a festival and one of the cutest baby boys i know!

hey guys!
i know, i know...these took me for ever to get up on to here! i apologize, but i think once you see them you won't be as upset with me anymore! haha! these are the photos from our time at pittsburgh step trek last weekend! we had a really nice time despite the lack of sales. the people were very nice (as usual) and the weather was just lovely. jessi, my dad and i were all that attended that day. amanda i think was out of town, or maybe she had to work. i can't really remember. jessi was working on her hats, i was frantically checking my phone (my boyfriend disappeared that weekend, he ran off to philly to watch a starcraft compition! haha!) and my dad was doing a little bit of wood work. he's been coming up with some really awesome designs and i can't wait to show you once he's finished!... after those photos, are the ones of my adorable nephew. he's not my nephew by blood, but he's the gorgeous son of one of best friends from college, april, and i love him like he was blood!

so enjoy the photo dump! <3

 ever seen a baby plank before??? me either!

 i'm so in love with this last one, even though its a little blurry. april is the most adorable mother, and i love watching her with bryson. its weird though, it feels like nothing has changed. like bryson should have always been there and her and josh should have always been married. they're the raddest family both of them are all tattooed and bryson is probably going to grow up to be one of the coolest kids! i'm just so glad i'm able to even be a part of it. i'm excited to watch this little bugger grow up! love you bryson.

 XOXO,
aunt holly

because we all need a little bit of happy sometimes...

i'm not going to lie, things have actually kind of sucked around my way lately. without going into details, i'll just leave it at that. BUT, what do hollys do when they are feeling down???

TURN TO THE INTERNET FOR AWESOME THINGS of coarse.
so i'm bringing you something that have been brightening my spirits lately in hopes that if your feeling bummed out, burned out, or just plain grumpy...this will bring you a little happy. coz' we all need a little happy sometimes.

first up, is a cake recipe that i'm pretty sure i'm going to be trying my hand at later on today. i found this blog via drop dead kawaii, i know i've mentioned her at least once this week, but i really love everything she posts!! the blog is called raspberri cupcakes and they have a million drool worthy things to make! if i had the ingredients and didn't care about gaining a million pounds, i'd make every one!!! they all look so fantastically yummy and the photos are just gorgeous, go check it out! and if you make one of her recipes, send me a link i'd love to see what you've made! so cake!

its a simple fluffy vanilla cake that looks so good! i can't wait to try it! i've been dying to make cake pops recently and i think that's what i'm going to use this for. i know i could just use a regular box mix, but what fun is that!?

next up...amazing art!

 source

 here's a video of his painting process, i watch it every now and again when i need a little inspiration! he's brilliant! i love all his art. source

also, HYSTERICAL COMICS!
Hannah Hillam of verbal vomit is kind of my comics hero. i'm in love with her stuff. her 'how to be a hipster' series is pee your pants funny! and this latest one that she posted, the cow video, made my day.

you should totally go check her out! i promise, its good!

and who can resist a cat video...



well, i hope this brightened your day a bit. it has for mine! now i'm going to go pay my student loans, work on editing some photos, cut out a million post cards, and maybe paint. yay for trying to be productive!!

XOXO,
holly

graphics & fonts

hey guys! i found some new fonts today, from http://www.deviantart.com/ they were free! and i can't wait to try them out on a bunch of new projects, maybe even some new business cards! woohoo! soooo so very excited!

that's all!
XOXO,
holly

cake and new friends!

hello everyone! and welcome new friends!!!

its kind of a slow sunday for me. so i've been browsing around the internet and literally just now stumbled over these crazy cakes! i thought i must share them with you! also, its something fun for you newer readers to oogle at until i finish up with my photos from yesterday! i found this photos via drop dead kawaii if you don't read this blog yet, i highly recommend it! she always has super cute stuff to share and a bunch of amazing art every now and then. now on to the awesome cake!!!

i want this to be my house! can i live here pretty pretty please???

the artist's name is scott hove. and he's kind of amazing! i think i've fallen in love with his work. you can read more about cakeland here on his site. and you can see a few more behind the scenes photos and read about the process in the article from hifructose.
that's it for me today everyone! i'll be back later this week with tons of photos and some more art to share with you! until then, stay awesome people! and thank you to our new friends for following and good luck in the giveaway over at miss indie! if you haven't entered it yet, you totally should!! i'm super excited to do a portrait for one of her lucky followers!


XOXO,
holly

painting progress vol. 3 (skin)

hey all, i'm back with the Adele piece. i've been working on the skin. i'm far from done, but i thought i'd show you what i've got so far.

