19th Finish

I thought I'd let you have a little peek at my sketch process. Sometimes I'm lucky enough to get a sketch just right the first time. Other times I can sketch for a couple hours or over the course of a few days before I get things just right. This was such a fun little project to work on. My sweet friend Susan asked if I would illustrate a coloring book page for her sister Karens' wedding reception. They first saw the idea ::here:: Adorable no? They wanted to keep it simple & have space at the bottom so guests could write them wishes or hopes for their new life together. They will be putting them all together into a folder so the couple can look back on them throughout the years. Such a fun idea!

Here is the final product!

 I thought this would be the last of the wedding commissions for me but it isn't. The other day a friend saw the birdcage tags I made for my cousins wedding & she wants me to make some tags for her sisters wedding!!! So excited. I might even be adding these new items into my poor forgotten Etsy shop, lol! Maybe I'll even get around to photographing all the stacks of things I need to put into my vintage Etsy store. Sigh, so much to do!!!!

I am almost done with my 20th finish & hope to share it with you tomorrow or the next day. I'm also very excited to share the upcoming 3 finishes that I'll be working on for a dear friend of mine. It involves tons of cute vintage goodness. 

19 Down, 33 To go!

1 Year Young

I picked up this cute little cake at Walmart. It was the last "destroy" cake they had. At least it wasn't all pink and girlie. Besides, I like Thomas.

We had another small family party with our dear friends the Mooney family joining us for dinner & cake. They adore little Omri & are always so sweet with my girls. It only seemed fitting to have them over for the special event. It was a beautiful evening with a nice cool breeze. You couldn't have asked for a nicer more perfect night to have a picnic out on the back porch.

Omri wasn't too sure about the cake at first. I don't blame him! We spend the whole first year as parents working so hard to feed our little ones healthy things. Then on their first birthday we're like, here, have this giant mass of sugar! Haahaa!

I think he approves :) 

That's right little man, dig in. 

Now what do I do? 

Oh that's right, I throw it to the ground! It brought up images of the Saturday Night Live video, you know, Throw it to the Ground? Happy Birthday to the ground, lol! You'll have to watch it. It's one of our favorite things to quote around here. 

Dylan rescues the cake. 

Okay ma! The birthday boy is totally done. Time to clean me up so I don't look like a blue Muppet.

Happy Birthday My Man Moblio! I just adore you! It's so fun to have another guy in the house. I love your tender little snuggles & adore your rough & tumbleness. I think it's so fun to watch you scoot toys across the floor (everything is scooted just like a car, lol) & listen to all your many sound effects. You are still a watcher of things. I marvel when your eyes light up watching kids play at the skate park or the girls riding their bikes. I know very soon you'll be joining in on those activities. For now you are still my little guy. I adore you & can't wait to see what this next year brings. 

Happy Birthday Oblio!

On Turning 4

So I'm kinda playing catchup with pictures & posts. This summer has been so full & I just haven't taken the time to get on the computer like I do during the colder months.

Aris turned 4 on June 29th. We had a small family party. I can't even tell you what a goofball this girl is while opening presents. We probably could have given her bags with toys she already had & she would have been happy. The pictures pretty much sum up her constant excitement the whole time.

A helmet from daddy

Art supplies from Sloan

Playmobile from mommy

Her very own scooter from daddy! Dean always picks the best birthday presents for the girls. I buy them toys & Dean buys them fun outdoor stuff, lol! It makes for a perfect birthday mix :) We had yummy chocolate cake & chocolate cupcakes to celebrate.

Aris words can't even express how full my heart is that you are a part of our family. You are the spice in our lives, lol! Spunky doesn't even capture just how much of a stinker you can be. I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't hear the stomp, stomp, stomp of your feet or that tiny little high pitched voice of yours singing me your made up songs. You are my drama queen. My princess dresser upper. My makeup & fingernail polish girl. I love your imagination & your strong will. I'm sure both will serve you well as you grow older. I love you my little Popeye Mipie Pearmear! Hope 4 is the best year yet!

18th Finish

One of the things I've tried to do this year is make more of the gifts I give to people. So far I've been pretty good at it. I still end up buying birthday presents for kids but maybe next year I'll have it a little more together, I make no promises. So when my cousin Brooke got married this past weekend I opted to make a sign they could hang at the wedding & then later in their home. I still have a ton of canvases left to paint on so I decided to use one instead of spending money on something else to paint. I thought it would be fun to paint them as a little bird couple since the wedding theme was lovebirds. I asked Brooke what her colors were going to be for her home & she said earth tones. 

