Share the Love with the CrazyDaisies

Welcome to the Crazy Daisies collaboration Blog Hop!

Who are the Crazy Daisies?

The Crazy Daisies is part educational resources, part clip art! We’re putting our heads together to make learning fun for our students and YOURS. Amanda Smith of Daisy Designs is a 2nd Grade teacher in Florida. She also teaches Musical Theater and Dance at a local theater. She’s passionate about reading and is a total dog-lover! In fact, Daisy is the name of her 5 pound chihuahua. She has a 5-month old son, Isaac.

Jodilyn Blake @DaisyADayDoodles has been teaching for 8 years on the Indian Reservations of New Mexico. She has taught as a reading specialist, 2nd grade teacher on up to Middle school Language Arts. Her TPT shop has teaching resources along with her artwork. She has been doodling since she was 12 years old for fun. However, her doodles became digital creations in May 2015. She is relatively new to the clip art world, but she loves to share her joy.

By our powers combined, we wish you a Happy Valentine’s Day with free valentines featuring Jodilyn’s art and Amanda’s witty puns.


We simply must give a major shout out to those who are helping us launch our new collaboration! Don't forget to hop on over to their blogs and see what great resources they may have in store for your! Each blog will link to the next one. Grab a free valentine from each blog. We all love sharing our work with you and your students!

Did I mention that you also will get to enter for a chance to win a $40 TPT gift card?! Shut up! Serious? As a heart attack! It's all about sharing the love this February. We have you covered! Fill out the raffle copper to participate in the gift card give-a-way!

Click the link below to enter the Rafflecopter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

You can follow Jodilyn and Amanda on their personal social media pages and NOW on a collaborative instagram/Facebook page. Follow for then you won't miss out on future give-a-ways and new collaborative projects.

Here is the FREE Valentine for you to print and use with your class, children or give them to friends and family. All you need to do is click on the photo below and it will direct you to the link to the Valentine.

When you've collected the sock valentine from my blog, don't forget to follow the hop on to the next blog. They will also be sharing the love and a Free Valentine.

You will have a full set when you are done. Please click the image below to find the next Valentine.

Share some love by commenting and following any or all of the Facebook, Instagram or TPT sites of all involved in this wonderful, collaborative, fun SHARE THE LOVE blog hop!

Check out my TPT shop to find some lovely doodle coloring pages for your students for Happy Hearts day at 50% off.

DaisyADayDoodles

February Daily Doodle time

December - Doodle A Day

I can't believe it's been so long since I did this. I get distracted with my day job and can't keep up with everything.

December is my favorite month. It's a time of giving, receiving, kindness and joy. I want to restart my doodle a day with daisy. I am recommitting to it. I hope people will join in.

The idea is to raise awareness about depression and to fight back for those who really struggle with it. It's a disease. There is new research that it is even a form of brain damage. I for one want to fight back with this idea that being creative increases endorphins. Endorphins are depressions enemy. Problem is when you are low, you don't feel like fighting.

A few week back in October I fell deep into the black hole and was really scared I wasn't going to get back out. Luckily, I had to go to work. My "have too's" usually help me get up and out. Though I had to take a down day because I literally couldn't get out of bed, the next day I got up and went to work. On my drive home from barely surviving the day, I came to realize it was time to do the hardest  part of depression. It was time to reach out, because I needed help.

It has been a struggle but I am in a good place right now and hope to share my message. You can survive. You don't have to be alone. Let's unite and fight.

Doodle a day with me. Doodle and share what you doodle. Post it to your Facebook feed, Instragram, tweet it out, using the hashtag #doodleadaywdaisy.

Find it hard to know what to doodle. Well, here is a little help.

Thank you all! Enjoy

Here are my first two doodles for the month.

Be Brave

THE STRUGGLE
I am excited to share a little piece of some new work I am doing. I have not liked how I have been coloring my line art prior to this because it was flat and boring. I am a self-taught techy, especially where Photoshop is concerned. (Youtube tutorials are very helpful.) By trial and error I have learned to color my art digitally after I create my line art. I found that after the line art was done, the digital portion of my work was sucking the fun and joy out of my hobby. I have even lost a little of the love of creating and that hurt as I create to be happy.

STYLE
After watching other artists having definite styles of their own and be successful this year, I realized I was at an impasse and needed to improve. I have since sought out others to evaluate my work. I started looking at new mediums. What started out as a hobby in May 2015 has become a passion. One I am not willing to readily give up on. In order to become successful one must improve. This is ever true in Art, which is why I love it. It gives my mind wings, and my heart and spirit room to grow. I don't just love this. I NEED this. As I believe all humanity does. Are you not happier when you create something of your very own?

