Sometimes blogger

I’ve decided I want to bring the blog back!
I’ve always loved journaling and sharing things I love but have always felt held back for fear of not being “blogger” material.

The hardest thing about putting myself out there is what am I going to say. There seems to always be someone out there with a different opinion on what you have to say. I am a confident person but I don’t have the thickest skin.

I spent the last year really discovering who I am and trying to live my most unapologetic self. Learning to understand my body through what I put in it, how to take care of it and move it daily. I am learning how to not only physically take care of my self but mentally.

That’s why I am a sometimes blogger/painter. Sometimes it feels so good to put my voice and skills out there but often times anxiety gets the best of me and when life needs me more than work I pull back here first.

I have always wanted to be a Mom and as my kids grow I can see how quickly this time in my life with little kids is passing by, Work, blogging, painting, and figuring out what I want to do will always be there but these little babies to snuggle and raise will grow way too soon. They always come first.
I have this big voice inside of me that I often keep quiet. Those that know me know that I love deep conversations with those I love. I love a smaller group of really good friends yet I love to throw big dance parties. Getting to know myself has also brought attention to my insecurities. The what if I get comments I won’t like? What if people don’t like what I have to say, what I paint or what I want to do next besides painting? Working on myself is working through those emotions and learning that not everyone will love you and that’s okay.

Things we make up in our head that hold us back for not fitting into a social norm but what i’ve found is the average blogger isn’t the social norm! I want to share things I love in our 1300 square foot home. I’m no where near a fashion icon but I am a Mom of three who loves good deals, high end jeans, and a good pair of leggings.

Some interests of mine include little bit of skin care, make up, clothes, home items and some motivational speaking!

Here is the only picture I can find of myself at Alt last year. Don’t expect a lot of pictures because homie don’t play that.

Ghostbuster Proton Pack

I’ve always been bursting out of my seams creativity. Learning to crochet at a young age, making friendship bracelets, homemade stamped cards, you name it. Except sewing. I love the idea of it but I can’t stand working the sewing machine.
One thing I love that we have is Pinterest. I’m always so grateful for the free information there and loads of ideas. Over the past few weeks it keep coming to me that I have ideas and a voice yet I’m not using it. The people who share on Pinterest are so generously taking the time to share their ideas and we the people reap the benefits!

So before this becomes too wordy I’m going to share on this ol’ blog some things I have done.

First up-Ghostbuster Proton packs!
My son had his fourth birthday at the end of November and all he wanted was a Ghostbuster birthday. I knew I had to make this fun but what I love is when fun is a cheap, handmade party.
I’ll never forget my Aladian party I had as a kid. What I remember the most is all the handmade items my Mom made for the party. I can see her in her bed hand sewing these beautiful veils for the girls faces and then each of us got a small magic carpet rug with our names painted on them. I would go to my friends houses years after the party and see their rugs in their rooms and always felt so much pride that those we from MY party.
When I became a Mom those memories stuck with me and I want my kids to have parties that they remember and stick with them.

Not saying they get a party every year. Some are more simple than others.

So naturally, I had to make proton packs for the true ghostbuster party experience.

HOW TO MAKE PROTON PACKS

So for a few weeks I saved all the boxes that came in the mail, milk boxes from Costco…anything that looked about the size of a child’s backpack size box.
It didn’t take that long to stock up on boxes, this Mama likes her Amazon Prime.

I kept the party to about 10-12 kids since it was a drop your kid off and go kind of party and so I could make these proton pack without killing myself.

I first thought I would spray paint them black but the spray paint didn’t hold well on the cardboard. Acrylic black paint worked the best. I just used this kind from Amazon in black.

I needed to find a way to make them “backpacks” and how the straps would attach to cardboard….nothing duct tape can’t do! I found some black duct tape at Target, tested the strap length on my son then folded the tape in half and taped it on.

