Finger Knit necklaces

 This week's Link Lovin' is finger knit necklaces.
Which will be funny to anyone who sat through knitting class with me at inspired 4 years ago, trying not to laugh while my face contorted and my arms cramped into some version of bird wings flapping as I tried with all of my might to create my little square. Yeah, it was a MAJOR no go. I managed to turn out a demented crooked triangle-ish shape that I decided to give my youngest as a "Barbie face cloth". Well, it IS possible that Barbie never received very good directions about doing laundry, right?
Look I even dug up some proof of the whole sad affair...

 For those of you who were NOT in my sadly failed knitting class, I was fine with my failure. I decided to keep the basket of wool and use it on a scrapbook page or something.

Back to our cool link lovin' ( sorry I get side tracked) My girls and I needed a birthday gift for Great Nana and of course something happy to do together to enjoy an afternoon of girl time. Sooooo we made these necklaces happily after finding this link. Turns out, this type of knitting is more my speed! We all LOVED them. My only disclaimer is that this project is probably best for about 9 years old and up, Bella's little fingers weren't quite ready for the co-ordination of even "knitting" (but we won't tell her that!) They were finished in under ten minutes (per necklace), we could still chat and giggle while our fingers worked away at it, and we found everything we needed in my random crafting stashes. I'd say that is an all around WIN! Wanna try?

Here's what you need:
- a roll of string ( just hardware store string, nothing special)
-some chain (can get this at a bead store for nicer stuff, but can also get it at the hardware store on a roll)
-some little pliers/snips to cut your chain ( I raid Cam's tool box, Great source!)
-a few wooden beads
-any old scissors

photos above  from "P.S. I made this"

And here is Emy's finished result!
Have fun and be sure to share your results with us.

Workin' on it Wednesday...

Something I thought might be fun, is to tackle hump day and head into the rest of the week feeling productive by sharing what I'm elbow deep in each week, even if it isn't finished projects ( mostly won't be, hence the "workin' on it" title)  just the behind the scenes works of it all...I totally enjoy taking a peek at others' inner workings and seeing the steps that build behind their cool art.

So here we go with 

WOW #1

Right now I am finishing up some backgrounds for a few canvas pieces that I have in the works; this blue one will be about having faith and spreading wings etc. the words and pictures are all well underway in my mind but of course need a place to land...

So far, lots of blendy acrylic, lots of drippy watercolors, some india ink for good measure, and now time to look at it across the room and decide if it is ready for the good parts!

 For this bigger canvas, I am illustrating the story of someone's life and all of the different chapters. 

I drew out this huge stack of books first, and then decided the texture needed here was to cover much of the rest in vintage book pages (of course backing up the theme of the piece). 

I find this page piecing done best, and with no loose edges, by using gel medium under and over the text pages. watery white glue is fine and so is mod podge, but this is just my fave. Oh, and as you can see, I also prefer fingers to paint brushes or palette knives...they are super washable ( no kidding!) and I have FULL control over what they do.

 

 And lastly for Right now, I am finishing up an art journal on Kraft. 

Not sure yet where all of these little pages will go, but they will be packaged up and sold as printable mini backgrounds in the next couple of weeks. And then I can get personal with my own and make it into a spilling over of heart. 

This one is definitely keeping ink on my fingers and fun in the air! I LOVE the carefree that happens when your "canvas" is something as disposable as a roll of kraft paper...there is a whole other kind of freedom that doesn't always take place on an expensive  big canvas, or GORGEOUS scrapbook paper that has been lovingly hoarded.

And last but not least, I need your help with something. I am trying to use my time better now that my girls are all settled in happily at school and I can work full time all day long ( or night)

So, I have a question for you; I am toying with the idea of finally doing a newsletter, it would include where I am scheduled to be teaching, newly released Art or products, and BEST of all there would be offers and a few tips or videos that won't appear anywhere else. Not sure if it is worth my time though, can you shoot me a note if you would like this? Or if you have any thoughts or opinions on what you would like to see content wise. I will do my best to bring you what you ask for!

Thanks and happy Wednesday!

Freedom and Faith

 

"she marched to the Rhythm of her very own heart as it "beat, beat, beat" with passion and praise and the incredible Freedom that comes from living in Faith"

Here she is " Freedom and Faith"-inspired by a beautiful lady that is dear to my heart and has shown me over and over again the beauty of living in faith and the joy of a truly free spirit, march on my friend!

And to all of you who pop by here; may you step out and trust the little whisper within. Stop questioning, Stop doubting your own abilities, STOP getting in the way and simply choose to experience the total freedom of living in faith, the amazing feeling of soaring on wings that are far greater than you can even comprehend!

