The blank page

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It's been a long time since I've posted and, I'm ashamed to admit, even longer since I've sat down to do some sketching in my sketchbook. I always seem to run out of time between working, making dinner, laundry, etc. There always seems to be SOMETHING ELSE that I need to do.

Then it dawned on me today: have I been stalling? Not necessarily making up things to do, but putting more importance than necessary on other things and purposely trying to FIND other things to do so that I don't have to deal with the the scaryness of a blank page? Hmmm. That had never ocurred to me before.

I finally sat down this evening to sketch, and I have to admit it was hard. I stared at that blank page for a long time. Then I remembered something one of my art professors told me...he said that he always doodled and scribbled on paper until it began to vaguely resemble something and that's how he would come up with his drawings. I tried that and it helped loosen me up somewhat. I hope that I can continue to take 15-20 minutes on a regular basis to just sketch...and see what happens.

Dear Spring, please stay!

Josh and I went to my favorite downtown park not too long ago and the flowering trees were in bloom...so pretty!

The weather has been so beautiful here. Yesterday we went over to my mom and dad's for awhile and their wisteria is GORGEOUS! This was what it looked like two weeks ago when we were there for Easter...


and this is what it looks like now...


Isn't it amazing?! It smelled sooooooo wonderful, too. I am loving the green leaves everywhere and love hearing the birds chirping. I am ITCHING to buy flowers for our yard! I think some hydrangea bushes would look lovely in front of our house. Maybe if I can talk my husband into it? :o)

Long Easter weekend...

Josh and I had a long weekend over Easter and it was GREAT! We started it off by going to a place here in town we had never been to before called Aunt Martha's Pancake House. It's been here since 1959!




I should have taken a picture of the huge pancakes on my plate...mmmm! Then we went to a couple flea markets where I found these pretty coasters:


and this sweet old book!


Oh my goodness, I just love it. It's a book of poems for children that was published in 1937. And it has these cute little illustrations in it, too!


We spent the rest of our weekend with my family celebrating Easter. It was fun and the weather was gorgeous! I made these cute carrot cupcakes for everyone:


Spring has officially arrived...I am enjoying the flowers and the green coming out everywhere! Hope you're having a good week! I'm going to go have a leftover cupcake. :o)

Fabric hunting

Saturday I went to a local fabric store with my mom to hunt for some pretty spring fabric to cover the pillows on my couch and loveseat. The pillows that came with them are red and brown and have a rather generic design on them. I liked them really well when we bought the furniture about three years ago, but last spring I really started craving some soft colors and pretty designs and ended up staring at them rather resentfully for the whole season. So! Since my mom is teaching me how to use a sewing machine, I decided it was time for some pillow covers. We searched and searched and dug and dug through the fabric and I just didn't really find anything that I loved. We eventually dug through the overstock under a table and I found a fabric that I hadn't seen out on display:


It wasn't really what I had in mind, but I fell in love with it so I bought it. :o) I think we'll get started on making the pillow covers next week. I can't wait to see how they turn out!

Inspiration Board

Hi there! Is anyone else glad it's almost the weekend? :o)

I wanted to post some pictures of the inspiration board I finished for my Indie Biz class. First of all, I should say that it's a little different looking. When I went looking for the appropriate sized bulletin board, I was annoyed at how expensive they all were!! I ended up buying some cork squares from Walmart and then bought a canvas from Hobby Lobby. The lesson we had suggested painting clouds on the bulletin board, so I decided to paint the canvas like a cloudy sky:


Then I stuck a couple big cork squares on and painted it like some of the clouds were overlapping onto the bulletin board part:


And then I made some paper butterflies out of white cardstock to put on it and found some of "my favorite things" to attach as well:


I'm pretty happy with it and hopefully it will serve it's purpose...to inspire me!

Have a good weekend!

I'm still alive...

Obviously I haven't mastered the art of blogging on a regular basis. Ahem! Moving on...

