inspired by snow

These past few weeks have been quite busy on the art front. Loads of doll making and portrait drawing and coffee drinking. Zak's heading back to work soon so I won't have as much time to work on art as I have in February, which means I really have to power through my work as much as possible for this next week. After that, I'll be bribing friends with eggs from our chickens in order for them to come play with O for an hour or so. So here's to late Spring nights! 

In the middle of a portrait commission and my little doll family commission for a dear friend, Our snow covered island inspired me to make a doll the reflected the purity of the snow. Winter brings more whimsy than I usually think and when all I can see out my window is white, my fingers start to tingle and my mind goes wild with ideas. There's so much beauty in winter and it's very easy to forget that magic, when the warmth of summer is on the mind. When I dreamt of this doll, I had to take a break from working to create her. 

She will be available on my new website when it launches in a week or two along with some other dolls. Keep an eye out for more information! 

With love,

Michelle

xx

Life lately.

Life can be so very hard. Maintaining a positive outlook is hard. It's been awhile since I've really spent time with this blog and I think it's having it's effect on me. I love using this outlet as a source of growth and positivity. I love to use this space as a record of the beautiful things life has to offer. Much like Hailey's 365 Gratitude project, this is my journal of sorts, where I can share the things I appreciate. I can share the things I'm making, the thoughts I have, and the moments spent with those I love most. I love that about blogging and hope that even if only one person reads an entry, it serves as a source of joy for that single person.

I've been very busy lately. Working on a new website, making lots of dolls, lots of portraits, and starting many new endeavors that have been bringing SO much excitement into my life. I've been spending lots of time with Odin, some time with Z, and even some time with only myself which has been absolutely heavenly. I'm hoping to give myself a little more me time in the coming months. I've found that I forget to give myself moments until I'm almost to my breaking point, and then it's not as useful. Time becomes a necessity rather than a pleasure and I'd rather not feel like I'm about to burst into a million frustrated pieces in order to get that time for myself. I need to work it into my weekly schedule, maybe time for a walk, or to sit and enjoy reading or playing ukulele. Time by myself that I don't spend working or thinking about work. I'm going to try and find someone to play with little O for a few hours every week so that I can get more done while Zak is at work. 

Odin has been using the toilet for a month now and he will be two in nearly two months. Time is passing by so quickly lately, it's catching me completely off-guard. We're house-sitting this week and so very excited to have a tub, we only have a stand up shower at our little apartment. Odin and I have been tubbing it up every day, singing as loudly as we can and splashing so much that most of the water ends up outside the tub by the time we're done (don't worry Lisa! We're cleaning it up right after!). I've been making art and playing ukulele as much as I can. I really want to learn to play well like some of my dear friends can. Zak bought me a ukulele for our anniversary and it's so dreamy. I've wanted one for years and after visiting Angelica, I was madly in love with it. It's so compact and beautiful. 

So, that's that. I'm hoping to have my new website within the next couple weeks and am very excited to move the blog there. It'll also have my own shop and I promise to work very hard at maintaining an inventory of dolls, toys, illustrations, and custom slots. 

Much love, my friends.

xx

Valentine's Weekend

After weeks of building up a routine and going through as many art commissions as possible, it was nice to give myself an entire weekend of rest and relaxation. We bartered art for a room in a local inn and stayed there Valentine's night. Zak and I aren't really too fond of holidays like this, but any excuse to find a babysitter and enjoy some alone time is great in my eyes. Especially because Odin is rarely away from me. Odin stayed with family for a few hours before rejoining us in our fancy inn room in our giant bed just in time for nursing to sleep. In the morning we went to a bakery that was just around the corner and had some breakfast goodies.

Last night, there was snow. Odin spent the night pretending he was a cat, running around naked, and jumping as high as he possibly could. As the winds picked up outside, we nursed Odin to sleep and Zak and I snuggled up to re-watch Game of Thrones.

It was a stay-cation weekend well spent. 

Art Lately

Lately, I've been so busy creating (and potty training) that there's no time for anything else. I love it! The list of art commissions that I have to do is insane, really. I feel bad for everyone on the waitlist, but I'm trying really hard to power through them, especially while I have Zak home for the winter. This month is really my only opportunity to get a large amount of work done as I don't have help with Odin again until the summer. Zak's little sister will be watching him for me thirty or so hours a week so that I can get a lot of work done. I'm planning on doing more commissions as well as making things for local shops and for my own web store. I hope to have a fully stocked store fairly constantly. I'm going to be making more dolls for those of you that were interested and have tons of ideas for them. I'm also planning on making some baby and kid's clothes with my illustrations on them (including some babywearing ones!) which I just thought of earlier this week and am ridiculously excited about. I would also really like to begin work on my children's book and have very high hopes of getting that moving along by next year.

A good friend is going to help me design a real website soon with my own shop and everything! Everything is getting very exciting but there's so much work to be done, so please bear with me through it!

For those who have been asking about babywearing portraits, when I decided to stay home and make art and not babysit this year I opened myself up for commissions and promised everyone a spot on the wait list. Here we are a month later and I still have about forty people to get through! So, after this large wait list has been done, I'm going to be posting on my Facebook page that I am open for commissions (I can alternate between that and Instagram if you don't have FB unless I can figure out a way to do it through the blog). I haven't decided how many I will take on, but it will probably be around 5-10 at a time. When those are finished, I'll repeat the process. I will post all of the information when I post about accepting the commissions as far as price and size. I am open for other commissions as well and will be taking those on throughout the time I'm working on other things, so if you have a particular inquiry you can always email me!

The Last Stretch

For the last stretch towards home, I was pretty sick. It was probably one of those 24 hour bugs but because we were traveling, I wasn't allowing it the 24 hours needed to fully filter through my system. (Sorry friends, if I got any of you sick!) We visited Angelica in Virginia which was heavenly as always. She really is my best friend soul mate and I'm so grateful to have met her. This trip was a little more rushed and I feel sad that we couldn't stay longer, but we did have an amazing evening out while the littles stayed with Angelica's gorgeous mumma. I couldn't even believe Odin stayed with someone that was unfamiliar for such a long time (four hours!). Angelica played the most beautiful songs on Ukulele, so beautiful that I cried. 

Leaving Virginia was hard, but we stayed the night in Maryland with an Instagram friend, Jessy. We've talked about meeting for awhile now and I'm so glad we were finally able to. She's so sweet and has the sweetest little family. Her room is adorned with growing green life and we felt very comfortable immediately upon meeting her and her sweet man, Randy. Thank you so much for having us!

Our last stop before home was visiting a very old friend of mine, Manny, who I miss so much. We have so many memories and I spent much of my college life living at his house making art and drinking champagne with frozen fruit. We would go out dancing every week. 

I'm so grateful for new and old friends alike and am so lucky to have you all in my life.