{2015}

Wishing you a 2015 full of joy and inspiration and 
great hugs and even greater coffee. :)

XO,

{one little word 2015}

As the new year approaches, it is time to choose my "one little word" for 2015. This will be my fifth year doing OLW, which is kind of hard to believe. 

The idea behind "one little word" is you choose a word to guide you through the upcoming year...to be your compass as you navigate life during the next 365 days. 

Last year I purchased a necklace from Lisa Leonard with my word, become, and wearing it really helped to make that word a part of my daily life. 

Here are my past four words...

2011 
action

2012 
commit

2013
grow

2014
become

In 2013 I chose the word grow, not knowing what was in store for me. In that blog post I said:

"I want to use the talents that God instilled in me. And right now I feel like I'm not doing that to the level He wants me to be." 

Wow. Reading that gives me major chills considering all that happened that year, and since. My word literally took form and my dream began to take shape that spring when I started drawing again.  

The past two years have taken such a huge shift for me. I've become an artist. A working, paid, professional artist. And that has been huge. But I still have so much work to do, and I'm excited but also a bit daunted by that challenge. 

This past year, become was all about allowing myself to become an artist. I signed a contract with an art licensing company and recently received news that my art was purchased by a major retail store {more to come on that hopefully very soon!}. 

If I can toot my own horn and pardon my French, but I used that sh*t out of that word. I'm pretty darn proud of myself. 

And now for 2015. I could recycle the word grow because there is so much I want to learn and do as an artist. Like I said above, along with excitement there is also a healthy dose of fear that comes along for the ride. I'm the kind of person that wants to be good at something without much practice. I'm getting better with that, but I still procrastinate trying new things because I'm worried I will suck at them, in all honesty. And I don't want to do that anymore. 

I know that if I want to turn my art into a full time profession I simply can't do that. I have to be open to trying new things, regardless of the outcome.

I need to be willing to take a few chances.

So my word for 2015 is...

 

I chose leap because I want to focus on the adventure of all of this, and not on the fear or anxiety, because, let's face it...I'm one anxious lady most of the time. 

And anxiety doesn't get you anywhere but curled up in your pj's eating ice cream on the sofa watching Project Runway. {Not that there's anything wrong with that...but I could be doodling instead of eating ice cream.} 

I don't know what all of the leaps will be, but I'm doing a few of them already. I'm taking courses on handlettering to improve my technique. I'm contacting art licensing companies about selling my work. I'm selling my art locally. 

So here's to a year full of leaps of all sorts, but mostly of the artistic kind.

If you have a one little word for 2015 I'd love to hear about it in the comments! I'd also love to doodle your word for you!

XO, 

{Christmas 2014}

Whew!

Christmas 2014 has come and gone, and it was so full of good things for our family. It was a bit crazy too, but anything good comes with a bit of crazy, right?

We exchanged gifts and hugs, enjoyed slow mornings, made cookies, watched tons of Christmas shows, snuggled up in new pj's, built lots of Lego sets, tripped over Nerf darts, consumed all sorts of yummy food and sweets, played silly games, and did a lot of reminiscing.

Here are some of my favorite photos from the past week...

For some reason I was even more sentimental this year...seeing the boys with my parents especially got me. We're so lucky to be so close to them. And watching the boys completely enveloped in the magic of the holiday was so special. Feeling very blessed and happy.

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas friends!

XO,

{sock monkey slippers}

One of my favorite things to get the boys each year at Christmas are new pj's and slippers. This year I got them matching pj's, but picked out very different slippers, which had me a bit nervous. Ben got ginormous bear paws, and for Landon I picked out sock monkeys. 

Landon has been obsessed with all things sock monkey lately. I'm not sure where the attraction came from, but anytime he sees sock monkey anything, his eyes are glued and he oohs and ahhs over it. So when I found sock monkey slippers in his size and on sale, I grabbed them up.

But I was a bit worried he would think they were too girly or baby-ish. 

Boy was I ever wrong.

He.loves.them.

He wants to wear them the moment he gets home, lines them up at the edge of his bed so he can put them on the minute he gets up, and the best part...he takes them off when he has to pee so he doesn't get them dirty. {Even he knows how horrible his aim is.} 

It is just precious.

But the best part is that he keeps thanking me for them. "Thank you for my sock monkey slippers Momma!" 

Ahhh it just melts my heart.

