19th Annual People's Art Show

Cleveland State University's art gallery has an annual art show open to all people, regardless of experience or artistic training. I decided to enter one of my paintings this year! There are a lot of really cool art pieces and if you live in the area, I highly recommend stopping by to check it out. (Plus, it's free! Can't beat that!) The show remains on display until December 9th, 2010.

Here's my little painting that I entered:

and of course a picture of me posing with it! :)

CoolCleveland.com has a cool article that you can check out by clicking here.

There's also an awesome video of the opening reception!

Here are a couple pictures that I took at the reception too:

Land of Happily Ever After

“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?”

Hello everyone! Happy Halloween weekend! :)

A couple weeks ago, the church that I work at created a "Land of Happily Ever After." Itwas SO much fun. A bunch of the youth group kids, and a few of the adults who work there, dressed up as storybook characters and set up along the trail in the woods so the little kids of the parish could walk through and meet everyone. I was so excited because I got to be one of my favorites, Alice in Wonderland! (Now you all can see how I'd lookas a blonde! lol) The local newspaper of that area even did a story on us! You can read it by clicking here.

And now for the pictures!

Light the Night Walk

I am extremely behind on blogging, it's getting out of control! And I have SO many things to blog about.. but that's my problem. I've been way too busy. I don't know why but this Fall, I've been running around nonstop, plus school has been getting kind of crazy too.. but I guess that's expected. Anyway.. on to the blogging!

On October 2nd, I participated in the "Light the Night" walk for Leukemia & Lymphoma, walking in honor of my friend, Jessica, who passed away at the age of 20 from Lymphoma in December of 2009.

I knew Jessica since we were in grade school together and then we went on to go to the same high school and college.

I was honored to be able to walk in her honor, along with a group of her friends and family.

The walk took place at Progressive Field in downtown Cleveland. It started off a little rainy, but luckily it pretty much cleared up in time for the actual walk to start. We walked a mile around the streets of downtown, everyone with an illuminated balloon. It was really inspiring and I'm really glad that I took part in it.

With the help of my family and friends, I was able to raise $193 alone, and all together, our team raised a total of $1,210. The money will help fund lifesaving cancer research and services for patients, bringing help and hope to thousands of people battling blood cancers.

September Wedding at Mike's Barn

Last month, my parents and I attended the beautiful autumn wedding of our friends, Jack and Suzy. The wedding took place at Mike's Barn, a huge old barn near Cleveland, which serves as a private music venue and hangout for many local blues and jazz musicians. It's filled with lots of art, oddities and musical instruments.

The barn was a perfect setting for this wedding because Jack is a singer and harmonica player and most of the guests that attended were either musicians themselves or friends and family of musicians. The ceremony took place outside, and then there was a giant jam session inside later on. It was so much fun and there was plenty of great music, food and photo ops. One really cool part of the night was when we launched a bunch of Chinese sky lanterns. Here are some photos from the day!

I'm vowing right now to blog more often...

We'll see how that goes... haha.

Well, hello everyone who reads this (probably no one.. ha),

I've been neglecting this blog lately, because I've been a combination of busy and also lazy, but I've been posting a bunch of pictures I like and things on my tumblr.. but that is no excuse! (Plus that's mostly pictures that I come across that inspire me, not so much a personal blog like this one is..) So I am going to try and start blogging here again as well!

I've started my fourth year of college and so far it's going pretty well. I have one night class and one online class (plus two normal day classes) which makes my schedule way different than I'm used to. Kinda weird, but I'm slowly but surely starting to adapt.

They just opened up the new student center which has been under construction for the past 2 or 3 years. They had a big all-day event for the grand opening called "The Big Reveal." I played for an hour up on the 3rd floor terrace where there was free food being served and it was pretty cool. Lots of people showed up and really seemed to be getting into my music. After my set was over, a couple foreign exchange students even asked to get their picture taken with me. It made me feel all cool and famous.. hahaha. Fun times though. Here are some pictures from the day:

Blog Feature!

Hey everybody! Michael Creations has featured my etsy shop on their blog! Check out their latest "I Heart Etsy Wednesday" feature by clicking HERE to see the article!

2 years :)

Yesterday was my boyfriend and my 2 year anniversary! :) We are waiting to celebrate until the weekend, but he surprised me on his lunch break yesterday by showing up at my house with 2 dozen beautiful roses! They are so beautiful and really made my day so I thought I would share! :)

Paper Bag - Fiona Apple (cover)

Here There & Everywhere Video

Hey again! I've posted a new video on YouTube and I thought I'd share it with you! I covered "Here There & Everywhere" by The Beatles. I hope you like it :)

I got it!

Hey all! (If anyone actually reads this.. lol) I haven't blogged in awhile but I need to start again I think! Anyway, first off.. remember my etsy spotlight blog I wrote a little while ago about the "Claudia and her pet cloud" print that I ordered? (If not you can view it here.) Well, I received the print! It looks even better in person! Here's a picture:

I still need to find a frame and a place to hang it up, but I'm so happy that I bought it :)

formspring.me

Ask me anything http://formspring.me/clawdiamarie

Etsy Spotlight

Hey all! I've decided to start doing some etsy features/spotlights on my blog! I'm always browsing around on etsy.com and there are SO many talented people creating great things. So why not share my finds?

Yesterday, I was browsing the art section for "clouds and rain" and came across this cute little illustration by The Paperboat, located in Spain. I clicked on it to get a better view and to my surprise the title was "Claudia and her pet cloud." Well.. needless to say it was meant to be. My name's Claudia, I have green eyes and brown hair AND my mom calls me "Cloudia" from time to time. So I purchased the print and can't wait to hang it in my room. :)

Click here to view it on etsy.

And make sure you check out Thepaperboat.

2 new paintings listed on my etsy shop!

"love worms"

acrylics done on 8x10 stretched canvas.

view it on etsy by clicking here

and then this owl done with acrylics on cardboard

view it on etsy by clicking here

Featured on Etsy's Front Page!!

Hey all! I was just told that my first treasury was featured on Etsy's front page! How exciting! I wasn't home hardly at all yesterday evening, so I wasn't able to see it happen, but thankfully botodesigns commented my blog to let me know! How exciting. :) Thanks etsy!

Here's what my treasury looked like, in case you missed it!

New Owl Painting!!

I listed a new painting in my etsy shop last night!

It's called "Technicolor Owl"
View it on etsy by clicking here.

I'm thinking of making a series of owls like this with different color schemes.
My question for you is: What color scheme would you like to see?