Hey lovely friends! I hope your Christmas was wonderful! wow.. ours was crazy and fun and quiet and tiring and loud... all at the same time. I am PLUM wore out!
But i was able to spend some time in my studio with my kids before Christmas. Took a couple of days off to just really hang out with them, and my husband and get some much needed holiday stuff underwrap.
I started another painting.. from one of the sketches I did.. but I am not really happy with it as of yet..
This is the sketch I had done earlier..
I LOVE LOVE LOVE the sketch of her. I even love her face. I usually don't like faces, but I do like hers.
Well So I got to town and painted her.. and this is where I got too..
TOTALLy not the same. I mean it's kinda.. but don't love the face. Mostly because it instantly gives her this personality that is kinda set in stone. Girls without faces, leave the personality and soul to be determined by the viewer.. and she has a very distinct look to her. Which is okay, I guess? The background is way to crazy busy. I will be changing that. that's the awesome thing about art! Always changing and always evolving! who knows.. maybe by the time she ends up on my wall, she won't have a face again? lol..
I also was able to paint something for one of my besties.. Meradith. She is one of those special friends that you just have a hard time getting them something because you want it to be so special and usually a shirt or a pair of earrings just don't do it justice. So I decided to paint something for her. I wanted to paint something that was a little more abstract and home decor.. than artsy and crafty. That she could hang in her living room. Earlier this fall I took a class with Floral Bowley and LOVED the techniques I learned in that class.. I took some of the techniques i learned with her, some I had learned with Mindy Lacefield and then of course my favorite techniques for adding textures (inks, rubons, stamps, etc) and created this for her. It's a large painting.. 24"x36"
Lots of flowers and doodles and rubons, everywhere. I dropped it off. I HATE seeings peoples reaction when I give them a piece of my art.. but her husband sent me a picture of her after she opened it and she also texted me and said a HUGE thank you! So I was glad that She liked it!
Speaking of Art.. a few months ago.. my husband I were looking at "marriage" retreats we could go on. We really needed some one on one time with each other and we also wanted some quiet and relaxation. We had thought about waiting until our anniversary, but summer is always so crazy for us.. so we decided to just look and see what was out there and go when we found something that sounded what we were looking for. Well we looked and looked and honestly couldn't find something that remotely sounded both relaxing and fun. A lot of great retreats.. but most time spent in "therapy" sessions, which while I am SURE those are fun and effective.. we just wanted to be together.
Well I had been following this artist named Jesse Reno.
Hes a VERY abstract Artist.. really kinda crazy art and I actually LOVE it.
(this is an awesome surfboard he did recently!)
Something I would probably put in my family room or a game room. Or a boys bedroom. Just really fun stuff.
Well I found out he was going to be teaching at an art retreat in Mexico.. a 5 day retreat. You are in class only 4 hours a day, the rest of the day you could spend still painting, either in the open air studio or around the grounds.. or whatever you wanted. VERY low key, Small group, your housing, food, etc.. is all included. It is held on private grounds.. in a small hacienda.. and it has a beautiful backyard.. GORGEOUS grounds.. lush green trees, quiet and secluded. A swimming pool, little places to read, and hammocks to take naps in. I was DYING.. i had a plan.. and i was SOO hoping Ben would go along with me! I thought it would BE SO MUCH Fun to go to THAT as our "marriage retreat". Just didn't know what Ben would think about that! l I mean I wasn't just asking him to go and hang out while I took the class.. if he came he would be COMING to be a student too! Paint right along side me! ol. So I presented him with the idea.. and I was amazed and THRILLED when he said.. okay! that sounds fun! Now keep in mind.. my husband has NEVER done art with me before. He doesn't paint. He has done craft projects of his own (he decopuaged his gone once, he's made painted puzzles for my kids, he made his own rag quilt blankets and he recently made me a gorgeous wrap bracelet for Christmas!) But he hasn't never really done mixed media art... And he said SURE! and was even a little excited!
Soo.. that was month's ago.. and we leave SUNDAY!! I actually have been having withdrawls of leaving my kids. But I know they will be fine. We travel all the time.. but for some reason this time I just have felt more anxiety than usual. But ben still wants to go and I am still excited and we NEED this for us. WE need to focus on just us for one week. ANd I am truly excited we get to be doing something fun, low key but also adventurous at the same time! Jesse Reno's art is REALLY very much something I think ben would like. Something He could do and that wouldn't make him feel girly. It's very masculine.. so I am actually really excited to see what Ben can do. I know he will create something beautiful! So that is what we are up to! Heading to sunny Mexico.. odd timing.. but you can't pick the art retreat dates lol.
So i have been working hard yesterday and today to get work done before I go. Lots to buckle up and get checked off. So I guess that means I better button up this post! lol.
Well you will be HAPPY to know I videotaped the December mixed media kit video! I will be sharing that with you next week on Tuesday! It's set to air while I am gone. I also have that post finally I want to share with you about the glitter canvas project. I figured it wasn't really a "holiday" craft.. it is more of a home decor craft, so I could show that tutorial anytime! So watch for that too!
Hope you have a happy friday! AND hope you had a WONDERFUL Christmas.. and a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! can't wait to share 2013 with you all! I have some fun classes coming up and other projects. that I will announce and share when I get back! First one will start end of January! Wahoo! happy Friday!!
When I think back through my life.. over the last 37 years (almost 38) ... it's easy to pick out the moments that have truly defined and changed my life. Easy because when they happened I knew in my heart what I was feeling, or hearing or seeing was true. Either for good or for bad. That is the blessing of our Heavenly Father and the Holy Ghost. The simple whispering and promptings we are given to know and feel truth.
The past few weeks my heart has been in limbo.. struggling with you know.. the beautiful things we call trials. Those wonderful hard moments and struggles we are given to help us grow and be humble, and be broke and mend and find our way back up again.. stronger and more beautiful than ever before. This particular trial has been one that has been on my mind for months actually but for some reason.. and you all know what I am talking about.. there are times when moments before you know the trial is about to really rear it's head.. that your heart is struggling and feeling uneasy. We are beautiful women (and men) of our Heavenly Father and have been given divine spirits.. and we KNOW.. we know when things are going to happen. Whether it's conscious or sub conscious.. I believe our spirits know.
