A to Z of moi

A. Age: 23
B. Bed size: QUEEN!
C. Chore that you hate: I really LOVE cleaning, but probably cleaning out the shower drain... or changing the litter box.
D. Dogs: yes yes YES! We plan on getting a Boston Terrier when we move. :)
E. Essential start to your day: cereal and Google Reader
F. Favorite color: I decided awhile back not to choose a FAVORITE color, so I live in the moment. Right now its probably Citron.
G. Gold or Silver: Silver or white gold
I. Instruments you play: I've been playing the flute for 13 years.
J. Job title: Customer Sales Lead at Bath & Body works, freelance photographer, designer, artist
K. Kids: coming soon!
L. Live: Indiana! Born and raised.
M. Mother’s name: Shelley Vance
N. Nicknames: Laney. It started in 7th grade with my history teacher, and then EVERYBODY started calling me it. I didn't start going by Elaine again until college! My good friends and sister still call me Laney though.
O. Overnight hospital stays: oh boy. LOTS: asthma attacks, hip surgery, mono, Colon disease...
P. Pet peeves: people that never smile, incorrect useage of words or when someone uses a word even though they don't know what it means. Also when Spanish people talk about me in Spanish like I can't understand them! HELLO! I majored in it in college!!!
Q. Quote from a movie: "Do you promise to let our daughter be fat or skinny or any weight at all? Because we want her to be happy, no matter what. Being obsessed with weight is just too cliché for our daughter. " -Away we Go
R. Right or left handed: righty!
S. Siblings: the best Younger sister in the world named Anna! Love you Ann!
U. Underwear: anything but white
V. Vegetable you hate: ALL of them.
W. What makes you run late: Ian not waking me up when the alarm goes off or changing my outfit too many times.
X. X-Rays you’ve had: hip, back, wrist, ankle, teeth, abdominal area... I think that's it.
Y. Yummy food that you make: I'm a terrible cook! Ian does all the cooking and he's AMAZING at it.
Z. Zoo animal: Sea turtles! or the manatees... or the sharks... anything under water really.

Has anyone else noticed that there's no H or T in this alphabet? Whoever made this tag doesn't know their letters very well...
Hope you enjoyed it! Tag, you're it!
<3
E

4 Goals

since this is circulating, I think it would be a good idea to join in. I think goals are SOOOO healthy and motivating. I make way too many goals sometimes. hahaha But it's good! It keeps me going. It keeps me in check. It keeps me positive and ready for whatever life throws at me. :) So without further ado, here are my 4 simple goals for the rest of the year:

1. Figure out how to use photoshop actions. I have been meaning to do this for so long and I think that it will make my freelance photography editing SO much easier.

2. ENJOY my wedding and avoid unneeded stress. In the end, I'll still be married to him. :)

3. Restock my etsy shop and create a new vision for the entire thing. Promote it and stop neglecting it!

4. Take more pictures of everyday life. I actually borrowed this one from Elsie, but I think it's so true. I don't do it enough and I used to take photos of everyday things all the time! I'm going to make a point to do that.

so yeah. I'm looking forward to keeping these goals and making my life THAT much better. Because that's what goals do! They make you feel accomplished and like you're always moving forward! You should do this little challenge too!
<3
E

P.s. Who else is collecting the Littlest Pet Shop toys from Happy Meals going on right now? I love LPS, so you know I am! I'm such a kid. HAHAHA

The Great Blog Home Tour

I decided to do Janel's home tour, but since I only live in one room right now, it's only going to be one day of pictures. haha I know most of you already have seen the Davis Suite on other posts, but i do have a few new things to share! So here's the overview of my "home" haha:


It's a very tropical designed room! I love the color palette and the accessories we have purchased to make this room something magical to live in. I have my owl collection displayed in different places around the room and I love what the vintage pieces add to my decor!




Recently, I made a little message center for Ian and I by the door to the room. This is complete with a place to put our keys, a large wall calendar, change jar for snacks at work, and a bin for outgoing mail and errands.



That little chart you see that says "Home Front" is our savings chart. We've turned saving money into a game and every time we collect $200, we get to fill in a bar. haha

Since I work in fashion every day, I keep a lot of my accessories and favorite fashion pieces on display!


I love our room! I can't wait to get an actual apartment or house so that I can design every room, but for now, this will do. :) You can see the rest of my DIY room-redecoration project here!

Great idea, Janel! If you're playing along out there, link me up! I'd love to see your homes!
<3
E

afternoon Q & A

I'm back to answer a bunch of questions that readers have been asking me lately and I've been meaning to answer!

Q: How much would a custom carved wooden ring cost?
A: I spoke with Ian about this and he's thinking about $7-12 depending on what you wanted and how far it needs shipped to. If you would like a ring, please email me at keread(at)bsu(dot)edu and he will make it to your specifications and we will list it in my etsy shop.

