Watercolor Geraniums, #3 & #4

My geraniums on my patio have somehow miraculously survived the fall in Utah so far.  Yay! We had the most absolute perfect fall weather last week and I had to paint my geraniums one last time before the snow starts.

Make sure to check these out in my Etsy shop! Just click on the links above each image.

Geraniums #3

Geraniums #4

PS. 733 is featuring my lid magnets today!

Modge Podged Halloween Sign

My paper Happy Halloween sign was transformed yesterday into a modge-podged sign on canvas board- just in time too!  The process is really simple.  Just modge podge your paper to the canvas, sponge some ink around the edges, and finalize with more modge podge.  

Check out my Modge Podge Canvas Tutorial for more details!

What I've learned about blogging

 (Here's my photo of the week, in case you need something pretty to look at!)

#1.  Too much of a good thing, can actually be bad.  Yes, I do love to blog.  My little blog here has been a help to me in so many ways.  It connects me with people with my same interests.  It has helped build up my confidence in myself and what I love to do tremendously.  But, alas, there is such a thing as too much blogging.  Does anyone else out there ever feel totally saturated with the craft blog world?  I get so much inspiration from all the other craft blogs out there, but when I spend too much time looking, I get saturated.

Plus I have vowed to never let myself get carried away and throw my life out of balance for my blog.  I love it, but I still have to make time for the most important things.

#2.  There are a lot of really nice people out there.  Seriously, I have yet to come in contact with anyone who was not nice!  It has restored my faith in the good people out there.  I have heard of some kind of blog bullies going around and making mean comments on some blogs, but I have yet to have that happen to me.  Maybe my blog is too small to get the attention of those meanies- I hope it stays that way.

#3.  Blogging is a good way to connect with people if you be yourself.  I've had chances to get to know a few people and a little about them through blogging.  I've even had some chances to bear my testimony of what I know is true and what is important to me.  It feels good to be able to do that.

#4.  You can't follow everyone!  I struggle with this because I see so many great blogs out there and I want to follow them all, but that brings me back to point #1.  I could never possibly keep up with all of that.  So, as much as I don't like it, I have to pick and choose.  

So those are my thoughts about blogging for the moment.  What have you learned about blogging? 

I'm Addicted to Pears

You may very well have noticed the fact that I can't stop painting pears.  I try lots of things in watercolor, but in the end, I always come back to my pears.  They are so lovely!  

These two paintings are of the exact same pear, I just interpreted it differently in each painting.  Which one do you like best?  #1- more true to life   OR   #2- a little abstract ?

#1

#2

Crochet Earwarmer

The weather is getting colder and that always gets me in the mood for crocheting! This is my latest creation, another earwarmer, similar to the one I made earlier this year.

My husband thinks I'm a little weird for making more.  But I got this new coat at the end of the winter season this year, right when they were all  90% off, oh ya!  And then I didn't have an earwarmer to match it, so I had to make another.  We women just have to have our matching accessories, don't we?

I came up with the pattern on my own, except for the flowers.  So if anyone is interested, I can attempt to write down my pattern and share it with you!  Let me know if you are interested!

Free Shipping at my Shop!

In order to get some more business going for my Etsy Shop, I'm offering free shipping on everything till the end of the year!  Yes, I said free :)

Head over to GrowCreative on Etsy to check out my watercolor paintings like these:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/78902262/original-watercolor-pear-5-x-7-free

http://www.etsy.com/listing/78905528/original-watercolor-purple-flower

http://www.etsy.com/listing/79647204/8-x-10-original-watercolor-tractor

Gourd Party

Last weekend, my little family and I had a gourd painting party! Ya!  We have tons of old birdhouse gourds from my in-laws just sitting around on porch. I took care of a few of them by making Spooky Gourds, but it was time to do something about the rest :)

My son had a great time with the paint! His gourd is more of a camouflage style.  He loves it so much that he would only let me take a picture of it if he was holding it.  

I decided to go all out with mine and try something more decorative.  It took me forever, but the gold acrylic paint looks awesome on these gourds. 

My husband got creative with nature on his-  he's not a bad artist for a computer guy, eh?

Monster Puppets

Here they are... the monster puppets.  Not an original creation of my own, but one that I borrowed from Six Sister's Stuff.  They offer some nice free templates!  Yay!

I got a little lazy with cutting out all the patterns and free-handed a few of the accessories on my own.  I also left out the noses and hands, but oh well.  It works.

My son got a kick out of them when he saw me making them.  Taking them to church this Sunday will be the true test of their child-entertaining-effectiveness.

Mormons are Christians Button

 Ok, so today I'm going to share something a bit personal- my religion.  I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  We are generally known in the world as Mormons. 

In the media last week, there were reports of a certain political figure saying some pretty mean and completely false things about another certain political figure, who is a Mormon.  The first man said that the Mormon was part of a cult and that Mormons are not Christians.  Wow- that hurts.  How could he say that about us without even trying to understand who we are and what we believe?!

As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints,  I am here to say that we are indeed Christians.  Our church is the Church of Jesus Christ.  We believe in the teachings of Jesus Christ and strive to follow Him.  Is that not the definition of a "christian church" ?  And we are definitely not a cult.

So, within my sphere of influence, however small it may be,  I am standing up for my faith and spreading the truth about the Mormons.  I've made this little button here to help spread the truth and combat the lies that are so publicly spread about us.  So, this is for us and for anyone else who wants to know who we really are.  We are Christians!

If you would like to know more about the Mormons, just click on my button.  It will direct you to Mormon.org, a church website.


 To put this button on your own blog, copy the code below:

<br /> <a border="0" href="http://mormon.org/" target="_blank"><img src="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/18050612/mormons%20are%20christians.jpg"/></a><br />

Spooky Gourds

My almost three-year-old son refers to Jack-o-lanterns as "scary pumpkins"- he loves them! So instead of trying to name these gourds I painted something clever like gourd-o-lanterns, or jack-o-gourds, we are going to call them Spooky Gourds!

My in-laws grew about twenty of these gourds when they lived in California years ago.  My husband volunteered to take some off their hands while helping clean out their garage.  I finally figured out a good use for them!

Felt Ghost and Spider Templates

 Last year I came up with these easy and inexpensive Halloween decorations- little ghosts and spiders made of felt.  The ghosts I hang in the window and the spiders I stick to the wall.

I got these out yesterday to start my Halloween decorating and decided that I needed some more.  Well, I didn't save the drawings I used to make these from last year, so I decided to draw them up again and share the templates with you!

Yay!  Free stuff is good!  So just click on the link below to get a PDF template to make your own felt ghosts and spiders.


Felt Spiders and Ghosts Template

Blue Butterfly

Another watercolor butterfly.... this time in blue!  I'm thinking of doing a whole series of butterflies- they are so fun to paint!

Check out this butterfly and other paintings in my etsy shop.