Homemade Ice Cream!!!

YES, You read right this week's link Lovin' goes to seriously delish, homemade, 5 minute, SUPER easy, tastes like soft serve 

ICE CREAM!!!

 I would be lying if I said it is only fun for the kids, IT IS AWESOME FUN FOR MEEE!!!

We had done this as part of science waaaay back in Emy's preschool days, and I LOVED it then, but with a busy toddler at the time and then another baby filling my heart and food making mind, I went on to totally forget about ice cream in a bag until I found This Link.

Yayy internet, and yayy pinterest!

The girls and I got right to adding this to our "fun to-do" list, and it was as Rad as I remembered! 

We did a batch with cream, and a batch for Tiara with vanilla soy milk. both were super, I actually liked the soy version better, kids liked the cream.

Here's what you need:

- small snack baggies, and larger sandwich or medium baggies

-2 TBSP sugar ( I did only 1 to make it slightly healthier)
-1 cup of Soy milk for lactose free, or Cream (either half & half or light cream, mmmmm)
-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
-1/2 cup salt; any kind is fine (I used sea salt)
- plenty of ice; you may want to pick up a bag if you don't have an ice maker
-hungry tummies!

1. fill your larger zip-loc about half full with ice and sprinkle the salt over it

2. Mix the soy milk or cream, sugar, and vanilla in your wee snack bags and zip them up good and tight. ( we used sandwich bags the first time cuz we had no wee snack bags)

 3. Jump, dance and Shake what your mama gave ya

 

4. Check on your mixture and if it isn't frozen yet SHAKE some more!

( ours took about 4 or 5 minutes, bit longer for the cream)

 

 5. when it is thick and frozen you can grab a spoon and eat it right out of the bag! Tiara dumped hers into a cup cuz that's how she rolls

 

6. Grin like crazy with the amount of happiness in your tummy and the sillies you have worked up from dancing around with a chilly bag!!!

WHOOT

OK I have an assignment for you; if you try any of our our Link Lovin' ideas and love 'em, let me know! It will make the girls' day. seriously. They help me get the pics and always ask me, "mama can you show people on your blog?"

Last but not least, I am out of the country adventuring right now, will post more on that later, so if I owe you an email please be patient with me, life is calling!

Gentle Pace

 "She always felt that she couldn't keep up with everyone else's pace, what she didn't see was how her gentle way of moving through life made them all slow down and see the beauty of the day"

Oh how those Gentle hearted sweet ones bring peace to us all, and somehow beat themselves up over and over again for not being as efficient as "everyone else". 

Imagine if the world was made up of only the super efficient? Everything would always get done on time and probably nearly perfectly, but All of that soft peace would be missing and things would be all out of whack...not cool. We all fill the perfect place in the world even the slow and steady, If only we could see that we were made just the way we need to be, each with the specific gifts that we were created to share. Go out my friends and be bright and shiny in the way that only YOU can!

Here's to those with a gentle way, may they stop trying to keep up with the rat race and see the beauty in the way they Bless so many as they softly go through life.

Prints of this sweet story are up in my store and ready to go!

Words

This month has been a crazy one of here and away, family time, me time, travel time and a whole lot of getting into the glorious routine that is fall. I have oooodles of photos to upload, more prints to add to my store, I have a stack of happy art to finish up that I am pumped about ( always the result of me taking some time to nurture my own spirit). And steady through it all I have seriously been enjoying the power of words; their beauty, their ability to wrap you in a story, or find strength and sparkle within your own self.

Find words, write words, print words, and wrap yourself up in the ones that make you feel like leaping!

Link Lovin' - Loop scarves

 

The girls and I spent the summer checking off our "Fun to-do" list. Oh believe me, it went wayyy beyond silly putty!!! Some we came up with on our own, sure,  but mostly we found such great inspiration for so many of our projects online, that I am totally inspired to share some links and how it all worked out for us here on a regular basis. A little bit of Friday Link lovin' to wrap up the week just right. Are you in?!
If we found it, Loved it, and tried it.
You better believe I want to share it, it will be something good to bring the fabulous to your Friday!  And kickin' it off are these awesome loop scarves we made...
Doesn't Emy look lovely modeling one of our new creations?

 

The ones we made are a combo of a few different online tutorials 

For all of that great step-by-step inspiration you can check them out here , here, and here.

All you need are:

-some old t-shirts (or a trip to the thrift store and a quick round of laundry) note: we used the largest tees we could for nice long scarves 

-some good sharp scissors

-and about 20 minutes or so.

This project was a total 5 star for cost, time and end result! 

WHOOT!

