We've got SUNSHINE, yes we do!

 I hope you read the last article I posted a link to with the title "Filtered, not fake" or else you're going to potentially be super irritated at how peppy my post title is.  We don't really have sunshine...we have buckets and tings and pings of sleet.  The ickiest, coldest, ugliest sleet.  BUT, my sweet girls and handsome hubby are healthy.  So, sunshine it is.  

It's really all a mind game, to me.  As long as my head is filled with God it seems He adds a sun ray here, another there.  Sunshine and spring even in the midst of another harsh winter day. (Northerners, go ahead and laugh. We are SO not used to all this winter stuff!)

So I mentioned on Instagram (you can see the tab above to follow me!) that I started taking an online art class.  People, I have been so tired of saying all the things I want to do and then never doing them! Like taking a class like this!  I signed up for Christy Tomlinson's She Art class....basically, learning how to draw gals.  I've always liked an artistic view of a gal,  paintings, fabric (like you see above), or even the angel figurines you can buy (without the facial features, drives Brett crazy)

I signed up for the online class this weekend.  Once I received my login information I was able to view the class, and will have a whole year to do so.  It has incredible teaching information and tips, videos galore (like hours of helpful videos), PDF's to help you, an online community where you can share your art....It is fabulous!

I would highly, highly recommend you take one of her classes! She has several to pick from, if the girl art isn't your thing.  The cost is $44 (I totally used the money the Nielsen T.V. survey people sent me to buy this!), and that is such a bargain for all the tips and teaching and videos.  It is next to impossible for me to get away to all these neat art retreats right now (and I wouldn't want to leave my babies!), so this felt just like a retreat at home.  I can make some hot chocolate or coffee, and get cozy in my craft room while learning new things!  Perfection. 

Soon I will be painting a "girl" on a mixed media canvas and I'll show you the finished results.  The sketches you're seeing here were just done as practice, with regular Crayola colored pencils and a black pen.  The gal with the face colored in is my mistake...I started trying to do eyes, noses, etc. and just didn't like what I was seeing so I colored her face in. :/  (I'm trying to be good about showing real life on the blog...and real life means I make mistakes)

 I picked up some new art supplies this weekend because I actually had $$ left over in my monthly spending money! Whoohooo! A tip....if you're local (NWA), I went to Tuesday Morning to get the girls some puzzles and also found these packs of big scrapbook paper for like $6! They are usually at least $15.  Also, Hobby Lobby had the canvases on sale.....2 for $3.99 (for 8 x 10) And I used the 40% off coupon for the Modpodge (I just showed them the coupon code on my phone, no need to even print it)  SO, there's my two cents on saving money on supplies.  It feels so good to have this happy stack waiting for me in the craft room but there's no need to break the bank, so to speak.

 Oh, the tales our dining room table could spin....

another place that is my happy spot in the house.  We do everything around the table,

art, stickers, puzzles, eat, talk, listen to music, bird watch, read,....

 I mean...really.  Rays of sunshine people...

absolute rays. 

 Remember how a few weeks ago I was feeling sorry for myself because I closed my Etsy shop and shut down plans in my mind for spring, as far as pursuing a creative hobby job goes? 

Yeah, I'm SO over that now.  :)  I'm happy and excited to fill my non-chore time with little projects and art and learning about being "an artist" (which sounds so official to say)...learning to paint and sketch and do mixed media.  Giving myself photography challenges and outdoor dinners and parties and photo shoot ideas, just for fun.

  I don't know a lot.  I'm not super organized or smart at math.  I could probably do a lot of things, a lot better. But, I DO know that I was made to create.  I know that this is a season for me to learn about all kinds of art.  I am almost positive someday I'll have a job that encompasses being "an artist".  And really, I already do  have a job like that right now.  

Mama.  Showing my girls the beautiful masterpiece that is our world.

 One day this week Anna Ruth decided to push Betsy Grace in the cozy coupe car.  I just could not quit laughing!  Hysterical!  I don't know why, but sometimes my girls just strike me as so funny.  And those are the moments I try to remember when they're being ornery..because boy do they sure know how to be ornery too.  But aren't we all?  

We've got SUNSHINE, yes we do! 

This place is my sanctuary,

my eternal sunshine.

What sun rays are keeping your spirits lifted this week?

I have plans to make a box of "sunshine" (yellow items) to gift someone with..

because I think telling others how they're sunshine to you matters too.