Self Portrait

I made a self portrait on canvas not long ago. Mostly an experiment, it was done from a picture my husband took of me while we were on our trip. I was actually driving at the time when he took the picture, which I don't really do all that often. As you can see I am very seriously concentrating. It wasn't that bad though, really, but I do tend to worry more than necessary.

Anyway, he took this picture of me when we were driving through Alabama. The way I created the painting was by first sketching the under drawing on the canvas.
Then I figured out what colors I wanted to use. I used acrylic paint for this painting. I decided to go with a blue and yellowish-orange color scheme. Something very contrasting and bold. I painted the background first with a blue color that varied in tones.To finish the painting I had to paint the face. Even though my hair is brown I painted it black, since it looked very dark in the picture. Once most of the painting was done, I also added some colored pencil and some black ink to certain places I wanted to make stand out. I also smudged some of the colored pencils, to blend them into the canvas.All in all, it came out all right. I think my painting of skin tones can definitely be improved, but other than that I do like it.

New Jack O'Lantern Purse Pattern

I created a fun little purse for the Halloween season. I have the pattern up for sale in my etsy store. It is the first of hopefully many patterns I will create for sale. I think it is a very cute little purse. I like to wrap the handle around my wrist and swing it around. I think it would be the perfect bag for a child this season. Anyway, let me know what your thoughts are on it. It was very quick to make and if you want to make one for yourself, go to this site and buy the pattern. I will make sure to send the pdf quickly.

Back from the Chaos

Our vacation is over and we are back to the grind. My husband started work again after having off for two weeks. It's going to be hard around here for a few weeks more though, because he didn't have a paid vacation, so no paychecks for a couple weeks. Other than that our trip was a blast. We got to see lots of family. Not everyone on our list, but still it was a good time. We went to the boardwalk, a favorite destination. No skeeball, sadly, maybe next time. We really need to visit for longer than 6 days. I feel like I need a vacation from my vacation, ha.

My newest endeavor is going to be creating some patterns for my etsy store. The watermelon purse will be going up soon so look out for it. I even have some new ideas for other themed purses. I made one today, it needs some more work, though. I'll make sure to put up some pics when it's finished.

Vacation Time!

Today is the first day of our vacation! Yay! It starts off with a wedding. Yup. Today is the day that my husband's cousin gets married. I know she is going to look beautiful and I am very mucxh looking forward to seeing these two love birds tie the knot. I made them a gift, but I don't want to spoil it by posting it, so I will post a picture of it in a few days. After the wedding it's a lot of driving, yup you heard me right. We are driving to our destination. It'll probably about 1000 miles to where we are going, my home state of NJ. We'll have some real pizza, something we have long missed in Louisiana. Looking forward to seeing family and friends. What fun. It's a long ride though, in a cramped space. Other than that, I am so excited. I guess I need to finish packing. Au revoir!

It has been done!

This past Friday and Saturday was the Watermelon Festival. It was hot!!!!! As is to be expected in July in my area, that is why I chose to have an interior space. Only problem was that most people did not know there was such a space, so I did not get as much exposure to customers. I ended up not even breaking even. It is not what I wanted but, I will not let it affect my progress. I have come a long way and I now have a lot of very nice items that are going up for sale in my etsy store over the next few weeks. I did sell a few things, and I had a lot of people looking and wanting to buy things, but very few actual sales. One of the saddest things was when a little girl came up to my booth and was looking at a hair clip. She wanted her mother to buy it and her mother said no, then the girl proceeded to throw a fit. I would have gave it to her, but once she started acting out like that, there was no way I could do that. I don't want to reward that kind of behavior. All in all, it was a learning experience and a reminder for me to keep moving forward! Oh yeah and in this picture, you can see I am nursing my son. I had him with me the entire time. It was a juggling act to say the least.

Busy, busy, busy

The festival is fast approaching. I have been working seemingly non-stop. Gluing, sealing, sewing, and crocheting. I am so busy that this is the only thing I can write. After I finish more items, I will write more about how I made them and put up pictures.

Watermelon Purse

Since I am planning on having a booth at the Watermelon Festival this year, I thought I would do some items with a watermelon theme. I used to make a lot of crocheted purses as gifts for people a few years back. I thought, "Hey why not make a watermelon purse?" So that's what I did yesterday and today. Here I show you the first watermelon purse. It may change slightly, but overall I really like it. I think my customers will like it too. Let me know what you think.