This past week for me was one of those moments.. when something I have been struggling with and trying to figure out.. finally finally came to it's moment. I was nervous and scared and anxious about what the outcome would be.. but I KNEW in my heart that no matter what.. I was loved by my Father in Heaven and that this too.. like in past with all trials.. would be one beautiful bright and courage moment of love, clarity and truth.
and so it came.. and as hard as it was.. I have to tell you. the Lord TRULY loves us!! I woke up today with the most beautiful feeling of love and peace and calm and determination. As some of you know I am LDS, Mormon.. a memeber of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints... and there are things that I TRULY believe in my life that bring my happiness and hope and faith and charity and LOVE and closer to my Heavenly Father, my family and my Savior. Some of those things include saying my prayers, reading my scriptures, being faithful in temple and church attendances, giving service to others.. .. and so many many many more. But what I find is that my heart goes through times that while I BELIEVE and truly know I should be doing all of those things.. I slack off.. I let life get in the way.. I let the daily life of making a living, raising kids, cleaning house.. you name it.. it fills up our day so fast that we forgot to do the most important things of all. And usually its not because I don't want to do them.. i just FORGET..
but today when I woke up.. I had this DEEP DEEP DEEP!!!! sound resolution to strengthen my testimony of the Gospel and of Christ as much as possible through praying often, reading my scriptures DAILY.. giving service.. doing good. ALL of those things that bring me closer to the Lord. To being a better person, a more kind person, a more loving and forgiving person. and all of this resolution and sound calm testimony has come from this trial I have been dealing with for so so many months. So then it's such and wonderful things to think.. that EVERY trail, every heartache, EVERY thing that is hard that we deal with, we go through.. whether it's health related or a personal struggle or family struggle.. or even financial struggle.. that ALL of those things.. IF WE LET IT.. can teach us the most beautiful life lessons. They can strengthen who we are as a person.. they can truly push us to do better and be better. They can become those moments we remember and WANT to remember forever.
If we let them. Our Trials and our struggles and our mistakes can either break us.. or they can build us. It take hope, and faith and COURAGE to decide how we will let it affect us. Yesterday I have to admit.. that I was tinkering on the other.. I was in a place where I felt despair and helpless and couldn't see ALL of the good that was coming from this. Then a dear friend of mine.. called on the phone and shared with me some of the most beautiful advice ever and reminded me of what I already knew.. but just couldn't seem to remember..
To let my adversity teach me the most amazing things. To not cloud my mind with sadness and helplessness or pain or beat myself up over things. but to look for the tiny miracles happening around me and opportunities from this trial that could and WILL change who I am forever. That will help me to be more loving, kind, gentle, caring.. FORGIVING.. true.. faithful to my family.. my friends and my religious beliefs. To be Strong and steadfast.. to be immovable from what I know to be true.
what a wonderful wonderful reminder and lesson she gave to me yesterday. And as I spent the rest of the day thinking about what she said.. I had this HUGE burning in my soul that said.. you can do this! you can make it through this! Everything will be okay and this will a great and wonderful thing you will cherish forever.
So that's it.. I just had to share that with you today. My heart is so full. I can't even express to you how full my heart is. I know this trial isn't completely over.. but I have a new resolve to turn this trial into a time I can just soak in learning and growth in my Testimony of what we as human beings are and should be.
Thanks for letting me share this with you!! I hadn't planned on blogging about this today.. I know I have so many other things to share with you today.. but today I just think I will leave this post as it is.
I want to also say THANK YOU.. so so many of you who email me on a daily basis with your stories of courage and love and kindness. I have hundreds and hundreds of friends that I have never met who give me hope and love and strength. I swear.. it happens so often that I will be feeling down about something or struggling with something and I will get an email or a facebook message from someone I don't even really know.. someone who reads my blog or has taken my class and just shares with me something i NEED to hear.. it's amazing and truly beautiful the Tender mercies the Lord gives us.. and how He works THROUGH us to help and show HIs love to others.. amazing huh? I am also blessed with a TRULY amazing family.. my husband is one in a million. We have had our share of trials.. but wow. I could never imagine how truly Christlike someone could be. He is my hero and I am in awe of who is is. My kids too.. they aren't perfect. They each struggle with things this world throws at us. They sometimes fall and sometimes have to pick themselves back up again.. but they have always been humble to acknowledge their mistakes and then make the resolve to do better and be better. just grateful for all the people in my life. My TRUES!!! I am truly truly blessed.
I hope today you feel how much I love you all. How much I truly believe that we are good, wonderful women (and men). Who have so much potential in this life to be who we should be. To live how we should be.. to remember that no matter how hard a trial may feel or what mistakes we make.. we will come out stronger and better than we did before.. if we will let it. love you all.. truly and honestly.. love you all.
Well hello sweet friends! We are BACK!! What a fun and relaxing time we had. We pretty much did nothing on the cruise. and it was PERFECT! We kinda skipped all the excursions this time around.. and we didn't miss them a bit (not to mention we didn't miss the $$$ cost involved either lol)
So guess what? We are REALLY bad.. we forgot our video camera and our regular camera and my phone died the first day and I left my charger in my car.. didn't think I would need it and WE DIDN'T TAKE ONE PICTURE!!!!! Actually I think Allie took ONE.. just one.. but it's on her phone and she's not really sure how to share it. lol
I can't believe it! I am like the picture taking freak! oh well.. we still have the memories right? I will have to write down in a journal everything we did.
and speaking of things we did.. guess what I DID?? I decided at the last minute to take my portable easel, paints and some canvas so I could do some art on the ship! and I actually did! I even created some stuff in my art journal on the plane ride too. It was fun. I NEVER take my art supplies on family trips. The fun part was my kids got involved and one morning, we had a painting session in my room. We had towels spread out all over the floor and we just painted. I only brought my acrylics, my water soluable pastels, my golden fluids, and my Neo Color Crayons.. so it truly was just painting.. but it was fun. I worked on one of my class projects from a workshop I was taking from Mindy Lacefield. It's a mini workshop called (you can sign up here)
I am really into animals latley.. so I thought this would be fun and it WAS!
okay.. so did you happen to notice my header? YEP! that's right.. I changed it.. decided I Needed a facelift of some sort. I also added all of my workshops to the right sidebar over there.. so you could find them more easily. I am going to be changing some of my sidebar things very soon.. excited to update this old blog..
BUT did you notice my newest addition to my header? My new link? My "etsy" shop? Yep! That is RIGHT!! I have opened a NEW etsy shop!! FINALLY! after a year of wanting too.. needing to I guess.. i finally did it.
Let me tell you why it took me so long though.. this is really personal.. so bare with me.
so you may or may not know that I don't sell any of my original artwork. I actually have only given away a handful of prints. All to really close friends and ONE I donated to an auction for another close friend. AND last year.. I took the plunge and did sell one of my original artwork pieces to a dear friend I had met through my classes.. she emailed me (love you laura) and she pursauded me with a very dear story about how one of my pieces had touched her heart.. I had such a HARD time letting it go.. but after hearing her story and knowing her funny and sweet personality through my classes.. I KNEW it was right and it would be going to a good home. So I sold my first piece of art. Its funny because I teach my art.. I license my artwork, I have sold prints at some of my events before.. but NEVER my originals.
