the newest 3 year old artist?

To be honest, I have been on quite the emotional roller coaster lately and the ride just keeps getting steeper. What's been pulling me back up? Well God and my daughter are a couple of the big things and I am so thankful for them!
Miss K has me about pulling out my hair quite often but she also brings so much joy every single day. I don't know what I'd do without her. She is one very smart and talented 3 year old... she amazes me!
I honestly think she could give any abstract artist a run for their money. I might be a little biased but check it out...
She had been bugging me to let her paint again so I set her up with her own canvas and paint and this is what she created. None of these colors are right out of the tube except for a tad bit of white. She loves mixing colors! She came back to the painting 4 times before it was done. I LOVE it! She even added neat touches to the sides of the canvas. :) The colors aren't near as vibrant when I uploaded it though... but you get the idea.

I'm also really enjoying her love for music. She sings a lot and she drums! She's had her own little drum set since her second birthday and now she plays on her daddy's big drum set...

The other day she was trying on headbands and wanted her picture taken... that rarely happens. She usually does not like my camera any where near her, so I gladly obliged when she asked. This spunky girl has my heart! :)

Something else I'm really enjoying lately is listening to songs by JJ Heller. Have you heard them yet? If not go HERE to listen for free. She is amazing and I love the meaning in the songs! "Your Hands" is one of my favorites. Enjoy!

Gray & Yellow Nursery {via e, myself & i}

I always thought it would be so fun to see one of my prints hanging in a nursery other than my daughters. And well when I decided to check my google analytics for my Enduring Arts shop today I saw that several people were coming from e, myself & i. So I HAD to check it out, and I was thrilled to see this...

My "I Prayed for this Child" print in this stunning nursery! WOW, I'm blown away!

You can see more pictures of this adorable nursery HERE. This mama is sure talented in the decorating department! :)

New Prints in the Shop!

{RESCUE ME Eric Abbott Quote}

Just finished up a few more custom requests. Isn't it amazing how powerful words can be?

Anyway the Eric Abbott quote above has a few different options, two with a little illustration of daisies and lilies. You can see more of the details HERE if you are interested.

I had to share what came about from a custom color request. The customer told me her little one's nursery was light pink and black so this is what I came up with...

{Now We Have Everything in pinks & greys}

Not your ordinary color combo for a nursery but I love it!

Then another cheerful color request...

{Bedtime Prayer in Sunflower Yellow}

yellows and white. Great pop of color for a girl or boy's bedroom!

In other news I'm having several problems with blogger, one of the most annoying is trying to leave comments on some people's blogs... some work fine, others don't. Sometimes when it doesn't work I can choose anonymous and then my comment will go through, but with a few blogs I don't even have the anonymous option and can't leave a comment at all. Anyone else have this problem or know how to fix it? If you haven't heard from me for a while and usually do this is the reason. So any help would be very much appreciated!
Thanks!

Please Help! {Facebook Fundraiser Auction}

FUNDRAISER AUCTION going on NOW for Keegan!
Auction runs from July 4th - July 11th.

{this is sweet little Keegan}

Here's a little of his story...

A year ago, baby Keegan Chupp had medulloblastoma removed from his brain. Recently, during his 1 year check up, it was discovered that his cancer had returned in his spinal fluid. With this heart wrenching discovery, his parents are now seeking treatment options. You can read their story here: www.karingforkeegan.blogspot.com/

Please help by bidding on the wonderful items HERE (Karing for Keegan Fundraiser on Facebook). And if you could help spread the word by blogging, tweeting, facebooking... that would be awesome!

Thanks so much for your help!

Happy Weekend!

A fitting quote for the holiday weekend don't you think?

One of my newest designs in the shop due to a custom request. :)

Thought I'd also share a few photos of what Miss K has been enjoying so far this summer...

Strawberries of course. She helps me pick them from our garden and when we're done she says lets have a picnic and eat them. So I wash them first and put them in a bowl for her and she plops down in the grass... then she always takes off her sandals. I asked her why she takes off her shoes and she told me "I like to have the grass tickle my feet!" LOVE that! I love how children think. They are so innocent and appreciate the little things. The joys they find are precious to witness.

