Meet Bella

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! The weather here was amazing! I can't believe just 2 weeks ago we had snow and ice and this last weekend we were in the 80's! Crazy S.D. weather!
Today isn't so nice... rainy, so rather then spending a few free moments outside I'm blogging. :)
Meet Kaelyn's new buddy, Bella! Isn't she adorable!?

Ballerina: Just for Fun by Jodi

Bedtime Prayer: Enduring Arts

My friend Jodi Spilde made her and she's adding more to her online shop along with some adorable giraffe's. You never know what this girl will create so keep an eye on her shop HERE.

These ballerina's are even cuter in person. The tutu and shoes come off so you could dress up the doll in different outfits. Too cute!

Productive Weekend

It wasn't exactly a fun, relaxing weekend but it was a good productive one. Besides the regular work on Friday I finally came up with the right colors for a baby boy's LOVE print...

{baby boy LOVE print}

Kaelyn picked out her favorite LOVE print in girly rainbow colors, see it HERE, so I figured I needed a boy version too. It sure took a lot of tweaking and test prints to get it just right.

Saturday was art group and I was able to finish up this commissioned cat drawing.

It was a fun little 5x7 graphite drawing.

The rest of Saturday was spent filling out paper work to see a new doctor. Never had to fill out so much information before. It felt like I was back in grade school taking a very long test. It seems to have been well worth it though. Will fill you in on that later and when I know more.

Sunday was the usual start with church, then some work and getting some of K's outgrown clothes ready for a big sale this weekend. Still have a long ways to go on them. It will be another crazy, busy week. :)

God's paintings through Akiane

Lately when I have a few moments of peace and quite before I go to bed I have been reading "A Shelter from the Storm" (it is a great daily devotional book) and "akiane". If you haven't heard about Akiane yet I strongly urge you to check her out and read her book. Believer or not, READ this book! It is truly fascinating! It really shows how we all have a special purpose in this life...

The book shares a glimpse of her life and how her art came about. It also has poetry she has written. What makes this story so amazing is she started creating amazing detailed images at only 4 years old! The book covers some of her work through age 11. The paintings I photographed here, including the one of "Father Forgive Them" that is on the cover, were done at age 9!!! Most of her work has an incredible meaning to go with it. The inspiration of her work comes from God, angels and heaven. How awesome is that?! God is seriously working through this girl. Would you have guessed that her parents were non-believers? The book tells how they had a change of heart.

Seriously, one of the best books... READ IT!

Find out more about Akiane on her website and facebook.

The beautiful wooden bookmark was made by my talented husband.

Thinner than a quarter! You can find similar ones for sale in his Wisp Woods shop.

***A big thank you to my mom for letting me borrow the Akiane book

before she even read it. So sweet! It will be going back to you soon. :)

Meet our new addition to the family!

One night about a week ago there was crying on our front doorstep. K and I went to check it out and here was a sweet teenage kitty. He was so happy to see us so we loved him up for a bit and gave him some food and sent him on his way. He had looked like he had been well cared for so figured he would go back home. He did return an hour later but after a few more pets we said goodbye again. Well the next night he was back and cold... it was snowing and not such a nice night. After we cuddled him for awhile I gave him to hubby to take outside. Hubby had already said he didn't want cats in his shop because he didn't want them to make a mess on his wood. It wasn't long after they went outside together and hubby said to come see his new shop cat. Ha, ha!

The shop cat loved hubby as much as he did us girls. His affection won us over so it looks like he'll be sticking around awhile. :) (And I have to add he's been a very well behaved and happy shop cat.)

K and shop cat play together like siblings, it is so funny to watch. Love it!

And if you are wondering why he didn't get to stay in our house, this is why...

This is Trigger. Hubby gave me this Himalayan/Persian fluff ball as a gift for my college graduation. You should have seen him when he was a kitten. Oh my goodness, adorable with two huge eyes and a puff of fur! :) He's my baby. He follows me around the house. Sometimes he will want attention from K but he rarely warms up to hubby which is funny. The two cats couldn't have a more different personality.