Here's what I came up with. I tried to keep it as neutral as possible but added the pop of red. Brooke's wedding colors were red, black, & white. I figured if she liked them enough to use at her wedding she will most likely use them in her home also. I know there is a lot of blank space around the sign. That's because I plan on painting little birdie children as they come along. Had to leave room for those little ones ;)

I used acrylic paints for the sign. Then I glued scrapbook paper to the sides. I had a heck of a time with the back. Nothing I had was big enough to cover it. I ended up ripping up some brown paper grocery sacks and glued those to the back. It ended up woking out perfectly.

18 down, 34 to go

17th Finish

My sweet cousin Brooke got married this weekend. It was a beautiful & perfect day. I even had the honor of being their photographer for the day. I'll be posting photos very soon. Brooke's theme for her reception was lovebirds. Here colors were black& white & red. She had seen pictures of a beautiful reception where there were small cards with birdcages & facts about lovebirds. She asked me if I would be willing to make some for her.

My aunt Colleen (Brook's mom) sent me the 10 facts she wanted on cards & this is what I came up with. Here you can see what the front & the back of the cards looked like. My hope is that she can also use them on her Christmas tree for years to come. I used a thick stock watercolor paper for the front & glued a pretty scrapbook paper to the back. I started by doing a light acrylic wash to give them a vintage look. Then I sketched out all of the birdcages & lettering. Next I painted all the birdcages & hand painted the lettering also. I added red hearts to all the i's :) The perfect touch of red. I finished them off by adding a champaign colored ribbon so they could be tied to the tree.

Here they are hanging on the lovebird tree. I hope she enjoys them. They were so very fun to make. I even had someone request to make some paper ornaments for the upcoming holiday. If I can get my act together I might even add some of them to the shop.

17 down, 35 to go

Destruction Part Deux

Time for the last wall to come down.  

This time Dean did all the work himself. Construction is what he does for a living. He was sweet enough to let us all help the other night but it took twice as long & was 10 times as messy. He's such a sweetie to let us have a go at it though ;)

This wall came down in a little less than 30 minutes.

Dean was saying, "See how it's done babe" :) 

He sawzalled the other side of the wall. 

The girls peeking through before the wall came totally down. 

Here it is completely open! Dean hammered the nails so they wouldn't be hanging down. This whole remodel process will happen in a few steps.  

The wall where my art stuff is will have a built in book shelf that will go all the way to the wall. It will close off the other useless entrance to the kitchen & allow more wall space in the kitchen. I'm so excited to have a giant bookshelf in our home. I have most of my books in storage & the girls shelves are overflowing. It will be so lovely to have them easy to access & enjoy.

The first step is to pull up the Pergo flooring & raise the dining room floor up to the rest of the house. This is the same said floor I fell & broke my hand on last year. I can't even count how many people have tripped or fallen when walking into our sunken dining room or up to the kitchen. It's so dangerous & I know it will be nice to have it gone. Then we will be adding a nice archway to add a small amount of separation to the rest of the living space. The entry to the spare bedroom will go on the other side of the piano. Yep, we are adding another room on :) No we are not expecting another baby, lol!

Eventually the whole kitchen ceiling will be raised to match the rest of the house & slate floors will be put in the kitchen & dining room. 

All the ceilings will be scraped & can lights added. Someday down the road we will replace that corner fireplace with a wood burning stove. Eventually we will get new lighting fixtures for the dining room & kitchen but those are later on down the road. The biggest thing is getting that new room built. It already feels so open & lighter in our home. I'm really looking forward to all of these changes. I'll share photos as we go.

& The Walls Came Tumbling, Tumbling

It's time to open up the house.

Sloan's turn 

Worker girl Zoe 

Zoe's turn 

Aris' turn

Brennan's turn 

Dean's turn 

We made it a family affair. 

Even Omri joined in the fun with the hammer Bumma gave him. 

Daddy showing Zoe how to pull down the wall with a hammer like he does at work. 

Taking down the other side. 

 Already looking more open & today it was so much brighter in the dining room.

This wall is coming down next. Pictures coming soon.