Art Every Day and Blog Hopping Good Times

It's been kind of quiet around here.  If you've liked my Facebook page, you know I took the day off from my real job recently and posted a load of stuff to Etsy.  Sometimes just a little check in over there is all real life will allow me to do.  But the ol' blog is fixing to heat up!! 

I've signed up for the Art Every Day Month challenge at Creative Everyday.

Although the "rules" are pretty much whatever I want them to be, the point is to be creative everyday and post the results on the blog.  I know I have some projects for November that will count towards this challenge. I really just needed more motivation to turn off the television, get off Facebook and get upstairs.  This ought to do it.

One thing I'm going to do is a set of Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) for another little exchange I am doing with my arty friends from Flying Lessons.  ATCs are tiny little 2.5 x 3.5 canvas cards that you can use just like a regular sized canvas.  I'd seen them hanging on the rack at Hobby Lobby but didn't know what they were or why anyone would want to do them.  These things are so fun!  Our first swap theme was "Flying".  This is my little set..I wish I'd gotten a better photo:



The next theme is "Winter".  I already have a couple of ideas percolating.  I might have to work on them in the bleachers at basketball games, but I'm good with that.  There may also be a few other surprises up my sleeves, so STAY TUNED!

November 1st is the launch date for AEDM.  Additionally, some of my Flying Lessons classmates and I (more info on Flying Lessons in this post) are going to be doing a HUGE blog hop on November 1st.

We are all creating art inspired by the class, blogging about it and posting it to our blogs that day.  Make sure to come back and check out the amazing talent.  Seriously.  The talent these women possess is so inspiring. There are lots of painters,  jewelry crafters, and photographers, artists working in ceramics, metal clay, fabric, assemblages from recycled materials and so much more.  There are 43 people signed up to participate.  I'm so stoked to see what they have created!

November's a big month.  Thanks for joining in the fun!  Wishing you a week overflowing with blessings that leave no doubts how much you are loved.

<3 Lori

Favorite Random Musings

Okay. Here's the deal.....

(People who really know me know that when I say "here's the deal" what follows is going to be the bottom line, boiled down, no frills, tell-it-like-it-is truth.)

TAKE NOTE

I do not have enough interesting thoughts to write three blogs posts a week.

So, Monday Musings, Wednesday Random Thoughts, and Friday Favorites is now a weekly post called Favorite Random Musings.

Favorite: These are my superfan Converse All-Stars that I wore last year to every single basketball game.  They symbolize how much I love the game and how much I love my boy, whose biggest fan I am (even though my husband would argue that...he's not even close).  These are my favorite shoes to wear to watch my favorite boy play my favorite game.  Basketball season starts in a couple of weeks.  I can't wait!!  And now my favorite girlie will play too!  Double the fun!

Random:  Speaking of my girlie....she bought a book at the book fair today called, "100 Words to Make You Sound Smart". 

Check the pronunciation, though, because if you pronouce "scintillating" as "skintillating", you won't sound smart.

Musings:  Monday Musings is where I show you the art I did over the weekend. I've been working on this girl for a while.  She's finished. At least I think this is finished.  It feels mostly finished.  There are some beauty advertising titles from a 1950's magazine in the background, some of which are just ridiculous.  To counteract some of the mid-century ridiculousness, the quote is from Kahil Gibran and says, "Beauty is a light in the heart".

I'm prayerfully hopeful that my life calms down a little bit so that I can maintain a weekly blog, make some more art and get a chance to take note of the funny, random little things that make me smile and that I hope will make you smile, too.

Praying the Lord blesses us all with peace in our minds and hearts and homes.

<3 Lori

Friday Favorites--Lite

Things have been kind of crazy around these parts.  I'm working on some new art, trying to figure out how to make prints, needing to get some business cards, thinking about doing a teeny tiny art market next weekend, working at my real job, parenting a couple of kids who are practicing teenagers......

So...this is my Friday Favorite:

Happy Friday!

May the Lord fill your weekend with amazing blessings....and a touch of salt.

<3 Lori



Random Thoughts Wednesday--Flip Top Heads and Inflatable Jesus

Early this morning, I woke up thinking about Random Thoughts.  I've become afraid that I won't have any for Random Thoughts Wednesday. Last week I managed to squeak some out just in time.  This week....I got nothing. 

But as I was lying there at 5:12 a.m. (or there abouts), I thought about how much thinking I've been doing since I started this business and the on-line class that accompanied it.  A LOT.  I've been thinking about doing art, listing art, printing art, selling art, banking, blogging, business cards, business licenses, copyrights, domain names, taxes (all that came out in alphabetical order...that's just sad). 

My brain was pinging around rapid fire, as it often does these days, and I wished that I could just

slow. it. all. down. 

