Better Late than Never Butterflies

So, I was supposed to make a little something for my mom for her birthday... that was in May.  I am now finally finished with it... I think!  I still have to see how it looks in her bathroom to know if I'm really finished.

I used my recycled painting paper butterflies.  Aren't they cute?!

And then I painted another little something to go with it.  A coral and green plant to go with my mom's coral and green bathroom.  I love those two colors together (if you haven't noticed already)!

New in the Shop

Just a little note today to say I'm now selling these lovely little paintings here :)  You can click on the links below or click here to go to my Etsy Shop.

Birds

Stencil Flower

Japanese Quince

Hollyhocks

Have a wonderful day!

Photo of the Week

Sagebrush...... not exactly my favorite plant because of allergies, but it can be quite beautiful if caught in the right light.  I spent my weekend surrounded by the stuff in the high desert of Nevada.  Man, am I glad to be home again!

Checking out the Chalk Art Festival

Last weekend was the chalk art festival in Salt Lake City... it was pretty cool!  My husband and I went out on a date (that doesn't happen often enough) the first night it was open, so most of the artworks weren't complete yet.  Even so, it was fun to see.  I was so inspired that I want to sign up to do one next year... but I'm not sure my back and knees could take it.  We'll see...

My all-time favorite was Animal from Sesame Street!  The color contrast is so striking!

Another favorite... a Japanese style chalk drawing.  So unique!

And the feature of the festival...too bad it was only half-way done.  This one was looking amazing!

 After seeing the art, we enjoyed a little treat while sitting on a nearby bench, when I happened to spot this....

...definitely an artists bike!

Mint Limeade

My new favorite drink..

Mint Limeade!

I made this for the first time ever and it was so delicious!  Thanks to my in-laws for their fresh mint! This limeade would not be the same without it.  

You can find the recipe HERE at allrecipes.com.  It's actually a Pepper-Mint Limeade that calls for slices of jalapeno peppers, but you really don't need them.  I left out the peppers and the drink was pretty much perfect :)

Photo of the Week

Life is great when your neighbor lets you have the cherries from the branches of her cherry tree that hang into your yard!  No bugs or anything...  I'm loving these!

Father's Day Cards

Father's Day is almost here, so my son and I spent some time making cards this week.  I don't think any of the guys in the family check this blog too often, so I'm safe sharing them here.

I came up with a simple card for my Dad and a little sack of peanuts for my husband...

and my son made his own original creation.  He isn't too interested in trying to write in cards yet, but man, he has fun with glue sticks and hole punches!

Artist Spotlight: Jamie Swim

Hey guys! Today I'm putting in a plug for my good friend, who happens to make some pretty cool art.   She's got a website up now, so go check out Jamie Swim Art sometime!  She mostly paints with acrylics on canvas, but I've seen some of her work on guitars and hats even!

She paints Hawaiian landscapes that are so bright and happy. It seriously makes you want to live in Hawaii like she does... ya I'm a little jealous about that!

Get Organized: Canvas Memo Board Tutorial

Hello! This week has been one of those weeks where I don't feel like making a whole lot of stuff and taking pictures of it.  I love creating, but ya, even I need breaks once in a while.  So luckily, I put together this little project and tutorial for you last week.

So here is my new memo board...made from a thrifted picture frame, cardboard and canvas.  Entirely free for me to make because I had all of those things at hand already!

Here is what you need to get going:

Materials:
Picture Frame ( I used one for the thrift store)
Thick Cardboard
Canvas or Burlap
Staple Gun with Staples
Embellishments

Step 1:  Cut and fit some thick cardboard into the frame.

Step 2:  Lay the frame face down on the canvas and cut a few inches around the borders.

Step 3:  Fold the canvas over one of the sides and staple it in the center of the length of that side to secure it to the frame. 

Step 4:  Fold the canvas over on the opposite side of the frame and stretch tightly.  Staple again in the center of that side.  Do the same for the other two sides of the frame, stretching tightly each time.  

Now your frame should look like this.. with one staple in the center of each side.

Step 5: Continue to staple the rest of the canvas onto the frame, working from the center out and alternating sides.  Remember to pull the canvas tightly each time. 

This process is what is known as in the art world as "stretching a canvas"... a little skill I learned in my oil painting class.  cool huh?  The goal is to stretch the canvas as tightly and evenly as possible, but for our purposes here, the tightness and evenness don't matter quite as much.

Step 6:  Time to finish off the corners....fold the canvas over so that it looks like the picture below.  I can't quite explain how to get a straight clean corner.  I had to play around with it for a while to get it straight.  Once you get it folded over, hold it down tightly and staple it down.

Step 7:  Ok, the hard work is over... now to the fun stuff! Decorating!  I have a plethora of crochet flowers hanging out in my yarn bin that I put to use for this project :)

Now go find a nice spot for it in your house... my spot happens to be the kitchen.  The kitchen is always the center of our house, so this is where my board goes.  It's working out nicely so far!

My Favorite Online Photo Editor

Have you guys heard of picmonkey?  Well, it is officially my new favorite online photo editor and it's free- hooray!

My favorite part is the collage feature... so many cool layouts to choose from.  They have specific layouts for facebook cover pages... check out mine above for my Grow Creative page.

And then they have layouts that work perfectly for blog headers... just what I need!  I just made a new one for my personal/family blog and I'm loving it :)

Like Peanut Butter and Jelly

Watercolors and ink go together so well... so well in fact that you could say they go together like peanut butter and jelly, don't you think?

These little paintings actually came about partially by accident.  They started out as plain stenciled watercolors, but they looked kind of lonely. So I got out my pen and started drawing some leaves around the birds, not intending to do any shading, but then, I smeared it. I decided to just make it look like that's the way it was supposed to be by smearing other parts.  Then I went a little crazy and starting smearing water on it too.  It was one of those accidents that actually turn out making something cool!  I love it when that happens!

Get Organized: Kitchen Storage

Alright, today I'm sharing another organization project, well actually, it's more about making the organization pretty.  I already had this little wooden box, it was just plain and ugly.  I keep it in the kitchen to hold random things like my phone charger, hand sanitizer, and pens.  It needed some serious help.

So here's the before..

and here's the after!

 A little paint, paper and modge podge did the trick! Now it matches my kitchen.. yay!

Photo of the Week

My favorite hang-out these days.... the man-made lake at Daybreak!

I'm planning on doing a painting of this sometime.  Isn't it gorgeous?  I may never have enough money to live here, but at least I'm close by so I can visit often :)

What to do with a Pineapple Top

Ever notice how beautiful pineapples are? I bought one the other day for $.98 at my local Winco- love that store!  After I cut it up, I couldn't bring myself to throw away the top, so......

I turned it into a center piece!

I'm loving it :)

Stamped Paper Cards

If you tried out the Watercolor Stamped Paper Tutorial or the Stenciled Watercolor Tutorial, then you have some nice card-making possibilities at hand.  If not, check out the tutorials- they are super easy ones.

I combined parts from both of those projects to make these here.  Take a look!

Happy and bright cards are my favorite kinds...they just make me smile :)