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!

Happy Thanksgiving, creative chicks!!!  I hope you’re looking forward to a day of gratitude and feasting like I am!  We have so much to be grateful for this year and always.  I am grateful for creative chicks that light the way for the rest of us to be courageous and get creative!  I’m especially grateful to rub shoulders with all of my fantastic creative chick readers.  Thank you for your support and for your comment-love.  You have turned this crazy creative-endeavor into something that I truly am excited to be a part of each day.  I hope this blog inspires you to stay on your creative paths as you have inspired me to stay on mine.

In preparation for today’s post I went on a little hunt to find Thanksgiving-inspired handmade creativity via Etsy.  I don’t know about you, but while I do enjoy some occasional cheesy humor, cheesy holiday-inspired fashion and accessories are NOT my thing.  You will never in a billion years catch me wearing little turkey earrings, nor will you find we wearing a sweater with giant pilgrims, Native Americans and the first Thanksgiving stitched into it.  It’s just not my style.  I’m not knocking it; it’s just not how I roll.

However, I do think some classic, holiday-inspired pieces can be an exciting addition to a holiday outfit, home decor and celebration.  Today I wanted to feature some creative, non-cheesy Thanksgiving-inspired finds (click on the pic to be redirected to original site):

Organic Catnip Pumpkin Pie Slice by CatzillaCrafts – $9.00

Candy Corn mock lariat necklace by SASessories – $39.50

Pumpkin Pie Pearl Earrings by Jaros Designs – $15.99

Give Thanks with a Grateful Heart Wall Decal by Pop Vinyl Studio – $24.00

Autumn Wedding Flower Hair Comb in Fall Harvest Colors by KimArt – $25.99

Aren’t those finds freaking fabulous?!  I’m completely inspired (and wishing I would have found them a LOT sooner – oy veh).  Now go have a feast to celebrate all that you’re grateful for!  Thanks for sharing a slice of your holiday with me at CreatedByChicks.com!!

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.

Isn’t vinyl wall art the greatest thing ever?  It’s right up there with the invention of velcro, in my opinion… not that you’d want to decorate your walls with velcro.  I have sooooooooooooooooo many bare walls at my house that it’s almost painful to live with.  I have two problems though: (1) Mr. C (my man) is not in favor of me painting the walls & (2) there are too many fabulous vinyl wall art designs to choose from.  I’m at a standstill.  Recently, however, Mr. C found a bucket of our current bland, beige wall paint color & thought it would be great to paint patch over all the spots in our house that have little scratches & dings.  Much to my delight, we woke up the next morning to find that the color we patched with didn’t match the wall color!  Now our walls are covered with trashy-looking paint splotches.  Finally, problem No. 1 may be resolved.

In my hunt for fabulous resolutions to problem No. 2, I came across the gorgeous designs of PopWall.  The designer & her husband are graphic designers by trade & it really shows in their fine, unique designs.  Here’s some of my faves (click on the pics to be redirected to the item in PopWall’s shop):

Cherry Blossom with Birds – $65.00 (would this still look as cool in a house with boring-colored furniture?)

New Style Chandelier with Bird – $49.00 (I’ve seen sooo many chandelier designs, but this is the coolest & most unique one of all – IMHO)

Dandelions – $45.00 (k… is this really the designer’s home that they’re displaying their vinyl in, cuz it’s amazing.  I’d love to live with so much color & style.)

Butterflies – $20.00

Flamingoes with Fishes – $89.50 (not usually a flamingo kind of person, but this is adorable & cracks me up.  Isn’t that cool that it’s not just wall art, it’s a growth chart?  Right on.)

And, yes, I am planning on painting my house with lots of bright colors like in these pics.  I painted my last house that way & LOVED it.  The only trouble was decorating with so much color, but I’ve lived with plain, boring, beige walls for so long that I’m fully up for the challenge.

Aren’t PopWall’s designs STUNNING?!  I better start saving my pennies now because these designs are exactly what I want for my house.

Today we’re featuring some unique thread art from “Creative Chick.”  Yes, as you can see from her name, how could we resist highlighting her here in “creative chick heaven?”  In Susan Sorrell’s own words (artist of “Creative Chick“), she is a “southern fried fiber artist.”  She also teaches fiber art classes.

I love art that takes your breath away.  While my style is mostly traditional, I love to throw some abstract art into the mix.  When I saw Susan’s work, it drew me in immediately with all the vibrant colors, patterns & textures.

I quickly threw a room design together so you could see how I would envision using her artwork in a traditional-style home.

This was the best I could quickly find online to represent what I would envision.  I’d most likely find some really chunky black studio frames to use, but you get the idea with the black frames in this photo.  I also had to liven up the decor a little bit with adding this beautiful throw pillow, Cotton Pop, from Cotton Colors.

Isn’t Creative Chick’s fiber art fun & lively?!  It would brighten my day, every day, to see something like this in living room.