When You're Broke, You're Transportations Is Broke & You Get a Longboard

My newest art installation titled "Broken." My car is old old old and needs fixings that are far more expensive than what its worth and won't ensure its survival. My bike needs to go to the shop and get an estimate, I'll get that fixed sometime soon, maybe. I've been wanting to downsize to Ryan and I have 1 car. It's eco-friendly, we live in an easy to commute community, and I'm thinking of my budget. I have been riding my bike and I drive the car to visit my Grandma or go to appointments away from Brookside. When The Lizard crapped out, I made the dive and purchased a low priced professional longboard, I also got a helmet and protective gear.

Here I am Balancing on my longboard I fondly refer to as "The Planet Express." (Yes, I can also balance on it while standing up) Next step: Movement! 

 

xo,

a|s

Re-Branding: "Unicorn Approved Goods"

As a multimedia artist, I find it's difficult to stick with one medium for long so showing and/or selling is difficult. Last year alone I made a huge investment in a soap company after I got tired of jewelry design. It was successful and everybody loved the products, but I grew tired of it and it left me deep in the red. Then I started to pursue my painting again, spent a bunch of money on supplies, got an apprenticeship in New Mexico, came home, and wanted good colored pencils because the paint is messy. so I invested in them. This year I've done colored pencil work on paper and started back into jewelry design. I have made jewelry for a long time and have some training in silversmithing and glass bead making. I wanted an easy way to use my art in my jewelry pieces. I had Shrinky Dink paper from several years ago and have started making charms and pendants of my own out of them, They'll be coated in resin and added as a featured piece on a chain or a unique embellishment to another piece of work. Oh! Since I had silicone molds from soapmaking I have some molds I can use for resin pendants! I have also gotten several new resin molds for bangle bracelets. So, I do a lot of things. I decided I needed a name to cover all my interests and endeavors. I love unicorns, I go around dressed like a unicorn for fun; so I came up with "Unicorn Approved Goods" late a few nights ago. I think its fitting for my personality and all the random stuff I do! I'm really excited about this new start!

xx
a

Small resin Gemstone ready for the drill.

2in Seaside Glass Bottle Pendant ready for chain

Geode, turquoise, and cultured pearl tie close necklace

Golden and Gilded Unicorn. Cultured Pearl, Pink Stone, Swarovski Crystal  Drop Necklace

Sparrows Nest: 2018 Edition
Rose quartz, cultured pearls, Swarovski crystals, turquoise "eggs" in a hand-wired nest with 3 accenting gold-tone feathers. Unique wirework connects the handmade nest to a brass sparrow.

SOLD

Work I did earlier this year in colored pencil.

xo,

a|s

Home Organization and Finding Motivation

I love organizing my space and my life, but it hardly ever looks like it ever gets done to me. When my husband and I got married almost 7 years ago, we never consolidated our stuff so random crap has been in crates in our house for a long time. Recently, I took it upon myself to take care of the situation and decorate and organize everything with many things we already had, and some new stuff I got on sale. Decorating and organizing gives me a high, I know that's strange, but I get extremely motivated. The first thing I did was put a carpet runner I got at Wal-Mart in our hallway. I felt extremely motivated and wanted to do more!

 After I saw how great that looked and made me feel, I redecorated the bathroom with a new shower curtain, carpets, some pictures on the wall, and some new to me decor. A cheap way to add some color to our space for cheap is to buy scrapbook paper (I look for sales) and purchase cheap frames. I got mine at Hobby Lobby. They don't cost much and come in different sizes. The painting on the side mirror is one of my own.

I even got around to organizing our linen closet! It's amazing what some cheap bins and actually folding your linens do! I just can't say enough about the importance of bins!

The Living Room was a fun one, I wanted to declutter and change things around. I put a lot of decor in storage. I felt much better after the redecorating!

The laundry room is one of my favorites. I got the decor from Dollar General and already had the rug I got from Amazon and a tiny turquoise trash can from the dollar tree! How very convenient!!!

I finally have an adultier adult master bedroom! I bought the white and blue quilt and sham set from Dollar General for $30! I love how the bed looks made now. It looks really sharp compared to usual. I folded our family quilt over a quilt holder I got from my Grandma and hung some framed mirrors I got at Dollar Tree for $1 each! I filled an antique vase with some flowers that complimented the room and hung some metal wall art featuring an orchid sprig that I bought for 75% off at Hobby Lobby about 5 years back.










The hallway was tricky to decorate, but I think I've settled on this...I used part of my rock and crystal collection, a vase, Himalayan salt lamp, and a white glass duck with bright pink flowers to add color.

This is the best Before and After I've done, It took the longest but I'm so glad I did it. Our mudroom has been packed full of stuff since we moved in almost 4 years ago. Now its useful, clean, and I can let the pups in and out from my studio rather than going all around the house.

Before.

Before.

After!

After!

I still have a long way to go, but I love how the house is looking! More updates to come!

xo,

a|s