Welcome back for the Blogtember wrap-up!  This has been an absolutely amazing experience for me to participate in.  I am so very glad that I decided to take up this challenge!  I'm really excited to be blogging again.  I'm also happy, because I feel like I've found a way to make blogging actually work for me through this process.  Plus, I've found loads of new (to me) bloggers that I have been able to connect with, which has been awesome!

My biggest problem with blogging has always been finding a way to get all the random bits and pieces that I do into blog posts, instead of just focusing on individual projects.  I've now realize that doing a batch process really, really works for me.  Batch processing not only allows me to make projects and tutorials, but it also gives me a place to incorporate all the other art and tidbits that happen in our lives without those pieces getting lost in the shuffle as I try to complete x,y, and z.  I have been able to do a batch day on the weekend where I make the vast majority of my project oriented posts, photograph them, and take video if I need to, and then do another couple of batch days where I write up one to three blog posts.  It hasn't been perfect, but it's been much better than I was blogging before!

Unfortunately, life still happened including migraines and my daughter getting sick.  But I managed to get 13 posts from the prompts that Bailey Jean provided for Blogtember.  Plus three additional posts about my scrapbooking stash kit.  And that's fantastic.  Another added benefit is that I now have a list of about 25 potential ideas that I can continue to expand on, as I carry on with this blogging journey.

Some of my favorites from this month include:

• Hello, My Name is - An introduction to my family and I
• Embrace Your Obsessions - Following your passions
• Currently in September - A Currently list of our lives
• The Hippie Art Studio - All about how The Hippie Art Studio came about
• First Vlog - Yep, I even made my first vlog because of Blogtember!
• 5 Favorite Bloggers and Youtubers - Some of my current favs and recent posts/videos from them
• 10 Blog Post Ideas - To keep some of this energy going and help inspire other!

I hope you have enjoyed getting to know me and The Hippie Art Studio better this month!  I hope you'll stick around and hang out some more with me, as I've got lots of cool ideas for the upcoming months.

I have absolutely loved the prompts for Blogtember.  It has been so motivating and inspiring.  Blogtember has really gotten my creative juices flowing and encouraged me to work on forward planning for this little space of mine.  One of the hardest parts is coming up with some awesome ideas for blog posts.  I've definitely come to realize, over the course of the last month, the benefits of coming up with this list before the month has begun.  So, in honor of the last official Blogtember prompt, I have a list of 10 potential blog post ideas that everyone should be able to apply to their blog no matter what kind of blog it is!

1. Goals for the Month.
2. Your Workspace/Desk.
3. Favorite Artist - dead or alive, famous or not.
4. What's your favorite part of fall/autumn? Favorite activity to do in fall?
5. What's your go-to recipe for dinner?
6. New fall shows and seasons are beginning to premiere.  Tell me what you're currently obsessed with and watch every week.
7. What's the one thing you can't live without?
8. Review something you've recently tried (book you've read, recipe, DIY, household item, app, etc).
9. Feature a place in your town/city that you love going to.
10. Share your latest shopping haul.

I hope you've found some of these ideas helpful to keep you going for October!  I'd love to hear any other suggestions you have!

Back in August, I participated in Ali Edwards' Week in the Life challenge.  I have yet to blog about the experience or work on my album for documenting our week.  So it's rather convinent that today's Blogtember prompt would be a walk through a day in my life.  I've used the photos from August to give a rough outline of our everyday.

My day starts around 4 am.  Ever since my daughter was born, she has woke up early between 4 am and 5 am.  It's very rare for her to sleep pass six in the morning.  So I've moved from a late riser with a preference for waking up after noon to an unhappy early bird.  Thus, my mornings require several cups of coffee before she wakes up so at least I have a little bit of adult time.


Once Atty wakes up, we make her breakfast and she gets a little bit of TV time.  Then it's onto getting dressed and ready for the day.  I do her hair every morning, which she loves even though she acts like I'm ripping her hair out of her head!  Silly girl!


We head to daycare and hang out together in the car until they open.  Then it's onto work for me.  I pick her up from daycare in the afternoon once I'm done with work.  Depending on how late I am getting out of work, we typically get home around 5 pm and eat dinner immediately.  Then its time for our nighttime routines with play, bath, and bed.


