these are a few...

... of my favorite things. <3

currently im obsessed with:

spring florals.

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hair bows.

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fake glasses.

painting.

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watercolors.

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abstract organic-geometric forms.

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what makes your heart pitter-patter?

my collection and my heroes

through the years ive filled out several of those online survey for myspace and facebook and whatnot. you know, the ones where they ask you your eye color and hair color and ask if you prefer chocolate or vanila, or daytime or night time, and all kind of other useless garbage. one question that always kind of bothered me was "do you collect anything?" i would stop and think and feel unsettled. that feeling you get when you know you've forgotten something but you dont know what. i love "stuff" and i have a lot of it, but i could never think of just what it was that i actually collect.

going through an old trunk in the basement, i realized something. i collect vintage children's books. i had at least 10 of them, mostly cherished from my childhood. and im fortunate enough to have older siblings born in the late 1970s, so i got '70s kids' books handed down to me. some were even from the late 1950s and belonged to my parents. my favorite, by far, is "Dean's Mother Goose's Book of Rhymes."

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the illustration in this book really captivated me since my whole life. i've always been in awe of the fancy costumes, beautiful hair, and detailed animals. 

NOTE* all other photos pulled from google images and not individually credited

janet and anne graham-johnstone were a pair of british twins born in 1928. they were illustrators who worked  on every book together as a team. they are true heroes of mine. i look up to them and i am inspired by them. i hope to be an illustrator someday, and looking back it it, im sure growing up with their work in Dean's Mother Goose sparked that in me.

here are just a few examples of their illustrations. 

gorgeous, yes? be still, my heart. <3

is this a craft?

well its certainly handmade. it requires a lot of skill, and by God, its practical. watch the video to see a short clip of someone demonstrating the HANDMADE MARIO BROTHERS VIDEO GAME! kind of awesome, i must say.



The Simplest Version of Mario Bros - Watch more Game Trailers

sloths

meet my new favorite animal, the SLOTH. <3 how could you not love that funny little face? :)

gratitude

just a simple post: let me know what it is you're thankful for right now. come on, don't be shy! no one will judge you. tell me. what are you thankful for?

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right now im thankful for being a woman, even though it has its ups and downs. im thankful for good friends and good food, and getting to know some friends better. im thankful for the artistic talents God gave me and the drive to pursue art as my career. im thankful for my mom, who may be a just a litttle (a lot) spacey sometimes, but she raised me in a good home, with my dad who sacrifices everything for his family. im thankful for my cat whos snuggly and soft and cuter than all the other cats on the internet by far. ;) im thankful for food to eat and a home to live in and all the luxuries that i indulge in every day, because i know some people dont have one bathroom in their house, let alone three. im thankful for my job and a boss whos understanding when i need to make changes in the schedule. im thankful that God gave me a work ethic where i actually want to do my best. im thankful for having the insight to see situations in a different way and learn from my mistakes. i know God has big plans for me and my life and i cant wait to see what He has in store for me. <3

also im thankful for nutella on a warm piece of white toast.

march- aquamarine

i hope you all had a good month of march! its about over now. i though id make a little collection on polyvore.com celebrating the month of march and the birthstone aquamarine.

did you do anything fun this month? i really wanted to fly a kite but its been too cold lately. :( maybe in april! :)

Japan Relief on Etsy

my heart goes out to those in japan and the loved one coping with tragedy and loss. before i begin this post, i want to tell you a little something i overheard at work. a coworker told me at her church they all put a red dot (symbolising the "rising sun" flag of japan) on their hands, and every time they see it, they say a silent prayer for japan. i thought it was a good idea and thought id share. :)

if you'd like to donate to japan tsunami relief, please do so at the red cross website, or text REDCROSS to 90999 and the donation will be on your next cell phone bill. or, if you love to help as much as you love to shop and support art, you can donate by purchasing certain items in etsy! many etsy sellers are banding together to raise money for japanese tsunami relief and i encourage you to be a part of it.

