Never Say Never.

When dreaming of vacation destinations, places like Hawaii, Colorado and Oregon generally top the list. Places like Bentonville, Arkansas never even cross my mind. So when the hubs suggested we vacation in Bentonville for Spring Break, I thought he was joking. He wasn't.

He was part of an art show in Joplin, MO, of all places, so we knew we needed to be there at least one night. In an effort to make our way there, by way of the glorious open road, he decided on Fort Smith and Bentonville. We packed our bags and let the road take us on a journey. I have never been more pleasantly surprised. We stopped in Paris, Texas to see the Eiffel Tower - underwhelming, sadly. We found a great roadside Rock Shop - yes, that was the name - and it was full of glorious crystals, geodes and other bits of beautiful glory. (And to think I had to pry my boys out of the car to go inside... we stayed there for over 45 minutes if that tells you anything about the measure of awesomeness.) Then it was off to Fort Smith for the night. That's where we found a Trolley/Train museum that blew us away. Old train tracks, access to old cars and graphics that knocked my socks off. It was amazing...

  

And then we walked into this old car... Hello lovely mint green goodness that needs to be on our front door STAT and a gorgeous light that brings tears to the eyes.

The entire collection of train cars and their insides was a design feast for graphics and geomtrics. I was so inspired.

Selfie...

And sadly, from this point of the trip on, I left my camera in the hotel. My goal was to be present and in the moment with my sweet family instead of clicking away with my phone or camera. At times I was successful and others, not so much. I got completely enveloped in the arts that surrounded me and while my littles appreciated bits of it (proud momma moment), their interest is still a bit underdeveloped.

Y'all, I could NOT believe all the art in Arkansas. I haven't seen that much art in 15 years. Pathetic. The good news is that it has rekindled my love and appreciation of it. If you are ever in Arkansas, you must visit the following...

Fort Smith Regional Art Museum - beautiful and free to public. They had a beautiful exhibit on Valentine cards from the 1800s to now that blew me away.

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art - to say it was breathtaking is an overwhelming understatement. The architecture alone will blow you away; then there's the amazing grounds and trails all about, the incredible art and the kids Experience Art Studio, where my littles stayed for over an hour. Stunning inside and out. I can't wait to go back.

21c Museum Hotel - The museum. The hotel. The Hive. I die. I hope to be able to take my hubs here for our 11 year anniversary! So so so cool.

I always swore that I would "never" go back to Bentonville after having worked with Wal-Mart back in my product development days. Well... never say never. xo

Glitter Art DIY

Sparkles make me happy. Guess it's the girlie-girl in me. I recently got some wonderful craft items from Craft Project Ideas and got excited over the glitter, because let's face it... as a boy mom I'm usually not buying or crafting with glitter. But I knew right away that I wanted to create some easy art for the new half bath.

Materials needed for this sparkly DIY:

paper (I used watercolor for the texture and the weight)

glue

bowl

glitter

paintbrush

Step 1: pour glue into bowl

My idea was to make brush strokes with glue and then add glitter, but I didn't know if it would work so I did a test run...

(it worked! wish i hadn't added the pink because i like the look of the gold, white and black strokes)

Step 2: dip brush into glue and create desired stroke on paper

Step 3: Add glitter - completely cover glue area, in other words go glitter crazy

 Step 4: Repeat until desired look is achieved

Step 5: Allow glue to dry, shake access glitter off onto paper and place back back into glitter tube
Step 6: frame, if you so desire

I absolutely love how it turned out. A bit of caution for us impatient crafters - allow glue to fully dry and shake access glitter off vigorously. I am going to have to open the frame back up and do some touch-ups. (Patience isn't always my strong suit.) This project turned out so well, I can't wait to make more glitter art. Might make some great gifts too.

