Things.

Things I want to do more:
1. sing 2. sew 3. paint 4. go to shows 5. serve 6. cook & bake 7. read 8. exercise 9. swim 10. pray 11. go to the farmers market 12. ride bikes & not drive our cars 13. pick flowers 14. write letters 15. spend less money 16. give 17. write in my journal 18. swing 19. go outside 20. take pictures 

Yesterday I had a 'why the heck have I not been doing the things I love moment' the things that make me happy and make up part of who I am. Living near J will bring the creativity back in me. I just know it. I'm not big on new years resolutions but maybe the move will mark a new start to the creative side in me. There are so many things I want to do & need to do more.

Matthew was up the ENTIRE night last night throwing up. Poor thing. We went to the hospital this morning (we like to be extra careful because he has type one diabetes). The 3 hours there were worth it to him because of the meds he was given. He was supposed to work today (& I'm sad he is sick) but I'm happy he now gets to spend the day with me. We are going to go lay on his parents couch and watch cable. (& maybe I will even swim!) It's the little things right? :)
Anyways I'm finished with work and it is packing from here on out! Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

P.S Did I mention we now have a home to live in? :) Yippee! I'm off to look for home inspiration. Where else do you go other than Anthropologie for inspiration? Here is a photo from their latest catalog. Also, why do they do everything so perfect?

Craftiness.

I've been wanting to paint our coffee table for a while now but I ended up painting our side table instead. I've always loved painted furniture. I needed to get some craftiness out and figured mixing things up in our apartment would do. I went with a grey (figures) I can't seem to step out of the grey box these days. The pictures don't really show a big difference between the two but I think I like it. What do you think? (PS excuse the dying flowers.)
Now to look for a new home project :)

Long Stitch.

Wow it has been a while since i have posted. A ton has gone on. Life has been going 100mph lately. Ive gone home the past few weekends and will go home or out of town every weekend until dead week of school which is the first weekend in December. Last weekend my friends and i had my Bachelorette party at Ross Bridge in Birmingham.. If you live in the Birmingham area i highly recommend getting away for at least just one night there. It will make you feel as if you were tucked away in the mountains of Colorado. I love it. The party was perfect.

THIS weekend i will be flying my last time alone to Texas to visit Matthew. It not only is my last time to fly alone but my last time to see him until we get married in December. Crazy huh? Feels weird that i'll only see him one more time.. but knowing thais means the journey of a 2 1/2 year long distance relationship will be over very soon.

Im pretty excited.

In other news school has been good. Busy. But good. I just finished these Long Stitch journals yesterday. My favorite is the one done with water color paper. I made/painted the paper last year sometime for a different project. I love BookArts.

Have a happy weekend! xoxo

BookArts.

Im taking a book arts class for the 2nd time in college. I took it 2 years ago and am taking it again because this class offers a writing credit which i needed.

I LOVE it. Making books by hand is so much fun.

These pictures are of our first pamphlet assignment. We had to construct a couple of pamphlets. One of these had to have content.

Since bikes are a theme in my life lately (Matthew works with them) I thought id make my fictional story about a bike who travels to different countries. Silly yes but realy fun to illustrate. I do not use my drawing skills near enough and as much as i sometimes hate being forced to draw i love doing it.

Thursday.

Just a few things.

I saw these this morning on my daily round. These are from the homepage of Etsy.

Why do i love print making so very much? Everything just looks cooler that way.

Happy Thursday!

shop HERE.

shop HERE.

shop HERE.

did i say i loved Etsy?

So every day lately i have been checking Etsy's home page for newly posted things. I always see things i LOVE without a doubt. Its becoming my favorite place to buy gifts. Here are a few things i found today...

a little letter press... of course i had to put a little bit of Texas in there along with an awesome hand printed calendar, recipe cards, and bike print... some vintage books, beautiful jewelry, an awesome bag (that i want really bad) and a neck warmer...

Im dying for fall to be here. Aren't you?

[oh p.s.. im always open for accepting gifts ;) hehe ]

all prints made by the Canoe1 shop

from the Vintage Cup

both from SMV designs.

from Adeles shop.

from BeautifulBridget

For Sale.

