Hearts and Mountains

Will I ever get tired of painting with watercolors?  I think not!

I have way too much fun experimenting with those versatile paints.  This heart was a little backwash experiment- pretty cool stuff!

And this landscape was painted from a photo I took up in the beautiful mountains of Utah last month.  I need to paint more landscapes!

For Sale HERE:

Green Crochet Scarf

 Almost fall time = Almost scarf time!

As much as I love summer, I really do miss having the option of wearing scarves.

This is my latest crochet scarf made from my previously posted Free Shell Infinity Scarf Pattern.  Check that one out to make one for yourself- or your friends- or you could start making some early Christmas presents. Never too early to start that right?

Who Wants Ice Cream?

With summer coming to an end, lets give one last hoorah for ice cream!

This is honestly one of my favorite watercolors.  It's tiny - 4 x 6 inches, but it was so much fun to paint.  I want to do more of these for sure!

This original painting was available in my Etsy Shop, but has since sold. Check out more of my work here:

The Blog Post Stealers

You've seen them.  The blogs that steal your content.  The ones that copy and paste your entire post without even asking and without giving you any credit, as if they wrote it.  The ones that steer traffic away from your blog, benefiting from your hard work, not their own.  The Blog Post Stealers!

I happened to find a few pins on Pinterest last week that lead to many many discoveries of people taking my content and using it as their own.  Some were just using my photos without giving me credit.  One offender was none other than the website of the said "Bob Vila"! That was nuts.  You'd think with a name that big you'd be careful.  A big ooops for him!  Other stealers just copied my posts word for word.

This is my original image with a title and a watermark.

This is one website that stole it and my entire post.  Notice how they cropped out the watermark. Those crafty little devils!

So what did I do?  I first reported copyright problems to pinterest to have those pins removed.  Then I went on a little rampage leaving emails and notes.  I'm a little embarrassed to admit that some of them may not have been nice, but I was upset.  Even if they had no ill intent, bloggers and writers need to know that it's not ok to steal.  They need to understand that it is in fact stealing to use other's creative content as their own.

Has this happened to any of you bloggers out there yet?

What is the best way to handle this problem?  Obviously the stealers are so profuse that it would be a full-time job trying to track them all down.  Once your content is on the web, there are no Internet Police to stop people from using your creativity and photos and writing any way they please.

I knew this when I started blogging, but I still can't help getting angry when I see something of mine that was stolen. Maybe I just need to let it all go and not even care, but how does one do that?

Two Things to Make From a Thrift Store Dress: Infinity Scarf and Headband

Last year I bought this dress:

Classy huh? It reminds me of my mom's old bridesmaids dresses I used to play dress-up in as a kid.  Well I had plans to re-vamp this dress and turn it into something wearable.  I tried to customize the dress and when that failed I tried to make it into a skirt........ which also failed.  sad.

My last resort was a scarf...and then I still had extra fabric so I tried a headband.  Finally! Something worked!

You can find the tutorial for the Infinity Scarf at The Cottage Moma.

The tutorial for the headband is at Un Petit Squab.

Photos of the Week

I've spent some time sitting outdoors and wondering where my summer went.

I get this sad feeling whenever it ends.  Like life is going to change and I can't stop it.  My first and only kid is starting kindergarten in a few weeks. Talk about rip your heart out!  We did preschool at home, so this is his first step out into the world and it scares me, but it's what he needs.

Kid Craft: Garbage Bots

My son and I have been raiding the recycling bin to collect materials for robots! This is such an easy and fun project that provides endless ways to use your imagination.  Just grab a glue gun and some recyclable materials and go!

I won't give a step-by-step here, because it's really up to you and the kiddos to figure out how to make each robot, but I will give you a list of some good materials to use!

Materials:

Glue Gun with Glue Sticks (this doesn't stick ultra well- maybe use super glue or epoxy if you want these to stay permanently)

Tin cans

small cardboard boxes

toilet paper tubes

plastic containers- from yogurt, sour cream, etc.

milk caps

lids from frozen juice concentrate

buttons

wire

egg cartons

pom poms

yarn

googly eyes

Cactus and Succulent Illustrations

I'm starting to embrace the southwestern/cactus/succulent trends.

I didn't always have a burning desire to paint cactus, but ya know, it's kinda fun!

You can find these for sale in my shop.

Photos of the Week

There's nothing quite like the feeling of being in the mountains smelling the fresh air, completely surrounded by beauty....................

it makes me wish I lived just a tab bit closer so I could visit more often :)

Watercolor Bouquet Experiment

I've been experimenting with flowers and stencils............

I wasn't sure if stenciling the background was going to work, but as it turns out, I like it!

Experimentation with art is always a risk, but you never know unless you try.

Pretty Paintbrush Box

I've got me a paintbrush box... finally!

When I found this little chocolates box at the thrift store, I knew it would make the perfect paintbrush box. Plus it was mostly bare- giving me the chance to make it pretty! 

First, I gave it a nice thick coat of white paint. Then I taped away with washi tape and patterned packing tape.  To finish it all off, I doodled in the blank spots with some permanent markers.  Such an artist thing to do..... I know :)