The reason being that they are so dear to my heart! I start to get this ancy feeling in my stomach about letting something I Love so much and that has a story behind it go.. and also selling it to someone I don't know. But latley as I have been organizing my studio to move to my new studio.. I realized I really can't just take all of it because I don't have the space for it. And right now it just sits in piles on shelves. SO then I thought.. well I COULD sell it.. and then again.. had a freak out moment.. of seperation from my art, and someone not loving it as much as I did. SO I stop and cast that idea aside.
Well a couple of weeks ago a friend of mine texted me about a piece of art she had seen on my blog.. she said she really wanted to buy it and told me the reason why. She said she had been going through a really rough time (which I had known about) and that this particular piece when she saw it, helped her to see things in a new light. It brought this ray of sunshine into her life and she really really wanted to purchase it to have as a reminder each day that there is hope and life is beautiful. After talking back and forth I decided to go ahead and sell her the piece. But it got me thinking.. this friend I mentioned was ANOTHER beautiful women I had met through my online classes.. someone who had taken my courses and through them I had found friendship. Then i started thinking.. you know I have found SO many friends through my workshops.. thousands of new friends.. women and even some men and children.. who have never done art before.. who have taken my online classes and other classes and through these have found themselves as artist.. I have countless emails of people finding thier voice and their joy through ART.. and it makes me SO happy! These people are truly people who I care about and consider friends. All of you are friends. So that's when I decided to just go for it.. open up my etsy shop and start selling some of my original pieces.. KNOWING that while they have very special meaning to me.. whoever decided to purchase them will love them just as much. I know because I have started collecting art from some of my favorite artists.. original pieces.. and they are VERy dear to me... and the speak to me and they have special meaning to me. LOVE collecting art from other people. So I have taken the leap and swallowed my anxiety about letting them go.. and realizing that they will be going to wonderful caring homes.. you might laugh at my anxiety over it.. but it's seroiusly a big issue with me.. lol. I'm a dork. I know :)
SO I am starting out small. Just listing a few originals each Week.. or every other week. Right now I only have originals in my store. BUT in the next couple of weeks I will be listing prints as well. Anyhow.. so today is the first day of my shop being open! Yeah!!
I have listed 7 of my originals.. here are just a few of the ones I have chosen for this week.. (eek! I am SO nervous!!)
WHen you go to my etsy shop, i write a little bit of each of the paintings I have listed.. the story behind whey they were created. so you know a little bit more about me :)
Some of these you may have never seen before as they created and shared only in my workshops.. or some of them just for me..
and probably my most favorite one of the bunch.. one that I shared on my blog as a free print in THIS blog post.. and had a LOT of meaning to it..
so there you go! eek! this is exciting and scarry at the same time! lol.. who knows.. maybe that won't even sell.. but at least I am finally cutting some apron strings and letting some of these go.. and realize that through sharing these.. I am also growing myself!
I will let you know when I add new things to the shop! My prints will be coming soon. and will post about it here when they do!
Wednesday I have some fun things to share! So stay tuned!
okay.. so you know me... once in a while I get pretty serious and have to speak my mind and today is one of these days..
One of my FAVORITE parts of teaching and specially teaching online is the ability to connect with women, men and children from around the world who are either artist themselves or learning that through mixed media they ARE an artist and can be an artist...
LOVE getting emails from people who say that art has changed their life. That through watching videos or taking workshops (and not just mine).. but in general.. about mixed media art.. they have found their "Wings" so to speak.. and feel confident and happy and they find themselves with more to look forward to each day. One of the things of course I guess I am famous for.. is NOT following the rules when it comes to art and well I guess life and general.
I have always believed rules are meant to be broken (when they don't hurt other people of course).. but you know what i mean. I have a friend who always makes fun of me for making up new words or misspelling or MIS USING a word.. and I say.. hey..who decided that word needs to be used that way anyway? just because the VAST majority of people in the world use that word "This" way.. can't I make up my own word? and use it the way i want? and the response is always.. Yes I guess you can.
Its like my son who showed up to church one sunday wearing one green flip flop and one blue. You would expect any mother to be mortified for one.. that he was wearing flip flops in the first place.. but the fact they were two different colors.. probably even more. My other kids (this was my son Ethan by the way.. I believe around 6 at the time).. my other kids were like.. MOM! That is so embarrassing! They don't even match! To which my response was.. SO? who says they have to match? WHen did someone make up the rule that both shoes had to match.. or that our shirts match our pants.. or whatever the case may be. Sure it might be more pleasing to the EYE if both shoes matched but i have always taught my kids to be individuals and there is no wrong or right when it comes to that (again as long as it is morally correct and doesn't hurt someone else or themselves). So I just put my arm around him (he had his head hung low.. because now he seemed embarrassed).. and I said.. Ethan! I LOVE your choice of shoes today! So unique and SO creative! might have to try it myself sometime"
and you should have seen the smile on his face as I reassured him it was okay to be different. Now granted he PROBABLY wore different colors because he couldn't find the matches.. but still okay in my book.
Anyhow.. im just a girl who likes to color outside the lines.
SO recently as many of you know, I was on the show Craft Wars.. and I have already wrote about my experience in THIS blog post.. and since that episode has aired I have received SO many emails from many of you saying how you just loved that big old yellow bus and how disappointed you were that I didn't win.
So let me start by saying this.. I am TRULY not disappointed I didn't win. I went onto the show KNOWING that I only had a one in three chance of wining.. so I didn't go on thinking I would.. but I went on because I LOVED the idea behind it and wanted to see if I could stand up to the challenges presented. So don't be sorry for me that I didn't win. TRULY i am okay with it.. had a GREAT experience and would do it again in a heartbeat!
However I have to admit.. and I haven't gone back to read my last post about this.. but I am pretty sure I didn't tell you this.. but I was actually EMBARRASSED almost for the episode to air because honestly as we were applying the mod podge over the front and sides and back of the bus with all sorts of mismatched fabrics.. I kept looking at this and thinking.. wow.. this really looks like crap! lol.. Mostly because some of the products being used weren't great for mod podge (Like felt.. just goes a gross color specially yellow when it gets wet).. and also because it was applied so this way and that. Which of course my helpers did.. BUT I won't let that be their fault either because I should have been better at directing them on how to put it on.. (wanted more of a quilt like pattern with straight edges). But it's okay. I think no matter what It just didn't turn out as intended. I also had great intention of doing wood scallops in blue, with red and black and yellow doodled scallops and strips within the modeling around the top of the bus and around windows and doors and stuff and again.. didn't turn out as expected and used foam instead because I kept being reminded that this was craft wars.. not design wars and crafting is all about using fun mediums in my opinion.
