These are the horses in the neighborhood

by 1 Comment

these are the horses in my neighborhood

OK, so there really is only one horse. This horse is on the next street over from where I live. It’s totally right smack dab in the middle of Fresno, a block away from shopping and whatnot. It just always cracks me up cause it’s always hangin’ out, just eating the grass. That’s one way to not have to mow the lawn I guess! That’s one thing I don’t look forward to doing when I do own a home!

He’s just so cute and out of the ordinary. Sometimes it’s nice to see the unexpected, don’t you agree?

Until next time Swellions!

Alexa

My Night in Photos

by 2 Comments

DSC_2243

DSC_2235

DSC_2237

I had a very random night. It started off with a trip to a couple Art Hop Venues and ended at a tattoo parlor. No joke. And no, It didn’t end in me getting a tattoo, actually my friend Tar’lese. She got a tattoo and I helped her pick the phrase and font. It was a total whim thing.

There was some random walking around, going to new places, I’ve never been and breaking out of the mode. I don’t go out most weeknights other than to dinner or a shopping trip now and then, so it was fun to do something totally unexpected. Here’s some of my pics I took tonight! They include a bar, a cool architectural storefront, and other random goofball pics!

DSC_2291

Cool lighting

DSC_2301

Dinner for 1

And some artful tattoo pics. Tar’lese, please don’t be mad at me for showing these! I tried to pic some artful and pretty ones.

Tattoo

be present

And here’s her finished design! It says, “Be Present Every Day”.

And here’s Tar’lese being present in the moment. She’s a crazy lady, I tell you. I have NEVER been able to do this.

I can't do karate, but I can do ca-RAZY!

Until next time Swellions!

Alexa

Around Fresno

by 1 Comment

Yesterday I took a whole bunch of Fresno photos. Some weren’t in the best parts of town…ha, I didn’t even get out of my car for a couple of the hotel signs, but I’m glad I took them. I LOVE vintage signs. You probably already knew that. There are a lot of great signs around town. It’s sad that a lot of the places that accompany those signs are rundown.

I just wanted to share a few of my fun Fresno photos….

DSC_0272

La Fiesta

STORE

Town House Motor Hotel

Storyland Inn Soldier

Crest

DSC_0246

I did have an agenda for taking my photos, I used them for my buttons. My buttons have been going over really well. They’ve sold like 300 at Twee! YAY! They even gave the mayor some and she called to tell Melanie and Patty, my friends and owners of Twee, how much she loved them!

Fresno buttons

Have a great Wednesday!

Until next time Swellions!

Alexa

A swell gift for a friend

by 1 Comment

super-quick-gift

I don’t know if you’re like me, but I’m always making a mad rush before birthdays! Luckily, I have a pretty large stash of colorful jewelry that I already have made up to give away as gifts. It was actually kinda hard for me to part with these two pieces for my super swell friend Allee (she’s turning 20)! I love the chunky orange and yellow iridescent beads I used for them and that button ring is one of my faves too (it was actually in Jewelry Creations magazine by CK Media a few months back). I made the little cards out of black cardstock and wrote on there with a silver gel pen and it made an instant display card. So easy! That’s what I’m talking about. Oh, and I would have blown up the pic, but it was a total iphone pic that was really crappy, but I think you get the idea!

And in awesome Swell news, my wall project was featured on Dollar Store Crafts (an amazing site, btw) a couple of weeks ago, and Threadbanger has a special feature in conjunction with Dollar Store Crafts and they selected mine as one of the best projects of the week! Cool, eh?

My brain is really random at the moment as you can tell by the paragraphs above cause I’ve gotta run. I have an art hop to go tonight here in the Tower District of Fresno! I hope to share some cool pics tomorrow!

Until next time Swellions!

Alexa

5 things I’m noticing about Fresno

by 8 Comments

fresh lemons

1. People have a lot of fruit trees. The lemons above came from my co-workers lemon tree. How cool is that? In Kentucky, I was lucky to get the occasional tomato or cucumber during the summer, but here people bring in fruits year-round to share. That lemon was the bomb in my diet coke, BTW.

2. People around here make a LOT of U-turns. It is acceptable, too…the signs even say it’s ok to do it. I still get a bit nervous when I do it now, cause back home, you’d get a ticket for doing it. It’s not something I’m feeling too comfortable doing.

3. There are a lot of people who stand on street corners here advertising stuff. Back home, I saw an occasional guy trying to promote the “Hot ‘n Ready” pizza deal from Little Caesars, but here right next to the tax place, I have seen 4 people dressed as the Statue of Liberty on each corner of the intersection. Also, it’s not uncommon for you to pull up to a fast food place and have someone there to take your order. For some reason, it was told it helps productivity and efficiency in getting you through the drive through. Beats me.

4. And I thought Lexington had a lot of Starbucks! On Shaw Avenue, the main drag next to my house, there are 3 within a mile of each other. I guess people really like their morning espresso and muffin!

5. The same goes for Target…there’s like 10 in this town! I think Target here is like Wal-mart back home. There’s a couple of Wal-marts here, but honestly I haven’t had a need to go to any for groceries or anything. There’s just a lot more options and you know the headache you get when you go in that place. Maybe it’s for the best anyway. Ha ha.

Well, must get ready for bed. Until next time Swellions!

Alexa

A quick project + hopefully making new friends!

by 1 Comment

snakeskin shell earrings

So, I made the above project for a co-worker. I hope she likes them! I think she makes jewelry too, so I don’t know what she’ll think!

I searched for the past couple of hours online for ways to make new friends. I know that to make friends you have to put yourself out there, but I think it’s a lot easier said than done. I’m looking into avenues like taking a bead class, joining a yoga group, and going to artsy functions hosted by the local arts group, but right now I’m a little strapped for cash for the next month or so. The bills are kinda cutting me close, so I can’t lay down a lot for extra stuff. So, I’ve turned to the net!

It’s hard to even find friends on the internet. I would like to find crafty types like myself that would like to get together, craft, go get coffee, catch a movie, go to crafty places, etc. I was feeling kinda down until I had a lightbulb pop in my head! Why not try to find local Etsy sellers?

Well, there are a lot of Etsy sellers in the area and I wrote them and I’ve already gotten back a couple of responses! I’m really hope this is a good sign of things to come. I’m going to go stir crazy if I don’t make some friends outside of work pretty soon!

Well, off to bed. Oh, I wanted to share a little peek at my apartment complex (a more artsy shot than a straight-forward one). This is what the buildings in my complex look like.

My apartment complex

I will take more photos when I’m a bit more inspired. I went out today with my camera and I got very few shops…I just wasn’t feeling it and the subject matter was pretty blah.

Until next time Swellions!

Alexa