Winter Has Arrived

The weather has been very mild this year for where we are at in South Dakota. A storm finally hit us yesterday with rain, sleet and snow. This is what we woke up to...

hundreds of icicles. Ice was on everything and a good amount of snow is on the ground. It is amazing how the littlest details can hold so much ice without breaking off.

Definitely thankful for a warm cozy house and keeping electricity!

New LOVE Print

{Our story will always read LOVE}

I have so many posts I want to do but finding the time has been really hard. I figured I haven't posted any new designs for a while so thought I'd share this one that came about from a custom request. There are a few variations of it in the shop. I had fun painting the letters and splattering some paint. :)

Winter Themed Birthday Party

Kaelyn loves the snow and since she has a February birthday I thought it would be fun to have a winter themed party. Wouldn't you know that it happened to be the first year here in SD that we barely had any snow! So much for sledding and building snowmen outside. Ha, ha! Oh well Kaelyn was just thrilled to have people come visit her, sing Happy Birthday and eat cake! Here are a few shots of her fourth birthday celebration...

Buttercake made by Kaelyn, her grandma Shari and her mama. :) I had this cake idea in my head for a long time and I always thought it would be such a quick one to do. Well the cake was but cutting the letters and mittens out of felt and threading them onto the line of yarn took some time. The good thing was that K really liked it! And as far as the actual cake went, it disappeared that day. So I guess everyone liked it!

Some of the snowmen K enjoyed making with grandma the day before her party.

A nice shot thanks to aunt Amy for distracting her.

(Snowman table runner made by my great aunt Char.)

This is her usual silly self. Ha, ha!

Singing Happy Birthday.

And you can't have a winter themed party without the hot cocoa & marshmallows!

Thanks again to everyone who came to celebrate. Kaelyn said several times after everyone left that her favorite part was that her friends (aka family) came to visit her! :)

Kaelyn's Birthday Wish

The one thing Kaelyn really wanted to do for her birthday was to go to the Children's Museum. She would go there every day if she could. :) So since her birthday landed on a Wednesday, I decided to take the day off from work and take her, her grandma and great grandma. Daddy was able to join us at the museum for lunch.
They have good food there so you can really stay the entire morning and afternoon and not run anywhere else.

Her first stop was to climb into the clouds and she insisted I had to go with her. It was a tight fit but I made it. :)

The second floor had a new setup with interactive paintings by Marc Chagall. Very neat!

There is so much to do at the Children's Museum. A couple of my favorites are the pretend grocery store and cafe. I know I've said it before but if you have young kids and are near the Brookings SD area you must stop by.

Now onto the day before Miss K's party... She was so excited for visitors to come and have cake! So the day before we had a little kitchen party with grandma. I put them to work making snowmen.

Powdered donuts, frosting to make stuff stick, cut circus peanuts for the nose, mini chocolate chips for the eyes and mouth and then later added ear muffs by using m&m's and black frosting.

Kaelyn had lots of fun and stuck with it until they were all done. (Impressive as she usually doesn't sit still for long!) Then after that she helped make her birthday cake! I'll share how that turned out in the next post. :)

Happy Valentine's Day & a Winner!

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you are all able to spend time with one's you love today. It is fun to have a reason to do something a little extra special. :)

Kaelyn made the valentine she is holding in Sunday school! I was shocked! She has the most amazing Sunday school teacher who is always coming up with fun projects for the kids. The teacher also made cupcakes with pink frosting and sprinkles for all the kids to celebrate Kaelyn's birthday this last week! So sweet!

Anyway I thought the valentine was so adorable that I scanned it, put a yellow border on it and made some for near by family that we delivered today. It was a fun little outing.

And now for the winner of the art print giveaway...

Random.org chose

Jennifer from Studio JRU!

Congratulations!

Thank you so much to all that entered!!!

Last Chance to Enter!

