More Fancy Feathers

Ugh, sorry I was so glum yesterday. I really think I just need the sun to come out. I really hope you'll sign up for the super fancy feathery giveaway. It is going on til Sunday.

Speaking of super fancy feathery... My friend Britt Chamberlin recently started her own business called Small Bull Headdresses. I remember posting a long time ago about how I wished I had long hair so I could weave feathers and flowers into it. Well now I have the person that can do that for me.

On the Small Bull website you will see these sets of different headdress ideas but Britt also works closely with clients to design the exact piece they want. She has tons of beautiful materials to choose from. Be the belle of any ball in one of these gorgeous headdresses.

You can Like Small Bull on Facebook here to learn more about different events. For contact information and to get your specialty headdress ordered go here. If you do order a headdress from Small Bull take a pic of yourself and send it. It would be neat to do a follow-up post with people wearing their own Small Bull piece.

Is it too much to ask for sunshine again?

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Maybe it's the unending gray skies or personal life stuff but my heart has felt so heavy lately. In a lot of ways I just feel like I can't get it together. I'm sure it's mostly just feeling sorry for myself and I need to snap out of it. My plan today is to clean up my studio, have lunch with a friend, a meeting with a mentor and make some art in the in-between spaces.

I don't know that my first place ribbons went over so well yesterday, it was a bit of a bummer. I am going to keep working on more though, I think my craftsmanship could be pushed a little more. If you want to sign up for the giveaway its here. I may make a new one for it? It's definitely been a nice way to use all the scraps of paper that keep floating around in my studio. I am a hoarder for sure. Maybe on that hoarding show on tv they should make everyone turn their hoarding junk into first prize ribbons? and then they can reward themselves for cleaning up. First Place!

Have a good day today even if they gray skies are making your brown eyes blue.

Super Fancy Feathery Giveaway!

My studio is currently in absolute shambles, but that's a good sign that I've been hard at work. But now I'm seriously freaking out. It needs a major clean up. Isn't there some TLC show that can come over and clean this for me? I can cry on cue if the need me to do that.

So what have I been so diligently working on? These award badges! I have always been wild about the shape of award badges and I finally decided to start making some of my own using upcycled materials. I use pretty much anything I can get my hands on. This first batch is important because for the past month I have been volunteering every Tuesday at a place for mentally disabled adults. I have helped with an art class and have really fallen in love with the whole experience. Today is my last day with the class so I wanted to make a little something for all the students and the two other teachers. This was the idea I came up with. It says "Art Star" in the middle because I wanted it to be something that reminded them of the class. The work they have all made has been beautiful and touching. It's amazing how you can really communicate with people through art.

Once I was done making the ribbons for the class I thought it would be neat if I made some for my shop. They all have pins attached to the back so they are easy to wear. Before I start putting some in my shop I would like to do a giveaway. I haven't done a giveaway in FOREVER!! Over the past few months my readership has really soared. Thank you all so much for reading and supporting my blog and coming back time after time.

Please enter to win this super fancy badge that can be worn with the feathers up or down. All you have to do between now and Sunday is leave a suggestion for a good summer read. I have a stack of books waiting to be read but I could always use more suggestions. On Monday of next week I will use the random generator to pick a winner. I hope you'll play!

<3

Crystal Heart

I hope you all had a great Easter holiday weekend. I can't wait to have kids of my own so I can dye eggs with them and hide them and buy baskets and chocolates and pastel colored goodies. In the meantime I have to do these things all by myself.

Today I have several projects to work on but my mind keeps drifting and I keep thinking about how much I love geodes and crystals. I have a small collection of my own, you can see some of those here:

I was cruising around flickr looking for images and found all of these. I've been drooling for a while now.

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I was also trying to find art with drawings or collages of crystals and geodes but it's so hard to search for that kind of thing. You really have to dig through a lot of bad to get to good. Anyone have any great recommendations for me? Send me some links if you do. I'm not done procrastinating today and I need more crystal art. If a unicorn is involved you get bonus points. ( ;

Spring Colors

Yesterday it felt like Spring for about five minutes, long enough for me to wear all these colors at once.

I also took a few of my new vintage finds outdoors for a photo shoot. I was really having a hard time photographing this gorgeous toy piano so the sun was perfect for lighting.

Also this deer planter was just begging to be outside.

Now the weather is back to being gray again and so am I. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday weekend. Spend as much time with your family as you can and look out for that golden egg!

