imagine all the people...

...living life in peace.

i got a new shirt at work today!

John Lennon is quite possibly my favorite song writer of all time, now i know thats kind of cheesy but... its true. And while imagine is not my favorite Lennon song, its the one that most inspires me. It inspired this painting... its one of my favorites!

Today was such a beautiful day! I wish i could have spent it outside but its all good tonight starts my weekend that is full of exciting girly time! Hanging with Mary on friday with Sarah on saturday and with MJ on sunday! Im sure ill have plenty of photos to post after!! Hope you have an amazingly INSPIRING weekend!

lovelovelove

-B

sigh...

i've made two trips to the antique district of denham springs in less than a week!  i also happened to be in downtown baton rouge for an afternoon and hit up time warp and honeymoon bungalow.  here are a few of my favorite finds...some are for the shop, and some i'm planning on being selfish with. :]

this dish, is by far, the coolest thing ever!  it's my three favorite colors...aqua, avocado and lime :] it has an interesting effect where the colors bleed together, but it's hard to see in the photo.

here is the best part...the backside is wood grain!  eek!  it's washed in layers of brown and the wood grain pattern is engraved into it.  this one, i'm keeping for my own. :]

i picked these up at honeymoon bungalow...they have a huge basket stocked full of old photos and post cards, only a dollar each!  i love looking at old photos and creating stories behind the people in them...i've decided that the girl on the left drove across country to see her lover who lived on the west coast...she had never seen the ocean before.  the group in the middle took a trip to south america, and decided they'd never return home.  they own a brewery in the middle of the jungle, and enjoy a simple life.  they pick their own food, ride mules, weave their own fabrics and enjoy their own libations for a good time. :]  the other two i'm still thinking about...

 button button, who's got the button?  this antique mason jar, with an extremely old (and rusted) tin lid full of one of my favorite things...buttons!  this jar was full of amazing antique buttons, along with some pretty cool modern ones too. :]  i can't wait to make some wonderful things with these beauties!

after washing years of dirt and dust off the buttons in the jar, i noticed quite a few of them that caught my eye...they were beautiful colors, of the crispest aquas and sea foam and grey...i realized what they reminded me of...one of my favorite places in the world:  the caribbean.  these colors are muted, yet so vibrant in their own right.  they are lovely and make me want to hop on a flight to the west indies in the morning.  i can't wait for you to see what i'm making with them...

these bottles are for my bottle collection...i love the crisp white of the bottle on the left, and the one on the right is an old carafe.  i might use it for homemade juice :]

here is an old aluminum pitcher.  it needs to be cleaned, but it will be available at aquafrolic this week.  it has a few dents and scratches, but nothing major...just enough to give it character!

i love it's shape and copper color.

ahhh.....plaid and girl scouts :] two wonderful things!  here is an old girl scout handbook, circa 1954, and it's in excellent condition.  the color of it alone is fabulous.  for those of you who were once a girl scout, you'll have such fun flipping through the pages and remembering the good times you spent with the girls in your troop.  i found so many of the patches i earned when i was a kid...it was cool to see how long ago some of those traditions were started!  

the lunch box is quite possibly the coolest little lunch box in the world.  (well, at least in my world!)  the thermos is missing, which is unfortunate, however this little box would make a cute handbag or sewing kit!  each will be sold separately.

these cuties come in a pair of two.  they are some of the coolest mugs around.  the inside is a creamy white, while the outside is a vibrant avocado green, with a dark chocolate brown ring around the base.  they are small to medium sized mugs/coffee cups.  available at aquafrolic this week.  (i have a pair for myself too! :] )

ahhhh, it's been such a lovely couple of days...it's back to the daily grind tomorrow...i love local holidays!  i hope everyone who had mardi gras off enjoyed themselves!  don't forget to check back this week for more photos of upcoming aquafrolic updates! 

aside from all of that, i've changed the look of our blog...although i'm sure you've already noticed :]  i like this much better...it's so clean and bright and cheerful...but i feel it's still missing something...  any comments?  any suggestions?  let me know! 

