Recently, my amazing friend, Emily, brought me a “get-well-soon” package of fun gifts…. sooooo incredibly nice of her.  It included a sugar-free Starbucks steamed milk (yummy!!!), two super-cute shirts that I can wear now and my preggo belly can comfortably grow into and the most FABULOUS bookmark from artist, Kelly Rae Roberts.  I know, who is seriously lucky enough to have a friend that wonderful?  I ask myself that everyday and am definitely sure I’m not a deserving recipient.

Now, I am a HUGE Kelly Rae Roberts fan.  And let me show you why (as usual, click on the pics to be redirected to the original site)…

Fly Necklace – $17.00

Versatile Art Plaques – $16.00 (don’t you just love the set of 3 in the frame like that?!)

Unleash Your Joy Magnetic Bookmark – $4.00

Believe in Possibility Magnet – $4.00

I love her fun, eclectic style.  I think I love everything she makes.  I love her use of color and combining different art mediums, like paint, pen sketch and print.  Thank you for introducing me to Kelly Rae Roberts, Em!  I’ll forever be grateful (and forever pining for her art).  Isn’t she FABULOUS?!!

Today I’m sharing some of my favorite pieces from an artist I recently discovered on Etsy: COPPERINC.  Check out these fabulous works of art; I’m loving this female artist’s unique style!

A Thin Coating of Ice – Print – $15.00

The Peacocks – Print – $10.00

A Pile of Letters – Print – $15.00

What a unique style this female artist has, huh?!  I love it!  Leaves me totally inspired to play with different art mediums.  Love your paintings, COPPERINC!  Thanks for the artistic inspiration!  You certainly are a CREATIVE CHICK!

Today’s feature has got me sooooooooo excited, I can hardly stand it.  I’m a big admirer of Brittany, the creative chick behind Cottage Road Designs and her blog Whatever & Stuff.  Not only are her sites completely delightful to visit, her creative work is incredibly inspiring.  Brittany’s profile says it all:

“I have always loved to create things. It is part of who I am. From the time I was a young girl into my college years Fine Art has always been my passion. I continue to dabble in anything and everything that catches my {fleeting} attention. I work out of my 200 year old converted barn and love every minute of it!”

Yup, Brittany is exactly the kind of creative chick I LOVE to highlight!

Recently, one of Brittany’s paintings caught my eye; it’s called: “Brave.”

This painting is incredible and her description won my heart:

I recently had twins to make five children. As I drove up to the school to pick up the older kids, the PE teacher wanted to look at the babies and then she looked around at the overly filled car and smiled at me and said, “you’re brave.” I said, “well, I don’t know if it has anything to do with being brave.” and she looked at me and said, “you are doing all this and you still have a smile on your face. That’s being brave.”  I had never thought of it that way! So that’s what inspired this painting.

My husband and I are currently in the process of becoming licensed to become foster/adoptive parents.  We feel that someone is missing from our family that is going to come to us through this way.  When I saw Brittany’s painting, “Brave,” I loved it for how it reminded me of our situation.  I actually want to buy the print to put in the bedroom that our foster/adopted child will be in so that they’ll see it and feel that our home is a safe place, that there’s a “mother bird” watching over them and that they can be brave enough to fly.

Here are some other favorites I have from Brittany’s creative shop (click on pics to be redirected to her store):

Take to the Sky – 11 x 17 print of original mixed media painting – $32.00

Description: I recently had twins and as I was watching them sleep, I found myself wishing things for them in thier lives. they are so pure and perfect right now and I have so many hopes and dreams for them. This painting was inspired by those thoughts. The words under the branch read “your potential is unlimited,little ones” and in the leaves of the tree, there are affirmations that I would hope for them. some of them are: hope, dream, forgive, believe, smooches, accept, choose, love.

—> Yup, I’ll probably need to snag this painting to put with the other one; so beautiful. <—

Presenting Affirmation No. 37 – Set of 5 notecards w/envelopes of original mixed media painting – $10.50

Sunbeams Journal – 6 x 6″ – $25.00

Get your dose of creative inspiration by seeing her other creations at Cottage Road Designs and glean some creative juices by reading her lovely blog, Whatever & Stuff.  Thanks for your creative inspiration, Brittany, and for sharing your talents with the world!  I completely love what you’re doing!

