Sun rays...

I had to share this photo with you that I took last Saturday. I love the captured rays streaming over their heads. Kaelyn must be jabbering away and daddy is happily listening. Natural, beautiful and sweet. Saturday started off with an auction in the morning. I got an awesome deal on a chair, then in the afternoon we headed to Wing Fest where David ran in a 5K. There were lots of fun things set up for kids to do so Kaelyn played for quite awhile in a huge sandbox. We then watched David finish his race. He came in fourth place over all! I wish I was that good at running! We then ate lots of wings that came from area vendors. Was fun trying the different kinds. Kaelyn enjoyed the chicken mess too. We were then off to snap a few shots, like the one above and then out for a nice dinner. We shared an absolutely amazing bruschetta for starters. Kaelyn behaved so well while we were waiting for our food to come. I think she was excited to see what else she was going to get to eat. It was a wonderful family day.

Six Years... Really?!

It doesn't seem that 6 years ago from today I was walking down the aisle. Both David and I feel like its only been two. I feel like the luckiest girl. I have such a wonderful husband who continues to amaze me, who supports me in every way possible and is the greatest father to our little girl. I can't imagine life without him. Thank you so much for marrying me!

Modern Portrait Painting

Here is the finished modern painting for the newly married couple. This acrylic portrait measures 14"x11". I love the fact that no frame is needed. Simple color palette, but lots of pop! I always think its hard to pick wall decor but these would be the perfect answer. Now I just need some time to do my own family! I'll be doing one of Kaelyn for her room soon though! It's a must. If you want a custom portrait done feel free to email me at enduringarts@gmail.com. I can email you prices. It would make a great gift for weddings, any special occasion or just to brighten up your room with a picture that has a special meaning to you. I would love to have a set of 3 on my living room wall someday. Background color can be your choice.
I decided to go a step further and make the painting into a card and added their wedding date. I also laminated the top to give a sleek surface. It could be a creative and unique thank you card, or if it had been done well before the wedding it would have made some fun wedding invitations.

Paintings in Progress

Finally, a new post! Sorry its been so long. There are so many projects going on in this house; it's a crazy whirl wind. The second issue of Touched Creatively is going to be sent to the printer real soon! Very excited about that. Then I have been working on my Kaelyn inspired painting that I started quite some time ago. The only chance I get to work on it is at Open Studio art day that is once a month. I was planning on putting it in Kaelyn's room but I think it will look better in her bathroom once it gets remodeled since the colors in there will be pink and orange. Here is a picture of the painting so far so you get an idea... Need to change a few things and add a couple small butterflies. Will probably be a couple more months until I get time to finish it.
I'm also busy working on a modern style of portraits done with acrylic. I'm very excited about them! I have one planned for Kaelyn's room too that I can't wait to start but I have another commissioned drawing that is in line before I can start it. Anyways, I think these modern portraits will make great gifts and keepsakes. Here is a sneak peek of one in progress... I'll share a photo of the finished project before it ships off.My awesome husband has been working on building some bookcases we really needed, one for Kaelyn's room and one for all of his books and magazines. And hopefully, keeping my fingers crossed, he will be able to start installing kitchen cabinets towards the end of this week. We're still waiting for our counter top to come in but it would be nice to at least get a start.

i do love you design

Here is my latest playful design. After 21 layers this is what turned out. I had been so busy working on the second issue of Touched Creatively that I decided to take a break and play around with a bunch of papers. I'm kind of liking all the bright colors.

Baby Girl Announcement Design

Welcome baby Alexis! You are adorable! Designing your announcements was a wonderful break from my other projects. If you are looking to have any kind of announcement designed feel free to email me at enduringarts@gmail.com. Printable files are as low as $15 for a one side design. If you want your design printed on specialty papers and front and back just email me for more info. I would love to work with you!

Hope You had a Great Birthday!!!