They had slipper day at school on Tuesday, and when he came home he was all distraught because the monkey face was coming off of one of the slippers. You would have thought I had performed successful brain surgery when I sewed that knitted monkey face back onto his slipper. One of the perks of being a parent is that you can perform fairly simple tasks in exchange for a ridiculous amount of recognition. 

Gosh I love that sweet boy. 

{Don't tell him, but Santa is bringing him a stuffed sock monkey to match his slippers.} 

And not to leave Ben out...he loves his bear paws. But in more of a "let me see who I can pretend to stomp on" kind of way, which is equally adorable. 

Only a week until Christmas friends! I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

XO,

{holiday crafting with Artterro}

We LOVE to craft at our house. Big surprise, huh? 

The boys might actually love it more than me, especially Landon. Every day when he gets home he pulls out his paper, crayons and random bits of stuff to make a book or an airplane or some other gadget. 

So when Artterro offered to send us a Christmas ornament kit, we were so excited. Landon actually carried the kit around the house at random times for a few weeks until I was ready for us to make the ornaments. Poor kid. :)

But it was worth the wait because they had lots of fun and their ornaments turned out great!

This was the first time the boys had done decoupage, and they did really well with it! They had to get over the fact that their fingers were going to get messy {I know...boys should love that stuff right?} but otherwise they really enjoyed the process and how the paper became molded to the shapes of the ornaments. The kit came with a fun variety of tissue paper and trims, and different ornament shapes. 

Ben went straight for the heart shape...

And Landon chose the star...

I only have a few photos of the boys making their ornaments because my fingers were covered in mod podge! Definitely a project where you need a separate photo taker. 

Here are our finished ornaments. I love how the boys mixed the papers and trims. They are beautiful!

We even have a few ornaments leftover to make later. This kit is a great craft to do at the holidays to make ornaments for your own tree, or to give away as gifts. 

*The supplies for this craft were provided by Artterro but all opinions, and sticky fingers, are 100% mine. 

XO,

{handmade market recap}

Oh my goodness friends. I'm still on cloud 9 over the handmade market this past Friday.

It.was.amazing!

It was my first time doing a show with my art, and I honestly had no idea how it would be received. I was blown away by the support from friends and strangers, and sold much more than I expected. 

Here are a few photos of my set-up...

I really love my new banner from Vistaprint. It turned out so great!

I sold out of tote bags and sent lots of canvases, prints and cards to new homes. 

What a fun night! I'm hoping to do another local show in January so I'll keep you posted!

XO,

{magical days}

One of my favorite things about being a mom of boys are our "date" days. Every other weekend, my hubby usually has to work all day, so the boys and I are on our own. I have so much fun planning these days and filling them with fun activities. This past Saturday was one of those days and to be honest it was one of those magical motherhood days when I felt so incredibly blessed and happy to be able to spend time with them. 

We didn't do anything extraordinary. We didn't spend much money. 

But we made some pretty awesome memories. 

First we headed out in the car and went to our local toy shop which is a super fun place. After that I took them to see a big train display that we go to every year. 

We usually go on a Tuesday night when they have special activities going on, but it is always SO full of people that it is hard to enjoy. Taking them on Saturday was perfect because we were almost the only people there and they were able to look as long as they wanted. 

We also took advantage of the fun props outside the store...

I told them to "act like you love each other" in front of the dinosaur and this was the result...

Silly boys.

After the trains, we went home and watched Polar Express {and I snuck in a short nap...shhhhh}. The boys played trains and we ate chex mix...it was right out of a Norman Rockwell painting I tell ya. ;) 

Then I thought it would be fun to go on a drive around town to look at lights. We stopped at Starbucks first so I could surprise them with hot chocolate for the ride {and a latte for me of course} and then we were on our way. 

The BEST house in town was our big destination...

Aside from the crazy amount of lights, the owners also have a hologram of Santa that plays in the window {do you see him?!}. It looks SO real and even after seeing him there last year, they still believe he is actually in the house. He waves at one point and they go crazy over that. I never thought I would be one of those parents that perpetuates the Santa thing, but it sure adds a lot of magic to Christmas. 

I feel so blessed to be able to spend days like this with my boys. When I look back on their childhood these are the memories that I will hold so tightly in my heart. And I hope they do as well. 

What is one of your favorite holiday traditions with your kids or your family? I'd love to hear about it!

XO,