Birds – mamasbrush

Chicken Clipart – New in the Shop

Chicken Clipart Set in color or black and white | mamasbrush

chickens, roosters, chicken coop, chicken signs, transparent background, old truck, flowers, chicken eggs

I’m super excited about my latest addition to my Etsy shop. I’ve been toying with the idea of designing some clipart for a while now, but something else keeps taking it’s place in line. Finally, I pulled together some of my favorite designs from the chicken egg counting sheets and other designs I had on hand. To those I added this brand new chicken coop design and wala! Chicken clipart for you to use in your diy projects.

Do you want to create a sign? Perfect!

Do you want to make your own forms or recording sheets? These are for you!

School worksheets or your class or homeschool? Yes!

Bullet Journals, coloring books and more? Of course! Available in color and black and white!

These have a personal license, but you can use them for anything you want (distribution of papers created for your classroom or church is fine, but please don’t take credit for yourself and don’t share files with others.)

Best of all, if you already have my Egg Counting Sheets and you want to add other forms to use in your homestead binder, this clipart pack matches!

Discount alert!
I’m giving you all a coupon code to use for the next week (just for my readers!) For 30% off through February 9th (2023), click here or go to my shop and enter coupon code CLUCK at checkout.

New Chicken Coop Signs

I know I have a wide range of people who are readers here. Raise your hand if you are a chicken person (okay… leave a comment?). If you aren’t sure, you probably aren’t. A chicken person doesn’t necessarily have chickens themselves, but they want to. And not all people who have chickens are chicken people. (Am I right?)

Chicken coop signs | mamasbrush designs

chicken signs, farmhouse signs, chicken decor

And of course, among chicken people there is a wide variety as well. Some just love the birds and others make fancy coops and decorate them seasonally. (Someday I want that to be me.)

We have chickens in a quarter of our garden with a somewhat ugly but functional coop. I made it myself with the help of 3-12 year olds (6 of them). I guess you could say that I’m a kid person at this phase of my life. 🙂 Anyway, I digress.

While I dream of what I would do if homeschooling and gardening, laundry and occasional house cleaning didn’t take up all my time, I made some really cute (sorry, I’m biased) chicken coop signs for you to decorate your chicken spaces with!

They are in my Etsy shop now. Head over to grab the bundle for yourself for 30% off this week. Coupon code COOPSIGNS30 or click here.

Frame them and and hang them under shelter if you have it. I think they would be cute mounted to wood and sealed from the elements and hung on the outside. Your call. What would you do with them? Let me know in the comments! 🙂

Late Summer Sunflower Shelf Decor

This is late being posted. I was sick for most of August, so now, with just over a day left in the month, I wanted to share what my kitchen shelves have looked like all month.

My kitchen shelves decorated for late summer | mamasbrush

Farmhouse style, diy decor, Hobby Lobby, Black and white buffalo check, wood bead garland, old truck, wood house, bird, wood sign, herbs

Thankfully, for most of this sickness, I was not down completely. On my good days I had time and energy for a few extras like changing the decor from patriotic to sunflowers. I don’t have many spaces in the house I can decorate (long term renovation and many unfinished spaces all over the house), so it doesn’t take long.

Unfortunately, blogging was the last thing on my mind. I haven’t done much on Pinterest or Etsy either. How thankful I am that these sorts of things wait in the wings when real life gets hard to do.

Some details:

Top Shelf: The votive is an old recycled candle jar I added a candle to and tied some ribbon on (my 14 year old daughter’s idea.) The herb sign I made for women’s retreat this year. