Got Expo?

I do!! Really, this is the consignment sale, but any chance to be a vendor and show my art to try to get more business, especially for $15, I'm on it!! I have done several expos and this consignment sale two other times and never really walked away with any orders; some leads that turned into orders and one order yes, but nothing to brag about! BUT, this time I am going in armed with quite a few paintings (11 potentially) that are about to be ready to send to REAL customers, so I am hoping and praying for it to be a hit. Either way, I am consigning some things and taking some Southern Living at HOME catalogs to share, so it'll be fun! I've still got quite a bit to do on some, but others are pretty much finished. I've got everything else together and even got my outfit picked out! I'm on a roll!!



Here's the one to match the "B is for Bear" bedding. The upper left corner will be a block and in the lower right will be a ball. I tried to mimic the lettering from the bedding, but I was going from a picture, so I hope it matches. I plan on doing a couple 9x12 inch canvases with one of each of the bears as a surprise...I don't think my friend reads my blog.



Carson is for my cousin's friend. She wanted to combine the Ryan painting with the stripes and whited-out middle with the font from Cade and Crew with shades of blues and greens.



Hailey is Carson's sister and both are siblings to the soon-to-be-expected Aubrey that I did a similar painting for a few weeks ago.


This one is for my cousin and it is a surprise for a friend of hers, so I better leave it at that for now.



You saw this one a few posts back with a white background and paws going around, but my friend and I decided to go a different direction and make it more simple; less busy, so here it is...




Okay, it's 10:20, so I'm headed to bed! Goodnight all!

Middle Tennesseans...HUGE Consignment Sale this Saturday!

The Murfreesboro Parents of Multiples Club is sponsoring a great consignment sale at the Middle Tennessee Christian School this Saturday, March 27th from 8-2. Regular shopping hours are from 8-11:30 and then half-priced hours are from 12-2. The school is located on Memorial Blvd near the intersection with Northfield (a little past the McDonald's). There will be tons of baby, toddler, and childrens' clothing, as well as maternity clothes, toys, baby care items, furniture and much more. In addition to the consignment sale, there will be over 12 work-from-home-mom vendors which is where I come in; I'll be there with my art as well as some Southern Living at HOME goodies. If you have any questions you can call 615-653-1415. Come on out or pass the info along to local friends!

Psalm 139:14

So, on a side note, I have recently recommitted to reading the Bible everyday and am going by a "schedule" in the back of my bible to read it in a year. Right now I am drawing a card from my bible breadbox that a friend gave me and then reading some from Luke, Genesis, and Psalms. Each day the two breadbox scriptures have gone along so very well with the scriptures my bible outlines. It truly is a testament to this re-commitment I have made to God and to his word. I have been praying a lot about what God's purpose is for me and wanting to become the person he set apart for me to be. So, to sum it up, I got this order recently and she is a wonderfully kind Christian woman who is completely devoted to God and her children. BTW, she came over through my friend Kristin who I could say the exact thing about. So, I know God brought us together, but she also wanted this scripture on the two smaller paintings. I did not know this scripture before, but it has quickly become a favorite of mine. These paintings need another coat on the lettering, but God made us perfectly and wonderfully the first time around and I feel so good knowing that. I thank God for bringing Angelica and Kristin into my life!

I Love Painting the Edges!!

So, here are the one's I am working on for Eli and Isa and I painted all the edges last night. I decided to carry the stripes from the front of the painting over to the edges and it turned out to have a really cool effect. I have never tried that before, but I was pretty happy with the outcome. I also cleaned up and put another coat on Eli's lettering, and on the front of the two 6x6's. Then I added some of the accents from the bedding to the 1.5 inch thick edges which I totally heart!!!!

Fun Fonts...and how I get them onto canvas! (no stencils allowed)

So, yesterday I mentioned I was trying some fun new fonts on the 12x24 inch canvases. I was able to get quite a bit of painting done last night so I can show and tell. For this order the customer and I decided to go with a larger canvas so we could do the first and middle names which, I think, turned out very cute (I might be a little biased, though). What I do to find fun, new fonts that will coordinate with and really compliment the bedding design is start at fonts.com.



