Jen Bowles Design

My Circles

As promised, here are my paper Kandinsky inspired circles from art time with Ebby on Sunday.  I opted to let a metal easel do the holding : )
I still haven't decided if I'm going to embellish this any further.  It could be a paper art quilt  or I could just leave it as is.  I suppose I could always make another one and experiment.  I do have a strong urge to put this thing under the sewing maching foot...  It's just paper scraps after all.  Who knew it would take such a long time to randomly choose, cut and assemble a bunch of circles?!
Stay tuned...

Art Poser

We had some Mommy-Daughter art time this afternoon at the kitchen table.  I was put in charge of the project and selected Kandinsky circles.  Thought about using paint and canvas or watercolors and paper, but we decided to instead make good use of my bucket of paper scraps.  We each started with a piece of 12x12 white paper as our base and made a 9 square grid.  That's where we diverged.  Ebby decided to use cups to trace her circles along with a couple of circle punches.  I opted to cut out my circles freehand.  She did hers one at a time, start to finish.  I did my background pieces first, all 9, and then started on the squares.  She always used 3 nested circles, I used 6 or 7.  And of course the biggest difference:  hers is finished and mine is not : )
Finished that is until we move on to the embellishing stage...
(and mustn't it be nice to be so photogenic...love you my girlie, XO)

Painted Lamb

I've been having so much fun drawing lambs with a Sharpie during our creative time at babysitting, I thought I'd try painting one.
The base of this one is a scrap of canvas paper.  I painted it with the green and wiped some away with paper towel.  I then sketched the lamb in pencil.  Next step was painting with a brush I  just picked out of my pot and seemed to work really well.  Finally I outlined everything in Sharpie and added in some details.  Oh, and the pink cheeks are colored pencil.  Although it was my plan all along to outline with the black Sharpie, I almost changed my mind.  Now that it's done, I'm pretty sure I like it.
The lamb is holding a heart because this may be a gift for my little 4 year old lamb loving friend...

My Life in Six Words

Inspired by Ernest Hemingway, Smith magazine started a story project called Six Word Memoirs  .  Legend has it that Hemingway was once challenged to write a story in only six words. His response?  For sale: baby shoes,  never worn.

Valentine Crafts with the kids

Now that I know these have all been received, I can go ahead and post photos.
Last weekend we broke out the bead to create some gifts for the grandparents.  Using 28 gauge wire and (nearly) my entire assortment of beads, the kids strung beads to their heart's content.  The result was several unique beaded heart decorations for each of the grandparents.  Will and Cuyler had to be cajoled into sitting down to do this project but by the time we had to clean up the first night they were begging to bead more.  It was fun watching them search for beads (especially the alphabet ones), made patterns, and choose colors.  I was in charge of twisting the wire ends together and shaping the hearts.  The children then wrote out the tags and picked the ribbon.  After I assembled everything and tied on a piece of fishing line for hanging--voila.  Beautiful gifts from the hearts of the grandchildren.

Ebby's Valentine

Of course I made one for Ebby too. 
I daresay she loved it.

{lollipop is made out of polymer clay}

Valentine Cards

My boys are crazy about dogs.  They come home and lounge on Jake the Golden Retreiver/floor cushion, patting him and professing their love for him.  So of course I had to draw them some dogs for their Valentines.  I'm sure this won't be as good as the real thing, but they'll have to do for now!
Happy Valentine's Day : )

{hand drawn with black Sharpie, colored with colored pencils, rubber stamps are PSX Printer's Type, red paper is Foof-fa-La}

To One and All!

Somerset Bay Home

This afternoon's post brought the March issue of Country Living.
Oh swoon to the entire issue!  As I was reading through page after page of inspiring women and spaces, I actually made notes about websites I wanted to visit.  Usually I just make a mental note of such things.  And then misplace it...
My first must visit:  Somerset Bay Home .  Wonderful handcrafted furniture with whimsical details and the coastal colors I love.  From their website:

Escape to Somerset Bay…and you enter into a realm where a coastal palette seduces your senses, where relaxation washes over you, and the chaos of everyday life fades away. Timeless designs and evocative textures blend seamlessly to create a superbly appointed environment…a place to live, entertain, or escape.

With a collection inspired by some of the most impressive coastal locales – Nantucket, Newport, Carmel, Bar Harbor, to name a few – you can expect an equally impressive product. Somerset Bay raises the standard in design and construction. Each piece is handcrafted from the finest plantation grown mahogany and premium veneers and trim. Craftsmen use state-of-the-art techniques to produce the timeless soft Somerset Bay patina. Their skills can further be seen in the distressing, dry-brushing, and antiquing that shapes the character of each piece of handcrafted furniture. And a closer inspection will reveal drawers constructed of solid hardwood and made with traditional dovetail joints.

Welcome to Somerset Bay…the colors of a life well lived.
Yes, please--sign me up!  I think I'd better start saving now if I want a piece of this for our new, closer to the coast, home!

{all pictures in this post are from the Somerset Bay Home website:  Carmel Stools, Key West Bookcase and Catalina Poster bed}

Snippets of my Home mosaic

Snippets of my Home mosaic
Originally uploaded by fertree33

I was inspired by the streaming sunlight to take a quick trip through my house and snap a few pictures of my favorite things. Visit my flickr pages to view all the photos full size.
Happy Super Sunday!