After Atty is asleep, Momma gets some time to play with art materials and scrapbook or whatever creative project I'm currently working on.  Assuming, of course, that I don't fall asleep with her - since we're still working on getting her to sleep in her own bed and not doing the co-sleeping thing!

Today for Blogtember, I just have a simple wishlist of things I've been wanting for quite some time.  It's quite a range from scrapbooking kit club membership and classes to technology to journals to Montessori materials to a new art table.



Silhouette Cameo, Moleskine Dotted Journal, Montessori (Land, Air, Water) Globe, Hip Kit Club's October Main Scrapbook Kit, Kathy Orta's Back to Basics Mini Album Tutorial, L-shaped Desk from Target, Fall/Winter Pass for Alisa Burke's online classes

What are you currently wishing for?  I'd love to know!

Today I'm back with another Blog-tember prompt, hosted by Bailey Jean of Brave Love. Today is all about our favorite bloggers (and I added YouTubers).  I love blogs and watching videos on YouTube.  I always love to see what the people who inspire me are currently working on themselves.  I spend the majority of my lunch breaks playing around on blogs and watching videos.  So I hope you enjoy them as well!  These current favorites are in no particular order, just however I thought of them.

Bloggers

1. Shannon Green - The creator of Journaling by 5s, which is how I found her blog.  Shannon is one of the funniest and snarkiest people I've read in a long time.  Whenever I read her posts, I start cracking up.  Jamie thinks I'm crazy, especially when I start reading her posts aloud so he can enjoy the humor as well (somehow he apparently doesn't appreciate it as much as I do). 
2. Elise Blaha Cripe - Elise's blog is full of great blogging and business information, which I love.  She also has a podcast called Elise Gets Crafty that is all about small business.  While I love all of that and it's completely awesome, I found Elise when I was about 6 months pregnant with my daughter.  Her daughter, Ellerie is about two months older than Atty, and I love to follow Ellerie's story, the things Elise is doing with her, and the memory keeping that Elise is currently doing.  I even refer to Ellerie to Jamie and talk about the things she's doing compared to Atty (that's not intended to sound creepy in anyway...) For example, Elise has a recent post up about toddler art that I completely related to!
3. Alisa Burke - Alisa is another lovely lady that I follow not only because she makes amazing art, but also because I enjoy her daughter's story.  It's like watching these kids grow up.  It's awesome!  I originally started following Alisa when I began art journaling and playing around with zentangling and doodling.  She is such an inspiration!  One day I would love to take some of her online classes.  I also love that her daughter creates right alongside her, as you can see in her recent Fall Coloring page.
4. The Kavanaugh Report - I originally found this blog when I first started researching child-led learning and the Montessori method.  Then back in May, I rediscovered it and dug a little bit deeper when I was following a link up of the 12 Months of Montessori Learning, where 11 Montessori bloggers focus on a theme for each month.  This month was on Montessori math, and The Kavanaugh Report has a great post on what to do when your child has no interest in a subject that you are trying to guide them towards (in this case math).
5. Living Montessori Now - Living Montessori Now is another great Montessori resource that I found in my initial research phase.  Deb is also involved in the 12 Months of Montessori Learning linkup, and always has some great ideas for toddlers and preschoolers.  Recently, she posted a Montessori Nature Tray for Sorting and Counting that would be an awesome way to make use of some of Atty's treasures that we always pick up on our nature walks!

