Weekend Plans

I'm headed down to Round Top, TX with my mom this weekend for the huge Antique Week they have every year. Miles and miles of vintage treasures make my heart go giddy up! I know I'm going to be completely overwhelmed by the magnitude of it all :) I hope to bring back some goodies, and I will share my adventure with you when we return! 

What do you have planned for the weekend? 

XO, Rhianna

Sketchbook Project 2012 Video

Here it is! I've made a short video of my Sketchbook Project titled: Uncharted Waters for you all to see. That is unless you can visit the Brooklyn Art Library and see it in person! The 2012 Book Tour kicks off April 14th in Brooklyn New York.

Visit the Art House Co- op.'s website for more info on the tour.

I hope you enjoy it, because I had a lot of fun with it!

Just a Head's Up...

It's hard to believe I've never had a giveaway on my blog! 

Weird. Well, I'm having my very first one this weekend and I wanted to give you the heads up on it! I have been doing a "Doodle a Day" challenge on Instagram and it's been a lot of fun! I've had many people comment that they would love to have some of my doodles as prints. So, for this giveaway I will be giving one lucky winner one of my doodles made into a print! This Saturday will be my last doodle of the month, so I will post the whole month's worth of doodles on Sunday for you choose from and enter! 

If you're on Instagram, you can follow me here: @ellolovey

Leave your username in the comments if you're on it; I would love to check out your photos!

p.s. I had so much fun using irocksowhat's gif tutorial on this post :)

Fish Tacos with Fresh Peach Salsa & Lime Sour Cream Sauce

I had this super tasty meal for the first time at a beach family reunion last year. Each separate family took turns making the meal for each night of the week. The first night, one of the groups made these fish tacos and I was hooked...ha! See what I did there? I never had peach salsa until then, and I absolutely love it now! I've tried my best to remember the recipe and some friends have been wanting me to share the recipe, so here it is...

Ingredients:

2  peaches, peeled and diced
1/2  small red onion, finely chopped
1-2  cloves of garlic, minced
2  tablespoons cilantro, chopped
3  limes
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon olive oil
4  Swai (or Tilapia) fish filets
2 tablespoons Chili Powder (or at your disgression)
kosher salt & fresh ground pepper (as much or as little as you desire.
10 corn tortillas

 

Serve up with the fresh peach salsa and lime sour cream and  there you have it!

This is such a great weekday meal, light, but full of flavor! I hope you try it out and let me know what you think. Oh.. and don't forget to clean up :)

Happy Weekend Lovelies!

Spring is Here!

 

First of all...Happy Spring to you! I don't know how the weather has been where you are, but here in Dallas it's been spring for months already. In fact, I don't even think we had a real winter :) I'm just happy to see spring colors popping up everywhere. 

So, this past weekend, we did a few little easy DIY projects at the house...

 

We just bought some blue stained glass spray paint and sprayed these quart sized mason jars to give them that vintage blue look. You just need to coat them evenly, but it's very easy. Let them dry overnight, and voila! We are going to use these as table centerpieces with some pretty flowers in them for the big day :)

(The spray paint can be found at Michael's down the craft paint aisle.)

Next up, I just jazzed up these plain clothespins with a little of the mint chalkboard paint I used in the mug DIY a few posts back. I also used a rubber stamp alphabet set with some black ink to stamp the word "love" onto the pins. 

Just paint the clothespins, let them dry overnight, then stamp any word you want. Some more ideas for words could be "memo", "to do", "family". So now you can stand the clothespin up and use it to display pictures or notes. You can get as creative as you want with this project... use different colored paints and inks, etc. You could hang your clothespins from some twine and make a garland, or use them as table name holders...hmm

What DIY projects have you done to get ready for Spring?

Illustration Friday: Shades

So the Instagram #marchphotoaday challenge, which I've been doodling my way through, and the Illustration Friday topic melded into the same category Sunglasses/Shades! Perfect timing! I haven't done an Illustration Friday in quite a while, and the day I happen to check the category, it's Shades...greatness :)  So I hope you enjoy my little doodle of shades. Have a favorite pair?

Happy St. Patty's Day

Took this photo in a patch of clovers this past weekend in Denton and thought it would be perfect to save for St. Patty's Day :) It was such a rainy weekend at 35 Denton that it really wasn't a great turnout. Darn! Better luck next show! So, may your St. Patrick's Day be full of rainbows, magic and lots

of luck! :)

XO, Rhianna

Chalkin' it Up...

Thanks to Amy Morby, of A is For Ampersand, I had a little chalkboard DIY fun this weekend :) I found her Chalkboard Mug Restyle post and knew it would be the perfect project for the $2 orange mug I found at Target. It's so easy and so much fun!

 

All you need is a plain old mug, chalkboard paint (I used the Martha Stewart Chalkboard Paint in a beautiful mint green color - can be found at Michael's craft stores), a small sponge brush, and some chalk!  I used a paint palette also, but you can use anything you have on hand to hold your paint.

 

Get your brush coated with paint and freestyle any shape or design you'd like! I made the outline shape of my heart with the mug lying down simply because it's easier to draw in this position for me. Once you start to fill in the shape you might find it easier to stand the mug up.

  

You need to wait 1 hour before you apply the second coat...