As far as Link Lovin' Fridays go; Let me know if there is a cool link you have found that we totally should try, or if there is something you'd like me to hunt for and give it a whirl. The girls and I are having too much fun to stop now, even though school's back on :)

HAPPY FRIDAY

My Wonderful little Ladies

 

I think this might be my new favorite shot of my girls. 

The sun had almost set, the moon was already lighting our way, and the pinkish glow on the water was amazing . So what did we do as the mosquitoes came out and the air grew colder with each minute? the only logical thing one can do! Go down to the beach and run in the water, splash and giggle and get sandy and wet of course!!!

Who needs clean and dry and in bed on time anyways? Not US!

It is just one of so many favorite memories from our time away together as a family this past week ( yeah we pulled them from school cuz family time is too precious not too) It was simply amazing!

I am actually heading back to our friends' gorgeous cottage alone for a few days to get some uninterrupted "ARTing" done. With crisp air, quiet cups of tea, and nothing but creation all around me I have High hopes for awesome productivity!

note: Keep an eye on my Etsy shop it is filling up more each day

and the winner is...

Picked by my little Random finger pointer, Congrats Megan!

Please send me your info so I can pass it on to Kal, and ENJOY what is sure to be an incredible class!!!

God's Light shines in you...

 

This is my own very favorite card to give from my stash here at home. There isn't one person who can't benefit from knowing that you think they shine! This pack of cards is up in My shop, and I feel like sharing some joy today so tell me who shines in your life and why they totally need one of these mini prints, I will pick 2 winners at the end of the month to send out sets to!

For today; enjoy it, smile and shine, and dance through the day my friends, it's a total gift and it's yours for the making!

ETA: thanks for sharing your hearts with me, I was touched by each of your stories. Winners have been notified so check your inbox!

Finding my wings

 "Sometimes there was just too much noise and too much busy for her to find her voice. She raced and she ran until she knew she must stop to find the wings of her Spirit."

 I Finally finished the painting from This Post.

Have a quick read if you would like to know the story behind the piece.

This is one I need to keep around to remind myself to find the quiet moments that I need...sigh. They slip into the hubbub far too easily. truly.

Making sure of that this week; I am heading back to the lake alone with my basket of paint and brushes and a bag full of blank canvases for some quiet time to get myself back in the swing of things after a whirlwindy summer. Here's hoping that good things come pouring out from my heart and my hands! How are you finding your quiet this fall?

 

mated and ready to be framed at 11x14

 Printed packaged and up in my shiny new Etsy shop.

BIG HUGE thank-yous to everyone who has popped over there to support me in my new adventure so far

xo

an Amazing giveaway from Kal!

Let me tell you about my friend Kal. This beautiful lady is one of the most positive motivating people I have ever come across! She's an award-winning illustrator, author, and graphic designer. She fights for the rights of artists trying to share their work online, spreading awareness about the importance of respecting artist's work with her recent link with love initiative.  

 

She blogs daily sharing her love for life and art and small people. And on top of it all she is a wonderfully involved mama to three little girls and 2 doggies. But Kal doesn't stop there, she scoops up her Bullet-proof positive attitude and spreads it as far as she can out into the world!  She has this way of teaching that can inspire and empower, even the person who thought there was no way they could ever be called creative, to pick up a paint brush or a pencil crayon, and redifine what creative means to them. Lucky for all of us Kal has a new online class launching Monday and it looks AMAZING!

Script school is an introduction to BRUSH SCRIPT. You'll get to Try Kal's signature style as you go at your own pace without pressure, learn the ins & outs of creating script (handwriting) with a brush, and Try different techniques. Guaranteed you will Be motivated and inspired by the beauty.

Seriously friends, sign up and this class will change the way you "art" in some way, that's just how it rolls with Kal!

Here's the coolest part; leave a comment here on this post and she is giving away a FREE SCRIPT school registration to one of you awesome peeps!!!

 

For more eye candy check out Kal's paintings, and read more about her daily journey on her blog

All images courtesy of Kal Barteski 

New goodies for September

 

You asked me for more alphabets and more alphabets you shall get! I will do may best to pump out a pile of brand new ABCs over the coming months so stay tuned. This one is pencil sketched and when stamped on the page LOOKS like you picked up a pencil and got jiggy with it. I LOVE that! mmmmm

then we have These borders, simply spray paint yumminess, that's all. On a photo, behind a photo, or bordering the top or bottom of a page...I kind of think that spray paint anywhere is an addition of YUMMY. 

 And lastly this set of positivity stickers are the perfect message for every bright and shiny heart. They are ideal to print on cards and sneak in your kid's lunch or print out on Avery sticker sheets to stick right onto notebooks etc.

