look mom! no brushes...

... sort of. Yesterday, all day long, i wanted to be creative. I tried to get inspired by looking on the internet, going thru some of my books, going for a walk. But no dice. I finally saw some colors on a blog that i wanted to play around with, so i pulled out the paints. I decided that i wanted a lot of texture so i would use my palette knife for fun. (I did actually use a brush for the tree truck) Here's the result:

memories of india...

Today i did some henna, or mehndi. Henna is a paste made from a plant that temporarily dyes the skin. Which is great for me because i don't think that i want the 'permanent' part of a tattoo but i still like 'decorating' my skin. I use bring out the henna during a girls night and i end up tattooing just about everyone. But today, i just did it on myself - which is not all that easy...

This is what it looks like when you first put it on. The longer you leave it on, the darker it will dye the skin. I try to leave it on at least 2 hours. I can't take credit for this design, i got it off the internet - as i do most of my henna designs...

After the henna dried, you flake it off, wash with soap, and put on some lotion. This will actually get a little darker by tomorrow.

now i see it....

I've been having fun lately with Picasa. It's a program for editing photos. I've been taking some of my old pics and adjusting them to what i was envisioning when i took the photo. Here's just one...

i've been missing the beach but it's just too darn cold to go to the coast...

as seen on tv...

I like to watch a lot of those decorating shows on tv. If you watch enough of them (or too much of them), you see a few 'repeats'. What i mean is, they will show you something that's like this totally cool idea, and you'll see the same idea on another show. Most of the stuff is pretty original, this only happens every now and again. Here's something that i've seen a few time but it's still a great idea for those of us that like vintage fabric but aren't a seamstress. Like me!

The fabric with the red and blue flowers is the bottom part of a very long dress. It was just too long so i made it shorter. OK, i can't sew but i can hem...

This fabric was given to me by my sister-in-law. I'm glad that i finally got to use it...

This was from a shirt that i really wanted to wear but it just looked terrible on me...

i don't wanna grow up...

if you read my last blog, you would know that this past week, i worked as a teacher's assistant for an art class for 1st the 5th grade kids. here are just 3 of the kids with their dioramas...

a week of art and kids...

this week, it's winter break and i've been working as a teacher's assistant for the Creative Arts Workshop. (i've taking some classes with them before) 9am to 3pm with 10 kids from the 1st to 5th grade. now, i thought that i was pretty patient with kids but i've come to realize that i'm more patient with little kids, like 3 to 5 year olds - that's the age i work with on Sundays. With the little kids at church, you can do almost everything for and that's what they need. But these older kids want to do most things for themselves, but they don't think or listen and you still have to watch (some of them) almost the whole time. it's extremely tiring. But then today, after they all left, i was still cleaning up the mess that we told them to clean up and i discovered that one of the girls had been writing on the chalk board and left us a little message: "Nellie and Kelly are great. They teach good art." (Nellie is the teacher) Well, i just had to laugh! :-) I love working with kids! :-)

one thing that makes me sad about this week though is: I haven't been able to be crafty. i'm too busy helping the kids, i only get a few random moments to actually create. Today we were working on cut-outs, and here's mine...

a new purse... for me!

i went to TJMaxx on Monday with my friends. i always look at the purses and there was one that i wanted. it was fun and quirky, like me. But i was able to talk myself out of buying it because i knew that i had some plain canvas bags sitting in my room, just waiting to be painted/decorated and used. so, last night, i painted one...

i have a few more bags, let me know if you want one! :-)

isn't it romantic...

my latest painting... oddly enough, i painted it on valentine's day. it's a little more lovely-dovey than most of my stuff. but i was inspired while i was watching an old Jean Harlow movie, Platinum Blonde.

sorry that it's a little on the blurry side...

how do you spell that, stuart or stewart?

i was feeling a little playful and was inspired by the artwork of Stuart Davis and Robert Stewart...

years in the making...

i got the idea for this painting while watching Monty Python (and the Holy Grail, duh), like seriously, years ago. i finally got it done. is it amazing? no. is it fun? yes. :-)

Alphonse Mucha...

... my current inspiration. He was an Art Nouveau painter. Last name pronounced: moo-ka. I love his use of circles and how his paintings seemed to be moving. just beautiful! please, be inspired...

sellin' my wares online...

I've decided to try to sell some of my paintings online. Etsy.com is a site for selling and buying handmade crafts. I don't know how fast anything will sell or if it will at all. But how will i know until i try. Please take a look at the few things i've put up so far, and while you're there take a look at the rest of the site. To go directly to my stuff: www.craftykellyjo.etsy.com

these are the paintings i've posted thus far...

we all scream for ice cream...

Recently, my great-grandmother (Mama) was moved into an assisted living home. But she had to down-size because of smaller quarters, some of her stuff was divided among the family. One of the things my mom saved for me was one of her dessert dishes. Mama almost always had ice cream; she knew how to treat her great-grandkids! These dishes were my favorite to eat out of. I decided, instead of using it for ice cream, i'd keep it on my bedside table as a "collect-all" dish. i always have earrings, hair clips, safety pins, etc. lying about. Now i have a place to put them!

in my room, in my room... from that beach boys song...

i thought you might like to see what my little room looks like...

cozy!

you are my inspiration...

one night, last week, i went to the kitchen to get a drink. as i was in there, Olivia (5), came through the kitchen draped in a blanket to the point where i could only see her feet. i asked if she was the blanket monster. no reply. she seemed to be on a mission. but she gave me an idea for a painting...

here's Olivia at her birthday last year...

here's the painting...