Bailey and Rosie Intro

I have mentioned them before in several posts, but today I'm going to tell you a little more about Bailey and Rosie, our two Miniature Australian Shepherds! Parker got Bailey before we ever met. He thought he bought a full size Australian Shepherd, but then she stopped growing. He was embarrassed at first to be a single man with a Miniature Australian Shepherd, but he now realizes how amazingly blessed he was. She is now 6.5 and the best, sweetest, calmest, most well-behaved, beautiful dog (in my humble opinion :) ).

After Parker and I had been together for just over two years, we decided to get Rosie. We had been talking about how sorry we felt for Bailey having to be home by herself all day while we were working in Huntsville. We thought a friend would make her less lonely. On Valentine's Day 2014, we did quite a bit of research trying to find another mini Australian Shepherd. We eventually stumbled upon Blue Buckaroo, which was located about an hour away in Tennessee. It just so happened that our timing was perfect. There was a litter of puppies that was just turning old enough to be picked up the next day. Every single puppy in the litter was reserved, except for "Roxy." All of the other pups in her litter were blue merles. She was the only tricolor, which is what Bailey is. We were SOLD and reserved her immediately!

We decided that night we would change her name to Rosie. When we were making the decision, there were roses around for Valentine's Day. And have you been to the Mexican restaurant in Huntsville called Rosie's? Amazing! Plus, her original name was Roxy, and we thought Rosie wouldn't be too difficult of a name change for her, if her previous owners had been calling her that.

I don't think Parker or I slept more than 2 hours that night due to the excitement/nerves of adding a new pup to the crew. Our biggest concern was how Bailey would react to another dog being added to the family. Parker decided that we should bring Bailey with us to meet her new baby sister. When we got there, the lady handed us Rosie and said she was the calmest, snuggliest, sweetest puppy in the litter. We found out within about 2 minutes that the lady was incorrect about this girl being calm. She wiggled and squirmed in my arms the entire trip back to Huntsville. Bailey was NOT so sure about Rosie. She squeezed herself between Parker (who was driving) and the window to get as far away from Rosie as possible. While Rosie was trying to get out of my lap and play with Bailey the entire time.

It was quite an adjustment going from having sweet, calm Bailey to having Bailey and this wild little playful puppy. At one of Rosie's puppy check ups, we asked the vet when he thought Rosie would calm down a little bit. He told us that there are two different types of Australian Shepherds. 50% of them are very calm. 50% are very wild. It was easy to see which of our dogs fit in which category. So to answer my question, the vet said Rosie would be 6 or 7 when she calmed down. I said 6 or 7 months? He said no, 6 or 7 years.

It took quite a bit of time, but Bailey eventually got used to her wild baby sister. She has shown us in so many ways how much she loves her, and now they are truly inseparable. You will not find one without the other. We love them both more than our hearts can even handle, and they are most definitely our spoiled little princess children. 

I am selfishly happy to have so many of my favorite photos of Bailey and Rosie in one place. Plus, who doesn't smile when looking at puppy photos? I hope these pictures can bring some joy to your Wednesday!

Bailey's favorite way to hang out with Rosie when she was a puppy- with her head stuck in a fence. :)

This little pup has grown up quite a bit, but her love for bones has not changed at all.

Fresh haircuts from our FAVORITE groomer ever- Natalie at Best Friends Animal Hospital in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Thanks so much for reading! Have a great day! AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

Giveaway Winner + A Spring/Summer Must-Have Dress

Giveaway Winner

Thank you so much to everyone who entered! We hope to have another one of these in the future, so be on the lookout! We stayed up late to make sure we got all of the names in the bowl. Bailey could barely keep her eyes open, but we ended up choosing...

Anne Merrill Mason! We are so excited for you Anne Merrill!! Send your shipping address to artfashionfun@gmail.com, and we will get your painting out in the mail today! Congratulations! And thank you so much to everyone who entered! We are so grateful for your support!

