Playdate with Kristine Toward

Today Gloria and I are excited to introduce you to our February guest! 

Kristine Toward of Moon In My Garden caught my eye the minute I visited her blog for the first time.  Her sweet blog is full of wonderful stories, fun fashion, yummy cooking and recipes, beautiful photography, lovely scrapbooking, and some amazing original designs.  Just about everything you need to make a blog super fun to read!  She has also been faithfully following along with our photo prompts ever since this little blog started last November : )  And you can check our her blog and/or our Flickr Group every week to see her contribution.  This week, Kristine will be sharing a perfect for February photo prompt with us Friday (Feb. 4th), and an inspiring project on Monday (Feb. 7th).  In the meantime here are a few things about her just for fun:

• What would your dream art studio look like?

 Ooh this one's fun. One of my favorite things to do is decorate my home. About the only thing holding me back from amazing transformations are a serious lack of funds! But if I could design a dream studio, it would be one large open space, like a loft apartment in the city. There would be a space to relax, with a cozy couch, a book shelf with some amazing art books for inspiration and a fluffy white sheep skin rug to curl my toes into. One wall would be brick or stone and would make a fabulous back drop for photo shoots, another wall would just be windows with amazing light and an amazing view. I would have more than one easel so I wasn't constantly juggling around paintings or drawings. I would like a large industrial drafting table to be able to spread my work out on, and a light table for easy transfer of art. I would have shelves where all my supplies would be color coded and stored readily available. There would be a beautiful collection of photography and paintings from other artists. And of course a very pretty sparkling chandelier.

• Outside of your home, where do you like to visit to be inspired?

This is a bit broad, but everywhere. New experiences breathe life into the creative soul, and for me there is beauty in almost everything. The haphazard placement of old, worn books on a thrift store shelf. The cracked and peeling walls inside the homes of a ghost town. The vast still waters of a hidden mountain lake you've hiked to. The way the mannequins are dressed in store windows. The carved moulding in an early 1900's home.  A walk in the park. People watching from the terrace of a coffee shop downtown. There is literally inspiration all around me, so I love to just get out and see everything.

• What is the next artistic step for Kristine?

I am currently pursuing a degree in graphic design. I love learning, especially when it concerns art and design. I am really interested in the aspects involved in print media, I love to pick apart designs everywhere I go, analyzing there make up, thinking about what I could have done to make that design my own. I really just love to be inspired and learn from that inspiration everyday. I have also recently started an Etsy shop, called Mooninmygarden just like my blog! It has always been a dream of mine to be able to share my art with the world, and now I am working towards those goals. It is a slow process, especially since I am a mom, and I work and go to school. But every chance I get I am trying to get new artwork up in my shop. I also really adore scrapbooking and photography and am constantly developing my skills. I hope to be on a design team someday.

• What is your favorite thing to do with photos?

Scrapbook them of course! There is a bit more to it, I like to play with various editing programs and sometimes give my photos vintage looks, or add pretty overlays. But mostly I just cherish them in my scrapbook or around my home. I have a bad habit of printing photos before I have frames, so I have a lot of un-hung pictures waiting for me. But I just can't stop! I also love to share my photos on my blog and Flickr. Flickr is fabulous, I love the feedback and I love seeing what direction other people are taking their photography in.

• What is a recipe you have been dreaming about cooking up in the kitchen lately?

I have a great love of baking. My grandma worked at a bakery when I was a little girl, and I think that is where my fascination of pretty food began. I love making sweet treats, but I also really love taking pictures of them! I could totally see myself a food photographer, I enjoy it that much. I dream of making a strawberry rhubarb pie. I had one once, in a little cafe in Montana when I was young, and I swear it was the best pie I'd ever tasted. I really want to recreate that blissful taste experience when rhubarb comes back into season, I believe it is only available in spring or summer. My belly rumbles now, with images of a warm sweet pie, sugar dusted crust and melting homemade vanilla ice-cream on top.

Well, now I'm hungry.....how about you?!?  LOL!!!  For more fun with Kristine visit us again on Friday.....and see ya tomorrow for some new inspirational photos!

Love, Gloria and Carrie