Items for Sale

Hello, readers! I just thought I'd let you know I have a few items for sale. One is a necklace and earrings set, one is a painting. I was going to sell them at a silent auction for charity, but turnout was low and the amount of bids was lower, and they didn't sell. If these are bought, all the proceeds will go to Donate a Smile, a nonprofit organization that provides dental help to the Central African Republic. Please visit their webpage; it's a much needed organization! Here are the items I'm selling. If you have questions or would like to buy them, contact me at beth.jennys@gmail.com.

Necklace and Earrings  Set ~ $15

Pie Painting ~ 8 x 10 inches ~ Watercolor and Colored Pencil ~ $20

Retro Photo

Well, I just spent some time retouching a photo to use in thank you notes for my wedding (so late... fie upon me), and then thought the photo I was working on would look nice if it had a vintage black and white look. I've always liked old photos; they have so much personality. I found a good Photoshop tutorial that helped me out; I've done modern looking black and white photos, and vintage looking sepia ones, but never a 1940's/50's looking black and white. I like the way it turned out quite a bit, so I thought I'd share it with you. Thanks for reading!

Michael and Elizabeth ~ 10/11/12

Finished Pie

So, I added detail to the pie picture using colored pencil, so here's the final product! I wish I had started it earlier so I could have spent more time on it; It only took me about an hour in total. Still, it's not bad. What do you think, dear readers?

3.1415926, all finished.

Upcoming Projects

Well, I'm finally starting to make art again! Tonight I started a piece that I'll be putting in a silent auction to raise money for the organization Donate A Smile... It's going to be watercolor and colored pencil, and I'm done with the watercolor part!  I've lost my small watercolor brushes, so the detail will be added with colored pencil. The proportions in the photo are a little off... I took it with my webcam, so the picture isn't very good quality. The painting is a bit wider than this photo shows. It needs a lot more detail, but I'm happy with the colors so far.

3.1415926

Once that's done, I'll be working on a picture of the Little Point Sable lighthouse for my Aunt. She paid me way in advance for it so that I could buy my wedding circlet. Hopefully I'll have both done before Christmas so I can write another post soon! Thanks for reading!

I'm Married!

Hello to any readers that I still have! I'm married! Now I'm working on cleaning and organizing my apartment, and then hopefully I'll start making things and posting them again. In the meantime, here are a few pictures of me getting married. Hope you like them! My brother Ben took the last two photos... He's pretty terrific. He shot those with the sun setting behind us and they barely needed touching up because he's just that good at lighting. Just thought I'd brag about him a little before I finish up. Again, enjoy the photos, and thanks for reading!

Me in my dress. I designed it, and Kimberly Lynch of
thedressmakersshop.com made it. She's a genius.

This is me and my amazing husband, Handsome McHandsomeface...
more commonly known as Michael.

Me, Michael, and our posse of awesome attendants.

Quick Update

Hello, everyone! I just thought I'd let you all know I'm still alive. I'm not quite unpacked from moving, and the wedding is drawing nearer (less than a month to go!) so this poor blog has been kind of neglected... hopefully I'll have pictures of my flower girl's dress to put up soon, though! Again, sorry for the lag, and I hope you keep checking in!

Wedding Project #2: Boutonnieres and Corsages

Here are the boutonnieres and corsages I made! As much as I am a fan of fresh flowers over artificial, I thought these had lots of advantages. They look really cool, for one; they're already done, which means one less thing to do the day of/before (I'm not hiring a florist; yeah saving money!), and they won't wilt. Plus, I had a lot of fun making them. The leaves were made of scrap fabric, on which I stitched stripes for the veins. The purple is from a skirt I made years ago, and the brown is from my maid of honor's dress (I had to take off quite a bit to hem it for her!) There are more of my denim rosettes in the boutonnieres, and some artificial flowers from garlands I didn't have any other use for.

For the mothers of the bride and groom.

For the grandmothers.

For my ever-so-handsome groom.

For the groomsmen.

All the boutonnieres...

...and all the corsages.

Wedding Project #1: Headbands

I finally have pictures of more of the wedding projects I've been doing! The first project I did was making rosettes to add to the bridesmaids' headbands. We bought plain purple headbands, but I wanted to tie in the blue of the denim jackets they'll be wearing, so I decided to make denim rosettes to sew on. The best rosettes tutorial I found online involved box-pleated ribbon trim... but I still wanted denim, and was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to find box-pleated denim trim at my local fabric store, so I spent quite some time folding, pinning, and stitching strips cut from old jeans. It got pretty boring after a while, but I'm really happy with the results! The flower girl's headband uses store bought ribbon flowers, and my mother helped me out by putting it together. My sister, the maid of honor, will be wearing the purple rose clip.

All the hairpieces. They look so pretty together!