ANYHOW so I was actually very embarrassed about the finished product and kinda nervous for my friends and family and well you guys to see it. But then the episode aired and wow your response was SO different than expected.. YOu LOVED the creativity behind it.. the idea behind it.. the out of the box .. and unepexted way to color a playhouse. You also appreciated the fact it wasn't perfect and that there were bubbles and wrinkles in the walls (which was one of the things the judges dinged me for.. which I was thinking.. oh they must not know about mixed media.. because in mixed media we LOVED bubbles and wrinkles.. its texture and its fun! lol)
anyhow.. I need to get to the point of this post! lol
okay.. so on saturday this last week I was driving on my way to utah and my daughter was checking my emails for me and read me this email that I received from a dear sweet women who has taken my classes and and loves mixed media art. It was a very long email and mostly about the show and her opinion on it and her take on the bus.. she said somethings in her email that actually brought tears to my eyes. She reminded me how SILLY i was being for being embarrassed about the look of the outside of the bus. About it not being perfectly as I had intended it.. and how silly I was for not embracing how the bus took on a life of it's own.
I teach all day long in my videos in in classes.. that art is NOT perfect.. nor should it be.. That there are NO mistakes in art. That whatever happens through the process is beautiful texture and layer that just adds character to it. An accidental spilled paint. Or a color that you didn't just quite like.. and I don't just teach it. I BELIEVE it!
Her email really made me think.. she is right. I should be embracing this wonderful BIG YELLOW bus of messy modpodge mixed fabrics and all. So I wanted to share with you a few of the things she said to me.. if that is okay (and I already asked and she said It was okay with her as well)..I won't share all of it.. but here is just a few things that actually brought tears to my eyes..and was a gentle reminder of why i do what I do.. and why we should ALL love what we create.
"About a week ago, I finally had the time and was utterly delighted when I recognized that you were one of the contestants! One of the qualities that I genuinely admire in you is that you are a free-wheelin' risk taker of the best kind. By that, I mean that your boundless joy is represented in how you happily color outside the lines in every aspect of your life, especially your artistic life. I respect this in you....
As I watched your wonderful yellow school bus take shape with the joyous abandon that I personally hoped would occur all I could experience was boundless delight myself as layer upon layer of visual joy was added to create your masterpiece! Thinking of the type of playhouse that I would want for my own little grand-daughter, my giddiness only grew as I watched you lead your team to what I thought was certain victory...
From my experienced perspective, the entire point of a hand-made playhouse is to inspire the imagination of the children who will play in it, to show them that there are no mistakes in an artistic creation, whether it be a small canvas or a giant yellow playhouse or a Watts Tower mosaic garden in the middle of an inner city slum. Further, art is not supposed to be perfect, nor matchy-matchy, nor non-stimulating...
The texture that you created by ModPodging-a - notebook and decorative papers was perfect for showing little one's that it isn't necessary, or even desired, to carefully smooth out each and every piece of paper to create a slick, manufactured result. The messier, the better cause there ain't no mistakes in art!!! The amazing exterior enticed my own ever-present inner child to go inside and I was NOT disappointed! The creative, colorful zones you built and decorated prompted me to immediately want to go and make some art. I truly delighted in watching you create such an exquisite environment that children of any age would revel and be further inspired to play, create, and dream in. Suffice to say, your loosing was an injustice and only proves what is wrong with our public education and dwindling art programs today. Children are born as question marks...and our school systems stifle most creative children until they are left as periods.
So, my dear fellow creative soul, in my eyes, and I am most certain that in the eyes of many of the viewers, your design was a winning one! ... Given what has been happening in the world, and especially in Aurora, CO these past days, your objective as an artist should be to continue your important work..... and Heaven knows, this battered world needs you (and I say all of us)... creating beauty in it.
- Shawn
WOW was all I could say.. and I do have to say.. this is NOT about wining or loosing..In my very HUMBLE opinion I loved cherly's playhouse. The red Schoolhouse. It was HER art and her perspective and her beautiful imprint on this world of creativity. So I am okay with not wining.. but what her email made me realize is that I was NOT okay with thinking mine look like crap because it didn't turn out the way I had intended. She is right! there are NO mistakes in artist creation whether it be on a small canvas or a big Mosaic garden in the middle of an inner city slum! Art doesn't HAVE to be matchy matchy or perfect. It can be.. in my opinion.. but doesn't have to be. ANd not all of us will like everyone's art.. and the best part is.. that we don't have to! Maybe what is visually appealing to us isn't visually appealing to another person.. but we should never call it ugly or wrong because it isn't what we thought it should be. we should respect it and encourage our difference and embrace that art is so unique! I love that through art we are teaching our children to be unique and to be themselves and create a mark in the world that is unique only to them. To be okay with being different and quirky and respecting OTHERS in the same light and way. To recognize that we are all artist whether it be with paint, or food, frosting, or a camera or beads and pliers or a saw.. we all have some bit of creativity in our souls that our Heavenly Father put there long ago.. and I love that teaching ourselves and reminding ourselves of that and to embrace it.. is what makes doing what I do worth it.
I don't actually even remember what the judges had to say to me about my bus.. I wasn't bothered by it and actually I respected their opinions of either not liking or it liking it.. BUT since then I have watched the other episodes and I have been bothered by one thing.. the continuous put downs of the contestants for using a product the wrong way or not creating something the way THEY thought it should be. I know the show was designed to be like Cupcake wars and also chopped.. but ARt is SO different than food. There isn't one kind of baking soda that makes a cake rise and be fluffy in art. Meaning.. there isn't only one glue that can get the intended job done. That is the great thing about art. Is taking a product or a paint or anything and using it in new, different and creative ways! Who says white glue is the ONLY thing you should use to apply glitter (hated that comment in the glitter episode).. or that you can't use a glue gun to apply something.. or that you should ONLY use fabric glue on fabric.. sorry folks.. I just don't believe that is the case. I wish instead that the show and the judges would focus more on the creativity of the project created.. to embrace the uniqueness of someones birdhouse made or dog palace. To be estatic that someone found a new way to use felt or apply glitter or whatever. I also wished the show let the true creative nature of the crafters show through. I wish they weren't so negative and saying "well this wasn't right and you didn't do this right".. sorry but that isn't what art is all about.. or crafting.. not for me anyway.
I wanted to reach through the screen and hug those contestants and say "heck I LOVED what you did! It rocked and I love how you used that product" .. it creativity as its finest.
