Pearl Button our tiny JRT turns 4 today = love sweet love

Pearl Button laying in her birthday hat, tired of photo shoot.

just starting out the photo shoot. not digging the hat and ear combo.

Pearl Button does not often get people food. So the cupcake was planted with puppy treats on top.

i just love how blown out the colors are on this one.

Today our little dog Pearl Button turns 4. Oh how very grateful I am to be loved by her. She is just the sweetest most precious silly little dog. My husband and I are goofy nuts about her. We have both always had big dogs. She is our first little dog who thinks she is a lab or Siberian Husky. Her two older sisters who are now at the meatloaf buffet in heaven trained her. I love that she has habits and skills of her older sisters. Thank you Clover and Nattie for all the love and training.

I have never had children so I am nutso about my little dogs. I have mad passion for dogs always have always will. I feel that if more people could be like a dog the better life might be. I love the honesty, the silly good happy always, no judgements, just love = pure sweet love.

Today we are celebrating Pearl Button. Actually, we celebrate her daily. Today she just wears the silly hat.

Love you sweet little girl. Happy Birthday.

A traveling blog post of sorts = starts with me

this picture of me reminds me to always have hope

knowing i can be surprised and grateful always

knowing i am so blessed and lucky = everyday

one mountain moved to live by the ocean = grateful daily me

i have crazy goofy love for dogs. they are my kiddos. Pearl Button. Oh my.

So I was asked by my dear talented friend Deb Taylor to answer these four questions and pass on
the blogging to other friends - all of us answering the same four questions.
She has inspired me in little and big ways she does not even know. Thank you Deb. http://diddebdoit.blogspot.com

So here is my list of questions to answer and pass on.
Then I will have some friends of mine do the same. Answer 4 questions and pass it on the blog wave.

I have thought a lot about what having a blog means to me. I would tell you this = it feels like a way to put good energy into the world. I am not always sure what to write or show and tell. I do know that when I sit down to create a new post something always spills out of me. I know that I am on a good path, for now that is plenty good.

Question 1. What are you currently working on? I am currently working on a line of greeting cards inspired by my love for dogs, living a grateful life, being silly, spreading kindness and joy. I am also passionate about getting published in a list of magazines I have listed on my vision board. I also want to be licensed this year with a line of products (paper, totes, wall decor) that I create. These are big dreams and I am going for them all at once. Knocking down fears one by one. Easy absolutely not but, worth it. Loving the energy I am putting into all of this mad crazy creating.

Question 2. How does your work differ from others in its genre? My work has always been full of layers that are just around. I am not a big fan of going to purchase extra special supplies to make my art happen. I use what is around me. I find that the less I worry about purchasing perfect supplies the better I do. I also almost always use vintage stuff. I love knowing papers have had a past and using them to create with. I also always start with good energy and intentions. I only want to make happy, creating from a place of love.

Question 3. Why do you write/create what you do? This is the easiest one of all. Creating for me is like breathing. It keeps me alive. Creating fills me up. Creating makes me whole. Creating is really very selfish for me = I honestly know no other way to live. I love it!!!

Question 4. How does your creating/process work? I make an outline of what my desire is to end with. If I work for a client I go through the list of needs and fill them as creatively pushed as possible. When creating for myself, I tend to feel moments in time and just paint, ink, draw, stitch, tear paper, stitch more. I have so many styles to my work - the one common piece would be layers. Much like life I am layered, my work is layered.

Now is when I post about another blog.
I am introducing a childhood friend of mine Monica Powell Pugh. I have know Monica since I was a very little girl. We grew up playing together - dolls, hide and seek, birthday parties in my pool every summer, listening to music on her parents houseboat. We attended grade school through high school together. Then we both attended Iowa State University. We both went our own ways. One thing remained a friendship. A history and love. Here is her blog - she is super talented and you will be inspired by her life and her talents. enjoy. 
http://www.veggiegirlandbakeryboy.blogspot.com/

sacred mother = a love like no other

mom and me on the right with my little cousin (one of my best friends) Tracy I think we liked our shoes.

me at three with my stylish mom and grandpa

love you to the moon and back mom - oh how i loved skipper

thank you mom for letting me find and follow my wings

Happy Mothers Day mom. Today is just one day out of 365 that I give thanks for the life you continue to give me. I became all that I am with your spirit, love and lessons. I continue daily to know more, give more and be grateful for all of the creativity you allowed in my world.