Once you've got it all prettied up, (this is the only part I don't like) you have to tortuously wait 24 hours for the paint to fully dry before you can start having fun chalking on it! I wanted to write on it right away, but I had to resist the urge :)

 

24 hours later...!!!

Voila! A bright and cheery start to the morning. I'm seriously going to have fun with this mug now. I hope you try it out for yourself! *One thing I did learn, is that you need to hand wash the mug when you're done using it instead of putting it in the dishwasher...or else all the paint will come off, but at least you know it's that easy if you want to change up your design!

Thanks again for the inspiration Amy :)

XO, Rhianna

Liebster Blog Award Giveaway!

Happy Sunday friends! Hope your weekend has been sunny unlike mine :) Well, I have a few awards to hand out! Last week I received my first Liebster from this wonderful lady- Rebecca at Littletree Designs and today I'm sharing the love and awarding 5 more inspiring blog winners!  These ladies are the tops in my mind :) So who are they? Ahem...in no particular order...

1 // Ashley Jensen Photography Ashley has a beautiful blog full of stunning photography with a vintage feel (my favorite). She shares my obsession with Instagram as well :) She also sells on Etsy and has her own handmade online shop Anchors to Ashes with lovely jewelry and accessories.

2 //  Hallo Heute Ina Hattenhauer is wonderful illustrator living in Germany and her blog is so fun and cute! She shares inspiring work along with her own beautiful illustrations, my favorites being her animated gifs.

3 // Something Nice Designs Robin Sheldon is also an Instagram pal :) Seeing a trend here? She is a Mid-West based illustrator and her blog is full of whimsical illustrations that will put a smile to your face! She also has an Etsy shop of the same name.  You will love her cards and prints!

4 // Moira Millman This talented UK illustrator has the cutest quirky little retro illustrations and her blog is adorable. Her work appears in magazine publications and other publishing products. I love her style. Her Etsy shop is a fave of mine too!

5 // My Life is Wherever I Am Lindsey Hansen, my new pal (no surprise here, met on Instagram friend) has a very inspiring blog sharing diy projects, inspiration, and her own hand lettering work. I'm excited to see her journey of starting her own Etsy shop! She's taking the leap! Watch out for more of her handlettering and doodles to come!

 
Congrats to you all! Post the Liebster Blog badge above proudly on your blogs, write a post thanking your award giver and link back to here. Then all you have to do is find 5 blogs of your choosing with less than 200 followers to pass the award on to!

I know you will enjoy these blogs as much as I do! So cheers to the winners and more readers!

Happy Mail!

 

 I received this beautifully hand-lettered illustration in the mail from Lindsey Hansen, a new pal I met on Instagram, and I'm so excited about it! It's always good to get some happy mail instead of the usual junk mail right? Yeah, thought so :) Well, she is considering opening up an Etsy shop, and I hope she goes for it! She has some really creative and inspiring doodles that would make great prints.

You can contact her about making this print for you. Just hop on over to her blog and you can also check out what new things she's got going on!

Thanks again Lindsey for the very lovely print! 

XO, Rhianna

Some Really Good News!

source

After finishing up my afternoon workout, I checked my email and found out that I have been accepted to be a vendor at the Renegade Craft Fair in Austin in May!!!

I could not be more excited guys! I've always wanted to attend a show, but haven't been able to...now I'll be a part of it!? What? I'm so thankful for this opportunity.

Plus, Austin is rad. Another good excuse to visit this hip little city :)

Anyone else doing a Renegade show, or want to go to one?

Over the weekend...out of town

a doodle I did in the car for the #marchphotoaday on Instagram :)

the prompt was "fruit"

A local favorite in Welborn, TX, just five miles from College Station, Hullabaloo's Diner. It was so much fun and the food was so yummy!

 The Chocolate Pie was amazing!!

 

Ya know, just strolling through the A&M Library :)

 Oh and saw the Blue Man Group perform. What a show!

Cutest little puppy!!

Funny mug finds at Cracker Barrell :)

My 1st Leibster Award!

Happy Tuesday morning! I'm thrilled and honored to have received a  Leibster award  for my blog from Rebecca at the Littletree Designs ! Thank you again Rebecca :) My little ol' blog?! Between my full-time job, running my Etsy shop, doing craft shows, and preparing for a wedding, it's hard to find time to blog, but I love it! So, I'm glad you find my posts inspiring. You're blog inspires me!  Go see the other winners here.

Now to return the favor, I will be awarding the Liebster award to 5 deserving blogs here in the next few days, so keep your eye out for this post! How fun is it to be recognized by fellow bloggers and to show them some love too?!

Hot off the Press

 

I just wanted to share with you a few new prints you can now buy in my shop.

I really wanted to do some more quote prints, so I did :) Hand-lettering is one of my biggest passions! So I wanted to show that, along with a little motivation for good measure. The "Little Birdy Told Me" print was inspired by my grandma's use of the saying growing up. I always wanted to do a little illustration of it.

"Your Time is Now" started as a little doodle I did as a reminder to myself and thought it could help others to be motivated. 

The last print is a collection of some of my favorite words and showcases my hand-lettering techniques.

Hope you enjoy!

XO, Rhianna