My man's birthday was Friday! We were able to celebrate just the two of us for awhile on Thursday night... thanks to grandma for watching Kaelyn. :) It was a nice time away. Great Mexican supper and then to a movie! We haven't been to the theater for a year and a half!!! Not joking, we rarely go out. Friday we went to Sioux Falls to go on a family bike ride on their nice bike trail. I knew I should have brought the camera with us on our ride. It was BEAUTIFUL! We had to wait until after supper as it was the hottest day of the summer but that all worked out fine. The trail went along the river with different parks and bridges along the way. There was even one just for dogs, with a nice fenced in area for them to run. Kaelyn loved that and didn't want to leave. I definitely recommend the Sioux Falls bike trail to everyone. We started at the Sertoma Butterfly House and headed east. Here are a few shots of before and after the ride:



Note: the trail is much nicer than what you see in these photos and it is paved. Yes we all have sexy biking helmets! Ha, Ha! David is dangerous on a bike so we all wear one. He did almost crash into another biker due to losing focus on the path and watching the large tree trunks. I think I need to pull him in a cart!
Here's the birthday card I designed for him. I wrote some more about it on Touched Creatively's blog. I can't wait to use this technique again. Lots of ideas floating around in my head. Just hope other people like it too!

My Baby Loves...

Hats and balls. That's all Kaelyn needs to be happy. And I was happy to finally get some good pictures of this little girl who is always on the move! This is one of her new hats that arrived today. Thank you Debbie! You are so talented! You can see more of her adorable creations in her Etsy shop. Kaelyn loves going through her hat drawer. Even if they are too small she'll try and make it work! And she loves balls. If she's in a park she doesn't care about the slide and swings, she wants to play with the basketball! So I guess she will just be the cutest, most fashionable basketball player you will ever see!

Busy Weekend

Time never slows down for our family. I've been meaning to get more pictures posted on here with more updates, but I just haven't had enough time to get it done. David did very well at his last 10k race. He got 2nd place in his age group and 11th overall out of about 80! My pictures didn't turn out very good as I was chasing Kaelyn around at the finish line to keep her out of the way.

Kaelyn finally had another play date with her friend Sydney the weekend before last. They had lots of fun together. I've never seen Kaelyn behave so well for an entire day. Guess she needs to get together with Sydney more often! Here are the two girls together. Kaelyn is about a month and a half younger. Wasn't easy getting them to sit still for the camera next to each other.

Hopefully everyone had a great Fourth of July weekend. We were able to work on some remodeling projects. Saturday we spent time at the lake and took the boat out that David built. Kaelyn got her first ride and seemed to enjoy it! She was a little worried at first when she was put in but when David started rowing everything was okay!

David gave me a sewing machine on Thursday! So here starts a new adventure once again! It is exciting since I have seen so many things I would like to have and if I knew how to sew I could make them myself! So my sweet mom gave me my first lesson Sunday afternoon. (Well, I did sew one thing before when I was like 10...but since its been that long we'll just say it was like my first time all over again.) I realized it isn't as easy as it would seem to do small curves. She was amazed at how well I did. My goal is to conquer little curves on a sewing machine and make some super fun toys for kids. I have a few other fun ideas for adults, so we'll see what happens. I know many of you and even myself thought, I didn't need another thing to do!!! Ha, Ha! Might as well try as much as you can before you die, right!? Well, I need to get back to work. Have a great Monday!

Another Expecting Handmade Card

I didn't have much time to make this so I used most of the design from my previous expecting congratulations card. I was thinking these would make cute baby shower invitations by just changing the text on the front.

I just posted a feature on a New Zealand artist who makes baby and toddler clothing on Touched Creatively's blog. Check her out as well as the previous artists. There is some amazing handmade talent on there!

Kitty Drawing Featured on Treasury!

My blue eyed kitten drawing is featured on Etsy's Treasury. Thank you MaddKatter for sharing my work! She has adorable work herself. She is one of the talented artists that is featured in Touched Creatively's first issue. She also has a blog feature that can be found on Touched Creatively's blog. Check it out!

Expecting Congratulations Card

It is said that we can learn something from everyone we meet and every experience we have. Well when I did caricatures for the first time a few months ago for a high school prom, I didn't really think I would be doing anything like it again. Well, when I was trying to come up with a fun design for a card for my sister-in-law who is expecting in September and it just happened to come out like a caricature which I thought was fun! I first sketched her out in marker, scanned it in and digitally colored it in and typed in my own words as I usually can't find anything that says exactly what I want it to. I really enjoyed that it incorporates both fine art and graphic design. I'm still lost in finding the 'perfect' niche for me. Do I go towards fine art, graphic design, or both at the same time? I am open to suggestions!!! Anyone?

A Trip to the Woods

This is a little Norwegian guest house my Uncle

built. He makes everything including the doors!

I love the detail of the door shown along with

the cuteness of Kaelyn and David.

