Joshua D & Friends

This past weekend I had the honor to see my brother in law headline his very own show.  Josh has been working as an entertainer for as long as I have been a part of the family, and this weekend was his first time putting on a stage show starring, well Him!  

He sang, he danced, he truly entertained everyone that night.  It was so amazing to see Josh doing what he loves; family, friends, and fans supporting him an cheering him on.  Instead of me writing a bunch I thought I'd just share few pictures from behind the scenes and the show!  If you couldn't go see him preform in Atlanta he is doing a Southeast tour, Nashville TN, Birmingham AL, and Charlotte NC!

Behind the Scenes

Right before show time...

THE SHOW! 

Thank you Josh for letting me be a part of this amazing weekend!  See y'all in Nashville!

Did you go to the show??  What was your favorite part??

Mono Printing & World Art Drop Day!

Just I just have to say I had such a good time participating in World Art Drop Day!  Thank you to everyone who encouraged me to join in, a huge thank you to my hubs for always encouraging me to follow my heart.  And a huge thank you to Meredith and Montgomery for finding my art and being SO excited!  It warmed my heart.

 Ok so on to "How do you make a monoprint?" 

First what you will need:

1 piece of glass or plexi glass

(tape the edges if you use glass)

fabric paint any color you'd like

(I'd use no more than three colors-it could get a bit mucky if you do)

a paint brush 

(I use a 2 inch natural course hair brush)

1 piece of fabric

(I used a white cotton) 

Step 1:

 

Squeeze your paint onto your glass.  With mono prints you don't want too much paint and you don't want too little paint, you've just got to find the middle ground.  You just want to make sure you cover the entire surface of the glass with a good mostly even coat) My table is dark so I put a white piece of poster board under my glass so I could see the colors better.   

(The orange paint is on the paper not the glass)

Step 2:

Take your brush and just start mixing the colors, I did a short left to right motion.  You can o what ever kind of motion you want, left to right, swirls, up and down.  Just let go!

Step 3:

Carefully place your (washed and dried) piece of fabric.  You want to apply gentle pressure all over the paint with your hands.  Again don't push too hard or too soft.  The paint might bleed through which is totally normal.

Step 4:

 Slowly peel off your fabric an voila!  You have made your first mono print!  

Mono prints are really fun to make and a really great way to just let go and create.  If your first one doesn't turn out don't worry!  I had make four prints before I found my groove.  When your done, you need to wash your glass and brush pretty quickly so the paint doesn't dry on the glass.  With mono prints you get one print per painting.

You can frame your mono print, or even make something with it.  If there is a chance that you might need to wash it you will need to follow the directions on the fabric paint to set it into the fibers of the fabric--usually this means heat setting it by ironing.

Did make one??  I wanna see!  Post below or, find me on Instagram and tag me in your pics! @eme38

 

Gatlinburg Tennessee

What a weekend!  Thursday we packed up and headed to Gatlinburg for a few days of fun and family.  I had never been to Gatlinburg before-but any chance to see people I love and experience new things, I'm there!  The view from our cabin was unreal, so beautiful.  It's like we were just hanging off of the side of the mountain.  Which we kinda were, so.....

Friday we drove through town and out into the country to this place called The Forbidden Caves.  It was a full out cave in the middle of the Smokey Mountains, and it was so beautiful!  My daughter Lorelei was SO excited to go inside the cave and she did such a good job and was such a brave little girl!  (even when they turned the lights off!) 

Saturday we did a lot of just hanging around the cabin talking and relaxing.

That afternoon we all headed into the city of Gatlinburg, it was a lot more crowded and touristy than I was expecting.  My little family spent some time exploring while everyone else went to a show in Pigeon Forge (we didn't think the kids could sit through a show so we opted to hang back)  As we were walking down the street we came across a little side street that lead to a super quaint, super low key part of town.  This was GREAT!  Perfect for just strolling the kiddos around and looking in unique shops.

 

We also walked a little farther down and walked onto the campus of the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts!  I have always heard about this school but didn't realize it was in Gatilinburg.  You can go here and take all kinds of classes in traditional arts and crafts (weaving, pottery, painting, ect)  Classes can last a weekend, a week, a month, or you can even be an artist in residence for an entire year!   I would love to go and take a weaving class or something, anything!

It really was an amazing weekend of staying up too late, getting up too early, and having the best time with some really amazing people.

The day is saved!

The scene.  Kids are happy.  Wanting to play with play-doh.  We grab the bag that holds the doh and all the doh accessories (cookie cutters, rolling pins, spaghetti makers, worm makers...you get the idea).  Dump it out.  And....NO PLAY-DOH!!!!!  So what's a mom to do, um google "how to make play-doh" and pray you have the ingredients!  I found an awesome recipe here.  

First what you need: 

2 cups flour

2 cups warm water

1 cup salt

2 Tablespoons vegetable oil

1 Tablespoon cream of tartar

Food Coloring (optional)

Essential Oil (optional)

1. Mix all the ingredients in a large skillet. Except the food coloring and essential oil

 

2. Stir the mix until it clumps up and looks like, well, dough!  If it is sticky, keep stirring.

3. Once it is all clumped and looks like dough, plop it out on your counter.  Let is get cool enough so you can kneed it.  Kneed it until it is smooth.  Here is where you can add the food coloring and oils.  I made a little birds nest type shape, dropped the colors in the center and folded the dough over so it didn't get too much on our hands.  Kneed until the color is totally mixed in! (*note I did not use any essential oils, let me know if you do...I want to know how that is!)

4.  The kids totally helped me with this part and were super excited to see the colors appear!

5. Done!

The day is saved!!!! 

(*second note, I only made a half batch and that was more than enough for my two kids)

Never too old to color!

Have you gotten the coloring bug yet??  I have been seeing these adult coloring books everywhere!  I've got two young kids and whenever they color I just can't help myself and grab a crayon and dig in with them, but as much as I love coloring Elmo or Curious George sometimes it does get a tad-wah wah.  But now, when my kids sit down to color I can pull out my very own coloring book!  There are a ton of options out there it seems, but I opted for Johanna Basford's Enchanted Garden, she also has Secret Garden (out now) and Lost Ocean (out October 2015).  

 All of her books are beyond beautiful with out the color and with very intricate designs.  I'm not gonna lie it takes me forever to color one page-but apparently I am a very focused colorer (or so says my hubs).  In any case it has been fun to be creative and not think just color!  Have you tried one of these yet??  Which would you choose?