I grew up an only child. I can honestly say (you do not miss what you do not have) I was always surrounded by 4 friends who felt like my sisters. I was blessed growing up surrounded by creativity.
Mom was always decorating, playing music (records) nurturing plants, hanging laundry to dry on the clothes line by the lilac trees, splashing around with me in the pool (oh how i love water) and allowed to find my own style (even if it was vintage) ha.

I have always been given the freedom to walk my path. Always walked the life of an artist. No judgement (even when my mom and dad might not have know exactly what being a professional graphic designer met) I was given the support to go to college and to thrive in my art.

Thank you for continuing to fine awe in what I create. Thank you for following my life passions with me. This is my year to shine so bright, to get the noticing for my art to change my world. Thank you for being my mom. Easy not always but, forever worth the lessons. Oh, how I cherish you Mom.

Happy Mothers Day = Sacred love like no other.

shaken and grateful = strength

layered, painted. stitched, vintage. designed = me grateful as can be.

This past week I have been shaken to my core. I have had faith and hope to search for and know it would fill me. I have been blessed beyond by the love of friends and soul connections. Prayers were answered (they always are) in ways that I could not have guessed.

I am so incredibly happy to know that creating and living my life as a designer and artist keeps me alive = mind, body and soul.

Sometimes it is good to be shaken. Sometimes it is okay to be raw and ask for help. We learn so much about ourselves, if we listen and really pay attention.

I am here paying listening, creating and pouring more of me into all I do.

Grateful for strength and love sweet love. Knowing. Noticing. Doing the best everyday that I can.

the knowing i have = stronger then ever

collage and painting with pen and ink and gold leaf vintage book pages 

tiny tags tea stained stitches with vintage laces also stained hand written love

vintage fabric, illustration, pen and ink illustration, quotes, collage

vintage paper collage, painting, illustration, stitching, words that have meaning, nature

embellished box by me = adore giving gifts

illustration, pen and ink, words that change focus, threads

today a dream came true for me. loving the journey my past and present are giving me. it is so very easy to get caught up in the now. i do it. everyone does. knowing in my heart that the more love and goodness and following what is given to me (thank God) is a lesson i continue to examine and learn.

i am grateful for my life. in ways some of you will never know. i have walked dark stuff with a tiny light beaming. i have shared, given, loved and will continue to move these mountains. i know i can help others move mountains too. i know it with my heart and soul.

feeling grateful for the goodness that is in my soul.

create. create. create. and then create more. it is all waiting. i know it.

finding the path when it is not always easy = still a beautiful path

This week I was lucky enough to find a new path and walk the grounds of the Ringling Museum. Wow. I felt like I took a mini trip to Europe. The rose garden alone filled me up with so much discovery and glee.

I am searching these days for a peace to wash over me. I am experiencing panic attacks. Yes, the real ones that are super scary. I have been to the doctor and working with her on all that needs to happen.
One big question remains = why and what is making me panic? Soul searching I go.

My life has been filled with lots of soul searching, giving, loving and healing. I know that I can find the way back from these panic places. I am just on the path. So until I turn the right corner and walk down the right path - I will be searching. I will be noticing. I will keep my journal daily. I will create more art (the safest place in the world for me) I will love with a bigger heart. I will give more with less.

I will be grateful that this too shall pass and I will find the path of no panic.

Real life lessons. I will share and hopefully help some others.

finding my voice = knowing it is all good

line work some of my most favorite = ink with bamboo skewer

handmade envelope + treats for friends

hand stitched quilt piece by me, print, collage elements, all good.

Funny how many days turning into months then years it takes to find ones voice (again).
I have had my voice and run with it for years and years. I have had wild success with being a graphic designer, illustrator = always creating for clients. Having a rep to find my work. Lucky me. I have traveled and been lucky enough to snag really cool clients (that even made me feel like WOW-they picked me)

Well essentially with our move across the country last May I claimed my voice again. I am just hearing it these days (yes, it took longer then I thought it would to settle) I am so grateful that I live in beauty daily, inspired by the ocean, the birds, the lush tropics. It is all good. Really great. Finding that peace inside, the knowing = it is okay to just create and send it out into the world.

So I am creating with deadlines for myself these days. I am creating a body of work that will be coming together to dance for others. I am risking, I am pushing, I am doing this. Yes, I had found my voice again. Here I go.

Not easy. Learning daily and pushing harder. Okay, mountain get ready to move over. I am climbing you now.
https://www.etsy.com/shop/kellimay

learning so much about me these days = grateful lessons wor

work in progress = teaching me so much today

daily reminders = gifts of grace

daily reminders = gifts of grace

Lessons are always big for me. Sometimes they roll in hard and surprise me = and I wonder how did they ever come so fast and far. Wow. Lately, my lessons are more sneaky. Surprising still but, sneaky.
Focus on just creating for the sake of creating = for me me me. This is my uphill race.

