Photo Book Revisited!

Some of you have wondered what happened to Kaelyn's first year photo book. I was finishing up the pages at night when we were on our vacation and when we got home soon after my computer was hacked so I lost quite a bit of my work on it. That made me lose all ambition for completing it for awhile... until I received an email from Blurb saying if I got it published before the end of August I would save $10. Well, that was enough to get me in gear again and I'm glad, because it is now finished and I finally have a few pictures of it to share with you. They don't show the details all that well, but I didn't want to make you wait any longer. So here it is... 110 pages, 7 inches by 7 inches, wrap around hard cover...

I used a variety of patterned papers to break up the abundance of photos and the other page I used as a journal... things about the pregnancy, after she was born and major events in her life... events I thought she would enjoy reading when she was older.

Kaelyn's definitely enjoying looking at the pictures!

All of the photos in the book except maybe 5 were taken with my Nikon 8700. Nothing overly fancy but does the job well and it takes little movie clips which are fun.

Here Kaelyn's looking at 2 photos taken by her aunt Amy.

For the back I scanned in K's footprints that were done at the hospital. It says [first footprints] so tiny yet already leaving large impressions.

I am very happy to be done with the book! It took several late nights and there were times I couldn't picture an end in sight, but I'm glad I pushed through it.

If you are thinking of making a book I suggest signing up with the company early on so you can get in on a good offer/discount. Make sure the photos you use are high quality, you can raise the dpi so they won't look pixelated if you enlarge them.

I upgraded with the premium paper from Blurb and I'm glad I did. That way when Kaelyn looks at it, it won't be easily damaged. The cover is also very durable so I'm very happy with that. The printing is a bit grainier than I would like. You can see it around letters and some of the pictures, but I'm very picky from making my own art prints. So overall, I'm a happy customer and will probably make another book using Blurb.

If you have any questions about making the book that I may have missed answering please let me know.

Rainy Day

It's a rainy, grey day here today and it made me think of this photo I took on the way back home from our vacation. Never did I think I would have hubby stop the car just a few miles from our house so I could get out and take a photo of our every day surroundings. The picture lost a little of its vividness when uploading and the rays are a little harder to see as well, but you get an idea of the amazing view we saw. If we would have stopped the car a few minutes sooner we would have captured intense white and turquoise rays. This natural beauty of wide open fields is what I love about South Dakota. I very much enjoy the peaceful surroundings... even if it's a rainy day. Each state has its own little magic... each one is special. I just wish it didn't have to get quite so cold here in the fall and winter.

What do you love about the state you live in?

This Weeks Creative Space

The last couple days I've been working on something completely out of the ordinary for me. I've always wanted to sew an outfit for Kaelyn but I am not a sewer. If you've read this blog for awhile you may remember me making curtains for our house, and that pretty much has been the extent of my sewing. When I saw a DIY kit for a swing top from littlefishbigpond that was on clearance about six months ago, I jumped on it and figured I could do that! The posting said Beginners could do it... ha! It really should have said you need a very good understanding of sewing to make it, because the directions left out a lot on what "beginners" need to know. The DIY kits are awesome, especially for those who know how to sew well. I just needed more help so thank goodness for my mom. She came and helped me along in the process of the top.

Then funny me, I had to make pants to go along with the cute shirt. Once I get the basic knowledge of something I don't set any limits. So without a real pattern I'm making some ruffle jeans to go along, and I'm hoping they turn out and fit! I must admit, this jean material is quite a bit harder to work with and of course I don't do anything the simple way... probably cuz I don't know how. Ha! Oh well, its been a fun new experience and I think the outfit may make some pretty cute pictures when its all done... keeping my fingers crossed anyway.

So I need to hurry up and get these pants done today so our kitchen table can be used for eating and Kaelyn's crafts again. I'll be sure to share a finished picture of the outfit with you all sometime soon... or when we get a good photo of Kaelyn modeling it. :)

This post is linked to Studio JRU. Check out Jennifer's blog and be connected to many more creative spaces. Have a fantastic weekend!