Cheap Art With Words Spelled Correctly

Between here and facebook I got a lot of great feedback on my DIY haircut. Thanks, guys! I should take a pic of it today now that I've slept on it, the bangs are so unruly! I've got my flat iron warming up.

Yesterday after giving myself a sassy new haircut I finally got around to taking some of my work and getting prints made. It was way easier than I thought it would be so I don't know why I put this off for so long. Now I have prints of my work in my shop for much cheaper prices. Also they come framed! Ready-to-hang cheap art that would brighten up any dull bathroom!

Check it out here.

I'll share an embarrassing story with you. I was about to get another print loaded to my etsy shop when I realized the word I wrote in the print was spelled wrong. I looked it up and hoped possibly there was more than one spelling for it like grey and gray but nope. You only spell it one way. Now I have to fix that drawing and get a new print made. My boyfriend said that's what I get for putting words in my art (he hates text in art, weirdo right?). I also feel it's karma for being so competitive with my family while playing Words With Friends.

DIY Haircut

Today I cut my hair again for the millionth time, starting with the back. I thought I would give some advice if you want to do your own cut. Warning. I'm not a professional and this is barely even advice. Proceed with caution.

Grab chunks of hair in the back, close your eyes, cross your toes (since your fingers are busy) and cut, hope for the best. I usually cut until it feels as short as I want it and then I grab a mirror and check to see how wonky it is. You can use the scissors and cut up and down to start evening it out.

Everything else that you can see... just hold your scissors upright and cut and cut until it looks just right.

I have been doing this for about a year now and it's been good and it's been bad. One day when I save up enough I'll get a real haircut. Until then, this diy cut will have to do.

Sunshine Please

Today it is so yucky and gray out and I feel like crying for no reason. My nose is filled with sniffles and my head is filled with fog. I'm ready for sunshine and bike rides and sunburned shoulders and open windows and no more allergies.

I curated this sunshiney etsy post to cheer me up. Hopefully it will give you cheer, too.

afiori

rainbow wrangler

yvette inufio

pretty little thieves

the love shop

iloniti

Irene Suchocki

New Vintage (oxymoron?)

This weekend I got some great new vintage pieces for my shop! After taking some fancy photos, I posted them in my shop.

Have a dollhouse that needs a new table and chair? Try these out.

Planning a party soon? Don't forget the relish server!

I'm not sure what these little jars were used for. The shop owner suggested they were for perfume cream. I think they should store secrets written on tiny scraps of paper.

Pretend Like It's Summer

DSCF9002, originally uploaded by A Beautiful Party Again.

I made this yesterday for a snack. It made me feel like it was summertime. Too bad it was gray and windy out. Summer Bummer!

Sketch

I recently ran into a former student of mine, Will Kevin, at an art opening and I told him to send me some of his work so I could see what he's doing now. He sent me a link to his tumblr page and it's filled with many great sketch book posts. After looking through these it really made me think about the importance of keeping a sketchbook for generating ideas. Will really works with his sketchbook and uses different kinds of media. Mine is usually just filled with some black pen doodles. I think exploring different media in your sketchbook is very helpful when you are ready to move on to a new piece.

Check out some of Will's amazing sketchbook pages here and be sure to follow him on tumblr.

This looks just like my art history notes...

Molded Heroes

Remember a few posts back when I showed you my "Jem" print I was working on? Well it was made for this show, Molded Heroes. Aurora, IL artist Mike Mancuso curated this amazing show that is based on inspirational toys from childhood. Much of the artwork is a walk down memory lane for anyone that is a product of the 80s and 90s.

Unfortunately I was unable to attend the show last Saturday night but I heard it had a huge turn-out and based on pictures the show looks fantastic.

I took these show shots from the amazing Joanna Goss who was also in the show.

Look at that cake!


It's Jem!
Not only did Mike do all the legwork of getting the show together and hung, he's also being generous enough to put all the artists' prints in his online shop so that he can help everyone sell their work. Take a look at the shop here. These are some of the pieces you can find there.

"Acne Amy" by Becky Mancuso
"Buttercup" by Joanna Goss
"Failure to Launch" by Don Picton
"Teenage Mandala Ninja Turtles" by Mike Mancuso
"First Love" by Ryan Schultz
"Ariel" by Tim Shumate
"Boys Against Girls" set by Jaime Torraco
"Toys Playing Uno" by Darick Maasen
"Kaaaa-Choooooooooow" by Glen O'Neil
Go buy yourself a great piece of art at super affordable prices! Also check out the SixtyBones website for more info!