I have my studio graphic design deadlines. I always meet them and they go swimmingly well.

I know must make the art of kelli world a deadline to produce and get out into the big world.

I am hoping by posting this I will start to believe I am talented enough. Silly how artists do this to ourselves. Tonight I am going to tell myself when I wake in the morning = Kelli you go get this world and show your art. Do it now. You are enough. You have everything you need. Go.

Hard lesson I am learning. I am learning.

staying on the path of creating, sharing and of course daily caring,

love sweet love princess owl hoot hoot

yes, i love to wear skirts but, not today. thank you.

my signature vest i adore wearing.

 

 

 

creating is where i find my comfort, peace, strength and my knowing. i just need to sit for a time and create and my world snaps into focus. i have always escaped to the most wonderful glee filled places with some level of knowing when i create.

staying on track so far this new year. creating for me. sharing with others. selling my original art for the first time personally. being super grateful that i am able to be an artist. trying to find the way to spread positive love and joy on a grand scale - world wide.

i will continue my quest knowing that the more i send out the better i feel.

grateful beyond. knowing.

facing fears = knocking them down one by one = staying steady

mixed media collage designed by me framed in vintage (of course)

graphics created by me, quote by me. unframed.

mixed media painting collage all by me. unframed.

daisy darling pen and ink, watercolor by me. unframed.

pen and ink illustration, watercolor by me. unframed

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pen and ink, watercolor illustration by me. unframed.

mixed media illustration artwork by me. unframed.

Crazy goofy me. I have always been a graphic designer (really like forever) and illustrator. I learned many zillions of years ago after a friend told me this = if it comes easy to you it is a gift, use it, do it.
I was already a graphic designer, illustrator, artist at the time. I never charged extra for illustration.
I always thought that if it came easy to me it was worthless. After this conversation I hired an illustration rep.

So for the past thirty years or so I have made a living (gratefully) creating for clients. I really never found the confidence to create just for me and put it out there in this great big world. Crazy as that sounds it is very true.

So after many years of nurturing this thought of creating for me and sharing with the world = I begin. Yes, I begin again. I am creating. I am listing my art on Etsy. I am telling others that it is out there to be found by like souls. I am still trembling inside praying that the folks who receive my art will like it in person.

I so look forward to the day when the anxiety leaves me and I know this = Kelli your art is good, it helps others feel good, it is okay to put it all out there.

Thanking you for sharing my journey. You are greatly adored.

the creating of a logo = i love this so much

original pen and ink illustration

pen and ink illustration of laurel wreath and flower

final logo = full of layers, illustrations, favorite colors 

 

 

I love creating logos. Truly they might be some of the best things I love designing. Adore these babies. Interesting that when it comes to creating a logo for little ole me = it proves to be most challenging.

So in this New Year of 2014 I have decided to face every fear and slay it down. I love love love the child like nature of me = I am embracing this finally. Hence, this little logo that feels happy, full of hope and joy.

My wish is that I can fill the space in my world with love, joy, unconditional glee.

This tiny little simple logo is my fresh start greeting 2014. Snappy happy me. Grateful to the moon and back to be living this life of mine.

listening to my heart = really listening, finally

listening to my whole heart = facing fears

my first printed Pearl Button card 2013 Holiday

my first Pearl Button Sticker 2013 Holiday

forever grateful for my little 12 pound muse = daughter Pearl Button

2014 for me is about making my dream a reality. creating designs filled with joy filled words, photos, layers of design and love tons of love poured in = cards, cards, cards.

i have so many fears about making this happen = not sure where they come from or why? i am choosing this = face them, break them down one by one and THRIVE.

i will be learning how to create a following of like minds and souls. i do hope to inspire, create and give of myself through my designs.

here i go. please come with me = we will have fun.

so it has been a month = crazy flying time

my re birthday treat

gifts from a sacred soul friend

new view from our new rental home in two weeks

practicing life

so it has been almost one month since i posted. i have been coming up with new names for my blog after much soul searching i have it = kelli may-krenz. yes, I am more then enough. Simple and pure it is just about being real.

moving again this month. yes, i waited 17 years to sell my home and move across the country. now after 3 months moving again. grateful for this life of change and gifts that are blessed for me.

i posted a few photos above of random bits of my life these days. simply said it feels good to be alive, knowing what it is like to really feel good, appreciating that i can change in ways i never imagined.

so so grateful.