a little inspration

My dear friend Betony Coons who is a painter and a high school art teacher did a wonderful blog here featuring artists and their very best “get going and create” advice.

http://graysparrow.com/art/some-artistic-inspiration/

free printable motivation to get you moving

I have been pinning away on pinterest.com (my new passion)! Now I have loads of ideas, but haven’t made much  yet. I created this poster (as a first step) to get myself in the crafty mood. YOU can print it for free- simply click and save and print this picture — or — email me for a pdf (kellylangleycook@gmail.com) recommend 65 lb- 110 lb cardstock. Happy pinning (and making!)

Process – 5×5 wood block paintings

I “found” a bunch of scrap wood in perfect 5×5 squares.

Read: I dug it out of the construction dumpster.

To make them it goes like this: clean, paper, glue, paint, sand, pencil, paint, ink, done.

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The final products (so far) have been these super bright pieces that I that have just a little bit of edge… pun intended
 

Favorite recent purchases

It’s not so guilty when it’s art:

basically I think this guy sums it up:

 

from the wildly talented Retro Whale

A little bling treat from Red Giraffe 

Stickers for fun by Resolute Twig studios

and some skellies to keep my little pumpkin company by Indigo Twin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The treasured month of April

4 treasuries on the front page for the 4th month of the year… I hope this trend continues!

Here are the lovely collections — and link to their curators. You know if they create this well, you KNOW they design amazing things too

Cayenne Peppy Bags creates lots of stuff that is bright and beautiful

Green serene by cocoa beans

This lovely orange and blue brought to you by Velvet morning

And fabulous and colorful RC tees with this multicolored awesomeness.

More on how the garden grows

Check out the whole collection:

How my garden grows

I am so so so ready for summer. My 6 year old son hosted a lemonade stand last weekend in gail force winds until our umbrella almost took off down the street. I let it happen because after the long dry winter indoors I long to be outside. It’s like I feel if I fake it I will make it happen.

One big sign that it is summer is the preparation of the garden. I don’t have a green thumb (okay, I do when I am making pesto) but I love gardens. In the spirit of the season I asked some friends on my etsy team to participate in a challenge— design an item in their genre around a common theme. The stuff they came up with is just brilliant. Here are some lovely items created for the “how my garden grows” challenge taken on the by the awesome Curation Nation team.

Tree cuff links from Stacey at CreaShines… and that name is just perfect for her bright and lovely work. I dare you to find something more original.

PS- I will show you some pictures of Stacey’s process on this piece in a day or two.

An incredible reach-out-and-touch rosette necklace from BailyBell Creations. Her stuff makes such a bold statement that even a plain white tee becomes black tie fabulous.

I love the Alice in Wonderland feel to this photo by Jessica Torres – the 12×12 size and the amazing eye for color and space sets her work apart from other photographers and into my heart.

Everything from My Knotty Shop will make you feel earthy and lovely. Hand made and unique I feel like I can smell fresh cut grass when I look at this piece.

And for when you are done working in the garden Sacred Suds can take the heat of the day off with these refreshing and indulgent soaps. I love what Andrea has on the label: “draw upon the energies of the earth”.

And of course the first person to jump on this challenge was Kim See her fab piece in the post below.

Hopefully more from my team (and my piece for the challenge) still to come.

Kim Bauer from 1022seashellave

I have this great team on etsy : curation nation. Our challege of the week is to create works around spring and garden’s that grow. We have to make a new piece that is fresh for our etsy shops. I asked some of my friends to share their pieces and process.

Here is a lovely muli-tmedia painting by the talented Kim Bauer – I love her use of color, texture and size.  She has a very bright and positive aesthetic. It makes me feel like I could have a piece of the ocean in my tiny Colorado studio. Check out all of her wonderful creations.

Kim also has a blog with more process (sure to inspire) right here.

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Kick Autism in the ass this April

My little shop is giving 30% of every sale to autismspeaks.org — an awesome charity.

Here are other etsy buddys sharing the love:

100% of this piece will be donated by Crystal Mist Cottages

 

more to come…

Small town famous :)

my cut-paste job is a little rough, but you get the idea. Link here