Art Update

Okay so here's some of my more recent work that I've done. Believe it or not, I'm actually SELLING my art now! :D I'm setting up booths at some events around town and setting up my art on display and setting prices for them. I'm not steep with my pricing... not anywhere close... I don't want to charge something that I wouldn't want to pay. I charge a little more for the art that I matte and for my canvas art. But for the prints, they vary anywhere from $5-$25 depending on how big they are.

I sold 2 pieces at my first event, and I had lots of people ask if I'd be back again, so at the next even I'm hoping to have a little more success! :) Wish me luck!

Family Pictures

Cards and Holidays

Hey guys!

it's been a while. So sorry for the lack of commitment I've shown to this blog... a lot has happened, and I have quite an earful to tell you (or perhaps an eyeful for you to read???). So in my last blog, I told you about the huge memorial day BBQ we were going to have at my parent's house... well, after said BBQ, me and Clint decided to move back into the Casita (the nickname bestowed by my sister, Britney, to the guest house on my parent's property). So I had put in my 2-weeks notice to MDA and within a week or two, we were all moved out. In the middle of this process, we had devoted all of our free time into remodeling the Casita. We tore out the carpet and old flooring and put new wood floors into the bedroom and stained the rest of the floors. We painted all the rooms and replaced a few outlets, and all the plate covers. It was a dusty, dirty, tiring process, but it was well worth it.

After moving in, we were both unemployed for a few weeks, so we both spent all our time decorating and trying to find proper arrangements for our furniture along with job hunting. Clint got a job as a painter for his mother's apartment complex, and I am now a key-holder at Hallmark. I really like my new job, and I love the group of people I work with.

In January, Clint will be starting school. He will just be doing his general education classes, but he's thinking of studying something in the Medical field. I'm so proud of him for going to school and the choices he's making.

We're all ready for Christmas and I will be posting pictures once Christmas is slightly closer ;) We don't have room for a big real tree like we did last year, so this year we bought a little 3-4' Martha Stuart tree from Home Depot. It's already decorated with gold lights, flowers, and ornaments. It's really gorgeous!

So that's the majority of the update on what's going on in the Carpenter home. I will try to update again real soon! See you later!

Great Things in Store!

So, as I stated in my previous post, darling Clint was laid off. However, he has already had one job interview, and he has another one coming up this week! It's a pest control position, and it has great benefits, Plus, once he learns how to efficiently do his job, he can apply for other open positions around the country!

And for those of you who don't know, neither of us want to live here in Bakersfield, CA... So we're both excited about that possibility of moving. He already met with the owners and they really like him. SO he's going in for an official interview this week. Please keep him in your prayers!

Tomorrow we're having a huge BBQ at my mom's house with my family and Clint's family. There's gonna be about 30 people! That's like the biggest party we've ever thrown! At least the biggest one I can think of... It's gonna be a blast! I will take pictures and post them on here. So good happy thoughts about that event!

Speaking of happy thoughts, I have a handful of friends that are pregnant! It's so sweet to see how their lives are changing for the best (not that their lives were bad or anything, but a baby is always a plus!) and the growing bond between them and their husbands. One of those friends is coming over tonight for tea and cake! :D Sam, Ashley, and Tawny (the soon-to-be-mommy) are all gonna come over for a quick visit! So exciting! They're all on their way over now. So I'll blog again tomorrow and update with lots of pictures! See ya later!

Life

Hey there!

I haven't been here in a while, and I believe it is time for an update from Mrs. Carpenter! Well, the biggest (and crummiest) news is that hubby got laid off from his job. Times are hard, and his employers couldn't afford to keep him. Though, one of the bosses said that if things pick up, he'd call him and invite him back into the work. So there's a silver lining on this ominous dark cloud...

Some brighter news: my sister FINALLY got her house! Britney and David have been fighting to get into a house for a long time! And it's finally happened! Hooray! Some more great news in my small world: I have multiple friends that are pregnant! And my mom bought me a sewing machine for my birthday, so I'm going to practice making baby quilts and clothes for my friends so that by the time WE have children, I'll be all pro-status!
While I'm on the subject of sewing, let me just say this... I am scared of sewing any part of my hand to fabric. Is this a real possibility? Probably not. But does that large sewing needle, moving up and down at a rapid speed, scare the living you-know-what out of me? Yes. Very much so. And because of this fear, I cannot sew a straight line to save my life! I must conquer this irrational fear and become a wonderful seamstress!

Moving on... Clint busted out his meat smoker and decided to see if he still knew how to smoke a tri tip over at my parents house. We ended up having a smoked dinner two nights in a row over at my parent's house! Smoked tri tip one night, and smoked chicken breasts the next! Clint still has a knack for smoking meat! And I greatly benefit from it, ha ha!

My parents have been lending a huge helping hand to us while we've been struggling... Clint's been working part time at my dad's shop and my parents are helping us in every way they can. My mom has offered to buy us food, and we've eaten over at their house almost every night. They've even offered their back house to us rent-free so we could both work and earn an income. My job only provides the apartment and utilities. I don't really get much of a pay check. So there's no way I can support us. But you know, I really am not too worried about it. Clint served a full-time mission for the church, we got married in the temple, and we're trying our best to keep the commandments of the gospel. I really do think Heavenly Father will take care of us.