Q: What do you want to do when you grow up?
A: Well. It's a little sketchy right now. Ideally, I would love to take my photography full time. I'm very passionate about photography and I think I have a lot of new ideas and could work really well independently. If not photography, I would love to work at a magazine doing graphic design or design promotional items and logos for a small business. I'm in the process of developing my photography business a little more before spring including a full website, logo and really just my own...brand. Lots in the works!




Q:Have you thought about making any of your sketchbook pages or drawings into prints for your etsy shop?
A: I have definitely thought about it. I have ideas brewing and I would say in the next month I will have prints available for sale. My newest development with my drawings and original art are my craft pattern sets: Instant Love and Adventureland. They're super cool and you can do almost anything with them! Even print them out and color them for layouts or to hang on an inspo wire! <3

Q: How do you find time for your art while still going to college?
A: Actually, I just do what anyone else does and MAKE time. Many times I just have to REALLY hustle to get my homework done because I pretty much refuse to let myself craft when there is school work to be done. I feel guilty and uninspired if there are obligations hanging over my head. PLus I'm very strict on myself about making the Dean's List, so I just have to make crafting and time with Ian my number one priority after schoolwork. :)

Q: Do you plan on making more headbands (like the braided one) for your etsy?
A: I do! RIght now I'm working on a cute line of knitted bow headbands and then I think I will be making some braided stretchy headbands too. Anything else you'd really like to see as far as accessories and original art go? I'd love to hear it!

Q: What kind of journal and journaling pens do you use for drawing?
A: I use one of the Molskine Plain Large notebooks. They are about 5.25"x8.25" and the perfect size for lots and lots of room to draw. If you're less ambitious, there's always the Pocket Version too! For pens, I used to use the Pilot BeGreen pens, but recently switched to Sharpie Pen. They're very fine tip, pigmented, don't bleed through the page, and smear resistant! Highly recommend!



ALSO! I made a blog button! YAY! I've been wanting to do this for awhile now

Grab the button for your sidebar! -------------->
I love all my readers and I'm excited to share all these questions and answers with you! I have many fun post ideas coming at ya in the next week!

Check below for an awesome Style Crush post!
<3
E

Hey Y'all*

Hello all! A special hello to Miss Bekah because I went through her HOMEPLACE this week! Right now I'm here in Whitehouse, Tennessee at a motel. lol. We're on our way back to Indiana so that we can all get back to the real world. I'm chomping at the bit you know. [not really lol]. Vacation was short but really really nice. It wasn't much of a vacation honestly just because we were running running running all the time and didn't exactly make it to the beach. :[ but oh well. I got to spend time with my family and I was away from school which was all I could ask for. :]

Thanksgiving was big and beautiful including the best noodles I've ever had, family eating in 3 DIFFERENT ROOMS (there were so many of us), and after Thanksgiving gifts. I got SUCH a special gift from my grandma. :] it's a snowglobe music box with Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus inside. Mmmm. Every year my grandma gets my mom a different music box to start the season and now I'm getting one too which is so exciting. I'll post pictures later, but its just so lovely and special.

My family was so vivacious and wonderful. I just loved it so much. :]






Here are some random photos mostly of the cotton fields around Florida and Alabama. I loved looking at the cotton. It's so peaceful somehow... and lovely.




Also, I've been meaning to do a tagging that happened a few days before I left! Holly tagged me in a fun little game.
go to your pictures.
go to the 4th folder.
find the 4th photo.
post it!

Alright. Here's my forth photo:

It's a silly one from this summer when Ian and I were bored. He stole my shoe and I think he's using it as a phone? hahaha. I like it either way. It's silly.
So i hereby tag:
Heather
Kara
Rose
Vee
Have fun girls!

Alrighty, off to bed for another long day in the car AGAIN tomorrow. ALmost home. *yay* I'm ready to not be living out of a suitcase!

P.S. here's that site I promised: Page Maps! I talked about this on my video blog and said I would post the site!

Almost Holidays.

It's almost Thanksgiving, people! Are we excited yet?! I know I am, for sure. I'm getting all geared up. We're actually packing up and heading down to Florida and Alabama for Thanksgiving to visit family and go to the beach. So for anyone living around those areas, HOLLER!

[Went thrifting and Hobby Lobbying today. I'll have things to share about these experiences tomorrow hopefully. I found a few fun things!]

For The Art is Found this time around, I decided to go the photo route because I thought it was the less literal and more challenging way to go. The Challenge this time is TEXTURE! I took this photo of a kiosk on campus that I thought looked awesome. So this is my entry for texture and I really like it.


I've had a revelation this week involving Flickr. I've had a flickr account for awhile now, but i JUST started using it this past week and realized how amazing it is! Oh man I have REALLY been missing out! I loved it SO much that I updated to a PRO ACCOUNT on Thursday! haha. Love it. Well my username on Flickr is ke_cupcake , so everyone should check me out and leave a link to YOUR Flickr!

