Watch them grow!

 My nephew, Pax, turned 1 at the beginning of the month! We were so excited to go to his party and watch him scarf down his cake and play with all of his toys!

Since Kendall and I share a love for adorable little robots, I knew the perfect design for Pax's growth chart!

 I had so much fun painting it, and knew Kendall would love having it hang in his room one day.  I must say, it's probably my most favorite growth chart so far!!!

Happy Birthday, Pax!  We love you so much, and may just steal you and keep you at our house!

Smash Book!!!

Happy Friday!!!  Although, in my world, all the days pretty much just run together, so everyday feels like the weekend :D  Lucky, I know :)

Anyways, I had to share this with you!!!  I entered a giveaway to win this today, and thought it was just one of the neatest things!  You know my love for journals, so of course I loved this!  It's called a Smash Book!!!

What is a Smash Book?!  Well, this is what they say:

The book comes in various themes, based on the color of the binding, in which the pages in side reflect it through gorgeous pages to get those creative juices flowing!  Awesome!!!  Blank white pages can be daunting...

And, it even comes with a pen/glue stick!  One side pen, one side glue stick!!!!  AMAZ!

Look at all of these neat pages to work on!!!!

So, you should really watch this video to see how it all works.  You'll want to buy one!!! You'll finally have a place to put all of those random "things and stuff" that you want to keep, but don't know what to do with.  Anyone else?...just me?!  mmmm-K!

They also have a great blog, which I'm sure I'll spend way too much time browsing through... :) with more videos, examples, and inspirations!!!

They have tons of additional accessories in their store, at beautifully cheap prices to make your Smash Book even cooler!!!!

Super neat, huh?!!!  Just had to share with my lovies!!!  Which one would you get?!  What would you put in it?!!!

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Also, if you haven't entered my GIVEAWAY, do it now!!!  Remember, a clutch AND a surprise!!! I know, I'm so kind ;)

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!

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!

Domino!

The Fisher's Freedom Festival is just a little over a month away!!! A MONTH!!! I'm going to admit something to you now. I was thinking that it wasn't until the middle of June. Then, while looking at my calendar today I had quite the wake up call!!!! (Don't judge, I think I have baby brain- where T man took many of my brain cells)

So, if you live in the area, mark your calendars for June 25th and 26th!!! Also, if you follow me on my facebook page, you may be able to win a prize at the festival! So be sure to do that! :D

Alright, on to the good stuff!
I just finished this huge batch of adorable Domino necklaces!!! The fronts are made of pieces of my collages, and the backs are the domino numbers!
Look at all those colors!
They're like candy!
2 necklaces in one! :D
Want one?! Come to the Fisher's Freedom Festival to my booth on June 25th or 26th!!! :D

Have I mentioned recently how much I love my readers?! I do! Thanks for being faithful! I know that many of you don't comment, but I know you're there. I try to keep it exciting for you to keep you coming back ;)

Happy Wednesday!

Gel Markers!!!

Ever since I was little, I loved school supplies!!! I soooo enjoyed getting to put my art box together for the first day of school, and oh, the excitement when we got to use it in class!!!

Since then, I have always found a way to sneak into the school supply isle on any given shopping excursion just to see all of the colored pens available, new markers, and any other supply that might enhance my life :)

So, it's no surprise that I adored my job as a junior high art teacher!!! Despite the fact that I was often mistaken for one of the kids, I enjoyed the projects that they created, and finding the next "cool" thing in the giant supply order book!!!

Then, I stumbled onto these:

If you have any junior high aged kids, or know any, you know that any type of cool pen or maker is a must in their life. My kids went crazy over these things, and now I know why!!!

They work amazing on black paper, but just regular paper as well!!! The quality of the mark changes as it drys on the page, giving it that real gel look. I love the thicker line, and how it flows SO much better than a small gel pen!

You don't have to be an artsy, crafty person to enjoy these pens! They can jazz up any note to a friend, drawing for your children, or just a little doodle time on the phone!!!!

You must try these!!! (Wal*Mart for like 3 bucks!!!) Do you have a favorite school supply?