Love this marbling technique from Martha Stewart. Every once in awhile I love heading to Martha's site for some DIY's crafts. Saw this Marbling technique and it instantly became my afternoon "eye candy". What I love about this is how versatile, simple, and beautiful this technique is. From pillows, to coasters, journals, wall hangings.....really sky is the limit since you are using fabric or even paper. When I have some free time, I cannot wait to try this out! Great way to incorporate some wonderful Spring colors in your house too. For Martha's instructions click here.
Picture Books for St. Patrick's Day
Saint Patrick's Day is almost here and I thought I would share some fun picture books for last minute reading before this fun green day. For a PDF, click here.
Why Highly Creative People are Different

This article about highly creative people from The Huffington Post crossed my path recently and I thought I would highlight it. It is called, "18 Things Highly Creative People Do Differently" written by Carolyn Gregoire. This article truly speaks to my heart as a creative person and I love the 18 things Carolyn highlights in this piece. I list them below adding my comments in quotes, but go here to read the article in full.
For those of you who are creative and want to know a little more about your creative habits or those who are not creative and need to understand us creative types, it's a fun read.
1. Daydream! { I realize that I would do this more if life didn't get in my way. }
2. Observe everything. { Yep...do this one. Some people say critiquing...maybe a little. :) }
3. Work the hours that work for them. { It is the only way, a 9 to 5 job? No way! }
4. Take time for solitude. { This is a MUST! }
5. Turn life's obstacles around. { Basically, we use our life's experiences to create our art! }
6. Seek out new experiences. { Life is an adventure...and you must make it so. }
7. They "fail up" { You can't take failure personal, you have to use it to push you. }
8. Ask the big questions. { Nothing is impossible to a creative person, however money might be an issue... LOL! }
9. They people watch. { It's because we are VERY curious and we gain inspiration from anything. }
10. They take risks. { To be creative is to take risks and make everyone else think we are absolutely crazy. }
11. View all of life as an opportunity for self-expression. { Yep... I thrive on being unique and standing out. }
12. Follow their true passions. { Because our true passions are tough to hide, they always ooze out. So you might as well just do what you were meant to do and not hide it. }
13. Get out of their own heads. { It is called imagination and it isn't just for kids. }
14. Lose track of time. { Yep, happens every minute and it's called daydreaming. HA! }
15. They surround themselves with beauty. { Call it eye-candy and appreciation for great and beautiful things. }
16. They connect the dots. { Vision...seeing all the possibilities. }
17. Constantly shake things up. { Of course we create waves, but it is worth it when someones eye's light up. }
18. They make time for mindfulness. { I don't always have to be doing something or thinking something. It is ok to shut the brain off and for me it is ok not to be connected to a piece of technology at all moments. }
12 Unique Arts n' Crafts for Kids
I am always on the hunt for super unique and fun kids arts and crafts. When I was expecting my daughter 6 years ago I was introduced to The Land of Nod. And well, I fell in love instantly with this store and wished I could buy everything they had to offer. So of course, I still get their seasonal catalogs in the mail. I just recently received the March 2014 issue and stumbled upon a page in regards to rainy day crafts. Well, I of course could not keep these great finds to myself so I thought I would highlight my absolute favorite arts and crafts that The Land of Nod offers. These fun crafts would make great gifts for Easter or any holiday, Birthday gifts, snowy or rainy day to do's and even great activities for summer (which will be here in a few short months I am happy to say). Happy shopping!

Exquisit Hand-Cut Paper Illustrations
I stumbled upon the website of Julene Harrison today who specializes in hand-cut paper art illustrations. She has been commissioned by Wal-Mart, Money Magazine, Samuel Adams, and many more. I was impressed by Julene's work and appreciate companies using handmade artwork in their advertising.
I have always had a love of beautiful paper and the art that can be created with it. So many people think that fine or homemade art is an art that is dying, but it shouldn't be. I don't think we as a culture should ever stop making beautifully hand work. The difficulty today however, is how to make handmade work with exquisit quality and convince others it is worth the extra dollars.

Free Pics from Library of Congress
The Library of Congress has an amazing online catalog of prints and photographs for free use. The pictures are still prints and digital images that are held in the Library of Congress and most have jpg, tiff, and gif images for download. Have fun expoloring.
