#gulcreate

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Paintings that make me smile...

Once upon a time I Ioved to oil paint. Then in college I received my BA in Graphic Design and I shot a lot of of black and white photography. When grad school seemed like a dream that I could never afford I became a retoucher or photo editor they call them these days. I did that along with many other fancy image editing and scanning things for a few years. I met my husband and long story short we moved to the south, got married, I got a job doing editing and quality control for print design, and then we had a baby.

So after baby, I became a SAHM and my husband is a full time artist. On a whim I purchased some watercolors and painted our beloved one-eyed rescue mutt. After that it’s all a blur and now I love painting pet portraits, occasion cards, and even awesome animals representing families.

I’m so lucky that I’ve had a lot of support from my Tumblr community. I’ve had the opportunity to do some wonderful portraits honoring and remembering some beloved pets. I hope to continue painting pets of all sorts for people to enjoy.

Feel free to check me out on most social media (instagram: fourandfur and facebook: www.facebook.com/fourandfur) or on my website www.fourandfur.com.

As always, thanks GUL team for this feature! 

Thank YOU mrskurt for sharing your story and your portraits with us! Many of us here are pet lovers and your portraits are charming!

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The idea for “Roxy’s Rockets” came like a wave of fresh water crashing over a 10 year dry spell of personal creativity. I have been immersed in creativity all my life. My parents are musicians and a lot of their friends and my friends are artists of some kind. For the first 20 years or so I was doing my fair share of creating as well (drawing, writing, guitar playing, crafting, etc.) but when I graduated from college something changed. I couldn’t make anything I was really proud of for the life of me. I participated in other peoples’ creations (acting, prop building, etc.) but I was failing to find ways to express myself. With the birth of my first son in 2012 I felt completely tapped out. I had literally used the last ounces of creativity I possessed to create a human being inside me.

Fast forward 2 years to June 2014.

Combine the discovery of an inspiring artist, being constantly bombarded by the fanciful imagery of childhood, needing some kind of stress release, and flat out sitting down and thinking HARD about what I could do to be creative without having to learn any new skills and using readily available materials and “Roxy’s Rockets" was born. I use left over cardboard packaging from products we use daily and accept donated packaging from friends and co-workers. Right now I am sticking to retro rockets, robots, and ray guns mostly because I am a sucker for alliteration, but also because it gives me a focus. I try to make a few new pieces every week, but no pressure. It’s important this remains a way to relieve daily stress, not increase it. I’ve sold a few which is awesome, but is certainly not the main objective. I may open an Etsy store someday, but for now it remains a much needed, extremely satisfying hobby.

Thank you blastoffbabyboy for sharing your unique and whimsical creations with us! 

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A Once Upon A Time

Harry's not super into art. He'll occasionally come home from daycare with something he's proud of, but it's generally not his thing. 

Every night we follow the same bedtime routine: pj's, brush teeth, 2 books, lights out. But kids are super creative when it comes to stalling bedtime and earlier this year when Harry started with the "just one more book..." stall tactic my husband said no - but I'll tell you a story. Soon this became known as "A Once Upon A Time" and it's now a staple of our routine. Though now Harry does most of the dictating of the story.

Hubs: "Once upon a time there was a..."

Harry: "Boy named Harry! And he had a car named Lightening McQueen!"

Hubs: "And Harry and McQueen went for a drive..."

Harry:"To a cookie store. Harry ate a red cookie and Lightening ate a red cookie and Mama had a blue cookie and Daddy had a purple cookie!"

Hubs: "And then..."

Harry:"They sang Life Is A Highway'!"

And so on. I love this little ritual for the verbal skills and cooperation it encourages, but also for the creativity inherent of storytelling. 

How does your little one show their creativity? Submit, ask, or use #gulcreate to share!

- Kellie aka themamalogues

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It's Take a Picture Thursday! Show us your creative goods, friends! This is Cormac making a short for his dad's birthday this week. Admittedly, I ripped-off the idea from Maegan's blog. She is obviously craftier than me, but we got the job done. Maybe this should been a crafting fail yesterday instead of today's #TAPTGUL? Alas.

Post your photo here with the tag #taptgul or, better yet, join us over on Instagram. Tag your posts & maybe you’ll see some of our favorites on the blog today!