Apr 13
2013

my art bag and it’s contents

i love creating art in different places; a friend’s house, an art retreat, etc.
the best way to be able do this i’ve found, is by having a designated art travel bag.

the local craft stores never seemed to have all that i was looking for.
so i ended up going to home depot/lowe’s (can’t remember which one) to find a tool bag.
it was hideous and very manly.
as curly girl designs says, “i am fairly certain given a cape & a nice tiara, i could save the world”-
for me it should read, “given paint and a paint brush i could change the world!”.

as you can see- over time a LOT OF paint has been added!

i also took a box cutter and removed some of the inside separators that I didn’t need and were just going to get in the way.

my friend Janne and i strongly believe that “arting” should be a word. right?!?!

i love all the outside pockets on this bag.

over the past few years i’ve worked it’s contents down to my personal arting essentials.

• hard and soft bristle brushes
• staedtler black fine tipped pens
• lyra 6b graphite pencil
• uniball signo white pen
• sharpie paint pens (just a few for fun)
• pencil
• eraser (staedtler)
• scissors
• E6000 glue
• golden gel medium
• golden paints(mostly liquid), liquitex paints(concentrated & heavy body) & blick artists acrylics(heavy body)
• blue shop paper towels- love these cause i can use them over & over again
• recycled lids for paint palettes
• washi tape
• art journal or project of the moment

and there you have it.
that’s what’s in my bag.
obviously, you could make a bag like this for all sorts of hobbies- scrap-booking, sewing, crocheting, beading etc.
do you have one? if so, how does it differ? what’s in your bag?

| 11 comments

Dec 11
2012

free & fun Christmas Card Templates!

if you’re still looking to send out your christmas cards,
here are some fun & free templates you can use with your own photos!
just follow our step by step instructions below,
if you have questions post in the comments and we’ll help as best we can.

STEP 1: You will need to download Photoshop if you don’t already have it. There is a free trial here that you can use.

STEP 2: Download our free card templates here and open the one you want to use in Photoshop.

STEP 3: Drag and drop your photo into the folder titled Your Photo Here.

STEP 4: If your photo is too large use the marquee tool (M) to select and delete any parts of the photo that go beyond the template.

STEP 5: Get it printed! (Costco & Walgreens are two options)

hope you are enjoying the season so far! xo-m

| 0 comments

Dec 10
2012

fun Christmas Card Templates!

i know- this is going to be too late for many of you…
since i’ve received several christmas cards in the mail already.
but, for all of us- slower, not as organized peeps- these are for you!

so, tomorrow i will be posting some FREE christmas card templates to use with your pictures & have printed at places like costco & walgreens!
below are some examples of the these fun, artsy designs.

| 1 comment

Nov 30
2012

recycled vintage ornament wreath DIY

i made this vintage & recycled ornament wreath probably 5 years ago.
it is my very favorite christmas decoration to pull out every year.
although, not the easiest to store away.

angel is by renowned american folk artist debbee thibault.

for this project you will need:

a good 3-4 hours!
glue gun & plenty of glue sticks
styrofoam wreath (i used a 17″ flat not rounded one for mine)
lots and lots of ornaments, different sizes all the way down to minis if possible
and fabric

1. start by wrapping your wreath with strips (anywhere from 2″-5″ strips will work) of fabric and securing, fabric to fabric, with hot glue.

2. at this point you’ll want to tie a ribbon around the wreath for hanging.

3. then began hot gluing ornament after ornament on the top first, then move to the sides of the wreath. i started by gluing larger ones first saving the smaller ones to fill in the gaps later.

**make sure as you’re going along that it sits flat on your table as that is how it will hang on the wall.
**i tried to apply glue on as many sides that I can, giving it as much security as possible.

this is a wreath i made for my momma a few years ago…

have fun!
and i’d LOVE to see yours when your done!

| 6 comments

Oct 14
2012

photo cards

with the holiday season right around the corner,
i figured i should remind you of what you can do with all those photo christmas cards this year.
this is a great DIY way to organize and keep memories of those families you want to remember year to year.

all you need is a hole punch and some rings.
punch some holes (the same width apart), and put them together!

last year i took the pretty top off another christmas card and used it as my cover.

i bring them out every year and they’re always getting looked at by us and by our guests.
this whole thing literally took me about 10 minutes.

and- no, i’m not a hoarder

| 4 comments

Oct 9
2012

the best pumpkin pancakes ev-eh!

until a few days ago i had never made nor had pumpkin pancakes.
i didn’t realize what i was missing!

i found this recipe from annie’s eats -and it is delish.
(her recipe didn’t call for allspice but i didn’t have the ground ginger or cloves. not really sure if allspice covers those but it sounded good.)

i doubled the recipe and it made enough to feed 5 big eaters with a few left over.
and i did end up having to add some water just cause the batter was so thick.