A Spring Wedding Look

I went to Mobile this past weekend because I planned on attending a friend's wedding. I had my A Spring Wedding Look + A Maternity Spring Wedding Look blog post drafted and ready. All I needed was the photoshoot and photos to add to the post. My cute friend Caroline was going to be the cute pregnant model. However, I had oral surgery on Thursday and it ended up being a lot more intense than I imagined. I was in no condition to take pictures, much less make it to the wedding. I felt terribly guilty RSVPing yes and ending up having to change my decision the day of the wedding (so so sorry again Graysi!), but it would not have been a good idea considering the state of my mouth. Plus, it was actually best for everyone else that they did not have to see my mouth. Here is a link to the dress I planned to wear though- dress for Graysi's wedding. I have it in Hot Magenta. You may remember it from my birthday post last week. It is a great dress with a reasonable price for a dressy dress! Because I could not take photos of the looks I had in mind for this post, I decided to take photos of my sister who was attending a bridal shower....

A Spring/Summer Must-Have Dress

You know how there are dresses you buy that you wear over and over again because they're so well-made, comfortable, and easy to throw on and go? This dress my sister Ebie is wearing is one of those dresses. She wore it to a bridal shower this past weekend. She and my mom wear the same size, so they are sharing it and both think they will be wearing it on repeat for the next few months (and probably longer in the Mobile weather). Her accessories and shoes brought the whole look together to make it the perfect outfit for a spring bridal shower. I'm going to need to purchase this dress for myself as soon as the next sale comes along!

Dress Details (click here to go to dress): It is made by Holding Horses at Anthropologie and is such good quality. It is lined but has a loose fit, even when you size down one size. The material is super comfortable and it would be great to wear to a casual or even more dressy event, depending on your shoes and accessories. Also, isn't the flouncy bottom part SO cute?

Other Details: Earrings- KatherineMdesigns (LOVE!) // Necklace- Kendra Scott Elisa Gold Pendant Necklace in Platinum Drusy // Shoes- Jellypop Sweden Ankle Strap Dress Heel from Belk (on sale for $29.99!!)

Thanks for reading! I hope you had a fantastic weekend and have a great week!

Weekly Recap + Giveaway!

Giveaway Info

We are so excited to wrap up our first week of Art Fashion Fun that we thought we would celebrate with a giveaway! We are going to give away one mixed media painting to a lucky winner! All you have to do is 1. follow us on Instagram (artfashionfun) 2. like the picture of the giveaway painting we posted and 3. tag 3 friends! BONUS: You get an extra entry in the drawing if you share our Instagram giveaway painting post on your Instagram or Facebook account and tag us! Or 5 extra entries if you share on both Instagram AND Facebook! Make sure you tag us and use #artfashionfun in the caption, so we will be able to see your post. Good luck! And thank you so much for all of your kind words and support this week! The winner will be announced on Monday's blog post.

Painting details:

• 14" x 18" abstract metallic painting
• Mixed media materials- acrylic with resin
• Painted sides and ready to hang

Weekly Post Recap

Click to view full post- Intro

Click to view full post-My Fashion and Fun Expertise

Click to view full post- Essentials for a Day Party

Click to view full post-How to Get a Gel Mani/Pedi for a Fraction of the Cost

Click to view full post-#tbt 28 Things I'm Loving for my 28th Birthday

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Thanks so much for reading! Good luck on the giveaway and have a wonderful weekend!

#tbt 28 Things I'm Loving for my 28th Birthday

My 28th birthday was one week ago (that's why I threw the #tbt in the title), so today I will share 28 things I have been given recently and am loving!

Because my birthday was on a Thursday, Parker and I didn't do that much celebrating that day. It was still a fabulous day because I got to hear from my friends and family, open up cards from loved ones and a birthday box from my family, and Parker got me an adorable cake with bright pink flowers! Plus I chose to eat dinner at Jason's Deli ($5 off for my birthday month and free ice cream woohooo!). Parker kept trying to convince me to go somewhere more festive, but I knew we would be festive enough on Saturday, and I actually LOVE Jason's Deli. 