For Sale

I have a few works available that I'd like to sell, so I thought I would post them. If any of you readers are interested, or have friends or family that might be, please let me know! Also, don't hesitate to comment or contact me with any questions about the artwork. I can provide larger photos, if anyone would like to see more detail.
Both of these come with the mats and frames shown in the photos, so I'm giving the frame sizes rather than the size of the artwork.

The Gift of the Magi
Pastel Illustration
19.25 inches high, 19.25 inches wide
Price: $175

At the Back of the North Wind
Watercolor Illustration
15.75 inches high, 27.75 inches wide
Price: $225

The Veil!

I finished my veil yesterday, and my mother took photos! I'm very happy with how it turned out. To give proper credit, the circlet I'm wearing is from Medieval Bridal Fashions. It's the Innocence Circlet, if anybody's curious. Anyway, here are pictures!

Some Doodles

This is going to be a rather paltry post, but it is high time I write something new. I would post photos of some of the wedding projects I mentioned, but I have been so busy I haven't taken any pictures yet. I'm also out of state and forgot to bring my camera... oops. Don't give up on me though! I have promised pictures, and I will take some as soon as things have settled down, probably in September. Since that's a long time to wait, though, here are some doodles I've done to tide you over, and show how I spent my time during class lectures in years past.

I like designing costumes, especially
medieval ones.

Once I design them,
I figure out how I would
sew them.

I doodled this during an art class in high school.

I like to doodle on empty chalkboards when no one's around, too.

Sometimes my doodles are more bizarre than artistic...

New Projects, Old Projects

Hello, world! It's been a while since I've posted; I hope nobody's lost interest! I've been preparing for my October wedding, so I've been quite busy with new projects. I'm making several things myself. I'm making my own veil, since I don't like tulle, and nobody seems to sell veils made of anything else. I found some gorgeous chiffon and have spent the day cutting and hemming it. I couldn't find a flower girl dress I liked either, so I'm making one (I'm very excited about this project in particular!) My mother also commissioned me to make her a custom necklace to match her mother of the bride dress, so I'll be working on that soon, and I found this great idea on pinterest for the groomsmen's boutonnieres, so my mother and I will be making those, too. (If anyone knows the original source of the boutonniere picture, please let me know so I can give them credit!) I'll be posting pictures of my projects once they're finished, of course.
I thought I'd add a few pictures of older projects here too, just for fun. I hope you enjoy them!

I drew this when I was 16, and it's always been rather a
favorite of mine.

Another project I did in high school, a little later on.  It was such a fun
way to explore value and texture! My low quality scanner blurred
the bottom left a bit, alas.

I drew this self-portrait during my sophomore year of college. It made
it into my college gallery's juried show, and was a favorite of my
drawing/painting professor. There's some glare on the photo due
to my lazy/paranoid photography; I didn't want
to take it out of the frame.

I did this during my sophomore year too, I think. Using the colored pencil on a
darker paper led to interesting results. 

This is the most recent, done during my senior year. It's illustrating
"The Gift of the Magi", by O. Henry, one of my favorite short stories.

Little Point Sable

I thought I'd post a photo of my most recent painting. This is  is a scene from the west Michigan beach I have visited every summer, ever since I can remember. It's an oil painting, done with palette knives instead of brushes. It measures 24 by 30 inches. This particular piece is not for sale, though I have been commissioned by a few people to paint similar pieces. I'm also looking into making prints of this one, so let me know if you're interested in a piece like this.

Recent Project

This is a set of jewelry I recently completed for a set of bridesmaids (and a flowergirl). The bride wanted all the jewelry to be the same style, but each attendant was wearing a different color. That made things difficult; none of the jewelry she liked came in all the colors she needed! When she asked me, I was happy to take on the project. Each set consisted of a 16" necklace and a pair of earrings. If anyone is interested in commissioning a set of jewelry like this one, please leave me a comment or send me an email.

This is the flower girl's set.

The flower girl's earrings
are smaller.

Here's a better shot of the
bridesmaids' earrings.
They are all exactly alike,
except for color.

Hello, World!

Once upon a time, there was a girl who loved to draw. She started as soon as she could hold a crayon, and never stopped (all her class notes and church bulletins were covered with doodles). Once she got older, she started learning more varied types of art: calligraphy, jewelrymaking, sewing, painting. The girl's little sister liked to say, "Anything she touches becomes a work of art!" This was definitely an exaggeration, but encouraged the girl. Unfortunately, one year, the girl couldn't find a summer job. It was worrisome; she was saving up for her wedding, and for a new apartment, and for all kinds of bills she was going to need to start paying. Quickly, she thought up a solution: art!

Yes, art. I am that girl, and I am going to be offering pieces for sale and taking commissions for all kinds of artwork. I'll be posting some pictures soon, to show what I have to offer. If you have questions, my email address is beth.jennys@gmail.com.

P.S. Please leave me a comment about the readability of this font-- I think it looks nice, and I read and write in cursive quite often, but if it's difficult to read, I'd like to know so I can change it. Thanks, readers!