The next part is the fun creative part and super cheap. Go to the Dollar Store and find anything that looks technical, wires, shinny…whatever. It just makes it look like an operating Proton Pack. I bought all the stuff you see here at the Dollar Store. Even the green silly string. Get the silly string!
Here is what I bought there
1. Silly string- I got green because it felt like Slimer but I’m sure red would be fun too
2. Pie Pans- they came in a pack of 5 and I cut out a little triangle
3. Wire- that wire you see coming out of the pie pan was found at the dollar store too. I got red, white and black.
4. Sparkly pipe cleaner. I got the gold and just cut and made a design at the top.
5. Orange duct tape- a filler to make a little X

THAT’S IT.
I also got a pack of small tupperware and we made green slime at the party and the kids got to take it home in that.

It all cost me under $20 bucks to make.

Assembling was easy. Hot glue gun and black duct tape!
I wanted some form of the shooting laser gun to be apart of the pack. It had to be light to hold onto the box so I just made duct tape “rope”s and tapped the silly string on. To attach the silly string to the box I used those velcro wall stickys. That way the kids could easily take them off to go on our ghost hunt and shoot the ghost but still attach them to their backpacks easily so they weren’t dragging on the floor.

During the party we went on a ghost hunt. I made a big poster (from the Dollar tree) and had them go to certain areas of the backyard. One spot led them to a bag of Glow sticks (also dollar store) to light up the way. and in the end they found a ghost (a small disposable ice chest) filled with candy (our version of a piñata) and I just threw it up in the air and they got their candy, haha.

After that we put on the ghostbuster song and used our green silly string to shoot the ghosts you see hanging in the tree with the song playing. That ghost is just a balloon with a white plastic table cloth and sharpie drawn face.

Party details:
Marshmallow men assembly- toothpicks, various sized marshmallows
Make green sparkly Slime
Green punch + pizza
Throw balls into slimmers mouth.

Lysha + Madewell

This up coming Saturday May 26th I will be having a pop-up shop with Madewell in downtown Walnut Creek. I'm so excited! Madewell is one of my very favorite stores. Top three for sure. 
I will have a variety of prints from the bloom collection in 8x10 + 11x14", plus SEVEN prints not listed on the site. FOUR of them are from the Dream Collection which so many of you have been asking for.
I have the CUTEST gift with purchase while supplies last that you won't want to miss. They are each original handprinted 4X4" mini panel canvases. 

I will be there from 1-3PM with some originals that will be available for purchase as well.

Also Madewell is offering 25% off your purchase during the hours I'm there if you spend over $150 in their store....I will so be picking up a few things for myself!
 

The Dream Collection

As if Instagram captions weren't hard enough to come up with I thought it would be a good idea to start a journal! It must be late at night. 
I wanted to talk about this piece a little bit and why I decided to do this collection in the first place.
I have always been super drawn to basic black and white art. From the minimal lines that you see in high end stores to black and white patterns, b & w photography, you name it. The more "kid-like-drawn" the better in my humble opinion. 
A few weeks ago I started painting this collection and it was hard for me for a number of reasons. 1. I let 'others' get in my head...just the worst. Art critics...even those who are close to you or people you don't know. Luckily I've been lucky so far with super sweet Instagram followers but it wasn't always that case. We will get into that another day. What I've learned is that critics are only one person who's opinion doesn't matter if you like what you are doing. There are going to be people who love it and some who don't and who cares? 
 I can't let the few who might not like it stop me from putting it out there. Even though it scares me to think of what people might think.

Some advice from my husband used in different context but always seems fitting, "Keep going! Keep doing what you're doing. It's all part of the process. You're doing fine."

2. I created this collection because I have always been a vivid dreamer. I have memories of dreams I have had since I was a young child. These dreams play in my head like a movie I've seen. Once I wrote them down and it got weird. I couldn't do it. Or describe it the way I remembered it so I decided to paint it out. One of paintings from this collection is literally about a giraffe eating my wallet...a dream I had when I was about 16.  I remember searching on the internet back then what that dream could mean and the internet came up with stuff like "If you're seeing a giraffe in your dream, it signifies that at this moment you aren't able to make your dreams and plans come true"....This dream has always stuck with me. 

So here is my giraffe moment. Taking a little time out of this crazy, busy beautiful life raising three little kids, running a home, loving my husband and creating a life to make some dreams come true.