Ashley Hackshaw / Lil Blue Boo - Page 82 of 662 - Living a simple, creative life in small town USA. Bryson City. A Lifestyle Blog.

United Paws of America

July 22, 2016 by Ashley Hackshaw

The United PAWS of America is a big virtual road trip that Sienna and I have set out to raise money for our local animals. Our local shelter has been Sienna’s mission since we moved to Bryson City. She loves animals just as much as her parents do:

Her last two birthdays she’s asked for donations to the animal shelter over gifts. She’s even used her Christmas money to sponsor a dog when we told her any money she donated we would match:

(“Sienna the animal lover.”)

There are no county animal control resources available here and we live in a rural, economically depressed area. The result is a perfect storm for animal suffering. Our shelter PAWS Bryson City does such an amazing job but the job is too big for one small shelter. We want to help them with funds for additional medical assistance and bring more relief to our local homeless and abused animals.

Our Goal:

Our goal right now is ten donations per state.

500 donations.

We made this huge map and will fill in each state as we reach our goal.

We will be writing letters and sharing map updates as our project gets farther along. I don’t know how long it will take to meet our goal but it’s going to be fun trying!

Please consider donating to PAWS Animal Shelter. Any amount will help!

How to Donate by Paypal:

Click here —> PAWS Animal Shelter

or send funds direct to pawsbc @ yahoo.com

**Please add “Sienna Hackshaw Project” in the notes with your STATE so that we update our map and show you our progress as we go!

How to Donate by Check:

PAWS Animal Shelter
Attn: Sienna Hackshaw Project
P.O. Box 1814
Bryson City, NC 28713

I’ll be painting the states as we go and eventually we hope to have a beautiful animal-themed map to share with you!

Intuitive Painting by Flora Bowley

July 21, 2016 by Ashley Hackshaw

One of my favorite books on painting is Intuitive Painting by Flora Bowley. I love Flora’s artistic process and so much of my own painting so much just from reading that one book. Now there’s a three part series available on Creativebug with Flora…I just finished part one and I just get goosebumps looking at her beautiful studio, let alone her creative process.

Check out Flora’s new class Intuitive Painting with Flora Bowley on Creativebug or click through the image below:

My art is influenced by so many things. I like to take a process and make it my own but you can definitely see Flora’s influence in some of my most recent work:

I love these most recent pieces I made…I hand stitched vintage embroidery finds onto the paintings. A portion of proceeds from each sale went to support our local animal shelter! Thank you to everyone who purchased them off of Etsy! The shelter was so happy for the donation.

I’ve had so many people comment on Instagram asking me to do a tutorial on my painting process but I think you should just go and learn straight from Flora!

Flora’s Book on Painting:

Brave Intuitive Painting-Let Go, Be Bold, Unfold!: Techniques for Uncovering Your Own Unique Painting Style by Flora Bowley

“Flora S. Bowley’s fun and forgiving approach to painting is based on the notion that “You don’t begin with a preconceived painting in mind; you allow the painting to unfold.” Illustrating how to work in layers, Flora gives you the freedom to cover up, re-start, wipe away, and change courses many times along the way. Unexpected and unique compositions, color combinations, and subject matter appear as you allow your paintings to emerge in an organic, unplanned way while working from a place of curiosity and letting go of fear.”

Flora also has a new book coming out in November that I’ve already pre-ordered. Can’t wait!

Disclaimer: I’m an affiliate of Creativebug, because I’m a huge fan. Their classes highlight things I actually want to learn, and the videos are beautifully done.

DIY Give Spend Save Jars

July 20, 2016 by Ashley Hackshaw

Sienna is always asking for ways to earn money with extra chores so Brett recently made her these rustic Give Save Spend jars to help her plan out where the money is going to go.

He used some reclaimed wood and recycled it into this little carrier:

The container has three bays, each large enough to hold an ordinary mason jar:

The only thing I had to purchase was mason jars and the little metal label holders for the front of the container:

(you can purchase file drawer label holders here)

For the lids of the bank jars, instead of trying to neatly punch through metal, I used old cereal boxes. I used the lid as a template to cut out the circles.