art can't hurt

i *heart* typography

when asked to decorate the exterior of a six and a half foot fiberglass elk, i jumped at the chance. it was for a fundraising auction of a local foundation, CAPS {child and parent services}. the artists were asked to keep the theme of their elk local and to make it personal to our surrounding area.

i knew right away what i wanted to do. i sketched out numerous angles of the elk on paper first and made list after list of locations in the area that are special to me, and many other people. favorite parks, streets i have lived on, the lake where we go canoeing. it all speaks to me as 'home' and i knew that each location would speak to every person differently and that would make it relatable and personal. i also wanted to do it in a way that was visually interesting. rather that use a lot of color i decided that i would let the shapes and emotions of different text and fonts be a part of expressing these special places and speaking to their unique qualities. 

 

after base-coating the elk i hand drew each letter on in pencil first. then i hand-painted each letter, in some cases using a tube with a small tip to give a raised effect to the paint. in this way i was able to make the elk even more tactile and added '2nd street' in braille along the sholder of the sculpture. 

i worked on the elk for weeks. in that time my belly popped with the impending arrival of our third daughter. (no i'm not pregnant now; these photos are pre-sophie) it was an added joy and challenge to work amidst morning sickness, on ladders and stepstools and at times laying on the ground to complete the legs, hooves and base. 

during daylight i would work outside and then i would wheel the elk in to my garage on a furniture dolly to continue working on it after dark. the worklights were brutal as they attracted every bug imaginable, which just added to the adventure. hubby kept me company many evenings, sitting in the garage chatting or listening to music together. he even painted in a few of my hand drawn letters on the lower legs. he blesses me so!

 

 

 

i took these last photos in my garage the night i finished the elk. he was picked up 2 days later and put on display, along with all the other elk, in our county and surrounding areas. eventually they were then taken to storage until the auction later in the year. hubby and i were fortunate to be able to attend the auction, where i met the individual who purchased my elk. it was a wonderful night of fun and friendship - a joy to be a part of such an important cause as CAPS is for our community. to read more about the event and see all of the elk go HERE.

my elk raised $17,000 for CAPS when it was auctioned off. purchased by a private donor, it was gifted to the city of elkhart and is on permanent exhibit downtown in front of the city building. i have this beautiful book on my coffee table that was privately published to commemorate each of the elk. but every time i drive past my big guy downtown i smile to myself and think of all the sweat (and a few tears) that went in to finishing him. it was worth it.

if we don't share our gifts then what good are they to us?

{monday} april 28, 2014

for the love of red shoes

saturday morning begins a 24-hour art auction of massive proportions. it is to raise funds to help out with medical expenses for a dear friend of mine who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer and is now undergoing chemo. as an artist, small business owner, single mother and vintage junkie, catherine is a gal after my own heart! she is the owner and artist-extraordinaire behind the shop red shoes homegoods where you will find some of the most amazing art to decorate your abode. catherine and i met thru blogging many years ago, finally met in person, and from that point on we have stayed in touch and kept up with each others family's, life and general crazy creative goings on. 

i am donating two pieces of my art to the auction for cath: a 36"x36" gallery wrap canvas {BEAUTIFUL} as well as an 11"x14" print {FIGHT LIKE A GIRL} that i designed specifically for this event. it is my take on breast cancer support & awareness but applies to women everywhere. be your own strong woman.

