Hetalia inspired Sneakers and Deadpool/Joker inspired sneakers

I promised I'd share the sneakers with you as they arrived (so as not to spoil it for anyone who might be waiting for their orders)
I know that these 2 pair arrived and that my customers were really happy. :)
One 5 star review (I think these are my favorite things!!) and one convo telling me how happy they are and that they intend to leave a good review as soon as they can. (I shipped them fast enough that Etsy won't let them review it yet. LOL)

This first pair is for a little boy. Deadpool and the Joker are his favorite characters. I normally do Deadpool in a cutesy, chibi type style so it made perfect sense to pair it with a similar style Joker.
This first pic has a bit of a glare on it and normally I'd delete it, but it looks like a heart so I kept it. :D
I'm such a nerd.

The next pair was Hetalia. I am not into Hetalia, my daughter is, and once I put it on her sneakers, it's become a big deal. I've had to do a lot of research lately! Anime is harder for me. I can do it.. but it's a little challenging, so knowing that they were happy with these was a relief.
This is Iceland and his puffin. (Puffins are awesome)

My favorite part was how the lettering turned out

The Netherland flags

I currently have 4 pair of sneakers on my kitchen table in various degrees of completion. They'll be done by Friday so there will be more pictures. :)

I have one more pair of completed ones that are en route but I haven't heard back yet, so I'm waiting to share those. They're Hunger Games.

I think all my tech issues from yesterday are behind me, so hopefully this posts properly. 

I hate tech issues, thanks for being patient!

Post will be delayed today...

Ahhhh tech issues.... I'll try to get a real post later but here is your Mr. Linkey thing.

It's ok to not do it "right"

Today I'm feeling kind of sleepy and like I need a bit of down time, so I'm taking it. The only thing I've made so far today, is the little picture with the quote for you. (Not my photo, stock photo from Canva)

I thought we needed a reminder. I struggle with perfectionist tendencies myself so I really do understand, but I've had several people approach me lately saying that they wish their stuff was "better" or "good enough" and I want to hug them and shake them a little at the same time.

It's not about getting it right, it's not about making it perfect, it's about making progress. Art is a journey. Sure get better, practice, learn new things. Learn ALL THE THINGS.

Creative lives are richer. There is NO RIGHT WAY.

I want you to remember 3 other things.

1. You may not like it, but someone else is going to think it's the most amazing thing they've ever seen.
2. All art goes through an awkward teenage stage
3. Time spent creating something is never wasted time.

These are the things that I am learning to be true.

Sneakerpalooza

Paint tastes terrible.. just an FYI in case you were unaware. I know this because I'm constantly getting paint everywhere. I'm a messy artist. 

I had said I've been working on a lot of these. Here are some more work in progress shots!

Some important things are necessary, music, tea, more paint... WAY more tea. 

Always lots of tea!

I make notes about colors on the bottles. In paint, then I forget it's wet and smudge it. 

These are almost done though

Hetalia, Iceland... with his puffin. I <3 the Puffin

Other pieces that are in play are Deadpool, a Chibi style Joker,  Hunger Games, more Hetalia, Little Einsteins and Bubble Guppies for the kids at Peach's and some Nightmare Before Christmas.

I noticed that my kids idea of putting the groceries away involved putting the chuck roast in the fridge instead of the freezer so that must mean they want me to make pot roast for dinner tonight (mmmm pot roast) so I should be able to spend a large part of my day on painting! YAY CROCKPOT!

I hope everyone is having a great weekend, it snowed here again... but the sun is out.
I have hope spring may come! :D

I tried posting this from my phone... I don't like the blogger app, but it did make transferring my pictures a little easier.  I usually try to just use my camera, so we'll see how that goes.

I do not like how this posted, so I won't be doing that again. My text is wonky, my pics all all... helter skelter.. Yeah. easier to use my laptop. Sorry about that!

Up to my eyes in paint

Well not quite my eyes but it's in my hair and all over my hands, and keyboard and house.
Paint tray fun!

2 pieces that are works in progress shots (because the people haven't seen the full ones yet and I don't like to spoil surprises!) on sneakers I finished up yesterday

So I've been super busy and I've got several more on deck... so this is a short post by design. :)

So I can get back to designing! Make good art friends!!! Happy Friday!
I can't wait to share the completed ones with all of you!

A new tile and working on my business cards

I don't really have much to show today, because I am working on business cards. Since that mostly means uploading stuff I've already done, it's not all that exciting to watch. LOL

I did get a new tile done...

