Back to School Printable for a Honey of a Year!

 Are you ready to get your school on?

Make it festive with these super cute printables

and celebrate a sweet year with

teachers

classmates

and to dress up your child's study area.

These are super inexpensive at my etsy shop

only in season. You can print them and give them as

back-to-school and teacher appreciation gifts.

You get 3 variations in one 

instant download PDF file.

Have a Honey of a School Year!

Everyone deserves it!

Spring and Mothers Day Treats

 I've been having a lot of fun lately placing 

my art onto products!

My hand painted bees buzzing in the clover

look great digitized and printed on this floor cushion.

And the water color tiger lilies complement

it for quite a lovely garden ensemble.

If you're looking for a Spring treat or Mothers Day gift,

my art is on products at my Society 6 shop .

I believe this code will get you a discount:

https://share.society6.com/x/4nS7hj 

if you copy it and paste it in your browser

to visit Society 6 (for a limited time). 

The One Thing

 Across the miles,

Across time,

Across joy and pain,

Feeling lost and found,

This is The One Thing:

You Are Loved Always and Forever.

Our souls are ever connected

in The Heart's Song.

Thank you, friend, for the unmistakable message.

Happy Easter.

Mothers Day Gifts for the Sewist, Crafter & Maker

It's nearly that time of year to celebrate

all the women in our lives!

Make your crafter, sewist, or maker

happy with this fun mug

featuring a vintage Singer sewing machine

and lots of notions that were

hand painted in gouache.

Or maybe you prefer something 

portable to carry

all those supplies.

This backpack is just the ticket!

Either way, you'll be supporting her creativity

and mine with these fun products

featuring my original art.

Visit my Society 6 shop today

for more gift ideas!

100 Days Project

Are any of you taking part

in the 100 Days Project?

It's simple.

Choose an action and stick with it

for 100 days.

Ok, that's not always so simple as it sounds!

I invite you to pull up a chair and 
cheer me on. I can use the support!
Watch my 100 Days project over on Instagram.

I chose 100 Days of Things that Fly.

I will be making some kind of art

related to that theme

every. single. day.

In this example, I created monarchs, 

the caterpillar and the milkweed that 

Monarchs feed on.  I drew a chair, 

made a pattern from the monarchs and milkweed, and put it on the chair.

I will not be able to be this

fancy every single day.

But I will strive to post something

related to my theme every day.

The idea is to

"do it for the process."

Show up every day and see what you learn.

Some days might not be perfect,

but do what you can.

So, pull up a chair and come
help me do this thing with your support and encouragement!

And if you're doing your own 100 Days Project, please let me know!

World Wildlife Day

This year I will be posting

about things I believe in and support.

You and I--we create more than arts and crafts...

we create the world

we live in.

It is astonishing and disconcerting

 to realize that we are living with 

only HALF the population

of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians 

and fish that we had in 1970.

It is important to recognize that this 

actually puts humans at risk as well.

I want to live on a planet populated

by the awesome and glorious diversity

of animals that a power much greater

than us saw fit to create!

So, I painted this tiger in gouache

to celebrate World Wildlife Day.

Human consumption of animals--

whether killing for food or trophy--

and destruction of forests are the

biggest reasons for the alarming declines

in animal populations around the globe.

BUT...we can make a difference!

The wild tiger population increased

last year for the first time in conservation 

history due to the efforts of 

governments, communities, and NGO's.

We have power and we can use it for good.

Our awareness and financial support of these

efforts, reduction in eating meat,

reduced energy consumption, and

boycotting any exotic animal products

can help turn around this unsustainable

trend of destruction.

Find out more at the World Wildlife Fund.

and by the way...

The Wildly Original Link party
will start up again this week after
an extended holiday break!

December Calendar Page Printable

Hello December!

Click image for your free calendar page!

It's my last free Calendar Page offering

for 2016!

Featuring a jolly St. Nicholas

to make all your days in December

a little more merry and bright.

Click the photo above to 

get your free printable calendar page.

And check out these holiday crafts

while you're here:

An InLinkz Link-up

Free Printable November Calendar Page

Hello, November!

It is a time of harvest and thanksgiving

in these parts.

To celebrate, I'm sharing this

free printable calendar page for the

month of November.

It features my hand-painting in gouache

of mums, squash and gourds.

Wildly Original #189 link party

Hello, Friends!

Pardon my absence..

I had a winter bug that had me

down for a bit.

But I'm back with my party shoes on!

Merry 2016!

Just a quick little sketch

to wish you a

Happy New Year!

More than anything with this piece,

I was playing with the textures

and learning how to apply them

in Illustrator.

Did you make any resolutions?

Follow I Gotta Create! on Instagram

for more sketches.

I'm definitely having fun with it!

I Gotta Create is on Instagram!

Hello, Friends!

Are you following me on Instagram yet?

I invite you to join me there!

I'm sharing a part of my creative life

that is quite different from our

crafting endeavors over here on the blog.

Here is an example of my art from the 

"Cruise Vacation" scrapbook paper 

and stickers line I designed.

Check out my original artwork

and follow me on Instagram

HERE.