And the next thing she's been loving the last couple days since its been hot out (in the 90's!)...

Her zebra pool. Thanks to her cousin Shania! We had gotten her a pool but it wasn't near as cute as this one and the sprinkler entertains her for a long time. It can go as high and far as you want it too. Yeah, I found that out when I thought I was turning the water off but was actually turning it the other way. Oops! Gave my garden a bit of a drink. Ha, ha! :)

I wish you all a Happy 4th of July weekend. Have fun and stay safe!

New Art Prints for the Little One's Room

{First we had each other then we had YOU...}

It is fun when customers contact me to design a special quote for them. Many times it is just a little change to the wording on a prayer print but sometimes I get an entirely new, fun quote to work with. The print above is one that came about from one of my latest jobs. The customer actually wanted a fun neutral green design similar to the one HERE... but a few days later I came up with this fun girly one above (reminds me of a summery popsicle) and I of course had to make a boy version shown below. That one reminded me of sea glass. I love the ocean so find that one very calming. Perfect for a nursery don't you think?

I made these prints by combining an original acrylic painting with some digital design. Hopefully in the near future I can make some small art blocks with these prints. I did small printouts of them and they are absolutely adorable if I can say so my self! :)

{Now We Have Everything in seaside hues}

Fiddlestix {revisited}

Fiddlestix Grand Opening is June 24 & 25th!!!

10:00am-6:00pm

If you are in the area please stop by and check it out!

Fiddlestix is one of my all time favorite shops... and I'm not just saying that because they carry some of my stuff. There are just so many treasures in this place, the environment is so cheerful, and the sweet Shelly MoonPalmer (pictured above) is so creative on putting it all together!!! I honestly can't get out of the shop without something. :) Here is more of a peek since the last time I tried to take pics my camera died...

My daughter even loves the store. There is a little art desk that occupied her while I shopped and took pictures. Notice the ceiling and the thread tree in the other room. So fun!

Here's a portion of my original acrylic painting, "Life's Journey" that is for sale.

Shelly shares the link to how to make your own push pin/thread tree on the Fiddlestix blog HERE.

I could have shared several more pictures with you but I didn't want to spoil all the fun if you haven't been there and will be going. :)

one day at a time

{VBS one of the marketplace shops}

Lately my days have been filled to the brim. I think I am learning to just think about what needs to be done today, because if I think of all the projects needing to be done... well I might just explode! :) My design job, Enduring Arts business and being mom all at the same time is plenty but I somehow got talked into helping coordinate vacation bible school at my church. (Ok, I may also be bad at saying no, especially for church related activities.) But anyway we had a very short amount of time to pull VBS together... organizing, ordering supplies, lots of decorating, promoting. Thankfully God helped everything fall into place and the big event started last Sunday night and runs until Thursday night (tonight... its taking me a few days to just type this post!). The kids, ages 3 through 6th grade, seem to be having a lot of fun. Yes, my little one is attending and she is having a blast. (She also has a mind of her own and likes to challenge the leaders... oh no!) The kids are getting more and more wound up as the days go by so things stay interesting. ;)

{view of the marketplace and Mary's house}

{little ones taking part in the dye shop}

With so much going on there really hasn't been family time. But K and I did get up at 5:30 am last Saturday to watch David's bike race. Which he got first place so I'm glad we were there to watch! He has a triathlon coming up this weekend so we will go cheer him on and then hopefully we will have some nice family time when he's done with the event. This mama is in need of some fun relaxing time... it won't last long enough I'm sure!

{waiting for the race to begin}

{the start}

{he won!}

Breaks My Heart...

From the speaker I heard last weekend...

PLEASE READ and SHARE the information!!!

RescueHer... have you heard of it?

Have you ever heard a story that touched your heart in a certain way that you had to do something because of the information you took in? Well, this was certainly one of those moments for me and I have to share the story with all of you.

