February Desktop Calendar

1 Feb

Happy Friday friends!  And, happy February!  What are your plans for the weekend?  I am excited because Jonathan’s grandma is visiting on Sunday, and we have plans to head out to the coast for some tasty seafood.

Today I have a February desktop calendar for you.  For this design I wanted to incorporate a little hint of Valentines flavor while still keeping it versatile and modern.  Enjoy!

watercolor desktop 1

 To download, right click on the picture and choose to open in a new window.  Then when the image shows up in a new window, right click and choose desktop background.

Design Homework

31 Jan

Good morning friends!  How is your week going?  I am so happy because Jonathan has the day off today, and my teacher unexpectedly cancelled my morning class so we enjoyed a yummy breakfast together!  We ate some really tasty crepes and brewed some french press coffee.  If you have noticed already, we are huge breakfast people! Ha!

Today I wanted to share with you a little design project I did for a homework assignment.  All of my classes require us to design a cover for our notebooks, and we have free reign to design it however we like.  I wanted to incorporate a picture of my sweet nephew that I took at the coast last fall, and here is what I came up with.  (The one for class is a little different because I had to include some class information as well.)

cover_notebook design

Happy Wednesday!

Umbrella

30 Jan

tumblr_umbrellas

Good morning friends! I am sorry I didn’t post a blog yesterday, the day turned into something crazy!

I like the above picture because I think it represents my life lately – umbrellas, rushing around, design and beauty. The days have stayed dreary, and I keep getting busier with school, but I feel an overwhelming sense of inspiration and beauty surrounding me. I continue to be challenged in my art classes, but I am thankful for the challenges. I have been making things I didn’t even think were possible, and I think that is such a beautiful thing. My drawing class has got me thinking about all the other things I have been afraid to try because I didn’t think I could do it. My take away from this is that we need to be brave (sound familiar!), and keep trying new things! We will always surprise ourselves!

I hope you all have a fabulous Wednesday!

PS. Did you see the fabulous clear umbrellas in the picture? I love how clear umbrellas make you feel like you are being rained on without getting wet!

(image, via)

Homesick for Spring

28 Jan

homesick peonies

Good morning friends, and happy Monday!  How was your weekend?  My weekend was filled with art projects as I had a lot of homework, and Jonathan had to work.  I am working on a portrait drawing of Tom Hanks right now.  It is SO hard!  But Tom is fabulous so it is worth it!  I was doing a little research on him, and read that he is the highest box office star of all time!  Isn’t that amazing?!  What do you think of Tom Hanks?  Or maybe a better question, what do you think of You’ve Got Mail?  That is one of my all-time favorite movies!

I designed the above picture because I am really missing spring!  It isn’t extremely cold where I live, but it is very dark and dreary.  I would just really like to see the sun, and maybe a few flowers while we are at it!  I know it is only January so we still have a ways to go, but wouldn’t it be lovely to enjoy a nice spring day!

I hope you all have a wonderful day!

(image, via)

Happy Friday

25 Jan

happy friday_1.25.13

Happy Friday!  Today is kind of my weekend because Jonathan and I both have today off.  He has to work the rest of the weekend so we are trying to fit in as many fun things today as possible!  We made the most amazing homemade glazed donuts for breakfast, and I can’t wait to share the recipe with you!

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!  Here are a few fun things from around the web this week:

I REALLY want to make these mittens!

Cute party idea!

What do you think about this interesting recipe?

(image, via)

Color Palette No. 13

24 Jan

Good morning friends!  How is your week going!?  Mine is going pretty good.  I have been working hard on a drawing that I will be presenting in class today, so wish me luck!

I have had a few requests to bring my color palette column back so I have decided to do it!  I am actually pretty excited to bring this column back!  Today I have picked out a cute outfit from Madewell’s Looks We Love that I thought you might enjoy!  I just love that rolled, polk-a-dot button up shirt styled underneath a sweater.  You could also replace that shirt with a chambray shirt if you had that instead.  I am also in love with the different blue tones contrasted with cream and orange.

color palette no. 13

(image from Madewell)

Bright and Cheery

23 Jan

Flowers_happy wednesday

Hi friends!  Here is a beautiful photo taken by the fabulous Ben Blood at my sister’s wedding!  All the wonderful bridesmaids did a great job putting together the flower bouquets for the wedding.  The photo was taken in my apartment the morning of the wedding.  I thought I would post this cheery photo to brighten up this dark and dreary day.  In Corvallis it is cold and rainy, and I needed a little pick-me-up!  This is one my favorite days that I can remember, and I will always cherish the memory.