I thought to myself what I'd really like to do is flip open my head, dump out all the junk (that includes you, Real Housewives!) and put Jesus back in there where He belongs.  The visualzation of this was a flip top head and me trying to cram a lifesize Jesus cut out into it like I'm trying to fit an inflatable raft into a kindergartner's backpack.

The really crazy thing is that these are lucid thoughts! 

Then I realized that He's one size fits all.  He'll fit in there and take up all the space quite comfortably if I'll let him.  But I do need to give Him room to move around in there and time to do it.

On today's agenda is less business/more Jesus.

I hope you all have a day blessed with enough space in your head for what and whom you love (and/or who loves you).

<3 Lori

Monday Monday

Good morning, Monday!  I haven't had any caffiene yet, so I'm faking it here. I hope you are all gassed up and ready to go.

This is just a little short note to let you know that I do, indeed, still make some art, although it feels like all I really do is sit behind a computer day and night.  And now I need to add bookkeeping to the list of things to do.  Weee!  All of that...the bookkeeping, the Etsy posting, the trying to figure out Photoshop (with A LOT of assistance), the blogging and even to some extent working at my real job is so that I can make art.  So, these little Monday glimpses are the fun part.

Happy Monday!

May the Lord bless you today with the knowledge that through Him, all things are possible.

<3 Lori

Friday Favorites

First, thanks again to everyone who participated in my little giveaway here last week.   I messed up the first drawing because I didn't count all the entries correctly, so we had two drawings.  I haven't heard from one of the winners.  So, Janelle, holla back! :)

For this week's Friday favorite, I have another cute face to show you:

I've mentioned before on the blog about the creative business class I took with Kelly Rae Roberts, artist, author, on-line instructor extraordinaire.  Well, in that class, I have met many other talented artists.   There's a crazy energy in this group that I have truly never experienced, an energy that it seems is propelling everyone forward at a much faster pace than could have been achieved alone.  It's kind of freaking me out, really. 

They are from across the US, Austrailia, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland, Germany, Sweden and more! They are moms and grandmothers and sisters and wives and soul sisters.  They make wall art, assemblages, jewelry of all kinds, mosaics and other glass art.  They make quilts, other fabric art and beautiful photographs.  They write poetry and business plans and great blogs.  The combined talent in this group is really amazing.  I feel like I might have been promoted to the next class a little too soon, and I should probably be in the remedial section. 

huffingtonpost.com

We have a team on Etsy called Flying Lessons Alumni 2011 .  To give you an idea of the kind of talent and diversity that is found in this group, I made this Friday Favorites Flying Lessons Treasury of my favorite things from some of their shops.  I wish there were enough spaces to include something from every shop. 

Some of my classmates are not on Etsy, yet.  The little birdie face I showed you above is from a flyer that doesn't have an Etsy shop at the moment.  But, she's doing a fabulous thing!  There was a huge flood last month in New York state where she lives.  Kanchan Mahon is selling all her artwork from her website and donating ALL the proceeds to flood recovery efforts in her area.  You can check out her website http://www.kanchanmahon.com/.  Her prices are very reasonable for works of art and it benefits people who have suffered great loss!

"Celestial"

At the risk of making you really jealous because this one is no longer available, here's the whole birdie:

Here's the bottom line on art.  You can go to Target and buy some clearance art that was made in China or you can go to Etsy, other art sites, local art fairs or craft shows and buy directly from an artist--someone just like me and just like you. Someone who has a dream and is working with their hearts and their hands to give that dream wings.  When I took my Target art down and replaced it with Kanchan's bird, it changed the whole feel of the room.  Try it!  You'll like it!

Happy Friday, everyone!  May the good Lord bless your weekend with sweet dreams and daily reminders of His loving kindness.

<3 Lori

Random Thoughts Wednesday

Good morning, travelers.  Welcome to Random Thoughts.  Please wait until the bus has come to a full and complete stop before leaving your seats. 

Today's Random Thoughts gathered themselves into a little Facebook group:

1.  I think I might spend too much time on Facebook.  I find myself looking for the "Like" button in coworker emails.  When I realize where I am and that I'll have to click "reply" and write "Ha" and click "send", I'm really disappointed.

likethelikebutton.com

2.  I'm also hitting enter in my email replies like that will do something besides carriage return line feed.  Every response I write has a couple extra lines at the bottom before I figure out that's not going to send them.

word-detective.com

3.  I just went to Pinterest again to look for pictures. Someone posted some crazy-good looking cheesecake cookies and then asked, "What are graham crackers?"  Apparently there are no graham crackers in Australia.  What????!!!!  I mean, I can't feel all that sorry for them because they have kangeroos and koalas but.....no s'mores?  That's just sad.

quietbutnotstill.blogspot.com

Have a blessed day, friends!  I'm praying the Lord blesses us today with good friends, a few laughs, and sunshine (that doesn't try to bake us to a crisp) on our faces.

<3 Lori