Back to School!

Hello my sweet bloggie friends!!  Boy summer flew by didn't it?!  My summer was consumed with keeping the boy occupied.  I spent my days carting him from Kumon to scouts then music lessons and band practice.  We spent a lot of time camping and managed to squeeze in a couple of beach trips and short weekend getaways.  I was able to get in a little creative time but not much.

Today is our first day back to school so I'm hopeful that I'll have some more time to create.  One can hope right?!  The truth is that my schedule will probably be just as busy because we still have the same schedule as summer except everything is happening in the evenings now and we also have to make time for homework.  Oh well, the boy is totally worth it!!

I do have to get to work though because I have to get ready for my Fall shows.  First up is The Peddler's Show.  I'll be set up at the San Antonio Peddler's Show at the Freeman Expo Hall on Sept 5th -7th. 

After that, I'll be set up at Market Days @ Encino Park on Oct 4th - 5th.  Look for me inside the Banquet Hall.

I hope to squeeze the Soflo Market in there too.  So with only 2wks left til my first show, I have lots to do to make sure I'm ready.  I like to get completely set up at home before each show so I know exactly what I need to take and where everything is gonna go.

It's become sorta a ritual for me, lol.  It really does help during set up though.  My set up is always changing as I continue to try and improve.

New for my upcoming show is a sales counter and an actual cash register.  I'm really excited about that :D.  I'll share pics as that begins to come together.  I will probably start doing my mock set up this week so I have plenty of time to go get anything I need.

I'm also gonna work on getting more of my items listed in my Etsy shop, LittleHoneyBeeStudio.  I don't have any of my necklaces or key fobs listed on there right now.  I have seasonal items that I'd like to add too.

I 'd like to finish reorganizing my studio and create new art of course.  So there is tons to do, I better get off this computer and start working, lol.

Thanks for joining me today, have a fantastic day!!!

You are my dream...

Happy Monday!  Can you believe it's already Thanksgiving week?!  I really don't know where this month went.  It feels like I blinked my eyes and it was gone.  I didn't even realize it was gonna be Thanksgiving already until last week so now I'm gonna be one of those crazy last minute shoppers, lol.  Oh well what can I say, I have been known to get caught up in my own little world :D  Hmmm...........I definitely suffer from procrastination too, it's how I roll, lol.  But hey, I always get things done and it's all good :D

Yesterday I got my first chance to get back into the studio in almost two weeks and I started working on some new Christmas projects.  Hopefully I'll get them done soon so I can share them with you.  In the meantime, here is a mini layout of my DH and I.   

This is out of an 8x8 mini album that I made for my DH years ago and the photo was taken last year.  I try to add layouts of our special moments.   For this layout, I took my color ques from the photo and dug into my scrap bin.  It's a pretty simple layout but I love the way it turned out.

Thanks so much for stopping by and for all your super sweet comments.  I really appreciate all of you :D

Have a Beautiful Monday!!!

Japanese Tea Gardens

The weekend went by so fast didn't it!?  My DH and son had to work again this weekend so we really didn't get to do to much so today I thought I share a few pics from another one of San Antonio's treasures.  This is the Japanese Tea Gardens, I only snapped a few pics here so there is so much more to them.  It's one of photographers favorite spots for portraits.



Even though I was home, I didn't get in the studio to create.  Instead I caught up on my blog reading and did a couple of hops and saw a lot of really great projects.  Well, gotta go!  It's my DH's first day off & in town for awhile so we're gonna enjoy some family time.  Have a beautiful day & thanks so much for stopping by today :D

VIVA FIESTA!!!

FIESTA officially kicked of this week & the whole city is in PARTY mode for the next two weeks!  So I thought I'd share some pics from one of our favorite FIESTA events.  These pics are from The Taste of New Orleans, the have jazz music, drinks, games and of course CAJUN food!

We love going down for the music and FOOD.  Gotta get some gator on a stick every year ;D

This is the REY FEO and his court.  We party hard during FIESTA but all the money goes back into the community through charities.  Click on any of the links for more info on SAN ANTONIO's biggest party!!

Hope you have a great weekend!

VIVA FIESTA

Photography - The Alamo

Today I thought I'd share some of my favorite picks of the Alamo.  From time to time my husband and I like to head downtown with all our sons and enjoy a bit of site seeing around our beautiful city.  These are some photos from one of those trips.

This photo was taken in one of the Alamo courtyards

I really wanted to capture the beautiful architectural details 

Thanks for stopping by, I'll be back tomorrow with some artwork or perhaps some scrapbooking!

Lucky!

This little cutie is called "Lucky"

The colors of this 8x8 canvas were inspired by the bright & playful colors of my Mexican heritage.  With Fiesta right around the corner, these bright colors are beginning to pop up all over our beautiful city.

  Every since April of 1891, our city has honored the fallen heroes of the Alamo and celebrates the victory at San Jacinto with a week long Fiesta.  If you've never been, you really need to try and make it at least once!

  For more information on Fiesta, check out the San Antonio Fiesta Commission website.

For this piece I used fluid acrylic, gesso, oil pastels, craft paper, a vintage hymn book, cardboard, chipboard embellishments, craft wire and glimmer mist

 The chipboard Lucky embellishment is from K&Company, Jubilee Icons

 I started out thinking of rolling hills, so I used Golden Fluid Acrylic in Green Gold

Once the green was on, I added Liquitex Gesso with a palette knife to create lots of texture.  Originally I thought these were going to be trees.

When I got back from restocking at Homestead today, I decided these needed to be flowers!  So I painted them with Holbein Gouache in Magenta.  Isn't it a beautiful color, the Artisans over at Homestead had these colors all over the place with their Fiesta items. 

I found scraps of craft paper, scrapbook paper oh & my favorite vintage hymn book for the stems & leaves.  No scrap no matter how small goes to waste in my studio ;o)  To add interest, I outlined the flowers and stems with oil pastels.

After starring at the canvas for awhile, I decided I needed more of the hymn book to balance my composition so I found another scrap that was perfect for the top of the canvas.



I started going through my embellishments and thought the "lucky" chipboard was just what I needed.  I added it to some scraps of cardboard and made a banner using craft wire.  I was inspired to add a banner because I'm been researching banners on Pinterest.  I want to add one to my shop over at Homestead but I'm not sure what I want it to look like so what better place to find examples than Pinterest, right!

At this point the canvas was looking a little flat so I added in layers of highlights and low lights to create dimension.  In the end I think I captured the playful and festive feel of Fiesta!

Viva Fiesta!!!!

Let the countdown begin!

Just Restocked my Shop!!

I just added some new paintings to my shop over at http://www.homesteadhandcrafts.com/ so stop by!!