I hope you are all having a wonderful Wednesday!

Whole Wheat Bran Apple Muffin Recipe

22 Jan

Good morning friends! I have a healthy (and yummy) recipe for you today! A few weeks back I made these healthy muffins as a quick breakfast option for Jonathan and I on our busy mornings. I found a muffin recipe from Smitten Kitchen, and then adapted it to the type of recipe we wanted for our breakfast muffins. These whole wheat bran apple muffins are great for an on-the-go breakfast. I hope you enjoy!
apple muffin pic 2
Whole Wheat Bran Apple Muffins
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen
Yield: They said 12
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed, divided
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 cup almond milk
1 cup bran oats (this is an estimate)
1 large apple, peeled, cored, and coarsely chopped
Preheat the oven to 450°F. Grease and flour 18 muffin cups and set aside.
Mix together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon, and set aside. In a separate bowl, cream the butter and add the granulated sugar and 1/4 cup of the brown sugar. Beat until fluffy. Add the egg and mix well; stop once to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl. Mix in the almond milk gently. (If you over-mix, the almond milk will cause the mixture to curdle.) Stir in the dry ingredients. Add in the bran oats to the batter, but pour slowly and just add as much as you would like in the batter. Then fold in the apple chunks.
Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups, sprinkling the remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar on top. Bake for 10 minutes, turn the heat down to 400°F, and bake for an additional 5 to 10 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool the muffins for 5 minutes in the tin, then turn them out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

DIY Polk-a-dot Cards

21 Jan

polkadot cards cover

Hello!  Happy Monday friends!  How was your weekend?  We had a great weekend!  As I said before, Jonathan’s parents were in town, and we had such a great time with them.  I don’t have school today so I am spending the last day of my weekend catching up on all my art projects so that I am ready for the week.  Doesn’t it feel good when you are completely caught up?!

Today I have a fun DIY project for you!  The project is fun hand-painted stationary cards.  For this DIY you will only need 4 materials, and you probably have all of them lying around your house!  I am thinking of starting a DIY column where each project only needs 4 materials or less.  What do you think!?  It is just so nice to be able to save money on art projects, and it is especially nice when you have all the materials at home already!  I thought it would be fun to do this DIY project because there is always so many thank you cards to write after the new year.  Now you can make them yourself!  Here are all the directions for this project.  Enjoy!

polkadot cards directions

1. The materials you will need are a pencil with an eraser on it, a felt-tip pen, paint and white card stock.  I used gold paint because I am obsessed with the color (as you can see in this post), but you can use any color!

2. Now, write your desired message on the card stock with your pen.  Then pour a small glob of paint onto a paint palette (or paper plate) and then dip your pencil eraser into the paint.  I found that if you just lightly dip the eraser into the paint it works best.  Also, dip the eraser in the thickest part of the paint glob for the best results.

3. Next, dot the end of the painted covered eraser onto the paper.  Re-apply paint after every dot.  It is also best if you gently dot the paper.

4.  I decided to also dot extra pieces of card stock, leaving a space in the middle to include a message later.  I did this because it is always nice to have stationary on hand, and you can write in the appropriate message depending on the occasion later.

5.  Let the paint dry, and then you are done!  Viola!

Happy Friday!

18 Jan

happy friday_1.18.13

Happy Friday!   I am so happy it’s Friday!  This weekend couldn’t come soon enough for me this week!  I am excited for tomorrow because my in-laws will be visiting for the day, and it will be so fun to see some familiar faces!  I made a reservation for our favorite restaurant so it will be fun to show them around town!

Do you guys remember this post about my upcoming DIY project?  Well, I plan to release that project on Monday, and I can’t wait for you guys to see it!  I think you will really like it!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!  Here are a few fun things from around the web:

If you missed my post yesterday, here is a link to some awesome craft nights

These cupcakes look SO yummy

Cute gold party idea for award season

(balloon image, via)