So, we enjoyed a casual actual birthday and then before the crawfish festival on Saturday, we went to do my birthday shopping at The Shops of Saddle Creek in Germantown. Y'all, cutest, most amazing place. We had the best weather for a day of shopping at an outdoor shopping center. Of course I had done my research and narrowed my shopping list down as much as possible. This shopping trip was my birthday present from Parker, and I didn't want to overwhelm him with too many stops, so I stuck to 3 of my favorite places and tried to go as fast as possible. My three stops did not disappoint.   

You will find lots of pictures and links below that will take you to my birthday scores! One of the best parts about shopping sprees is pulling out all of your new treats when you get home and discussing them with your best girls! Of course I sent pictures to my mom, sister, mother in law, sister in law, and some friends so we could talk about the new things I got. Do you do this? Have you gotten anything lately that you are loving? Anything similar to my new things? I want to hear!

From My Family-

1. Tassel Throw Pillows
2. Textured Stripe Throw Blanket (Ebie bought this for me and got it monogrammed! How adorable?!)
3. Essie Gel Couture (Color- Make the Cut) and Essie Gel Top Coat
4. Sugarfix by BaubleBar Beaded Tassel Earrings ($12.99!!)
5. Gigi New York Zip Pouch
6. Leila Lou Perfume Oil (I'm usually not much of a perfume kind of person, but this smells so clean and fresh. Love it!)
7. Jack Rogers Chloe Classic Boot
8. ASICS Running Shoe (Exact pair sold out, so I linked some similar ones)
9. Tory Burch Terra Flip Flop
10. Trina Turk Shorts
11. CeCe by Cynthia Steffe Tie Sleeve Dress
12. Custom made Sally Wilson art for my office : )

From Parker

J. Crew (Use code HOPTOIT to get 25% off full price items and an extra 40% off sale items through April 23)

13. Tipped off-the-shoulder dress - 25% off with code (runs big, I went down two sizes)

14. Embroidered linen-cotton pom-pom cover-up - 25% off with code, FAVORITE item I purchased (runs small and short, I went up a size)

15. Striped long-sleeve off-the-shoulder top - Extra 40% off with code ($24!)

Madewell (Use code DREAMBIG to get an extra 30% off sale items)

16. Bell-sleeve dress in leighton plaid - Extra 30% off with code ($45!)

17. Green novel dress - Extra 30% off with code ($49!)

18. Black pull-on shorts (You will find me wearing these ALL spring and summer.)

19. Embroidered springtime pull-on shorts

Anthropologie

20. Maeve Tantira off-the-shoulder tunic - Extra 25% off, size down 1-2 sizes

21. Lilka Pommed tee

22. Eri + Ali Pietra peplum top

23. Bianca sweatshirt - Favorite purchase from Anthro!

24. Floreat off-the-shoulder eyelet blouse

From Friends and Family

25. Birthday cards and birthday money

26. Anthropologie gift cards

27. An Anthropologie candle and matches (I don't have a picture, but I had to link this Red Berry Amber candle for y'all because it is different from their usual ones and AMAZING!)

28. Phone calls, texts, kind words on social media

I am so grateful for all of the birthday love I received and for all of you in my life. Here's to all of you for being so wonderful and year 28 being the best one yet!

How to Get a Gel Mani/Pedi for a Fraction of the Cost

Getting a mani/pedi every other week would definitely be a simple luxury I would partake in if I had more money than I knew what to do with. However, because that is not the case and I am capable of giving myself a mani/ pedi that looks real, I'd rather save those $$$ a month to use on clothes, shoes, accessories, something for my house, dog necessities, food, etc. 

