• P A R T I E S •

I had a fantastic time at a food tasting with fellow bloggers at Station 22. Oh. My. GOSH. Their food is amazing. Their meat was cooked to perfection & they served us the most delicious acorn squash I’ve had in my life. The consistency & flavor was akin to crème brûlée.

Next, I participated in a little gift exchange with the lovely Creative Collaborative folks. I was thrilled with what I came home with! I got an original painting by Brittany Scott (a fellow painter from college). It’s gorgeous. I want to frame it before I share it with you. My Christmas was complete from the moment that painting filled my hands.

Creative Collaborative is one of the reasons why I’m excited to have moved. We’re now a hop skip & a jump away from CC meetings, I look forward to going every month!

Photo courtesy of Alice Lane

The 2nd Annual Alice Lane party was too much fun. I spent the night eating delicious treats & drooling over their gorgeous furniture. They sent us home with fresh-baked buscuits & strawberry-basil jam. The biscuits were inhaled, as was the jam. I’m going to need that jam recipe.

It, too, was a gift exchange & I scored the most delicious batch of peanut butter cookies to ever tickle my tastebuds. It’s nothing short of a Christmas miracle that I can zip up my pants today.

photo by Bri Webb

I baked 6 (YES, SIX!) dozen Lemon Crinkle cookies for a cookie exchange party, hosted by Bri of Collected. The above cookie was my absolute favorite. We all went home practically comatose from sugar overdose & bursting at the sides from all the delicious cookies.

The party was gorgeously decorated & designed, too. Next time, I’m dipping my lemon crinkle cookies in chocolate. I’m also adding a lot more lemon.

After all of the friend parties were the family gatherings. They were fun, but SO stressful. Felix has been teething (his wish is to get his two front teeth by the new year) & Penelope was really naughty. At the first Christmas party, Penelope & her cousin found their way into my parents’ bathroom & proceeded to make a fantastic mess with their shaving cream, soap, mouthwash and baby powder. I don’t think I got any pictures of the chaos, but I’m sure my sister did. The next night (at another family party) Penelope & her cousin went into the play room & proceeded to take out every single board game & mix up every single piece to every single game. Penelope was sure to leave her signature string spiderweb all over the room, too. Her nickname “Penelope the Destroyer” is back in full force.

I’m thinking something about driving 100+ miles every day for family gatherings for 4 days straight might have gotten to her. Perhaps.

• G I F T S •

My sister-in-law dropped the not-so-subtle hint that they wanted personalized mugs for Christmas. Before the hint, I had no idea what to do for them. I bought some 14 oz. mugs from Shopko, personalized them with ceramic paint pens & cured the mugs in the oven. DONE. I’d love to do this for our family.

My sister wanted to surprise my parents with family photos, but her plan was completely foiled when my parents suggested we get together for family photos. In keeping with the same theme, we pooled our photos together & created a family photobook & calendar for them. Since they live on the other side of the country, we thought it would be a sweet to document our year for them. My mom is an avid scrapbooker, so I knew she’d love it.

Paper Coterie provided me with a gift card, so I was thrilled to use that. I was incredibly impressed with their photobook system, ordering, paper & print quality, customer service & packaging. A+ all around. Just FYI: I was not asked to do a review, but I was just so impressed with the process & end product I thought I’d mention it here.

I kept things pretty simple with packaging & wrapping. When I ran out of my favorite Ikea wrapping paper, I used this lovely chevron paper designed by my friends Bri & Melanie (almost too nice to use). The bows are from American Crafts. I love how they look together. So simple.

These are two of the goodies I got from the various gift exchanges I participated in. Felix LOVES his little monkey & Penelope loves her little purse. Penelope kept asking Chris & I (and Santa) for a marshmallow dinosaur for Christmas. I thought it was funny, but Chris was picking up what she was putting down! He made her a marshmallow dino! It’s the sweetest labor of love, ever. Penelope loved her little Christmas surprise.

