I've Been Featured...

Today I am being featured on the blog I told you about last time:  Briton Loves It.  So head over and check it out!  She has a great Giveaway this week and today is the last day to enter so make sure you get your entries in!

Also, my gallery has been rescheduled for next weekend.  I'm not sure if it will be Friday or Saturday yet.  If you're in the Dallas area I'd love to see you there.  Details are in the sidebar.  I've been painting painting painting to get ready for it.  The pieces will be for sale.  Hope to see you there!

A New Blog!

Just wanted to let you all know about Briton Loves It!  Briton is my oldest daughter and she started this blog recently.  You can find all kinds of posts about travel, health and beauty, style, and some awesome crafts for $10 or less!  This week is LOVE FEST over there so check out the fun giveaway and guest posts!

Sketch Book: Native Americans and Pilgrims

Here are a few Thanksgiving drawings I pulled out... 

Original Native American girl- 1993

Native American girl- 1999

 Native American boy- 1999

 

Pilgrim Girl- 1999

Pilgrim boy- 1999



Hope you enjoy them!  Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Tyler's and TOMS Fall 2010 Recap

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who came to Tyler's of Dallas last Saturday!  There was a huge turn out and I was overwhelmed, literally, with how many of you wanted me to paint your shoes! 

When my girls were little I used to love painting their shoes, my favorites looked like watermelons when I was done!  It was fun to paint shoes again and to do it for a wonderful cause.

I was so backed up during the event that I had to take a TON of shoes home to finish.  Here are the pictures (these are only the shoes I painted at home, I painted several others at the event but it was too crazy to take pictures!):

Several of the pairs together

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Did you make it to the end?!  Let me know which pair is your favorite!

Thanks!

I've noticed that I've got friends, followers, and viewers from all over the world.  It amazes me!  I wish I knew who all of you were so I could tell each of you thank you for stopping by!

TOMS at TYLER'S this SATURDAY!

Don't forget about the TOMS event this Saturday at Tyler's in Dallas!  The time has changed:  come from 11am-3pm to give some style to your soles...and help give shoes to someone who needs them!

Pumpkins For Sale

I made this for a friend a few years ago.  It is acrylic on wood.  I cut out the wood pieces, sanded them, then painted them! 

Sketch Book: Squibles

Today, I'm opening up my sketch book once again. These pages are full of little squibles, bits and pieces, doodles, a free-for-all...whatever you call them, here they are!

SYTYC Week Three!

I am still competing at SYTYC and I'm still LOVING it!  I love seeing what the other crafters come up with each week, the variety is great!  Head over there, look around, and vote.  Then tell all your friends and family to vote too!

Red Headed Witch

Whoo!  I am still crafting over at SYTYC!  Thank you for all the votes...I hope to keep crafting to the end!  I haven't been posting much because all of my spare time has been spent working on those crafts and I want you to be surprised when they come out each week...but, I do have a few things stored up to post about in the mean-time!

Here is a Halloween painting I did of a witch.  It is acrylic on canvas.  Enjoy!

SYTYC Week Two!

Thanks for all of your votes last week...I need them again this week!  This competition has been a blast :)

My crafting/art life has been BUSY lately.  Here's what I've been up to:

-Teaching part time with Little Rembrandts
-Teaching part time with G'Nosh
-So You Think You're Crafty
-Projects for clients, as they come up
-Preparing for my first Gallery Opening!

During the month of December, I will be the featured artist at G'Nosh in Richardson!  All month long my G'Nosh paintings will be on display and for sale (Christmas presents!) along with many of my personal works, also for sale!  There will be a gallery opening event early in the month to kick things off.  I'll keep you updated as to when that will be.  So, if you're in the area, please come by in December and take a stroll through my gallery!  I've been painting like a crazy lady to get ready for it!

I also just painted my first pair of TOMS.  Amber, from Idaho, is one my facebook followers and when she saw that I was going to be painting TOMS she wanted in on it!  She couldn't make the trip all the way to Texas so she mailed me her TOMS.  She loves music and wanted her TOMS to reflect that.  Here's how they turned out:

This is while I was putting the large blocks of color in...before the detail work...

These are the finished product!

SYTYC Week One!

Head over to So You Think You're Crafty today and VOTE!  One of my crafts is in there...so vote for your favorite and hopefully it will end up being me!  You can vote once a day so get on there and spread the word to all your friends :)  I can't wait to see what the other crafters come up with for this week's theme.  I had a great time thinking of ideas and settling on one to make!

