Fruit and Vegetable Onesies

September is a month filled with birthdays of people I care about. Three of those people happen to have celebrated their first birthday this year. I was so ecstatic about the birthday excitement, that I decided to make a personal gift for each of them. With the 2012 Vegan MoFo right around the corner, I thought it would be a good time to share them in honor of the month of food. 

This idea came to me as I pondered each of the babies (one being a niece and the other two babies of two of my close girlfriends). As far as the babies go, one of them is a vegan, the other is a vegetarian, and the other is an omnivore. Fruits and vegetables are important to any child omnivore or herbivore and I thought this was a good way to make them fun. 

Violet received the onesies with strawberries and an eggplant. The eggplant came about since her name is a color and it was the only vegetable that was Violet. Now that I think about it, I could have drawn grapes, but the vision for eggplant popped into my head! The smiling strawberries made me think of her with her bright red hair giggling!

Sidney received the onesies with the green beans and carrots. I picked these  because his parents have been feeding him his first foods from their CSA share that we both joined this summer. I could just see Sidney enjoying green beans and carrots. He has a very healthy appetite and I was so excited to be there when he tried his first bite of food!

Catherine will receive the onesies with carrots on it and the apple. I chose the carrots for her because she has two brothers and the image of the three carrots reminded me of the three of them together. I don't have a real reason for the apple, expect that I thought the worm was cute and she Catherine is cute! 

I'm thinking of creating more and selling them in my etsy shop. All I need to do is find a good stash of used onesies!

Vegan Housewarming Letters

I was recently asked by my friend Julie to make letters for her new home. She wanted something to signify that she and her husband had a new, cruelty-free kitchen.  A place where animal products have never touched the counter, refrigerator, dishwasher, cabinets, sink, utensils, plates, etc. This might not sound like a big deal to the majority of the world but, those of us who live a vegan lifestyle because we reject the notion of cruel factory farming practice, think this is a big deal.

I thought of painting cutesie pigs, cows, chickens, and fish, but that didn't seem to go with the style of the new space. After discussion, we came up with an espresso background with a salmon-creme boarder. After seeing the cabinets in the kitchen, I wanted to mirror the finish so that the letters look like they were a planned fixture. I'm not sure I achieved that look with the letters, but Julie was delighted when she saw them and that is good enough for me!

Happy housewarming Julie and Greg, may you have many years of delicious, heart-warming, and cruelty-free meals in your beautiful kitchen! 

Letters for Lilly

I know, I know-I promised I'd be back to blogging at the beginning of the 2012. It is now almost March and I'm barely back. I planned to post blogs and to read blogs in January, but I failed. The past couple of months have been...well...let's just say they have been. It is a long story, but there is no need to tell it here. Sometimes we just have to shrug our shoulders and agree that things are what they are and move on.

In the spirit of moving on, I bring you another post about letters. I received a request from a childhood friend, Carrie (also known as "Taweewee"), to make letters for her niece. I agreed, but it took me longer than it should have to complete the letters. She asked me in April and I sent them to her in time for Christmas. I guess they are better late than never.

Carrie informed me that the theme was animals and I wanted to make the letters cute, but not too girlie. Those of you that know me, know my disdain for all things pink and girlie. I just don't get the love that some people have for that color- it makes me want to puke. So do girlie things. The thought of monogrammed handbags, aprons, and floral patterns literally makes my head spin. I must have missed the girlie boat. I'm cool with it though, I like my boat better- it has less flowers. :-)

With the theme information, I made the design my own hoping that it matches Lilly's room. Carrie seemed pleased with the letters and I hope that Lilly enjoys them for years to come! Happy first year, Lilly!

Letters for Violet

As I have mentioned in previous posts, this is the year of babies for many of our friends. Two weeks after co-hosting the shower Craig and Rebecca, I co-hosted a shower/potluck for Jessie and Tim. I plan to blog about the shower later, but I need to get my hands on pictures first. In the meantime, this blog is about part of the baby gift.

Jessie and Tim are expecting a baby girl at the end of September and I wanted to make something special. Since meeting this lovely couple, we have become extremely close. Jessie is the long-lost friend that I had been searching for, but never knew I was missing. When I met her, I felt an instant connection and it didn't take long for us to get to know each other. I was so ecstatic for the two when they found out that Jessie was pregnant. This was their dream come true and I instantly knew they were having a girl (no one believed me)! :-)

Well, as luck would have it the tests showed that Jessie was in fact carrying a little girl and her name is Violet. As part of the gift, I thought that letters would be fitting. Jessie is like me and isn't a fan of pink, so I wanted to keep these letters relatively pink-free (I'm pretty sure Tim isn't a fan of pink either)! When I thought about the letters, I considered that the two like the outdoors and animals. So, I decided to create letters with a cartoon outdoor theme including friendly looking bugs and birds.