Everything can be found Here in my corner of The Lilypad. And if you would like to win one of these for FREE cuz giving stuff away is fun, then leave me a comment about what you would like to have me design!

Perfection

 

 She finally knew she was perfect just the way she was created...True Perfection found by following her strong strong heart.

This is one of my very favorotes to date. Because it is my little Kaiella, because of the band-aid on her constantly skinned little busy knee, because she LOVES it, her cute little girl face, and the message of course...such an important message for a little girl to  keep close to her heart. 

I have a huge stack of "stories of light" painted and ready to go off to the printers. I found a new local printer that I am going to try working with.  Really looking forward to actually going in and choosing the papers that I like by touch. I am just like that, I want to hold it and feel the texture and love it.

I have another stack of prints that are matted and signed and just need to be photographed. Those will be loaded in my new etsy shop over the next few weeks. YAYY! finally!!!I take them with me when I travel and sell some locally but I am excited to get them up online. Really excited, it has been a long time coming.

I know I have mentioned Cam building me a cart, and maybe when my full website is done we will still do that but I decided to go with etsy for now even though there are fees etc. because I think it is good exposure to a whole different audience and offers a great community of creatives. Anyone have experiences with etsy, good, bad or in the middle? what are your thoughts on the whole thing?

 

mated and ready to be framed at 11x14

the annual Summer panic

It always seems to be right about this point in summer where I begin to panic that my time with the girls is passing far too quickly. We have just finished two weeks of swimming lessons, we've gone camping, Bella has been to Bible camp for a couple of days and Emy is going to go for a week. We've done projects around the house, we've had some incredibly good visits with really special people and spent some quieter days just hangin' out at home together. But still I get frantic that we haven't done nearly enough and it is all just going to whip by and be over before I can even blink. 

Soooo since I have this mad love for checklists I have a plan! The girls and I are making a big list of summer to-dos ( aka: WANT to-dos) we'll leave room for a photo of each one and as we get it checked off we can add in our photographic proof and end up with a nice memory of summer while keeping our eyes on the things we treasure most for our time together! 

Game on. I'm on it, sleeves are rolled up and my pencil is doing warm ups as we speak. Aaaand I hope, of course, that you will play along and share your moments too!

Today the girls looked at the options I gave them for homespun fun and chose making homemade silly putty. We used pretty teal coloring and lots of fine glitter, it drips, and snaps, and bounces wonderfully!
Def. fun, I used to do this with my daycare kids; check out the recipie here.

 
Tiara and I Picked up some more thrift store/garage sale finds today to finish our room makeover for Bella's birthday. We'll have to pick up the pace and spend tomorrow with our lovely cans of spray paint fully active, sewing machine buzzing, and tissue paper folding and fluffing into a frenzy if we are hoping to be done when she wakes up Saturday morning!!!

Here's to cherishing every ray of sunshine, all of the kooky giggles and everyday that summer gives us.

The bunch In my mirror

Living out of town means when we want to go pretty much anywhere we are bound to be taking a long long ride in the car. But I truly have to say that our time in the car has become something I totally cherish; Great conversations, good laughs and secrets shared. It is time that I know I will look back on fondly. Sooo here is my view of the backseat on a typical drive...

We have the little two, happy little posers smiling and often making eyes at me, usually chattering about some adventure their little ponies went on earlier in the day or giggling like mad while one of them hams it up just to get the laughs (usually Tiara)  

Then we have Emy the dreamer...She shares in the goofys of her little sisters for a bit but then  If she is not sharing her deepest heart with us she is gazing out the window often grinning her soft little smile as her mind goes to fairytale places, suddenly popping up after awhile and sharing with us what she is dreaming up for her next story.

 Eventually all 3 find their own worlds and thoughts to get lost in, although a good amount of time is still leaning on each other and giggling (or sometimes fighting), and telling me and Cam their latest plans and best stories, at some point everyone does find a daydream to get carried away to.

 and then Tiara is the one to report any problems that are found there in back seat world, her little sister just going with the flow and giggling away..Tiara is our police officer keeping everyone in check...there is one in every kiddo bunch right?

 

And of course like any good long drive it usually ends like this; SLEEP

it's a blurry imperfect picture but it captures the little sweeties that we carry in, surprised that they still fall asleep and carefully trying to get them tucked into beds without waking them up

It can get crazy and loud, it can be a wild bunch of tattling and upset hearts, it can get long...but I cherish these drives. I do. It is mine, all of it, chaos and bliss magically mixed into happy pudding. They are each so amazing, my bunch, and these long drives give us all the undivided time together that we could need to know that without a doubt!