Santa put down arrows around the house leading Penelope & Felix to various little toys. It ended with the marshmallow dino & a few wrapped gifts. I love her reaction in the video. Total cuteness overload.

Popout

Last year Chris & I exchanged love letters. It was the best Christmas we’d done for each other, ever. I knew it’d would be hard to even come close this year. I totally failed. What did Chris get from me for Christmas? Squat. EPIC fail. Maybe now that the bar is at the very bottom, I’ll be able to do something great next year. I feel like an awful wife.

Speaking of gifts from spouses, I wrote this out for Bri, as commissioned by her husband. I believe he put it in a cookbook. Brilliant! If only I could think of clever/thoughtful/sweet things like this for Chris.

How was your Christmas? Win? Fail?

Head over to A Subtle Revelry to see the second issue & download the artwork (we’re DIY 6). A huge thanks to Tai Pan for letting us use their decor at our disposal and Ruby Snap for the cookies in the favor shot. My only regret was that we didn’t make the shoot an actual party. We totally should’ve invited people. Next time, right?

So if you’re planning on a little get-together or a party this fall, please use our printables, k? Also – I recommend you hire Jill to do some design work for you. Her work is the shizzzz.

Jill designed the place cards, menu & banner. I did the invite, RSVP, favor, thank you.

• A L S O •

I’ll be speaking in Provo tomorrow at the Creative Collaborative meeting alongside CJane. It’ll be good times. You should come if you’re around! AND. . . as per your request, I scheduled another calligraphy class (the 24th), I’ve not publicized this yet, but there are still a couple of spots left if you’re interested in attending. Go here to sign up.

That made me think that she might not be the only one wanting to know how. Or hope at least. I’m excited to share with you my method for figure drawing. This method is a bit more on the traditional side, what I’m showing you is sort of a caricature of what I learned in figure drawing in college. With these instructions I hope you’ll be able to translate this into your own style fashion figure drawings. If you’d like to learn additional information on how to draw the body, I’d suggest Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist. It’s what we studied from at BYU, so it’s fairly conservative, but it’s still an anatomy book.

Now let’s get started!

• S K E T C H I N G • T H E • F E M A L E • F I G U R E •

• T O O L S  •

• pencil
• eraser
• paper
• a model or mirror

I draw the figure from my head most of the time, but I’ve practiced drawing the figure loads of times. If you’re serious about figure drawing, check out your local museum to see if they do figure drawing sessions – keep in mind, most are nude. So, either that or get yourself a sister or close friend to model for you (a fitted shirt & shorts would would do just fine).

First, you want to mark down your reference points. Where’s the jugular notch (or pit of the neck)? Draw a circle there, then document the angle of the shoulders. Next, draw the linea alba (center line) from the jugular notch to the base of the pelvis. Draw the angle of the hips. Many poses kink the hips in the opposite angle of the shoulders, so keep that in mind.

Now that you have the angles down, sketch in all of the joints with lines & circles. Use full circles for parts that face straight on & ovals for parts that are 3/4 or profile. The line of the hip to the knee goes from the outside of the hip to the inside of the knee. Same with the shin. The shin makes sort of a lazy S shape.

Now that the figure is starting to take more shape, connect the circles. Literally flesh out the form with the contours of fat & muscle. Take note that the angles in the leg with the fat & muscle is very similar to your previous skeletal rendering. Erase the circles & lines from step 2.

Remember in art class in 7th grade how you were taught to start drawing the figure with the head & make the body 7-8 heads tall? Forget that. At least the starting with the head part. Now in step 4, you’ll want to draw the neck, it’s height and width is typically about 1/4th the breadth of the shoulder. The head is more of an oval-bottomed square than an exact oval. Draw the head. You can add hair & facial features if you’d like. Next you’ll attack the hands.