In hindsight there are some aspects of the letters that I would have changed, but overall I'm pleased with how they turned out. Jessie and Tim seem to really enjoy the letters and that makes me happy! Someday little Violet will learn to spell her beautiful name and she can use my letters as a guide.

Congratulations Jessie and Tim!

Letters for Baby Izzy

I've mentioned in previous posts that many of my friends are having babies in 2011. I'm so excited for all of them! I can't wait to welcome all of their little ones into the world.

I made letters for Baby Zach, who will be here very soon, and presented them to Kelly in February. I also made letters for Baby Izzy (short for Isadora), who will be here in late June, and presented them to Diana and Jason last weekend.

As always, I had so much fun thinking up an idea and painting each letter. Instead of a theme, Diana said that coral as the main color. I got my hands on a picture of the crib sheets and bedspread and got to work. The coral colored bedspread had small flowers in orange, brown, peach, and magenta. The pattern made me think of spring and that led me to butterflies, dragonflies, flowers, and ladybugs all in that same color pattern.

Here is the result! I hope Diana and Jason liked them (I think they did)!

Homemade Letters For Baby Zach

All of our nephews and niece have received name letters with hand painted designs by me. I usually use the theme of the baby room. If a theme has not been designated, then I paint what I like for them. I like the letters because is something they can play with or keep displayed. My hope is that it will help them to learn how to spell their names. Here are some examples of some that I have made. I haven’t taken pictures of all of them and I wish I would have!

It seems like 2011 is the year for babies. Many of my friends and some family members are pregnant. I know of at least six women who are pregnant right now. It is an exciting time! One of the first due is Kelly and she is having a baby boy named Zach. The theme for his room is monkeys and I couldn’t resist drawing monkey themed letters for his room. I had so much fun painting the letters for him.

This past weekend was Kelly's shower and it was fun to celebrate Kelly becoming a new Mom. I was delighted that Kelly and Jed (her fiancé) liked the letters. They even inspired Jed to start thinking about painting a mural in Zach’s room! Every little kid should have art in their life!

Kelly encouraged me to continue to create and wondered why she hadn’t seen art from me before in our friendship. As I thought about it I also wondered myself. Sometimes I am surrounded by other people who create and I feel there is no room for me. As a teenager and young adult, I used to spend hours drawing in my sketch books. The older I get, the less I crack open my sketch book and pick up an art utensil. Part of the trouble is the doubt that I succumb too as I tell myself that I am not any good. In reality, it doesn’t matter if I have any talent. It is something that brings me joy and I should do it without reservation and without judgment. I should do it for the peace that it brings me.

To those of you that have the same reservations, I hope you will find inspiration in your life for art. Thanks, Kelly!

Vegan Craft Supplies- Where Does The Madness End?

It is frustrating to have to check literally EVERY label of the food that I ingest, but it does not end there. Being a vegetarian/vegan requires a commitment beyond food. I have to check clothing, shoes, jewelry, and planting supplies. If you are thinking, that list is complete- think again. I also have to check art supply products!

I recently read a blog on the Etsyveg site that I found helpful. It is often hard to detect if a product contains something that harmed, killed, or tested on an animal or animals. It is cumbersome to have to contact every manufacturer before purchasing an art product. I find this site useful because it links to a blog that has a listing of products that are known to be vegan. Luckily, most of what I make is reused from other products, so I do not have to worry all that much. It is still a concern when I go to make something from scratch.

All of this checking and reading is enough to make one mad! If my choice to live without animal products was just a feeling, mood, or fad, then this would be overwhelming. The bottom line is that this is a lifestyle for me and I do not do anything halfway (or at least I try not too). I don't just do things when they are convenient for me. I try to give 100% because this is my calling. Any yes, sometimes I do fail. Nonetheless, I am committed. Even if that commitment means making my life harder. I can take a couple of extra steps to save the life of an animal. It is, after all a life- and life all life is precious.

Fun With Friends, Tiles, and Alcohol Ink

To say that I feel a lack of creativity in my life lately is an understatement. For months I have wanted to go back to creating, but I have had a hard time motivating myself. Knowing this, my friend, Diana invited me over to get my creativity on by making alcohol ink tiles that she saw on a blog called Artysville. Just one glance at these tiles hooked me in.