Wellll haven't made a whole lot lately. Just some stuff for Elsie's class.
For one of our more recent projects, we made Teddy Kids! These were inspired by the lost boys from Peter Pan and I'll tell you: every one of these bears in the class are different which is so great! Everyone's just using their own creative skill and ideas and its just fantastic to gain more inspiration from others. :]


(felt, thread, embroidery floss, printed broadcloth fabric, can fabric, Sharpie bold tip, acrylic paint)

Another thing I've been puttering around on is my December Daily inspired by Ali Edwards. I'm hoping that I can actually hold on and do this every day. haha. I'm nervous that I'll get distracted over Break but we shall see.


(clear front cover and back cover, silver book rings, Chipboard snowflake, stickles in Diamond, Paper Studio paper, random paper scraps, Remarks letters by American Crafts, Doodlebug Inc. letters, Jo-Ann's metal flower stickers, Stayz-On Black ink, Clear stamp by Autumn Leaves, acrylic paint, Sharpie fine tip)

Another exciting thing that has happened lately is that I won a drawing on the lovely Holly Neufeld's blog! I was MORE than thrilled to be winning one of her sooooooo amazing Woodland Eco Art Journals! You can also buy them here at her Etsy shop, "You're Fancy!"


I can't wait to get this in the mail. She already shipped it out so I'm assuming probably this weekend!!! Eeek! I'm going to be sure to post photos and get started on it RIGHT away! Oh I'm so excited!

I also got my letterpressed lovely from Elise Blaha in the mail last week. I ordered it from HER etsy shop and it's so simple, but magnificent. I can't decide if I want to display it all the time like I am now, or put it in my December Daily. Hmmmm



Speaking of etsy shops, my etsy Craftcake Designs hasn't had a real update in awhile, but it's still there! I'm working on a few more updates before the holidays including a SUPER great, one of a kind gift set including the Children's book Olive, the Other Reindeer! How cute! Children's books are seriously AWESOME to look at for art inspiring ideas because the colors are so vibrant and the shapes just *pop* and its amazing.

Another thought about the shop is that since I'm going on vacation for Thanksgiving, I won't be shipping any orders until Monday December 1 when I get back from the south. The shop will remain open, but the orders just won't ship until that next Monday or Tuesday. I will put up a shop announcement too.

One thing I've really been into lately is FRUIT STICKERS! I hope TAIF does a challenge about them sometime. I think they're so colorful and really really cool! I found this on flickr yesterday and thought it was JUST what I needed! haha



In addition to all of this fabulosity, I got tagged by the ever fabulous Susan Opel in this awesome fact-sharing game of tag going around the crafting world!


Alright so here goes nothin:

1. I've recently become obsessed with scarves. I've bought 3 in the past month and my roommate is currently knitting me a buttercream yellow one. Mmmm.

2. Tonight my friend dared me to eat an ENTIRE spoonful of just ketchup at dinner... and i did it. willingly. I really really love Ketchup.

3. I really dig nerds. I find them to be smarter, more interesting, kind, not egotistical, and genuine.

4. I've had the strangest urge to just make a HUGE mess lately. Like just take all the ribbons off the spools, and have a litter of paper scraps on the floor. Mmmmm. Creative Clutter.

5. I've kept a journal since the very first day of my Freshman year of High School. It used to be every single day. Sometimes 5 times a day. But when I got to college....it got harder. I traded journaling for blogging. *similar?*

6. I have a tattoo that says "create" written in script on the inside of my left wrist and i LOVE it. I had a period of time called my "What was i THINKING" period, but now i just look at it and it reminds me why I was put on this earth: to nurture and to create.

So there's my 6 facts. They may not be highly interesting, but it's what I could think of right now. I like Spontaneity. :]
Ok now HERE are the 6 lovely ladies that I TAGGED!!!
Bekah
Elise
Mollie
Amy
Holly
Kara
enjoy ladies! I love ya! WooO!

Here's a list of ALL the things I need to accomplish by Sunday night:
*dishes
*kill the laundry monster. Easier said than done.
*take out trash
*research project for Bio
*blog again hopefully
*start packing for vacation
*get a hold of a ride home
*package up some etsy items

i WAS going to talk about some recent fave artists, but i think I"ll have to leave it for another night because I am SOOO tired. *sigh* but tomorrow is going to be hot chocolate, crafting, getting things done, and even more.

To leave off, ask me a question! ANYTHING! I'm feeling not as inspired for blog topics lately and I'd love to hear if you have anything specific to ask me. Just about life, about crafting, about tips and ideas, about etsy, about what flavor of gum i chew, about ANYTHING! If you can't think of a question, just post something about your holiday projects and gifts you're working on! Leave a link, share a project, anything you want to share!

I guess that means that's it for me tonight. Happy Almost Holidays ladies! :]
<3