We had a great little family trip to the Minnesota woods this last weekend to visit my great uncle Ramon and aunt JoAnn. I had to show David where they live and his wood mill. With David's love of woodworking I knew he would love it. He couldn't believe how much one man could accomplish. Uncle Ramon has built so many things during his lifetime including the buildings on his property and the furniture inside! It really is amazing and undescribable. JoAnn amazes me on how she does the finishing on everything. It looks perfect! Here are just a few shots:

Ramon has a great supply of wood!!! We got the exciting jeep ride tour through the woods. You don't realize all the trees and hills until your actually experiencing the ride. I think David's ready to move in with my relatives! Ha!

Kaelyn loved playing on all the stairs in their house. What a workout that was for everyone keeping an eye on her!

Completed Pencil Drawing

Here's the final result. Hope they like it... we'll find out soon!

An Excited Little Girl...

Her room is in progress and she loves it!!! She runs around in circles in their and its hard to get her to leave most of the time. David stretched the carpet in. He's amazing like always! We only have a little trim that needs to be added and shelving in the closet. Their are nice closet doors and curtains that have been added since I took these photos, so I will eventually post another picture when I have the room decorated. I know I want a lot of pink and white accents but now I need time to put that all together. Everything comes down to time doesn't it? I really need the clock to stop and me to keep going!

Drawing in Progress

Three post in two days. Amazing! I figured I needed to share a little of whats been going on. I thought I would share my newest drawing in progress. Its about 3/4 of the way done. I'm used to drawing portraits but not so much landscapes and its my first attempt at water. Can't really see the waves in this photo. Still need to add more depth places. This needs to be totally finished by Thursday and I have to get some good prints of it by then too. Better get back to it.

Searching for Athlete Sponsorship!

My husband is a die hard athlete! It was 45 degrees and raining last Saturday morning and David still completed the triathlon in Watertown SD along with 25-30 other crazy athletes. Us normal people were wearing our sweaters and winter jackets! Really, all you athletes amaze me and you all should have won great awards for getting through that race! David was amazing to watch once again, and finished in 5th place overall! This was his first attempt at an open swim in the lake and he came out 7th in the swim portion! Not bad at all for being a beginner to swimming all together. Oh, the lighter picture above looks like the sun came out... it didn't! It rained the entire time and just got worse as the race went on. Kaelyn and I partied in the car while waiting for daddy's return. Before I go, I want to add, if anyone wants to sponsor my husband in his running, biking or triathlon adventures let us know!!! He has some darn expensive hobbies but I can't tell him he can't do it when he does so well! If he was able to practice more he would probably come in first.

Kaelyn's New Hat

Happy Monday! Had to share these pics of Kaelyn. She loves her new hat that I bought her the weekend before last. Kaelyn wants to thank her Aunt Amy for encouraging mom to buy it. She likes to wear it with pretty much every outfit including her pjs! Too cute!

Although you wouldn't tell from the pictures above, these were just taken in JUNE! What happened to the warm weather??? I've been looking forward to the heat for so many months and I think it forgot it was supposed to come and stay awhile!

Painting, Drawing and More Updates

Behind the adorable glove puppy made by Jodi Spilde there is a small sneak peek of my newest painting that is still in progress. I can't wait to get back to working on it. This one was inspired by my little girl, Kaelyn. I finally am getting some bright colors in my work! She sure loves them too. I had to put it on hold for a while due to finishing up the first issue of Touched Creatively and its website. Now I am busy working on a portrait drawing that needs to be completed within the next week and a half. It has been awhile since I have done one.

We had a busy Saturday. David did a bike time trial race around Lake Kampeska in Watertown. He did AWESOME!! He won first in his age group and second overall! If he was able to train all the time he could definitely be the next Lance Armstrong. I was disappointed that I forgot my camera! It was too early for me to remember things. I'm not used to getting up at 5:30am! Hopefully I'll remember at the next event. David will be in another triathlon this next Saturday. It will be his first attempt at an open swim. Glad its not me, I would probably make it a 5 mile swim route and then drown from exhaustion!

Oh, and Jodi Spilde has more glove puppies for sale. Check out her blog if your interested. She also has many more amazing creations like handbags, watercolors and more for sale. Check it out!

Printed Issue has Arrived!

The first issue of Touched Creatively is now available in printed form or a download. Be sure to check it out at http://www.touchedcreatively.com/ . Let me know what you think about it. I'm always open to suggestions. Also feel free to pass the information on to other artists. Everyone is welcome to submit their handmade work. I would be glad to feature them in the magazine or/and the blog. Visit the website for more details. Have a great weekend!