Diana was kind enough to buy the materials (I offered to pay, but she said no) and have me and Beth over for some tiling fun. I went to her house after work one day and she had all of the supplies ready to go on her dining room table- tiles, alcohol blending solution, alcohol ink, Q-tips, and a water based sealer.

We munched on snacks and got to work. We started with the alcohol blending solution as a base. The next step was to drop on the bits of color and watch them expand. If I did not like my design, I could just use the blending solution and wipe it off and start from scratch. I could also use the blending solution to lighten areas of my tiles and add in other colors.

When the tiles were dry, we then used the sealer to provide a protective shield (which, by the way takes four weeks to cure). We each applied four coats, waiting 20 minutes in between each coat. While we waited, we had fun chatting and snacking some more. The company and the tile decorating was great! I am going to use my tiles as coasters.

I think we did a great job for our first try. What do you think?

(Diana's tiles)

(Beth's tiles)

(My tiles)

While I loved all of the tiles, I had a few favorites. These are not in any special order.

A Tea Themed Excuse for Creativity

With moving, family events, work, etc, I have not had a chance to do anything creative lately. Correction, I have not taken the chance to create lately. I think I have been in a rut and focused on getting our house together. I have always found an excuse as to why “now was not the time.”

John’s youngest sister, Julie, is getting married and his oldest sister, Mary Catherine, and I are bridesmaids and we decided to throw a shower. I used this as an opportunity. I love to paint, especially with watercolors and this shower had given me a chance and an excuse. I decided to commit myself to making the invitations based on our tea themed shower.

As I thought more about the invitations and my ideas, I decided to have two types of themed invitations. Some that were wedding dresses and some that involved the tea theme of the shower. As I thought more, I decided that I did not want each invitation to be exactly alike. They did not have to all be completely different, but I did not want them all alike. I can copy the same design over and over again, but I thought it would be more fun to make them different.

The inside of the invitation was printed out on pink paper with scalloped edges. Those of you that know me are probably wondering why I chose pink. Well, Julie likes pink and the shower was supposed to be Victorian inspired and pink was one of the main colors. The shower, after all, was not for me and my color likes and dislikes do not matter. And besides, I can be open-minded aboutthe color; I just do not choose it for myself. :)

In the end, the invitations might not have been the best or even the cutest,but they were homemade and I put a lot of time into them. I spent several nights in my craft room painting my heart out! I knew they were not perfect, but they were from me to Julie. I saved several for her. I have a scrapbook of all of our showers and I thought she might like to do the same. Maybe not, but now she has something personalized. She liked them and so did the guests! It makes me feel like I did my job.

Painting makes me happy and I wish I did it more often. I need to open myself to find the inspiration that I found so freely in the past.

Pullen Park Adventure

At work, several of us started a group to foster, promote, and share creativity. We all started by purchasing a book called “Wreck this Journal” by Keri Smith. The idea of this journal is exactly as the title sounds- you wreck the book. It is counter to everything we have done our entire lives. We generally preserve and make what we have pretty. The purpose of the journal is the opposite- Destroy the journal to pieces! Each page has directions, such as crumple the page; poke holes; draw all over; infuse with food or smells; etc.

(Diana, Shannon, and Jim at the Flying Biscuit)

(Alfonso and me)

Each month when we get together we swap journals and look at our destroyed progress. We also talk about ideas that we have to advance our creativity. During our first meeting, Alfonso came up with the idea to spend an afternoon going to a park and to take pictures.

On President’s day we decided to head to Pullen Park in Raleigh, NC and chronicle what we saw. We took pictures of the train and tracks, the budding flowers, the playground, the water and wildlife, the trees, the sky, and each other. Afterward, we went to Cameron Village and ate at the Flying Biscuit. Later we all downloaded and posted our pictures to our online group.

In addition to meeting monthly, we hope to spend more time partaking in the creative activities outside of the meetings. Some of us are good at picture taking, writing, drawing, painting, creating music, etc. This group is a way for us to showcase our talents and learn from the creativity that we each hold inside.

Pumpkin Decorating Contest

The Fun Committee at work held the annual Pumpkin Decorating Contest (not sure how many years they have had the contest). I submitted an entry, as usual. I generally participate in any activity where I get a chance to create something art-like. I designed my pumpkin to look like Jack the Pumpkin King from the Nightmare Before Christmas.

This year, I won third place. In previous years I won first and second. Maybe next year I will win first!

(pictured here are the first and second place winners.)

All of the entries this year were done well. It was difficult competition! :) Congrats to all participants!

If I want to win first place next year, I guess I better begin thinking of ideas now!