Happy New Year!

Time to plan.

Happy New Year! I’m back!!! I feel like 2022 flew by but I am looking forward to my creative journey in 2023. I have my design planner and calender out to set some structure to my workflow. I took much of November and all of December to reflect and begin to identify what I want my creative play to look like for 2023.

One thing that I would like to see is some enduring consistency with posts on this blog. I am thinking that I might have set my goal too high last year with three posts a week. So I am going to aim for two, sometimes might be three but definitely one a week. I want to continue to share both my Belinda’s Crafts work with Inside my Studio but I also would like to share my creative journey with various mediums. I have some new series in mind, one of which will be called, Product Play Wednesday where I will share photos, tips, trials and errors with new products I acquire in my creative space.

This year I feel like I want to dive into painting and watercolor. It is a medium that has presented a little anxiety for me in the past. I think I shy away from the unpredictable aspects but that is exactly what I want to conquer and let myself have fun. So I have acquired some great products to sink into it. I would like to learn how to use it alone and then work to combine it with my color pencils.

Another area I would like to explore deeply is papercrafting (3D and papercutting with kirigami art). I have had some really cool project ideas I put on the back burner far too long. So do come back to see me fail often but have some fun in the process.

I hope you had a lovely holiday season and look forward to some creative bliss in 2023!

Happy crafting!

Coloring in My Coloring Books for Inktober

If you have been around this blog long enough, you will know that I get excited for craft challenges. I like the idea of pushing myself a little each day to explore new mediums or master old ones. So this year, I have been thinking about Inktober. What is Inktober you ask? Jake Parker created Inktober in 2009 as a challenge to improve his inking skills and develop positive drawing habits. It has since grown into a worldwide endeavor with thousands of artists taking on the challenge every year.

Another thing you might know about me is I like to stretch challenges to fit my needs whether it’s a reading or crafting challenge, I always find a way to make it work for me.

So I am stretching this challenge to include my colored pencils and inks in my coloring books. That way I can also meet one of my personal goals which is to color more of my coloring books. Which we all know I have quite a large collection.

For the Inktober challenge you are supposed to draw each day. So I went through my coloring books and found one that might make the challenge less challenging for me. It is called. Matchstick Mouse – A Halloween coloring book and Matchstick Mouse – An Autumn coloring book. The images are really small and simple. So I might be able to complete one in a day or two.

Despite the fact that I am starting late, I will try to post a few days a week of the pages I color in this book for the remainder of the month.

Let’s see how many I can complete by the end of October. Let me know if you are participating in this challenge.

Happy coloring!

Close up with King Tutankhamun

Happy Monday! On this clold cloudy day I thought I would share some photos from my recent visit to see The King Tut Immersion Experience. I knew as soon as I saw the advertising for this exhibit in late summer that I had to go to see this with my family. So I quickly reserved some tickets for September to avoid the summer crowds

I don’t know how the facination with King Tut has remained so strong all these years but I know I am not alone whenever I hear something about him and his civilization whether it be a documentary or an exhibit.

My son doesn’t like me to post his picture so it’s only my husband and I in the photos.

There was a mixture of physical items and large projections. It was a really unique way to present the life of this boy king that was very engaging.

Another way this exhibit was different from the ones I visited in the past. The way that the information was presented was utilizing the entire ceiling to floor space in this warehouse in such a unique way. We took my youngest son and I think we all agreed that the exhibit lived up to the hype. The finale was like being at something created at Disney World where we were in the center of the room and the imagery and audio was presented 360 degrees so you couldn’t help but get excited. And just like a great Disney experience, they lead you right into the gift shop before you can exit. Despite my resistance, we all found a couple items we just had to have.

I am so happy we added this to our weekend adventures list. I think the three of us won’t forget this truly unique experience that provided a glimpse into the life and discovery of King Tutankhamun.

Happy Monday!

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Fall

Hello friends! I hope you had a lovely weekend. Somehow it managed to fly right by just like this month. I can’t believe it will be October very soon. That said, I always like to make sure I know the official day fall begins. Fall is one of my favorite times of the year and my mind starts to make those adjustments pretty fast. That said, I took the time over the weekend to head over to one of my favorite garden centers to purchase some chrysanthemums to plant in my garden. I laid down my tarp and filled my trunk with some beauties.

In late August, I tend to start to get bored with my veggie garden and start thinking about mums, pumpkins, and red leaves with the foliage change. This year we had such an awful drought that I didn’t have to feel guilty about my change of allegiance to the fall offerings. My veggies are nearing an end and many plants didn’t survive the drought.

So I start walking around my yard and look for wholes to fill with mums. I always fill the spaces next to my blanket flowers with mums for a big splash of color in my front yard.

The plants I had near my front fence didn’t make it leaving a nice place to put a pop of color too.

I still have more decorating to do on my front entrance but at least all of my plants are in!

Have a lovely day!

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