congratulations are in order.

although this week has been a crazy one, what with me staying over at the family's i nanny for while they are away on a medical conference in las vegas, and all...it has been a joyous one as well and i wanted to formally congratulate two wonderful families, one who is actually family (my cousin), and one who might as well be :)

Congratulations AJ, Sharyn, Sierra Rose, and Camryn Nicole on welcoming Jocelyn Danielle to the family!

She was born February 12, 2012 at 12:03pm, weighing in at 7 lbs and 20.5 inches.

I can't wait to meet you next Tuesday!

Congratulations to Rachel & Chris on your engagement!

I love you both so much and couldn't be happier for you and can't wait to start planning!

watercolor week three: shading & shadow

this week we worked on shading and using complimentary colors to create neutrals for shadows. then we put our practice to work and painted a juicy, speckled pear.  this is also the first time i signed my name as d. golinski :)

watercolor week two: brush strokes & techniques

this past week we worked on different brush stroke techniques, textures, and glazing. i wrote what technique we used under each square.  

 the salt trick was really neat as it draws the water into it and makes cool speckles.

 here are some flowers we made practicing different brush strokes, sponging, and what is called 'blooming color'.

the wedding album.

this album began back before the wedding had even taken place with a single page showcasing my beautiful ring :)  i believe i shared that page somewhere on here over a year ago, but will do so again so that you can see all the completed pages together.  i am going in no particular order, just whatever page i feel like working on at the time.  here is a list of guidelines i have loosely set for myself when creating in an attempt to not make it too overwhelming.


     -use paper/ products in a blue/green/ brown/ white color scheme
     -favor natural elements over geometric ones
     -focus on the photos and the story they tell
     -include one hand sewn/ painted/ made detail on each page
     -take your time


so that's about it i guess.  i have taken over the dining room table for good and have a TON of products all laid out that generally go with the color/ nature theme i am going for.  i still have many stories to tell and pages to complete, hell i don't even have all my photos printed out and it's seven months later!  


all the pages and posts revolving around this project will be under the 'paper' link on the left sidebar.


now to get off the computer and to the scrap table on this most lovely saturday afternoon :)

 my beautiful ring and the first page in the wedding album.

 our first picture taken after getting engaged earlier that afternoon.

 i took the color palette from the butterfly paper.

 here are some of those hand-painted details i was talking about.

 not really wedding related, but i love these photos of us (and i was having a great hair day.)

 more lacy details. that wooden button is my favorite!

 mine and all of my lovely bridesmaid's bouquets.  i added paint to the swirly stamps and made hand-sewn fabric tags for the title.

 these are two of my favorite shots from that day.  there is a little story behind them in that the photographer took them but we were both in focus in both of them. so i used my creative photoshop skills to unfocus the background us.  the only thing that still bothers me is that i didn't flip one of the photos so we are both standing on the left side of the photo.  not a big deal but one of those symmetry things that drives me nuts!  

 another hand-sewn tag and my favorite letter stickers of all time that are like 8 years old!

watercolor week one: color palette.

i recently signed up for a  watercolor class.  i have been wanting to take one FOREVER and finally did it!  i can't tell you how nice it is to have two whole hours as week dedicated to nothing but painting.  i think that not only will the class be inspiring but challenging as well.  i am excited to implement some of what i learn into my scrapbook pages and other illustrations.  i decided that each week (there are 8 total) i would like to share with you the projects that we complete in class.   i am thinking that this will also serve as neat way to catalog my progress.

  anyone else taking any  creative classes lately?  

do share :)

ttc.

i said i wanted to get honest and real so here goes.

as i shared a couple of months ago, my husband and i are trying to get pregnant (well not right this minute of course, as that would make typing this quite difficult :)  for some, this may seem like one of those personal life moments that you shouldn't share with the online community, but for me, i could care less and never really could keep a secret!

so i don't really have a plan of how i want to share this crazy, weird, exciting, sometimes frustrating journey. but i have added a new button in the sidebar where all baby-making, eventually pregnant (fingers crossed!) posts can be found.

that said, i will start by saying that we are going on month six of what i have now learned is called ttc (trying to conceive).  each month is a crazy roller coaster of hope, excitement, and yes some disappointment.  i would be lying if i said it isn't on my mind a lot and that i am getting somewhat anxious and impatient. 


oh, here is another secret. it absolutely drives me nuts when people tell me to relax ( i said i was impatient, not high strung!) and that it will happen when we stop thinking about it and trying.


NEWS FLASH:  YOU HAVE TO TRY TO GET JIGGY WITH IT TO GET PREGNANT!! unless of course immaculate conception runs in your family...


and you can't just "forget" that you are trying to get pregnant and ready to start a family.


ok, so that's my rant and really the only negative thing i have to say about all this and i HAD to get it out there in the open.  if you are reading this and have offered this advice to me, don't worry i still love you :)

i love this.

i am so excited to share this little gem that i found yesterday!

Amelia, the girl that i nanny for had yesterday off of from school and had a friend over and requested that we sew felt monster dolls (more on that later).  for inspiration she presented me with this book that had some doodled monster shapes and creatures in it.

i was instantly in LOVE!  i actually think i might buy this book for myself.  erica harrison and katie lovell are the illustrators and they had created a colorful, magical world that begs to be completed.  check out the usborne book of drawing, doodling, and coloring for yourself or someone you love that could use a little inspiration :)

photo credit

photo credit