The Girl (Who Waited)

Happy Mother's Day!
   As disappointing as this is, I have had some strange allergic reaction to something lately and will be spending today on a facetime call with momma. Luckily, I got this one finished right on time! (I try very hard to be a "do not wait until the last minute" type of person) My momma is a huge doctor who fan so I thought I'd make one of our favorite themes from the show.
The Girl Who Waited

She is made entirely of felt and is 9" in diameter on an embroidery hoop.

What shows are your family totally obsessed with?

And They Lived Happily (Ever After)

Tristan (my boyfriend) and I have been completely obsessed with Once Upon A Time. Like, watching four or five in a row type of obsession.

This show is perfect. I adore the characters, I love the fact it's all based off my favorite fairytales. 

Beauty and the Beast and I have a deep, meaningful relationship.

SO in honor of my new favorite show, I thought it would be fun to show my favorite storybook themed listings on Etsy.

This cup listed by pixeledpink on Etsy is a most perfect replica of Rumpelstiltskin's cup on the show.

Don't these cookies by BakeMyDayCookies on Etsy just look adorable and delicious?

Grumpy (or Dreamy, depending on your version of the story) is such a wonderfully complex character. This necklace by hgforeverstar on Etsy is adorable!

Papercut art is so beautiful. This piece by StudioCharley on Etsy is gorgeous!

Look how cute these amigurami dolls from Amigurami4u on Etsy are!

If I ever have a daughter, you better believe this piece from ShabulousChandeliers on Etsy will be in her Disney themed bedroom<3

I will absolutely be adding this apron from loverdoversclothing on Etsy to my apron collection

These shoes<3 SO cute from AshtonAtelier on Etsy

Absolutely beautiful necklace by TheSpiralGoddess of Etsy

And, last but not least, 

A wonderful Henry's book replica by JegasCreations on Etsy

Please tell me I'm not the only one head over heels with this show right now.

What are you obsessing over?

Sweet Ocarina and The Ride Into Battle

Recently, I was asked for two more commissioned paintings for a lovely couple. I absolutely love the video game/ comic book/ sci-fi themed requests lately. I had a lot of fun with these, especially link:)

Her exact request was "Batman riding my cat holding a Sonic Screwdriver." Awesome.

And he wanted Link and Navi from Legend of Zelda

And there they are! They absolutely loved them:)
Paintings made specifically for someone are my favorite, I love commission paintings!
They can all be found on my Etsy Shop

Little White Elephant

I absolutely love idioms and metaphors. My newest painting is based off one of my favorites "White elephant in the room"

Starting off with an idea..

Moving into a painting..

And we have that white Elephant!

And something new I've started, every purchased painting comes with a matching finger puppet!

On sale now on my Etsy shop now.
Come see!

Six Way to Inspire Creativity (and Break the Block)

Every time I want to paint, I follow the same routine.
Get my coffee.
Pull out my paints and brushes.
Put a pillow on the floor, start up some Florence and the machine, and sit.
And there are times I do this and I know exactly what I want but then there are times where I just have no idea. We've all been there. 
Here are some ways I beat those nasty no clue blues. I hope they help!

Get outside
And this could mean your backyard or it could mean exploring the city. When you see the same things everyday, you become immune to what creativity those items may spark. That's why, sometimes, just staying in my room isn't enough to inspire me. I have to go exploring! Vintage stores are so much fun because they're always full of surprises.
And even when you're on an intense budget (guilty!) it's still nice to look around.
So grab a magnifying glass and explore your front yard
Go to the park and watch the puppies play
Go to Starbucks and people watch

Because when you're inspired by something you never really took the time to see before, I promise it will be one of your best ideas yet. Speaking of best ideas:

Paint for yourself
Not everything you do will be a masterpiece. I have a giant pile in my closet of paintings that just didn't work for me. Here's the thing, when you create with the intention of showing others, it puts a lot of pressure on you. And pressure does not spark creativity. So paint (or dance or sew or knit or bake or...) like no ones watching! 

This thing that you're making, it's yours. And whether it turns out better than Mona Lisa or worse than kindergarten chicken scratch (which is actually one of my favorites. So cute!) it is your choice whether to show others. Don't let that pressure you.

Recreate your life (or what you want it to be)
You are interesting and dynamic and original. So it stands to reason that if you paint something out of life, that thing will be too!
Do you sew purses? My life right now is very much flowers and foxes. So I would maybe make a bright yellow purse with a fox embroidery.
Do you write? Start with a story of you and your brother having a one hour conversation starting at where to eat and somehow escalating to whether or not Charlie sheen could pull off a monocle.
And if nothing interesting pops into mind, what do you want to do that day?

Do you want to go to an old World War 2 exhibit at the museum? That could make for some creative jewelry ideas.
Do you wish your dreams of being an astronaut weren't crushed by NASA? That may make some great photography. 

Make Frida Kahlo (sort of)
 She is quoted to have said 
"I paint self portraits because I am the person that I know best." 

And I think that is incredibly beautiful. So work with what you offer! After all, no one knows you better and you know no one better than yourself.

And if all else fails...

Paint your favorite thing
I am a very nostalgic girl so my absolute favorite thing is pictures. I have stacks of old pictures, folders and folders in my computer of new ones. There’s nothing I love more. 

So I think of my favorite memories:
That time I went to California by myself and made new friends
That time I went to Disney with my family
Mine and my boyfriend’s very first day

Write(andwriteandwriteandwriteandwriteandwrite)
And don’t stop writing! Remember, you’re the only one who HAS to see this. If you come up with gold, thats’s great! If it makes you giggle, that’s even better. I have notebooks filled with the most random things from peanut butter and jelly sandwich picnics to the aftermath of a Fallout and what I would do as the sole survivor. A lot of it is just for me but this is one hundred percent where I came up with this.

If all else fails and you can’t think of anything, take a deep breath, relax, and go do something else for a little while. When something sparks, I'm sure it will be great.


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Lil' Wayne (Embroidery)

Few things are better than Lil Wayne's lyrics.
OKOKOK maybe I can think of a few things. But you have to give it to the guy, he has some incredibly clever puns.
That, and he's my boyfriends favorite rapper.
So, in honor of Lil Wayne, I made this guy

The first (and most difficult) piece was choosing the lyric. It was between the three:

• Unf____ing believable, Lil Wayne da President.
• When I was five, my favorite movie was the Gremlins. Ain't got f___ to do with this, just thought I should mention.
• I'm a G and You ain't gotta know the alphabet to see.

After a huge poll (way more people participating than expected), the answer was obvious.

So I drew up a little sketch.

And I got to sewing! I love the blue of the hoop (Bloods vs. Crypts, homie)

And finally, he's all done! Lil Wayne himself is actually made of felt sewn onto the embroidery fabric.

He was a lot of fun! And this certainly opens up a lot of doors (with my new found embroidery skills)

What do you think?

The Dark Knight Rises (Painting)

Hello friends!
About a week ago, I received a commissioned painting request for "The scene in Batman where Bane breaks his back"
Needless to say, I was SO excited for this one!

So I got started with a Sketch right away

And painted a background. I knew I wanted a dark background so I went with brown, green and red

Spent a lot of time on Bane's mask and muscular arms (I love that mask)

And now that Bane is finished, I can focus on Batman

I didn't want Batman to be a big, black blob so I added a lot of blues

And there you have it! This one was a lot of fun (HUGE Batman fan) and I love that I got to play around with the old comic book style "Krakt!"

Perfect for a kid's room or big fan like my customer!