New Mini-Magnets

Just want to drop by and let you all know about the 6 new mini magnets I'm listing in the shop today! Over Columbus Day weekend I was able to avoid the couch; I know, miracle, and instead I was able to create some new mini canvas magnets. Three of the magnets are more towards the abstract style I typically painted in college. I think I was afraid to attempt realistic paintings with oil paints in college, so I tried my hand in non-representational, abstract pieces and I must say I was pretty dang good at it. (Maybe in the future I'll post some pictures of my undergrad art show at James Madison University.) Anyway, here are a few pictures of what you can find in the shop!

You can find all of these new pieces over at Tulips&Lace Studio

Thanks for all of your support!

Stephanie

Tulips & Lace Studio: Custom Pieces

On Saturday morning I was a guest as the most darling vintage [double] baby shower ever. I wish I took actual pictures of the set-up, but I didn't bring my good camera and the phone just wouldn't do it justice.

Imagine a garden set up with lace-covered table tops and an eclectic collection of napkin rings all shaped like teapots. A hand crafted chandelier hung above the guests of honor's seat and vintage plates adorned the tables. The mother-daughter duo who created this garden escape are one amazing team. They had wonderful brunch quiches, french toast sticks accompanied with cups of syrup and delicious blueberry-lemon muffins topped with a lemon frosting. Not to mention a mouthwatering chai iced tea flowing from an adorable drink dispenser.

Deliciousness and entertaining conversations took place in that garden oasis.

Close to the end of the shower both moms-to-be set up to open gifts, which were placed in a vintage crib on the back patio. I wanted to gift these wonderful ladies with artwork for the nursery, so a little while ago, I asked them for their favorite Bible verses. Here are the two pieces I ended up framing and gifting. I created a first edition of the Psalm 127 piece, but my color choices were terrible so I started again. Live and learn. 

I'm planning on having a series of handwritten Bible verse pieces in Tulips&LaceStudio so be on the lookout for those! As I re-read the Psalm 139 verse below I can't help but be joyful that God didn't just make me, but he wonderfully made me. What a blessing to rest in that knowledge this week! 

 Have a wonderful week!

xoxo Stephanie

Art & Career

Okay, so it's clearly been quite some time since I've actually been on here [insert monkey covering mouth emoji]. oops. Let's just all agree that sometimes we get caught up in other things like baseball and wine working at home grading art projects.

I've also been slacking on Tulips&Lace Studio so my hope is to get some more pieces created and posted on the shop. I've been creating a few things, but I truly don't have a good excuse as to why I haven't been painting as often. Please keep encouraging me on that goal no matter how many sales I have or follows or whatever. I can't let my identity be placed in those things!

Made this poster because I am SERIOUSLY done
with seeing stick figures!

As for school, we are almost through the first quarter with only one week to go until the report cards go out! In no way what-so-ever did I think that I'd actually like going to work at this point. Let's just say that last year was a horrible year at school. Add together moving from elementary to middle school, disrespectful students whose parents don't care at all and not a Fairfax County Virginia art budget and you get a pretty miserable transition into middle school teaching. I honestly cried after school for at least two months and swore I would quit at the end of the school year - but that's a story for another time.

What I have to say is that I LOVE MY JOB. No, I don't get hugs everyday from Kindergarteners anymore, but I do have a huge impact on middle schoolers lives - even if they never tell me. I get to be really sarcastic and sassy (yes, sassy) to the students and they still like me. At parent-teacher conferences, one of my student's mother told me that she hears about me every day at the dinner table and that her daughter loves my class. Of course I will never hear that from the student, but man did that feel good to know I'm actually making a difference and leaving an impression on a student.

I wanted to share what my students have been up to! This year I started using Artsonia to display students work (also so parents actually see it… Last year I believe over half of my students just threw away their work. Thanks you lovely children.) Check out our gallery! All of our projects throughout the year will be posted online to the gallery so keep checking for updates. I've been making my TA's work their butts off to make Artsonia a success in my classroom.

Our Artsonia Gallery

Enjoy the students' work, their artist statements and feel free to leave comments! The kids would be so excited if they got extra comments on their work!

I feel like there's a billion other things I could tell you on here, but the most important thing right now is that the fabulous Orioles have had some BANGIN' 8th innings!

Also this handsome man comes home in a little more than month!

 Until later! xoxo

Shop Talk: A Custom Piece

Just wanted to share the first custom piece created in the shop! My dear friend Ellen requested a monogramed 2x2 magnet using her wedding colors.

The funny thing is that her request came in the most wonderful way. See, with David gone on deployment, I basically have become a part of Ellen's family (and her husband David). So Ellen & David went out of town for about ten days and prepared the most wonderful scavenger hunt for me! Every day they were out of town I would get a letter that told me where to find a treasure. So for one of the days, some cash money was hidden under one of my supply boxes and instruction were left in the letter as to what she wanted. It's always fun to create specific ideas for others. I'm excited for the next custom order to come in!

Here are just a few pictures of the final product. 

Then I wrapped it up in a cute little box!

If you would like to make a custom order feel free to message me Over at The Shop! I'd love to make something specifically for you!

The shop is open!

Tulips&LaceStudio is open for business!

