My 11 for 2011

Eleven little goals to achieve in the new year. Nothing too spectacular, just some things for fun. I'm not really one for resolutions, I can never keep them really. But a simple list of goals is achievable for me. And this list is mostly fun, happy things, little changes for a new year and a different sort of me.
1. Start my Etsy Shop- I will be crossing this off my list tomorrow. I am so excited, and so nervous at the same time. I have really wanted to do this for a while. I think I have been so held up by making sure everything's perfect, but I have finally settled on the fact that your own business is a constant work in progress, and it will never be perfectly ready. Wish me luck!

2. Wear more hair accessories- I love the look of a bow in my hair, or a flower, or a glamorous barrette. I want to accessorize more in the coming year, it is so fun.
3. Dye my hair red- since I finally took the plunge this past year and dyed my hair dark brown after seven years of au natural, I think it would be fun to try a striking color some time in the next year.
4. Wear lipstick- I love the way lipstick looks, but feel a little awkward in it myself. So I am going to try to incorporate it into my everyday makeup routine more often.
5. Decorate my bedroom- I sort of started this year, I bought a lamp, duvet cover and headboard and footboard. But this year I want it complete, with painted walls, art work and an area rug.
6. Buy more handmade- I love shopping handmade and local, so I want to make more of an effort to shop this way during the new year.
7.Thrift often!- It is so much fun to find that thrifted treasure, so I want to make a point of checking out more thrift stores in my area, as well as trips away from my town.
8. Buy a smartphone- I took care of this one today. Now I just need to learn how to use it. I know I'm in the stone age, but I haven't been able to really afford it until now. Even my mom had a smartphone before me!
9. Project 365- I think it will be fun to take a photo everyday. I haven't decided if it will be a self portrait 365 or not. It would be neat to see the daily progression over a years time though, wouldn't it?
10. A painting a week- I want to finish a painting every week, so I have plenty of new material for my Etsy shop.
11. Start block printing at home- I've loved making prints since I first experienced it in high school, and this past semesters print making class reignited my love, block printing can be done easily from home, so I want to gather the supplies and start making some prints!
Happy New Year.... be safe and happy. XO

A Wonderful Christmas.

Our Christmas was wonderful, I hope yours was too. I've been signed off for these past couple of days, in fact I am still super busy but wanted to do a quick post here. Celeste made out like a bandit as per usual, with new dolls, clothes, and a doll house. She got a pink peacoat, which made her so excited since she now has a coat like her mama! We also tried to put her hair in curlers, but she decided they were itchy and I had to take them out.
I made my first ever apple pie, I picked up a pampered chef apple corer/peeler at the thrift store and have been dying to use it. And I also made my first ever red velvet cake. It was delish, but I may try sour cream in the batter next time. You know how red velvet can get a little dry. Off to make some peppermint ice cream, XO.

My Studio- Before and After's

 

I can't even express into words how unbelieveably happy I am to have finally pulled this space together! When we first bought our home just over a year ago I was eagerly looking forward to planning my own perfect space to do all the lovely creative things I love to do. Many, many other little things around the home garnered my attention, as well as my funds, and my little studio was left all by itself, in the back of the house. It slowly became a gathering ground for all the little things I couldn't deal with right away, like stacks of papers, unhung photo frames and a set of chairs to a dining room table that isn't being used in the dining room!

These two shots are "before", but when it was clean! The roll top desk was my great grandfathers, and I absolutely adore that I have it. But it isn't a very functional work top for the sort of things I do, like scrapbooking and painting. So I moved it to the living room. And now Celeste has somewhere to do her homework, rather than the dining room table.

 The pillow in the chair is sort of my "inspiration" for my colors, and worked out well considering my how I came across my can of paint (I'll elaborate later). The wine boxes were from when we did the wine crate shelving in the kitchen and Celeste's room.

 

When I moved the roll top desk to the living room, my thought was I would some day find a drafting table to place in my studio. What I really wanted was a nice big work top to spread out on. One day I browsing one of favorite local thrift stores and I came across this vintage school teachers desk for $5! (It had a sticker on the inside that read "property of Mineral County School District"). 

I don't own  truck, and this thing is HUGE, so I called my little brother, borrowed his truck, and brought home my new little (big) treasure. The next day I picked up a few cans of spray paint and turned her gray. I actually thought I wanted  a wall or two in the studio to be gray, but once I decided to paint the desk, I got the gray out of my system. I love the gray...

 I left the wall behind my cube shelf white. I think I want to find a neato wall paper. I'm just not a big fan of having all four walls the same color, not sure why...

 So I picked up this paint in the "oops" section of Home Depot. That's when they mess up making someones color, so they sell it at a discount. We were there picking up paint for the laundry room (which is the darker teal in the design on the top of the desk) and I spotted it for $5. I had no idea what I would do with it at the time, but I loved the color. And it actually fits so perfectly, I am so glad I decided to just go for it.

 These little cuties were my first ever thrifted item,  bought while antiquing with my grandma.

 And this photo clip serves as my memo board, I hang photos, swatches and magazine clippings from it.

Thanks for stopping by to check out my studio!
-XO K.

Project Monday-Deck the Halls!

While I've already shared some of our little holiday happiness with my blog friends here and here, I thought I'd use this photo prompt to show how we decorate Celeste's room and a couple little touches in the studio! A couple of years back, when Celeste was four, she wanted a Christmas tree in her room sooooo bad. So I picked up this little pink tree and it's ultra girly glittery ornaments at the after Christmas clearance sales. It is Celeste's night light all through the month of December. We also hang the pink jumbo ornament from her ceiling and this year I picked up the pink tinsel garland at the thrift store.

