A Long Time Coming

You may remember this excellent creature I made about a year and a half ago?

(Click here to return to the post about it, and to see the hilarious video we made!)

Well, it turned out to cost hundreds of dollars to ship abroad, so we saved it for the day that my niece would someday visit us here.  Well last week we presented it to her (she is now 4½) on day 1 of her visit, and she was delighted!  At first, she named it Helinka, and all of us shook our heads at where she came up with that name.  But a couple of days later, she declared it had a new name.  No idea how one would spell it in Spanish, but in English, here's my best attempt: Juvia.  Turns out Juvia is the name of a horse in a very popular horse story  at home (I suspect similar to Black Beauty here). Here is the very satisfied customer, riding Juvia with her best friend Teddy.

Inspired by the pillow I made a couple posts ago, here is another one, made with the leftovers from that one, and gray scraps from our newly-fabric-covered closet doors (in our bedroom). 

Today, I've otherwise been working on business stuff (possibly getting a marketing/PR intern in January??) and assembly line production.

A Thank You Gift

As a thank you to the folks who participated in my 100th blog Etsy activity, I made these fun miniature collages and turned them into wall-hangings.  

What I liked the best is that they were all created (as is my style) from one larger collage, then cut up and embellished.  But this time with small collage things.  Each overall piece measures about 4½" square, so the collages are only about 2½" square.  In total I made twelve but the 12th one didn't get photographed.

This butterfly one was one of my very faves, so I thought I'd give you a chance to see it close up.  Remember to click on any image for a closer view (right-clicking and opening in a new tab helps to not navigate away from my site).

More Things

Since I outgrew trick-or-treating, I haven't been a great fan of Halloween.  Scary things, hype, kids eating too much sugar, and the thought of older kids stealing little kids' candy have kind of rubbed the thrill away for me. However, other people LOVE Halloween, and The Eyes Have It is asking for more cards (yay!), and 'tis the season, I guess, for Halloween things.  So I miraculously got inspired today during an art date by this textured purple paper, and it reminded me of my favorite Halloween costume I had as a kid: a bat.  My mom made the costume.  I was so cute.  And so, I made this pretty cool two-tone card.

Another recent arting adventure has been with more of the watercolor-painted paper bags.  I made these lovely leaves, and think they are beautiful!

My cousin had a birthday this week, so I secretly sent her this creation I made from some brightly-colored scraps.  I am inspired by this project to try making an apron like the white ones on my Etsy, but with black instead of white.

Here it is in her house, and miraculously, it was meant to be together with that neat bird tray she has...

This Week

This week I've been working on some assembly line stuff:  First, I had an idea to make these tiny postage-stamp sized quilts.  I was going to put them on a card, but the one I did turned out so boring-looking.  So here they are.  What do you suggest I do with them?  They really are so cute.

Then, you've seen cards like this before, except the difference is in the colored paper-bag paper!  The backgrounds are paper bags that I painted with watercolor paint to get the desired colors, and they totally make the collages pop out more.  Sorry to say it, but this photo does not do these cards any justice. The one on the left is actually blue in color, rather than gray.

 

Cards such as these two will be available at The Eyes Have It in Fort Collins in just a matter of days!  Come on by to buy one!

The Next 100

Sorry to keep you waiting over the last week, loyal readers! (Pesky day job getting in the way of creative time.)  I've been working hard on getting my surprise giveaways finished and sent out to those of you who left a comment on my 100th blog post.  I didn't want to post those photos just yet, so I thought I'd show you these neat little cards I made up in a quick minute today.  They are just leftover bits of collage that I had from previous projects, and leftover white watercolor paper from making my sister's wedding invitations, and voila!  10 handmade note cards in a jiffy.  Perfect for a little tiny hello or thank you or love note.

Here they are spread out like playing cards so you can see that they are actually very small.

For the title of this post, I thought that you may be interested in what lies in store for the Art By HLM blog.  I definitely plan to continue showing you what is going on in the studio on a weekly basis.  I would like to expand a little, and provide some tutorials (in video?) of how to make some great stuff.  I am really trying to increase my readership, and would love to hear ideas you may have for attaining that goal.  I hope to make the blog reading experience somewhat interactive, so you easily remember to come back often.  


Honestly, I'd love your ideas!  Post a comment below, or email me using the contact info to the right.


Now that school is back in full swing, I hope you'll start seeing me at least once a week now.  And, in case you missed the awesome article that was published about yours truly at Brittany's Best, please pay a visit and read all about it!  I'm famous!