Week 1 of Indie Business class went well; although I am finding it challenging to fit time in for everything I want to accomplish. I am also not the type of person who can just leave the dishes piled up in the sink or let the laundry get out of control. I like to have a picked up house. Aren't artists supposed to be messy and not mind those types of things? Hmmm....

Here's what I've been working on lately (and yes, I was a little behind on getting it done). Our first project was making a binder for our Indie Business workbook. I could not find the type of binder they suggested that you can paint on, so I decided to create my own drawing for the cover. I'm pretty happy with it...it's sort of a self-portrait.



Have a great week!

New computer and bag

I wanted to post a picture of my cute new laptop...I am very happy with it so far!



I wanted to buy a nice bag for it, but I wasn't quite satisfied with the look of the one I bought, so I added some fabric yo-yos that my mom gave me to make it a little more cute.



Sorry that my pictures are rather washed out...here's a closer look at the yo-yos:



I think I want to put yo-yos on more stuff...they are just too cute! Here are some things I found on Etsy that have yo-yos...


You can find this cute baby hat here.


And here is a really pretty yo-yo necklace:


And I LOVE this purse that is covered with yo-yos!


You can find it here.

I just love them. I think I'm going to be hunting for more things in my house to put yo-yos on!

Happy March!

Can you believe how fast this year is already going??? I can't. Well, I need to head off to bed, but I just wanted to post a picture of my now *completed* apron! I still can't believe I made it.



I think the next project my mom is going to help me with will be some pillow covers for the pillows on my couch and love seat.

Tomorrow evening I'll try to post a picture of my very own NEW laptop! It is cute and I am very happy with it...more happy than I thought I could be with a laptop that is not a mac!

Sew what's new...

When I was little, my mom used to make outfits for me on her sewing machine. When I was about 10, she and her friend used to say that her friend could teach me how to sew since we were both left-handed and my mom could teach her daughters how to sew since they were right-handed! A good idea, but it never happened. When I was about 12, my mom found sheets that matched my bedspread and wall paper and sewed them into curtains for my windows to avoid buying the overpriced matching curtains from the store. I thought she was a genius!

Somehow even though I loved having things that my mom had sewn for me, I never learned how to sew myself. So for the past month and a half, I've been going over to my mom and dad's house about once a week so that my mom can teach me how to sew. Right now she is helping me sew an apron; it's almost done. I get excited just thinking of all the possibilities that will open up to me knowing how to sew! Pillow covers, curtains, hand bags, skirts...the possibilities are endless, right?



I'm so glad I am finally learning how to sew and that my mother is the one teaching me. I'm learning on the same machine that she used to sew things for me when I was a girl! It will be fun to see what I can accomplish as I learn more and more each week. And maybe someday in the future, I can make things for my little boy or girl, too! :o)

Here's a closer peek at my almost-finished apron:

Learning

I am so excited to be a part of this class:


I have had so many questions for years and have never really known where to turn. When I saw this class advertised on a blog, I knew I had to sign up even though I was scared. And still am!

Then last week, I learned about this new book:

How exciting is this??? It sounds like exactly what I need. I haven't purchased it yet but plan to very soon! You can find the book here.
Obviously I have a lot of learning to do over these next few months!

Hello, my name is....

..Tiffany and I am an artist who hasn't been doing much artwork lately. I have a Bachelor's degree in Art and graduated in 2005, but have been struggling ever since to develop my own style and get my stuff out there. The artwork I did for my college classes was so different from the artwork I did on my own that it's hard for me to mesh the two together.

I have been married for almost 5 years to a super sweet guy named Josh, and we have one fat cat named Ziggy. Two years ago, we bought our first home; a cute, itty-bitty (I prefer to call it cozy) house built in the 1920's. I love drinking hot tea, exploring downtown Springfield, MO, watching old movies, and fleamarketing.

Oh, and drawing is more my type of artwork. Cutesy drawings and greeting cards. :o) Here is an example of my work; this is my Valentine card from last year: