French Toast Girl

a house for fairies

Keeping in line with the creativity running through our summer, we crafted a fairy house in our backyard.

{Meaning I really wanted one there.}

We went along the lines of this school of thought and tried to use things only found in nature, though I couldn't resist recreating this acorn-marble lantern - you all know I would totally have one in our house in a heartbeat.

The fairies haven't had a chance to leave a thank you note yet as it's been sooooo rainy! Maybe a couple of them got to take refuge from the grey and drippy weather and sit out a storm while they wonder if their furnishings would fit inside. It's small, but cozy, with a lovely front lawn:

More resources to build your own fairy dwellings:
* Drool over the amazing furnishings here. I so totally would live in a house that looked like this.
* Make over a dollhouse as a fairy house
* Sweet! I love the bed.
* Or put "fairy house" into Google image search and get some great ideas!

and....
* Bookmark this now: Notes from Halfland. I've been a longtime reader and admirer of Shelley's work as she crafts an entire miniature world for her stop-motion animation film. I am in awe of her creativity and stick-to-it-ness. She is the real deal.

Labels: creativity, diversions, fairies, family, nature

french toast girl

jumping for joy

I've been in a whirlwind over here at Creativity Central. I've been trying to take photos and I'll be uploading and posting more stories. I swear that every day right now has moments where I stand back and think, wow, this is my life, and it's like a storybook. Every day, I'm constantly growing, creating, doing, making. And every morning I wake up so eager to do more and to see what the day will hold.

Today, I'll show the dresses I've been making for the girls out of tshirts. I am making them up as I go along and it's so fun! Three are done, I have about 5 more to go.

Angela is holding up a picture referencing My Milk Toof, a new family fave. The tooth is saying "I don't wanna."

While I sewed the dresses, I let the kids make their own stuffed animals, whatever they wanted to do. Sophie made - I cannot make this up - a stuffed JOHN DENVER doll. For most of today, Mr. Sunshine on My Shoulders was riding around in that front pocket. God, I love that child.

Life is good, people. Life is good.

Labels: creativity, diversions, family, inspirations, kids, motherhood

french toast girl

every day in may: thirty-one

What we did this weekend...

Labels: drawing, every day in May, faith, family, kids, motherhood

french toast girl

every day in may: thirty

I painted but some over-zealous gardening led to complete exhaustion... so I didn't post this last night.

Labels: every day in May, nature, painting

french toast girl

every day in may: twenty-nine

Getting closer to the finish line... in many ways! I can't believe there are only a couple of days left in May - how have you all been doing in your Every Day endeavors?

Labels: art, every day in May, nature, painting

french toast girl

every day in may: twenty-eight

Again - yesterday's painting progress. You can hardly see the hair, phooey!

Before I paint tonight, I'm going to do a little photoshop work to test things out before I go in and paint. That was the gist of my main computer class in college - not the classes for Quark and Illustrator and all that, but for art on the computer - that the computer was a tool and did not have to be the last word. I like to step back and do just that from time to time, use it as a tool to quickly try out new colors and effects before I do them for real in paint. My final project for the class was a puppet I had made (for my puppetry class) that I had sketched into the computer, photographed and changed colors on the computer before deciding to paint him red, and tried out several different wardrobe changes before committing to the final outfit. So - you who work on computers all day - remember that they are merely tools to bring about your creativity. I promise you'll look at your work a different way.

Labels: art, every day in May, nature

french toast girl

every day in may: twenty-seven

Okay, so this is yesterday's bit of painting, as it was wet yesterday when I had time to scan. Some days I can paint in the morning, but lately it's gone back to when-everyone's-in-bed-time. That's fine too.

It's hard to see in this scan, but the new bit is in the upper left quadrant. I think the paint is so much more reflective than watercolour, the scanner just isn't picking it up properly (as watercolor is not shiny). I'm looking at the painting from across the room and there's so much more contrast there. Foo! I'll have to mess with the settings, I guess.

Labels: art, every day in May, painting

french toast girl

every day in may: twenty-six

I am retooling an old painting that's never seemed quite finished to me. The only thing is, it's acrylic and it's still wet right now! So for now you get to see the way it looked in 2007, and you'll have to wait till tomorrow to see the rework-in-progress. It's getting outlines and details of dark brown/raw umber. I also want to take a pic of Sophie's face to get it just right (it's not Sophie, but she will have the right face for it.)