May The Force Be With You

I am a HUGE fan of ETSY. There are so many creative people out there! My latest purchases were from a wonderful gal over at MFSDesigns . My girls LOVE, LOVE Star Wars (because of their daddy). They have all of the movies, a ton of figurines, books, and even the new Millennium Falcon (that sounds like it will blast off at any moment)! I knew that I wanted to get them dresses, but also knew that Star Wars is pretty much "boy", so I went to the ETSY alchemy and posted what I wanted. Both girls got Princess Leia dresses and wore them to Emily's kindergarten spring musical.
Emily also got a little scrabble Princess Leia necklace that Jon gave to her before he took her to "Donuts for Dads" at school. Check out ETSY...it's soooo addicting!

Tour: My Children's Rooms!

The cutest blogger gal, Kelly, over at http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/ has been hosting home tours on Fridays. This week's feature is children's rooms/nurseries. I thought I would join the tour because my sweet children are the ones who inspired me to begin painting in the first place!

First off is Emily's room. This is one of my very first wall murals. Emily was 2 1/2 when Jon and I created this room for her (her baby sister was on the way). I found some fun fabrics and Jon's grandma made pillows for the bed! My parents gave Em the Raggedy Ann and Andy set. Both of my girls have trundle beds. I had one growing up and just loved it! I never had to mess with those side rails either...just pull out the bottom bed for a soft fall from the top bed! Ha!

Emily is in the stage of collecting EVERYTHING! She writes little books, creates art, and has a ton of little knickknacks. Clutter drives me crazy, but all of these little things make Em happy! It does make me smile when I see that such little things make her smile. Jon made wood cornices and I painted them. We have cheap blackout blinds underneath. I'm already dreaming of redecorating Emily's room. She is very girlie; therefore, a wonderful vintage shabby chic room would be fun to create! Floral o' floral! Perhaps in a few years. I'll let her decide when and what.

Next is Laney's room. I really love how her room turned out because I have never been too drawn to orange, and this redo was soooo cheap! Laney is 3 1/2 and is cheery like this room. We live in a woods and feed the birds. Laney is fascinated by them, so I created some bird art above her bed! Canvas, scrapbook paper, ribbons, tulle and buttons go a long way here! We didn't want to spend too much on bedding because she was young when she moved into this room (age 1 1/2...climbed out of the crib and we knew her nursery days were over) and we didn't know what kinds of stains, etc. would get on it! :-)

Jon also built wood cornices for Laney's room. He painted them white, then I took pink, yellow and orange strips of tulle and one by one, wrapped and knotted each. The stripes add some whimsy! My parents bought the little R.Ann and Andy dolls for Laney. The personalized piggy bank was a gift from Jon's parents. Notice her surveillance camera? Yep...even has night vision. We don't use it much anymore...yeah!

Here's a cute painting that I made for Laney. I created this after we took the girls roller skating for the first time. Laney loved the bird, and I'm a cat lover!

Also, my mom gave me her mother's Raggedy Ann doll. I remember that little doll living on my Grandma and Grandpa Putt's guest bed! The book was a gift to Jon when he was three years old. His grandparents wrote on the inside of it. It said, "Some day we hope that you will read this to your little girl." Isn't that amazing? I just love this little shelf with such priceless items on it!

Finally, here's Henry's nursery. Right after I found out that I was pregnant, I woke up one night and dreamed up a little boy's nursery! Well, after we found out that we were having a boy, I went with what I had thought up....a classic rock nursery! Baby #3 created a lot of room switching. Henry's room used to be our upstairs laundry room! Jon painted the room and again made wood cornices. I wanted to use black and white. His sheets are striped and the crib skirt is polka dot. His bumper pad is white mesh (safety over looks). I planned to paint HUGE music lines and notes, but time was running out, so I ordered a cute little wall decal instead. I know the HUGE hand painted one would have looked so much better! If he's still into this in a few years, I can paint it! (Notice the tractor in the corner? Jon is from a farming family and this was his when he was little. No, it doesn't go with the rock and roll theme, but it's so sentimental.)*Something else I didn't take a photo of is a John Deere tractor that Jon's dad engraved and brought to the hospital after Henry was born. We have it displayed (in it's box) on a wall shelf. I know that Henry will forever love this special tractor!

I put together this big shadow box for the room. I added records, bumper stickers, pins, necklaces, CD covers, stickers, and more. I had fun collecting memorabilia from CCR, The Doors, The Grateful Dead, Jimmy Hendrix, KISS, Dave Matthews, Pink Floyd, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam and so, so many more.

And the grand finale...This is what I see when I change Baby Henry! DAVE MATTHEWS! I.Love.him!!!!!! This is the very first thing I bought when I started the room. I hope Henry enjoys Dave's music too!

And that is the end of my tour! There are beautiful and fancy children's rooms out there that I just adore, but my children's rooms are simple and full of creativity and love. I hope that Emily, Laney and Henry feel this when they are in their rooms!

Mixed Media

I paint all of my canvas art with acrylics, but I just have to have a touch of some other materials in my artwork! I recently started to add some wording to my art. Here's a piece that I just created for a customer. She gave me the colors of her bedroom and wanted a big flower. She let me just go with whatever I wanted! I NEVER quite know how each piece is going to turn out, and I really loved this one! It's hard to see, but I added some texturizing mold to the "frame" and flower and stem, printed paper for the middle of the flower and leaf, upholstery tacks on the "frame" the words "to bloom...love" and I hand stitched some brown beading onto the center of the flower! It turned out quite fun!

Now I am going to make some pieces for MY living room! I plan to make a piece using 9 or so canvases! I hope to have it done in a few days or so. (Laney no longer takes naps, so I usually have to paint at night when Jon is home or everyone is in bed!) My inspiration...To Kill A Mockingbird. I can't wait to show you the finished pieces!

Firsts!

This is my first official post! I have been a blog lurker for some time, but didn't think I would have enough time to maintain my own blog....Well, there's a first time for everything! I hope that you enjoy my journey through motherhood!

Today is also the "first" day of summer! Emily's last day of kindergarten was yesterday! This will be my first summer with all three kids! I'm so excited to spend some warm weather time with them!

And finally, another first! I have NEVER gotten flowers from a man other than my husband...until today! I painted some nautical artwork for my friend's baby, Sam. Our family went to visit this past weekend and I was able to deliver his art. And this is my thanks from Baby Sam, who is almost five weeks old! Oh, I was tearing up when they were delivered! They are beautiful! I wish I could keep fresh flowers in our home all year round! Thanks Sam! You are going to be quite the charmer! Watch out ladies!