sushi booties and onsies

I have to say that I feel like I am going to a lot of baby showers these days, and I am SUPER excited for the one I am going to go to tomorrow.  My brother (a fellow sushi lover) served as a full time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for two years in Japan.  (So did I! if you didn't know.)  And after 10 long years of trying to have a baby, he and his wife are happy to be expecting a baby boy this next month!  So, needless to say, at her shower tomorrow, I knew that I needed to do something really special. 

I got the idea for these sushi booties at the original sushi bootie shop on etsy.  They are so great, but to be completely honest, I have a hard time paying good money for something I know I can easily make.

And just to compliment the booties, I decided to throw in some onsies as well.  

Can't wait to give these to my brother and his wife tomorrow!!!! (as usual, sorry the pics are so bad....all thanks to me finishing all of my projects late at night after the little one sleeps...)

I know, I know

I can't believe it has been 3 whole weeks and I have posted nothing.  So sorry.  But I just wanted to let you know that, yes, I am still here, and YES! I am still creating wonderful things.  

I have actually been quite a busy bee since my mother gave me my beloved sewing machine for my birthday.  I have finished a highchair seat cover, a few new bibs for Lynlee and made her a few pair of skinny pants from big baggy ones that she was crawling out of. 

But there is more.  Something big.  Something so big (for me) that it pretty much has been taking ALL of my time lately.  I think my husband may feel a little neglected (I know my esty shop sure does), and I really, really need to catch up on cleaning my house.  It is almost done!  Pictures to come.

Time for another Give-Away

For the Grand Opening of my etsy shop, I will be having another give-away.  Don't worry, there aren't really any hoops to jump through for this one.  Simply, I will be giving away a free 8x10 print of any image in my shop to the first 5 customers!  So spread the word to any and all that you think would be interested in this...or don't :).

android and me

So, my brother is a real nerd. And I am pretty sure he is ok with that. He is a big fan of Android and everything associated with it, not apple. If you know anyone like that, then you get my brother. I am an apple girl, but we don't have to talk about that now. Anyway. He had a great idea for this contest. Where the winner will get an awesome android tablet, keyboard, wireless mouse, carrying case, and my favorite, a stylus. So, he had me draw up a sketch for his entree:

He told me that if we win, he will send me the prize pack 'cause he already has a tablet....Oh, I hope we win! (even if I am an apple girl.) P.s., for those interested in entering, the contest ends tonight at midnight.

new on ETSY

I have created a new shop on etsy.  Never heard of the site before?  Check it out!  Now there is an easy way to get a hold of my watercolors! Enjoy, and make sure you keep checking back--I still have a lot of stuff to put up!

bridgetssketchbook.etsy.com

And the winner is...

So I made this really great video of myself sifting through a bowl filled with little folded peices of paper with everyone's names on them, just to show you how legit my drawing was.  And after 4 failed attempts of uploading the video onto my blog, you will just have to take my word for it.  Oh, and sorry it took me so long to post this, but I was hiking with my wonderful family for much of the day.

So, without further ado, the lucky winner of the give-away is:

Heather!

Congratulations!  I know that you said you liked the elephant, but please let me know which watercolor you would like an 8x10" of!  I have your address so, it will be in the mail as soon as you let me know which one you would like!

Only 2 more days left to enter the give-away!

It's Give-A-Way Time!

I know, I know.  This is the moment that everyone has been waiting for, right?  So, here is what we are going to do.  I am excited.  Are you excited?

I will send the winner of this give-away a free high-quality 8x10" print ($15 value) of their choice from any of the watercolor paintings that I did this summer.   Want to know what your choices are?  Just click the link on the right hand column of my blog that says "painting-a-day".  Any of the entrees that have the label "watercolor" at the bottom are fair game.

So, here's how it works.  You may enter your name into the drawing up to 6 times:
 
1.  Post a link to this give-a-way on your blog
2.  Post a link to this give-a-way on your facebook account
3.  Post a link on goggle+
4.  Post a link on twitter
5.  Put this blog on your RSS subscriber (like google reader)
6.  Leave a comment on this post telling me 2 things: first which painting from this summer has been your favorite and why, and second, how many of the things above you have done (on your honor here)

I will put your name into a hat for every one of the entries above completed before 12:00 am (midnight) MDT, Sunday Aug 4.  That gives you almost a week!  No excuses.

Ready, set go! 

new blog header

I have wanted to change my blog header for a while.  To be honest, I think the title "Bridget's art world" is a little dorky, I am in the process of changing the title of my blog as well, and possibly the URL address...we'll see.

But for now, I hope you enjoy the new header.  I have been using watercolor a lot more lately and I am starting to figure it out.  The image was inspired by this photo taken by my dear friend, Kristy.

it feels good to be painting again

I finally set up my easel  in a semi-permanent place in our house.  This way, I feel like I will actually be more motivated to work on things.  Anyway, my latest adventure has been painting a commissioned landscape.  A scene from Japan.  It feels good.  And, I love the smell of mineral spirits in the air.

What is art?

Have you ever wondered how to put a definition to art?  Well, this video has some great insights into what some of the creatures in our world would say.  I think it is a hoot and worth the 7 min to sit and watch.