I usually type in some characteristics of the bedding or something that describes the bedding like "playful, fun, jungle, kitty". Using some of these words I found "Jungle Bones" and it was perfect for Eli's canvas. It still needs another coat and some refining, but I just love this font. It will also have some palm fronds and pairs of eyes on some letters when it is done.



For Isabel's, she wanted some girly lettering, so I found several I liked such as Musical, Hand Cursive, Luxe, and Girlscript, but we ultimately chose Miss Kitty. It's mostly just capital letters with a subtle funky flair, but it has a few unique letters that really add to this quirky-cool bedding. This still needs an additional coat or two and some refining, but I just had to show the great fonts!



So, taking a font from your computer screen to canvas is really not magical, just some good ole practice. So, once I decide on a font I draw out the letters several times to really get the feel for the font.



Then, I take a piece of paper that is exactly the same space as where the name will be placed; in this case the white space in the middle measured 6x18 inches. Next, I measure lines on the paper to help me decide what height and width I want the letters; these are 2 inches high by about an inch wide. This also helps me decide on placement. When I get the letters looking very close to how I want them to look on the canvas, I will cut down the paper as close to the name as possible and, in this case, I cut the two names apart.



Then, I lay them on the canvas and decide exactly where they will go and tape a small area at the top of the name so it can still be lifted up. Then I take a piece of graphite transfer paper the same size as the name and place it under the name. I go over the letters in a darker/different color so I can see the original letters I drew. After that, I remove both pieces and wha-la there is your name. I don't always use this technique, especially if I practice the font a lot like Brio, Curlz, or many scripts; those I paint right on or pencil in some faint lines after some practice on another sheet of paper. Otherwise, this technique helps keep your canvas and lines much cleaner and prevents from eraser marks and dents in the canvas. I never use stencils and the lettering is all hand-drawn, but just transferred over for a much nicer finish. So, try your hand at it and see how you do! Don't worry...it's not cheating.



I hope you enjoyed my first tutorial. I know it wasn't perfect; showing this was an afterthought or I would have had more pics.

More Orders!!! ...and More Fun Stuff on the Way!

After almost 2 and a half long years, my business may finally be taking off...or maybe I am just reaping the rewards of many people having babies!! Either way, thanks be to God for His many blessings and thank you all for your referrals to friends or posting on your blog about my art, etc... I really appreciate it! Ok, so here's what all is going on right now... 4 Paintings for a friend that came over to my blog from Kristin at These Little Girls of Mine. Here are the two sets of bedding she found at Kohl's to coordinate since the children are sharing a big kid room are adorable! There are two 12x24 inch paintings and two 6x6x1.5 inch paintings to match these. I just found some super cute new fonts that I have never tried before to go on each; I'll have some pics soon!



Next, I am doing a 8x16 inch painting for a friend of mine over in Knoxville, TN for her new business that she is launching called "sWAGgles". She is making some super cute accessories for our fine furry friends. I'll have more pics of this one and more info on her business soon!




In addition to those 5, I have two 10x10 inch ones for Hailey and Carson. Hailey's will be like the one I did for Aubrey and Carson's will be a combination of the one I did for Ryan and the font from Cade. I've also got a 12x16 that I am working on that is a surprise, so I will say it will be similar to the one I did for Caleb Jordan with the R in the middle. Next, I am working on a 16x20 inch for my friend for her daughter that is due in the next few months, Brooklyn. I did a rodeo one for her son a couple years back. Here is the bedding for Brooklyn:



Last, my cousin's cousin (yes, I live in Tennessee) works at a salon here in Smyrna and I may get to do a painting for the girls over at The Beauty Bar. Their logo is cool; it's a martini glass that has some scissors and a comb (I think) sticking out it! I'm pretty sure this is a go, but I've got to make sure and then I will have some details.

Anyways, I hope you all are as excited as I am about all this upcoming business. I listed it all out so I will have a place to look back as well! LOL!! You will get to see some pics pretty soon of all of this because I am participating as a vendor at a consignment at the Middle Tennessee Christian School on Sat, March 27th from 8-2. If you are local, come on out and see me and get some great deals!

Hope you all have a great day!