 dream BIG for Japan -flower seeds watercolor cards by treespacestudio

kokeshi doll stackables by stackblocks

29 paper cranes by MadeByJo

screenprint for japan by Pinipiru 

lucky bamboo in aquamarine pot watercolor by TheJoyOfColor

matsushima tshirt by uzura

a bear hug for japan by sleepyking 

(i <3 sleepyking, by the way)

earlier in the week i donated $10 to the red cross. i wanted to give more but im totally broke.. but while making this post i saw these stickers and said oh, what the hey. :) i went ahead and bought them.

japanese animal stickers by Squidbombed

pray for japan <3

april showers raindrop curtain

last spring i saw the lovely handmade paper garlands and curtains by the etsy seller kategreiner. i was inspired to make my own april shower paper curtain back then, but never got around to it. reading a post on elsie's blog, a beautiful mess, about her shop decor, i was really inspired to get off my butt and make something.

sorry- these pictures arent the best. :-/ but i wanted to show you the process so you can make your own if you wish. this looks much better in real life. :-P

first i found some scrap papers. in this case i used a small pacsun bag and a few pages from a free people catalog. i chose a color palette of white, aqua, and seafoam green, and randomly brushed it on the papers. i wanted to make sure all my raondrops had the same colors to make them look cohesive.

while the papers were drying, i hung up the strings, spacing them about 4 inches apart. i used cotton yarn, but any yarn or thick sting works. i taped them upside down first, then went over them again with one long piece of tape. this gave it strength and made it look a little more clean. (uum.. i dont have trim around my windows yet.. we got a good deal on this house because it needed a lot of work.. the to-do-list is very slowly getting checked off..)

once the papers dry, fold and cut out little teardrops the way you cut out hearts for velentines- this ensures your ends all match up and stay clean-looking.

then all you have to do is glue them to the strings. i tried to spread them out pretty good at first, just in case i ran out of rain drops. but i ended up having a few extra and a full curtain of drops. :)

hehe i think its pretty cute :) a fun little springs craft that took less than an hour to make. awesome. :D

instax skin

a few months ago, i bought a fuji instax from amazon.com. it came with a gift card for a free skin. i picked out a skin from the website and pretty soon it arrived at my door. the skin sat on my desk until just a few days ago, though. the problem was i wasnt sure if i wanted to put a skin on it. i liked it plain white. but the skin i picked out was cute. its a chicken in a peacock costume. (skinit.com - they have skins for everything too, even graphing calculators, for those of you in school) but the skin said it could be removed cleanly without residue, so i thought, eh, if i dont like it, ill just take it off.

i peeled the skin off the paper and stuck it to my camera. it fit like a glove! better than i expected. i had to cut a few places with scissors to get it to lay flat (around the lens and on one of the corners where it bulges out) but the places i cut slits arent noticeable and overall im happy with how it turned out. i think ill keep it. :)

this is how she looked all clean and white; not really sure which one i like more. theyre both cute in their own ways i guess.

what do you think?

new ventures in the distance?

a few years ago, i started making jewelry and selling it with my friends. the only problem was, it took me something like a year to get the hang of it and make professional quality pieces, and then there was just too much competition on etsy for jewelry. i had good prices and (i think) a good product, but it was just too darn hard to make any money at it.

for a while now, ive been wanting to get into a business thats a little more unique; where my product can get noticed because theres less of us selling it, and hopefully my style can stand out. i want to draw and paint custom portraits for sale on etsy. i havent really started working on this yet, its just an idea so far. im a fine art major, and i would love to make a little money off my talents on the side before i graduate and look for a full time job.

here are some of my human and animal portraits. some ive done recently, some a few years ago. any feedback or advice would be greatly appreciated. <3

the flamingo i painted just a couple days ago as a thank you gift for a friend. the blue tropical bird i drew yesterday because i had the day off. :] tell me what you think! do you think i can make any money off commissioned pieces on etsy?