lifesnaps: wedding photos!

Okay, so these pictures aren't from this week...but we just got our wedding pics back from the awesome Haaby Photography and I'm beyond excited to share them with you!
And this is one of my favourites...my "anticipation face" when waiting to see my groom for the first time on our wedding day. Hehe.
Happy Friday!
Much love,

PS. See more of my wedding photos over at Budget Savvy Bride!

sweet visual treats: mike bennion

Mike Bennion creates awesome little vignettes bursting with pretty little treasures. His work doesn't really fall in the category of paper collage or art journals (which I usually post about on Sweet Visual Treats) but his assemblage technique of layering neat things upon neat things in tiny wooden boxes just makes me happy.

[Via NotPaper]

Happy Tuesday!

Much love,

sweet visual treats: clarissa

Clarissa describes her work as "simple words and simple messes". I totally dig her simple words and simple messes. [Via NotPaper]
Happy Tuesday!

PS. Are you a collage or mixed media artist that would like to be featured on sweet visual treats? Email me!

sweet visual treats: erin kenepp

Erin Kenepp makes the most loose and beautiful poetic journal pages. (Very Sabrina Ward Harrison-esque - love it!) I just want to sit with her and drink tea while satisfyingly smearing paint and writing out the little whispers in our minds that are dying to be heard. Sigh. (Find Erin on her blog or Facebook page.)

Happy Tuesday! Who is inspiring your creativity? Share in the comments!
Much love,

11 things in '11: the official list

What better time to share my goals for 2011 than...the beginning of February? Yes, I know this is typically something done in January. But see, I figure with 11 months left in the year, 11 goals are a perfect number to accomplish!
1. Subscribe to a new art magazine. This girl is craving some inspiration, and there is nothing more satisfying than flipping page after page of colourful pics. Any recommendations?

2. Work in a coffee shop. This has been a dream for years, and I plan to make it happen and cross it off my life list. (Never mind that I'm 27, and should have done this in high school or college...I still want to work at a cute little coffee shop!)

3. Submit my art to three blogs for publication. It's time to put myself out there. I can't wait around for people to just randomly find out about who I am and what I'm doing. So here goes nothing!

4. Submit my art prints to three stores. See above...and again, here goes nothing!

5. Read five old testament books. I have never read the entire bible. This is lame. I want to change that! And while the new testament books rock my socks off, the old testament is a little...hard to get through sometimes. (There are just so many names and places to keep track of, and I am not a history buff!) But one book at a time, I'll get there. I'm currently reading the book of Joshua, and plan to tackle four more books this year too.

6. Submit my art to Somerset Studio. This girl dreams of seeing her art in print. This girl's gonna do what it takes to make that happen.

7. Start a fitness routine (running). I began running last spring, and did it fairly regularly through the fall and early winter. Then came the cold weather and the chaos of December (my birthday, Christmas, and my wedding!). And after that came the super happy indulgent honeymoon. And after that came a few extra pounds that I'd prefer not to have. Eek.

8. Get a digital SLR. Notice how I said "get", and not "buy"? This is because I'm secretly hoping that somehow a beautiful camera will just fall in my lap and I will not be required to shell out the major coin required to purchase it. Fingers crossed...

9. Add greeting cards to Etsy shop. Gorgeous new blank cards coming soon! When? Who knows. But soon!

10. Volunteer with CTI Music Ministries. Nate and I both spent a year traveling all over the world with CTI (me as a vocalist, and he as a guitarist), and it was such a blessing to have been part of their incredible music ministry. We've been asked to be on the training staff for their overseas summer ministries in June and July this year, and while there are a lot of things that have to fall into place for this to happen, God willing, it will work out that we can be there to serve! (PS. I blogged briefly about my travels with CTI while I was away.)

11. Take an art or photography course. Screen printing? Paper making? Portrait photography? BRING 'EM ON.

Okay, deep breath. One step at a time to make these dreams reality...
Much love,