So thank you shawn for reminding me that art isn't perfect and by me continually saying to friends and family.. I hated that bus and thought it looked horrible and wasn't perfect.. is me totally being a hypocrite when it comes to what I teach. It was art and its what I created in the time I had and what the products and challenges I was given. I would hope kids would run into the playhouse and see the imperfection in there and think.. heck if she can be imperfect in the way she creates.. then Maybe I can do and heck.. yes I am an artist too!
I recently got an email from a 12 year old girl in Pakistan.. and it also brought tears to my eyes.. in it she talked about how she has never felt so inspired in her life to do or be something.. then learning how to create mixed media art. She says she never has anything made her lay awake at night glued to her Ipad being inspired by art and dreaming of what she can create and what she wants to do. She said she has found something that truly has inspired her to live life differently. She said that the only thing they have in Pakistan is paint.. no other art supplies because they can't bring in good from other countries.. not allowed by the government.. but that she still loves to create and loves that I teach people to get out of their shells and just create. There is no wrong.. just create! She finished by say this.. and I have to put this in here because this was another email that seriously brought tears to my eyes.. just imagining this 12 year old girl laying on her bed .. across the world in Pakistan.. dreaming of this..
" I want to teach at workshops and inspire people as well just like you and I don't at all know how I will ever do that, I don't even know how to get into a workshop. Never mind I'm only twelve and have my whole life ahead of me... I'm going to start art journaling again. I want to be that person who inspires a twelve year old to lay down, go through art , be inspired to start art and be stuck infront of the iPad until her mother comes and scolds her so I really have to go or else I'd get scolded,or I could spend whole night writing bout you.
Take care
Luv
H=
Um holy cow.. that just gives me chills.. "H" I ADORE YOU!!!
I hope you don't want until you are my age to teach and inspire others.. start NOW.. she has four brothers and sisters.. start teaching them! Spread the art love and creative fire that you have.. it feeds the soul and seriously gives wings to the heart.
So thank you for everyone who sends me emails and inspires ME to keep doing what I do.. to those of you that REMIND ME to keep coloring outside of the lines.. that art is not perfect and there are NO mistakes in art. That we are all creative souls and no matter our likes or differences in art.. we all have one thing in common.. we are all artists and should respect each other as such.
I want to end this post with a picture of canvas my son created this past week. Noah and I had an art day and he I just pulled out all my paints and stuff and let him play. He has watched me creative over and over so I didnt really give him much directly..a nd when I tried he would say "mom i already know that".. he is 7. CRazy and LOVe that at seven he is so independent and carefree about creating. Not worrying about staying withing in the lines.. or that he might have messed up.. he just created and ended up with a beautiful freaking awesome canvas.. HE inspires me. ALL of you inspires me.. truly :) thanks for letting me share. (ps. come back thursday I will have the july Mixed media video posted!! )
Happy Tuesday!
(oh and one last thing.. I tried four times to use spell check and typepad kept timing out.. so yea sorry for misspelled words. Its just me lol)
okay folks.. you know its summer time when it's over a week between posts! lol..
last week we headed to the mountains of Northern Utah and camped and boated for 4 days with some great friends of ours! It was the first time we have been to bear lake and oh my heck the water there is BEAUTIFUL!
It reminded me of the water in the Grand Caymans.. so blue and beautiful ..loved walking the beach..
and I surfed the best yet! AND guess what else? Ben and I surfed together! he surfs goofy.. and I am lefty.. so he surfed on one side of the wake and I surfed on the other at the same time! Have to post that video for you! So cool!
well now I am home (got home last night) and today we are headed to Chicago for the summer addition of CHA (craft and hobby association).. going to see all the cool new mixed media products out there and order them for our store and kit club! SO.. once again.. this poor blog will be left unattended.. BUT before I left I wanted to come on and say "Hi".. and check in :)
AND also let you know that this week is the FINAL week that my online workshop.. Your Living Canvas Workshop, will be available this summer!
It won't be available again until Mid October..and when it does it will be an entirely NEW classroom with new students and new facebook group page. SO if you have friends that have been taking the workshop and you want to join them.. this week is the last week to join! Because the next time the workshop opens it will be in its very own classroom!
Art and I decided to do it this way when we re-open it because we want to create a personal experience again.. with our second group.. so again.. if you have friends who joined in the first workshop that officially debuted in May.. and you want to join them.. OR if you have been thinking about doing this as a summer project.. THIS IS THE LAST WEEK! And remember when you join, you will have a full year to access the classroom!
So come join us.. the first alumni group! and speaking of them.. I wanted to share a little of what they have been creating!!
Marsha Fisher
Caroline Westin
Robin Blackman
Allison Shaw Thompson
Erin Dufrane-Woods
In this 6 week course, Art and I teach you how to create your living canvas thought journaling and life changing exercises.. AND art techniques as well!
here is a sneak peek of just a FEW Of the things you will create during this class! Several canvas projects and lots of art journaling pages!
Each week has its own new set of projects and journaling exercises from Art!
you can read more about this workshop and sign up HERE!
well I hope you all have a very happy week.. summer is so crazy for me.. mainly because I just have made the commitment to spend most of my time with my family.. they have these 2 months off school and its important for me to enjoy them!
NEXT week I will be posting about three new upcoming workshops I have planned for early fall! One actually starts in mid August (a mini bracelet Jewerly class!).. another class starts in mid September and is a holiday ART class.. which is a 3 week course where I teach you how to create holiday scenes for halloween, fall and christmas (think snowmen, santa's, angels.. pumpkins, whimsical cats and more!) .. gonna be SO fun! AND the third class will be another class by Junelle Jacobson! Art of Wild Abandonment Two!! It starts in Mid October! SO plenty of fun things lined up for fall.. to keep your creative juices flowing!!
So um yea.. so MIA this week! lol.. but sometimes you just got to step away from the computer and be present. RIGHT? this week had many intentions of doing some great blog posts.. but ended up spending the week with family! Bens sisters came into town earlier this week and we had a blast camping at the new/old house.. set up tents all over the yard .. let off fireworks.. and ate tin foil dinners cooked over the fire pit.
(I LOVE THIS HOUSE!!!!!!!!) want to move in so badly!! until then.. we will just camp at it! lol
During the days we took advantage of the fact we hardly had ANY wind this week.. and spend the entire days on the boat..
tubing, surfing..
(see the lake.. how calm it is.. that is what we get when we have NO wind.. wahoo! we are known for wind.. so that my friends is a rarity!)
(that's me surfing.. being our boat. and yes.. NO rope.. it's one of my favorite things!! so easy to do and SOO easy on the body!!)
