The Many Faces of Halloween . . .

We've been busy doing spooky stuff here at Kendra's house. Thought I'd share just a few of the many faces of Halloween this year:

Carving pumpkins at Uncle Dave's House

Mummified for the "Boo Bash" over the weekend

A 3-headed Dragon (her main costume) 

for this morning's second grade costume parade

The "school girl" outfit 

(that was hiding under her dragon costume)

I expect a lot more craziness to come tonight. The sugar alone should keep this one (and Kendra too ;) bouncing off the walls . . . . Wish us luck and have a very happy er, creepy, Halloween . . . . .

Kristin xo

Paint Party Friday!

"Sasha"

12 x 18 on Watercolor Paper

Happy PPF!

So there's a cool story behind this piece. Wanna hear it? Okay, so I was working on some arty thing last week (oh, it must have been the journal page below) and as I normally do, I put a few WIP pictures on Instagram. Well, I got the sweetest message from one of my husband's childhood friends (who's become a good friend of mine over the years) saying that she would love to have a piece of my art in her home. I took that as the biggest compliment and coyly wrote back that I could "arrange something like that" before I set to work on creating something just for her. . . .

I knew that I wanted to paint something and that I would like it to embody some of the beautiful, magical qualities that remind me of her. So I got to work. This is a big piece of paper, so I took several days drawing and painting it. I then came up with a saying that I thought would both whimsical and meaningful to her:

"You are magic, light and rainbow sprinkles. Yay, You." 

And as I worked on her, I continued to post WIP pictures on Instagram, knowing that she would see it. I snickered to myself when she would say how much she liked it, and looked forward to the day when I got to tell her that it is all for her. 

Today is that day. Sasha, this is for you. I hope (okay, I know) you like it.  But I hope you enjoy it in your home. And thank you for always being so sweet and supportive of me. This makes my day!

Thanks for listening,

Kristin xo

Words of Me: Courage

Strathmore Visual Journal

Words of Me: Courage

Sweet Leslie is hosting another WORD challenge - and this time, she's encouraging us to create anything we'd like using a specific word of the week. Like last time, I will be joining as much as possible ('cause I've only finished week one and the group is on to week three, deep sigh . . .) using my beloved Strathmore Visual Journal . . . .

The inspiration for week one is COURAGE. I based my page around the following quote by E.E. Cummings:

"It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are."

You're turn! To check it out for yourself, please follow the link below:

Words of Me October 2012

Thank you for your time, 

Kristin xo

This Box Was Made For Shipping . . .

Did you know? That the US Post Office offers Priority Mail flat rate shipping boxes at no charge? Well, you pay for the shipping of course, but the boxes are included in that rate and, if you're like me and want to alter or decorate the box prior to sending it out, you can usually (just make nicey-nice with your local post office staff ;) take them home with a smile . . . .

So that's what I did here. And I took pictures (some of which landed on Instagram) along the way. Wanna see?

Box covered in Gesso and stamped into while wet

Acrylic added before being sanded down to show the stamping underneath

Various washes of ink and water make arty drips. And then a head was added . . . .

There's the Little Box Girl!

And some scalloped, glittery details

She's ready to roll. Oh, except for the important bits: now I just have to address it . . . 

Fun. You wanna go to the Post Office now don't you? 

Thanks for looking,

Kristin xo

Portland Picts!

I'm Back! Well, I've actually been home for a while now, but the jet lag, lack of sleep (due to a week-long slumber party with this lady) and general business of Mommyhood has kept me from sharing the shots longer than I anticipated. Having said that, we took several Instagrams along the way and thought you may want to see what we were up to . . .

Before I left, I did something rather drastic (for me ;) and dyed a streak of my hair blue to match my businesses cards. Crazy, right? I know, and I have to say, I felt kinda cool for doing it. I mean really, if not now, when? Here I was before the blue really faded:

And here are the postcards I took with me to be used as trades:

Now, the first class we took was a two day workshop with the ultra cool Jessie Reno:

We worked on creating layered backgrounds rich in color that came from using only red, blue, yellow, black and white acrylics. It was amazing to see what he could pull out of that:

One of my backgrounds created in class

And what Jessie was able to do with his!

He was such a dynamic teacher. He used the word "Dude" a lot (which we were all repeating by the end of the two days) and really encouraged us not to think to much. The objective was to let go and just create, allowing the magic of the experience to influence the pieces. He used his hands and fingers as his main tools, mixing colors in his palm as he went. I will never think of paint the same way again . . . .

Our last day of instruction was a one-day class with the completely delightful Mindy Lacefield. Honestly, I loved her. She was sweet and kind and gracious and her class was right up my alley (what with her cool colors and little girls):

Mindy at work

One of the backgrounds I created in class

Some class examples

As with Jessie, Mindy encouraged us to let go and play. We doodled, made messes and used neon colors! We worked on painting girls in her style and tapping into our child-like selves. I adored her and would encourage anyone to take advantage of her courses, you'll be thrilled that you did!

And when our classes were over, we went out with the beautiful Heather Henry and her hubs for dinner in Portland!

Daniele, Heather and I

(I also received a gorgeous painting from Heather

which I will show in an upcoming post)

The last day of our trip was spent as tourists, doing touristy things and seeing as much as we could of the city in the few hours we had left:

Using The Max

Hidden hearts

Art everywhere. Including Daniele's pink hair!

(See why I was inspired to color mine blue?)

The infamous Voodoo Doughnuts

And my goal to find: coffee art!

It was a great trip - full of art, inspiration and a little girl time. After all, what more could a busy Mommy want than that? 

Thanks for coming along with me,

Kristin xo