I leave the hands for last because they’re pretty tricky. Sometimes I’ll leave them as circles or mitts, but if I want to do something different, it’s in these last steps that I add them. The palm is a rounded pentagon with fries coming out of it. (maybe I’m hungry?) Again, if you’re serious about sketching the body, this is something that you’ll want to study & practice. Flesh out the feet by just adding their basic shape. I usually leave finishing them for last as they’re sort of tricky & I usually draw shoes on them anyway.

Now your drawing is ready to accessorize. Draw clothing on top of your figure & erase the under-drawing.

When it comes to the fashion sketches that I include with my refashions, I typically hurry to document my idea that I wing it & don’t do the whole under-drawing. I also often draw with a pen – so no erasing, either. I prefer to draw on paper with a pen or pencil over sketching my ideas with my Wacom. Maybe because I like the organic feel of paper & pen(cil) or maybe because I’m not as good with the Wacom as I could be!

As step 6 suggests, you can also download my drawing. I’ve included a front & a back for your convenience in planning refashions, sewing projects, etc! Click the button below to download.

This tutorial/freebie is free for personal use and should not be distributed/republished without my consent. Altering the file NOT ALLOWED. If you would like to use this tutorial for commercial purposes, please email me. Thanks!

I did a tutorial on this a while back & I use it every once in a while. It’s an easy, low-cost, low-commitment craft that’s perfect for any age from 3+. It was a huge success & I just loved what these creative kiddos did! They’re so inspiring. I’m really feeling the urge to do some oil painting & printmaking.

I like posting these kinds of pictures (above) every once in a while. Come on, how many people actually keep their studios clean & magazine ready?? I sure don’t. I’m cooking up 4 projects simultaneously, so there’s more crud around the room than usual. Let’s keep it real around here; I’m a messy, messy person & I clean up pretty much only when I know visitors are coming. Do you do that? Chris doesn’t. He’s naturally super clean & organized. I’m going to brag: just last night he mopped the floors & did all the dishes while I was at my cousin’s bridal shower. I hadn’t touched the dishes since we got back from Phoenix last Thursday. That’s what sweet nothings are for, right?

Currently, I’ve got some calligraphy, mending, decorating, designing, cleaning, leather crafting & refashioning to do. I will be so proud of myself if I get it finished in the next week.

Congratulations, Emily on both the baby & the win! I’ve sent you an email with all the details. Cheers!

A big thanks to Ruche for sponsoring the giveaway & to all that participated! Maybe we’ll have to do this again sometime?

Let’s be honest, this is not going to be your grandma’s or your kindergartener’s watercolor class. We won’t be playing with saran wrap or salt; we’ll be getting down to the nitty gritty of actual painting. You know you want to come. The class is $20 + $17 materials fee. Comment or use the contact form to let me know if you’re interested. I hope to see you there!

I had a great time using my ecosystem book. I got the small, blank (artist) notebook. It was the perfect size to cart around in my purse and I just fell in love with the coated book cover, perforated pages, elastic closure & secret back pocket.

From a bookbinder’s point of view, this book is well made. It’s sewn, then glued (where many cheap notebooks are just single sheets glued together = not strong). My cover surely took a beating between getting tossed around in my grubby purse & being man-handled by Penelope’s grubby hands, but because of the coating, I could just wipe dirt & mystery sticky stains right off. It was great!

Here are some things that I did with my notebook:

• I used my Silhouette machine to create the patterned cover
• I sketched random scenes & patterns when I was bored
• I wrote down my grocery lists
• I drew schematic drawings for my project ideas
• Penelope had her way with a half-dozen pages

Would you like to win one? I totally know you would! ecosystem has kindly offered to give THREE (3) lucky IS•LY readers an ecosystem notebook of their choice*. Here’s how you can win:

• Visit ecosystem’s site & check out their notebooks
• Leave a comment on this post telling me what you’d use your notebook for
• US residents only
• Only one (1) comment per person
• Comment by 11:59pm (MST) Thursday, September 23, 2010
• No purchase necessary
• Three (3) winners will be chosen via random.org & announced Friday, September 24, 2010

Good Luck!!