100% of all money received during the auction april 26th goes to catherine's medical expenses, but you can also click on that link to read more about cath and donate directly to her 'you caring' site. to view and purchase any of the art during the auction on saturday, april 26th you can click here: @auctionforcatherine or follow that account if you're already on instagram. 

i am so excited to be a part of this event. it has encouraged me to shed some of my insecurities about putting my work out there and catherine has continued to be an amazing friend and supporter - even going so far as to text me wise thoughts while she's all looped up on chemo drugs ;)

the pieces shown above are available from my online shop art can't hurt, along with many other pieces coming soon. in addition to donating the two pieces above, i am also donating 50% of all proceeds from sales in my online shop of all {FIGHT LIKE A GIRL} prints & canvases from april 26th thru may 10th to catherine. please consider supporting her with your donations and keep her in your heart and prayers. 

be well miss c! three rounds down - only three to go! you've got this! XO

{friday} april 25th, 2014

visiting the very hungry caterpillar

a couple years ago i was asked by my daughter's school to be one of many who decorate child-sized chairs for the school's annual auction held as a fundraiser each year. they wanted each of the chairs to have a children's book theme and i was given the 'the very hungry caterpillar' by eric carle.

i donated my time, the chair, the paint supplies along with a new book by eric carle. yes, i know all the copyright laws - and they are there for a good reason - but in this case the chairs everyone decorated were auctioned to raise money for a not-for-profit school. a worthy cause if there ever was any. 

the distinct style mr. carle has is created thru many layers of paint and paper. to achieve a similar look i painted dozens of sheets of vellum paper with swaths of color over a period of a couple of days, letting each layer dry in between coats.

 

rather than photocopy or trace any of the work i slowly and meticulously hand cut each piece until it resembled particular pieces of the caterpillar then modpodged them on to the child-sized reading chair. 

 

incidentally, eric carle is one of our family's favorite children's authors/illustrators. we were thrilled when last spring break we had the chance to visit his museum in amherst, massachusetts. the town itself is also a nice place to stop over - a small college town it offers many cafes, restaurants and little shops along main street.

parked out front was the museum's car. sophie just had to touch it. there is a small cafe onsite and an auditorium where they regularly have presentations by storytellers and speakers. they thought of everything here. it was amazing.

large original paintings by eric carle adorn the outer gallery, the only gallery where photography is allowed. inside the other galleries we saw many original works of leading children's picture book authors/illustrators. my favorite exhibit was that of the original hand-drawings from the classic 'charlotte's web' by e.b. white. revision after revision shown until the final inked drawings that i remember so well from the first time i read that book.

even the bathrooms have custom tiles of all of the animal characters in carle's books. sophie loved naming each of the animals. i loved that the bathrooms were so clean and infant/family friendly.

the highlight of the museum for our family was the hands-on art studio where they offer classes for local children. however, as a museum guest you are invited to spontaneously stop in and create a project they have prepared. the day we visited the project was to make small hand-held stick or marionette puppet creatures from found objects and paper. only glue sticks and wire available to hold everything together, but it was a fun challange that we embraced. 

heidi made a bird and mamie made a sea otter. below, you'll see my lobster. we were on the east coast - i had seafood on the brain.

as a mom, and one who worked full-time up until very recently, i often have many irons in the fire. it would be so much easier to say no when asked to donate my time to a cause or not bother to take the time to go off the beaten path so my family can experience different parts of our world and culture. but it's worth it to me to say yes. the color and wonder that enhances our days is only as bright and imaginative as we allow it to be. yes, it's a balancing act. but paper sea otter and reading charlotte's web are worth it, don't you think. what creative adventure will you say yes to today?

{wednesday} april 23, 2014

 

 

finding joy

when faced with hard times joy can seem distant. in the midst of uncertain times you have to make your own sunshine.
i lost my job.

scary, yes. heart-breaking, yes. i love what i do for a living and am good at it. i have the awards i've won to prove it. but i can't dwell on what was if i'm going to move forward towards what will be.
today stretches out before me like a blank slate.

as i search for a new job i am putting myself back on the market as a freelance designer. i am available for commercial, corporate and residential design: showrooms, offices, product photo shoots, retail merchandising, real estate staging, home decor as well as consultations {these can be done via skype or facetime if distance is an issue}. email me if you'd like to inquire about details.

i also will be opening my bigcartel.com shop very soon with original art & creative sundries for sale. 

i would be lying if i said i wasn't scared - i'm terrified. i feel like a fish out of water. but i must do whatever it takes to make ends meet for my family's sake, if not for my own sanity.

stay tuned - joy will prevail!

