Happy New Year!

 So I have decided to go for it this year and state my artistic goals publicly in order to try and be held accountable to them!  So, here goes:

     1.  I am an artist and I need to start living it!  I have decided to join the Creative Everyday Movement and do something creative each and every day!!!!  Yes, time is of a premium...Yes, I am still working full time and helping to run a consignment shop...Yes, I am a mom and wife....but YES I AM AN ARTIST!
     2.  I was ever so graciously given the gift of an online class over the Holidays.  I will be participating in Soul Restoration http://bravegirlsclub.com/onlineclasses.html starting January 11...the day after my Birthday...HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME :)  There is still time to sign up...take a look at it, it sounds really amazing!!!!!
     3.  By the end of this year I hope to have a little stockpile of artsy goodness on hand that I can show somewhere....no, I will have a portfolio of items that I can use to represent my work :)
These are my resolutions...or "projects" as Suzi Blu calls them.  They are intentional and will happen!
     A lot of the artists that I most admire lately have chosen words to represent them this year...mine is INTENTION!

Red :)

So here is my latest painting....I am not sure about the nose, but I will continue working through it :)

After showing my hubby, he wasn't impressed with the background...he thought it looked too violent.  I think his exact words were : "It looks like something that should be hanging in an abused woman's shelter"...ah well, to each their own.  It is also going to have some words...I am thinking "Listen to your heart's whispers".  If you look closely you will see vintage sheet music in the background...I LOVE IT!

I have been addicted to doing faces since I took a couple of  Suzi Blu's classes.  http://suziblu.ning.com/ They are awesome!  She is so quirky, it is a blast to watch the videos!  I have actually been caught giggling, no, flat out guffawing while watching :)

I have also been working through the book "Taking Flight" by Kelly Rae Roberts with a friend, and have made the journal from chapter one.  I love the way the pages turned out, and have been digging pretty deep for the content.  My creative wings include selling my work and using it to fund Mission Trips.  Today, I met with a woman who is interested in opening a consignment shop with me and using some of the proceeds for Mission work!!!!!  Is that not God speaking or what!?  Although we are in talking stages, September is when she wants to open.  There is A LOT of work to be done, but I have told her I have nothing financial to bring to the table, only my time and talent and she seemed VERY interested still!  Please say a few prayers that God will make His plan known to me....this might be the FIRST STEP that I have been waiting for.

Here are the latest and greatest creations...it was a productive day :)

These are all for sale in my Etsy store....and I just opened a Zibbet account to try and sell there as well.  I am trying to use the talents that God gave me to fund the Missions that I am feeling called to go on.  We shall see if it is meant to be.

Latest and Greatest

So I have been pretty creative lately, this past weekend at the Mega Meet only fueled me on more! I had such an amazing time hanging out with the girls, helping out in the classrooms, seeing (and touching) all of the new products out there...oh yeah, and MEETING TIM HOLTZ!

I was pretty bummed out when I found out I didn't get into any of his classes because I was waiting to see if I had been accepted as a volunteer for the show. Then I found out I would be a floater...which meant I wasn't assigned to any particular room, just going where needed. Well, on the first day, I was LUCKY enough to get to to into HIS class and help out for the first hour....nothing else mattered!

I am happy to say that he is a truly great guy...down to earth, EXTREMELY talented (like I didn't know that already), and FUNNY! It really was awesome. Anyway, here is what I have been playing around with lately:

Help for Haiti

Hello out there to everyone in Blog-Land! I am very excited to be writing this to share my newest goal :) As you can probably tell from the title of the post, I have decided to listen to the call and go to Haiti. Maybe I should start at the beginning. Last year, as many of you know, I took the BIGGEST leap of faith I have ever taken and committed to a mission trip to Zambia, Africa.
Now this was no easy feat, as my family and I are by no means wealthy....we are among the many that live paycheck to paycheck. After hearing about the work that our church, DAYBREAK, was doing there over the past few years, I couldn't get it out of my mind! In fact, it took a full year to finally take the leap and decide to go! The deal was, if I could RAISE the money to do it, I could go. So, being that here in Michigan we have been in the middle of the downturn in the economy, this was not going to be easy. Still, the impression left on my heart was great. I began what was to be four months of intense fund-raising, which included two Craft Days (by far the most fun), a Bake Goods Sale, a sub sale, and door to door pop can drive (definitely the most humbling). After all of these efforts and some generous donations from friends and family, I was still almost $200 short with about two weeks to go! I had no choice but to believe that it was in His hands and wait for him to make it happen! Make it happen He did, and I spent 10 Life-Changing days among the most awe-inspiring people I have ever met in my life! I thought that I was going to change the world, but I think in the end the world changed me! My heart has always been soft for people that need help, and it has only grown more so. Please follow this link to view some pics from the trip.
Fast-forward to today and what I hope to accomplish in the next few weeks and months. What I plan to do is use the talent that He has given me and make an altered item to auction off to fund this next mission trip. Here is a link to our Church's website that goes into detail of what we plan to do while in Haiti.
http://www.daybreak.tv/ (click on Haiti Relief or Experiencing Haiti)
LET THE BIDDING BEGIN! At the end of the bidding, The winning bidder will be directed to my church to send the payment there (bonus...this will make it tax deductable!) and I will ship out your lovely picture :) Thanks so much for taking the time to listen to my story, and I'll see you all soon :)

Portraits

So here are the finished portraits that I will use to make the commissioned paintings with....LOVE LOVE LOVE the way that they turned out! I have also listed them on Etsy...not these exact ones, but these were perfect for an example!

Wow....I am soooo not good at posting on here....I think that FACEBOOK is the reason :) Anyway, here are some of my current projects that I am working on.
*I decided to go in on a Craft Booth from now until the end of the year with a friend of mine. I am making Paper-Flower wreaths that I saw on the Fancy Pants blog :) They are really turning out cute!
*I took an online painting course from SuziBlu (That girl is FuNkY! I LOVE IT!) and just ADORE the results!
*Because of said class, I was asked if I can paint boys. I had never tried, so I decided to try some sketches of my boss' sons and LOVED the results. So now she has commissioned me to do two paintings before Christmas :) :) :)
*From the same painting, I am working on another piece for a friend!
*From the sketches, I am working on a few other surprises for a very close personal friend....MUM'S THE WORD on these :)
THE CREATIVITY IS POURING OUT!!! Maybe it will continue into the new year and help me reach my creative goals...same as last year...1. Make a design team (Look out Memory Works....I am gonna try) 2. Attend a Creative Conference and 3. Maybe get a new Digital SLR Camera. I have to make enough CREATIVE MONEY to do these, so HERE I GO! And with that, I will leave you with some Eye Candy :)