Alone with my tea: art

Whew! That's a lot more than I expected! Basically what happens is when I'm working full time I don't blog as much, but over the summer break I cram a lot in! I hope you had fun revisiting my year-on-the-blog! Thanks for continuing to read my little corner of the internet. Here's to many more fun posts in 2016! My 2016 goals are coming soon. Hope you have a great New Year!

XO,

Julie

Friday, November 6, 2015

November umba box || review

You can read my first Umba box review here. To summarize my first review, I thought the box was too expensive for the items I received. But I decided to give them a second chance, and I now have the exact same opinion. You pay $25 plus $5 shipping, so $30 for these boxes. They send one box per month and the items are guaranteed to be "worth" more than $25 per box. Well, that's questionable. Again, I understand that these are handmade goods, and I appreciate them for their artistic value, but I wouldn't pay full prices for any of these items. See the following pictures for details of what was in my second box:

I put my hand in there for size comparisons.

Well, on a whole I'd say these products are not worth the price I paid for this box. However, it is super fun to receive a box of surprises every month. So now I'm torn... it's fun to see what I will get, and I do enjoy the items (and will probably use them or give them as gifts), but on the other hand, it's not worth the money.

What would you do? Would you try a subscription? Or do you think the products aren't worth the price? Let me know below!

Monday, October 5, 2015

Catch up

As suspected, once school started my blog got neglected. I'm sorry, it's just that teaching is exhausting and also I'm suuuuper busy this year, way more than I was last year. Although it hasn't been a total fail... these are the posts I've managed to put up in the past 7 weeks:

School started and I immediately began dreaming of an alternate career.

A couple of weeks went by and I, again, wanted to quit teaching forever.

I managed to get one post up for Travel Tuesday.

And, in the midst of a career crisis meltdown, I found 50 things that make me happy.

And as I settled into a routine at school I realized that I still need to make time for my art journal.

Ok so that's a recap of what's been happening on my blog. Now let's review what's been happening on my Instagram...

We took a quick trip up to Nashville to visit some friends over Labor Day Weekend:

I like to doodle in my lesson planner, I went to a conference, and our doggie is still adorable:

I experimented with different styles in my art journal:

Peter redesigned my school's shield and it's been so fun to see it pop up everywhere on campus:

My dog continues to be the cutest thing in the world:

Alright so now you're all caught up with my life so far. Now let's talk about what will be happening in the near future:

- take students to All-State Show Choir Auditions (all day event in Birmingham)

- help run tech for the lower school musical (tech rehearsals, dress rehearsals, performances take up about 2 weeks every day after school)

- choir performance for pep rally

- my drama class' production of The Princess and the Pea

- choir/solo/theater festival/competition (I have about 25 students participating)

- weekend trip up to Michigan for Peter's best friend's wedding

- All-State auditions (all day event in Montgomery)

- begin rehearsals for upper school musical (which I'm directing) after school

- choir performance with community orchestra

- christmas/holiday concerts (lower school, upper school, and sing-along)

- final exams

Oh yeah, and somewhere in there we have to do some massive fundraising for the choir's upcoming trip to New York. By the way, all of this is in addition to teaching full time and also teaching private students in the afternoons and weekends.

So as you can see, I'm going to be very busy for the next couple of months. And hopefully I won't go crazy. The bright side is that I mostly enjoy what I do. It could be worse - I could be having to grade math papers every day (yuck!). At least I get to teach the classes that students enjoy being in. I gotta say, I do love my students. They are extremely creative and enthusiastic.

Ok I'm just going to take it one day at a time and try not to get too stressed out. I hope you'll forgive me I neglect my blog throughout this season. I will try to post but can't guarantee anything.

What do you have going on these days?

P.S. My dad and I will soon be starting an Etsy shop. My dad makes beautiful ceramic items (nativity scenes, ornaments, vases, etc.). I can't wait to share it with you!

Thursday, September 24, 2015

Free Therapy - Art Journal

So I decided I wanted to use my art journal as more like a journal (by actually writing daily thoughts in it) and scrapbook-hybrid... so I got it out, got out some paint to prep some pages, and then just got carried away. And I painted about 6 pages yesterday and 5 today (not sharing all of them on here because some of them are reeeeeally ugly lol). And I like what I painted so I don't want to "ruin" them by adding more layers or journaling. So for now it's going to stay as an "idea book" and maybe I'll start a new, real, art journal when I finish this notebook. Only a few more pages to go.

Here's what I have come up with lately. Sorry for the bad quality photos - all I have is my iPhone and bad lighting.

This page is incomplete but I thought I'd include it anyway. This is inspired by a city in Italy called Portovenere:

Watercolor and Sharpie pen

Of course, flowers:

Watercolors and felt-tipped markers

Sharpie pen and Watercolor

Crayon, watercolors, and Sharpie pen

This was inspired by a very similar drawing by one of my favorite artists, Alisa Burke.

Watercolor, Sharpie pen

Multimedia flowers:

Watercolor, Acrylic, Washi tape, sharpie

I wanted to illustrate my favorite quote but I'm really really bad at lettering. So I just started writing to fill up the page. I tried it two ways: the first way was to just keep going with the letters, even if the words are split up between lines. The second was to use all caps and try to fit all the words in. Which do you like better?

These are lyrics from my favorite song, "Corcovado," by Antonio Carlos Jobim.

"I want a life always like this

with you close to me

until the old flame (of passion) is put out."