. At nights we roasted marshmallows, starburst, and my new found favorite.. cinnamon bears.. YUM..
the girls sat stayed up until wee hours of the morning making 4th of July bracelets
(i posted this on facebook and had a couple of questions from it.. first off.. i got the silver bracelet from THIS etsy store.. it's the longitude and latitude of where ben and I were married. The other bracelets I made.. and people for months have been emailing and asking me to do a class on them.. so coming in AUGUST.. allie and I will be doing a mini online workshop showing you how to make 6 of our FAVORITE bracelets.. to create a fun bracelet ensemble..).. gonna be fun!
we also spent the morning painting our fingernails and toe nails to show our patriotic pride!
Went down to the river and saw all the festivities for the 4th.. and just have had a blast! Ate corn on the cob, pronto pups and cotton candy! (which was bigger than allie)..
This week has been just full of wonderful memories and being with family. Bens family has now gone and today MY family is coming! and.. guess what.. back to the boat we go (it helps the lake is 1/4 mile from the new/old house).. and dinner again tonight round the fire pit! Can't wait.. haven't seen my sister Leah in over a year! Miss the heck out of her and her sweet family!! Hope you are all enjoying this week as well.. spending it with those who matter most. Being present and just making happy memories!
first of.. HOLY cow thank you friends!!! lol.. so many awesome wonderful words of kindness on my facebook page about last nights show, Craft Wars, on TLC. !
I have to tell you.. I had the most amazing time on that show! It was So fun.. win or lose. I knew going into it that my goal was just to have fun. And I have to be honest.. the part you didn't get to see.. when they asked me how I felt about Cheryl winning.. I said.. "her house was gorgeous! it looked liked it stepped right off a pottery barn page! and it truly was.. she did an awesome job. AND based on the outside and design.. I actually knew she had won.. and was so excited for her!. I truly was. Was it hard to lose? yes.. was it humbling.. yes.. but not upset about it at all. I would do the entire experience again in a heartbeat. and I have to say.. I had the BEST help on the show! Ben was awesome.. I was bummed because they cut out SO many funny things he did and said! lol.. he was constantly cracking me up and the producers up.. infact they said to me later they had never had someone so interesting on the show as him.. he was funny and lovey dovey.. and not afraid to show his "crafty skills".. Loved the part where they sang when the doors worked! lol.
All I can say is the show was great.. the judges were great and I loved the other crafters on the show. They were both seriously so sweet and nice. it was a great experience and I am so glad the show is finally over!!! lol.. I have been so nervous for months to watch it! I mean obviously they had 5 hours of footage to use.. so you never know what 5 hours they are going to show! lol.. wasn't sure if it would show me constantly talking to myself saying "oh christy that wasn't what you wanted to do.. or singing words like "love it!! " lol.. like I do in workshops when I get lost in my work lol.. So i am glad they got me mostly just intent on being creative and not the silly dorky me I actually am! lol actually I wouldn't have cared either way. I am who I am.. right? either love me or hate me.. but either way.. it's me.
anyhow. GREAT time and THANK YOU for everyone who watched and cheered me on! YOU ALL seriously TRULY rock!!
I also wanted to share with you a little bit of Muvazi love today..cause my sister is running a special again on her freaking amazing skin care line.
Last fall i did a blog post and about how her skin care line has seriously changed my skin for the better. I originally used it as a last resort because I had some major damage to my skin from proactive and then tried to fix it with all sorts of stuff. Proactive is an awesome product.. just So harsh on your skin. So after it fixed my problems areas I started to have at age 38 (um hello! i thought after 18 you have perfect skin?? lol).. anyhow it was pretty harsh on my skin and I needed something to bring it back from the dead. I tried So many different things.. and honestly one day my sister just said.. would you just TRY our products please? just try them.. I know they will help. So I did.. being TOTALLY skeptical at first.. and oh my heck.. I was in love after day one. After two weeks I was sold. So eventually about 6 months later I did THIS blog post on it.. because I had so many people ask me about my skin and why it was looking so good (in my workshop videos and when I traveled and taught).. Well they offered my blog readers a special deal and guess what.. THEY are doing it again.. same awesome deal. $59.00 for the entire SET and free shipping!! I was like..Tia .. are you crazy? and of course I know she is.. our entire family is. that's why I love us all.
anyhow.. so if you haven't tried it.. now is a GREAT time to! They also offer auto ship programs too.. but I suggest trying it first! see if you like it! I have had So many emails.. hundreds of emails from my blog readers who LOVED it.. that it did wonders for.. I was just in peurto Rico and Marion Smith (another awesome artist friend) started telling me she had started using it too because she read my blog post and she is IN LOVe with it! I had no idea she had!! lol.. another lady in one my classes was using it too and said it had changed her skin. It just made my heart happy.
It is good for 2 weeks and it is almost 50% off the retail price. Plus free shipping. So Go get some Muvazi love too! Crazy awesome! Love you tia! mwah!
okay so onto my last piece of little something for the day.. a little bit of inspiration.. this is exaactly how I feel today.. (thank you my margie for the inspiration)..
Exhale..
thats it for today.. next week hope to have some fun new videos for you.. today I am heading to utah.. to visit some of my trues.. Margie, Jamie, Rhonna and Chrissy! having a girls day and night.. catching up.. and celebrating Jamie's birthday! No kids.. just us. Gonna be fun! Coming back tomorrow.. and have plans to spend some time friday in the studio making artsy messy stuff.
hope you are enjoying summer!!!!! Happy wednesday :) and seriously. Love you to you all!
So I haven't really talked about this yet.. but alot of you have already emailed me or facebooked me saying "i just saw you on TLC!! you are in their commercial for their new show called Craft Wars! "..
so I guess the secret is out and okay to share!! (we were under strict secrecy NOT to say anything until the show aired! lol).. so I guess it's safe..
YES! So many months ago I posted about them contacting me to apply to be on it! So I did.. and after month's of waiting.. I was finally notified I made the cut and asked to come be on! I was allowed to bring an "assistant" with me.. and of course.. no brainer.. chose my husband ben. He can build, craft, do ANYTHING.. including sewing (gotta love a man that knows how to sew!).
So we traveled to California back in March and taped our episode! Crafts Wars is much like the show Cupcake wars.. where each week 3 new contestants come on the show and they are giving a challenge that must be completed in a certain time. After the challenge is over.. 3 judges critique your work and then basically kick one contentstnat to the curb... lol.Then the other two compete is the ultimate challenge for a $10,000 prize! talk about cool! Tori Spelling is the host and I can tell you it was ONE of THE MoST amazing.. fun experiences ever! Ben and I had such a good time. I would do it again in a heartbeat!! We also found out last week that our episode will be the FIRST to air!! TOMORROW!!! on TLC! Here is a little sneap peek on it! lol oh so lovley.. I tell you I am really normally nice when I am not under pressure! lol
I think it's set to air at 8:00 PM MST (so 10:00 Eastern, 9 pm Centrel, and 7 PC).. but check your local listing to make sure. I really can't wait to watch it either! SOO nervous too! lol.. can't wait to share more of my experience with you after it airs.. but since I can't tell you what happens.. I will have to wait!! :)
Anyhow..
