Edmund Dulac illustrations

I am greatly inspired by these paintings by Edmund Dulac.

They remind me a bit of the paintings by Warwick Goble I blogged about a little while ago. I really love the color schemes and lovely intricate backgrounds in these paintings. When I look at these I start to think that my paintings need a little more work in the design and background aspects. My portraits are becoming mundane to me and I need to open my mind and imagination to the design of the painting as a whole and not just the quality of the girl in the painting. I don't mean to say my portraits are badly painted I am just saying my future paintings could be improved by using good design and spending more time on the background. I get so excited every time I find a artist that inspires me! I hope these images inspire you too.

In my garden

Good morning!

Here are some photos of the pretties that are showing up in my yard as of late.

We have a pretty pink flowering crab apple in the front; I love it when it blooms. :)

Here is an angled view of our window box with brand newly planted annuals! This is something I look forward to every spring!

This is one of many many blossoms in our strawberry patch. Look! Can you see a few tiny green strawberries growing? Yippee! We have the ever bearing variety and I love eating fresh strawberries all summer!

Our myrtle ground cover is coming in so lush this year!

I love smelling the grape-y flavor these irises emit. From what I've heard from the previous owners they used to be all colors and varieties, but cross pollinated and eventually turned white.

Here are some of my favorites in the yard! Hosta! I can't wait till these beauties grow up and produce the big leaves and tall stalks of dainty blossoms.

I am unsure what variety this tree is because the city planted it in our parking strip by the road, but it blooms the prettiest little white clusters and smells lovely!

Even the weeds in my yard are beautiful! :) These weren't really in my yard; they were in the neighboring lot.

What loveliness is peeking out in your yard this spring?

Happy Wednesday!

Goals, and a nearing 150th!

Lately I have been looking at this!

a slight likeness to my teenage self
(click image to see source site)
and these
(click images to see source site)
































And I have come to a decision!

1. I need to get one of these swim suits.
   

And,

2. I need to get my reflection looking at least a little more like my teenage likeness!

How shall I do this you say?
Well, I have made a few goals for my weak little self and I plan to really follow them! :)
Here they are:

• If boredom hits get crafting or go for a walk. (I tend to munch when I'm bored.)
• Save the ice cream for holidays and special occasions. (And you know, they will end up feeling more special that way.)
• DRINK a ton of water! (It always helps everything)
• Go for a nice walk every day! (Bonus the kids love that too!)
  
• If I need to munch do it on the veggies and rice cakes! (I really do like to eat these anyway.)
• Chew sugar free gum after every meal. (My downfall is that I have to end every meal with a sweet taste in my mouth so I tend to go for the sweets...Not any more! he he. )
  

These are small goals but they will get me on the right track!
What are some of your goals for this spring/summer?
Are you planning on getting into that gorgeous swimsuit or pushing yourself to walk one more block? Please feel free to offer tips and share your own goals!
I am also super excited today, guess why! Ok ok I'll tell you! A week from today will be my 150th post on this blog!! I'll have to get some secret surprises put together to celebrate! Hooray! Thanks a bunch and have a great Monday!!

Little Lola's Shop Update

Happy Saturday everyone! With all of the work putting all the new things in the Little Lola's shop on Etsy yesterday I totally forgot to put the update on here too. So here it is a day late. :) Have fun! Here is the surprise I promised!
SURPRISE! You didn't know I was working on these did you? Ta da! With all the robot happenings in print form I couldn't help myself! I had to bring them to life in papier mache and paperclay.

Here is one robot with his trusty triangular dog. It was fun getting creative to make a doggy friend for this little guy.

I really love how this one turned out too! Especially the outlet in his back he he!

Here are the happy little flag waving robots! Hooray these four guys are finally available!

Here is Alice sitting upon a mushroom. It was so fun sharing her as I made her. He he! She was such a joy to make and I am sad to see her go. (Can you believe it? She's sold already!!)


And last are a brand new design, Little Lola baby dolls! I love the wrapped up in a blanket look. I also love that because of the fleece hair they are machine washable! !

Thanks for sharing this fun update with me! Have a great night! :)

I am so excited for the Little Lola's shop update! There will be many sweet creations and new prints available for your buying pleasure!

This girl is so excited to attend her coming out party he he!

New dolls be in the update as well as the robot prints and some secret surprises he he!!
Be there or be square! Happy Thursday! :)

Commission dolly

I just finished this dolly as a commission for a friend of mine. She asked me to use yellow and blue as the main colors and I think the it turned out quite nice! In fact I love how the face turned out. I had embroidered some doll faces a while ago and somehow decided that button eyes were the only way to go. But now I'm feeling the winds of change and I'm sure to be embroidering faces a lot more. I will probably end up doing both.

