Room ReDec!

We finally finished! :D 

The downstairs bedroom is now officially my craft/ clothes/ and spare bedroom room :D 

I think it turned out so rad, but don't take my word for it! Tons of pictures!:

The three little illustrations shown above are prints from the amazing crazy talented Ambird. Who also now has a blog!! ^_^ check her out here: amberlynnseegmiller.blogspot.com

The best part is, we only spent $100 on the whole room! I used a ton of thrifted finds I had that were mismatched throughout the house and combined them in this lovely sparkly room! I wish the pictures came out clearer to accurately represent all of the awesome haha. It's full of color and brightness and tons of art and gemstones and crafts supplies and cloootthhess! We were running out of room for all of them in the rest of the house heh. Speaking of sparkly awesomeness, I tried Sally Johnson Salon Effects nail strips today and they came out amazing! 

I'll have to do a full review sometime! They were pretty time consuming, but pretty worth it I'd say! :)

Not everything this weekend was as awesome though, on our way home from shopping for all of these things, a truck turned into our lane and smashed up my little Kia pretty bad :( 

Thankfully no one was hurt, (except a pretty whopper bruise on my knee) and I think the insurance will cover everything, but it was just not a fun way to start the weekend ya know?

Ah well, everything will work out.

I've missed you guys!

All the best and brightest,

Grace Elizabeth.

Oh My Gosh

I feel freaking terrible about not blogging in so long! 

We're trying to get the downstairs bedroom renovated into a craft/clothes area for me on top of the portraits I'm working on and a crazy week at work= crapping blogging by Grace.

I'm so dang sorry guys!

I will be back as soon as I can :D 

I hope you guys are having an amazing week.

Let me know how you've been?

All the best, 

Grace Elizabeth.

Little Update

Promise I'm still alive, guys! 

I've been working hard on those commissioned portraits from the last post 

plus regular work and dates etc. hehe. I promise I'll post a longer update asap.

Have a good one, readers, I miss ya!

All the best,

Grace Elizabeth.

Coloring Book Style Portraits!

I made this cute, coloring book style picture of me and the Yeti today, and I thought maybe some readers out there may like one too!! If so, email me a picture of you and your mister, cat, lady, toaster, etc. and I'll either email or post a custom portrait done in this style get this- for free! :P 

Just cause I like ya! 

Where to send the image: gracelizabeth09@gmail.com

All the best lads and ladies,

Grace Elizabeth.

WIHWW

For this post, I'm joining the sweet and hilarious Pamplemousse  and To Make Love Stay in their "What I Honestly Wore Wednesday" feature.


I thought it would be a nice chance to get a little real with ya'll :)


It's all well and good to see someone's outfit after they spent 2 hours getting ready to go to a special event, but it's another thing entirely to see what they wore to work after waking up 20 minutes late haha. I want you guys to feel like you know me, the real me. I want to be friends :) So here goes:


What I (Honestly) Wore Wednesday: 

This may not look too horrendous, paired with the wicked adorable scarf my Momma loomed for me :D (she's amazing- she's made me one in every color within like 3 weeks!) but trust me- the shoes are completely falling apart, hair went unwashed- cardigan roughly 6 years old :P

And oooooh, check out my super fashionable work lab coat. Irresistible- I know :P

I did, however put a little bit of time into my slightly grody hair using this tutorial 

from the always amazing Elsie Larson- honestly, is there a more innovative, hardworking, creative lady out there? Color me jealous!

I hope you enjoyed this little look into my real life haha, more to come the upcoming Wednesday's I'm sure, and be sure to check out the past WIHM posts from Pamplemousse and To Make Love Stay - they're fantastic! :)

All the best my lovely readers!

Grace Elizabeth.

Our Evening...

Went a little something like this:

:D

How'd yours go?

All the best, 

Grace Elizabeth.

Daily Photos

I love instagram, and fall weather! <3

Have a great one :)

~

Grace Elizabeth.

What's in a name?

Ever since I was a kid, I've had a love/hate relationship with the name my parents gave me. Growing up hanging out with my older brother and nearly constantly being outside, I was a bit of a tom-boy. I preferred bike riding and running in fields and playing imaginary games with my neighbor than playing dolls or dress up. Games with Indians and wolves and amazonian jungles. This has been a huge factor in my definition. So when it came to my name: Grace Elizabeth- I always thought it sounded a little sissy. I tried to appreciate the meaning behind it, but the title always sounded a little like someone who belongs in a royal court, not fighting crime in the mean streets, or exploring long lost Egyptian tombs.

When I got older, this feeling only grew. My teen years were not unlike the middle ages- dark and smelly. Haha, okay maybe not smelly but I did wear a lot of dark clothing and always tried to project this tough confidence. I was so awkward around people I didn't know, and so afraid of getting hurt that I always felt like I had to defend myself. It was my thing. In our group of friends there was the pretty one, the smart one, the funny one and I tried my hardest to be the tough one. Not to mention at this time I was a motorcycle/ dirtbike aficionado (and have the scars to prove it :P). And my fancy shmancy name never really fit that image. No matter what I did, "Grace" still conjured images of ballerinas and glittery
floating angels to people, and I hated it. 

It wasn't until I got married and truly feel safe that I've begun let go of this outlook. I've always chose cool over pretty. Which of course is not a bad thing in and of itself, but once me and Calvin got together I've finally been able to relax about what other people think of me. I realized I had been projecting that image out of fear and anger over being hurt in the past. Fake bravery is only leather jacket clad skin deep. I still love tattoos and rad hair (even though mine has become long and boring now heh) but now I finally feel comfortable wearing cutsey vintage dresses and working with a more saturated color scheme. No longer do I have to constantly be on edge, ready to defend myself. I'm part of a team now. And with that, I've also realized that you can have both. You can fight zombies by day and wear ball gowns by night- you can be both tough and feminine. Armed with this knowledge, I hope to carve out a whole new definition for 'brutal'. It doesn't have to be a bunch of hurt kids hurting, but a bunch of people, aware of the beauty in their design and the flaws of their heart and out to make a difference all the same.

In letting go of that self consciousness, I've also really come to appreciate my name.

What a gift I've been given, to be named after something so beautiful. 

What an amazing reminder everyday of why I am alive. I hope and aim to be a reminder to others as well- it isn't always easy though (especially when you get cut off in traffic, flipped off by the driver, and spat on like I did this morning D:) but it is always worth it. Kindness and graciousness may work in mysterious, quiet ways, but like the butterfly effect dictates, it may have huge life changing results to someone else.

So I urge you today, like I urge myself daily- be kind today, live up to your name.

Whether you be a friendly Emily, a loving Amanda, a lively Chloe-

or in the case your name means bald man, or he who smells like butt, 

you can borrow my meaning if you'd like :P

All the best,

Grace Elizabeth.