Kitchen Before & After

Our kitchen renovation isn't completely finished but I thought I'd share a quick before and after photo. Several things bothered me about the old blue cabinets. The upper ones didn't match the lower ones, a good number of them didn't like to shut properly, and the inside wasn't in all that good of shape. And the floor... "yuck!" that sums up what I think of them. As soon as we moved in we put a new fridge and dishwasher in. White appliances went better with our old house and we kept the white gas stove that was here. The fridge was too tall to fit so we had to knock out the cabinets above it right away which showed a nasty pink/salmon color behind them (reason for my big painting trying to cover it up).

I hand textured and painted the walls, made the curtains, and handy hubby custom made the beautiful cabinets out of ash. Now this space feels so much cozier and I enjoy spending time in it.

Yes, so much better don't you think? I still can't believe it's my kitchen.

Laid Back Labor Day Weekend

Full speed ahead... but making sure I was coming too. :)

K and I had fun in the park with another family while hubby was putting on lots of miles on his new bicycle. Overall, it was a good, quiet weekend. Hoping you all had a good weekend too!

In the Studio

This week I've been busy designing new digital typography prints. I've had the idea to do a Jesus Loves Me piece for quite some time since its one of my daughters favorite songs and I think its such a great reminder to have around the house/in her bedroom. One night when I was trying to sleep but couldn't the rays idea popped into me head. Maybe God was helping me out with the design. :) I'm really picky about getting the colors and design just so, so it takes me a good amount of time and test prints.

Here's my little printing space in my studio.

{Radiating Love JESUS LOVES ME Art Print}

This is the first of my new designs that's available in my shop. Many more color options are on the way. A different Jesus Loves Me design will also be coming soon.

Outdoors

Here are a few photos of our recent outdoor activities...

When the cement is covered in colors in front of our house, you know it was a beautiful day.

I was finally able to work in my garden again. (Mosquitoes have been dreadful this year!) Although I've had gardens before, this year was the first time I grew potatoes. Lets say I wasn't very lucky at digging them out. I accidentally chopped a good number in half. Oops! Not a good guesser on where I thought they should be.

While I was digging in the garden, hubby and K were doing a little work themselves...

Kaelyn loved scrubbing daddy's pickup! Such a good helper.

This was from David's most recent 5K race. He did amazing! He was so close to snagging first place! Can't imagine... it was 90 degrees and I don't think they ran in any shade. Talk about determination.

I'm going to miss this nice warm weather!

Dream Spirit ~ New Painting

First of all I want to share how this mixed media painting came about because honestly it wouldn't be a subject matter I would normally be drawn to. Once a month I get together with a group of artists from around the surrounding area for a studio day. We all work in our preferred medium with subjects of our choice. It's a fun time to see what everyone is working on and to be surrounded by other artists, who lets say "get you". At one of the studio days it was brought up about doing a painting challenge, where everyone would bring in a photograph and we would all do our own interpretation of it in our medium of choice. Everyone was in agreement that this would definitely be fun to try and to see everyone's different ideas when viewing the same photo. This is the first painting I've finished for the challenge. The original photo was black and white and had a couple tipis, with a Native American and a horse on the edge. I only used one of the elements (the tipi) and came up with the deer after doing some research. Remember, I like to have special meanings with my work. ;)

So here it is...

Now for the meaning... you may wonder why I have a deer jumping over the tipi. Well if you remember reading about my last mixed media piece HERE, I used the circles as my thought... same goes for this one. The deer actually stands for the dream. Through my research I discovered that Native Americans culture regards dreams with great respect. Dreams were seen as a way to obtain sacred wisdom and guidance for life. Dream spirits were believed to watch over dreamers and provide assistance... the white deer being one of these spirits. Deer of course were very beneficial to tribes in providing food, clothing and materials for tools, but they also served as a dream spirit that would help guide the dreamer to a destination or action.

So the deer is very powerful in what it stands for.
I used an old map to make the tipi. It's amazing to think how simply they lived, their home was a simple tipi that could be moved in a moments notice, they were not wasteful and did not have lots of "extras"... so far from what it is like today! (And we usually think simplifying is so difficult!)

I am so glad to be a part of the painting challenge... to have painted something with such an important meaning that I wouldn't have done otherwise. I'm thankful for everything I have but looking at this reminds me what the most important things are to me, my family and and what I believe in.

On another note, when I was working on getting a good print of the mixed media painting, I couldn't help but play around with different color options. I really like how this brown one came out... so earthy. The original is a lot brighter, maybe more "alive" looking... which one do you prefer?

Once again, the original has lots of texture but it is hard to see in these small pictures and on the computer screen.

