We Made it into the new House

Well, we did it. We moved in to the new place, and it is still a disaster zone over here. No Internet connection for me yet (still working that out), so I'm blogging by phone!


I wanted to share the beginnings of a journal page that I've started. I sketched out a girl's face and look forward to adding some color. Also, I just downloaded Hipstamatic on my iPhone (since everyone else seems to enjoy it) and wanted to play with that a little :) It is kinda fun! Another meeting with the builder tomorrow afternoon about my new studio. Sounds like this is actually going to happen and I'm so thankful. I will probably get the new studio just before or after the baby comes, but that's okay. At least I'll have it for the day/time I'm ready for it! It will wait for me until the time is right :) Right now, I'm just concerned this babe will be early. I'm only 33 weeks, but I'm nervous about her coming too early! My first child was three weeks early... Hope you're having a great week! ~Kelly

Big Changes and the Next Step

Big, big changes are happening over here!  I haven't talked about it much, but we are in the middle of moving to a new house - today!  It started on Monday with the movers coming to box up stuff, and today they are working on my studio :(   I have a picture of the studio being packed up, but Blogger won't let me load it.  Oh well.  It was a fuzzy shot anyway..

I think I've been in a bit of denial over this move, and now I'm finally facing up to it and working with it.  I think that all of this transition (and the hormones from this pregnancy) have been really getting to me - even more than I realized.  I'm a homebody, and I love my house and studio, and so the thought of leaving all this behind was kind of hard.  Not to mention the nesting instincts are strong, and I just want to be getting the baby's room ready, instead of moving an entire house!  But you know what??  I'm feeling better than I have in a while.  The new house now looks like an actual house (instead of chaotic construction site), and it helped to give me an attitude adjustment.  I finally realized this is the closing of one door and the opening of another. 

It's the beginning of a new chapter in my life.  New house, new child, and hopefully soon, a new studio too.  I've been pouting because the new house doesn't have a studio right now, but I've lived without a studio before and I made it work then, so I'll just do that again.  It's all temporary - I just need to remember that.  And really, once the baby comes, I'll be swamped for the first couple of months anyway until sleep begins to return to my life.  So while I may be stuck in limbo for a bit longer, I am going to try to work with it, instead of fighting it.  And then I need to journal about it when I need some release :)


Hope all of you are creating some awesomeness!  I'm going to ride this crazy train for a bit longer and then hopefully get back to it :)


~Kelly

WIP Painted Flowers

Just a little update on my textile project! I've made a test piece, that you can see up top, and experimented with some different techniques and products. Below, I've outlined my flowers in the coolest product ever- the Auto Fade Pen for fabric- and my next step is to paint all the poppies. That Auto Fade pen is so awesome, because it "erases" with water. I don't know about you, but I like the ability to erase when I'm drawing! Hopefully, I'll get to work on this project some more over the weekend. Hope you all have a great, creative weekend too! ~Kelly

Nesting Instincts

Most ladies when they are pregnant have the "nesting" urges that kick in at some point, that drive them to organize like a crazy lady.  Well, I've been waiting and waiting for that to happen to me, because I am not a natural organizer in my home.  I was actually sort of excited for that urge to kick in, thinking that would be a great time to clean out closets and organize the house a bit more before the baby comes.  But then I had a realization not too long ago.  My nesting urges were kicking in, but in a different form!  What I want to do is make stuff for my youngest daughter.  I have picked out a paint color for the crib (a bold purple!) and I've bought bumpers/sheets/etc, but what I'm going to make is a crib skirt and paint it in the design I want.  You know how it goes - you decide on a paint or color scheme, then you can't really find the exact bedding that you want in the colors that you want so you end up settling for something else.   Not this time!!  The idea hit me, in that fluttery feeling that makes your heart beat a bit faster, as I was reading (of all things) a Martha Stewart Living magazine.  I probably read this mag once a year, but I got suckered in by the cover :)  On the cover was bright, happy poppies and these are one of my favorite flowers of all times.  So in reading the article about poppies, it hit me that I could do the baby's room in poppies - but in the colors I wanted!

So off to the computer I went to research fabric paints and techniques and I have to tell you I am so excited!!  One of the paints I found you can use (and some of you already know this, I'm sure, but it was news to me) was the Shiva paintstiks, and I already own some of them and I just adore them.  And another exciting thing was that I found a line of iridescent colors that I didn't even know existed!  Super cool - I can use them for painting the poppies and for my art journal.  I held off for a couple of days, thinking about these, and then decided to go for it. You can buy them here, or Dick Blick carries them too, in cool little sample packs.


I also found this page chock full of tips and hints on how to do this painting thing on fabric (Don't ya love the internet for information??) and again, I could barely sit still for the itch to jump on this project...


Now I have all of my supplies in hand, and even bought my fabric today at the store.  I was like a kid in a candy shop.  And while I was there, I bought a free motion stitching foot for my sewing machine, which I've wanted to play with for a while...   So, as soon as I have some time and energy, I will start on this project.  If it turns out, you can bet I'll be sharing it here :)  If you have any tips/stories/what-not-to-do things to share about fabric painting, please feel free!!


In the meantime, I also did some glazing today.  Trying to fill up the kiln so I can run a full load.  It's hard to decide what to work on - there are so many things I want to do in the studio!!

Happy creating to all of you..
~Kelly

Creative Business Marathon Update

Hi guys!
If you remember, around the New Year, myself and four other artists linked up and did a Creative Business Marathon where we got our business plans in order for the upcoming year.  When that whirlwind was over, we decided that we needed to do a 6 month check-in to see where we were in our plan.  Since today is the first day of June, it is time to do my post.  I did a little video - but I am trying not to think about how silly I probably look :) 
So here it is:

On another note, things here are well.  I just fired the kiln with a bisque and I'm waiting for it to cool so that I can unload.  I've got some glazing in the process and hope to have some pictures of finished pieces soon.  I also have some ideas in mind for some smaller, less expensive pieces :) and I can't wait to show those to you!

~Kelly