done wonders for my spirit, my creative energy and the best part of all, is that I get to share that passion with my daughter. I truly believe that learning something new is the cure for the blues. There is nothing like that wonderful feeling when you open your heart and mind and things become possible, achievable. Hope fills your day and you start to grow in ways you didn’t know before. Feeling stuck? Go out there and learn. Expand. Grow. Bloom. I promise, you will feel better.

As I get closer to having this baby, I feel comforted that I now have an incredible source of inspiration, one that will hopefully nourish me through the more challenging parts of being a mother…

Sending you all the best and thank you for supporting me and my endeavors.

xo,

Creatively Made: Mixed Media Portrait

Hi all! Been super busy with life and trying to fit in time to create too! A tricky balance, that frequently required late night sessions making a healthy mess of paint, paper, and glue in my studio. I have finally completed another project from the Creatively Made  e-course and I’m pretty pleased with the outcome. I have to admit, I am very, very rusty with my acrylic paints. Several times, I had to put down this piece and walk away frustrated. I would hang the unfinished canvas on the wall next to my desk and periodically gaze at it…looking for answers. They came…but it took time.

This project started the same as the others but this time, incorporating more color. Using a mix of vintage papers and scrapbook paper, I created the background, unifying it with layers of paint.

It was funny painting late into the night, listening to music and feeling my little baby kick inside me, almost encouraging me to keep going. I have started calling her my “Art Baby”. I haven’t painted in over ten years and somehow, I feel like she has filled me with the courage to pick up my brush again. It’s a good feeling.

I really love adding 3-D details like the lace, gems and pearls. I can’t believe I never blended collage and painting in art school! I was missing out!

Next, we have to do a self-portrait! Yikes! I’m excited to try though. We will also be making Santos dolls, which looks like a fabulous project! I will keep you posted.

A Vintage portrait with Grace

Hi everyone! Hope you had a lovely weekend. Grace and I got to work on one of the art projects for my online art class this weekend and it was so much fun.  The assignment was to create a vintage inspired portrait on a small piece of canvas.

Grace was anxious to start and dived right in! I love that about creating with kids this young – they have no fear! While I sat there, carefully selecting each scrap of vintage paper, she got straight to work, with no hesitation.

She, of course, finished before me.  Her little fingers were covered in glue but she was just giddy – as was I!

Soon we both had our canvas’ prepared…covered in a patchwork of vintage papers and doilies.

I showed Grace examples of Jeanne’s original work so she could envision the outcome of the project.  See Jeanne’s beautiful piece below…

image via jeanneoliverdesigns

We will be attaching these canvas’ to vintage door plates or escutcheons, just as seen above. I have two coming from Etsy! I love how this makes a stand for these tiny artworks!

Here is Grace’s finished portrait…

When I asked her to tell me the story behind this portrait she said, ” She is a princess, waiting in the garden outside her castle for her prince to come.” I melted. My little romantic.

Here are the first steps of my process…sketching in my girl…

I painted out some of the background papers to create a light area.

Using a Stabilo Marks all pencil, charcoal, white gel pen and acrylic paints I filled in the details. I couldn’t resist adding some tiny pearls to her headband. I thought I was finished but something was missing…

The flock of birds and flower in her hair completed the piece for me.

This was a wonderful little project and I can’t wait to do another one! I bought these little canvas’ in bulk from Michaels and Grace has already started her second one!

Hope you all have a beautiful day!

xo,