Here's a direct link to the shop. I made it easy for you!

I've listed the magnets that I've been working on and finally took the shop off of "vacation mode". Feel free to take a look at the pieces I've been working on. I'd love feedback either way! I'll be adding more pieces as they are created!

Happy Thursday everyone!

Also just realized I used about 3x the amount of exclamation points as I did periods. oh well.

Porch Rehab

It's been about two weeks since David's been out of the country and I've been trying to keep myself busy. David and I [mostly me… okay all me] have been talking about getting rocking chairs for the front porch it's just that I didn't want ones that I had to assemble myself but the ones that were pre-assembled cost an arm and a leg. So after searching for a while I checked out Lowe's to see what they had. Snatched up two chairs that were 25% off! Found a few other things on clearance at Target and had a little DIY project to re-paint the ceramic stool.

I've also been busy making mini paintings for my Etsy Shop: Tulips&Lace so look out for some new listings hopefully by the end of this week! It's on vacation mode for now until I post my new products.

Here are a few pictures below of the before and after. Also, funny story or maybe pathetic, you decide. I felt really awkward taking pictures of our house when there are always so many people outside in our neighborhood. So I set my alarm for 5:45 in the morning in order to take the "after" pictures before anyone was outside. Crazy? Yes. Worth it? Yes. I mean, the lighting is worth it in itself.

Here are the before shots

And after shots

The bird poop on the planter full of succulents adds the slightest touch of class.

Before you go any further I must tell you about one of the sweetest things anyone has every done for me. See, I really wanted to have an American flag in front of the house. I mean, we're a Marine Corps family. I bought everything I needed to have a fabulous flag and then attempted to drill into the post which holds up the porch roof. Come to find out its some stucco/cement thing and it was not going to happen. So I asked my friend Rachel if I could borrow her husband and if he could help me. He came over and then told me I would have to get a 4x4 fence post, paint it the color of the house, dig a hole, place it in the hole and then attach the flag to that. No biggie. 

Later that same day Rachel texted me and asked if her husband could come over and put my flag pole together. He bought a post, bought paint, painted it and then came over and dug a hole in the ground while Rachel and I chilled on the rocking chairs. The absolute sweetest. I can't thank them enough.

Now I just need to wait for it not to be 115 degrees outside [I'm not exaggerating] so I can actually use these lovely chairs. I'll probably be sitting in them during the evenings while reading Harry Potter.

Spring Break: Charleston

Yes, its summer. Yes, this is about spring break. At least its still the same year right?

Over spring break this year, while David was already in Arizona/California, I took a trip down to Charleston, South Carolina to visit my dear friend Christiana. I knew I wouldn't get a chance again anytime soon to visit Christiana let alone Charleston so I planned this trip! Drove down on a Friday night after school ended (I-95 was a TART) and got in around midnight or sometime after that.

Over the week, we saw sights around Charleston and were able to see some of the locations where THE NOTEBOOK was filmed. Yes, Ryan Gosling had walked those same streets. Swoon. You can find a list of the locations right here if you're ever in Charleston and love the Notebook. We first went to the American theater where Allie & Noah went the movies. Then we found High Cotton which was the restaurant where Allie & Lon were dining later in the movie.

Then we went to one of the most gorgeous places I had ever been to. Cypress Gardens. It was where they filmed the scene in The Notebook in which Noah & Allie go for a boat ride, swans surrounding them. In real life we had alligators instead of swans. Not as romantic, but you take what you can get. The photographs honestly don't do this place justice. I was speechless by the beauty around me.

 

They had the option to take a boat on your own and follow the white arrows around the swamp. We went under two bridges [and were quite the entertainers for some people walking over the bridges]. See, the bridges were low so we basically had to lie on our backs in the boat in order to not lose our heads get through. We spotted little baby alligators and lots of turtles.

Later in the week, or earlier [can't remember] we attempted to go to the beach but it was freezing and windy. So we ended up staying there for only about 20 minutes or so. We also went to this amazing little Italian place downtown and had some amazing tortellini. The place was called Bocci's and it was D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S! Off the beaten path, so not many people were there which was nice. I highly recommend going there for a bite.

One evening while my partner in crime was working her tail off at Starbucks, I ventured out on my own in attempts to find a cozy coffee shop where I could read and sip on a delicious concoction. Instead I ended up at one of the most interesting "bars" [I guess you could call it that] ever. I walked in and everyone stared at me. It was a place full of regulars and I stuck out like a sore thumb. I had already committed so I couldn't just turn around and walk out. Sitting down at the bar, I asked for a drink menu and I ordered a latte to go. [Wasn't trying to be in there any longer than I needed to be.]

Huge thing I forgot to mention was the population at the bar. All of them were middle-aged, no, they were probably retired.

Anyway, I got my drink and decided to stick it out and people watch at the bar. Quite entertaining and one of my favorite hobbies. Soon an older man walked in and takes the seat right next to me. He was on a first name basis with the bartender. We start chatting and he had to be filthy rich because his house was on the Battery aka right on the water and an extremely historic part of Charleston. It was definitely a tale to tell Christiana later.

End of story. Main idea: visit Charleston if you ever get the chance.

Stephanie