favorites all around

I'm a little late to blog today...by little I mean a lot. I had a lovely weekend making another mural at the C Gallery on Saturday, selling some watercolors at a wine event Sunday and hanging with the boy Monday. Then today I helped some 1st graders do a sidewalk mural! It has been a busy and art filled weekend...the best kind if you ask me. 

As a result, I'm blogging for the Every Day in May challenge at 11:15 at night. I liked Sunday's topic too so I'm going to do a combo post since it's all about favorites! Sunday: your favorite blogs and why, & Tuesday: your favorite posts in your archives. 

First up, my favorite blogs! I have so many favorite blogs. Really, my Bloglovin' feed is out of hand. But I can't help it! It took a little work but I narrowed down my favorites a bit...

• F*yeah, Book Arts! has such a great collection of artist books, tutorials and more. The first time I found them I spent days clicking back through the archives. 
• Julie Ann Art is a recent find but a huge favorite. Her blog is so inspiring! Slowly working to join her ranks of living solely off of creating. 
• Design Sponge is probably on most artsy people's favorite list. If it's not already on yours, get to it now! They really have the best collection of art, design, crafts and just overall inspiration.
• A Beautiful Mess is another no-brainer that everyone should have on their blog feed
• The sketching backpacker puts Terzo to shame...seriously...he's incredible...
• Warm Pears by Gina Gomez makes me so homesick for Italy. Every time I look at her photos I fall in love with that country all over again. 
• Silly Grrl is another new love but she's pretty awesome! All the new blog tweaks? Yeaaah they're all thanks to here awesome tips and tricks!
• Kitty and Buck is such a lovely blog! Kitty is such a sweet lady and she has the greatest photos, outfits and pretty much everything! 
• Yum and Yummer is full of tasty recipes and snarky commentary. For the win. 

Some of my favorite blog posts:

I really love this post on all the paper bag projects I made! I still have a mountain of bags waiting to be turned into envelopes, baskets and notebooks!

This doily purse DIY is still one of my favorites, probably because I use the purse so frequently still! Hooray for Mod Podge and it's ability to withstand a beating from the daily life of Chelsea! 

I talk about Terzo a lot on here but this post was not only my first blog post but it was also full of my sketches the first time I went to Italy. I still love flipping through that old sketchbook. 

Friday Link Love

Art by Erin McManness

It has been a while since I last did a Friday Link Love post. There seems to be a plethora of good crafts and products and ideas floating around on the interwebs these days. Must be the sunny pre-summer weather waking everybody up out of the gloomy spring and winter comas! 

Things are certainly waking up here too! I just got a couple more commissions and this weekend is going to be filled with another mural on Saturday and a sketching event on Sunday...hooray for sketching and vino! 

Today is also day 17 in the Blog Every Day Challenge. One of the reasons for this Friday Link Love post is to distract from the topic of today: a favorite photo of yourself and why. I didn't really want to have a whole post dedicated to a photo of me...so I'll distract you with awesomeness from around the blogosphere and if you so choose to see my favorite photo, scroll to the bottom of this post...if you dare! 

Here are some of my favorite things I've found on the interwebs this week:

• That gorgeous purse up above? Remember the talented Erin McManness I had on a Friday Feature awhile back? She's been painting her gorgeous flowers on some purses lately! It's giving me all kinds of ideas and envy for not owning one of these lovely creations! 
• I want this vintage sweater from Love Gazpacho so much it kind of pains me. Mary has such a great collection of items in her Etsy shop, I need mass amounts of monies to buy everything! 
• Rope coil baskets seem to be everywhere right now! I love this rope tutorial from the Red Thread, but also this t-shirt  and homemade bead version from the Corner Blog. 
• Whimseybox has a fantastic series called 1 Material, Many Ways. They just posted one on oven bake clay projects that I'm itching to try! 
• Have you heard of Betty Means Business? I just found this amazing site the other day! It's dedicated specifically to business advice for creative entrepreneurs! Not only does she have a killer sense of humor and awesome tips, she has an E-book too! 
• That photo of the peach tart I almost forgot to share the other day? I made it for a Bocce match and it was pretty incredible...you can find the recipe here on Food & Wine! 

Okay, time for my favorite photo! I really have a lot of favorites but this one is extra special to me. This is from way back in 2009 when I first studied abroad in Italy. It was my first real big adventure out of the US and it sealed my love with that country, which would ultimately turn into a 2+ year adventure! My friend and I went for a walk in the valley below our town, Castiglion Fiorentino, to sketch and see all the wildflowers! Our school was in a converted convent just to the left of the tall bell tower on top of the hill behind me. *sigh* Italia, mi manchi...