RescueHer is about human trafficking. I've seen it in a movie before, you try to tell yourself its a movie, its not real, but your heart knows better... I knew when I saw the movie that it is very real and happening today... what a nightmare. I had no idea what I could do though, especially since I just saw it in a movie, so I just tried to push it out of my mind. Well last Saturday a lady came to our church and shared a story with us...

A man was going to India, while he was there he heard of an auction going on. He figured he'd get a van to fit his treasures in and brought $5000 to spend. (you would think you could get some beautiful furniture for that!) When he got to the destination of the auction and the auctioneer said "and our first item up for bid"... up walked a girl on the stage. Girl, after girl, after girl. This man who thought he was buying actual items was now praying to God and asking Him what to do, which girls should I buy. He only had $5000. So he felt led to buy the youngest girls. Girls started for a $100. He ended up buying girls for $500. When he was about out of money he decided to go "check out." Then one of the last girls up for auction was in the back and when she was called to the stage, the good man noticed that she was struggling very much to get to the stage... she had just been beaten, bleeding, bad leg, barely moving. The good man was going to head to help her out but the translator said "No! If he were to help her, no man would bid on her and she would be immediately killed behind the stage when the auction was over." When her bidding started the auctioneer smirked and started her off in mere cents. No one bid. The good man spoke up and said I'll pay $500! He was asked why in the world would he pay $500 when he could have her for $1? He said she's worth just as much as every other girl and wanted her to know she was just as worthy. So the man got his girls and took them to a doctor and then to a safe home.
How horrible is that that these innocent girls live in this kind of nightmare on a daily basis? Can you just walk away from a story like that... ignore that you ever read or heard it??? What can we do to help? Well there are organizations out there to help these individuals who are trafficked. This is where Rescue Her comes in.

From RescueHer site:
"The horrible things that are happening everyday in this holocaust we call Human Trafficking are hard to imagine. Little children being sold for sex; some as young as 4 years old. Every 30 seconds another child is captured. 32 billion dollars every year is made off the bodies of young girls & women in sex trafficking...

There are many amazing programs and ministries around the world that are rescuing children from the horrors of trafficking. But they need funds to keep going and to take care of the children they rescue. They need food, education, psychological help etc. We are raising money through ZOE coffee and our other initiatives and sending it directly to help these children. Our desire is to raise a TON of money from people all around the world that CARE and shower these ministries with all the money they need to rescue as many as they can!"

Please check out RescueHer's website and the about us HERE. A couple of the ministries they donate to is SHE Rescue Homes and Sower of Seeds. Look into the other ministries as well and support the one that tugs at your heart.

RescueHer does sell a few things to raise money (if you LOVE coffee join their club), but really do we need more things??? I say give as much as you can, go without a treat for a day, think of someone else who really needs your help before buying more things for yourself. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the little extras we are fortunate enough to be spoiled with, but please share a little, give someone else hope. Everyone deserves a safe environment and I believe God has us here to do our part. Anyway, think about it...donate a few bucks if you can. If everyone put in $2 it would help! Thanks so much for reading!!!

Have a blessed weekend!

Our Weekend

Our weekend flew by like most. Saturday was spent working on projects for our church and then that night I went to listen to a speaker and watch a fashion show. (I have lots to tell you about the speaker but that deserves a separate thought out post.) Sunday was a nice relaxing day. We decided to enjoy some outdoor family time.

I love the peacefulness of the outdoors and listening to the birds sing!

We went on a family bike ride. This picture makes me laugh. Kaelyn looks so tiny with just her eyes showing. :)

After biking around for awhile it started raining on us... not lightly either. Good thing K was in the cart that had a plastic shield to cover the front. I had a hard time seeing and when we finally made it back to the truck hubby was laughing at me and told me to look in the mirror. I had mud splattered on my face! I was beautiful! Ha, ha! It was fun even though I was drenched and polka dotted with mud.

A good thing about the rain... it made wonderful puddles for Kaelyn to play in!

I have to say yay for the $1 rain boots I found at a garage sale. Worth every penny. She loves them and puts them to good use as you can see.

Then David went on a swim to do more training for his triathlon and half ironman coming up. Glad I didn't have to get in the water. Burr!!!