YouTubers

1. Rhomany's Realm - Rhomany is always posting awesome planning, art journaling, and art related videos.  She also has some really great and funny vlogs and I just find her very, very inspiring!  She's doing a new series currently called Journal Quickies, which are a great way to add tidbits to your journals.
2. Nicolejones911 - I love the way Nicole scrapbooks using her monthly kit club.  She often inspires me to dig into my stash and create a new kit and play with it until there is nothing left!  She can get an amazing amount of layouts done with one kit, for example she's on layout number 16 with her July Hip Kit!  Nicole is who inspired me to do my current series on YouTube about my stash kit that was inspired by the Hip Kit Club's May 2015 kit.
3. Irit Landgraf - Another scrapbook and art journaling YouTuber who is constantly inspiring me.  She was the first person I saw that used plastic packaging to apply inks and sprays onto a layout.  She always gets me pumped up to play with my scrapbooking supplies.  I love how she mixes art supplies and scrapbooking to create mixed media layouts.  In one of her recent layouts, she uses image transfers on her layout - how cool is that!
4. Kathy Orta - Kathy makes the most amazing mini books and other amazing memory keeping projects.  I found her originally due to December Daily two or three years ago, and I still refer to her videos when I'm looking for ideas for mini books and December Daily prep.  She's come out with a new mix & match mini album tutorial that is so packed full of places to fill with photos and journaling.  I also love how she uses different materials and sizes to keep your albums very interesting!
5. The Frugal Crafter - Lindsay is another great one to watch for creative videos, as well as small business tips and tricks.  Plus, she has such a great personality!  Lately she has been doing a watercolor real time video series that I have been watching nonstop.  But her channel is full of all kinds of creative ideas from watercolor to drawing to stamping to kids crafts and beyond.  

Oddly enough, I had more difficulty picking 5 bloggers than I did picking YouTubers.  Maybe it's due to being burnt out on YouTube currently.  I did this really silly thing and made a playlist with like 800 videos on it.  After finally getting all the way through that list, I have very little desire to watch YouTube videos for a bit.  I did discover that I watch between 100 and 150 videos a week though....

Today I am bringing you my first ever vlog.  While I love creating videos for YouTube about scrapbooking and art journaling, I had never done a vlog.  One of the prompts for Bailey Jean's #blogtemberchallenge was to make a vlog about whatever you want.

So here you go!  Some Saturday ramblings about my plans for the day, as well as some sneaks of upcoming projects that I'm working on.


I hope you enjoyed it and it wasn't absolutely horrible!  It was rather nerve wracking to do, since it's so outside of my comfort zone.  But once I got started, it really wasn't that bad.  I still don't know how some people do this on a regular basis and have interesting things to talk about! For example, I love watching Rhomany's Realm when she does vlogs on her YouTube channel.

This experience did so me how such a practice could be worked into my routine though.  So it's completely doable, if I ever get less nervous about my face being on camera anyway!

I'm back again today with a #Blogtember challenge for you.  Today's prompt was all about your latest obsessions.  When I first thought about this topic, I didn't have a whole lot that I found myself obsessing over, above and beyond the norm.  However, the longer I thought about it the more appeared!

Let's Learn with Fall

First, it's getting close to fall where we live.  Some days it feels like a wonderful, cool fall day and others it's so hot and humid that you just want to stay inside with the air conditioning on!  I'm not a huge fan of fall, although I do love the cooler weather because, quite frankly I hate to be hot.  However, my daughter was born at the end of August and I really think she believes she's an Autumn baby.  She really seems to thrive and expand her talents in the fall.  Last year, we took her to a Giant Pumpkin Festival and it was one of the first times that she really seemed simply amazed at this world we live in.  She had to stop and touch every single pumpkin.... Hello, it was a pumpkin festival!  It literally took us about 15 minutes just to get inside the main gate, because it was lined with pumpkins.

Now that she's two, I want to add more fall experiences this year that I kind of missed out on last year.  This is the time of year that my work life seems to ramp up and take over my entire life.  In retail, I have found, that the entire fall season doesn't really exist except to promote and push you into Christmas.  I struggle every year to find any joy in the season.  But I don't want it to be that way for my daughter!

So I've been finding all kinds of awesome Autumn activities on Pinterest for us to do!