*craft project ideas provided the glitter for this DIY project

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Taxidermy

legos

Dead animal heads. That's what they are and we simply can't get enough of them. Poor, poor Bambi; left all alone after some hunter killed his parents. Don't get me wrong, I love a good antler or three, but I'm sure there are many of you out there that would rather keep the animal on the ground instead of on our walls or in our bellies. Worry not... You can have your deer and eat it save it too.

handlebars

toys

branches / paper bunnies

furniture bits

See? No animals were hurt in the making of this post. Taxidermy that even PETA can support! xo

Around the House: Paint Splatter

jcrew

When your clothes and hair are covered in paint, you can't help but think of Pollock inspired pieces for your home...

via emily henderson

via lonny

framed via style swoon

Or your person... (I die over this lovely little DIY)

dressy dress via dare to diy

Thanks to ceiling painting,  I had a serious case of peppered gray hair last weekend. After I washed that gray right outta my hair it looked like little lice nits. NOT fond of that memory and don't ever want to think of it again. I much prefer to think of Pollock and selling our clothes on Etsy to make a small fortune... If JCrew can do it, why not?

the hubs shorts!

Happy Monday my little splattered homies. Make it a good one. 

PS - if you're wondering why I'm in such a good mood today... It's the final count down (sing it with me). Final inspection today - prayers welcome. We. Are. Almost. Home. xo

Wooly Bully

It all started with the wall hanging above, seen on the brick house. Although I absolutely love the colors, I gasped at first. Not at how good it was, but how bad it was. And I have not been able to get it out of my head since. I... I... I love it. How my disdain for the crafty fiber art changed so quickly, I have no idea. But change it has and now I am on the hunt to find one of these beauties to adorn the walls our of new home. It has to be just the right price and just the right one or the hubs may just send the fiber art and me packing. 

wall hanging via etsy

circle via etsy, orange via etsy 

modern macrame via sally england

Could a macrame lesson or DIY be in my very near future? Hmm...not sure I have the patience just yet. Until I've exhausted all my hunting grounds and online sources, the hunt continues. What do you think? Is this pushing the bohemian vibe too far or are you feelin' it too? xo

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Making It Work 2

As I mentioned yesterday, in Making It Work part 1, most of our stuff is packed up right now. This makes crafting quite the challenge. I'm not sewing, painting, coloring or anything right now. I think I might be going through minor withdrawals. (Hence the headaches...or maybe that's just a sign that I need more coffee?) This past weekend I rummaged through the recycle bin to see what I could use for an art project with the littles. I had seen the following amazing pieces on pinterest and was majorly inspired...

via poppytalk

via etsy

Amazing right? Don't they both just inspire the pants right off of ya? I mean, how can you look at these and not want to create something? Impossible. Unfortunately, I couldn't find our art supplies that we had brought to the summer house. Thankfully, Super Target is right up the street and Rose Art has these fabulous neon and sparkle crayons. Love fest! I left spending less than $5 on two boxes of crayons and was immediately supplied with endless hours of creating.

mine

my bigs'

Next up, mixed media... Yup, I found the art box. Woot...

I opened up the Honey Nut Cheerios box and cut out the two big panels - viola, instant canvases. I also cut up the newspaper and the coffee filters into little squares.

Tip: I've learned through great, experienced art teacher mommies that pouring glue into a container and letting your littles paint on the glue with a paintbrush is loads easier than a dab here and there. Genius.

Armed with water colors, glue, paper, crayons, oil pastels and colored pencils, I'd love to say that we all created masterpieces. We didn't. My littles gave up mid-craft. It was a major disappointment for me. One that happens often in my home, when it comes to crafting/art. I have boys. Active boys. And one perfectionist boy that gave up when his piece wasn't "perfect". Enter teachable moment: I shared with my little perfectionist that mistakes can often be turned into things of beauty. I showed him Jackson Pollock and how his one little mistake of a paint drip opened a whole new world for him. My guy didn't buy it. But, I won't give up. In fact, it gave the hubs and I an opportunity to talk about quiting/giving up and how important it is to follow through on things and just try your hardest no matter what. Ha... there's a lesson in there for me too.

Never give up. Some of the best things lie in the midst of our mistakes. Try, try again. xo