 

In my newly revamped studio space I just added a couple little festive touches. I picked up the glittery wreath at the thrift store earlier this month. It was only a couple dollars and I wanted to deck it out, but since I haven't gotten around to it I figured I just better hang it already! So I took a piece of lace from the scrapbooking drawer and hung it from the bookcase in my studio. I also picked up these vintage Christmas lights for $0.44! I just filled a little bowl with them and voila a little holiday accent!

-XO

What a week...

Today marked the end of the fall semester. It was supposed to be my final presentation for my printmaking class. But, the weather had other ideas. When I left for work at 3:45 am this morning I thought I could see some flakes falling. And at about 7am the ground was already covered. It was a nice, slow snowfall, and its been steadily falling all day today, turning our little city into a winter wonderland. Before I left for class I checked the college website to see if classes were canceled and it showed everything on schedule. The normally seven minute drive took me over forty five minutes due to all the traffic accidents. And when I finally made it to class, there was a note on the door saying class was canceled!
All in all my finals for my other classes went well, just not sure how I'm going to receive a grade for my printmaking course! Hopefully the instructor will contact us.
Earlier this week Celeste and I decided to test out the holiday cookie stamps I picked up at a recent thrift outing. The snowman one is missing, but they were only 88 cents. They looked super neato in the dough, but as they baked they puffed the stamp shape right out. I'm thinking that my dough wasn't stiff enough, since I used the drop recipe instead of the roll out recipe. They are still yummy and we had fun making them.

Celeste is at her dads house this weekend so I am going to work on my studio space. It's my goal to have it functional by the end of this weekend. I have the next four weeks off from school and I plan on launching my Etsy shop at the beginning of January, so a workspace is needed! I haven't allowed myself to scrap until I can use my new desk, with its big awesome worktop, so I am highly motivated due to my scrap deprivation. Happy weekend everyone! -XO K.

Project Monday- Stories are Gifts

Inspired by their latest latte, Gloria and Carrie's friday prompt was "stories are gifts-share".
When I was a little girl I dreamed of making a grand gingerbread house every year for Christmas. Our family was never one for gingerbread houses, so I tried to make my own with graham crackers and peanut butter. My mom thought it was cute. Then I ate it. I recall building one with my cousin and siblings when we were older. But a gingerbread house was something I was always in love with, year after year.
So when my little girl turned three I turned my gingerbread dreams into our little tradition. Every year we build ourselves a gingerbread house. Some times we are ultra creative, other times a wee bit hurried. (ummm this year is definitely hurried!). Once we bought chocolate pebbles and made an edible cobble stone path way. We never really eat our houses, but we love making sure that it is edible.

 This years gingerbread house- we're still working on it!

 Last years gingerbread house, small and simple!

 And our first gingerbread house!

They seem so cute and easy, but it is really hard to pipe frosting vertically and keep it straight! Sometimes the directions suggest decorating the house, then assembling. I might try that next year, but I'm afraid I'll mess it up. While my dreams are still  grand, Celeste and I make small and simple houses. I take a picture every year, so it will be fun to see how our skills evolve.
If anyone is wondering why I haven't posted my before an afters for my desk yet, it's because I decided to do so more work on it. Here is a sneak peak! I hope to have my studio space put together by the end of this weekend, so I can do some more work for the grand opening of my Etsy shop this January.

On a Day Like Today....

Cool, and overcast just calls for some hot soup. Some hot tomato soup with a grilled cheese sandwhich. Ohhh, the melty goodness of cheddar and gouda, I'm in heaven. Celeste and I are going to my Mom's today, she moved and we are going to check out her new place. Happy weekend!

So, what did you do at school today?

Well Mom, I colored my hair with markers.
Okay actually, what she said is her teacher told her to color her hair with a marker.
Well then, I am just going to have to call your teacher.
Actually, I just colored my hair because I wanted to.
Why?
Because I like to have it different colors. Are you mad at me?
No, your just expressing yourself.
So I can color more?

No, I'm not mad. Just don't do it again. And let me take some pictures.

You have to admit, she coordinated the color with her outfit well!
-XO. K

Gingerbread Cupcakes

 

And they are oh so delicious! Addicting really, I could probably eat them all in one sitting. So don't say I didn't warn you!

 Recipe:

Ingredients

Cupcakes
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter softened
1/2 cup molasses
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
3/4 cup water

Frosting
1 pkg (8oz) cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter softened
2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar
1-2 teaspoons milk

-Heat oven to 375. Line muffin tin with cupcake cups.
-In a large bowl, beat sugar, butter, molasses and eggs. Stir in flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, allspice and water. Spoon about 1/4 cup batter into each muffin cup.
-Bake 15-18 minutes. Cool completely.
-Meanwhile, beat cream cheese, butter, lemon peel, cinnamon and vanilla. Gradually beat in powdered sugar, one cup at a time until smooth. Beat in milk, one teaspoon at a time, until spreadable.
- Pipe frosting onto cupcakes!

I omitted the lemon peel because I didn't have any on hand, but these little cuties are still delish! Recipe from Betty Crocker. Enjoy. XO K.

Project Monday- Self Portrait

I take a ton of self portraits, usually for my outfit posts, but this one was a wee bit challenging. I already do my outfits, so I can't just do that! I love taking self portraits in mirrors or other reflective surfaces, but that's typical, and I wanted to do something else. So what else could I possibly take a picture of myself doing? Lately I have been painting a lot, trying to get a series of paintings to open my etsy shop in January with. So I took some pictures of myself next to my easel, afterwards I moved in the new desk, so you can't stand next to the easel anymore. I can still stand in front of it though, so it's functional. I just need to put the handles back on the drawers and I will have to take my after picture of my new desk. I am so excited, now I feel my studio space is really coming together.