Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas

I just wanted to paint a little something to wish you all a peaceful and joyful Christmas and a very happy New Year!

I also really, really appreciate all the support I have gotten this past year in getting to start and grow this little art business of mine, so I wanted to take a moment to say Thank You!  I am so incredibly grateful to get to follow my dreams and to hopefully bring a little bit of joy into your lives through the process.

See you all in 2015, I'm excited to see what the new year has in store!

Cheers!

Jennifer

Sisterhood of the World Blogger Award (aka a "major award")

Hello!  There is a tag circulating around called the "Sisterhood of the World Blogger Award," and yesterday I was nominated by Helen from Helly's Blogs.  I'm really honored that someone would think enough of my humble little blog to recognize it in this way.  So thank you, Helen, for nominating me!

The Rules:

1.  Thank the blogger who nominated you, linking back to their site

2.  Answer the ten questions that have been sent to you

3.  Make up ten new questions for your nominees to answer

4.  Nominate ten people

5. Have Fun

Here are my answers to the questions Helen asked me:

1.  What is your favorite season? SUMMER

2.  Tomato or Brown Sauce? Tomato

3.  What is your favorite beauty product?  I live by Burt's Bee or Moon River Soap chapstick

4.  Favorite film right now? White Christmas, it's such a fun film (and I'm really into Rosemary Clooney's music right now)!

5.  What is your new years resolution?  To tone up for my upcoming wedding!  Fingers crossed I can stick to my workout routine!

6.  What are your thoughts on Keith Lemmon?  Who?  I'm really not up on popular culture...

7.  Do you believe in love at first sight?  No, it took me some time to warm up to my now fiance :)

8.  Favorite color and why?  Blue, probably because my eyes are blue but I also find it to be such a calming color.

9.  What are your parents called?  Mom and Dad

10.  One item in your bedroom you couldn't live without?  My dog chillin' on the bed with me :)

Here are my nominees, all wonderful ladies who have outstanding blogs:

Kendra, Open Spaces

Lo, Love, Lo

Dot, All Things Etsy

Abbie, The Pink Paperdoll

Kim, A Very Sweet Blog

Jennifer, Apartment Wife

Birgit, The Picture Garden

Kim, 2justbyou

Teena, Serendipitini

Kate, Art Hound

And here are the questions for my nominees:

1. What is your favorite Christmas/Holiday song?

2.  Have you ever danced in the rain?

3.  What is your favorite animal and why?

4.  What is something that always cheers you up?

5.  Is a picture really worth a thousand words?

6.  What is your favorite holiday?

7.  Do you have any pets?

8.  What is your dream vacation?

9.  Are you left or right handed?

10.  Do you prefer abstract art or representational (realistic) art?

That's it!  Thanks sister bloggers of the world for your continuous support and inspiration :)

Jennifer

The Eastern Bluebird

I had so much fun painting my latest watercolor bird, the Eastern Bluebird, so I thought I would share a few pictures of my progress on it.  The Eastern Bluebird is the official state bird for Missouri and New York, and isn't such as pretty little bird?!  I have always loved bluebirds and they pop up in my drawing journals often, so I thought it was about time I did a real painting of one.  Here's how it turned out:

The start of the painting process, I always like to start with the bird's head.

Putting the finishing touches on this birdie and doing what I love :)

The completed painting!

In case you were wondering, prints of this bird are for sale at my Etsy Store and Official Website!  Here's a picture of what the print looks like close up:

I hope you enjoyed taking a look at my work, comments are always welcomed and appreciated :)

Have a lovely evening!

Jennifer

Wrapping Gifts with Fabric

I am trying to be on top of my Christmas shopping this year by buying and wrapping my gifts with time to spare.  I have been incorporating fabric swatches into my gift wrapping because I think using fabric creates fun and unique presents that are sure to wow at any holiday party!  Using fabric also seems to give a present a lovely personal touch that shows the recipient how much you care about him or her!  I started wrapping a few of my gifts already, so I thought that I would share what I have done:

First, I pre-wrapped some of my gifts with wrapping paper or tissue paper as a base for using the fabric. 

I then got out fabric swatches to start adding some personal accents to the gifts!  Just a quick note: A lot of fabric stores have old fabric swatches that are just going to be thrown out.  Simply ask for some old/discarded fabric, and many stores are happy to hand over what they have for free!

I started by wrapping the smallest gift entirely with fabric.  Since fabric is thicker than typical wrapping paper, you will probably need a few extra pieces of tape to keep the fabric in place.  Otherwise, treat the fabric like regular wrapping paper to wrap your gift.  Once all wrapped, I added a pretty bow with yarn to complete the look.  This look is so easy to achieve, and yet I think it makes the gift look so elegant!

For this next gift, I decided to add just a touch of fabric on the box for a subtle yet striking look.  I layered a few fabric swatches on top of each other and then placed the gift tag on top of the fabric (you can either glue or tape the fabric down, either way seems to work just fine).  This makes the gift tag the focal part of the present.  I finished the look by adding a strip of fabric along the top of the tag and tied a piece of yarn along the box.

For this last present, I decided to decorate only the card with fabric for another subtle yet pretty effect.  I glued two pieces of fabric down to the sides of the cards to give the card a unique look.  I then added a yarn bow across the present to "tie" everything together.

So there are just a few of the ways I have incorporated fabric into my gift wrapping so far this season.  I'm looking forward to getting even more creative with my use of fabric when I go to wrap the rest of my gifts!

I might as well "wrap this up" by letting you know that I am also offering a gift wrapping service at my Etsy shop for those of you wanting to make your Holiday shopping even easier!  With this service, your item will be carefully and lovingly wrapped by yours truly in the style of your choice and with a handwritten note to the recipient.  Below are the styles you can choose from, and you can get all of the details of the gift wrapping service by clicking here.

Pretty cute, right?!

Anyways, I hope this post gave you some fun gift wrapping ideas to get your creativity flowing this holiday season!  How are you planning to wrap your gifts?

Cheers!

Jennifer

Happy Holidays Art Print Giveaway

Happy December!  I am so excited to share that I have teamed up with a lovely blog, The Pink Paperdoll, to provide a Happy Holidays Giveaway of one of my new and improved 8.5” x 11” art prints.  This giveaway is my way of saying thank you to all my wonderful followers for your continued support!

You can enter below, and be sure to check out The Pink Paperdoll’s review of my art here. 

The giveaway is open now through December 14^th.  Best of luck!  

*Giveaway is limited to U.S. residents only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Comments are always welcomed- I would love to hear what print you are hoping to win! All the best, Jennifer