Wow. I feel like there is so much to write about. A lot has gone on. Im back in school. Loving the classes that i dreaded just 2 weeks ago. Im getting to take Book Arts again as my writing credit for the University (meaning i got out of the worst class in history..) I love my new little apartment. My brother got married last weekend. And wedding planning for me now gets to take off. Its all exciting and all been fun. Another new thing going on is that while i was home i gathered up all the paintings to sell and am posting them on Etsy soon. Ive was always going to sell them its just taken a while for me to take decent pictures and decided what id keep. Here are a few that i'm going to sell! (and if you want more info on them let me know! you will see right off that i tend to paint is bright colors but most of these were painted all around the same time, they are not all extremely colorful!)

P.S. im in shock that it is pretty much September! (meaning i get married in 3 months and 20 days from today!) :)

treasures.

Lately...Ive been a home with my family.

Ive painted a lot. (well more than the past year)

and i have cleaned. I cleaned from under my bed which has not been touched in like 5 years.

Pretty much threw everything away and didn't find any treasures.

BUT..

I did find some treasures in other places.

I found this Gucci watch in my attic.

My dad used to own a watch shop a long time ago and this one never sold.

I have also found random things for Matthew's and my apartment.

I got this lamp at TJ Max for 20 dollars :)

The button jar i did not find but my lovely fiance did.

Hooray for treasures.

Oh and this is a painting I've been working on called the "Redemption Tree."

This weekend i'm headed out for Emma's Bachelorette weekend at the beach.

15 days and counting. (till the wedding and till i see Matthew)

origami.

my sweet friend gabrielle made me origami birds as part as a birthday surprise.

love them sitting on my bulletin board :)

they make for a fun decorative idea in the future... hmm.

happy saturday!

sunshine.

Today has been a good day.

Today i have sewn, worked out, gone to class, got a diet coke with vanilla from sonic, thrifted, talked to my best friend on the phone, drove barefoot on newly paved roads, listened to Lisa Hannigan, and made a jewelry stand. I mentioned in a post a few days ago that i had new "craft" ideas. Well here is one of them. I saw the idea on a vintage blog and decided i could make them to! It was so fun looking for plates in stacks of a hundred. So here is my first attempt at making a resourceful object. Lets just hope it stays together! I hope everyone had had a good thursday! xo. ps. thats my dad in the background when he was in college! such a cutie.

Art.

So here is the thing. I am a self taught artist (meaning i never took classes apart from 7th grade and in high school which does not count as being taught anything) I enjoy painting but do run into the problem of feeling like i have no idea what the heck i am doing. I guess that is where many famous artists started out though right? They didn't know what they were doing but learned from simply studying others work. I posted a few pieces that I did a few years ago. I have not painted much since but will post a few news ones i'm working on soon. By being an art major, i have gotten the chance to work with different mediums i otherwise would have not gotten the chance to work with. Last semester i took a print making class which opened my eyes to a new way of doing things. It reminded me that there are other things to do besides paint and that there are so many things i can do with my love for creating. I could work in a print shop doing handmade invitations, work with book artists, and even work at a place like Hatch Show Print in Nashville. Oh the beauty of it all.

This next picture is a screen shot of a few things i'm working on in my Graphic Design Class. Last semester i realized there was so much more i could do with art and after being in my first upper level graphic design class this semester i've understood that even more. Im not going to lie. Working on the computer does not come easy for me, i'm not the best at teaching myself how to do things but am slowly learning and appreciating it. A few months ago i posted a blog about packaging design (the web site will give you an idea of what i mean when i say packaging design). It is somehting that has always facinated me. I am deffinently a sucker for anything with a beautiful lable. I always found myself wondering who it is that designs the things that make us buy stuff. I have a long way to go but i am loving getting to make advertisements and logos which were the reason i wanted to be a designer in the first place.

As a side note here is a picture of my pre valentines surprise. Matthew has sent me a letter everyday in the mail since February 1st. He purchased an old type writer and typed each one! Pretty thoughtful and sweet huh? i thought so.. He will be here in a few short days and with that my letters with stop. I say that as a good thing ;) I have a great Valentine.