The Wedding!!

Well hello everyone! I am finally back, and I am a very happily married lady!! I am so excited to share these photos with you. It was truly a perfect, fairy-tale day. I would not have changed a single thing. These photos are by our amazing photographer Melissa Millage, with a few of my sister's and mom's mixed in :)

Above is one of the centerpieces. We made these peonies out of crepe paper (many of the decorations were a combined effort of me, my mom, her best friend Tonya, and oftentimes Daniel :) They were so much fun to make but definitely time-consuming! We found the little baskets in the dollar bin at Target, and spray-painted them antique white. Then we filled the baskets with moss. I love the way they turned out.

My shoes



Getting ready!

A special little tree made by my mom, and the card birdcage.

I painted a little portrait of me and Daniel, which we used on the invitations. We also made the guest book completely by hand, starting with two vintage book covers.

Getting my hair and makeup done by my talented friend Ann.

My beautiful sister and maid-of-honor, Michelle

The handsome groom!

 One of the table settings. We made the favors by hand as well--we adhered vintage book pages, copies of vintage postcards, fabric and lace onto matboard, and topped them each off with a butterfly handpainted on muslin. My mom sewed dryer sheets filled with wildflower seeds into little hearts and those were sewed on as well.

Our mini cake and delicious mini cupcakes, made by my amazing friend Geri. She made three different flavors of cupcakes: vanilla, hot chocolate topped with homemade marshmallows, and red velvet with cream cheese icing.



My mom and I made the cupcake stands ourselves out of thrift store glass candleholders and plates (thank you to Geri for the great idea!)

I painted a little Lauren and Daniel on kokeshi dolls for the cake topper :)



My crepe paper flower bouquet. My mom gave me the amazing antique bouquet holder as an engagement gift.

The flowers were perfectly in bloom that day!

My mom made the beautiful little ring box.

My sister Michelle Startzman very kindly made our gorgeous rings by hand! She is an amazingly talented metalworker.

Michelle and Daniel's best man James, ready to go out!

My beautiful mom walked me down the aisle.

And I married the man of my dreams!

It was truly a perfect day, and we really had a blast. I can't stop smiling every time I look at the photos and relive those beautiful moments.

Wedding Planning Madness!

Hi everyone! Things are busy, busy, busy around here as we prepare for our wedding, just a little over a month away!! So exciting :)

I am doing a handpainted fabric butterfly for each guest as a part of the favors--40 more to paint!

My mom and I are handmaking a lot of the decorations (of course :) Above is a little bird cage which we embellished, to hold cards on the gift table.

We have also been collecting vintage bottles to use in the centerpieces. I can't wait to see how it all comes together and to show you all pictures :) I so wish that you could all be there!

I also wanted to show you this little commission I did for the lovely Alia over at Buccaneers and Ballgowns before Christmas, of the adorable Sir Pugsley Wadsworth IV :) Thank you so much Alia!!



The painting below, "Growth," has been in my shop for a little while but I haven't had a chance to show it on here yet. I am really enjoying the wooden plaques :) I have a few other paintings back in the shop which I had taken out in order to go to a local store here in Tucson. Unfortunately that store, Bohemia, had to close recently. It will be sorely missed!!



I should be back with a Valentine's Day painting or two very soon! Hope you are all having a wonderful week :)

The Star Angel

 Hello everyone! It is so lovely to be back--after having computer problems for the last couple of months it is finally fixed and we are up and running again! :)

Above is my latest painting, "The Star Angel," painted on a 7"x7" wooden plaque. I added mica glitter to her wings to add some fun sparkle. She is available in my shop.

Above is "The Gentle Forest," which I never got a chance to show you here. I am happy to say that it is on its way to a good home! I intended to get some Christmas prints and postcards in the shop this year, but with all of my computer problems I couldn't make it in time. Next year for sure!

Daniel and I were very excited to do our first Christmas tree together this year. We had a wonderful time picking out a tree, then putting on some Christmas music and decorating :) I hadn't seen many of my old ornaments for years, so it was a lot of fun to unwrap each one and put it on the tree.

And if you look closely, you can see Rosie relaxing under there :) It is her favorite new spot.

Here are a few more little decorations (my mom made the adorable card on the left for us). We have done a lot of fun Christmas activities this past weekend, including our yearly tradition of going to the Christmas parade, then coming home to watch "Elf."



 It has been nice and chilly and rainy, which makes the perfect backdrop for a cup of hot cocoa and a good book (or two).

I hope that everyone is having a fun and relaxed holiday season! I'll see you soon :)

20% Off Sale!

Hi there everyone! I hope that all who celebrate it had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Mine was absolutely lovely. Daniel and I hosted at our house this year and it was such a fun day surrounded by family.

 I wanted to let you all know that I am doing a sale in my shop today through Monday--20% off everything! This will be my last sale this year. I just couldn't resist joining in on all the sale fun ;) Just make sure to use coupon code HOLIDAY11 when you check out to get your discount. This is good for originals, things already on sale, everything! Just a little thank you to all of you for making the year so great :)

I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend!!

Lulu and Ginger

Here is "Lulu and Ginger", my first Christmas painting of the year! I decided to go for some bangs on this girl, I hope you like them :) I have one or two more holiday paintings planned. I am also hoping to get some postcards made of one of them, if I can get them in time! As usual, I wish I had started earlier :)

I hope you are all having a lovely Friday, and have a fun weekend!

The Blue Rose

Hi there everyone! Here is a new 8"x10" painting I finished yesterday, "The Blue Rose." I got the idea from a mystery novel I was reading having to do with a blue rose. It is available in my etsy shop.

Here are a few more things I have been up to lately: "Snow White and Rose Red" (speaking of fairy tales has anyone else been watching the show Once Upon A Time? I absolutely love it!),

A Ginger the Cat handpainted paper mache box,

And three little kitties on wooden plaques, Kiki, Ginger and Rosebud! I am happy to say that these three have found homes already, but the rest are available in my shop :)

I have been in the mood to do some baking lately. I made some pumpkin buttermilk scones the other day and I am thinking I will try a pecan pie next :)

I hope you are all having a wonderful week!

The Song Bird

I have a new painting in the shop, "The Song Bird." I painted this one on a 7"x9" wooden plaque. Wood can be such a nice change from canvas now and again, I love the smooth texture :)

I also listed a handpainted Hoots the Owl box a couple of days ago. I just love painting these little paper mache boxes.

I am in the mood to paint some little kitties today, so there should be another box and some little wooden plauques coming to the shop soon! I am enjoying a nice quiet day today, painting and listening to a book on CD :) I hope that you are all well and are having a lovely Friday!