vita-happiness

  i discovered several months ago that i need to eat dairy-free and gluten-free if i want to be a healthy person......and it hasn't been so easy changing my culinary habits.  sometimes a girl just wants a toasted cheese sandwich to get things right again. 

{thankfully, lindt makes a dark chocolate bar with no milk.....or i'd really be in trouble!}
so, if you thought you heard mysterious-jumping-up-and-down-squealing-with-excitement-woo-hoo noises earlier this afternoon, that was just me after seeing the ups man leave this on my front doorstep! 

the other night, qvc had the vitamix as their special value of the day, and since i've had my eye on it for quite a while, well, one thing led to another, and well, you know how easy late night shopping can be.   of course, it's a really big investment......and will most likely be my birthday/Christmas/anniversary present for the next ten years......but now i'll be able to put healthy, preservative-free whole foods in my body (i can make my own almond flour with this thing!).  and it's such a luxury to have this i almost feel like i should put it out on display on the dining room buffet.  heeheehee

click here to see everything that this little baby can do.......it's so much more than just a blender!

inspiration monday

sometimes all it takes to get started is to sit down with your favorite art supplies

and call on inspiration to help you fill those journal pages with 

the breathings of your heart!

this journal page was completed using a lime colored pencil, watercolor, micron pen,

uniball signo white gel pen, 6B graphite pencil

daisy daisy

i just love daisies, don't you?
they're about the happiest little springtime message i can think of.  and daisies are my mom's favorite flower.....that makes me really happy too.
 i arranged a few in a cut, scooped-out lemon and then placed it down into my favorite little creamer pitcher.  i saw the idea on this pottery barn video......

oooh, daisies and pottery barn......super springtime happiness!!

inspiration monday

i can't think of anything more inspiring than getting together with my art buddies and spending the entire day playing with letters.....and this past saturday we did just that!  we talked, ate a bit of chocolate, laughed, and learned a lot about graphite.   our instructor was eliza holliday.....and if you're a letter geek like me, then you probably know her work, and you're probably already drooling over the thought of her gorgeous, gorgeous letterforms!  

eliza taught us a lot about shading and blending......

and then she encouraged us to really play for a while.
{this started out as a capital letter A......i'm not really sure what it is now, but i think he's kind of cute.....in a strange-creature-on-two-wheels kinda way.}

this was the best saturday i've spent in a long, long time!  many hugs to eliza and my sweet special art buddies for a fabulous day of graphite play!  and thank you mr. yellow papermate sharpwriter #2 automatic pencil for providing so much inspiration!!

you can see eliza's beautiful hand-lettered graphite book here!

hunny-funny-bunny

when i see carla sonheim's artwork, it makes me smile.  really big.  

so when she offered her little rabbit tutorial, i just had to get out my journal.......

and start drawing some bunnies.......

of the hunny-funny-bunny variety!

these little sweeties are so quick and easy to draw......
join in the fun and hop on over to watch carla's tutorial!

journal bunny pages:  black staedtler mars graphic 3000 watersoluble marker, 

4B pencil, niji waterbrush, pan pastel