Mary had a little lamb

...and Ashleigh got a BIG FAT lamb!

After my cow made her big debut, my friend Ashleigh asked me if I would be willing to paint something for her nursery. Clearly, I'm an expert of all things farm life (ha!). She wanted a lamb, and she had been on the hunt for something for several months, but had not fallen in love with anything.  Nothing super realistic, just a sweet, simple lamb with a blue sky.

Baby Brooks is in for a real treat. His nursery is beautiful! Every detail considered.  I hope my fat little lamb feels proud hanging in a room so perfect!

Speaking of perfect...that is EXACTLY how Ashleigh looks pregnant. Here we are at her baby shower celebrating Mama and Baby Brooks. She is the blond sitting in the middle. Can you even tell?! Perfect.

'til the cow comes home

Several months ago when I went to Scott's I fell in love with a cow. Not an actual cow, but an incredible oil painting. Love at first site. Sadly, the beautiful painting was out of my budget and did not get to come home with me.
Last year, House Beautiful featured an awesome home in Texas which featured none other, than a COW as the show stopper above the mantle.

Months past and I still have not forgotten about the cows.

The painting, Gorgeous Grace, by Linda St. Clair.

This weekend I decided I would attempt to paint my own cow inspired by the image in House Beautiful. Random? yes. But when you suffer from bathroom renovation project A.D.D the only solution is to paint a cow. After our morning coffee, I looked at John and said "well...I think I need to paint a cow today". Yet another reason why I love him. His response, "Absolutely". 

To me, the tricky part about painting something yourself is knowing when to stop. I reach a point that I feel like I'm one brush stroke away from disaster...or masterpiece. I just don't know when to quit. She is not perfect by any stretch, but she IS a cow. What do you think?

***after seeing a picture of this painting, I feel like I need to move the eyes down just a little bit. what do you think? agree? or NOT worth it?

A is for

Addison Grace!

Early in her pregnancy, my friend Sarah Beth asked me to paint a sign with Addison Grace's name. I love my friends for LOTS of reasons, but the confidence she had in me is just one more reason why I love her so much. I mean, I do like to paint things from time to time, mostly walls or furniture, but I have never painted something like a name...for her to think I was even capable of doing this was beyond me, but you really can't tell your pregnant friend no, so I thought I would give it a shot.

Sarah Beth chose this sweet bedding from Pottery Barn Kids, and promised me she really did not have ANYTHING in mind as to what this canvas should look like...

I played around painting a square canvas for a while, but I could never get really happy with how it turned out. I promised Sarah Beth I was working on it, and was REALLY hoping I would be able to paint something she would like. She assured me she would LOVE anything, didn't want me to stress, and said she could not wait to hang it on the hospital door on her arrival...AND in her nursery once she got home..hmm....no pressure, right?!?

So, I made another trip to the store deciding that it was the SIZE of the canvas that was throwing me off, surely not my artistic ability (ha!) I knew I had to get the painting done pronto or it would never make it to the hospital in time. I crossed my fingers and started with the part I knew how to do...mix colors.

I stared at the blank canvas, but then decided I had to just dive right in. I dusted off my trusty t-square (see Mom and Dad, it did not go to waste!) and made the border in which I would attempt to paint her name. I wanted the painting to coordinate with her bedding, so I decided the polka dots would be a fun way to tie it all together.

After I painted for a little while I started to really enjoy it! Her nursery walls are Kittery Point Green by Benjamin Moore, so that was the one color I knew had to be an exact match. I cheated and bought a tester to be sure it would be a "hit" instead of a "miss"...then I just tried to match some of the colors of the bedding to paint polka dots...

(this picture makes the colors look brighter than they really are)

The stripes on the bedskirt were too much fun to pass up, so I painted stripes on the sides of the canvas

The finished product! Ready for Addison Grace to make her big debut!

Sarah Beth and Michael welcomed their perfect and BEAUTIFUL baby girl in to the world late Friday night. John and I had the honor of being there to cheer them on.

Here is Addison Grace just a few minutes after she was born. Her beaming Daddy held her up to the hospital window to introduce her to all of us. Isn't she a GORGEOUS brand new baby!? A little hard to tell in this picture but she absolutly has her mama's mouth!

Addison Grace meeting her grandmothers for the first time! Absolutly love at first site!

Hello, Addison Grace! Welcome to the world!

I love you already and I hope you love your sign! Your mama and your nurses seemed to like it a lot!