ANOTHER cool exciting thing for today is that FINALLY after seriously a year of begging my baby brother, Van Campbell, for his music.. he has compiled a CD with all the music I use in my workshop videos and youtube videos!
TODAY We are offering in our store.. FREE SHIPPING ON all orders over $30 .. use the coupn code:
FreeShip30
for US customers and for our international customers.. we are offering 15% off! use code :
IHeartINT
at check out.
ALso my brothers cd, Just around the Bend.. is on sale for two days as well! $3.00 off! So today and tommorow is a GREAT time to get it and to stock up on all those heavy things we carry in the store like stamps, paper pads, canvases, art journals.. paints.. sprays.. and more! just listed and added SO many new things!
So that is my exciting and fun news for today!! I hope you all have a wonderful day! happy Monday!
I am home! back from a fun trip to Puerto Rico teaching to 450 amazing men, women and even a few children too!
That was a huge event.. probably the biggest one I have taught at so far.. I was a bit nervous of how it would go.. but ended up just flowing perfectly! I taught two classes.. a mixed media canvas class.. and a art journaling class (it was a very condensed version of "a women has three hearts".. one of my online workshops..)
Yamille does such an amazing job putting those together! The day before classes started Ben and I got to explore old town San Juan.. and of course.. just like in January I was just in awe at the beautiful old history it provides.. just amazing colors and stories and architecture!
But now I am home and I actually don't have any more teaching events planned for the rest of the year! (well except maybe one in october).. but I really wanted to take the rest of the year and just STAY PUT.. be home.. spend time with my family.. spend time working on my house.. working on my blog, my online classes.. just be HOME.. We go to CHA in July.. but other than that.. we are home! wahoo!
First thing we did was take him to the new old/house to see the boys.. who were out there working at the warehouse and on the actual house..
He is soo little and so dang cute!!!
and he has such an adorable personality!
allie named him "beau".. which was max's middle name.. she says it means "handsome" in french (i think lol)
just a cutie pie..
also worked yesterday playing catchup!! listing new products into our store.. (been collecting some vintage wallpaper from trips and onilne stores to start making kits!)
so just listed two vintage wallpaper kits yesterday.. PLUS a ton of new rubons, papers, paints.. you name it!
I love vintage wallpaper! Love using it on projects.. (used it on this one for the Living Canvas Workshop (week 4)
Love love love old wallpaper!! yum!
so that's my life as of today..
just a fun update about life and family..
gonna be posting the June Mixed Media kit video on monday so watch for that!
so for weeks I have been sharing bits and pieces of our new/old house with you.. but decided it was time to do a full on blog post. So the story behind this house..
We have been looking for about 3 years to either add on or move. EVERY spring we get it in our minds that we NEED more space. I LOVE LOVE LOVE our current home.. but we have 3 bedrooms, ONE living/family room, ONE shower/bathroom and 8 people. Just doesn't work for us! Ben and I obviously share a room, Allie being the only girl and 12.. nearly 13.. has her own room. and the other five boys? Well.. we have madeup room for them. lol. Braden and Parker share a room in the basement (really it's a storage room).. and they share amongst all of our food storage.. buckets of wheat and flour and pasta. pretty funny. Ethan and Noah share a room and until recently shared a room with Preston.. until he decided he could no longer live with those two messy boys and moved his stuff up to this room off of allies room that is more of a storage room (you can't stand up in it lol).. and now he has is "own" room. Having one shower really poses as a problem for the 8 of us.. and having my laundry room IN the kitchen and main bathroom is hard too. Plus we only have one living/family room.. so we all gather in the same place ALL the time. We truly need more space. So each year we go and drive and look and we always seem to find nothing that inspires us. We have always loved the idea of buying or building new.. tired of buying old houses and fixing them up.. but then we always chicken out because we just don't like the fact new houses and new subdivisions don't have trees or landscape or history. So then it's back to the drawing board.. finding an old house that maybe has already been redone. It's not that we can't do the work. We can. Ben has either remolding or built every house we have owned. It's what he used to do for a living before we started our kit club. So we know how.. it's just we wanted something move in ready.
SO each year we would look on the MLS in shelley for houses. Now considering the fact shelley only has 3000 people in it and there are usually no more than 20 houses for sell on the market at any given time.. there really usually isn't much choice. So up until now..we have been frustrated and nothing working out. WELL one day a few months ago.. ben came home and said there is this old house he wanted to show me. And the minute he said "old" i was like. NO. we aren't doing that.. Remember? And he said.. JUST COME LOOK. I was skeptical because I had SEEN everything on the market and I thought I knew exasctly what house he was talking about and I was thinking.. um no. BUT it was sunday afternoon and why not right? So we went on a drive.. drove down this road that is ride by the lake ramp.. that we always boat at.. and as we pulled up.. I had this feeling.. deep in my gut this would be our home.. I KNEW it..
We pulled up to the driveway.. and ben said to me" I know this house is going to be a TON of work. TONS of work.. so look past all the flaws.. and just see the potential.. I know you will hate it.. but just think about it. It has a big yard.. 6 acres actually, tons and tons of trees, its out in the country.. right by the lake, no neighbors. It has 3 out building/garages we can put our business in.. It has a pool (run down mind you).. tennis court/basketball courts (again.. so run down lol).. an outdoor fire pit (which intrigued me).. and an ART studio.. (um what? what did you say? an art studio??) of course my ears perked up right away! and then we pulled into the drive.. through the front gates.. and my heart went thump.
I was IN LOVE.. with the property.. Trees as far as you could see.. HUGE open spaces.. small intimate forests.. 6 acres of completely landscaped beautiful beautiful land..
and then reality hit.. the house was built in 1938 (didn't know it at the time but found out later.. and hasn't been redone since 1960's).. the pool was a MESS, the tennis courts were a mess,
the grounds were overgrown..
the ARt studio.. (Above and the following pictures below).. well it actually was a pool house on side.. complete with a sauna shower and bathroom.. and the OTHER side.. that used to be a mancave, where he played poker games with his buddies.. ANOTHER sauna and another bathroom that had a HUGE giant Roman tub in it.. seriously so weird.i don't even want to know..