A Peek into my Studio

Happy Friday! Jennifer from Studio JRU has started a Friday link party where you can get a glimpse into other peoples creative spaces. This week I'm joining in the fun. Here are a few shots from my work space throughout the week... working on my second thought provoking mixed media painting.

I admit, I rarely clean my palette. I just keep loading the paint, and I like it that way. It's like a little painting with its own story.

I like texture!

Yeah, I don't clean my water jar either. I do rinse it out but there is always dried paint on the sides. I like to be surrounded by splashes of color so no need to be too tidy in my creative space. :)

In the background you will see a pantone color book. Absolutely ♥ it!!! Its an old one but that is fine with me. Hubby actually picked it up for free! Can't beat that and I use it all the time. It's not only helpful for printing colors, but for coming up with unique colors for paintings or even for wall color ideas in our home. (We actually just picked a color out of it for painting the outside of our house with!) So if you come by one, I suggest picking it up.

I hope you enjoyed the peek into my creative space. I will share lots more about this mixed media painting you see in the photos next week.

Now stop on over at Studio JRU to check out Jennifer's studio and many other creative souls spaces as well! If you would like to join in click HERE for more info!

Beauty Comma

{from my garden earlier this summer}

I hope you are all having a lovely week. I wanted to share another beautiful blog I have recently come across called Beauty Comma. This blog is filled with gorgeous [really they are amazing!] photographs from various places around the web. You may also be interested in visiting Beauty Comma's journal where the blogger records her own beautiful photos. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

A Wonderful Seven

Today I have been married to a wonderful man for seven years. SEVEN! Wow! Those years sure flew by but when you look at all we've done we have accomplished a lot in that time. We're almost done renovating our second home. After five years we had a beautiful baby girl. (We, okay, I, had a huge list of things I had to do before kids. Lets say he got sick of my list.) The last two and a half years with our daughter have been amazing! We have grown up so much and have learned a deeper form of love after our daughter arrived. We've also recently found our creative passions... his woodworking, mine painting. We've both started businesses with those passions and we're so thrilled with the results. So yes, we have had an amazing seven years!

I looked at a few wedding photos so thought you might like to see...

♥

So seven years later...

we're very happy and thankful for all that God has blessed us with!

New Prayer Colors

{Christian Art Print Choice of Red and Coral}

I'm thrilled that my prayer prints have become quite a hit. It all started because of a prayer I grew up with and I wanted a similar saying for my daughters room. She says her prayer every night before going to bed... she doesn't forget. It is so sweet and I can't help but think that God is smiling or maybe even chuckling when He hears her. (I'm sure she makes Him smile many times a day but the prayer is just extra touching.) Anyways, back on track, I've been so lucky and happy to create custom prayer sayings and colors for people lately. The one above is the newest and I honestly wouldn't have thought about putting coral and red together. But I LOVE how it turned out. The listing has a couple more options using the color combination and it is now available for anyone in the shop.

Also my new mixed media print of "Searching" is in the shop if you haven't already noticed. More exciting news, I think I finished my second mixed media painting yesterday... I'm still debating if it needs something else added or not. So happy to be getting more projects done!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Coming Along

Here are a couple shots of us working on our biggest project of the week... the kitchen remodel! It has been a long remodeling process but it is coming along. I'll go into more depth another time when I show the rooms before and after pics. Don't let the old blue cabinet in the photo be deceiving. It's rather photogenic... but its not lovely in person. The inside is even worse, and when you live with a woodworker, well you HAVE to have wooden cabinets, right!? So hubby made gorgeous ash cabinets. His woodworking skills are outstanding!

Hope you are all having a great week!

A Crazy Busy Life

Yes busy is good but sometimes a breather would be nice! Ha, ha. Last week K and I were gone somewhere almost everyday and when we were home I was busy working on custom jobs. Then my husband also had 4 custom woodworking orders come in. [Woodworking is his side job... so that means seeing even less of him, which we didn't see much of him before cuz he was working on building projects for our house.] Anyway, this week looks like I'll at least be around home but busy with house projects... which is very exciting, but a lot of work at the same time. Kaelyn's still a busy bee like always and is enjoying pushing all of mommy's buttons lately. I'm wishing I could up my dose of medication to raise my T levels, but I have to wait another 3 weeks for my doctor to do it. Ugggh! It's horrible when your energy level just crashes when you have so much to do and you have to muster up all the energy you have just to stand up! I'm thankful though I have half a day where I feel pretty normal. It could be much worse!