{thursday} march 13, 2014

traditions

when our youngest was born we had her photographed at two days old.
while they were all beautiful, i do have a favorite photo. 
(infant photo by jeri)

we wrapped sleeping sophie in a scarf of mine.
it occurred to me a few months ago that it might be a neat idea to take a pic of soph with that scarf each year on her birthday...
and a new tradition was born!

 i look forward to compiling all of the photos into a special book for her when she's 18.
or maybe i will keep taking photos and never stop....
and then i think i will give this special scarf to her when the day comes that she becomes a mommy herself. 
during soph's first year i also printed her footprints every two months.
i'm framing this piece and taking all acid-free/uv precautions so it will last indefinitely.

what traditions do you hold dear?
do you have any special ways you document the growing up of your kiddos?
i'd love to hear them - feel free to leave a comment and share.

 

ah, sugar sugar

we're still recovering around here from the birthday party almost two weeks ago. 
the balloons are mostly gone but a few are dragging their strings along the floor as they bob around.
kind of sad and silly at the same time.
so i figured: why not post a few more pics of that day?
the pics here were taken with my iphone.
i own a nikon d90 and love shooting with it, but most moments of life are spur of the moment and my phone is just more handy.
i'm not taking pics to sell anything or promote my "mad photog skilz"... just documenting all the little things that are really the big things when it comes right down to it.
i'll specify if any photography is from any other soure but my iphone 4s  
a little color never hurt anybody - so here goes! 

icing is like makeup. it covers up all the little flaws - martha stewart i'm not ;)
but it was tasty. and moist. most importantly, soph enjoyed her mini-cake that i made to
look like the big one.

my dear friend, miss catherine, of red shoes  made sophie's dress. 
nothing miss c creates fails to amaze me - and she has a blog! visit it here
tell her lauren sent you ;)
soph was so very dainty eating her cake...and she loved it when we sang 'happy birthday' to her!

i made three cakes. please don't judge; i was in baking mode.
we had no shortage of sweets. and the meringue letters turned out just right...the third time i made them ;)
i also made these oreo treats.
yes, eating them resulted in dental rainbow awesomeness! 

m&m favors inspired by lindsay bonnice that i tweaked and made my own. thank you lindsay!
i must give props to my hubby for assembling these and topping them with sweet stickers he designed!

for the adults i had serve yourself m&m treat bags. there were cupcakes too (see this post).
daddy insisted on making, and wearing, a tshirt emblazond with the number 1 just for the occassion.
our home was bursting with family & friends - some whom we hadn't seen in a long while.
such a sweet reminder for us of the best day ever, when we said hello to her for the very first time.
(as documented by my friend, and amazing photographer, jeri) 

i'm hoping the sugar-fog around our house lifts soon, as all treats are officially gone.
it's sunny today and i'm desperately wanting to go for a run and test out my foot to see if it holds up.
haven't been on a run since the walking boot came off a few weeks ago. i'm nervous.
thanks for sharing in a little color with me today.
if any of you have any advice on how to make birthdays on christmas day special, i'm all ears!
after all, our sophie is just that - a christmas baby.  

