"There is beauty all around"

Happy Sunday everyone. Sundays should always be filled with relaxation and beauty! I have created a collection of inspirational images for you to enjoy. (These are from and old file so I have no clue what sources they're from, sorry.) They inspire me every time I look at them though. I smile, I close my eyes and imagine that I'm twirling around and around, at least the outdoor ones make me feel that way. The interiors make me want to curl up reading a great book, or write a letter, a real one with pretty stationary and an actual stamp. I hope you ENJOY these images!

Fashion Friday: Anticipating Spring

Hooray it finally got warm this week! Warm enough for me to get pretty toasty in the car while driving the kids home from a play date today! Its so nice to have the sun shining again! In anticipation for the real arrival of spring I'm sharing some pretty spring outfits from the Salt Water Spring 2008 collection.

New look

Here are the results of a pretty cool experiment I did today. I was playing around with making an alphabet and I ended up changing my banner to. What do you think of my new look?

Sweetness to Share

These sweet little Regency children are from a little book I picked up from Jo-Anne's Fabrics and Crafts today in the 1$ bin. I loved all the little illustrations in it so I bought it. I thought I would share them with you! Happy Mondays sweeties and don't forget to enter the Give-away! ;) The give away has ended check out who won right here.

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!