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p.s. If you’re in or near Lehi, Utah today or tomorrow, you’ve GOT to check out Tom & Lucy’s Art Shoppe!  It’s sure to have some phenomenal, creative inspiration and yummy finds!

May I just say, I love art?  Oh, my goodness, I LOVE art.

Today I’m featuring some fabulous watercolor painting art.. but I’ll get to that in a second.

We remodeled our home over a year ago and I have WAY too many bare walls (a problem I mentioned earlier).  Now I’m pondering a lot about paint colors and the look and feel I want our rooms to have.  The color palette I just can’t seem to escape is blues, teals and greens.  Every room seems like the perfect room for one of those tones.  I may just paint my whole house around those colors and have it be somewhat monochromatic (I’m love decorating monochromatically, using little accents of color to break it up).

This is the room I’m having the most trouble deciding on a paint color:

It’s this gorgeous upper level great room with lovely, open vaulted ceilings and lots of natural light that comes in through all the windows and the glass french doors.  I LOVE this room; my family LOVES this room.  We spend 90% of our awake-time in this room.  It’s completely magical when it’s raining or snowing; all the windows make you feel like you’re in a tree house.  But, this has given me some decorating stress.

I want to keep the room really open and airy feeling.  The windows have no coverings, in many ways because I can’t decide what would be open enough to maintain the breezy feel in the room, but also give us some privacy.  I don’t want to choose a paint color that would tighten in the room at all, but I’m not big on pastel-type colors.  Also, since it’s a “family” room, I want it to be very comfortable in the color-scheme and decorating.

I recently came across an artist who has truly inspired me with a few ideas on what to do with this room.  Her work is beautiful and her name is Amarice Mills.  What do you think about using some of her creative prints in my big, open, white, boring room?  (Click on pics to be redirected to item in her store)

Rainy Day 3 – 5 x 7″ – $10.00

Rainy Day 4 – 5 x 7″ – $10.00

Rainy Day 5 – 5 x 7″ – $10.00

Aren’t these watercolor paintings GORGEOUS?   The whimsical designs would make the room very comfortable.  I love the muted tones with the bright splashes of vibrant color.  I think these paintings also represent one of my favorite things to experience in this room: the weather.  But, I’m no interior decorator.  I do have an eye for design, but get really stumped at figuring all the details out.

What paint color would YOU put under these prints to keep the room bright, fresh, open and comfortable? (Feel free to offer any other decorating advice you may – I need all the help I can get).

See more of Amarice Mill’s paintings in her shop here: amaricemills.

Ever since I saw Gabrielle’s – DesignMom.com – painted piano, I can’t get it out of my mind: I’ve got to paint my ratty-looking piano.

Our piano is an upright practice piano from a university that some friends of ours owned.  I think they bought it for $100.  Then, they were demolishing their home to build a new home on the property & said they were just going to leave the piano in the home to be destroyed.  It broke my heart, so I got my husband to arrange a way to move it to our home where it has been residing ever since.  This poor piano has been through a lot while being a part of our family.  We’ve moved it at least 4 times.  One time was up & then down a thin apartment staircase.  The next was moving it into a basement apartment.  The most recent was me waking up to my husband moving our piano from the basement to the upstairs (two flights of stairs) all by himself.  Seriously.  I thought he was going to kill himself; scared me to death.  He survived, as did the piano, fortunately.  Needless to say, what was already a beat-up, well-loved piano has become even more beat-up & well-loved during our ownership.

After seeing Gabrielle’s post about painting her piano a gorgeous green, it’s gotten me sooooo excited to paint our piano!!!  I’m certain it would be a well-worthwhile face-lift.  The only trouble is deciding on the color.  I’m considering blue the most seriously.  I love a good blue, but I also think a rusty orange/red could be gorgeous, also.  My living room has zero decorating in it, so the piano color can be what I base everything off of.  I want it to be classy & fantastic & most of all, I want it to breathe life into our poor, beat-up piano.  Don’t worry, I’ll post before & after pics when I finally decide on a color & get to painting it.  I’m sooooo excited!!!

What color would you paint a piano?  Isn’t Gabrielle Blair an inspiring “Creative Chick?”  Thank you for the design inspiration!