I've been a busy little beaver as of late creating these ZOMBIE straps!! I work for my dad as a graphic artist at Levy's Leathers. We are the largest manufacturer of guitar straps worldwide :) Anyhow, I've been incredibly busy at work making these zombies come to life. What makes these straps super unique is that they have matching end pieces! Check 'em out! If you feel that you absolutely MUST have one, you can order here!

Thanks for looking!!

I've been so delayed on writing this post because my life has been so chaotic and busy lately. A full time job, three kids, and a two story house make for a very busy life these days. I wake up at 6 am, leave at 7 am, drop my eldest son off at school, head to work, work straight until 4:30 pm, get home at 5 pm, make dinner, clean up, get the kids ready for bed and CRASH. I try and squeeze in some creativity into that small evening window, but it's so hard! Anyhow, without any further ado, I wanted to show you this amazing swap I took part in! Cameron from Paint Myself Pretty made me the most AMAZING mermaid ever. I LOVE her SO MUCH. You absolutely must check out her blog and see what she's up to. She's wonderfully kind and talented! As soon as I opened up the envelope and saw this beautiful creature staring up at me, I rushed out and bought her a lovely frame so that she can be displayed with another lovely treasure of mine. Isn't she wonderful?

I am so very lucky. Around two months ago, a great lady invited me to be her partner for an art swap at my favourite site Craftster. Of course I said yes! I love swaps so much! It's such a great feeling when you get a parcel of amazing, handmade goodness in the mail. And will you look what I found waiting for me when I got home yesterday? This amazing fairy poppet made by Bobbie. She's so gorgeous that I can't even believe my eyes. My heart was beating out of my chest as I opened my parcel and saw her for the first time. She's a million times better than I could have ever imagined and I am so proud to be able to give her a home.

Not only did she send me this amazing handmade doll (and according to my specifications, no less), but she also sent me a box full of amazing, thoughtful craft and art supplies. She turned what started out as an awful day into an AMAZING one! Thank you Roberta ...from the bottom of my heart...

By way of Random Number Generator, I've chosen my winner! It's #43...Meghan Chamberlain!! So excited that my little gnome is going to a home with such a good vibe! Congrats Meghan! I hope he brings you an eternity of smiles and wishes!!!

Wow! This year has gone by FAST!! It's time once again for the One World One Heart blog giveaway! I loved this so much last year, so there was no question as to whether or not I would do it again! A wonderful blogger at A Whimsical Bohemian started this a few years ago and has decided to run it again! Yay!

My name's Deedra and I live in Canada. My giveaway is this little Fairy Gnome that I've made with paper clay and mixed media. All you have to do is leave a little comment on this post and he coould be yours! It all starts tonight at Midnight and the winner will be notified on February 17th. The winner will be chosen by way of random number generator. Please join in the fun and run a giveaway of your own! You meet so many fun, creative people from around the world! Thanks for visiting!

I start work tomorrow...that means less time for art. Much less time. So, I'm trying to squeeze it all in today. Even though I'm in the art department at work, I won't be able to paint what I choose, so I just wanted to do one more little painting before work started :)

This is an 8x8 acrylic and mixed media on board, titled WISH!!!

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Fargleaming twitters aboaut under a starlit sky. She's the keeper of the night and of those things unseen.

My niece got in a tragic car accident last week. We were inches away from losing her. She'll be in the hospital for months for rehabilitation and what not. I made her this hospital gown because she would hate to be seen in those hospital-issued ones. I couldn't find any patterns online that I liked, so I reconstructed this from a man's dress shirt. I cut the sleeves to a desired length, cut off the button hole and button band, and used the back for the front by cutting a V for the v neck. I made some bias tape and concealed the sleeve and collar edges. I lengthened it by cutting straight across the bottom and adding panels of cool fabric, and made some lamé bias tape for the bottom. I widened it by adding panels to the back and adding ribbon for tying, and also, between the two panels are 6 velcro tabs to keep her little behind well-hidden.

