Some glimpse's around our home - Harley being my favorite, I could take a glimpse of him 24/7 :) and as I sit here and type he is sitting calmly on my lap. Love this dog!  The "Harley" plaid bowl is something that I painted last week on one of our Anniversary dates...i'm in love with how it turned out and can't wait to add more to make it a little set. The gold foil plus signs are something I did to one of our kitchen walls...I've been meaning to do some super easy & inexpensive tutorials with the stuff for my blog....next week perhaps? Anyone would get addicted to that stuff....your mind starts to think of all the things it can gold foil. pretty funny 

I took down our Christmas light garland in the living room and replaced it with this one, that drapes over our mantel...I love how the strand of wooden beads looks wrapped around the lights. I'm thinking of adding two more strands...would look cute in a kid's room too. In my studio I have a mood board...these are some of my favorite pictures that i've been looking at over and over again for awhile...some for 5+ years...this has helped a lot in creating my brand. I love flower holders "frogs" and I rarely even use them for their purpose. The picture below is the underside which is just as pretty as the top.

I printed my Spotted & Harley Plaid note cards on French Paper Company's Speckled tone true white... LOVE how it looks and love the mix of the organic feel with modern prints & the bright red.. will be making the switch over in my shop here soon. In December, the money I earned from my pop:up shop went to purchase my very first industrial sewing machine [Juki] the same kind we sewed on at school... still pinching myself. The "sleepy time" rug painting that I did back in 2009 is still unfinished....wishing I had more time to really paint and get back into oils as well. I don't know what it is about painting & drawing rugs but it's definitely a favorite past time.

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I kinda fell off the blog bandwagon a couple days ago....but I just got back on. :)

Continuing with the thank you thank yous! Thursday Feb 7th was supposed to be: 

Merrilee Lillard of Mer Mag

Merrilee is obviously very crafty. There is no question when you read her blog. She has a plethora of craft ideas and cute little helpers [her boys] that you see in her craft photo shoots. I love all the things she makes with duct tape, as i'm sure her boys are always stoked to see what she has designed up next for them. Merrilee is also a very talented illustrator, and has a shop called Tuesday Morning, you can purchase her work HERE.   Jesse and I have her Emily Dickinson print that hangs in our living room...we love it. :) A couple of times Merrilee has posted about my items on her blog...thank you so much Merrilee for doing that and sharing my brand with your readers! :)

Photo taken by Merrilee

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Friday Feb 8th was supposed to be:

Jaclyn of The Bishop's Wife

I mentioned Jaclyn last month in one of my posts. She had asked me to come speak to her group of girls at her church about self worth and developing your own personal style... before that we were introduced "online" by our mutual friend and for the past year or so have emailed each other back and forth... and then finally meeting one another last month. She has a rockin personality that's upbeat and positive. Right off the bat after meeting Jaclyn I felt very comfortable with this girl...because I sensed a real authenticity from her towards me.

 I'll be honest, I get suuuuper anxious about meeting other people in person after "knowing" them online. I won't get into here, but it's always so refreshing to meet someone who is kind and genuine and treats me a "designer" the same as his or her friend who works at a doctor's office for example. It's more about what's going on inside than out... I appreciate that insight about Jaclyn and could see why her Young Women's group love and connect with her so much! 

Back in the fall I did a giveaway of one of my clutch's on Jaclyn's blog. Thanks so much for sharing my work with your readers Jaclyn, I appreciate it so much! 

Jaclyn pictured here with her husband and adorable son. 

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and lastly, today's Thank You goes to Denise Holmes of Nisee Made

Denise is also an illustrator, living in Chicago and a new mother to a cute little girl named Hazel. I met Denise through blogging a couple years [?] ago and she has definitely been an inspiration to me and my work. I have no doubt that she will have many children's books under her name some day [or already? :/ ] and I look forward to when that happens. Denise also has a shop called Little Happy Drawings where you can purchase her very sweet clip art illustrations HERE. 

This past summer, Denise bought my "Home Cozy Home" mini painting and shared it on her blog with her readers...Thank you so much Denise, it's such a  huge compliment to have an illustrator I admire so much to buy something from me. Maybe one of the highest compliments? :] xo

a picture of Denise drawing with her neice. LOVE this! Best Aunt award right there!