lovelove!

emjay

do you see this?

i'm outside enjoying it right now...  :]

lovelove

emjay

happy mardi gras!

eye candy and such coming soon!  hope you're enjoying the holiday if you're in louisiana today! :]

lovelove

friday night at home :]

for the first time since i can remember, i'm off on a friday evening!  most would take this opportunity to go out to dinner, catch a movie or visit with friends, but i am in much need of a little downtime...soooooooooo  here are my plans:

catching up with the tivo...

dinner from a box (hey, it's supposed to be a relaxing night...not a cooking night!):

and ben and jerry's...mmmm.  but which one to eat?:

i'm super excited!!!

on a different note...brit and i went antiquing yesterday...fun fun fun!  the antique district in downtown denham is a black hole...you can lose a whole day in there!  a day that was supposed to be spent, let's say, packing?  i bought some super fun stuff...some for personal use, and some for the shop.  i'll share some photos tomorrow maybe...but soon!  some things you find there are great...some things you find are just plain silly...like these:

some lovely hats that i have a hard time believing were *ever* in style...

this lovely sombrero that is deceptively large.  it didn't even fit my head!

and brittany made a new friend... :]

well, i'm off to start my evening...i think i hear the oven timer...time for dinner!

lovelove

emjay

I'm Pleased to Meet YOU!

So a couple of weeks ago MJ told yall that I would be joining the blog...and well I never posted anything so here it goes!

A few of the basics: My name is Brittany Alyson Watts but you can call me BWatts as everyone does except for MJ who calls me Brit and I call her Red! I'm 24 and I work at Urban Outfitters as the assistant merchandiser and I love it! Im moving to KY in 4 weeks! wow thats so soon eeeeek! Here are a few of the things that I love: Art in general including but not limited to: painting, drawing, building, and just creating in general; music, the beach, stars, coffee, Sophie (my pup), rock climbing, lady bugs, my fish LOVE, books and Grey's Anatomy! So now that you know a little about me tell me something cool about you! 

Now for more exciting things!

Today is my roomies 21st birthday!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAPPER!!

what's in your purse?(i stole this from MJ but i think you can learn alot about a girl from whats inside her purse!)

in mine you will find:

• 2 pairs of sunglasses
• note pad and pens
• chapstick
• digital camera
• umbrella( the weather here is so unpridictable!)
• gloves
• wallet
• nail polish
• a ring pop
• and sweet hearts leftover from valentines day!

well thats all for now, but the next post will be filled with lots of eye candy and art!!

Mj is on her way to help me start packing! :)

love love love

bwatts

i got a new pair of kicks...

what's in your purse?

in mine you will find...

1.  my diana camera

2. my fish eye lens camera

3. glasses and glasses case

4. digital camera

5. many random receipts from the last month's purchases

6. a couple of ink pens

7. my notebook (for shopping lists and random spurts of inspiration in need of being recorded somewhere)

8. oodles and oodles of spare change :]

9. chapstick!!

my purse is always full of random things and plenty of paper :]

and these....

are my new kicks!  only $5 at walmart...what a steal!  they are my new favorites...my sister even talked me into getting the curly shoe strings.  hehe.  i absolutely *love* them!

lastly, i've been working on a few new items for the shop...  i'm still slaving away at those mixed media canvases, but as we all know, good art doesn't happen overnight!  especially when this artist has a full time day job :]  i also made a couple of really interesting pieces of jewelry...  each piece can be worn as a necklace or a bracelet...and they are made from the most beautiful glass beads :]  (photos soon)lastly i'm going to be adding some super cool, hand painted wooden gift tags.  i came up with the idea for my christmas gifts (below) this year, and decided they were just about the niftiest thing i've seen in a while in the gift wrapping market.  and since i'm such a sucker for pretty packaging...i figured i might as well indulge others out there like me :] 

the tags you'll find in the shop will be pretty generic, so that you can use them year round, however i'll be sure to throw in some holiday specific ones when the seasons come around.  you can also contact me for custom orders should you want them for party favors, themed gifts, etc.

