This Girl Loves to Paint...

...and look at design blogs!

I have always loved drawing & coloring, especially back in the day, and I have recently rekindled, I guess you could say, that love for creating. I am also really into design blogs lately. Since I gave up FB for Lent (which is one of the best things I've EVER given up, and will probably try to keep it that way), I have had a little more time on my hands, so I've discovered more blogs. Some friends of mine have recently started painting canvasses, and one even sells her work (and it's awesome!) Thus, my love for painting sparked again.

My small "J" canvas (this is right after painting the last layer, so some spots aren't dried and are darker than others):

This is the first canvas I have ever painted. Hard to believe I've never really sat down and painted on a canvas before, as much as I loved art when I was little. I even took a summer art class while in elementary school, but I'm fairly sure we never painted on canvas. I free-handed the "J", which quickly taught me that free-handing "ain't my thang." I'm too much of a perfectionist. I've discovered a cheapy, easy way to stencil letters, so I will do that for my next project.

Blogs I Have Recently Discovered (that have probably been around fo-eva, but oh well...) :

http://www.illgetyoumypretties.blogspot.com/
http://www.cozycottagecute.com/
http://www.thenester.com/
http://www.delightfulorder.blogspot.com/
http://www.icandyhandmade.blogspot.com/
http://www.thriftydecorchick.blogspot.com/
http://www.fullofgreatideas.blogspot.com/

I'm lovin' these!

I was perusing around Wal-Mart the other day and on a whim, I began looking at the crafts. They had "roll-backed" the acrylic paint, so I thought, "Hey, why not give it a whirl?" Zach had just recently cleaned out the closet in his home office (bless his sweet heart!) and found a couple of canvasses. I had set them aside just in case I was ever in a project mood. Well, that following Sunday afternoon, I was.

On Saturday (the 19th), we went to Chattanooga and spent the entire day. We had such a wonderful time with Zach's mom, sister, brother-in-law, and sweet little nieces! We enjoyed dinner at Zach's mom's new house, and I enjoyed getting to spend time holding little Bailey. Marissa took a pic of me, Ella & Bailey, so hopefully I may post that soon!

Before dinner, we made a day out of shopping and enjoyed lunch at Chick-Fil-A, my Zach's favorite. :) I had actually had a good balance left on my LOFT gift card from Christmas, so I really wanted to use it. It was absolutely burning a hole in my pocket! I wanted a new dress for Easter so badly, but didn't really want to spend the money on something like that I really didn't need. I have plenty of dresses, for crying out loud! BUT, I did have that gift card (that was burning the hole in my pocket), and I began the hunt for "the" dress. I tried on about 5 or 6 different ones, some by grabbing two of each b/c I wasn't sure about the size. I found it! It's actually a fitted dress, which I usually don't go for b/c of my hips, but it worked well this time. Now, I just have to find the perfect shoes. Zach would say, "Just go shop in your closet," which I will probably end up doing, but it's more fun to shop in a store.

On a sidenote, I spent last weekend reorganizing my closet(s). Yes, we have three closets in our house, and I currently take up space in all 3. Wow. I have now moved my shoe shelves (all completely full) to the office closet, and just last night, I moved my bottoms/dresses to that closet, so our guest closet is now EMPTY! Well, the rods are now empty. The top shelves and the bottom floor are a different story! Ha!

...Back to Saturday, after the lady at LOFT rang up my dress, there would have still been an amount left on my card (and we don't want that, do we??), so I quickly grabbed up a necklace I had been eyeing for a long time. Yay!! We then headed to one of my favorite shopping centers there, with a Kirklands, Michaels & Home Goods. I stopped in all three stores. I CANNOT believe I made it out of Kirklands without buying anything. I'm trying to be better. I look around our house all the time and think, " Wow, we have too much 'stuff.'" "Stuff" being things without a purpose- just plain 'ole decor. And lots of it. So, I am trying to cut back. We'll see how long that lasts...

At Michaels, I decided to feed my new-found interest in painting, and bought just a few canvasses and a wooden frame to begin with. We got home rather late on Saturday night, so Sunday afternoon was my time to paint. Zach was entranced by the Duke game that was on, so I left the back door open (the doggies were having a field day playing out in the gorgeous weather) and set up shop on our table on the deck. It was SO WONDERFUL to just sit in the sun and paint. I am definitely going to do a lot more of this during this awesome weather. Painting is such a great release.

Following is a pic of my (unfinished) wooden frame that I painted. This is actually the second design I painted on this particular frame. I'm trying to try new designs and see what I can (and can't) do. This is without the clear gloss, but you get the idea.

Zach's dad took him out on Sunday night, to Outback of course, while I went to kid's choir rehearsal. I know, I gave up a trip to Outback to sing with kids, but they needed me. Miranda actually ended up not being there, so I would have had to be there anyways. We are preparing for our Spring program, so it's crunch-time.

Speaking of crunch-time, my first trio song is coming up this weekend. We've been rehearsing for a few weeks now, so I'm hoping we'll be ready to go that morning. Please say a little prayer for our small groups that will be singing in the coming weeks. We've put a lot of work into these songs, and I hope someone gets a blessing out of them- even if it's just us! I hope everyone has a great rest of the week and weekend. The weekend should be great with warmer weather ahead! I'm so ready for Easter & the gorgeous spring time weather that comes with it!