31.1.13

Flashback

With freezing temps (windchill -35 to -40) here in SD I thought it would be fun to look at some warm weather photos. Here are a few I meant to get on the blog in 2012 but never got around to...
Enjoying the playhouse, and look my awesome play kitchen I had when I was little! :)
North Carolina sand dunes. Headed to the dune mountain on the far right.
David and K made it to the top.
I made it up too. :)
Awesome views and a great place for everyone to be a kid again.
We could have played in the sand all day... or week for that matter.
Gardens in Virginia ~ BEAUTIFUL!
Kaelyn actually posed for 2 minutes for me this year so I could get some
good Christmas photos for family! Hee, hee. She normally hates standing still for a picture.
I'll take anything I can get. :)
2012 definitely had its not so great moments but we made the best with what came our way and it turned out to be a pretty great year. We are very thankful for God's many blessings.

29.1.13

House Project ~ Bookcase Built-ins

Yay! We finally have bookcase built-ins! I have always wanted some in our home... they add such a welcoming, cozy feeling to a space, and my husband is pretty much a bookaholic. :) I was lucky that he left me a couple shelves to fill and Kaelyn got half of a shelf... but he did make her her own bookcase for her room quite awhile ago so it's okay. (You can see a glimpse of it in the nursery tour HERE. Her room has changed quite a bit and her bookcase definitely has a lot more books now.)
 
I really wanted our many stacks of books all over to be better organized. Well when David got the urge to build some bookcases over Christmas break I said it had to go from floor to ceiling... because really that is the best use of space. So glad he went with my idea!
 
So here is the only picture I could find that showed a glimpse of the old bookcase we had in the room before. It worked great but didn't hold near the amount of books we needed it to.
And here is the in progress photo showing what hubby designed and built for the space...
Several people wondered if we'd be able to fill much of it. Ha, ha. They had no idea!
 
Anyways, then it was my job to caulk and paint. Hubby was so excited to get his books on the shelves that he actually helped paint. It was almost killing him to wait a few days for the paint to cure before putting anything on the shelves. :)
Not much space left in this bookcase so maybe we'll have to make another one for our living room someday, right hun? :)

27.1.13

Painting & Planning

After a good little birthday break of visiting with friends and spending some time with family this weekend it is back to work on a couple commission projects and planning a soon to be five year olds birthday. She is soooo excited! :)

Hope you all had a great weekend and will have a good week as well!

23.1.13

House Project ~ Necklace Holder

December was filled with house projects... cleaning out, organizing and getting rooms to fit our family's needs best. Several years ago my husband routered out the word "love" onto a wooden board and I painted it white. I had the idea to put a photo on the right. Well I never got around to adding a photo and it was put in a closet for a long time. I know, shame on me! Well fast forward to last month...
I have always wanted to hang my necklaces. The top of our dresser was lined with them and there was no space left. I had several pictures saved on my desktop showing creative ways to make a necklace holder. I also had many more ideas floating around in my mind. Well when I was rearranging the corner in our master bedroom I knew I was going to push myself to finally get something made and hung so I would be able to stop moving my jewelry collection in order to dust the top of our dresser. Plus it was looking way too cluttered.
While working in the bedroom I was also rearranging the playroom and going through a few things in the playroom closet when I came across the "love" board once again. I held it a few minutes and bam, I knew exactly how to make it useful for my needs! I was so excited! All I needed was the help of handy hubby again to make my idea a reality. (I'm sure I could have handled the project myself but he's so much quicker and if I did it, I'm sure it wouldn't have looked as nice.)
My new dressing corner with my new, unique necklace holder. I now love this space!
It is a tiny master (we'll call it cozy) but it does have a pretty nice walk in closet for an old house so it fits our needs perfectly. Now there is a girly corner and an awesome jewelry space saver that is like a piece of art in itself. :)
 
Close-up view of love routered out.
I penciled in dots where I wanted nails and hubby put in pretty brass nails.
There is room to layer many more necklaces.
 
I'm a happy girl... I'm sure you couldn't tell. :)
Thanks hubby for all your work! You're the best!
 
If you want a necklace holder like this, I bet hubby would make you one.
You can contact him through Wisp Woods, or by emailing wispwoods@gmail.com
You can also browse through more of his beautiful woodworking on his site.
 

15.1.13

Stepping Out

 
"Put your weak hand in the mighty hand of God,
then step out into the dark with courage.
It will be far better for you than the light,
and safer than a familiar road." ~Marie Louise Haskins
 

11.1.13

Saddened by Copycats

First I apologize for the lack of posts lately. Blogging has been put on the bottom of my priority list lately... just not enough time. Some fun projects have been happening around our house lately, but more on that later. I didn't intend on having this my first post of the new year but I thought it needed to be shared.
Over the last year or so I've read several blogs where artists and designers were telling about their artwork or designs being stolen. At first I was thinking, oh they are so well known, they've sold thousands of products so it was bound to happen. I definitely felt bad for them and knew it was wrong of the person/people to take their idea without permission, recreate it and sell it. NO ONE should copy someone else's work and sell it!!! Well I don't consider myself as a well known artist or designer, but I recently found out that several shops had taken my designs, recreated them and were selling them as their own. First I was in shock, disbelief that not only one or two but several shops were using my designs that I had spent several hours creating. Sure my designs are simple to REcreate. Lots of artwork is easy to recreate, it's the initial idea, coming up with a layout that works, that is eye pleasing, in some of my designs fonts that work well together... the beginning process is not so easy! After I get the general idea I want (after doing many sketch-ups), I fine tune the design by kerning, paying special attention to white space, making the overall "look" as professional as possible. I like to think my 4 years of graphic design in college taught me a few things. I know it did. Problem is very few people see all the initial work put into designs or any kind of artwork. Many see the final piece and say they can make that and go on from there. Now if you are recreating the art/design for yourself to enjoy, I say go for it! It is a great way to save money. Enjoy the process of creating it and hang on to it, it could be a great keepsake. The WRONG thing to do is to take someone else's idea/design/art, recreate it and sell it as your own! This is stealing! What you can do is learn from the artist, get ideas, then add in YOUR OWN ideas to make it into your own artwork. Art/designs should not be recognizable to someone else's work. Remember that the originator put a lot of time and thought into their work and are most likely hoping their effort pays off.
These designs were made by me for my Enduring Arts shop and should not be seen other places. (Unless it is an off-line shop that is selling my work.)
Slightly tweaking the font or changing the color is not a big enough change to make it your own.
There are hundreds of ways to make sayings entirely unique by changing the layout of the words
and making big changes to fonts.
 
With so many pictures online, it seems that it is becoming harder and harder for people to think for themselves... to come up with their own ideas. I'm hoping imagination isn't something of the past.
 
[Thank you to the shops that have kindly removed the look alike designs from their shops.]