• Fall Sensory Bin by The Jenny Evolution - Sensory bins are always a bit hit with Atty and she's been noticing the leaves on the ground for the last month or so.  I think she'll love something like this and Michael's currently has them 50% off so I may have to pick up a branch or two!
• Watercolor Leaf Alphabet by Nurture Store - This is such a simple and cute idea.  Atty is really interested in learning her letters right now.  So I think this would be a fun way to expand on that interest.
• Kid Art Leaf Collage by A Little Pinch of Perfect - This is a great project, especially for a toddler! It uses a recycle egg carton (or cardboard) and some glue!  All we will have to do is add the little bits and pieces that she already picks up from our evening nature walks and she has instant art.  How cool is that?
• Easy Handprint Wreath by This Girl's Life Blog - I just think this would be cute to hang on the door.  I might modify the project though and use paint to make handprints, instead of tracing and cutting out her hands... I'm really not sure yet :)
• How to Dye Pumpkin Seeds for Sensory Play by Sugar Aunts - We didn't cut open pumpkins last year.  We simply admired them from the outside.  This year, Daddy really wants to carve some for Halloween.  So this would be a cute idea for her to experience what's inside the pumpkins, after carving.  Plus, sensory bin options!  Yay!

I have some more ideas on a Pinterest board I have only recently started if you're also looking for some fun fall ideas for younger children.  And, of course, if you have any other cool ideas that I should check out, please leave them in the comments!  Her interests so far this year are specifically on apples, pumpkins, and leaves, but who knows what they will be in a month!
Follow Andrea's board Themed Unit Study - Fall on Pinterest.

Bullet Journaling

Another one of my latest obsessions is anything related to bullet journaling!  I really want to get a nice quality journal for 2016 and I'm trying to figure out what I'd like best.  Things I know right now, I don't like blank notebooks, because I can't right straight.  And I don't want just plain lined either, because if I do want to doodle or sketch in it, it just looks blah.  Also, I want to figure out a way to get my journal to feel a bit more cohesive, rather than a jumbled mess.  I know it's possible, because I've seen lots of people do it.  However, these people seem to be a whole lot more organized than I am.  Organized just seems to be something I will never attain.

• Rhomany of Rhomany's Realm just posted an awesome video of her new Evernote Moleskine that has made me fall in love with it.  And it comes in dotted (which I'm leaning towards being what I get for 2016).
• I follow Tiny Ray of Sunshine on Instagram and I always come away drooling at the amazing awesomeness of her bullet journal.  She makes some of the coolest layouts and has some fantastic handwriting!
• The Official Bullet Journal website has been recently updated.  I haven't taken a peak yet (as I just learned about it in Rhomany's video today), but if you haven't heard about bullet journaling (or that it was updated) you definitely want to check it out!

December Daily

Okay, so just one more and then I really need to get my butt to bed!  My last obsession is December Daily.  Yes, I know.  It's September.  But like I said earlier, if I don't start thinking about the end of the year now it will be gone before I have a chance to breath!  So my plans for this year is to finish my last TWO years of December Daily which are in various stages of completion.  And then I want to prep my book for this year, before December!  In case you don't have the slightest idea of what I'm talking about, December Daily is a project by Ali Edwards to embrace the magic of December by telling one story per day about your month, traditions, and whatever else you feel like.

If your interested, you can check out some of my 2013 December Daily project.  I actually have 2013 almost completely finished.  I think I'm only missing the last two days or so.  2014 is a completely different story due to everything that happened last December.  I think I may only have one or two days completed for that one.

Today I have another #blogtember post for you!  The prompt was all about what is in your bag or purse.  Despite my personal love affair with purses, I really don't care them.  And when I do they are huge monsters that get full of nonsense and end up weighing 20 some pounds!  For real!  The last one I had was a gorgeous Antonio Milani bag that I bought at Dillards when I worked there.  I loved that bag so much that when the handles broke I ended up tying them into knots so I could still use it.

Anyway, my current bag is just one of those reusable grocery bags.  Since my daughter was born, I have slowly realized the sheer amount of stuff that I have to have on hand at any given moment in case a catastrophe occurs.  Plus, there is also the sheer amount of stuff that I have to carry for work and work related stuff that gets tossed into my bag so that I can get everything out to the car every morning in one trip.


