Getting Out to Look Within

"I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown for going out, I found, was really going in." -John Muir

Hope everyone enjoyed their three day weekend! We got out on Monday for a little family picnic at the Quail Botanical Gardens in Encinitas...one of my favorite places for peace and nature's inspiration. I also like to experiment with my photography skills which need serious improvement most times!! If you've never visited these gardens, it really is a breathtaking place to see. They have over 35 acres filled with every type of vegetation imaginable from every biome across the world...Australia, Hawaii, etc. They have a really cool bamboo garden that's like going through a maze of sticks!

Of course, hydrangeas are one of my all-time favorites...I imagine having great horticultural skills in another lifetime and my house being surrounded by grande and fragrant hydrangea bushes, just like in Martha's Vineyard!

They had a statue of a woman made purely out of various types of succulents...now there's a plant species that I've had success with...they thrive on little to no water!! LOL!! I thought the cameo was the greatest detail here!



Liam doesn't look quite as thrilled in this picture but he really did enjoy looking up at the trees overhead and all the amazing patterns when the light filtered through the leaves. What better source of beauty for inspiration than Mother Nature?!

His Story

I've been trying my best to document Liam's first months with us. I've found that the mini album is a new mom's best friend, allowing you to document those first memories with a minimal amount of time, effort, and supplies. Back in July, I saw this cute album posted by Ali Edwards and decided I had to make my own! After gathering up the supplies she listed, here is my own version....

The cover is a great canvas album from Pink Paislee with a Jenni Bowlin rub-on.

Ali had some digital files of these little word cards on her website, but I decided to just make my own using shipping tags with the top cut off.
I little bit of Maya Road paint mist and some Japanese tape...two of my new favorite art supplies...not to mention my brand new Fuji Instax Mini camera which hubby bought me for our anniversary...LOVE these little pictures!! So sweet!


Hope everyone is having a wonderful Labor Day weekend!! Wishing you lots of sunshine in your little corner of the world!!

Where does your inspiration come from?

This was the last piece of work I did before having my baby. I wanted to make sure I had something during all those early weeks (when there was no time to create) to remind me of what inspires me. It was sitting on my studio work table when I returned from the hospital. All I had left to do was to place the letters on it. It now sits next to my work table...a beautiful collage of hot pinks and turquoise!

I have a huge binder filled with images I have cut out of magazines throughout the years. I page through the binder whenever I'm in a creative rut, but I thought it might be great to showcase some of the pictures where I could always see them. I cut out all of my very favorite ones to use in this piece. After gluing them all down on a piece of flat plywood, I added fabric swatches and some other little bits of this and that which I've been saving for just that "perfect" piece. No time like the present!

"The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider's web." -Picasso

What inspires you? What colors are you always drawn to? What makes your heart go pitter- patter? What will put a smile on your face this week? What will be the catalyst for your next creative masterpiece? Go forth and create.....

Little Angel

Back in June, I took a Whimsical Collage class at Paper Tales (THE best scrapbook store in San Diego!) taught by the talented and sweet Lilia Meredith. I just love her style, especially with all her layers of paint and sanding and stenciling and oil pastels....it always forces me out of my "neat" zone to get a little messy with my art! The task of the class was to bring a blown up photo of a family member and incorporate it into a large collage. Of course, I had to use Liam as the subject and here's how it turned out...

I hung it in his room...my sweet little angel! Too cute!!

Playin' With Paint

I've really been into the spray mists and ink splatters lately!! I'm taking a one week online class hosted by the amazing Debee Campos. I just love all her work and her blog is always full of really bright cheery pictures. Have I mentioned that it is my new favorite blog this summer?!

Anyway, she is teaching us her paint splatter technique which she incorporates into all of her work, and I have just been dying to find out how artists get such great splatters...kinda Jackson Pollick-y. So here is my first attempt. There are more elements that are to be added to this cover but in between cleaning up the house which seems a 5 times daily occurence and doing laundry and nursing, this is all I had time for!

Here is a quick journal page I snuck in last night at 9:30 when I was supposed to be getting ready for bed!! It's just a short little journal book filled with pictures I've cut out of magazines of things that inspire me. I loved this vignette in last month's Real Simple issue.
And lastly...but certainly NOT least....an updated pic of baby Liam at 13 weeks!! He only makes me smile about half a million times a day!!!

Color My World...

...in bright hues and sunny smiles! We actually made it out of the house this week for a day trip down to the South Park area of San Diego. I had read about it in Sunset magazine so we finally checked it out. I could have spent much more time in this little store called The Grove which was a bookstore, fiber arts/sewing store, and also full of other eclectic artsy finds. Liam was nice enough to sleep for a little while so I could pick up a few things. Here are some fun Amy Butler fabrics I bought along with a pattern for a turtle pin cushion from Heather Bailey. I also picked up these cute playing cards with peace signs on them which I plan to use in projects or for gift tags.

I've also been renovating this little corner of my studio and freshening it up a bit with some bright colors. I recently bought a bunch of silk peonies and this enamel green vase. I set up this vignette with the art piece I did a few months back and a poster I bought off of etsy.
Here is a closer look at the poster on the right. It's from a seller called the wheatfield. She has lots of great graphic designs using bright "sunshiny" colors. I purchased another poster from her that is a honeycomb pattern using pinks and polka dotted yellows.
And lastly, what could brighten my world more than a smile from this little guy?! He's finally holding his head up for longer periods of time and actually rolled over twice this week!! Yeah!
Hope you find some sunshine in your corner of the world this weekend!! I'm off to the Long Beach Flea Market tomorrow. Hopefully I'll return with some fun finds!

Jumpstarting Creativity

After the birth of your first child, you suddenly realize how all of the things you filled your days with are no longer the things that you fill your days with! Then, when you get 15 minutes of uninterrupted time to yourself (on a good day), you also realize how difficult it is to make creativity happen in the blink of an eye! So these last few weeks, I've been trying to revamp my studio a little in an attempt to jumpstart my creative "mojo". These are some of the things I've been into lately:

Anything asian inspired....love this little corner of my studio now!

Anything that reminds me to be thankful and mindful and grateful for the changes in my life, even if things can be frustrating and crazy at times...(especially on little sleep)....
Anything that documents my little Liam's first days with us....and helps me to remember his story. He is almost 10 weeks old and already I can see him changing!!
Anything of natural beauty to brighten my home... Just got this vase last weekend at a flea market and hubby said, "That's a nice piece of milk glass." Wow...a man after my own heart...he actually DOES listen to me babble about all my flea market finds!!!
And most importantly, this little guy...inspiring me all of the time to be the very best I can be...even if I feel on some days that I don't have a clue as to what I'm doing!! Here he is, happy as can be with his little friend Mr. Sock Monkey....Ahhhh.....life is good!