I did it!

I made it through my first sale!  I can't believe after so many months of working on this I'm on the other side.  I was so nervous, possibly more nervous that my graduate thesis show.  Despite that I plowed through the nerves and made it happen. I learned so so so much from the Nada Farm sale.  It was nice to see people interacting with my work and hearing their feedback.  I also loved styling my booth. It was fun making it look like one big colorful party.  My best friend Janey worked with me all weekend and some darling little girls kept us company. I had one setback when a huge gust of wind caused one of my shelves to get knocked over. It was one of those nightmare moments where you are afraid to look at all the damage that was done. Luckily luckily no one was hurt at all.  Surprisingly I only lost a few of my more fragile terrarium jars but all the animal jars held up through the crash.  These pics were taken post wind crash so my booth looks a little different than it had looked but I think we did a good job rearranging.  Take a look! And thank you to Adam Cox for taking some great pics! And thank you to Anne Marie and her sweet family for making me feel so welcomed!

Now I'm ready to switch gears for a while and start working on some drawings/paintings. I meant to start last night but I found excuses to avoid my studio... I had to watch the debates, get caught up on The Walking Dead, do anything besides go down to my studio... I talked to a friend yesterday about how much anxiety making art can sometimes give you. She put it best when she said that you can feel so ostracized from it when you are away for a while but once you finally start working you realize you should have been doing it all along.  I thought about that all day and fully intended on going straight home and working but I fell back in the "ostracized" feeling.  I was scared to try.  It's silly, right?  I'm so excited to work on things but scared at the same time.  Anyone else feel this way about art making?

Have a fantastic day today and try to pet a dog or a cat if you can.

Productivity!

The past couple of days have been productive ones.  I started a new exercise routine, finally did laundry, and did lots of work for abeautifulparty!

For my shop I am trying to work on different types of containers besides jars. I have shown you a preview of these little avon jars but here they are in their natural environment!  They would make sweet gifts and can hold something special inside.  I have been looking around for other alternatives to mason jars. The possibilities are endless!

Blue Horse

Pink Dinosaur

This one is not too alternative but I did coat the inside with a layer of pearlescent pink paint so it really compliments the gold.  It might be one of my favorites!

Pink Horse

 I should have spent the rest of my day working on wedding crafts but I keep procrastinating.  Instead I worked on these new paper banters.  It was nice to sit down at my desk and work on a very clean process. As you can see from all the paint on my desk I am used to working with we media and getting stuff everywhere.  My crafting headquarters are getting pretty cramped so the move will be nice.

I finished this little garland.  It is so long. Maybe too long. It was hard to take a picture of.  I'm pretty excited about it and am looking forward to thinking of new ways to create this.

But maybe first I should finish things for my wedding.... Less than a month!!!

Get ready for tomorrow because I am going to do a thesis show post on one of my very best friends! It is going to be amazing!!

xox

What's Happening

Yesterday I got a few more animal jars listed in my shop.  

 You can hid your treasures in the cat feather jar here.

 Or decorate a space with the mossy dog jar here.

 Or store some goodies in the dinosaur glitter jar here.

 And some other things around my place:

My dearest boyfriend made his specialty the other night, spring rolls! They are our favorite but we don't get them often because they take so long to make.  I'm trying to find simpler recipes because I could eat them every day.

 Recently at work I got to redo our register display case. I love doing this. It's like making mini installations.  Tomorrow I get to do my first window. I'm way mega nervous but I've been thinking a lot about it and have a basic idea to start. I'm excited to see how it goes.  If you are in the are check out Cracker Jax. It's the dreamiest store in the world!

Animal Jar Kingdom

Yesterday I packed up my animal jars and went outside for a sunny photo shoot. My neighbors probably thought I was crazy but I didn't mind.  Here is a group shot of the newest animal family.  

 I worked all night editing photos and got this sweet pink glitter horse jar listed in my shop.  You can find it here.

 Lately I feel like I haven't had much time to get in my studio like I would like to but I also wonder how much time I'm wasting doing things that I could not be doing... like facebooking and playing games on my phone... So I decided I want to make a thing a day. Or I want to finish a thing a day. I have many projects started and it's time I finish them.  Yesterday what I did was simple but I really liked it. I have been trying to come up with different ways to fill these little animal jars so I bought some moss and tried to play around with it. I filled this little dog jar with moss and cut out pictures to add to the sides.  It's simple but I like the look.  Someone could definitely make more of a terrarium out of it.  I need to research terrariums more. All I know to do is add moss. 

This little dog should be listed in my shop tonight.  And a new project will be finished tonight as well.
Yay productivity!

Have a super fantastic Monday!!

New in Shop!

Last night I had an animal jar photo shoot. I was pretty proud of myself for rigging up a backdrop for them with a light but they still managed to come out really yellow so I edited and edited. I know the rule is that you should usually take pictures during the daytime but I thought I had found a way to beat the system... I was wrong!

Thank goodness for editing programs. So this was how I spent most of my night.

Then I was able to get a couple of these sweetie-pie jars in my shop! Only two were posted last night but there will be many many more to come.
The Horse Jar is here. He would be perfect for holding art supplies or fun little treats for a child (or a grown-up. I love fun little treats.)

The Green Glitter Bunny Jar is here. She's small and sweet and perfect for a surprise gift.

These are so much fun to create and the photo shoots, though not perfect, are still fun to do. The jars are very good models!

Have a super fantastic day today!

Forever In-Progress

Good Morning!

I think I'm procrastinating again...

I'm in the middle of working on a new kind of banner and while part of me is saying "Don't think, just do!" The other part of me is still moving along ever-so-slowly.

I posted my glitter letters while I was glittering them. Here they are drying from the clear acrylic coat I just sprayed on them.

Last night I finally decided to try to make this happen. This was how it went: I would go near it for a bit, hang something, walk away, drink some water, read news on my phone, hang something else, look through Instagram photos, look something up on the internet, ask my boyfriend his opinion, and finally I hung the last strand of fringey trim and promptly went to bed.

It's not finished. I'm still well in the stage of figuring this one out. I think the huge amount of problem solving is getting to me but I really do love the progress so far. I want it to be amazing! After seeing it hung on the wall like this I realize the gold needs to come up in the middle. Also, there should probably be feathers. I can't do anything without feathers.

I feel like by tracking my progress here I will be more on the ball getting this done. Maybe by the end of next week it will almost be finished. / :
What I have really been keeping up with are these animal jars. I want to get a lot of them done so should I do art fairs I will have plenty. They are really addictive to make. Here is a family portrait.
And here are a few wanting special attention.

Since I started making these I've been trying to figure out how to package them. So far I like them like this with tissue paper and a ribbon. I may buy fun little cheapy toys to stick inside so each one comes with a surprise.

Have a fantastic day today. If you find yourself in a procrastination cycle think of me. No! Don't think of me! Think of your project and how to finish it!

xoxo