Getting ready for window painting. Here's a picture of me last year. It's a lot of work/fun. Window painting for me used to be a huge money maker for me and my family. We paid a lot of debt off with that seasonal money, and have always had great Christmas's. The past couple of seasons have been strongly affected by the down economy. Since the recession the small family owned business has slowly dwindled. I don't know what this year will bring.

I was taught the skill by my mother when I was 14. I am now 28. I can't think of life without Holiday Window Painting.

The business now consists of mainly Meleah, my sister-in-law, and I. We have always been blessed by the sacrifices our families make for the one or two weeks we spend painting. Hopefully this year we will be blessed also.

Getting ready for window painting. Here's a picture of me last year. It's a lot of work/fun. Window painting for me used to be a huge money maker for me and my family. We paid a lot of debt off with that seasonal money, and have always had great Christmas's. The past couple of seasons have been strongly affected by the down economy. Since the recession the small family owned business has slowly dwindled. I don't know what this year will bring.

I was taught the skill by my mother when I was 14. I am now 28. I can't think of life without Holiday Window Painting.

The business now consists of mainly Meleah, my sister-in-law, and I. We have always been blessed by the sacrifices our families make for the one or two weeks we spend painting. Hopefully this year we will be blessed also.

Getting ready for window painting. Here's a picture of me last year. It's a lot of work/fun. Window painting for me used to be a huge money maker for me and my family. We paid a lot of debt off with that seasonal money, and have always had great Christmas's. The past couple of seasons have been strongly affected by the down economy. Since the recession the small family owned business has slowly dwindled. I don't know what this year will bring.

I was taught the skill by my mother when I was 14. I am now 28. I can't think of life without Holiday Window Painting.

The business now consists of mainly Meleah, my sister-in-law, and I. We have always been blessed by the sacrifices our families make for the one or two weeks we spend painting. Hopefully this year we will be blessed also.

Getting ready for window painting. Here's a picture of me last year. It's a lot of work/fun. Window painting for me used to be a huge money maker for me and my family. We paid a lot of debt off with that seasonal money, and have always had great Christmas's. The past couple of seasons have been strongly affected by the down economy. Since the recession the small family owned business has slowly dwindled. I don't know what this year will bring.

I was taught the skill by my mother when I was 14. I am now 28. I can't think of life without Holiday Window Painting.

The business now consists of mainly Meleah, my sister-in-law, and I. We have always been blessed by the sacrifices our families make for the one or two weeks we spend painting. Hopefully this year we will be blessed also.

Getting ready for window painting. Here's a picture of me last year. It's a lot of work/fun. Window painting for me used to be a huge money maker for me and my family. We paid a lot of debt off with that seasonal money, and have always had great Christmas's. The past couple of seasons have been strongly affected by the down economy. Since the recession the small family owned business has slowly dwindled. I don't know what this year will bring.

I was taught the skill by my mother when I was 14. I am now 28. I can't think of life without Holiday Window Painting.

The business now consists of mainly Meleah, my sister-in-law, and I. We have always been blessed by the sacrifices our families make for the one or two weeks we spend painting. Hopefully this year we will be blessed also.

Happy Birthday to me. It's my birthday tomorrow. 28. I figured it's about time I put together a list of things I want to accomplish by the time I'm 30.

1. Show my art in an exhibit. I just started making art a month or so ago. Well restarted since I've been married. I didn't realized how much I missed it. It would be incredibly brave to show my stuff as a professional. I am an extremely critical of what is called art these days.
2. Turn my etsy shop into a real income. This is something I have been trying at for a while. I just need to put in 100%.
3. Learn how to exercise on a regular basis. I suck at exercising. I would love to be slim and tone, I just love chips and movies more than vanity.
4. Plant a garden. I wanted to this before summer, but I was too late. I love plants. I would love to grow my own food, or just flowers. It reminds me of my dad. He was a landscaper.
5. Go see the redwoods. In my married life the furthest vacation I've had is the beach, but just a little bit farther is the place I've been wanting to go for years.
6. Get an Associates degree. Something I've already started, and totally doable.
7. Illustrate a childrens book. I love illustrations. I have been thinking of this for a very long time also.
8. Read the Bible in it's entirety. I've already started this. Some places are a hard read. I've read most of the Bible, but would love to read it from cover to cover.
9. Watch The Godfather. Here it's awesome. I have yet to partake.
10. Get a tan. This might seem lame. I don't get to go out in the sun much. I don't like tanning beds that much. This mostly represents the time I get to myself outside, not watching my kids. I also love the feel of the sun, and with the amount of sun that I get, I'm not afraid of skincancer or wrinkles being an issue.

Some of these things are kinda ridiculous. I don't care, it's my list.

I painted this a few weeks ago. I've found that I really love watercolor. I'll be pretty busy with the art classes I'm taking, so I won't have any time to paint for a little while. I did some pretty awesome gesture drawings in art 101. I turned the best ones in already, or you would be looking at them right now.

I'm pretty nervous about school. I've forgotten how to write an essay in English. I'm ready to fall asleep in my art 102 class. It's at 6 p.m. I'm taking a sculpture class on Saturday. I don't know if I have enough time for that one. They want me to put a lot of myself into those sculptures, so I'm nervous and excited to see what happens there.

It was Ella's first day of kindergarten today. Graham was really worried about being left out. We packed him a backpack too and let him come along to drop her off. Ella was grumpy when I picked her up. She is not used to waking up early. It will be a big adjustment for all of us.

