bexcaliber: halloween & fall printables

I have mentioned that I am pretty busy these days. What is she so busy doing? you might ask. Well I have been busy; it is not just an excuse but I will admit I have been unintentionally silent over here on the good ole blog. I wish blogging was as easy as instagramming.

After chatting with some of my favorite people (Steve and Chelsea) I have decided to offer my designs as printables. I have all these designs from over the years and I was trying to think how I could use them to further my business. I thought about doing prints but I like the idea of offering instant download printables. You buy it and its available instantly for you to print on your own. Easy as pie.

This also opens up my shop to appeal to more people. It provides a different price point; they are all $5! with custom colors at only $7. And I realize that not everyone needs or likes or uses pillows (crazies!), so you can now have my art on your walls.

You can check them all out here.
Don't see what you want/need? We can whip up a custom art print for your home in no time. I love colloborating.

being awesome

So this is my 1000th post. Didn't even know I was that close. Wow. I kind of can't believe its been almost 7 years and 1000 posts. That's a lot of my ramblings out there in the world wide web. 

I read my email first thing in the morning. At 6:00 am as I am mentally awakening to go to seminary, I check all my social media and gmail. It helps my brain to start functioning. The other day I was happy to see an email from my friend Andrea who recently moved to Washington. Among the fun updates of her life she mentioned that she had recently recommited to being awesome. It put a smile on my face and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since. I hope she doesn't mind but I made a free printable quoting her wise words and spirited pursuit. You can download it here.

In thinking about this I have come to the following conclusions. Everyone is awesome. I am awesome but how much effort am I really putting into being my best. There is a balance in life. Sometimes I am super awesome at doing one thing while others get neglected. I am awesome at creating balanced and varied meals but I have been wearing the same over-sized cardigan everyday for the past week. I am awesome at going to the gym but my house cleaning is meh. I am awesome at being a mom but I haven't put on makeup or done my hair in days.

So today I am going to recommit to being awesome. I'm going to find something I have been neglecting and be AWESOME. Thanks Andrea for inspiring me to always be improving. 

how are you going to be awesome today?

Atlanta: Street Art, Street Food and Coke World

 Since school started up again on Friday we decided to have one last hurrah! before getting back into a routine. We headed up to Atlanta to finally see the city, scope out some street art and visit the World of Coke. Here is Henry on the drive in, bored of his books and eating his shoe velcro. The funny thing is that he was moving his leg around to the music in a kind of weird dance.

 We stopped to eat on the street right outside Atlanta Underground. Steve and I are huge street food people and I looked some up before our trip. Atlanta has a Street Food Coalition that moves around the city daily with multiple locations and vendors. We ate at Blaxican, mexican southern fusion. We had bbq steak tacos and jalapeno mac and cheese. Very good.

 We have been saving our Coke points and got 2 free tickets to Coke World.

 We were able to get our picture with the polar bear but Henry wouldn't get close unless I held him.

There was a Pop Culture Art room with a couple of cool pieces inspired by and modeled after coke and its branding. And a huge wall of the Santa Claus ad campaign memorabilia. Most of the other exhibits, a real bottling plant, the Vault which houses the Coke secret recipe and a history museum were okay but with a stroller and a two year old and only a moderate interest in the history of Coke, they weren't worth the effort besides a walk through. There was also a 4D movie experience but 3D makes both Steve and I sick so 4D wasn't going to happen.

The "Taste It" exhibit was the best one and we saved it for last. With over 60 sodas from around the world to sample, it was a little overwhelming and a little disgusting too. I had been warned against Beverly a battery acid type drink from Italy so I steered clear and was careful to only really taste the flavors that came with a description. Most of the fruity ones were good but since I am not used to drinking sugar, it was too much and some kids tricked me into trying one from Africa called Stoney. They said they had tried it and it was good, it wasn't. Touche. I ended the day with a nice tall Diet Coke. Ahh, the familiar.

After making our way outside, Henry needed some run around time. This field was the perfect place for him to let out some wiggles and he even managed to find a big rock to throw around. He would not cooperate for one last picture but that is okay. Overall I enjoyed our trip but I am glad we got in for free since I don't think it would have been worth $16 each. After Coke World we headed to Forsyth Fabrics for me and Henry napped in the car while Steve read and waited.

Throughout our travels through the city we stopped to see a couple of murals Steve had looked up. Atlanta was host to Living Walls, a street art symposium in 2011, so the city is alive with art. We had a couple of addresses for the bigger murals but were pleasantly surprised to stumble upon many other pieces. It was kind of exhilarating.

This installation was one of my favorites, its just brightly colored paper plates combined in an organic growth type way with mesh fabric. I like that they look like they are growing out of the building.

I love this alligator one too. It is so fascinating to me that this work is just in these crappy neighborhoods and people live among it. If you are interested in more about these artists, Steve looked them all up and has links on his blog, here.

clark colorings: pirate at sea

 Since Henry runs amok with crayons when left on his own, all creative endeavors are strictly supervised and have the artist contained within his booster seat. Color time becomes creative togetherness time. Usually Henry tells us what he wants us to draw and then we comply and add our own embellishments. The above story goes as follows.

Henry wanted a pirate, so naturally I drew a ship with a pirate. The wavy sea was blue and bright and the sun shone orange. The pirate climbed up to the crow's nest to scout the sea when all of a sudden the waves were rocked by the appearance of a monstrous serpent (Steve's addition). Upon seeing the serpent, the pirate draws his sword but is soon no match for the fiery spray of the beast's breath and the crashing blow of his barbed tail.

Coloring is lots of fun. More to come...

Lovely Lights Painting

I love the light in this painting. It is what I think being in Paris would be like (of course until you step in a puddle of urine.) I like it paired with the brown chair and the unfinished looking floor.

Photo Courtesy of Organic Interior Design about two years ago.

Under the Mistletoe

How precious is this print by etsy seller belleandboo? So my decorations are up, the tree is in place and I am trying to muster the energy to make us some pillows. Funny huh? Anyway, pictures to come.

Have a great weekend!

Art Copy Cat

I would love to copy this copy of an original. Huh? This is from here by way of here. Strike that, reverse it.

Art of Display

This is something I am constantly trying to improve and change up in my own home as my style comes into its own: the art of display.
Over at Poppytalk she has a fun label about the art of display. Here is the link and here are some favorite inspirations by Alicia Bock, Pistachio Press, yumiyumi, kate banazi.
Another cool thing about these posts is they link all the buyable art so you check it our for your own home.