*Subject to availability.

Last year was SO amazing, but I might venture to say this year is going to be even better! Classes will be at the historical Peery Hotel (what a cool atmosphere) and new classes will be offered this year like party planning, making paper products with Illustrator, studio lighting in photography & customizing blogger blogs. I think it sounds like a lot of fun.

Here’s some info on the classes I’ll be teaching:

Watercolor Class:

In this class we’ll focus on the basics of good, loose technique & the importance of using the right materials to do the job. Class is for beginners or novice painters looking for a refresher.

Calligraphy Class:

Learn how to take your handwriting to the next level with a beginning contemporary Calligraphy class. Here we will discuss tools & techniques to make your handwriting consistent and creative.

For information on all of the classes offered, head over to Nicole’s Classes & scroll down.

To register for my classes or any of the classes offered, head over to the Art Weekend Eventbrite Page. HURRY! Slots are filling fast.

Turns out we have internet at our place afterall. I’m not sure I would’ve survived an entire week without it. Maybe I need to get counseling for my addiction. I’ve been thrilled with the fantastic posts and projects that have been shared! They’re all wonderful.

Remember I told you about the artwork I made for Kirtsy’s Voices of the Year Gala? Well, it’s now up for auction. It’s been up for a while, but I didn’t know about it. Now there’s 1 more day left to snatch it up! The bidding starts at $25, a steal of a deal if you ask me. Also, all proceeds go to The Nature Conservancy to help clean up the Gulf.

CLICK HERE TO SEE & BID ON MY ART
(the photos on the listing are so unfortunate, aren’t they?)

The first two days were spent being crazy, crazy; prepping for the SocialLuxe party. We all worked so hard to get everything perfect for the big event. Can you believe these swag bags?! They were completely stuffed with the most amazing things. Chris was pretty happy to find out that I was coming home with another pair of skull candy headphones.

{Survival kit photos courtesy of She Posts}

The Avery survival kits were a big hit at the party. I had the privilege to work with Avery & design the labels for the kit. I can’t tell you how handy these kits were & how wonderful Avery is. The bandaids, hand sanitizer & Starbucks gift card definitely saved me!

Friday I spent half the day touring private designer showrooms with 31 other bloggers with Shop At Home. Thanks to them, I went home with some fabulous shoes & a yummy scarf that’s getting me all excited for fall(I’ll share pics later). After my little shopping spree I got pampered yet again at the Getting Gorgeous party & met up with some really fantastic bloggers & sweet brands.

Friday evening I helped out with the Kirtsy Gala by painting inspiring words on people. Unfortunately I didn’t take any photos of what I did. If anyone has any, would you send them my way? Pretty Please? I’d like that. In addition to the body art, I participated in the art gala by donating a piece to the show. I’ve been dying to share it with you & now that the party is over, I can! I was assigned to read & create something in reaction to this epic post. You better believe I was sobbing after reading it.

I wasn’t quite sure how I could do any justice to this post. It was a pretty tough assignment. I finally took inspiration from an ad on the sidebar & made a little piece about that. I’m not sure I’ve done any justice to the author or her story, but it was an honor to work on this project & so great to have an excuse to break out my watercolors.

This trip was exhausting, but absolutely worth it. I’m not sure I would’ve been able to survive the big apple without my friends & family looking out for me!! My mother-in-law drove 11 hours up to SLC to spend time with Penelope & Chris. My mom met me in New York & helped me survive by making sure I had enough food!! Moms are the best.

Did you go to BlogHer? I’m not sure where to find all the BlogHer recap posts, so if you’ve written one, please include the link in the comments! I’d love to read all about your experience.

That’s gotta change. I’m working on a couple of artsy fartsy projects that will give me the kick in the pants I need to clean the dust off my art supplies. This is what I did yesterday. Penelope colored the pages and I embellished them with a little fish motif. Did you know that I like fish? Koi especially. They’re beautiful.

Did you have a good weekend? What did you do?