Use your scraps: DIY Lacey Stones

I am always looking for unique ways to use all the scraps of lace, yarn and ribbons I collect after my major projects.  As I was cleaning out some bins in my craft room last night, I found a collection of river rocks that I had gathered a while back in hope to do something crafty with them.  With a little glue (or gel medium if you've got it) and a pair of scissors, I cut little bits of lacey lovely things and just adhered them to the surface of the rocks, then tied on bits of ribbon, yarn, or thread.  It was super easy and so fast, and they turned out so cute. 

They could sit on a shelf or have a sweet little message tied to them and be given to a friend in need of some artsy love. 

These three will be sent with lovely little messages to to the next three people that join in on my Made With Love art mail project.  What could be more fun!?  

In fact anyone who sends me art in the next two weeks will get a lovely little stone gift from me.  Speaking of gifts, the holiday season is coming fast, and I have lots and lots of new things to list in my Etsy Shop.   First up will be these sweet little necklaces made from antique lace and linen. 

I have listed this one here, and there will be lots more joining her throughout the day.  Thanks for stopping by!

XO, HARMONY

Shop Update: More Handpainted Art Journals

I dont normally post twice in one day, but I couldnt resist jumping right in and sharing a few pics of the latest art journals I just finished making.  I realize that there has been a lot about art journaling in my posts this week.  It's been most of my creative world the past several days, and I hope you dont mind if I share just a bit more.

I really enjoy making these little books for other people to use as a creative outlet.  There is a lot of love and creative energy put into them, and I just have to show them off.  These recent books have been a bit of a departure from the art journals that I normally make for shows.  They are a bit smaller, fewer pages, but way more details, personal touches, and I use all vintage paper ephemera and photos as my add ins in between the hand painted pages and the colored cardstock.

These two are now available in my Etsy Shop, with Free Shipping through Monday.  Thanks for letting me show them to you.  Have you caught the art journal bug yet?

XO, HARMONY

A Sweet Little Book Made with Love

Hello! It's Friday :)  Which for me means the opposite of most other people.  The weekends are my time to get as much work done as possible in my art room, while my husband and little boy are off playing.  So I am gearing up for a few days of creative play and crafty work, but I wanted to take a few moments and show you what I made yesterday.

Here is the finished journal that I made from the pages you saw me make yesterday.  When I started putting it together, I really felt like it needed some vintage flair, so I added lots of extra pages from vintage wrapping papers from the 50s and 60s, and several vintage photos from the 40s and 50s, along with a few pages from vintage fairy tale books.

Overall there are 35+ pages of color popping goodness, lots of bright pinks and blues.  The cover is hand painted much in the same way that you saw me paint the pages, with a vintage wrapping paper layer underneath that peeks through, and I layers some antique lace trims on the edge of it, just in case it wasnt girly enough ;)

 The book is hand bound with a black metal spiral and embellished with a mix of recycled sari ribbons, hand spun yarn, and hand dyed silk.  It is a truly precious little book measuring 4.5"w X 6"h.

 This one of a kind entirely handmade journal is up for sale in my ETSY SHOP now, as well as lots of new prints and originals, at reduced prices.  I will be offering Free Shipping on everything through Monday, just use the FREESHIPPING code at checkout *(see store announcements for details).  Thanks for looking and I wish you a very happy start to your weekend.  DIY Saturday is tomorrow, with a super fun project in the works, so perhaps I'll see you back here for more creative fun in the morning.

XO, HARMONY

Hello September, when is Fall going to get here?

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Happy Labor Day! It is the symbolic end of the summer.  I say symbolic due to the fact that, here in Florida, we will continue to experience summer-like weather until at least November (ugh!).  I get so jealous when I see all the Fall weather energy sweeping over other states, those cooler evenings and spectrum of leaves changing colors, sweaters and hats.  I love all of these things, but will have to wait quite a while to enjoy them here at home.  Here in Florida, we can expect at least a few more months of flip-flop weather (although lets be honest, Floridians will wear flip-flops no matter what the temp).  For those that know me well, it is no secret that I am not a Florida weather lover.  I am dying to relocate to a more 4-seasonal mountain-y type climate, but our family is here and moving with kiddos is really really hard.   So in the meantime, I have to live vicariously through those of you that do get a lovely Fall Season, by ogling your amazing pics and blog posts about the changes.  Since, today it my Pinterest Monday Inspiration Post, and I am a 7.5 month, sweating, pregnant girl, wishing for a weather change, it's an all about Fall today.  These are some inspiring pics of things that I am looking forward to this Fall, whenever it arrives here.

