little yellow english house

i've been channeling my little yellow house again….

but this time, it looks like it might be in England! 

:))

{fabriano artistico 140 lb. CP paper, derwent inktense pencils,

koi watercolor, assorted B graphite pencils}

dreams and wishes

when i saw the new DLP challenge to create an illustrated wish list,

my mind immediately went to this artwork i created 

a few years ago about a dream i have…..

because to me, dreams and wishes kind of go hand-in-hand.

but the funny thing about dreaming and wishing 

is sometimes you have to fulfill a wish…..

before you can move on to the dream.

so until then, there's a sweet little yellow house
somewhere in france that's waiting to be filled with lots of love…
and lots of chocolate.  :))



{you can read more about this week's DLP challenge here!
supplies:  moleskine journal, fabriano artistico 140 lb. HP paper,
derwent inktense pencils, PanPastel, pitt pens, 6B pencil, washi tape}

at a snail's pace

we moved into our new house over a year ago, and i still have lots of decorating to do.  and every time i walk past this little powder room that's tucked under our staircase,  i'm reminded that i really, really want to give it a bit of a facelift.  so this past monday (day one), that's exactly what we decided to do.

the dining room became our makeover headquarters......it wasn't long before we had every tool in the house, cans of paint, saws, hammers, nails,  boards and trim, rulers, and pencils sprawled all over the place.  and my handy little dutch sweetie was on hand to do the sawing.....

so we could nail all of those lattice strips to the walls.

on days number two and three i hung this gorgeous silkscreened wallpaper above the wall trim.....

then yesterday (day four) i filled all of the nail holes, caulked, and painted everything underneath to match the baseboards!  now i need to find some new artwork, hang a new mirror over the sink (don't you think this one would look great?!!), and add all of the finishing touches.....

{and now for the confession:  after watching all of those "makeover" shows on tv, i really thought that all this work would be finished in about two days (or maybe 30 minutes in tv-time).....next time i'm going to ask their team of three professional carpenters,  the behind-the-scenes people who make all of the extra trips to the home depot, and the interior decorator to come over and help!!}

beyond the studio

i've been away from my studio the past couple of days.....testing my painting skills on the walls of our downstairs powder room.  we've been adding a few other touches, too.....hopefully we'll be finished in a few days!  

i hope you've been having a wonderfully creative week!!

around the house

since this is the first Christmas in our new house, the decorating is going a little slower this year. i'm not really sure where to put things, and well, you know how it goes.....some of the green on our "greenery" from years past is starting to look a little worn and tattered. so when i found this green holiday goodness at michael's the other day (for 50% off!!), i was thrilled! i decided to poke it here and there in a weathered wood wreath......

but instead of hanging it on the wall, i placed it around our shell collection on the round table in our living room. i really enjoy using simple items in an unexpected way.....and i'm so loving the "coastal Christmas" feel of this!!

p.s. there's still time to leave your name in the hat for my holly jolly giveaway!! i'll be randomly drawing a name tonight, so click here to enter!

around the house

the other day in this post i mentioned that i tend to be very "grid oriented and in-the-box". i don't think i realized how grid oriented i really am until i started looking around my house. i've got grids in my studio bookcases.....

at the end of my work table....

and on the wall!

then i noticed that it has spilled down the stairs into the family room....

and even into the kitchen (yikes!)!!

and just when i was about to give up and declare myself a total square, i found a circle in the living room (please overlook the fact that the chairs are arranged around the circle... in a square)! power to the circle!!

:))

abundant blessings

we have signed the papers, we have the keys, we have a beautiful new house....we are so totally blessed!

happiness house

this week i worked on a project for an online class that i took from claudine hellmuth called "home is where the art is"

this project includes 12 different mixed media techniques using her sticky back canvas and other products in her studio line.  but the nice part is that if you don't have a certain product, she provides another option...and i always love to know i have options!  as most of you know, working with paint and other paint-type materials is not exactly in my comfort zone, but claudine's fresh style and easy instructions made this a project that even i could do!

one of the nicest things about this project is that it was so easy to make it "my own".  i decided that i would use our new house as the focal point (our move-in date is two weeks from today...yippeee!).  while i still used some of claudine's images, i changed a few to reflect our new house.  for example, the house image is a rendering of our new house, the text block is an excerpt of our house contract, there's a butterfly outline to represent transformation, the number "179" is our house number, and of course, i had to sneak in a heart-in-hand image!

thanks, claudine...this was a really fun project and i learned a lot!  you can read more about this online class here!  

click on images for larger view

goin' green

while i was supposed to be in my studio working on my exhibit piece today, i ended up running a long list of "must do" errands.  so while i was out, i decided to stop by and check the progress of our house.  in a few short weeks, we've gone from this...

...to this!  isn't it amazing what a little green can do?!  

dream house update

we paid a visit to the house that we're building (we like to go over there and pretend that we live there already!).  we have a couple of months to go before we can move in, but it's coming along so nicely!!

here's a little peek through the window on the landing that leads up to my future studio.  this house has so many charming details about it...i can't wait to share them with you!!

have a great weekend!

dream house...stamp style

i'm still carving up a storm...but kind of getting to the point of not knowing what to carve next!  so many choices!  today i happened to look over and spy this little house that i made over a year ago using some of the papers in my stash, and i decided to try carving some of my own artwork.  

so i made a copy of the finished artwork, reduced it, and transfered it to my stamp material.  this is the almost-finished-product...i see a few spots that still need to be touched up!

dream house...in progress

it's hard to believe that just a few months ago we started with this...

...and now we have this! (work truck not included)

and here's a tiny peek at the room above the garage...a.k.a. my future studio!!  move-in date is sometime in june...am i going to be able to wait that long?!   pinch me, i must be dreaming!!

dream house

i have way too many projects going on at the same time today, so i've decided to share a piece of artwork that i did almost a year ago.  along with my love for paper, fabric, chocolate and potato chips, i also adore houses.  i love big houses, small houses, old houses, new houses and especially, cottage style houses.  the more character a house has, the better...you can tell a lot about a person just by the house they live in!  and i've found that i love artwork that incorporates houses, which is why i chose to make this piece.  the technique is nothing new...shapes of different patterned papers glued onto a canvas.  it's simple, it's happy...and maybe just a little pollyanna.  :)