I'm not an artist by any means, but it is a fun way for me to relax in the evenings. Peter and I sit together at the dinner table and paint while watching Netflix. I love getting lost in the paint and forgetting whatever else is going on in life. Very therapeutic. I'm still trying to find "my style..."

What do you do to relax?

Saturday, August 8, 2015

Art Journal Update || Watercolor Backgrounds

My husband has been getting into typography and hand lettering. He wants to do a collaboration with me... I produce the backgrounds and he produces the text. We will scan my paintings and then he'll do the text via the computer. It sounds like a great idea but I don't think I'm really good enough. I like to paint for fun but I don't consider myself an artist. In any case, I was experimenting in my art journal and here's what I came up with...

I left some white space on some of the pages so that he'd have a defined area for his text. Other pages were just painted fully and he can add text however he wants on top with the magic of computer editing.

He said he wanted "clouds" or "clumps" of color... so that's what I tried to give him!

I'll let you know if we ever get around to finishing them. And who knows - maybe we'll make them available as prints!

What text or quote would you put with each of these pages? I'd love to know!

Monday, August 3, 2015

Etsy Finds || Tea Time

Top L-R: Tea Cup Candle, Tea Time Banner, Cupcake Wrapper

Middle L-R: Tea Cup Stickers, Floral Tea Towel, Cosmos and Tea cups Art Print

Bottom L-R: Silver Tea Set, Tea Party Sugar Cookies, Wooden Tea Box

My birthday is coming up. #justsaying

;)

Note: This is not a sponsored post

Sunday, July 26, 2015

Art Journal Update

While I wasn't able to post weekly updates for a few weeks, I actually have been working in my art journal. Some of the pages were just junk... not worth showing on the blog. I was practicing random things and the pages just don't look good. But one thing that I have been doing is displaying my art journal pages on clipboards that I hung in my office.

Clipboards as photo or art displays were all over Pinterest awhile back. Mine are certainly more functional than cute, but I still like to use them. Maybe some day I'll buy metallic spray paint and make them cuter, but for now they work for me.

Sometimes my journal gets shut and put in a drawer and I don't look back at what I've done. I like displaying the pages this way and rotating through them. It gives a little inspiration and motivates me to keep working on a concept or idea.

I wanted to show you how they look hanging above my desk, but I recently rearranged my living room and office area and so the office is now a disaster. I might post pictures once I get it all organized again.

Meanwhile I only have 2 weeks of summer vacation left before I have to go back for in-service and then the beginning of the school year. I'm trying to get organized with my blog, plan posts out, and generate ideas for the future. I'm worried that once I start teaching again my blog will be neglected (again).

Please let me know what kind of posts you'd enjoy reading.

More travel stories (I have tons left that I haven't written - Panama, Mexico, Peru, Korea, Romania, Italy, Brazil...), more lifestyle posts (recipes, outfits, makeup, diy), personal posts (day-in-the-life, life updates, thoughts on current social issues), artistic posts, or something else entirely???

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

DIY Glass Jar Lanterns || Dollar Store Craft

I can't give credit to myself for this idea. Jamie, who writes the blog Anderson + Grant, posted the tutorial on Craftberry Bush. Both are blogs I follow and love.

This project was inexpensive and quick. I got all the supplies from the dollar store.

Three jars - $3
Two packs of 2 LED lights - $2
One package of rocks - $1
Hot Glue Gun - Already had
Twine - Already Had
Total for 3 lanterns = $6 or $2 each.

While I didn't invent the idea, I can certainly show you some ideas for how I'm displaying these cute jars around my house.

You can vary the size and amount of twine you use. You don't have to use rocks and LED candles - fill with colored sea glass, seashells, or other trinkets you want to display. Other ideas include filling them with succulents, using real candles, hanging them from your porch, putting them outside your front door, on your night table, any end table, next to your kitchen sink, basically anywhere you can think of.

Going on a picnic? Take a few of these. Having a BBQ? Put a few of these around your grill. Having some friends over? Scatter some large and small lanterns, with real candles, around your house for a relaxing vibe.

On a countertop with lights off:

Lights on:

"Mood lighting:"

In the bathroom:

On a bookshelf:

On a corner of your coffee table:

My husband loves how these turned out and wants me to make many more to put around the house.

Do you think you'll give this super easy diy project a try?

Sunday, June 28, 2015

Art Journal || Week 5 || Update - Flower Garland

I can't believe I've already finished 5 weeks of summer vacation! Where does the time go?!?!?!

This past week I didn't really work in my art journal very much because I was too busy with diy projects. The one project that I was able to finish was inspired by this post. I made a small paper garland to hang on my gallery wall.

I used the templates provided by the original post, but I made it uniquely my own by watercoloring each flower (instead of using card stock or construction paper). The only flowers that are not watercolored are the yellow ones and the leaves. I probably spent way too much time on this project and paid way too close attention to details that no one will ever notice now that it's on my wall, but I had fun doing it and I'm glad I finished without giving up! I think I might need to add a couple more leaves and sprigs in there, but so far I'm liking it.

Don't judge my wall, it's not finished yet!!!

This week I am planning on finishing this diy and hanging it above my bed.

Hope you had a great weekend! What are your 4th of July plans? I'm going down to Florida to visit family and enjoy some beach time!

P.S. The lettered art work is from this Etsy shop.

Art Journal Challenge

Linking up with Anderson + Grant and Craftberrybush