If you have not tried Essie Gel, I am so happy to introduce you to it! It's not the newest product on the market, but it is one that I love and think you should know about if you do not already! Yes, it is a little more expensive than regular nail polish. However, it lasts a lot longer and truly gives you a "real mani/pedi" gel-like shine. Plus, you have the exact color at home, so you can touch up one of those inevitable chips whenever they do occur! And instead of paying $50+ for one mani/pedi at a nail salon, it will be a much lower cost. Plus, you will be able to continue using the polish for months on end!

Materials you need:

• Base Coat
• Essie Gel Couture
• Essie Gel Top Coat
• Gel Polish Acetone Remover

Essie gel can be found at Ulta, Nordstrom, and on Amazon. It can sometimes be found at Target, CVS, Walgreens, as well as other stores.

Follow these steps to get a mani/pedi look for a fraction of the cost:

Step 1: Apply a base coat. I used an OPI base coat, just because that is what I had on hand. You can use any brand. Essie claims you do not need a base coat with this polish, but I think the base coat helps your mani/pedi last longer and then it also makes removal easier.

Step 2: After the base coat dries, apply your first coat of the Essie Gel Couture color of your choice. I went with #138 Pre-Show Jitters. I love a pale, almost white, pink polish, and that's how this color looks on your nails.

Step 3: After the first coat of Essie Gel Couture dries, apply a second coat. 

Step 4: After the second coat of Essie Gel Couture dries, apply your Essie gel. This gel is like the gel at a salon, but it does not require the ultraviolet light. Once you apply it, your nails will dry really quickly! And they should last a long time!

Step 5: Enjoy your lovely, shiny nails for up to two weeks! And you can use this gel polish acetone remover when you want to take the polish off your nails.

IMPORTANT INFO

You might have noticed that my fingernail polish was located on top of a chest, and I did not paint my fingernails in that location. I moved to the kitchen table. This is because I have had the experience where I made the decision to paint my fingernails while sitting on the sofa when something went terribly wrong.

My fingernail polish was sitting on the end table, and for some unknown reason, my hand flung the neon pink fingernail polish across the end table and onto the cream-colored rental house carpet.

In my crazed mindset of losing our entire deposit and having to replace an entire house worth of carpet, I went and grabbed every cleaning supply we own. I started scrubbing the bright pink polish with nail polish remover, Windex, Scrubbing Bubbles, Resolve, etc. You name it, I tried it. When I realized that wasn't cleaning it, I eventually sat back on the sofa and got on Pinterest to look up ways to remove fingernail polish from carpet. 

For future reference (although I truly hope this NEVER happens to you), after the fingernail polish spills, DO NOT SCRUB. According to my Pinterest research, you should calmly wait for it to dry and neatly use scissors to trim the very top layer of carpet that was hit by the neon pink polish, or whichever color you may choose to use. By taking this route, you will not have scrubbed the color into the very deepest layer of the carpet and have to cut all the way down to the bottom to remove the very bright color. Obviously this option will not work on all carpets or rugs, but it is a tip to try out on those carpets that do have a top layer that can inconspicuously be trimmed up a bit.

OR, you could avoid this situation completely by painting your nails over a hard surface and nowhere near a carpeted area. This was one of those things where I thought I was being super careful and this dilemma would never happen to me. It happened, and I learned my lesson.

With serious perseverance, I ended up getting the majority of the nail polish out of the carpet and we did indeed receive all of our deposit back when we moved out. However, I suggest you do yourself a favor and do not risk being in this situation! Learn from my mistake, and when painting your nails, make sure to choose a location that will not cause a huge ordeal if a spill were to happen. 

To sum things up, be careful where you choose to paint your nails and invest in some Essie Gel Couture polish and gel You will not be disappointed!

Do you have any favorite nail polish brands and colors? Also, do you have any nail polish horror stories? PLEASE tell me how you managed to come out on the other side! I am more than happy to hear any and all tips! Thanks so much for reading!  

