and the winner is...

 

 

And the winner of the YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE canvas is:

 

katiechiet

 

 I just sent an email to you with the details.  Congratulations Katie!

good weekend reads

I hope everyone is having a great weekend.  We're spending the weekend at my parents' house. 

If you combine porch swings, hay fields, lazy afternoons, homemade soup, white bread, and unlimited movie watching you'll have a pretty good idea of why my boys never want to leave.

Here are a few good weekend reads...

Edie at Life in Grace tells us everything we need to know about a well appointed guest room; The Nester gives a great perspective on hoarding and organizing and such; and Melissa at The Inspired Room has some great photos of decorating with orange and red.

Do you have favorite blogs? Feel free to share in the comments!

And don't forget that the drawing for this piece will be on Monday.  If you want to win it, just sign up to follow by rss or email.  good luck!

circles of sunshine

 

I'm guest posting over at Circles of Sunshine today.

 

Each Friday they have a series called Rays of Sunshine:

featuring different women from different walks of life;

  giving us a small glimpse into their lives with the hope

of leaving you encouraged.

 

Jenny and Daspri are two of the most artistic, crafty, and fun ladies in blogland and I'm honored that they asked me to be a part.

 If you ever wonder what a day of a craft-business person looks like,

click on over and check it out.

  

colors

Just a quick post today to share my latest creation with you!  Even though it's long overdue--who knew that it would take me two years to finally make my own color chart!?--I'm excited to be able to use this as a reference for custom orders in  my etsy shop.

 

 I love 6 and 28.  What's your favorite?

color infusion

Today is the first post in my color infusion series.  Each week we'll focus on ways that we can add color and style in unsuspecting places. 

 

Let's begin with these sweet little teacups.  

 

 

These go with my fiesta dishes but you can use any teacup or coffee mug.  They could be displayed on your kitchen counter, in a basket, or used as a small vase to hold a flower brought in from your yard.  But today I'll show you how we use them around our house. 

 

I've had these glass canisters from Wal-Mart for years and recently found the chalkboard labels on this etsy site. 

I know there are countless ways to add style and function in unsuspecting places. 

So what are some ways you add color where it's unexpected?

 

 

Don't forget--the giveaway for
this canvas is only 7 days away, so be sure to sign up to follow through RSS or email if you'd like your name to be in the drawing!

inspired by mercy

in·spire: to stir, prompt, or move to action, particularly to create; to breathe in and be filled 

 

 

After I talked yesterday about inspiration, I began to wonder what constitutes inspiration?  I looked it up to find~anything that moves us, that prompts us to create...

 

to breathe in and be filled.

 

Isn't that our hope--that our creativity wouldn't be something that is forced but something that is inspired, that we breathe in and be so filled that the overflow is something beautiful? 

 

 

It's vulnerable, it takes courage, it takes constantly tending the fires within so that the overflow is actually something we would want to make visible. 

 

  As I told you yesterday, here's a song that I adore and that inspired the piece you see above. 

happy fall

 

Happy Fall everyone!  Doesn't fall just make everything better? 

Pictures of fall always make me want to breathe in the cool, crisp air and surround myself with greens and golds and reds.  When I saw this photo, I was immediately moved to paint this Happy Fall canvas.  I wanted a piece that reminded me of the fall leaves raining down. 

 

I love how inspiration can come from anywhere.  Mine often comes from photos, songs, being outside and words that move me.  Tomorrow, I want to share one of those songs with you and the result.

 

So what about you, where does your inspiration come from?