Fuzzy Photography

I got some fuzzy new Ameraucana chicks and I just had to take some pictures of them. Aren't they so adorable?! 

I love how curious they are! The darker one runs to me every time I put my hand in his box. Pretty soon they will be big enough to go into the coop with the older layers! I also snapped this picture of my cat Honey the other day:

She loves to sit in the cupboard! I think its so funny she is the almost the same color as the wood. In other news: it's spring! My tulips are starting to come up and that means it's time to bring out the spray paints again, so I will soon have more items in the painting section of my shop. Check back often to see what's new!

Motivation Monday!

I know I missed a Finished Friday and Sneak Peek Sunday, but between school and work my life is a little hectic right now, and art hasn't been in the forefront of my mind. But I'm back with a day off from school and work so today is an art kinda day!

So here's what is motivating me today: Everything!

From my pets being adorable and cuddling up with each other:

To finding a whole mess of eggs inside the nest box:

To getting this look when feeding my chickens:

To the wonderful fog we had the other night:

So today, in response to the beauty I see everyday that is constantly motivating me, I will be buying a new camera. Then I can capture the beauty I see and share it.

I hope to have many more pictures of my world to show you in the future!

What's Up Wednesday

Well today I don't have any messy projects going for a Wacky Wednesday, so I thought I'd just tell you what I've been up to lately. It's a What's Up Wednesday!

I made almost a dozen egg ornaments yesterday, so there are new eggs in my shop! Here is a picture of my favorite one:

Fading Cheshire Cat from Alice's Adventures In Wonderland Egg Ornament

I've also been playing around with spray paint ideas since we've had a few warm days in a row here. Maybe I'll bring out the spray paints tomorrow if its warm in the morning. I also need to hunt around some specialty paint shops in town for a few specific colors I need =) I have several ideas for stencils and reverse stencils for spray painting that I need to have made before I can take on any big spray paint projects.

And coming soon to my Etsy shop: A Photography section! I'll be ordering my new camera and photo printer this weekend and I'm so excited to have be able to take pictures again! And this will be my first photo printer so I'm sure it'll be an adventure figuring out how to use!

In other news, I'm in the process of figuring out what I need to make.... Wine Bottle Tiki Torches! I'm excited to get everything here so I can make a few test tiki torches for myself and my family!

I have so many projects going right now, I really need to slow down and do one at a time, but that's just not the way my artistic creativity works! I hope all your artistic projects are going fantastic as well!

Motivation Monday

It's time for another Motivation Monday post. I try to pick one thing that motivates me each week to paint, draw and in general be crafty. But lets switch it up. This week I'll show you what motivates my whole life.

Everything I do is simply a step towards my dream of owning a small piece of land and homesteading.

But what is homesteading? Well everyone seems to have their own definition. My explanation of my dream is simple; a small piece of land, a cob house I built with loved ones, some farm animals and a huge garden. If I still have to work in town to pay the bills, that's fine. I just want some space between me and the guy down the road so I don't feel so crowded. And if I can manage to go off grid someday, that'd be great too, but for now I'm trying to go one step at a time. And my step right now is Save Money. Then it'll be onto Buy Land, Build House and Live The Dream.

Here are a few pictures of other people who are living their dreams:

Cob Couch

Cob Kitchen

Interior Of A Cob House

Chickens On A Farm

Path To Freedom: Urban Homestead

Want to see more pictures of ideas and inspirations for my future homestead? Follow my Dream Home board on pinterest!

This is what motivates me, what motivates you?

Finished Friday!

Today is a day of finished projects! This week I worked on a whole bunch of eggs (it's still to cold to paint outside). So here are my finished projects!

All of the new eggs on a tree.

Here are some close ups of the newest eggs!

Ready for Valentines Day?

Sleeping Kitten

Be Mine!

Love

Marry Me?

Easter Bunny!

I'm so excited about all these eggs! I can't wait to have more eggs to etch. Its so fun picking designs and deciding which egg fits the design best. I've found smaller or more complicated designs work better on white eggs. Words or bulky designs work well on brown eggs, and the shells layers burn away differently, creating a picture that can be anywhere from white/grey to black or brown. Some eggs even look almost stamped! I am happy to say I will be continuing with these projects!

(Sorry this is posted a little early, but I'm excited about these!)

Motivation Monday And The End Of Holiday Vacations

Well vacation time is over for some of us, or for me, filling in for everyone at work is done and I'm back on a regular schedule! So it's time for more art! But for now this is what is motivating me this week: EGGS!

I'm always so amazed at the variety of colors I get out of my 5 backyard hens. Everyone is supposed to lay brown eggs, but what is brown? I've gotten eggs that where such a light brown they were almost pink, eggs that are so dark they could be called chocolate colored and eggs that are a pinky brown with white specks. And then there are the occasional white eggs from my brown laying girls. I think the shell color depends on what they eat, and my hens get whatever food is left over from meals as well as an egg layer feed supplemented with cracked corn in the winter and rolled oats in the summer. They make great composters, and oddly enough, my chickens will eat everything but onions!

Here are a few pictures of my girls and their beautiful eggs!

A few of my chickens when they were little. Some of these guys are meat birds, I only have laying hens left.

One of my Barred Rocks. 

Beautiful eggs.

Light Brown

Dark Brown

Almost Pink

Brown with white spots

And I do get the occasional tiny egg!

In case you missed what I do with my eggs, here is a laser etched egg ornament! It can be found in my online Etsy shop!

Tree of Life laser etched egg

Etsy Treasuries

Just wanted to mention that treasuries are a super cool feature on Etsy. It's sort of a list of favorite items that all kind of go together. And I made my first one the yesterday titled Bit Of Blue. You can check it out here if you want.

I've also been featured in two treasuries since opening my Etsy shop, which is very exciting! My JOY egg ornament was put into a treasury called  Spread The Joy, and my 'Twin Night' painting was put into Trees Of Life.

I can't wait to add more items to my shop! It's really uplifting to know that other people enjoy my work as much as I do! =)

JOY Etched Egg Ornament.

Welcome!

Welcome to KTBelleCrafts' Blog! This is where I will be sharing my artsy projects and my excitement about finally being able to sell my work!

My shop where I sell my artwork can be located here.

Fell free to browse my shop, ask me questions about my art projects, and compliment or critique my work!

I do many different art projects, everything from cutting glass, hand blowing eggs, and painting with oil, water colors and spray paint. I like to keep busy and try just about every artsy craft that I come across!

Here are some pictures of my latest bits of work:

Christmas Tree laser etched into a hand blown chicken egg.

'Sun and Moon' spray painted yin yang.

'Twin Night' Spray paint.

'Two Souls' Oil on canvas.

Tree of Life laser etched onto hand blown chicken egg.

Thanks for stopping by!