Some silver, gold and white

I am getting my shop back up after a nice summer break: restocking inventory, buying new paints and brushes and finding excuses to get most of the completely irrelevant stock at Michael's. While at it, I realized that I really am out of a lot of my paints AND down to my last white travel mug. The new mugs are arriving next week but for now here are a few BLACK mugs done in silver, gold, and white paints :)

The need to be funny

Every blog I read is funny, informative, chock full of great photos of cute homemade outfits and yummy recipes. Mine is not. I can paint somewhat well. I can entertain two little girls somewhat well but blogging... No, it doesn't seem to come naturally. And yet I keep coming back to it and try to reinvent what it is I want to write about. It's a stream of consciousness kind of thing. Especially at midnight, which is the time when the kids are in bed and I finally have time to work. So here is to being consistently inconsistent! And just to throw in something painterly into the mix, here is one sort of Halloween-y since it is coming up.

A Cherry Blossom Collection

There is a reason cherry blossoms are such a popular art subject: they are absolutely beautiful. They also happen to be blooming all over the place around here right now.

I love using cherry blossoms in my designs and people really respond to them. I was looking through my Etsy shop today and realized that I've actually done so many different items with that design that I've got my first "collection" on my hands. I know it's a small thing but it made me excited. It kinda made me feel like this shop and business are really coming along and taking shape. So I present to you my Cherry Blossom Collection!

For the love of clothes

I love people. I love talking to them, working with them, getting to know them, so custom orders are a lot of fun for me. I am hoping to do a few posts that highlight some of them

I really enjoyed working on this one.

Two friends ordered it for a third that works as a consultant (or Trunk Keeper as they are called) for Matilda Jane Clothing. They sent me photos of the outfits their friend likes most and left up to me what to do with that. I also did my own research and the outfits are too cute for words. You can bet that my girls will be getting some for the holidays :). I decided to put the clothes on the clothes line and added the girl's name and the company to the top. My customers were a joy to work with and promised to let me know their friend's reaction. I hope she likes her gift :)

Travel mugs galore

I've been on a Travel Mugs kick lately. They are just so fun to paint! The surface is uniform and the matte finish lets the paint go down almost as if on paper. They are also pretty eye catching and what girl doesn't like a complement? I started out with a could cheaper ones from Target, but the problem is that they are not insulated and do get very hot without a sleeve. And if I put on the sleeve, I cover up the art work. So I moved on to the original double-walled "Not a Paper Cup" mug and it's so worth the price! They are solid to hold and really keep my coffee hot without burning my hands in the process. If you are going to try this yourself, definitely make the investment. Here are a few examples of the ones I've done so far:

And this one is my favorite so far. The base is chalkboard so you can have a little fun with it and add your own spin to the picture :)