So here's the run down:

• Paperwork for work that somehow ended up in my bag instead of my vest (which oddly isn't in my bag today...it must have been left in the car)
• Walkie for work
• Keys
• 2 Sharpie markers which were in the bottom of the bag...
• Journals - the pink one is my blog/social media planner, the black one is my moleskine bullet journal/brain dump book, the opened journal is a moleskine that I'm currently using as a doodle book
• Sharpie pen
• Snacks for my daughter - 2 breakfast options in case she's still hungry when we leave the house at 5:30 and we are in the car until 6:00 when I drop her off at daycare.  Then there is a bag of cookies for after daycare snack if she needs one (though I'm trying to ween her off that because usually dinner is ready when we walk in the house at 4)
• Daily sheet from Daycare of what she did and such
• Orajel
• And yes, somehow a megablock ended up in my bag...she must have insisted on taking it to school with her at some point

Not pictured but usually in my bag:

• Extra diapers for when we try to use the potty at daycare during drop off
• My vest for work
• Her sippy cup (because it's currently next to her bed with water in it)
• Dr Pepper (for my break at work)
• To-go coffee cup (when I come into the house after work, because it's empty and I don't want to/have the hands to carry it)
• Toys of some kind that my daughter decided she needs to take with her as we leave the house

So there you have it!  Nothing very exciting, I'm afraid.  Just a grab and go Mommy bag.  Typically, I have lots of art supplies tossed in my bag for my breaks and lunch, but lately I've just stuck with a pen and my doodle book.  Like in this post from 2014, Layout a Day (LOAD1014) - Day Two, where my bag was literally overflowing with art supplies.

I'm a little behind on my Blogtember prompts due to a week long set of migraines + work + needy toddler.  Truthfully, by the time I got home from work I was too exhausted and mentally drained from dealing with work and the migraines to do much more than sit on the couch like a blob.  So I'm trying to catch up on some of the prompts that I really loved so that I can get back to the regular "schedule" next week.  So with that in mind, today I'm here to tell you where this little blog's name comes from.

The Hippie Art Studio was born from the idea that our family produces a ton of different art in a variety of mediums.  Even our extended family does some pretty cool stuff like oil painting, woodworking, and extensive gardening/landscaping.

I can produce pieces from a very broad range of media.  I am trained as a photographer.  But I have also taught myself some watercolor techniques, spraypaint techniques (which appear to be similar to oil painting...just different), collage, found poetry pieces, sketching, zentangling, and basic acyrlic techniques, as far as paper media goes.  I also have taught myself how to do torch-worked glass pieces (like beads and ornaments), polymer clay pieces, and worked on creating faerie gardens and items for them from natural materials (sticks, pebbles, etc).


Some of the mediums that I love have taken a back burner in the last several years.  I didn't allow myself to spray paint while I was pregnant or nursing (and I only do it in the fall when the weather starts to cool off).  The torch-worked glass pieces stopped when I got skilled enough to require a kiln before I could do any more developing of my skills.  The others just seem to wax and wane with the seasons.


Jamie, my fiance does sketching, works with clay, and cooks wonderful meals at the present time.  But he is always expanding and coming up with new ideas and things to try.  So you can see - we are quite the odd household / art studio.  It is a running joke that if you need some kind of art supply - we probably own it...somewhere.


The Hippie part of the blog's name comes from our philosophy on life more than anything else.  We don't follow many mainstream ideas.  We try to conserve and reuse where we can.  And we really just want to thrive on love - being with those we love, doing the things we love, and not worrying about what the future may hold, but cherishing what we have in front of us.

So that's the crazy thought process that brought about The Hippie Art Studio.

Reading... nothing at the moment.  Though, I'd love some suggestions, because it's getting close to that time of the year that I just can't get enough of books as I snuggle under a blankie.

Playing... Dragon Age: Inquisition.  I have kind of stalled out on it at about 85 or so hours and now I'm bored...

Watching... nature shows on PBS.  When cartoons aren't on our TV, then the nature shows are.  We started watching Big Blue Live (about the whales in California) last week and we are loving it so far (although we haven't finished the third segment yet).

Trying... to do this blogging daily thing!  Blasted migraines!

Cooking... nothing these days.  Jamie has pretty much taken over cooking duties.

Eating... chocolate fudge brownies with chocolate cherry frosting.  Mmmmmm.

Drinking... coffee with Cold Stone creamer - Yum!  It's my Friday night special.
 
