instagram watercolors

I recently returned from my annual Craft Retreat get-away. It was my third year attending and it did not disappoint. I met amazing girls, ate tables of incredible food, tried new drinks and walked away with tons of new artwork. win, win, win and ... win. :)  

One of my projects was exploring the idea of using a few of my favorite instagram photos and extending the photos with watercolor. Hope you enjoy. :) 

NYC Anthropologie Window Display Photo

Banana Pancakes - inspired originally from one of my favorite songs and artists

Downtown Chicago

Check out some of last year's Craft Retreat creations. 

Finerminds & some SoulPancake

FinerMinds by Mindvalley has been such a great resource for me lately. It's packed with uplifting advice and cute, pull-on-the-heart-strings videos. Articles about happiness, wellness and personal growth. It's the best pick-me-up tool I look to on an almost daily basis. 
I wanted to share this poster on some advice given by Arianna Huffington. Some of the steps you've probably heard before but I figured it doesn't hurt to get a reminder from time to time. :)  

source (and to see larger)

Here are two incredible videos also found on Finerminds by SoulPancake. If you're in need of some quick warm-fuzzies please please check them out.

Capture Your Joy

Amazing Happiness Experiment

First 5K with Brooks Ghost 6

Four months ago I decided that I needed to healthy focus in my life and challenged myself to run a 5K. Coming from someone who has never been much of a runner and usually raised an eyebrow at friends that would "pay money to run?" this was a pretty big deal for me. But lo and behold, four quick months later I ran my first 5K! 3.1 miles of sweat and hills. It was amazing tho! My oldest son ran it with me too *proud mom moment*. Friends and family came to cheer us on... It was honestly, a pretty amazing day.

I did have a few motivators along the way... a girl needs cute workout clothes, right? So after it warmed up a little, I picked up a few things. (seriously, I ran the first few weeks in my down winter coat - welcome to March in Wisconsin). Anyways – as much as I'd love to drop a month's salary at Athleta, I found some really great things in Target's active wear section and even found some great tops at Walmart. Who knew?! Great athletic fabrics for super cheap.

My first big purchase was these Brooks Women's Ghost 6 running shoes. LOVE them. AND, right now they're on sale! Check'm out.

And for completing the 5K, I am rewarding myself with the Cadillac of sports bras: Victoria's Secret Front Knockout Front Close Sports Bra. I'm patiently waiting - I seriously can't wait til it gets here! :)  Bra review to come later.

 
A little sweaty and a lot exhausted but WE DID IT !!!

glittery gold sperries

I first fell for Sperry boat shoes after spending time at a gorgeous marina in Sturgeon Bay the last few summers. Maybe it was all the pristine white boats... the perfect summer sun... the wine at sunset - either way, I have to admit I'm smitten with the entire lifestyle. It's like I've found my vacation-style calling. Here's where my mind wanders:

sperries • collage • boat 1 & 2

choose happiness

Lately my life has involved a lot of inner dialogue that goes something like this: “breathe Christina… breeeeeeathe… deeeeep breaths.” I know deep down things will eventually be fine and I DO realize things could be worse, but it’s hard not to get caught up in the roller coaster of emotions that’s involved with divorce. Sketching and reading positive books/articles/quotes has been a HUGE help. This one below is a pencil sketch I did with my own watercolor incorporated in the background. Hopefully you will find a bit of the serene-sunny-tranquility combination in it that I do.

Victoria's Secret Sugar Scrub

My newest favorite purchase is completely a result of cabin fever and the insanely long winter we've had. Victoria's Secret has walls of intoxicating fragrances and lotions and their Lemon Sugar & Coconut Body Scrub is a perfect mix of sweet lemon and perfectly subtle coconut.  And how freakin' pretty is that packaging?!?  I bought the scrub, the lotion and will probably go back for the body spray - if that's any indication of how much I like it. :)

VS lotion (scrub in stores) • collage • destinations

keep creating: watercolor sailboat

One of the toughest things about blogging, in my opinion, is the longing for everything you put out to the world to be amazingly wow-worthy... PIN-worthy... VIRAL-worthy. Unfortunately, I have piles of creative work that's anything but.  However, I'm forcing myself to keep going, keep practicing.. sketching... painting... sewing... because I'm not going to get any better if I don't do anything, right?  This article is an amazing inspiration and refreshes the way you think about talent. Serious motivation. 

So here's some of the work I did today. Not the most impressive sailboat... I think I actually like my paint mess photos a little bit more... but I think that proves you never know where things will go. Maybe I'll take my messy palettes and scrap paper and do some collage work - who knows? The point is to keep going.. keep creating. 

You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.