SHOP THE POST:

Essentials for a Day Party

My absolute favorite time of year is spring. Bright colors, beautiful weather, and in college, weekly day parties. After college, there aren't nearly as many day parties you get to attend with unlimited crawfish, beer, and live music. So when the opportunity arises, you have to jump on it! That's what I asked for for my birthday this year. A crawfish and beer day party with Parker, Bailey, and Rosie in our backyard. (Since we just moved to Southaven, we're working on the friends thing.) However, when I told my one friend in Memphis, Emily, about my birthday plans, she let me know that there are crawfish festivals in Memphis going on and we should attend one. The one taking place two days after my birthday happened to be in the most adorable location right on the Mississippi river. Ummmm, yes please! Sorry Bailey and Rosie.

This crawfish festival was our first event to attend in Memphis. It had been a while since we attended something like this. We were prepared in some ways. And we also forgot a couple important things.

The most essential item we forgot that I suggest you apply before and/or bring in your purse is sunscreen! As much as we all want to be tan (and as guilty as I am of this), we all know that allowing the sun to burn our skin is bad. Very bad. Sunscreen is a must, especially when you have received zero sun on your skin so far this spring.

I needed several other items too. After about half an hour of being there, I pulled my hair up in a ponytail due to the heat/sweat factor. And then after a couple more hours, I had to redo my hair again. This time I had to move my hair into an unnatural place to cover up my part because I could feel the sun scorching it. You may notice this in some of the photos below. If I had a hat, I could have protected my scalp and hidden the wet cat look that I had going on. You will find a ponytail holder, hat, and several other things on the list of must have items below.

Must Have Items:

• SUNSCREEN
• Chapstick with SPF in it
• Sunglasses
• A hat to block the sun off of your face/scalp
• A ponytail holder
• A hugger
• Cash
• Comfortable shoes
• And of course a cute outfit that does not show sweat

Outfit Details

Anthropologie dress (LOVE all details- off the shoulder, gingham print, pockets, cute sleeves, runs big, go down one size)  //  Sam Edelman Romy wedge sandals // Kendra Scott necklace // Cable bracelets // Sugarfix by BaubleBar earrings ($12.99!!) // Tory Burch sunglasses

Thanks to this nice candid shot that Parker took, you can see my Sugarfix by BaubleBar beaded tassel drop earrings. $12.99 at Target! I have them in two other colors too. Thanks Mama!

Prepare yourself for these next pictures. They will help you to better understand the wet cat description I mentioned earlier.

Bonus Pics!

Below are a few day party pictures from college. Reminiscing on these days makes me miss my DDDs and frequent day parties even more!

Thanks so much for reading! I hope you remember to bring the most essential items to the next day party you attend!

My Fashion and Fun Expertise

Education Background:

Undergrad Degrees: Elementary Education, Special Education

Masters Degree: Elementary Education

Fashion

As you can see, there is absolutely nothing in my education background or in the picture above that is remotely related to fashion. However, I have spent a fabulous 9 months of my life working as a Sales Associate in an adorable high-end boutique.

Craziest story- one of my best friends from college (Hey Celie!) was working for a designer in NYC. When she went to Market, she met the cutest little aunt/niece duo that was opening a boutique in Arkansas. Celie knew Parker and I were moving to Arkansas right after we got married. She said she would connect me with these precious ladies, so I could apply for a job at their boutique. Celie and I truly had no idea if I would even be in the same part of the state as this boutique. However, it just so happened that Parker and I were moving to Fayetteville, and the boutique was opening in Bentonville, which was only about 45 minutes away from Fayetteville! 

So, I filled out the application. I had been teaching first grade since I graduated from college, so when I got to the part about previous experience in retail, I had nothing. I decided to say that I had lots of shopping experience (insert awkward emoji face), and then I sent in my application. Well, a couple of days after we moved into our new house, I went to the boutique and interviewed with the aunt and niece duo. I was so nervous because I had zero prior experience with an interview in this field. I had no clue what to expect. Celie told me to wear a cute, bright colored dress, so I was confident enough in my bright pink dress to take a selfie before the interview, but aside from that, I wasn't confident in anything.