I'm getting my new business cards from Moo and I'm still working on my website. I'm growing as a business... which tells me that my thoughts on the subject of creativity are true.
The more creative you are, the more creative you get. :)

That's always a good thing! Even if you're not in business, but I am sure that you can see measurable growth in the things you are working on.
I'm so proud of all of you!!! :) (Can you believe we are almost 3 months in????)

Spring....

It's still a bit away for those of us in my area, but I'm feeling the first hints of spring fever and it's starting to make it's way into my tiles.

N'Zeppel, Springkle, B'Dylan and Zinger with a dash of Fescu

I'm on an N'Zeppel kick. :) I love the way it looks like stone. 

This is one I'm working with for a segment of a beyond the basics class on transitions.
It didn't go QUITE the way I wanted it to, but it opened up another segment I want to do about balance.

So... happy accident.

I have fun sneakers to go work on today and I'm working on picking some of my favorite tiles for my new business cards.

I think that's "all" I have planned for today.

What about you my friends? What are you going to make today?

Peach's Neet Feet and other things that really matter

I mentioned earlier this year, that I'm going to be working with Peach's Neet Feet as an artist to create shoes for really special and amazing kids.

I'm really excited to get started on these.

Today, I'm going to talk to the mom of the kids that I'll be creating these shoes for, and getting to work on this gift.

If you want to know more about Peach's and her vision, you can watch this video.

I am so honored to be working with this girl.

Be kind. :)

In the spirit of Peach's and the for love of #kindness, today I'm going to issue you a challenge.
Go create something small, and pass it on to make someone's day a little brighter. :)
A #RAK a random act of kindness to brighten the world.

Zentangle spiral string

Today's creative was to complete the Diva's challenge #210. I like when I get to these, especially when I get to them early and they don't get lost in the shuffle of my week. It's a great way to start my creative plans off for the week.
This morning I saw we were to use spirals as our string.. one of my favorite challenges from her.
I adore spirals and it makes me realize how far I've come, because one of my very first challenges was to use a spiral.

Here is this weeks.

And this was my "then" tile.. I don't remember which number challenge this was, but I still like this one too!

I might do another one later in the week and use some Zendala tiles to do it.

What are you working on today? How many of you spend your Mondays on the diva challenge?

Website design is not fun...

I hate trying to create a website. I really do. I like the ease of things I know.. but it's time.

Here's a sneak peek at what I think might be happening...

Needless to say, because I hate decisions, I'm basically designing not 1, not 2, but 3 different options.
This is currently the front runner.

Don't pay too much attention to all those headers, because well... they aren't all staying.

Do you like the design? Does it look shiny and slick or does it look like a blog? I want it to look more polished than what I have, but I gravitate towards touches of whimsy and cute.
Go figure.


Anyway, so that's what I'm up to.
I really need to get covered in paint soon though, so I better run.

Have a great weekend!

Mostly invisible creations

I've been playing with my website again on the back end. I'm probably going to be upgrading to a different website soon... which means a lot of changes, but the blog piece will stay intact.
It's amazing how much creativity goes into some of these things.

Also, if you're local (Western NY area), and want to join my MeetUp group, you can do that here! 

I also have a lot of painting to do this weekend and I've done a lot of tangling the last few days so I'm kind of taking it easy. but I did get the weekly focus challenge done this morning for Square One:Purely Zentangle. It's Mooka.
I adore Mooka although I used to be afraid of it.

Today I get to spend time with one of my favorite people in the universe, my little niece! :D

I hope your day is even half as good as mine will be, and that you have time to make something awesome!

Til tomorrow then... Keep creating!

Last night's Zendala class

I have been pretty busy making lots of samples and designs to add to my Zendala collection for the class I had last night. I've posted a few but not really close up because I didn't want to give away anything for my students who might have been peeking.

Here are some of my recent pieces.

The one I struggled with the most? The teaching one. It's just too big for the paper :)

So last night I had 6 amazing ladies for this Zendala class. It was so much fun!!!
I want to show some of the work in progress of my students.. .

And completed

And now onto tile 2.... where they learned to create a Lotus mandala and then we tangled it together!

 And again... complete!

I had so much fun with this class and I'm considering putting together a Zendala series so that we can delve deeper into these in the future.

The fun part is that none of these students have taken more than 2 classes with me! Aren't they amazing? :D

Today, I'm going to drink some tea and plan out 5 pairs of sneakers that I'll be working on this weekend. The creative part of that isn't very visual, but might actually be the hardest part. :)
It's going to be so much fun! (My first pair of bridal sneakers are in this batch!!!)

So enjoy your Friday, do something awesome, make something amazing and if you've got big plans and I don't see you til Monday, have a great weekend!