Lovely fall leaves with a little something extra

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Pretty artsy Pumpkin Projects

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Backyard campfires and drum circles with family and friends

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Lots of chilly morning deer spottings as they come out to find more grass.  Oh and if I lived somewhere with a mountain behind it, that would be fine by me.

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Getting lots of new yummy yarns to make warm fuzzy things in the evenings.

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I wish I had a reason to wear arm warmers other than a fashion statement (and sweating inside them).

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Pretty, fuzzy, warm blanket cuddles.  Dont you love when your toes peek through ones like these?

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Going Camping!  My favorite way to spend a weekend in the Fall.

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Decorating the house with Autumn-y things, like these lovely felt leaves.

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An autumn leaves abstract artwork to get in the mood.

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Loving subdued hues for Fall like this necklace

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I'd love to know what you are most looking forward to this Fall season.  Share with me in the comments.  BTW: I only have one day left on my Labor Day Etsy Sale.  I am giving a special one day only 25% off everything with code LABORDAY25 Take a peek HERE.  Enjoy your day everyone!

XO, HARMONY

Did You Miss Any of These? My Favorite August Posts

It's been an amazing month for me on this blog.  A kind of transformation is underway and I couldnt be more excited about it.  I went from graduate student to full time artist and stay at home mom and have made serious commitment to creating this site into a place where anyone can come and get a daily dose of color, inspiration, and hopefully encouragement that art is for us all.  Since many of you just started visiting and getting to know me this month, I thought I'd take a look back at some of my favorite posts from August.  Perhaps you will discover something new and inspiring to you.

We got really messy remaking the "ART OF THE POUR"

I Graduated and said Goodbye to my journey as a Counseling student.

DIY Mini Hoop Messages Were SO FUN!

I discovered my son's fears and shared some of my own as a child.

Lots of new Art Journal pages and process videos!

I joined the Craftzine fun and shared my 5,4,2,3,1 things about me and my craft.

We tried a new technique for seeing your work in a new perspective.

I celebrated sisterhood with a new custom painting, and discovered a new artistic style for myself

DIY Artsy Tape, SO SO FUN!!

We started coloring together.  Pick up the latest Free pages under my Print Tab.

I opened my blog up to other creative people to swap sponsorships! If you have a blog and etsy shop and are looking to get more exposure,  click on my Sponsor Tab and find out more about what we can do together!

I hope you got to know a bit more about me and my blog through this look back in the month of August.  I have so many fun projects, stories, and artworks to share with you in September, so I hope you find a reason to come back again soon.

Before you go I still have a Labor Day Sale going on in my Etsy Shop.  There are lots of original paintings at reduced prices, plus I am offering an additional 15% with code LABORDAY off of your entire purchase, through Monday!  Have a wonderful and restful weekend!

XO, HARMONY

The Nearsighted Fox and The Fashion Forward Turtle.

Happy Saturday!  Time for a new coloring book challenge!  I hope you have your favorite coloring tools ready to play today, because I have two new coloring book pages to share with you.  The idea behind this activity is to just play.  Have fun and remember how much you loved coloring when you were a child.   Let your imagination go wild, color outside the lines, make a pink sky, color the trees purple! Create stories for the characters as you go along, and make them come alive.  Just click on the image and then save to your computer.  You can color digitally, like I did here in my examples, or print off to paint, draw, scribble all over.  Please keep to the honor code of using my images and not reproduce, alter, or use in anyway other than your own personal use.  Have Fun!

 Coloring Page #3

Coloring Book Page #4

If you missed the first 2 pages in the series, you can find them under my PRINT Tab at the top!  So here are my versions of this weeks color challenge.

 This is Sally the Fox.  She is a shy little gal, and a bit nearsighted.  She needs to update her prescription on her spectacles, but keeps forgetting, and so will often bump into the trees as she takes her morning walks through the forest.  BUMP! Here come the leaves tumbling down on top of her.

This is Mortimer the turtle and his best friend Pickles.  Mortimer has a flair for fashion, and is a typical turtle, slowly taking his time to enjoy the sweet flowers along his path.  Pickles the song bird doesnt mind.  He loves his slow Saturday walks with Mortimer, just gives him lots of time to practice his singing along the way.

I'd love to hear your imaginative versions of the stories this week, feel free to post in the comments here and share links your colored pages here too!

Dont forget that I am having a big Sale in my Etsy Shop through Monday in celebration of the 3 day weekend and Back to School redecorating time.  Stop by HERE and check out my SALE section with lots of reduced prices on original works and artsy jewelry.  Then use code LABORDAY to get an additional 15% off everything.

I hope you have a wonderful colorful day!

XO, HARMONY