I walk into the boutique and the aunt (who was the owner) was there by herself because the niece (who was the manager) had gone to Starbucks. The owner talks and talks to me. She shows me around the store and tells me all about it. I love this lady immediately!  She asks me some simple questions that anyone could have answered. I was pretty relieved at this point. It was nothing similar to what they put you through in an interview for a teaching position. Then, the manager comes back from Starbucks. The owner catches the manager up a little bit on what we have talked about, and then she asks me if I have any other experience in retail, aside from my shopping experience (yes, she truly referred back to the awkward section on my application). The dreaded question. I have nothing. I have to answer honestly. I say no, there was a boutique in Huntsville that I was very familiar with (Personal Couture), I shopped there frequently, and they carried many of the same designers as your boutique, but I never actually worked there. I thought my chance at getting the job was nonexistent at this point. 

We fortunately transitioned into other conversation and then went into the back to see some of the beautiful clothes that had come in. We kept casually talking for a while before the owner says well, would you like to work here? I wanted to jump with joy! I had always LOVED shopping and fashion. And I was hoping to get a job in a boutique while we were in Fayetteville. I said YES with a smile on my face that you couldn't have paid me to wipe off. 

Like I said, this boutique had many of the same designers as my very favorite boutique in Huntsville. So, fortunately, I was familiar with many of the names I saw. I recognized Trina Turk, Camilyn Beth, Julie Brown, by Smith, Elizabeth McKay, James Jeans, Joie, Yoana Baraschi, and a couple of others. However, a really fun part of this job was getting to learn about more designers of the most beautiful clothes and accessories. I learned about Hutch, Mahi Gold, Plenty by Tracy Reese, Raoul, Sara Campbell, Drew, Cortland Park, Dean Davidson, and others.

I truly could not have had a better 9 months in the retail world. The merchandise was beautiful, it was a fun change from teaching, and the girls I got to work with/for were simply precious. I owe Celie a lot more than a pair of Dean Davidson earrings for making this job happen for me. :)

Fun

All I'm going to say here is that I am actually certified as an expert in the fun category. My senior superlative in high school was Most Fun-Loving. I may not be much of an expert in fashion, but with a superlative like that, I am obviously an expert in all things fun. And I have done my best to carry on the fun-loving lifestyle ever since the high school days.

Disclaimer

All this to say, I am NO fashion expert. I have had 9 months of experience in the fashion world. It was a fabulous 9 months, but that is obviously not much time at all. The fashion I discuss on this blog is my own style. I felt the need to inform you of this since this is a blog all about art, fashion, and fun. I will however be using my many years of shopping experience to help me with the fashion part of this blog. :)

I hope Art Fashion Fun brings a little happiness to your day! Thank you so much for reading! 

Intro

Hey Y'all!

I am Haley, and I wish I could take credit for the paintings, but those were created by my mom, Sally. We have talked about working together to sell her closet full of paintings for a while now. While my husband was finishing up his job in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and we were in the process of waiting to move to Southaven, Mississippi for his next job, I had a lot of free time on my hands. Soooo I decided to sign up for some free trials and see how this blogging/ online store thing worked. I had a lot of fun on my free trial, so I decided to make Art Fashion Fun a reality! 

The art section of this blog will be comprised of original paintings my mom has created. She has used watercolor, oil, and acrylic throughout her painting journey. However, she currently uses acrylics in the majority of her work. Click on the Shop tab and you will see many of her beautiful pieces of art!

The fashion section of this blog will be comprised mostly of deals and steals I can find from my favorite stores. Something that brings me great joy is sharing a really great sale with someone else! I am hoping that my outrageous shopping habit will help others to find great pieces for great prices too.

The fun section of this blog will be a section for me to share things I want to share that don't fit in the fashion and art categories. Whether I am telling you about my two miniature Australian Shepherds (Bailey and Rosie) that I am kind of obsessed with or some other adventure/story, I wanted a section where I could write in a more general way.

I am so excited to get Art Fashion Fun started! Let me know if you have any questions about the paintings, or anything else!