WATERCOLOR?
I started water coloring when I was about 13. I just dabbled. Added color to a few little projects here and there. When I went to college I took watercolor classes. I also took oil, pastels, portrait, and drawing classes. Of course my favorite was watercolor. It's simple, forgiving. It starts light, and can be as dark as you make it. Years later, I had forgotten this love. Until I started paying attention to other artist and their styles. Specifically, clip artists.

INSPIRATION
A new friend of mine Sarah of Sarah Pecorino Illustrations and Designs creates work that looks like watercolor. Hers is done digitally. Which is entirely impressive to me. Upon getting to know her better, I was enthralled by the quality of her work and experience. (Let's just say, I want to be her when I grow up.) I was inspired by her amazing art, so I bravely asked her if it was okay to take the idea of watercolor and add it to my artwork. I would be doing it by hand though. She was very encouraging and helpful. So, here I am.

I am pleased to reveal the first color clip art that is part of a two set series. Here to debut my new style of color and design is King Franky the Fox. Reminding you and me to BE BRAVE! 



My art is on Redbubble now. If you love him as much as I do, you may just want to have a t-shirt, sticker, mug, pillow or bag with his darling face printed on it.

Follow this link to purchase him. ----------------->  Be Brave Little Fox

He will be included in a clip art set coming in the next few days in my Teachers Pay Teacher store as well as my Etsy Shop. 

SHARE
If you love him, share him with friends. He is a great reminder to us all to take the leap of faith it takes to create something to bring you joy. Don't be afraid to be out there. Don't be afraid to improve. Don't ever stop growing.

With love,

Friends and Followers Freebie!

Friends! I want to share some summer love! Go to my Teachers Pay Teachers store and find this little darling! 

Doodle A Day With Daisy

Friends. I love making and sharing my doodles. I love creating them and selling them. However, lately I have wanted to do more with this new found passion. To take things to an even more positive level. To share a message and have it catch on like a wild fire. I recently created some POWER WORD doodles and it seems those messages found root in my heart, because I am finding myself trying to live by them. Each one in different ways. Today it's LuckyLittleLearners word. Fearless.

See, the biggest reason I started doodling was because I have struggled for years with depression. There were some really dark days in my past. Such dark days I didn't know if I would see them through. I know it was by the grace of God and the lives of my children that those really dark days are forever in my past. One of the reasons why, is that I learned I needed to CREATE. That word saved me.

I have many outlets now, photography, watercolor and acrylic paintings. My doodles really have grounded themselves in my heart and helped me. I know now when I start to feel blue, that it's time to doodle.In fact, I think it has changed my brain a bit. Instead of getting so blue I can't get out of bed, now my brain tells me, we need to doodle. Some project inspiration will come into my mind and I WORK my way through the blues. I find it funny that this past year there are now studies cropping up to show that coloring creates happiness. I think that most artists have always known this. Children know this, that's why they love to do it. I believe that creating my silly little doodles are also making my brain happy and fighting off the sadness of life.

My message to the world this year is create. Create to find joy.

Now, I know that I am not the only doodler in the world! Admit it. I am sure there are times when you doodle too. You are on the phone with a paper nearby and you doodle while you talk. You are taking notes in class and you doodle. (Even my husband doodles and he's hardly ARTISTIC. He is logic where I am emotion.) Point is - Everyone doodles.

So, I want you to help me spread my message. Create to find joy by doodling each day. I created a list to follow to get you going.  Maybe, you won't be able to do it everyday. Maybe you won't like the topics. No worries. Join in when you can. Share the love and the hashtag. I will do one of these every month for the rest of the year. But, don't just closet doodle. Doodle and share. There is joy in showing our work to others also.

Help me friends. Let's spread joy. Let's find peace and happiness this year by increasing our endorphins as we doodle. Let's share love to those who are stuck in the blues while keeping ourselves out of the darkness that depression can bring.

Doodle with me. Use the hashtag #Doodleadaywdaisy on instagram. I will share your doodles every Sunday to spread the love all over the world. My instagram account is @DaisyADayDoodles. Check back often. Looking forward to see where this will go.

Here is February's list.

Little Love Bugs

Just posted my new set of Little Love Bugs. Looking forward to making some valentines for my students. Check them out. You will love them. The set comes with black and white line art. There is also color for your decorating or clip art needs. I hope you like them.

Little Love Bugs on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Little Love Bugs on Etsy