What are your thoughts on the matter? I love feedback! Please share, do you like one better than the other?

Button eyes & felt mouth, or, fully embroidered face?

Check out my dolly flicker set to compare faces.

Well I'm off to the art studio/craft room to take advantage of the nappy happenings around here. I will be working hard and playing much! Happy Tuesday!

A pampered day

I got a pretty pink cake and a lovely new book!! :) :) We just finished the second Fablehaven book this afternoon so the timing couldn't have been more perfect! I also got two big hugs from my kids, a lovely chat with my mom and mom in law as well as my brother in Brazil, not to mention a gourmet breakfast made by my husband when I woke up! Thank you! :) A very special day indeed!

What more could a mommy ask for!

P.S. What was your "mum's day" like? Did you do something special for your mom? Did your kids create a special day? Please share! :)

Saturdays at home from now on

It was like Christmas getting up at 6:30am to finish sewing all the newly designed fabric dolls and packing everything up to go to the market. I was so excited.

I had a lot of fun putting everything out on the table, it was quite an impressive display if I do say so myself. My booth was in the shade so I was freezing cold for half of the morning but when the sun moved above the tree I warmed right up.

I spent hours and hours getting these baby's packaged and I really love how they turned out.

But I'm sad to report that although it was really a fun experience, financially it was a major waste of time! After all of the fees to sign up I only made a profit of 18$. I spent hours and days of time getting ready, not to mention the expense of supplies and packaging. I may do this again once or twice but there is no way I'll be doing this every Saturday. Yeah I probably shouldn't give up after one try but it was incredibly unprofitable especially when it came to time. It lasts four hours. that is a long chunk of the day, not to mention the prep time during the week. So I have all this stuff now, whatever shall I do with it? :) Well I am going to have a huge Little Lola's shop update! Later next week when I finish everything , including the oh so secretive Papier mache girl, I am going to have a big update full of surprises and new products! Ok ok I won't torture you I'll put a date and time on it, lets say Friday May 16th 3pm mountain time. He he, here comes that Christmas-y excitement again! :) :) Happy Mothers day to all of you mothers out there! And Happy Mothers day to my mom and mom in-law! I love you! Cherrs!

Tidbits and lovely links

ello and good morning! What a fine day it is indeed! I am happy to report much productiveness going on over here. I have been a busy little bee. printing and printing away and also taking a trip to Michaels and buying supplies for more crafty creations and papier mache sculptures. The mistery papier mache girl is in the beginning stage of the painting process and she is turning out so pretty. She is a bit too shy to share another photo of of her half painted self so instead here is a tidbit of what has been coming out of my printer!

I am so pleased with how nicely they are coming along. I personally love stationary! In fact I sort of collect it. More like horde it, you see I love it, so I buy it, and then I have a hard time parting with it and sending it off to other people. Maybe I should buy stationary for all of my sisters next Christmas. Then when they write me a letter I can stash the pretty papers, envelopes, and all the memories written upon it, in a box to keep forever. :) *Sigh* I am getting excited just thinking about it! he he.

Now then, I thought I would share a bit of the fun I have been having, you know share a few links to pretty things that have me inspired and nifty sites I've happened upon while browsing around blogs and whatnot this week.

a lovely morning illustration

little girls Heather Bailey rooster dress

adorable (and free) blog backgrounds

beautiful hand crocheted lace gloves and cuffs

a pretty whisper painting


Enjoy!

And lastly I want to wish you all the best of everything! Happy Thursday :) CHEERS!

Saturday markets

am so excited for this weekend! It is the first gardeners market of the year and I am planning on participating! I had been pretending to plan all last year but I'm serious this time! I am really excited and I am working hard to get new and fun things together for my little local debut. Here is what I hope to have ready:

• prints
• stationary sets
  
• fabric dolls
• mini papier mache sculptures

I hope I actually get all of this done. The hard part with a vendor booth is you have to print all the prints before they sell. With Etsy you have the luxury of never wasting ink and paper on a print no one will buy. But I'm willing to take the risk and hope Cache Valley residents are impressed enough to pull out their pocket books.

ere are a few prints I have been working on. I have had these little robots in my mind for months now. I am so happy with how they turned out! They will be available in print form and on some pretty awesome stationary as well. And any They Might Be Giants fans out there might appreciate that they were inspired by the song "Robot Parade" (A great song, you can find it if you your in the mood to browse around here.) This also explains their cute flag waving action too. Well, I'm off to take a trip to the park and play My Little Ponies and pirates, and perhaps work on more printing, sewing and sculpting, it all depends. With kids every day is different, motherhood, that is the way of it. Nor would I ever really change it. :) Happy Wednesday!!