Calling... to me is a desire to expand my daughter's knowledge of and experience with this amazing world we live in!

Texting... with my Momma, who is currently sick and afraid of spreading her cooties to Atty.

Pinning... anything related to Montessori or child-led learning for toddlers, and anything to do with art journaling. 

Going... nowhere this weekend, if I have my way.  Momma needs some cuddle on the couch time after this week!

Loving... having our windows open to feel the cool breeze.

Hating... migraines.  They've kept me from blogging or arting pretty much all week!

Discovering... new mini album and journal constructions as I think about (and prep) for December Daily.

Thinking... about the next couple of months' blogging plans and projects.

Feeling... worn out due to work and my migraines this week.

Hoping (for)... my Groovebook photos to arrive any day now.

Listening (to)... the silence of the house.  Daddy put Atty to bed tonight, after giving her a bath.  The only noises are crickets chirping and the sound of traffic going by on the main road to the highway.

Celebrating... that the week is over!  Plus, I have the whole weekend off to hang out with family and relax.

Smelling... the awesome spaghetti that Jamie made for dinner tonight!  The house still smells like basil and garlic and yum, hours later!

Thanking... the great teachers in Atty's new room for being truly awesome!  After only three weeks with them she's transitioned great and really isn't even throwing fits when I drop her off anymore!

Considering... whether completely changing the hours I work (moving to 3rd shift from 1st shift) is worth a dollar more an hour.  It would involve spending less time with my family, which I'm not in love with.

Starting... to prep a new art journal book for a cool process I recently learned about on YouTube calling Journaling by 5s by Shannon Green.

Finishing... my Momma's birthday present to give to her Sunday.

 

I'm back again today with a Blogtember prompt.  Can you believe it?  It's been five days straight of blogging goodness!  I'm so excited!  Can you tell?  I have really missed this part of my life.  Anyway, back to the challenge.

I'm not much of music buff.  In general, I don't dictate the music that plays in our home.  Usually either Jamie or the darling girl gets to make those decisions.  There are times that my mood requires a certain kind of music, although those time are often emotionally charged rough patches to begin with.  Music has the tendency to get me to dig deeper into how I'm feeling and why.  It can help me make decisions, as odd as that may seem.

I listen to a very random assortment of music and have all of my life.  My music can range from Reggae to Rock.  From Christian bands to Folk.  From Pop to Metal.  And pretty much everything in between.  In college (when I lived for music), I listened to a ton of different bands and was always looking for something new and different.  However, I stuck pretty close to Punk, Pop, and Rock genres.  Today, I pretty much listen to the same bands that I discovered back in college!  Jamie handles all the searching for new and different these days.

Some of my favorites include Bowling for Soup, Pink, Faith Hill, Paramore (swoon!), Ani DiFranco, and Halestorm.  Anyway, today's prompt was to hit random on your music playing device and list the first 10 songs that play.  And amazingly enough none of my daughter's music popped up on my list or Jamie's!  I've linked the songs that I could find so that you can go and have a listen if you're curious about a song/band.  So here we go:

Andrea's 10 random songs (band name - song title)

1. The Veronicas - 4ever
2. Ani DiFranco - Come Away From It
3. Paramore - Misery Business
4. Faith Hill - Just Around the Eyes
5. Boys Like Girls - Be Your Everything
6. Hinder - Lips of An Angel
7. Jonatha Brooke - Fire and Rain (I just discovered this one - so good!)
8. Jessica Simpson - Between You and I
9. Ani DiFranco - Up Up Up Up Up Up
10. Faith Hill - Life's Too Short to Love Like That

Jamie's 10 random songs (band name - song title)

1. Roots Manuva - Skid Valley
2. Watkin Tudor Jones - Reprogram
3. Buraka Som Sistema - Sente
4. Die Antwood - Cookie Thumper!
5. Chiddy Bang - Mind Your Manners
6. Two Fingers - Stude
7. Rye Rye - Body
8. Mickey Avalon - Roll the Dice
9. Roots Manuva - Toothbrush
10. RJD2 - F.H.H.