...so if you don't hear from me for a while this may explain a little of whats going on. It's crazy, it's busy, but it's good too. :)

Happy Monday!

You Can!

Have to ♥ this:

Image from the awesome blog, The Bedlam of Beefy. Check it out if you haven't already. Hope your having a fantastic weekend!

Searching

"Searching" is my newest mixed media piece. Yes it is totally different from what I normally do. It's modern but oh so meaningful. And I have so many more ideas that go along with this one. So first of all I'll explain a bit about its meaning. My mind never seems to relax. You could say its pretty hyper and thoughts/ideas are always jumping around. Sometimes it about drives me crazy. There are so many creating ideas I start but never finish because I'm just not happy with them. They either don't go in the direction I had in mind or it just doesn't have the meaning... and to get my heart out there through my work is important to me. So with this idea its like my mind was finally able to explode, and oh what a good feeling it was. I first cut out individual circles out of paper. I first thought of using a paper punch but quickly vetoed that idea as I want meaning, and the most meaningful things in my life are the unique items that have a story of their own. Just like you and me, no two are a like. So for this piece the circles represent my thought and the bird is the subject that represents the viewer of the piece. From the title you get the main idea of what it is about I'm sure. We are all searching for something, whether it's the perfect job that fits us, a home, a person to share the rest of our lives with... what ever it may be that is what the red circle stands for. Although our journey may require us to go all over to find it, the perfect fit for us is there. Hopefully we won't allow ourselves to settle before we get to the red dot!

"Searching" was done on 12"x12" hard board and consists of acrylic paint, paper and a bit of charcoal. The background has a lovely white texture but is hard to see in this picture. Prints and the original will be available soon in my etsy shop. Off to work on my next piece!

Dear Computer Hacker,

So this will explain a little of what's been going on for me and why you haven't heard from me in a while, also the reason for no picture...

Dear Computer Hacker,

I applaud you for your brilliance! Really, you thought of everything. Your pop-up that looked like it was coming from my computer saying that a virus was detected [don't ever click CLEAR people!!!] to the whole security tool pop-up with a totally realistic logo was just perfect. But when the pop-up came asking for a credit card number for security for a month or year... well that's when it all fell apart, and well by that time you had already infected my computer and had used your mastermind so it wouldn't be working correctly any time soon. Although I am super impressed by your brilliance, I wonder why you don't make a legitimate living doing a job where you can stand tall and be proud of what you do? You could do anything... be the next Bill Gates! Instead you are stealing and messing with people's properties and valuable time. Sad! Someday you will be judged, and boy I wouldn't want all those negative things hanging over my head! So if there are any computer hackers reading this, I strongly urge you to clean up your act and do some good in this world. I know you are fully capable!

So anyway my desktop is nice and clean now. Funny because I've had a feeling for a while that something was going to happen. I thought it might just crash because I had too many huge files and pictures on my desktop. It had been acting kind of funny so I wasn't surprised that a virus was detected, ha, but then everything got much worse and my poor husband had to spend hours and hours fixing it and putting what he could back on. Just another reason why I love him so much! He got all my design programs up and working just in time for some custom jobs and an international order. Bless his heart!

I do have lots to share but still working on getting my computer organized and seeing what I have and don't have. Thank goodness most of my things were saved before we went on vacation. So hopefully you all can learn a little from my mistake. Save all your work... on a back up hard drive, don't put any important information on your desktop, and never click on anything you are slightly unsure about. This wasn't a little scam that's been happening so frequently through email so I wanted to warn you all.

Natural Beauty

I love the outdoors. The beauty, the details, the relaxing atmosphere... it's the perfect place to clear my mind. And sometimes I just have to get a photograph to remind me of the beautiful place that surrounds us. With a quick scan we may entirely miss these places that seem almost magical, but when we take the time to really look, oh there is so much to take in and enjoy!

I'm busy right now coming up with new ideas for paintings. I'm so excited. Scared too of course that the idea won't turn out like so many others I have tried. But I have to, need to keep pushing forward. I have a good feeling that I'm getting there. We can't succeed if we don't try. I'm determined to follow my heart.