Instead I took lots of pictures of the beauty around us.

Enjoy Your Weekend!

I bet if it doesn't rain all weekend K will pick me more bouquets! Nothing like getting fresh, cheerfully colored flowers every day (for free!). ;)

Be Strong in the Lord

{Be Strong in the Lord}

My newest inspirational print. Life isn't always easy. Everyone has their own journey with difficulties laying in their path, but knowing the Lord is there every step of the way and that His power is the greatest... it helps. Faith can change our outlook and with His help we can overcome our obstacles.

Nuisance or ...?

What some of us may consider a nuisance, others (like children) may find it to be quite magical. Kaelyn's favorite flower...

She picked several bouquets for her mommy!

I love seeing the world through a child's eyes. It is so delightful. Watching her get excited about dandelions made me think of Mathew 19:14, "For the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." Young children see the beauty... they are amazed by all God's creations... why do we seem to lose that amazement as we get older? We overlook the treasures right in front of us because we get so busy doing other things.

Thank you Kaelyn for the sweet reminders of God's beautiful creations all around us.

Here is another one of His creations I'm super excited about...

Ground cherries!!! The greenhouse didn't have any last year so I was completely bummed as they are one of my favorite summer treats. (Thanks to my grandma who hooked me when I was little.) So this year when they had them I got enough for my grandma and me. I can't wait!

(We finally had a day this week that got into the 80's, Yay! I LOVE the heat!)

Have a great weekend!

Exciting News!!!!

First of all I hope all you mama's had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend. I sure had a blast spending a day with my mom and the weather was gorgeous! Couldn't have asked for a better day.

Ok, now on to the super exciting news. No I'm not expecting, but my artwork is in a new shop, Fiddlestix!!! I was contacted via etsy about this new store and Shelly the owner liked my work enough to see if I would want to sell a variety of work in her shop! Yay! So the weekend before last when I said I was so crazy busy this was one of the reasons. When I dropped my stuff off at the store I fell in love with the shop... it wasn't even all put together yet. Shelly does an amazing job decorating and her personality... lets just say you can't help but like her! :)

When I took my mom out for the day, one of the stops was Fiddlestix. Here it is...
Isn't it adorable? Its just a sneak peek cuz wouldn't you know my camera died right after I took the first shot of the inside! Boo! The next time I go back though, I'm making sure my camera is fully charged so I can share more with you. :)

For those of you that live close by, this shop is a MUST SEE!!! The energy and talent in the place radiates! It makes me smile just thinking about it!
Here are the directions: 727 South Broadway Suite #2, Watertown SD
When you turn onto Broadway off 212 its one of the first little shops on the left side of the road.
Enjoy!

Meet My Mom

I want to introduce you to the person who inspired and encouraged my creativity at a very young age and continues to be one of my biggest supporters... my mom, Shari Haufschild. She does amazing watercolors; see for your self...

It was my mom who put the art show together. She did all the planning, got the location, did all the advertising, did lots of printouts for show pieces, setup (my hubby, dad and I did help with that part) and then tear down (all the artists helped with that) and got all the display parts back were needed. It was definitely a lot for one person to handle but she did amazing!

Ok, now for a closer look at her artistic talent! :)

Her pieces are even better in person. The one above has such an energy to it and I love the birds. Then the one below is so detailed and has great depth! She has lots of beautiful paintings, these were just a couple I had on my computer.

And my all time favorite, a book she wrote and illustrated with her watercolors for my daughters first birthday!!! I was shocked... for one I didn't know she wrote stories, and two the illustrations are fabulous! Kaelyn of course loves the book too! I'm really hoping to work with her to get some more smaller books made so people can purchase them for their special little ones on etsy. The story and illustrations are absolutely precious!

I hope you enjoyed seeing a little bit of her work. I have to say I'm certainly blessed to have her as my mom. I'm also super excited to take her out on a mother daughter day tomorrow. We're having professional massages done, going out to eat and then off to look at art! Yay!!!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and to all you mom's, Happy Mother's Day... you definitely deserve a nice relaxing day! ♥