I included Jamie's list so you can see the very wide range that plays in our house.  Not to mention the Sofia the First's theme songs and other Disney songs that play for Atty.  Jamie listens to music based on the beat and feel the song has, not necessarily the words involved.  I, on the other hand, love the lyrics.  If a song doesn't have "good" lyrics that make me smile, chuckle, or think then the chances are very slim that I will listen for long (or again).  This prompt was actually rather interesting to do.  I haven't thought much about music in the past several years.  I even discovered a couple new bands/singers that I enjoy because of this prompt!

Tomorrow I'm taking a break from the Blogtember prompts.  We are celebrating my daughter's birthday with her Grandparents and my brothers.  There will be a post, but it will be a bit later in the day.  I will talk to you then!

My passions are ever evolving and changing.  I call them my obsessions.  I can get completely involved in something - whether a certain project, art medium, videogame, book series, or whatever for MONTHS! Some things end up not panning out, whereas others expand into part of my daily life.  Some of this passions get replaced by new ones over time, as I am sure is true for everyone.

For the last five or six years on my greatest joys has been art journaling.  I discovered this medium while completing my graduate degree and needed some kind of creative outlet.  However, I really found myself drowning in art journaling while I was coping with my divorce.  It helped me rediscover who I was without my ex.  It also opened a whole new world for me with the online community, as well as really sitting with myself during my newly expanded alone time.  This is a passion that has continued on for many, many years.  Although I don't get as much time to work on my journals with my daughter in the last two years it is still something I truly love.

Since my daughter was born, my passion for scrapbooking has rekindled as I want to document every single moment of her precious life (yes, I struggle with that goal).  I have been scrapbooking on and off since highschool (almost 12 years ago) and have various parts of my life documented in this wonderful medium.  If you scroll through my blog posts, you will see how this passion has kind of overtaken this little corner of my world.  I do need to be better about showing the other things we do in our little studio - I'm working on it - promise!

Another one of my current obsessions is child-led learning.  I have specifically been taking inspiration from Montessori philosophies and trying to incorporate them into our home.  I love the ideas behind child-led learning and I am enjoying providing my daughter with the tools and ideas I've found through this obsession.  We do a lot of sensory play and inspired Montessori activities in the evenings and especially on the weekends when we have more time together.

So those are my current passions.  I've just learned to embrace my obsessions, because if they are not a good fit for the long term they will fade away.  I have literally spent the last two months doing nothing in my free time except for playing a video game series called Dragon Age.  I spent about 80 hours playing Dragon Age: Origins, another 20 hours playing the expansion from that (called Awakening), another 50 to 60 hours playing Dragon Age 2, and finally got to the third game in the series (Dragon Age: Inquisition) and at about 80 hours into that game got bored and started playing with my scrapbooking stuff, prepping an art journal, and doodling in another journal.  That's a lot of hours considering how limited my free time actually is.  I just chalk it up to I needed something different to kick start some part of my brain.  Sometimes you just need to go with the flow!

Today's post for Blog-tember is a mood board for your blog.  I kind of struggled with where to go with this prompt!  I decided to scroll through the last couple of years of blog posts and pull images from them.  I think this mood board pretty much sums up what I talk about at the Hippie Art Studio.  On this blog you can find information on how I do planners, my doodles and zentangles, watercolor, art journaling, scrapbooking, project life, and of course my darling daughter!  The blog posts below give a glimpse at my blogging journey since I began in 2010!

Top Ten Blog Posts:

Destash Project - Scrap like Paige Evans - In this post, I scraplifted from one of my favorite scrapbooking designers, Paige Evans, and made several scrapbooking layouts inspired by her style.

Layout a Day (LOAD1014) - Day Two - In this post, I completed a scrapbooking layout for a scrapbook challenge called Layout a Day (where you scrapbook 30 pages in 30 days).  I also included some insight into how I build my counterfeit kits from my stash of supplies and handmade supplies.

When Frogs Sing - An Art Journal Flip - In this post, I flip through one of my art journals that I worked on for a class (called When Frogs Sing by Rhomany).  I had such a blast with this class but life happened and I never completed it.  I really need to get back to that!