G'Nosh

I'm lucky enough to do what I love and get paid for it!  I work at an art studio in Richardson, TX, called G'Nosh.  I teach painting classes several nights a week.  People sign up for whichever painting they want, come to the studio, and a few hours later they leave with a finished painting!  This job has been great for several reasons:

-I love to paint.
-I love to get paid to paint!
-I love teaching people and seeing their inner artist come out.
-I get to practice and get better.
-I am learning new techniques and styles with each painting and artist we feature.

Here are three pieces I painted the other night (the violin, trees, and nest)...some of them will be featured in an ad soon.  I'll get you more details when I get them!  I painted each of them from a picture (below each painting) that my boss gave me that night.

I almost forgot, you can purchase the paintings I paint here for $35.  That's a great deal for art for your home!

The Stars At Night...

This is a purse I made for my sister.  It is a wooden cigar box that I painted to celebrate our love of the great state of TEXAS.  I made the red, white, and blue beads for the handle out of polymer clay and pressed little seed beads in to give it a little extra something!

Sketch Book: Fairies

Here is another look at my sketch book.  As I practice, I like to take one thing and sketch it several times.  Here I have done several variations of fairy wings.  And, a final fairy with wings to try them on a 'real' fairy!

First Facebook Giveaway!

A few days ago I decided to do a little giveaway to celebrate reaching 100 Facebook Fans.  I put all the names (104 to be exact) in a hat and the winner is....KRISTA BRIGGS!  She wins a custom 9 x 12 painting or drawing.  I'll photo it before I send it off and post it after she receives it!  I hope to do more of these in the future so pass the word along to your friends and follow me on Facebook!  You can click on the Facebook Badge for my page on the right hand side of the blog.

Congrats Krista!

Love TOMS?

Because I'm painting them October 30th at Tyler's in Dallas!

Isn't this a great event?!  I can't wait to paint some shoes so come and see me and let me Style Your Soles!  In case you don't know, TOMS gives a pair of shoes to a child who needs them for every pair TOMS you buy.  Such an inspiration!

Yay!

I'm made the Top 10 over at So You Think You're Crafty!  The competition premiers in 3 weeks...Monday, October 4th! 

I'm excited to compete with the other crafters and see what I can come up with each week! 

Something New...

I've had a busy summer:  a road trip, new job opportunities, and now a great experience auditioning for So You Think You're Crafty!  Please take some time to head over there and VOTE!  I'm excited to be part of such a fun craft competition!

Craft Recipe: Peanut Butter and Chocolate Play Doughs

Here are some great recipes for a rainy day.  Or a day that is just too stinkin' hot!  Both recipes are edible, although, be careful with the peanut butter recipe because of allergies.


Peanut Butter Play Dough

one 18-oz. jar creamy peanut butter
6 tablespoons honey
3/4 cup non-fat dry milk

Mix ingredients together, using varying amounts of dry milk for desired consistencies. Knead it with fingers, forming into desired shapes, adding other foods like M&M's or peanuts for eyes, mouths, etc. Great fun!

Storage: When not using, MUST be stored in an airtight container.
 
 
Chocolate Play Dough
 
8 oz. semisweet chocolate
1/4 cup plus one tablespoon light corn syrup

Melt the chocolate in a metal bowl set over a pan of simmering water (a double boiler). Stir the chocolate with a spoon until smooth, then stir in the corn syrup. The chocolate will stiffen almost immediately but stir completely combined. Transfer the chocolate to a sturdy plastic bag and refrigerate until firm; the consistency will be that of Play Dough.

When firm, the dough can be worked by kneading. If it is too hard, cut off small pieces and knead until pliable. If the dough sticks to the counter when rolling, lightly spray counter or breadboard with vegetable spray or lightly grease with vegetable oil.

Hand shape the dough into a rope or braid, making two or three long ropes and twist or braid them together -- can be used as the outside edge on top of a cake or around the base.

Make ribbons to cover the cake. To do this, pat your dough into a disk shape and roll dough out to desired thickness using a rolling pin or else use a manual pasta machine.

You can make flowers, too!

Storage: When not using, MUST be stored in an airtight container and refrigerate.

Jewish Designs

I recently did some freelance work for a company that manufactures Jewish themed products.  Here are some of the designs I did.  They were looking for some bright colors and a more fun/funky take on their traditional symbols.

Craft Recipe: Sidewalk Paint

A less-mess approach to painting with children:  Sidewalk Paint.

Kids are messy when they paint but paintings is such a great creative outlet.  Here is the solution:

1/4 cup water
1/4 cup cornstarch
A few drops of food coloring

Mix different colors in the cups of a muffin tin, supply brushes and a bucket of 'eraser' water, and slather on the sunscreen!  Your kids will have fun and your house will stay clean, especially if you hose them off before they come in, or have them run through the sprinklers!

Sketch Book: Dinosaur Magnets

Here are some of the sketches I made of the dinosaurs before they became the magnets I posted here.