Give-away, SURPRISE! (My very first one.)

I couldn't sleep last night at all. I woke up at 1:00 and tried to fall back asleep for three hours 'til finally I gave up, came downstairs and turned on the computer. All week I have been thinking of so many things I wanted to do that I took this sleeplessness as an opportunity to create something. I have so many creative passions that it is actually really hard for me to stick to just one niche or medium for too long. I love painting, sewing, sculpting, digital media, and oh so many different styles of each of them. Recently I have been trying to look inside myself for inspiration. I hope that doesn't sound conceited; I just needed to "remember" what has always been a passion of mine...You know, a love that never dies or an inspiration that doesn't change with the current fads or trends. So here is one of my loves --

Fairies!

I made this digitally altered photo almost ten years ago. (Note my maiden name, Allred, on it instead of Gudmundsen)

Ever since I could pick up a crayon or pencil I have been drawing fairies! As a girl I filled four whole composition notebooks with fairies on EVERY single page. I wanted to BE a fairy at times. I am still in love with fairies now but somehow, only in the past year, they slowly slipped out of my sketch pads and notebooks. When in search for the perfect art print for my daughter's bedroom, I decided I needed to make it myself. I wanted to return to my roots, so to speak, and this lovely fairy is what came to me in the wee hours of insomnia this morning.
I loved how she turned out and I really wanted to share her. She didn't "fit" into my Etsy shop so what Ive decided to do is have a Give-away! Anyone who comments on THIS post, with accurate contact information (i.e. email), will automatically be entered into the Give-away. Then, on Saturday the 15th of March I will draw 1 name from a hat and that lovely person will be the winner of a 8 1/2" x 11" print of this image on high-quality Epson matte paper! The image will not contain the "watermark", but will be hand-signed. Hope you all have a great weekend, and happy commenting! :)

The give away has ended Check out who won right here!

Fashion Friday: Earth Tones

I am loving the look of these Five outfits today! The natural earth tones really speak to me. I adore the boots they are all wearing,and I also like the cravat type bows a few of them are wearing at the neck. Hope you all have a great Friday! When the weather warms up I'll start posting spring fashion, it's still freezing here in the mountains of Utah. Clothes Designed by Carolina Herrera, images are from New York Fashion show

My Regency Era Hairstyle with a modern twist.

As you all probably know, I've been in Love with the Regency Era of fashion as of late, and now it's affected the way I do my hair. As an experiment I tried to get my hair to look as authentic as I could, while putting in some modern adjustments. In the back I made what would have been perfect pin curls and ringlets into something a bit more messy; but I really liked how it all turned out. The shirt I chose to wear really reflects the gathered dress fronts of that era too, and that was not even intentional. ;) (See, It's infecting everything I do whether I want it to or not.) Oh, and the shoes were just a really great thrift store find that I had to share. They were only three bucks! Have a great day!

In love with the Sweater

I happened upon this lovely collection of sweaters via Loobylu, a lovely illustrators blog I read. The sweaters, scarfs, and berets are designed by Kim Hargreaves. You really must look at her website because EVERY sweater is so beautiful. I love that they have a classical old fashioned twist to modern fashion. And who doesn't LOVE sweaters.

What I've been "studying"

I have been obsessed with fashion history as of late, it came about from my love for these traditional paintings I've been "collecting" on my computer. I hope these inspire you as much as they do me. As a complete coincidence I watched Becoming Jane last night and fell even more in love with the Regency, or Empire fashion era. Its a MUST SEE!!! Loved it (I cried).

My Studio

I'm sure you all remember my recent post about inspiring art rooms, well I finally have my studio all made up with pretty things and now it's worthy of sharing with all of you.
I don't have any expensive and amazing things like new furniture and storage units, but it is a beautiful room any way. I just made do with what I had already. I used somethings in different ways than they were meant to be used. And I painted the room with left-over paint from my daughters room makeover. I rearranged the furniture and now my drafting table is right next to the window for good light for painting and drawing, and the sewing/crafting table, with the inspiration board over it, is on the other wall so you can see it right when you walk in the room.
It really turned out nice. In fact it surprises me, every time I go in, how great I feel when I'm in there. It's really a great space to work and be creative.










To the Right, is the inspiration board, It is made from an old room divider that we never ever used. If you look close you can see that is is made of mesh wire, that you can see right through, so it couldn't really divide any rooms very well. When I realized that I could use clothes pins to hold inspirational photos and things on it, it became my inspiration board.
I really Love it! It's pretty heavy, so I had Trent make sure and screw it into the studs on the wall.


Below is the shelf that Trent made me a long time ago, that I am now using to store books and stack all of my hat boxes. I never realized I had so many till I arranged them all in one place.

I also used my little daisy pedestal to set come cute dollies on, and a wooden painted L. I'm really enjoying it a-lot! Have a happy Friday I'm off to play in my pretty studio.

Fashion Friday, Neutral with a pop of color

I am in love with these five outfits. The neutral base combined with one bright color looks so great. The grey/blue dress with ruffles on the bodice has to be my favorite! Close behind that is the Red coat! Love it Love it Love it. What can I say I just love all of them. The leggings the tights, the shoes! And I definitely love the layering. the skirts are too short for my taste but these outfits are inspiring nonetheless. All outfits by Karen Walker, images are from the fall 2008 NY fashion show.