What is inspiring you these days? Are there certain aspects of life and art that are sticking out to you? When I think of things that are inspiring me, I think of things that excite me, give me energy, and keep me dreaming and creating. A few things that are sticking out to me are…

• Nature: trees, fields, animals…anything outside!
• Worn or old stuff that most would consider junk or trash
• repurposing an item for a unusual use of that item
• Textile combinations: loving the mix of metal with wood or fabrics
• Signs: i can’t stop making them
• Inspirational Phrases: can’t stop putting them on embroidered hoop art pieces
• Color: bright and colorful always catches my eye
• Wood stain pieces: love the mix of wood and natural elements with my color fascination

When I step back and realize what is inspiring me, I totally see its role in my art and creations. My latest art has all these influential inspiration areas in it. I took an old cabinet door and turned it into functional wall art. This door was able to keep the cost of painting a big piece of art cheaper by re-purposing the cabinet door as a canvas. It has color, stain, and knobs of different textiles mixed with inspirational phrases all centered around a fun illustration of a cow. I love it.

I started by spray painting the old door a fun teal background. I then sketched the head of a cow on top and painted it in.

Since I am loving the worn and rough look, I sanded my painted cow down. While I did this I also sanded the outer edge of my door to get rid of some of the spray paint and make the edges smoother. I then stained the whole piece with my favorite stain.

I liked my piece so far, but it didn’t seem finished. I started doodling all over it. I don’t think I would ever had the urge to do so if it wasn’t for my new shower curtain that I just adore. Once that was done, I added some fun knobs of all different colors and textures (just trying to keep more of a circle shape in mind) at the bottom. I love that those knobs made this fun, inspirational piece also multi functional as it can also hang stuff.

We visited my sister last week in Arkansas. She lives in a cute farmhouse with horses, chickens, loud roosters, kittens, a dog, and milking calves to boot (oh and a cowboy husband and adorable little girl). You might have seen some of the pictures from our time on Instagram. I have a bunch of gorgeous pics coming to share more about our time in the country.  I took this sign as a gift for her. It fit her farmhouse and color scheme perfectly and she loved it. The real gift was being able to give it to someone I love, who loved it.

What is inspiring you? Does your list resemble mine at all? I encourage you to make a list of what is inspiring you. The more we are aware of what excites us, the easier it is to make decisions and choices that build back into us. Thank you so much for checking in! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!