How long did it take you to discover your niche? Was it something you knew right away or are you still searching to find that style that is entirely you?

Started with a Bang!

Yes, our last weekend started off with a bang, both emotionally and literally. First off Friday, my father-in-law had a mild heart attack. Luckily as soon as he started having chest pains he headed to the hospital. Thank God he was there when it happened and was able to be taken care of immediately. He is now doing well but will be having another surgery soon.

The original plan for the weekend was to take in some of our town's festivities. There was an all school reunion, parade, games, suppers and lunches, a concert and a few bands playing for the street dance. They even had fireworks which we were able to see Friday night when we arrived home. We did make it downtown Saturday for lunch and to see the parade before heading back to the hospital. It was nice spending time with family... although I think my hubby's side seriously needs to find a new form of entertainment. Seems like the family get togethers in the hospital has been much too frequent... but thankful they all have been happy endings.

Monday I had more blood work done. Kaelyn said it's HER turn to see the doctor! Guess she and I are both sick of it always being my turn! :) Anyway, I did get a call this morning that the specialist who I see next week already looked at my results and wanted me put on medication immediately cuz my T levels had gone way too far the other direction. Goodness! So I still see the specialist next week and probably go through more testing. One of these days I should be good to go. I have faith! At least I've gotten used to giving blood now. Never thought that would happen. Ha!

New Listing + Recipe

Two new listings are in the shop! One is for an 8x10 typography print just like the one pictured above and the other is just a larger 13x19 version. You can check them out for more detailed information if you're interested.


The quote above is quite fitting for me. I LOVE chocolate! Some of you were wondering about the frosting I used on hubby's birthday cake so I will share that along with the chocolate cake... cuz it's just the BEST chocolate cake I have ever had. The recipe came from my mother-in-law. Hope she doesn't mind me sharing it! :)

Lazy Crazy Cake & Frosting
ingredients:
3c flour
2c sugar
1t salt
2t soda
1/3c cocoa
2T apple cider vinegar
1t vanilla
3/4c oil
2c water


Bake at 350 for 20-25min. (It actually takes about 35 min in my oven... so just keep checking on it so it doesn't get over done.)


Now for the 7 minute white frosting
ingredients:
2 egg whites
1 1/2c sugar
1/3 c cold water
1/2t cream of tarter
dash salt
1t vanilla


Stir in double boiler. Beat mixture until it stands in peaks. (use a hand mixer) Add vanilla.
Spread on cake and eat it up!

*Just a note, if you don't eat up the white frosting fairly soon within a couple days it will start to get a little crunchy and I'm not at all for crunch in my foods. Yeah, I'm kinda funny. So if I just make this cake for my little family I usually opt for a fudge frosting... and that is sooo good too!
Here's that recipe:

Fudge Frosting
ingredients:
1 1/2c sugar
6T butter
6T milk
6oz chocolate chips


Boil sugar, butter and milk one minute. Add choc. chips, stir until melted.

If you make the recipe into cupcakes, its going to be real hard to eat just one! Enjoy!

Birthday Weekend

Here are a few shots taken this last weekend from celebrating hubby's birthday.

Only little people get the fancy decorated cakes. I did make his favorite frosting though!

Kaelyn insisted it was HER birthday and was ready to dig into the cake. As soon as I put the cake on the table with the lit candles she blew all but one out. Silly girl! We started celebrating Friday night even though his actual B-day wasn't til Saturday. Grandma Shari babysat Kaelyn for awhile so we could go out for a nice supper just the two of us.

On Saturday we woke up real early so David could run in a 5K with his little sis.

It was Abbey's first 5K race and with David's help and encouragement she came in 2nd in her age group! Way to go girl!

After a family lunch we headed to the zoo. It really was like K's b-day. She loved it! And the goats loved her too.

When the geese heard Kaelyn they all started trucking over hoping she would feed them. How could you not?

Sunday, David spent a good part of the day riding his bike. He went for an 87 mile bike ride. Yeah, that is fun for him... not like most of us others, but each to their own. Ha! Then we ended the weekend with some yummy s'mores in our back yard.

Happy Birthday to this one amazing husband and father!

New Typography Prints Coming Soon!

I've had 3 paintings going on, but now one is finished. Yay! This one was a special customer's request through etsy, but the good news is prints will be made and available to anyone who is interested. More details coming soon!