Clint is thinking of going back to school, and he's thinking of a medical career. I fully support whatever he wants to do, and I will do my best to help him bear his burdens with whatever path he ends up on.

 Artistically, I'm struggling a little bit right now. I'm in a funk and I can't seem to draw or paint anything right. I know it will pass, but it's endlessly frustrating. I feel like it's happening more and more often. I'm not really happy with my art style either... I want it to be somewhat more realistic looking. I'm working on it... Slowly but surely I'll get where I want to be, I'm sure. However, on the other hand, our apartment looks freaking cute and I'm proud of it. I'm thinking of trying something new... I have a bunch of scrap book paper and I wanna tear pieces of it up and make an autumn tree/forest scenery with the shreds of paper... Maybe I will try that sometime within the next couple of weeks.

Oh, I finished my mom's shed too. Here's a picture of the before and after... 

Everyone that's seen it thinks it's the cutest thing ever. It blows my mind. Like, yeah I think it's cute and fun, but I don't think it's something to sell myself on. My mom's friend want to make an ad for me on craigslist.com saying that I can paint murals and stuff for like kid's bedrooms... Making money off of my art would be fantastic. But I don't think I'm quite at that level to sell it yet... Maybe in a year or two.

Last week I decided I hate teaching in Primary. I seriously cannot stand bratty kids. They drive me nuts. there's a couple of kids in there that I absolutely adore, but... I want out. I want out now. Me and Clint are still struggling with liking and fitting into our ward. The only people I really know are my visiting teachers. I really like them, they are super nice... but the rest of the ward I could really care less for. I am seriously debating asking to get our records switched back into First Ward. If I knew Spanish, like Clint, I wouldn't even mind going into La Cresta Ward. I hate that I'm so bitter towards my new ward, but I honestly just don't enjoy a single minute of church while I'm there. I have never felt the spirit (and maybe that's my fault because I'm so bitter) while attending that ward. We look for any and every excuse in the book to go to a different ward. We crash First Ward all the time. I miss my Young Women and my calling in the YW organization. I feel so much love and devotion for those girls, and I miss being excited to teach a lesson or to go to church and see their sweet little faces...

Well, I believe this is just about all I have to say for now. I'll try to be more attentive to my blog and share updates in my life as they happen, instead of dumping a whole lot on you all at once. Thanks for stopping by and reading through! :)

The Greatest Decor in Life is Cheap...

Okay, so this blog entry will be a sort of tutorial. Unfortunately I don't have step-by-step pictures. BUT, the great thing about this project is you really can do it however you want!

So this is what I made...

All this consists of is the following:

• Twine
• Clothes Pins
• Water Color Paints (the kiddy kind in the tray)
• Paper
• Thumb Tacks/Push Pins (whatever you decide to call them) 

This project was under $10.00. And the greatest thing about it, is you seriously can make it into whatever you want! : )

So my kitchen really has no "theme" to it... Just colors. I guess "Colors" would be the theme. I don't have any set of particular colors, I just want my kitchen to be bright and colorful. And I wanted to have SOME sort of decoration on the wall.

First thing's first, you gotta decide how it's going to hang on the wall. I can't even really tell you how I did that pattern with the twine... I hung it up a while ago, and I don't remember step-by-step of what I did to get it that way... However I CAN tell you that I wrapped the string once around each tack so that it wouldn't wiggle or fall off.

Then, depending on your wall pattern that you've just created, you can calculate how many little images you can/want to put up on it. Originally I had three on the top and bottom and four in the middle, and they were all the same size. But it's been a few months and I got bored with it, so I decided to change it up today. Solid colors are very simple and anyone can do them (regardless of if you consider yourself artistic or not). All you do is paint the paper a solid color. That's it. If you want to add design to it, then by all means go ahead. Use stamps, stencils, or free hand it. 

Then you just hang up the pictures with the clothes pins! Simple as that. Add your own personal touch to any room, any way you like... FOR LESS THAN $10!!!!



If any of you decide to do this, I'd love to see what you do with it : )

Owl

Okay, so I was lurking around on Pinterest and I stumbled upon this adorable idea...

How cute is that? I thought to myself, "Dang, I could totally make something like that really quick..." and I looked around my apartment and decided my living room could use a little extra flavor. Now, the "theme" (i guess that's what you could call it...) for my living room is Owls. I sat there and thought for a minute and decided I was going to take the concept of the flower picture above, and use scrap book paper to make an owl instead of a flower (But I still totally want to make a flower too!). 

Yesterday I went to Beverly's Crafts and bought 5 pieces of double-patterned scrap booking paper (one one side was one pattern, and on the back side was a different pattern). Then last night I picked out a 16"x20" canvas from my art room (more like a junk room, but still), and painted it yellow. Then this afternoon I gathered together my pretty papers and I got out my oval hole puncher. I used just about every inch of all the papers. I still have half of 2 papers... So it really doesn't take much. Then I got to work trying to figure out the pattern and order of the papers, the placements of everything, and where the heck my glue was! 

After I found the glue (it was on top of my desk the whole time...), I began piecing my owl together on the canvas. Long story short, this is the end result!

For the eyes, beak, and ears, I just used my x-acto knife. Scissors would work just as well, but I was too lazy to get up and go get them from the kitchen. My knife was just sitting there on the table, so yeah... I used that. But yeah, this was really quick and a fun little project to do. I recommend it to everyone young and old! It's super easy and fast.