Springville Children's Art Festival

Last weekend as part of the Art City Days of Springville, they had a children's art festival on Friday.  There were  about 25 different artists who set up booths and had short art projects for kids to do.  And one of the greatest things about it, thanks to the city of Springville, it is all FREE for the public.

I had the chance to have a booth and teach the children how to Zentangle!  Dane came and helped for a few hours and it was a good thing he did because we tangled with literally hundreds of children.

Setting up the booth

It was a pretty good project for all ages.  I had instructions taped to the tables so that the parents could guild their children along if I was busy with someone else.  Overall, I think the parents might have liked it more than the kids.  There were a few children who really got into it and hung out at my booth for a long time so that they could finish their project.  It was fun to see how careful they were with their work.  

tape wad

Alas, we took down the art show today.  It was a lot of work!  I have to say a big thank you to the 4th graders who helped me!  Thanks to them, we had it all down before lunch.  I received comment after comment from pass-er-by-ers saying how sad the hallways look now without any artwork.  It is true.  The school looks really empty now and we will all miss the beautiful artwork that lined the walls.  We all put a lot of work into that show.

So, as we took the work down, we started wadding together the masking tape rolls that we took off the backs of the artwork, and ended up with this:

quite the sculpture, wouldn't you say? (no wonder I don't have any tape left...)  I have never seen anything quite like it.  I guess it sort of represents all of the work that went into hanging this show.  I think I will let this giant wad of tape hang out on my desk for a little while.

Edgmont 5k Poster Contest

Last week, we had our school 5K, which is amazing in and of itself--1st through 6th grade student ALL complete it--and we had a great poster contest to advertise the race as well as help get kids excited to run.  All in all, I think we had over 30 individual entries.  The theme was "I think I can..."  Students were to complete the phrase however they wanted.  They we so wonderful, I thought I would show you some of the winners:

 

This one is great because our school mascot is an eagle.

May 2-May 12

Come one, come all to the 

Edgemont Elementary 

Art Show!

On display now, until May 12th in the 4th, 5th, and 6th grade hallways, as well as in the library.

Apollonian Gaskets

 

This was a project that my substitute started with my students right before I got back.  It was so much fun.  She introduced the lesson by showing them the video on this link, (TOTALLY worth watching!!) and then set them loose.   When I got back, we fine tuned the  drawings and then learned how to shade spheres to add a little more interest to their drawings.  They we so great at shading the spheres.  I never remember being able to do it this well when I was that old.  Way to go kids!

 

 This is the example I showed them to make sure they understood that each sphere needed to be shaded using the same light source.

A year of gratitude

The school year is not quite up yet, but as I have looked at my calender today, I realized that I will only be teaching-teaching for another 5 weeks of school. I say teaching-teaching because there are another 2 weeks after that, but the last week of school there will be no art classes and the week before that, I will spend with my classes making portfolios and passing back work. If we have extra time, I would like to spend it talking about their artwork and giving them a chance to share their favorite piece with the class. So, I guess teaching-teaching means days that we will be making art.

This has been a wonderful year for me for so many reasons. I have truly loved this job. Everything about it. The students, the faculty and staff, the school, my schedule, subject matter, everything. I have learned so much about myself and what it feels like to be happy in what you do. Quite the contrast to my old job. I loved the people and environment at my old job, and was well compensated, but it didn't matter. I hated what I did. SO, I am extremely grateful for the last year because of that.

On a more serious note, I will not be returning to Edgemont next year. It was one of the most difficult decisions I have ever made. Not difficult because I couldn't decide what to do, but difficult to actually go through the motions of making the decision and making everything final. It's hard to explain. I feel like I am leaving a piece of who I am at this school. It is not being taken from me, but I have given it to them.

The timing of this job could not have been more perfect. We had good benefits and pay while I had a baby. I am going to have this summer off to spend time with Lynlee. And just when we had decided to not return next year, I found out that with budget cuts and other priorities in mind, the superintendent of Provo School District has decided not to continue subsidizing the program that makes my current position available. I am devastated for my school (especially because if I had decided to stay, there may have been continued funding, as the super didn't want to cut someone's job....ahhhg....wish I never knew that), but I know that they will be alright. I feel confident that I have left them with a good start for a strong program and hopefully the momentum then need to keep going without an art teacher.

I am, and always will be, so grateful that I was able to have this experience at this time in my life.

It has officially been installed above the crib. So exciting! This might actually motivate me to ween Lynlee from sleeping in her swing to the crib...

Sir Ken Robinson to Speak in Park City!

A week from today, January 15 at 7:30 pm, Ken Robinson will be speaking at the Eccles Center in Park City. Tickets range from $18-65.

He is a very inspiring mind in the world of education and I love listening to him. I will (hopefully) be heading up there, so if anyone wants a ride with me, let me know!

If any of you remember this post I put up a few months ago, you may have watched his TED talk. It was about 20 min long, so if you didn't catch it, here is a condensed, 5 min version:

Sir Ken Robinson

Ever heard of TED talks?
This is a really, really inspiring one. Ken Robinson talks about how "schools kill creativity."

He has some really great points in this talk. It is about 20 min long, so if get a chance, it will be worth every minute you spend watching it.




So for some reason, if you are checking this blog on google's Reader, the video is not showing up. If you visit my actual blog, you will find the video. :)