 

 

 

meringue animals

our youngest just had her first birthday and we threw her a party with a vintage circus theme.
so i got online to look for decorations. mistake #1.
you see, i envisioned in my head cake toppers of various whimsical circus animals.
cute AND yummy. so they had to be edible.
couldn't find any such thing online.
frustrated, i jumped on to pinterest (yes, i'm there too - follow me at: artcanthurt) and looked up baked goodies, candies....anything i could think of that might work.
nope. nothing that i liked.
so i decided to make something i'd NEVER made before. mistake #2.
two days before a party is NOT the time to try a new method in the kitchen.
five batches (VERY messy batches at that) of meringue later, i had tweaked the recipe & baking time so that my vision of cake toppers came to life.

i also piped the meringue into letters for one of the bigger cakes.

i threw some photos up on instagram and apparently meringue shapes and letters are new to even my craftiest of friends! 
to save you the time and trouble of wading thru recipes for meringue online and being frustrated after burning a few batches or having it come out grainy and not fluffy, here is the recipe with my notes "from experience" in green:

MERINGUE
ingredients & supplies:
-3 large egg whites
-1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar (in the spice/baking aisle at your market)
-a pinch of salt
-3/4 cup superfine sugar (i used a little less than the full 3/4 cup. some bags of sugar do not say 'superfine' - just use the smallest grained sugar you can find)
-pastry bag (disposable one are cheap and less cleanup) 
-round-shapped tip with small opening 

• place egg whites in a medium bowl and let stand for 30 minutes (they MUST become room temperature or they won't set up right); discard yolks.
• add cream of tartar and a pinch of salt. using an electric mixer set on medium, beat until soft peaks form. increase speed to high and add sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time (take the time to add the sugar slowly, it matters! it will not puff up if you dump the sugar in all at once), beating until stiff peaks form and sugar is nearly dissolved.
• preheat oven to 300 degrees F (my ovan runs hot, so i had to bake mine at 250+ degrees and keep a close eye them so they did not brown like a marshmallow). meanwhile, pour meringue mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a small round-shaped tip. pipe shapes onto two parchment-lined baking sheets (yes, 3 eggs really does make this large a batch of meringue. do NOT try to double or triple this recipe! the batch gets TOO BIG). bake for about 10 minutes, then turn off oven. let meringues dry in oven, with door closed (and oven OFF), for 1 hour.
• carefully peel meringues from parchment and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, about 20 minutes.(i didn't bother with the wire rack cooling, i let them cool completely outside the oven on the cookie sheets and they were fine)
  (original recipe from country living magazine)

i chose to make shapes of giraffes, lions, elephants, monkeys and sea lions. 
if you feel comfortable free-handing it like i did great.
if not, find an image you want to trace and slip it under the parchment paper and trace away.
BUT REMEMBER TO TAKE THE PAPER YOU TRACED OUT before baking....that could get ugly.
here is my sea lion from start to finish:

the meringue toppers were a hit at the party and tasty too.
they will not keep for long and must be stored in an airtight container or even the moisture in the air will cause them to soften and start to weep. yuck.
you can also accent your meringue with edible dragees before baking them - have fun and i'd love to hear from you if you try making meringue too!
happy baking! 

happy 4th

(circa first grade)

colorific

i've used chalkboard paint many times before, but now there are options other than black and green!

hudson paint has introduced 24 new colors of chalkboard paint!
colors like 'safety orange' and 'genius pink'!
at $24/quart it's not cheap, but that's why we have christmas lists! *wink*wink*

unexpected fun

eating meals has never been more fun around our house.
but then again, in between the meals is pretty fun too.
and homework will never be the same.
we owe it all to one simple thing - our table top.

with three kids constantly crafting, homeworking, cooking, etc. our kitchen table was taking quite a beating. our wooden table top was not pretty.
we don't have a formal dining room - just this table - but i'd like for it to look nicer than a dog's chew toy. it just looked rough.
i mentioned to a friend in passing that i'd seen a metal table top in a magazine....
i came home one day from work and i there was a new metal table top on our table!
(did i mention that our friend is a sheet metal worker?)
it was custom fit to the exact dimensions with softly rounded corners welded neatly into place.
but...
the best part was when i found out that dry erase markers could be used on the surface!
life takes on new meaning when you can write on your table!




such an unexpected creative outlet!
want to do this to your table? call your local trade school to find someone who can do this for you!
i'd love to hear about it if you do! you won't regret it!