 

 i've been saving a copy of it every time i take a break. it gives you a better look at how things progress instead of a picture here, a picture there. one of these days i'll figure out how to record my screen shots as i paint so you guys can just watch a video. if you haven't seen one of these videos, your so missing out. 

this one is by an artist i found through deviantart. i like the style of the work, even though i'm not a huge manga fan (though i do have some favorites!).

that's about it for me tonight. i'm going to go pick up jessi and get ready for tomorrow. its going to be a long, crazy day. we've got the festival in the morning, then dad and i are helping my aunt out at a haunted trail later on in the evening where i'm going to be doing dad's, aunt becky and my own makeup! it's going to be a craaaaaazy day! but i promise to take a million pictures and jess and i will try to film a vlog in-amidst all the insanity!!

Vlog #2

**for some reason towards the end of my video, the audio and video don't match up. just bare with me, there's important info towards the end**





XOXO,
holly

new painting and prints

hello friends, i have something pretty neato today for you. it's a painting that i started almost a year ago and finally finished this week. i also have a  few 'in progress' photos of it from when i was working on it! you can get this as a print over here on society6. i'll also have a few prints of it this weekend at PITTSBURGH STEP TREK you can read more about the festival and everything in this post  jessi and i will be there this weekend. so if you're in the area please stop by and say hi!! i'd love to meet some of you!

i did this piece in water color, ink, oils and acrylics on bristol board (its just a really nice kind of paper). so here's those photos!

i hope you guys like it! i'm very proud of this piece it took me a very long time to finish it. i started it when my mother first went into the hospital. it was a good way for me to take my mind of things at the time. and after everything, i wasn't able to pick it up for a while. but i'm glad i did, it's become one of my favorite paintings to far. i've titled it 'death's cold grasp'. i know it's an extremely morbid title for such a lovely scene but it's really all i could think to call it. it was born out of a tragedy and thus the name. so sorry if this brought down the mood, but i figure i should tell you guys the truth about it instead of me naming it something bright and cheery when i know in my heart it's not what it is about.

on a lighter note...jessi is coming over tomorrow night and i'm going to convince her to record a vlog with me, so that should be fun! you guys will get to see how nuts we are! she brings out the best parts of me, i love her dearly and i don't think i laugh harder with any one else, well, except amanda. holy crap, the next time the three of us are in a room together i promise to record something. we've always been the three musketeers and i know you guys would get a kick out of it!

well, until then my friends!
XOXO,
holly

coffee illustrations

alright alright...i know some people think starbucks is kind of douchey and i am quite aware they are really expensive...but how can you people resist the tastiness??
i am a coffee addict. i can not live with out the stuff! today i stumbled across some pretty neato pictures that i'd like to share with you.
i don't know if i've mentioned this before or if you guys have noticed, but on the starbucks logo they've done away with lettering and all they have on there now is the siren. which everyone knows as being the logo, oh how pop culture affects our brains...but i digress.
so what they did was ask Bernadette Moke to illustrate a series of doodle cup
i think they're awfully rad!

  images found via: here and here

this kind of art just makes me want to draw on everything! see what you did starbucks, now my dad is going to come home and all the cups and mugs are going to be drawn on! haha! **actually i don't think he'd mind!*

well, i hope your monday is filled with inspirations today! 

also, guys if you could, please pop over to this post and take part in the poll i've got going on. it would really help me to know what you guys want to see come out of this blog and our shop so that i can bring you better products and articles that you're interested in! it would help me out a lot!!

XOXO,

holly

poll: what do you want to see more of this season?

Aaamazing embroidered portraits.

i come baring gifts my friends! gifts that come in the form of the most gorgeous embroidered portraits my eyes have ever seen! not. kidding. you're going to pee your pants!

i originally found these on twitter via @designmilk, oh how i love the twitter! i've stumbled upon some of my favorite people and some fantastic blogs and artists! twitter is my favorite lately! the artist's name is

Cayce Zavaglia 

"Artist Cayce Zavaglia considers herself a painter (she is formally trained in drawing and painting), but for the last ten years she’s been working on a series of portraits that are more works of embroidery. Atop a background of sanded and distressed acrylic, Zavaglia uses crewel wool to hand embroider the likenesses."
quote via design-milk

i won't make you wait any longer...here we go!

can you even begin to imagine how long this must take her?! holy cow! i'm in love with them though, and am astounded by the amount of detail. when i first saw these early this week i actually thought they were photos. looking closer and at the detail shots, you can see the amount of thread and yarn that is used. i'm blown away at her skill and attention to the fine details of her models.
dear, cayce...i am in love with your work!

XOXO love,
holly