Check out Touched Creatively!!!

Touched Creatively's website is complete and its first magazine (above) will be coming soon! If you want to see some amazing talents and find some great gift ideas or just be inspired by others be sure to follow the blog. Anyone is welcome to leave comments and offer their encouragement to the artists. We all love comments!!!

Also if your an artist and would like more exposure for your handmade creations, submit some photos of your work with a meaning behind the end product or the process and I would be glad to share it with others! Just email this information to touchedcreatively@gmail.com . Thanks!

Featured!

It was fun to see that Jess Gonacha featured my painting, "Seeking Your Path" on Pecannoot on Tuesday. So glad my words can touch others too. Yeah, I'm a little late getting it on my blog. We still have a sick household. Kaelyn is even worse and the medicine we got today makes everything come up! Icky! Not a good weight gaining week for her. She's already at the really low end for her age group so praying she gets better real soon. Hoping David feels much better in the morning too! Hopefully we can get some much needed sleep now.

Family is Everything!

I hope all you mothers had a wonderful day on Sunday! I feel so blessed to have the family I do. I had a great day! I didn't work for once which was so nice. Well, I suppose some people would call what I did working but overall it was relaxing for me. Sunday began with the perfect mother's day gift. The photo above shows it. My husband baked the imprint of Kaelyn's hand into a glass heart. We had similar glass hearts on the tables at our wedding reception almost 6 years ago! Then he wrote her name and date in it. It was the sweetest most meaningful gift I could have ever hoped for. Then the day went on with the usual outing to church, then out to eat with my family and relatives... such great food at our little town's cafe, and then my husband and I worked on painting Kaelyn's room. We painted white on the ceiling, the trim, windows, doors and the entire closet. Then we had to wait for it to dry so I headed to my grandma's house to visit more with my relatives that came from Sioux Falls. I'm so glad my Texas cousins moved back to South Dakota!!! I love being able to see them more often! Whenever my family gets together with my cousins and aunt, you just know your going to have a good time and do some good belly laughing! Being able to all get together at my grandma's house is priceless too. You would never know her age by how she acts. She's incredible! After a quick supper there and everyone headed home, David watched Kaelyn so I could finish painting her room! I was so excited to get color on her wall! I describe the color as a pastel lime green. It really makes the white trim pop. It gives such a freshness to the room. Now I can't wait to get carpet in there and decorate! That may take awhile but at least we're getting real close.

This was one of the pictures I framed and gave to my mom for Mother's Day. Its our four generation picture that was taken quite awhile ago. I gave one to my grandma right away and totally forgot about giving my mom one until a few weeks ago. Sorry mom. You know how crazy things get in my household! Love you!

I hope every one's week is starting better than ours. Kaelyn has been under the weather. Her temp kept spiking last night so no one in our house got much sleep. She seemed to have a little more energy this afternoon so hopefully tomorrow she'll be back to her usual self. I hate to see little one's feel so miserable and you can't fix it! Take Care!

Sweet Treasure

Sometimes people's "junk" can be another person's treasure. This is how I got this lovely mini pouch. I love it! I have no idea who made it, where it came from, but it brightens my mood when I look at it. The photo doesn't do it justice. The colors and textures are absolutely amazing and the tiny little details...oh my! My mom and I spotted it at the same exact time and both dove for it. It wasn't priced so I asked...and boy, I'll just say I got one fantastic deal! I love handmade! (Thanks mom for letting me get it!)
This has been another crazy week with a bunch of odd jobs thrown into the mix. From photo editing, to calligraphy to special printing projects, and then of course a bunch of magazine layout designs. The magazine is coming together and I'm so excited!!!
Open Art Studio Day is tomorrow! Everyone is welcome to join in the fun and work on their own artsy projects. Its all the same information from the previous open art studio day post...
same location, time, and bring a dish to pass for lunch.
Have a great weekend everyone!

Triathlon Sunday

The day finally came for David to attempt his very first triathlon! Although the day was pretty icky, with rain and cold, and the transitioning between events didn't go quite as smoothly as David would have liked, he did AWESOME!!! Keep in mind he just started swimming a couple months ago for the first time. He had a couple friends coaching him in the mornings before work and boy did it pay off. He got 9th out of 95! Way to go hun! Your amazing!!!...in so many ways. Your one of the most determined individuals I know. Your always pushing outside the box and learning new things along the way! Your such an inspiration to me and I'm so thankful to have you in my life! I love you a ton. Congrats!!