April Counterfeit Kit - Another post about my counterfeit kit process, this time with a huge kit that lasted me FOREVER!

Layout a Day (LOAD1014) - Day Three - Another post from Layout a Day.  This layout is all about my girl and her grandpa at Easter last year.

Destash July - Scrap Your Scraps - This post includes three scrapbooking layouts inspired by another blog called Scrap your Scraps.

December Daily - Day One - This post includes my attempt at completing a documenting project in the month of December (which is even harder for me than most people, since I work in retail and oh my goodness, December....let's just not talk about it).

New Book of Days Journal - This post is about one of my art journals that I made while I was following Effy Wild's "Book of Days" classes.  It also includes a video flip of the journal.  The video may be poor quality, it was one of my first and I'm still working on getting better!

#onebookjuly2015 - This post is about this year's planner challenge hosted by Rhomany to use one book and one pen for the month of July.  I didn't do nearly as well this year as I did last year, but I still enjoyed the challenge and the fact that I'm back to using a journal/planner again for the first time in six months or so!

Sensory Play - 5 Sensory Bottles - I love making Atty toys, sensory bins, and learning "toys", especially from recycled and repurposed materials.  This post is about my attempt at making her sensory bottles (which she still uses at age 2!).

Today's Blog-tember prompt is to describe your ideal day.  I struggled with whether this was a realistic/really could happen kind of day or in my dreams my day would go like this... kind of prompt.  And then I faced my balance issues.  Would an ideal day be all about me (something so very rare currently in my life) or family-oriented with some kind of outing or Atty focused activity?

Let's just be honest - a day with the entire house empty and quiet would be simply amazing.  Assuming that the house is clean, laundry is done, and I'm not responsible for dinner.  I'd love to say I would sit at my art desk and just play.  I love to get messy with paints and inks and glue!  I fight this feeling/need all the time, because I feel this is the only way I will ever create quality (and quantity) products to open an Etsy store - which is another of my 2015 goals that I'm still trying to work up the courage to do.  Realistically, I would sit on the couch watching stupid stuff on TV, playing videogames, watching YouTube or checking out Instagram and Pinterest.  I would eat crap food and drink coffee, until eventually switching to Dr. Pepper.  The whole time beating myself up on all the possibilities that aren't happening and the opportunity to work towards them, that of course, I am not actually doing!  Just saying.


If we went route two - I would take Atty out for a daytrip, maybe the zoo or the park - something that would be outdoors on a gorgeous sunshiney day.  We would walk (she would run, of course) and soak up the beautiful air and atmosphere.  I would take several hundred photos and have a smile on my face the entire day, because she amazes me every single day.  We would come home utterly exhausted, but so wonderfully content with life and shocked with the wonder of our adventure.

So those are my ideal days.  I'd love to hear about yours.  And if anyone has advice on dealing with balancing me time and toddlers, I would love to hear it, as well!  Check back tomorrow for more Blogtember goodness!

I decided to participate this month in Blog-tember, hosted by Bailey of Brave Love.  30 days of blogging goodness.  30 days of prompts to help me jump back into the routine of blogging on a regular basis so that maybe, just maybe, I can achieve some of the goals that I set at the beginning of the year.

So welcome to any new visitors.  My name is Andrea, and I run The Hippie Art Studio.  A quick run down of me goes something like this:  I am 29; I am the mother of an amazing toddler who just turned two; I create art, as well as scrapbook about our adventures.

For the last two years, life has been slightly out of balance, and I'm still trying to get used to the constant shifting that comes with a two year old.  In addition to my fiance's recent struggle with diabetes that has resulted in a below-knee amputation and partial foot amputation on the opposite foot - all in the last year.


Ideally, The Hippie Art Studio is about our current obsessions in our art creation process - however - we still haven't struck much of a balance since Atty was born.  But one of my goals for 2015 is to work on that, as well as creating videos on YouTube.  I also work a typical, boring, 7-4 job in the retail world, which isn't always the grandest highlight of my life.


So that's me in a nutshell.  I do hope you will join me on this blogging journey, as I try to blog for 30 days straight!  Hello, Blog-tember!