Fuzzy Bunny

A friend came over today and we got creative with acrylic paints.  It's something we both want to do more of but tend not to unless we make plans, get together, and sit down to paint together.  Funny how that works.  I guess there are just too many other things to do that distract us.

Here's what I painted today...

I'm really happy how it turned out.  I swirled on a pretty green paint for the background.  The swirls made for an interesting pattern and made it so I didn't need to do multiple coats of paint.  I love that and I love the effect!  The light green, however, makes it look Eastery or more juvenile/perfect for a kid's room.  I started out making the bunny several shades of white and just dabbing it on and swirling it a bit. I had no thought of trying to paint fur.  But, somehow, I just started painting fur and it magically worked out.  It totally transformed the look of the bunny into adorableness. I've always seen paintings of animals with fur and thought they looked realllllllly hard.  I think I've opened up my mind and the possibilities of what I might be able to do!  Wow!

Here's a closer look at that cute little face...   

FO Friday

Since I didn't blog for a while, I didn't do any FO (finished object) posts.  So, I've been trying to figure out what all I may have finished during my blogging break.  I'm not sure I'm remembering everything and there are some things that were made for Christmas gifts that I can't show just yet.  But, here are some things I've created over the past month or so...

If you've been following my blog for a while you might remember a sugar skull painting I did in a class with my daughter in July.  Shortly after finishing that, I got the idea to do a kitty version.  It turned out a little goofy and a little cute.  I'm trying not to focus on what I wish I'd done differently and just enjoy it.  I'm not really sure what I'll do with it but I do like the happy colors.

I had an idea early this year to make a tiny, lace shawl for a blog friend's puppet.  She took her puppet on trips and posted pictures of it on cruise ships and exotic places.  It just seemed like a fun idea.  I finally finished it up and made a matching pair of earrings and sent it off.  Sadly, the puppet got lost on one of her trips.  The last time she saw it was sticking out of her bag at an airport.  Oh well.  She liked the earrings and said she'll enjoy wearing them.  She might even make a new puppet that can someday enjoy this cute little set.

I hope I'm safe in sharing these next two projects.  I know that one of the recipients never goes online.  I don't think the other one will visit my blog.  Fingers crossed!

So many people have what they need and gifting is a challenge.  I figure I can't go wrong with nice kitchen towels and a little something handmade to personalize it and make it special.  That's just what these two gifts are.  We all use kitchen towels and I'd love to get a gift like one of these.  

As I was searching on Ravelry for ideas, I saw that someone had used the center flower of a pot holder pattern to make a little scrubby.  It was so cute and seemed like the perfect idea for this gift and the person it's going to.  I even had the yarn I needed in my stash.  How cool is that?!

I used Sugar N Cream yarn, a size G hook, and the "Rose Ripple Potholder" pattern.  You can find it on Ravelry by clicking HERE.  I used THIS free leaf pattern to finish it off.

For this set of kitchen towels, I made a couple of dish cloths.  I've made lots of these over the years and I love them.  They work great!  And, they're simple and fun to make and I can make two with a two ounce ball of Sugar N Cream.  I made this pattern up and you can find details on how to make it on my Ravelry project page by clicking HERE.

I'll post other projects when I can, after Christmas.  Other than that, the only things I can think of that I've finished lately are some Kumihimo cords.  They're fun to make and a great use of scraps.  I'll round them up and take some pictures for a future post.

Creativity vs. Distraction

I love being creative. I always have. It's something I want spend more of my time doing. I even created a beautiful space to create in. And, I have time. But...I keep getting distracted. There's always laundry, groceries, cooking, errands, people to help, and places to go. I keep thinking that I could treat it like a job and go into my studio every morning at 10. I know that once I get started on something, I'll be in there for a while and it'll be fun and rewarding. But, I keep getting distracted.

I spent time in there a couple mornings last week. I wasn't completely sure what I was going to work on. The list of things I want to do is so long that it's hard to decide where to start. I pulled out some paper, watercolors, brushes and pens, and played around. I ended up spending a couple of hours doodling on these...


I was inspired by a tutorial on the "Peony and Parakeet" Blog. It would have been nice to add some white paint and some metallic highlights but I was using what I had. They're not really what I was aiming for. But, I feel good that I actually sat down to be creative.


I played around with some acrylic paints and brushes another day. This is all I did though. I felt stuck! Ugh!


I love fiber arts and I want to spend much more time on that. But, I really want to work with some other materials for a change...like I used to years ago.

I would love to know how really creative people do it. How to create and create without letting distractions of everyday life get in the way. Any tips, advice or encouragement would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! :-)

Signs of Christmas

We really enjoy making gifts. And, lucky for us, our family seems to like receiving them. We've even been told that when we don't make them, they miss it. How cool is that?!

We've made lots of different things over the years...baked goods, flavored olive oil and vinegar, gift baskets, quilts, crochet and knit items, wooden toys, etc, etc.

Three of the gifts we gave this year were signs made of wood. My husband and I come up with the ideas and designed them, he cut out and sanded the wood, did a lot of the painting, and I painted the letters.

We made this sign for his aunt and uncle. They love spending about half the year in Idaho and when they're home they can't wait to go back. So, we thought they'd enjoy this. Hubby even made a metal arrow for them to move as the time gets closer to leaving for their summer destination...


This one was made for my husband's grandma. She's almost 90 and still plays bunco regularly. I think she's been playing with the same group of ladies for over 20 years! She loves her sign and can't wait to show the ladies when they meet for bunco at her house in a couple of weeks...


This one was for hubby's grandpa. He's 90 and loves his beer! We saw a sign with this saying on it and thought it was funny. He doesn't drink this much but we thought he'd enjoy it...

It's all about the Soup...and a Little Painting Fun!

My life has been really busy lately...in a good way. I've been working out more, going out and doing more, playing more and having loads of fun. That explains why my blog has been a bit neglected lately, with very few posts. I'm hoping to squeeze in a few posts this week to catch up on some of the fun.

My husband, daughter and I use to go fairly often to a local place called "Painted Earth" to paint pottery. Life got so busy for a few years that we haven't had a chance to go in quite a while. We sure missed it. Recently, my daughter and I decided to spend an afternoon there. We're really out of painting practice but we had a lot of fun.



We ended up spending over five hours in the studio.



Here's her finished bowl, after firing...



Here's the inside. I love the sunny yellow and all the pretty colors she used...

It takes imagination to visualize how it will look after firing because the colors change so much. Here's a picture of my bowl before...




And, here it is after firing...






My husband painted this bowl a few years ago. I love it!...



My husband loves to use his bowl whenever we make one of our favorite recipes, "Sopa de Tortilla". I saw this recipe on a Martha Stewart show over 10 years ago, we tried it, and it has been a family favorite ever since. His bowl works out so perfectly for this soup that we wanted bowls of our own. The large size is great because this soup is filled with garnishes...avocado, queso fresco cheese, finely chopped/shredded radishes, pasilla chile, tortilla strips, and the very important squeeze of lime. I searched online for the recipe to provide a link. This RECIPE looks like the one. It just doesn't include all of the garnishes. We even add chicken sometimes. We're planning to make Sopa this week to try out our new bowls. I can't wait! Yum!