Please pray for the speedy recovery of my niece. She's a beautiful soul with such a promising future, and the road ahead of her will be full of obstacles.

** If anyone would like to use my pattern for a gift or charity, please feel free. I only ask that this pattern not be used for profit**

It has been soooooooooooooooooooooooooo long since I've poked my head in here. And it's not for lack of being creative and having things to show off. Man...have I been BUSY! I've been creating up a storm. I'll show you some of the things I've been up to. Mostly sewing, I guess, with a little bit of painting here and there. I'll see what I can find in my arsenal of photos...

For one, here's a poppet that I just finished for a swap on craftster.org. I LOVE how she turned out. She really makes me smile and I hope my partner loves her as much as I do! lol

Secondly, a little monkey (free pattern can be found here )for my friend's daughter's third birthday.

Thirdly a bag for my youngest son's teacher for her end of year gift. It's fully lined and hand-embroidered...hope she liked it!

A car trash bag! Complete with fitted plastic insert for wet trash! I included my own tutorial here. I really like how these turned out. I made around three of these.

Anyhow, there are so many more things I've made, and I will post more about them later! Hope you enjoyed these ones!!

...but I'm back. Stella got her groove back, so to speak.

For my 'Let Your Art Guide You' submission for this week, I'm presenting two items! I got two things done, so I might as well post them!


First is my 'Gypsy Woman'. Mixed media and acrylic on rescued wood.



And then there's 'Dream' - Mixed media on rescued wood.

I sure did enjoy making these. You all know how much I love texture!
I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I enjoyed making them!

XO

For the challenge this week, I have finished another commission painting called 'The Red Dress'. It's a 20x24" mixed media and acrylic piece on gallery-wrapped canvas. I had a lot of fun painting this, and I hope the recipient loves it, too!!

For my 'Let Your Art Guide You' this week, I'm delighted to present 'With Arms Wide Open'. This was a commission painting that a father had me paint for his young daughter on her 5th birthday. Due to circumstances beyond his control, he is unable to see his daughter as much as he would wish. He wants her to know how much he loves her, even though he's not around, so he had me paint this as a token of his love to her. I am honoured that he would have me paint something so dear to his heart. Such a lovely man.

I was filled with emotion while painting this. I wanted it to be perfect. I made his hands slightly bigger than I normally would because I wanted her to know that her dad's love is strong and will always take care of her. I made the sky brighter around her head, and it has a pearlized sheen to symbolize that she is the light in his life, his angel. The accessory in her hair is symbolic of a halo.

I hope you all enjoy looking at it as much as I enjoyed painting it!

Another week, another submission to 'Let Your Art Guide You'. As you're all probably aware, I've started an art journal. I figured today's entry was a perfect submission for the LYAGY deal! This is, indeed, letting my art guide me! She's all about sparkling!



Also, a couple new and exciting things! I got a poppet in the mail as part of a swap with a lovely lady named Edel. She came all the way from Ireland! Sapphire opened her up and decided that she should be named Chaina. She's wonderful and whimsical. I'm very happy to have done this swap with Edel! She also included some Irish drinking socks, (lol) a clover phone charm and some chocolate! Yay!



And last but not least, I wanted to let it be known that some of my work was featured on craftster! Woo hoo! I made these costumes without a pattern a couple years ago for my boys. I'm pretty proud of them and think they turned out really well!

My mom is coming to stay for a while, and I have a load of things on my plate to get done before she gets here. First off, is the bedroom. I have to clean out one of the boys' rooms and make it into her room. And then I have to go out and buy a bunk bed so that the boys can comfortably share a room.

This art journal entry is about me, trying to figure out how to get everything done. No easy task for someone who isn't good at organizing!

So I wanted to reflect this in my art journal. The art on the right is mine. She's made with pencil crayons, glitter, candy wrapper, pen, ink, and paint. The art on the left is just something I printed off etsy because she inspired me. I like to keep things that inspire me close by. You never know when you'll need inspiration!