While daddy was out on his bike ride, Kaelyn was busy flirting. Oh my! At least he seemed like a sweetheart and was the same age. Ha,ha!

Touched Creatively Coming Soon and Updates!

Wow! Have I been busy! Sorry to those who have been checking my blog and haven't seen an update for awhile. The last couple of days I spent some much needed time with family, which was a lot of fun. Now that I'm back home, I'm overloaded with work. Of course I bring a lot of it on myself! That's what us artists do. Our brains never turn off. So that brings me to tell you about my new adventure. My husband and I are always bouncing off ideas with one another and due to that I am starting a magazine. David sparked this idea on April 1st. In one day I had the name of the magazine, Touched Creatively, with all the ideas of what I wanted it to include. Several artists from across the U.S. will be featured and I only have a couple more to hear back from and I will have a full issue! Very exciting! I can't wait to share these amazing talents with you! So, not only do I have to design the magazine, I have to be the editor, design and launch a website, and promote it as much as I can. There is so much information I want to share but you'll just have to wait until the website launches by mid-May and the first published issues will be up for purchase hopefully by the end of May...keeping my fingers crossed(and praying!) that everything goes smoothly! One thing I will share with you now is the logo. (colors will vary)

We'll be watching David do his first triathlon on Sunday. Will be exciting! Have a great weekend!

Featured on Pecannoot!

Talented Artist, Jess Gonacha, featured my "Inner Strength" acrylic painting on Pecannoot today. She is a sweetheart who has a fun blog idea involving art showing abundance. She also has such a creative imagination for her own paintings and design work. Here is one of my favorite pieces she has done. Your awesome Jess! Check out her etsy shop or website to see more.

the bird lady by Jess Gonacha

Weekend Full of Family and Food

Happy Easter! The busy weekend is over. My tummy is still over flowing with all the goodness I ate Saturday and Sunday. We definitely weren't hard up for food with the three family Easters we attended. There were lots of Easter baskets, eggs, food and chatting. Kaelyn was sure entertaining this Easter and enjoyed many firsts like going on an Easter egg hunt and dyeing eggs. You would have thought it was Christmas with all the goodies she got from her relatives! Can't imagine what it will be like next year! Here are a few shots of the fun...

Friday, I spent almost all day in the kitchen making food for the weekend festivities. Thought a fruit pizza would be good for the Saturday brunch. A bunch of good fruit always looks so refreshing. Then there is Kaelyn on her first egg hunt, but it took her awhile to get the hang of it as she just wanted to play with grandma's cat!!! She had lots of fun dyeing eggs and liked being able to throw the egg into the colors!

Then a photo of one of the most memorable parts of this Easter was the exciting news Kaelyn shared with an egg she had received earlier in the week from England. She's having a new cousin in September!!! We are all excited to meet the little one!

And we definitely can't forget to thank the Lord for making all this possible. We are so very blessed!

New Painting "Seeking Your Path"

Here's my newest acrylic painting I completed early this last week. I was struggling with the colors because every time I look at anothers artist's work with bright colors it makes me want to go brighter, but after three tries I ended up back to my earthy color palette. I thought maybe it was just my style but when I painted at the open studio yesterday I did come out with a brighter painting...its not finished yet. (that one is going in the direction of being a kid painting...Kaelyn loved the colors) Anyway, I guess these colors just fit my theme the best, and was just meant to work out the way it did. I titled it "Seeking Your Path" and it was inspired by Ralph Waldo Emerson's quote, "Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." We need to be inspired to make our own path in life and not just be a follower. Sometimes it takes a lot of encouragement and faith to follow our heart and dreams, but life goes by so quickly so why not take the chance and leave our own trail!? No matter what happens you will learn something new and you won't have to regret not trying it in the future. Hope you enjoy it. Prints are available in my etsy shop if your interested.

Open Studio Art Day!

If you live around the Lake Preston, SD area and love doing art(painting, drawing, collage) or even if you've always wanted to try it, bring your own supplies and meet at the Lake Preston Community Room this Saturday. You can work on a project from 10:00am to 3:00pm. If you're unable to spend the whole day, come when you can. Another open studio will be held on May 2. So mark your calendars! Also this time a potluck will be held over the noon hour, so bring a dish to share.

This event is hosted by the Prairie Lakes Area Arts Council.

The cute spring graphic above is from house of three.