Puppy Love

There were so many dogs this weekend at the fair!  Big ones, small ones, black ones, white ones... :) Dr. Seuss would have had a hay day!  Many of them stayed friendly, but we did hear a few fights around the corner :/

As I was sitting there watching all of my canine friends, I realized that I didn't bring ANY of my dog portraits!!!  I am definately going to put some out there for my next fair in September.  Here's where I need your help!

I have done traditional portraits in the past, as seen here, but I'm really wanting to branch out and do a few funkier paintings that are more my style.  I will still be offering the traditional soft pastel portraits as well, though.

Ok.  I KNOW that you have a pet that you LOVE!!!  Please email me your favorite Doggie picture to me so I can make up some examples!!!  I would LOVE for you to send me your pup for me to practice on!!!  I'll post them as I get them done!  Thanks for sharing!!!

Email me at: SimplySmithDesigns@comcast.net!!!

Also leave me a comment letting me know that you sent me one, just in case it doesn't go to my inbox :/

Fisher's Freedom Festival!!!

I can't fully describe to you how amazing this whole experience has been!!!  Like I've said before, I have always wanted to do an art's fair.  After experiencing my first one, I'm hooked!!!

So, wonder where I've been the last few weeks?!  Doing all of this!!!:

As soon as we got home from vacation, I went straight to work on finishing up a few final projects, and tying up loose ends.  I'm usually a procrastinator, then get super stressed out at the last minute, and end up in a hot mess of melt down.  Not this time!!!  I was easy and breezy :)

My ultimate plan unfolded as seen in my mind, and Big A helped me set up my booth mock up in the garage the morning of set up.  I actually made my first sale to a neighbor while it was up!

 That evening, with plans in hand, Big A, mom, dad and I headed to the park and got everything ready to go in nearly no time at all!!!

 And, ta-da!!! The finished booth!!!  Since the space next to me was empty, we eventually opened the left wall out to make the whole thing more open.  It was much nicer :)  I had a perfect booth space in the shade, facing north, so we never had any direct sunlight.  The weather was perfect!

 My whole family was there to support me!!!  The girls came up with their guys, and I loved getting to love on the boys!  Thanks for coming up to be there for me!  You guys rock! :D  LOVE you!

 My parents were an amazing help and encouragement through this whole journey!  Mom came all week to take care of T-man while Big A and I got ready for the weekend.  They were both there for practically the whole weekend with us, and Dad shared his muscles and his sweet tea at the booth.  I am so blessed to have family who just wants to be a part of my life!!!

 And, these guys :D  My adorable matching men!!!  Andy has always adored my passion, and as my "business manager" and partner ;)  helped me with all parts of this project!!!  T did amazing all weekend!  He follows in my footsteps as a people-watcher, so he was in his element :)

 And, of course, was thrilled to have his homies here, but I think they'll need a more extended play date in the near future :)

 I was thrilled at my over all success at the fair.  My favorite part is getting to know new people and learning about them!!! I love sharing the background of my artwork and knowing where it's new home is!  My peacock feather stuff sold like hot cakes!!! I think I only have one left!!!

 And, the aprons were a huge hit, too!!!

To see pictures from the whole weekend, click here!

Keep up!

I haven't really had any time to update my blog, but I have been updating my facebook page!!! So...if you'd like to see everything I've been doing, check it out here!!!  Be sure to "like" my page while you're there!

Thank you to all of you who have been following this journey and encouraging me along the way!!! I made my first sales this morning while I was setting up my mock up booth in the garage!!! I even got some commissioned work set up!!! YAY!!!

I'll be putting up tons of updates tomorrow and Sunday from the festival!

Crunch Time!!!

We rolled into town last night from an AWESOME vacation, and woke up this morning to torrential downpour!!!  Now, it' crunch time!!!

No worries!  I'm captain crunch!  I've got my lists made, delegated jobs to Big A, T-Man and mom, and now, I'm off to work!!! :)  Wish me luck!!!

I'm official!

My vendor tags and booth site came today in the mail!!! I was so excited when I saw the envelope said "Simply Smith Designs" under my name!!!  YAY!!!! Just 2 more weeks!

Progress

"Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming." :D I've actually gotten a TON done this week! Today, I'm focusing on leaving for the beach. This is my list as of this morning...more has been added to it, but also some stuff has been marked off!
Yesterday, I covered all 6 of the moleskin notebooks that I had bought. Now, onto painting them!!!
Last night was I was bound and determined to finish the Gnome-inhabited bookshelf, and whalla! :D I just love how it turned out!!!
I plan on displaying my note cards, prints, and moleskins on this shelf at the festival. And, one they've all sold out ;), it will still be pretty!
I also got a steal of a deal on all of these gorgeous fabrics!!!! I've got a bunch of aprons already finished, but I'm going to see if I can whip these out, too, when I get back!!!
And, of course, a little bit of spray paint :)
I actually really like using spray paint!!! You can transform an object right before you eyes, like that awesome retro phone that I got at a garage sale for a dollar!!!
I just wanted to prove that my lack of blogging was actually due to very intense work! :D I'm hopeful that I'll have everything done by the festival, so we'll see!!!

Also, if you haven't "liked" me on facebook, click HERE!

Counting Down!