(um yes.. that is the art studio ben was so excited to show me..) there was LAVA rock everywhere..
not that lava rock is bad.. but oh my heck the spiders.. I actually loved the fire pit area.. I didn't care if it was lava rock.. to me it was just simply cool. We also found out that the single farmer lived in the house from 1970 until he died a couple of years ago and left the house, his farm and all his belongings to his church who had since sold everything EXCEPT the house.. which they couldn't seem to get rid of.
it was going to be a TON OF WORK!! just to get it liveable.. AND that didn't include the fact that the house wasn't big enough and we would need to add on (it again.. only had 3 bedrooms lol).. We didn't get to go inside that day.. infact there was someone else there with their realtor looking at the house when we pulled up.. but I was DYING to know how much it cost.. because with that much land.. I KNEW it was WAY WAY out of our price range.. way out. way out lol.. but despite it all.. I wanted it so bad. It seriously felt like home.
So we drove home and I immediately got in the MLS again and searched and searched and couldn't find it.. and had figured that's why I had never seen it before. Finally we just called our realtor and asked.. and then we got both good news and bad news.. the good news was.. it was actually UNDER our price range.. (which shocked me.. and we ended up actually getting it for even 40K cheaper than the asking price.. it seriously was so run down.. had been on the market for a year.. or longer and NO one would touch it.. way too much work). But the bad news was.. it wasn't in Shelley School district and there was NO way we were moving out of shelley. WE LOVE shelley, LOVE the schools.. love our wards/stakes there and that was a must for us. It was our Be all, end all. So that was it. Didn't matter anyway.. because we couldn't buy it. BUT out of curiosity.. we decided to go the next day and just take a look at the inside.. lol.. (oh baby.. just wait)..
so this is the actuall house house..
big gorgeous windows actually
the red room .. isn't the kitchen.. OH no.. it's actually the canning room and "bbq" room for the farmer.. and all of his fancy parties he had.. (we have since heard so many cool and unique stories about this farmer and his life and the parties and events and weddings and things that were held on this property.. but he himself never did get married.. single his entire life)..
I am actualy in LOVE with this red sink.. keeping it for my art studio :) everyone thinks Im crazy.. I am in love.
This is the kitchen..
Yes folks.. that is floor to ceiling TILE.. in cream.. and SHINY GOLD :)
the dining Room (which I LOVE.. the originally hardwood floors are still in it.. just want to change out the tile and the wood stove to something a bit more modern)
the living room.. HUGe and open.. right off the dining room and kitchen. LOVE the beams.. (not so much on the velvet curtains.. that close automatically when you flip a switch.. he must have been a real ladies man)..
Love the view into the dining room and kitchen from there. Those railings are coming down.. as well as the walls in the kitchen..
the rest are bathrooms and bedrooms and downstairs..
he really loved wallpaper and tile and barn wood.. all bedrooms had wallpaper in them.. which I kept large pieces of by the way.. to do art with..
and more barnwood.. (gonna keep it all and make furnture out of it for my art studio!!)
funky orange and cream and black bathroom. WHICH I personally think is awesome for a boy..
but they don't really like the short black toilet much. lol. All the toilets look like that.. they are all just different colors.
Then the out building/garages.. are PERFECT for us and our cars (having 3 kids soon with drivers licence.. and a place to put our warehouse!!) So ben can be at hOME with us everyday.. blessings blessings..
It also comes complete with its own dinner bell
now that actually is pretty cool..
but after seeing it all.. as much as I could SEE the potential.. I could SEE all of it being stripped and loved and redone.. and this beautiful diamond in the rough.. a place.. a little piece of heaven for us and our family.. and friends to enjoy. It was not in our school district and not in shelley! Well i swear almost instantly we got a phone call from a friend who worked at the school and apparently the school district lines were just seriously a 100 yards away and the house down the street WAS in shelley and the shelley school bus stopped there everyday.. and drove right past our house .. and would be willing to stop and get our kids too. AND since it was open enrollment.. we could have our kids stay in shelley. ALSO the ward we were in.. was still in a shelley stake.. and we would be in a ward with some of our kids best friends! And probably the best part of it all.. was that it just felt like home. So we seriously put an offer that day.. on the house. It was a bit of a bidding war.. and even though it was well under our price range.. that price range was for a move in ready house.. not a house we would need to spend $$ dollars redoing, gutting and adding onto to make it our own. eventually we settled on a price.. and it was ours.. HOME sweet home.
our realtor at closing actually told the title company how she thought we were crazy for buying this place.. because it needed SO much work.. but we are in love. Everyday I wake up i seriously say to my myself.. I LOVE that house! Of course we won't be moving in until it's done.. which since we are doing it all ourselves.. will hopefully be before christmas.. but that makes me love it even more! The other day while ripping off all the old tile in the kitchen.. I found the most wonderful floor underneath.. and it just made me smile.. that this new/old house has all the charm and love i knew it did.. just hidden under years of needing a woman's touch. (no offense men :)).
I just can't wait. Like I said in tuesday's post.. or maybe it was today's.. this post is so long I have already forgotten.. but Ben and my boys and their friends have already gutted then entire house (well most of it) AND My studio.. tore down walls.. took out the Roman tub.. I know.. I was thinking of keeping it.. so when people came to do art.. we could all hang out in the tub together and pretend it was a hot tub.. but no. Decided against it.. lol
no only kidding. but want a huge open art studio. so taking down the wall between the bathroom and the sauna.. the mancave side (leaving the pool house side).. but those walls are already down! (gonna keep the sink and toilet/closet in the studio for lots of reason.. lol)
Already been dreaming and starting to collect things for the studio. Lots of pinterest.. getting ideas of things I want to build or make. Its gonna be larger than what I have now and I want to have room enough for at least 8-10 people to be in doing art at one time. For my kids.. friends.. or even small retreats there. (Which by the way.. we are SERIOUSLY talking about having one this fall at the studio.. since that will be the first thing done).. gonna post about that soon if we do.
anyhow.. thanks for letting me share our new/old house with you. I am in love with it. The reason why we never saw it before was because the timing just wasn't right. It just so happened ben had been driving past that way (we never drive down that far when we go to the lake.. because it's on the other side of the ramp).. but he had been driving down there with parker on his way home from the movies and parker saw it.. so ben stopped and took a look. I always tell parker HE ROCKS for finding our house. The kids love it by the way.. they can play for hours and get lost in all the mini forests around.. over 200 trees on the property.. AND 2 resident owls and ONE resident SKUNK (which ben is considering catching and taking out the stinker and leaving it as a pet.. um.. yeah.. we will talk about that one)...
anyhow.. fun to share.. I will post again about it maybe in a month.. to show you the progress!!