Just a reminder, today is the last day to enter the giveaway for your choice of art print from my Enduring Arts shop (or possible print of one of my paintings seen on this blog). Several entries possible... go HERE for more details. Winner will be drawn on Valentine's Day! :)

Pasta

Our family really likes pasta but Kaelyn has never been fond of tomato sauce. She isn't like most kids... she'll skip the pizza and the regular spaghetti because of the sauce. She didn't even like it when she was in my tummy! Ha! The funny thing is she will eat fresh slices of tomato... so when you make pasta at our house you have to be a little creative. We rarely measure ingredients just throw in what we have available. If we really like something, we add more of it. In the pasta above I added olive oil, a bit of coconut oil (added to the pasta when it was warm so it melts), basil, oregano, garlic, pepper, pinches of fresh spinach, small chunks of tomato, small chunks of avocado, parmesan and flax seed. Look around your kitchen for a bit of a variation... lately we've been adding in pieces of crab. It is fun trying new things... and when it is healthy for you it is even better. :)

I'll share some birthday pictures with you this next week... Kaelyn had a great fourth birthday. Thank you to all those that made it extra special!
Remember to enter the art print giveaway HERE.

Busy Birthday Week Ahead

It is going to be a busy week, but a week that Kaelyn has been excited for for a long time. :) Tomorrow (Monday) we celebrate my dad's birthday, then on Wednesday it's K's b-day so she has a fun outing planned and then Saturday is her actual party with family. I can't believe my baby is already turning 4! Tear. She's happy though so that's all that matters. :)

{winter birthday invite designed by me}

Art Print GIVEAWAY!!!

Etsy... I am so thankful for you. To be able to create and then sell items world wide is a dream. So many doors have opened because of you. It still amazes me that from all the amazing artists/crafters there are, customers actually find my shop and like my work enough to buy it! (Thank you buyers!!!) I know God plays a big part in it and He will continue to amaze me.

I want to celebrate hitting 500 sales earlier this week and offer any one print out of my shop to one of my readers! And if you have been a reader for awhile and would prefer a print of one of my paintings you have seen on the blog, I could probably make that happen. :) I'm glad to have you guys stop by and read what's going on.

{Bicycle is a Simple Solution}

To win an art print of your choosing for your self, loved one, friend... leave a separate comment for each of the following (pick one or more for additional entries):

1. Tell me your favorite quote or Bible verse.

2. Follow this blog (on the right side). Already a follower?... just tell me that you are.

3. Tell me what print you would choose if you were the winner. Visit shop HERE.

4. Share this giveaway on twitter, facebook or on your blog. Leave a separate comment for each one you do.

Winner will be announced on Valentines Day! Good luck!

From the Little One's Desk

{by Kaelyn almost 4yrs old}

Often times when I'm working in the office Kaelyn is sitting at her little desk behind me drawing like crazy. Usually it is either pictures of me or her daddy. This is one of the first ones with ears and I LOVE it! She's really into writing the names of whatever she is drawing. Sometimes there are arms with fingers. She usually has so much fun drawing the fingers and toes she just can't stop after 5, and she usually asks, "Are there just 5 toes?" It makes me smile so I hope it does the same for you. :)

Clay it Again {favorite things}

Look what I got in the mail this week! A customized bracelet with my daughter's name! I LOVE it! And get this I won it from a giveaway going on at Christie Cottage. (Jacki hosts lots of fun giveaways on her blog.) After I won, the wonderful shop owner, Cindi from Clay it Again worked with me on customizing it. The original giveaway was for a customized necklace but I asked if she would consider making a bracelet and she agreed. :) I knew I wanted Kaelyn's name on it. In no time Cindi had the name done and emailed me a picture and asked some questions about what kind of bracelet/clasp I would like. First we thought Kaelyn would be wearing it but when Kaelyn saw pictures of it, she really liked it but said Mommy should wear her name! No need to push that idea. :) She is my little angel, sometimes naughty angel but she has blessed me in so many ways that this bracelet is a happy reminder of how lucky I am.

Poor babe got the stomach flu yesterday. :(

But she still had fun watching daddy photograph mommy wearing the new bracelet.

Cindi is one of the sweetest shop owners... so easy to work with. She went above and beyond what you would expect. Her customized jewelry would make the perfect gift for any age... use a person's name or even an inspiring word. Be sure to browse through her many handmade treasures at Clay it Again. She is also a talented oil painter! Check out her paintings at 12 Midnight Oils.

bracelet: Clay it Again Etsy

cardigan: Forever21

favorite t-shirt: Gnome Enterprises Etsy

jeans: ebay

diamond necklace: from hubby years ago :)