The Fisher's Freedom Festival is 2 1/2 weeks away!!!! That's a lot of time, right?! NO!!! We're going to the beach all next week!!!! YAY!!! If you've seen me, you know I need a little sun ;)

Anyways, I still have TONS to do! I'll be an apron-making machine the next few days because I just got a great deal on some gorgeous fabric!!! I also have to put finishing touches on a few other projects that are almost done!!!

Doesn't seem like much, right? WRONG!!! I have a 9 month old, remember?! Lol, that little guy is SO funny!!! He's a good helper, though. He talks to me while I work, we sing, and take breaks outside. He's cool :D

Anyways, if you don't hear much from me, I'll be drowning in a sea of fabric...or water ;)

Kandinsky-esqu

This weekend I attended the Woodruff Place garage sale with my friend, Amanda. It was like a bazillion degrees out (I hoped she wasn't too worried about me when my face turned a deep shade of pink/purple), but we had an amazing time, and each came home with our own treasured finds.

I am a big garage saler. I've always been amused by looking at other people's "stuff," and am amazed at how true it is that "one man's trash is another man's treasure!" The trick is to not go with anything in mind. Just be open to finding something that jumps out at you!!!

Recently, some of my best garage sale finds have been the people that I meet. A few months back, Mom and I met 2 lovely ladies and after talking for quite some time, we exchanged email addresses, and we've even kept in touch!!! We also met another woman in my neighborhood who, after her husband passed away, has felt God's still, quiet voice calling her to leave her life here and follow Him. She's not sure exactly where, but she's being obedient to His calling, and is following Him!!!! And then there was the sweet old man who, by his own admission had "memory problems," and wore a sign around his neck that said "Not for Sale!" LOL!!! He was a HOOT!!!!

In addition to these wonderful people, I met another heart treasure on Saturday. As we walked down the street, a tall group of shrubs slowly unveiled a lawn full of paintings. Gorgeous paintings, done in oil, and on cardboard!!! Cardboard of all things!!! The shapes were beautifully organic, the colors were smoothly blended, and my heart leapt inside my chest. I had to meet the artist!!!

A young girl came down from the house and told me about how the paintings were just experimental. She had joined with a pianist who played while she painted. Since they were just trying things out, they wanted to keep the cost cheap, so that is how she landed on the cardboard. I wanted to hug her!!! I explained to her how I used to teach Junior High, and that I had the students do this exact same experiment with colored pencils after we studied Wassily Kandinsky! We would study the lines, shapes, colors, and feelings of his paintings, what they could have represented, and then we just created while listening to music.

Oh, I can't tell you how much I enjoy meeting people like this. I should have bought one of those paintings. I know that now. I think my judgment was too impaired at the time by the extreme temperatures, but I would have loved to have had that art in my home simply for the story and the memory.

Car First Aid Kit Tutorial

My sister, Allison, came down for the week, and we decided to do a little craft project!!! I am so excited about this because it was SO fun and easy!!!

We wanted to make a cute little first aid kit to keep in the car for, well, mishaps that kids can have. You know :)
Isn't it cute?! Here's all you need:*6 plastic baggies
*fabric- I used 2 coordinating patterns. You could probably use a few old cloth napkins if you wanted!
*sheet of padding-I used cardboard in this tutorial, but after it's all said and done, I will be using the sheets of stuffing in the future :)
*button
*elastic

First, cut your stuffing about a quarter of an inch larger than your baggies (laid out 2 in a row=front and back). Next, cut your fabric about a half an inch larger than your stuffing:
Iron your fabrics with about a quarter-half an inch seam allowance:
Sew your button to the front of one end of your rectangle. Sew it about an inch away from the fold.
Now, place both fabrics with the WRONG side facing each other, and lay your sheet of stuffing in between like an Oreo :). Pin around the edge to hold everything together.
Next, cut a 2-2 1/2 inch strip of your elastic:
Loop it, and pin in between the two fabrics on the opposite end of the button.
Now, sew all along the edge.
And, ta-da! Isn't it beautiful?! Pretty easy, huh?!
Now for the baggies. I layed 3 of the baggies going one way, and three going the other way, and sewed right down the middle to hold them in:
Once your kit is finished, it's time to fill it!!! We bought a pre-packaged first aid kit with everything in it, and then added a few items of our own!
Everything fits perfectly!!!
Enjoy!!!

30 Days, Day 1

I decided to participate in the 30 Day Journal Challenge. Janel, over at Run with Scissors, is hosting this 2nd annual challenge for all who would like to journal!!! It's really very open, and she just gives us a prompt every day for the month of June, and we complete a page! I love the creative freedom that is involved in this since there are no specifics as to what type of journal you have to do.
Normally, I would do one of my artist's journals containing my mixed media style, but I really don't have time for that sort of thing right now. So, I rummaged through my studio and found this perfect little journal!!! It has 16 pages, so just enough for one page each day!!! YAY! I knew I'd use it some time! (I seriously think I've had this journal since college!...I might be a hoarder ;)
As you can read in the page above, I am basically doing this to work on my journaling skills. It's really been the most challenging part of my artist journals because I never know what to write! ...I know what you're thinking, "you?! Really?!" Yes, it's true! I guess if I just saw those books as another blog, I wouldn't have any problem! lol! Anyways, I just wanted to try something different!!!

Today's prompt: Create an introduction page. This can be an introduction of yourself or of your journal. This is kind of like the title page for your journal.

Without even knowing it, I had already completed this when I got the prompt!

If you're interested in participating, the button is on the left column of my blog! Now, on to day 2!