It was my first day back in school also. English 102 & Art 102 today. I'm happy to spend the time to better myself. I really appreciate it this time around. I don't feel it's a huge sacrifice for my family like beauty school was. This is for me. There is something very special about that now that I am a mom. I don't feel selfish. I feel intelligent and privileged. Thank you little family for letting me go back to school.

Ella's Birthday dress turned out to be the best so far. I used this pattern. I didn't even have to alter it. It was missing the waistband and tie, so I rigged something up. I'm so proud.

Ella's Birthday has been awesome so far. We had a party this afternoon. I curled their hair and put on their makeup. My favorite thing I did was make capes for them to get ready in, like they were in a salon. (made out of vintage sheets of course) They also got to pick out a headband. 5 was the perfect number. Oh, I also printed out some faces for them to put makeup on. It was a huge hit!

So It is Done. I started this quilt while I was pregnant with Graham. I finished it just before his birthday in December.
Yes this beautiful quilt is lying in my driveway in this picture. My house has very little windows and my grass has quite a bit of dog poop on it. No, I don't have a dog, but i do have shitty neighbors. Any way getting back too awe and amazement - I love this quilt. It makes me so happy that I've made something so awesome for my kid. It never works out that way. I make lots of things for everyone else, but not this time. It's wearing pretty well too. It's already been through many washes.

I also pieced together 2 other circles of this Sendak illustration. It only took me a year and half to finish this one, we'll see when I share the others with the world.

It's Here. I got a custom order request for a Handkerchief banner for a wedding last night and I knew it was here. Page 72 of BRIDES Magazine, March issue.
"Vintage Handkerchief Pennants? Yes, Please; $30, liliarose.etsy.com." I can't believe it. I am so stoked. Now to list more banners.

I had a ton of tiny scraps from making banners from vintage handkerchiefs. I discovered I had enough tiny scraps to make about 20 tiny banners. They turned out really great. Ella loved posing for me. I promised her one for her room.

So I've been thinking a lot about this girl lately. Her name is Arianna. I met her a couple of times when she was just a baby before she got a type of cancer I know little about. She is my cousin Haley's daughter. Up in the picture she's hanging out with her dad, Travis. I really like this picture. She died this past Sunday. I'm going up to the funeral on Saturday.

I grew up with Haley. She taught me a lot about sewing. Just how to crap it together mostly. She married very, very young. We weren't as close after that, mostly because she married at 16 & I think I was 14 then. She grew up fast, I didn't. She has 5 kids including her Ari. She had a baby during Ari's treatment. She wants a lot of kids, even though she almost dies every time she has one. Haley has always been miles ahead of me.

I think that having a small child die (she was 3) must be quite a sacred experience. Only a handful of people really got to know this special girl. I didn't know her. I can't help but be a little jealous, and happy for the people who got to share this special experience. I think of my young kids, age 1 & 4, I know the best parts of them. I can't help but be thankful for the special bond we have.

I have a scewed view on death. My Dad's death was the most sacred experience of my life. I've never felt closer to the Lord. I knew that God called him home, like he was hand picked for a calling on the other side. It still hurts that he's gone. It's been 10 years. My Dad has been gone 10 years. He's missed so much. The only way to really comfort myself on him not knowing my kids is that maybe he's hand delivering them to me. This is a bad time to think of all this. I'm totally sobbing uncontrollably. My dad loved kids. He would have loved being a grandpa. When I held graham close, our special moments when I breastfed him, I felt that my dad knew him. I felt that the love of my father just channeled through him to me every time he looked at me, or melted into my chest. Having my children has been the most healing experience. I can't imagine having having one of them ripped away from me.

I almost forgot. If you want to read Ari's story follow this link.

I don't believe in original. I'm really unsure if anyone cares I'm awesome.

I've been really nervous about blogging again. Last year I had a baby, but that's not the reason I haven't been back. I did a custom order for someone on etsy. I copied a dress. I did an amazing job. I shared the finished product with flickr. All of the sudden everyone cared about the copied dress. It was even on a craft magazine blog. I am very talented. I thought I had finally gotten some deserved recognition for being awesome.

I guess I'm telling you the rest for myself. This is my place to post my things and the things I care about, and it was taken over by anonymous assholes. Apparently the folks over at Daydream nation didn't like that their idea was copied. Up there is the picture I posted theirs on the left, mine on the right. I didn't know what daydream nation was. That photo was supplied to me. I posted on this blog stating pretty obviously, "look at this dress I copied." I couldn't stop the hate mail from coming. The guy who designed the dress even posted, under anonymous so I will never really be sure if it was him though I'm pretty sure it was. The whole air mail line was for his father who had passed. Under his comment, and others that were by far the rudest I had been addressed in my whole life, I wrote a short apology. The hate mail kept coming. I erased the post.

I'm not sorry for making the dress. I didn't break the law. "You should be ashamed to call yourself a designer" someone wrote. I was and still am surprised at how hurt I am by the comments of people who live on the other side of the planet and never told me their names. I am not ashamed. I made a dress for someone who couldn't find where the dress was sold. Daydream nation never told me where you could buy the dress so I could pass it on.



I have had success though. My OWN idea. I make vintage handkerchiefs into flag buntings. One that I made will be featured in Bride magazine in March. These have since been copied. It was copied by THeinoriginals ironically. I don't think they copied me, though they could have. I think it was more like a couple of ideas I had that that had already been thought up. I could have sworn I was so damn creative too. I thought of making cone gnomes, and making gift bows out of VHS tape. Both ideas already taken. I don't really believe in original.