 :]

well, i hope you all have a lovely evening :]

lovelove

emjay

paypal is up!

aquafrolic is now accepting all major credit/debit cards...check it out!  original mixed media and acrylic art pieces are to be added soon!

lovelove

sneak peek!

here's a peek at a few of the art pieces i'm working on for the etsy....the new store, aquafrolic, is officially open, however there are a few things you might want to know...

1.  only bows are up for sale...a few art pieces will be added by monday, and once my sewing machine is fixed (hopefully sooooon), i have tons of pillow ideas floating around in my head that will finally be realized, and those will be up for sale as well.  so check back regularly within the next few weeks for updates!

2.  due to some personal banking changes, i am only able to accept personal checks and/or money orders.  this should be fixed within the next two weeks, and then i will be able to accept paypal as well.

3.  lastly, the shop policies states that i only ship within the united states, however, i am willing to make some exceptions.  if you live outside the u.s., convo me and we'll see if we can work something out.  keep in mind though, shipping charges will vary for out of country purchases.

ok, now for the peeks...

keep in mind, these are both works in progress, and i know it's only a few, but some of them haven't been started yet :]  i'm super excited about the first one!

well it's off to work...after having the last 5 days off, it feels strange to go be going back to the real world. :]

love love

emjay

"holy cute!"

elsie's famous words...they are exactly what pops to mind the second you walk into the rva store on commercial street in springfield, missouri.   here are a few more pics from our rva road trip:

a friendly game of phase ten while watching mr. magorium's wonder emporium

and i won!  that never happens!

elsie, rachel, michelle, brittany and cecily

after having breakfast at gailey's... yum!

on the way home, we stopped by graceland, in memphis

but it was closed :[

you can find all the pics from the trip on my facebook and myspace pages, and i will be uploading them to flickr within the week.

on a different note, my etsy shop has moved and is "under construction".  i will be opening it by the end of the week with limited merchandise, and then will have a full inventory set up within the next few weeks.  (some items may take longer, as my sewing machine is on the fritz and i have to have it repaired).  check back in the morning for some sneak peeks at what you can expect in the new shop!

until then, have a lovely evening.

love love

emjay

home sweet home

made it home a while ago...it's nice to be in my own bed!  the trip was quick, but fun!  we enjoyed ourselves tremendously and made many great memories...i uploaded most of our pictures to myspace, facebook, and flickr already, but now it's almost three in the morning, so i'll call it a night for now and will finish posting about our trip here either tomorrow or the next day.

have a wonderful night/day!

love love love

emjay

red velvet art trip!

while this trip was supposed to be a weekend away from home, work, and all the worries and stresses that come with them, it ended up really being all about art.

the drive was long, but fun :] we listened to fun tunes and played the license plate game...two staples for a roadtrip!  silly cecily slept the whole way :

we visited the Red Velvet Art store this afternoon, and it was just as we had expected it would be.  in brittany's words, it was "fantastically fantastic!"  so cute, so elsie, and so fabulous.  we spent a crap load of money, but it was sooo worth it!  we got so many cute and wonderful things!

it was fun to meet elsie, rachel and jeremy...three incredibly inspiring and creative people.  they are fun and sweet and just what we expected them to be.  they invited us to breakfast in the morning, and we are super stoked to get to spend a bit more time getting to know them :]

on a different note...i've decided today, that this blog is a lot for me to handle by myself, with work and the husband and everything else that life brings, so i'm going to be bringing on another blogger to help keep this thing updated with crafty goodness!  :]  brit is going to be joining the blog and hopefully, between the two of us, we'll make this thing brighter, happier, and more regularly updated... hehe

with that said, it's time for some phase ten in the hotel room...and we're going to watch mr magorium's wonder emporium...fun fun!

excited for dinner tonight on the town, and will post more about our trip soon!

love love love

emjay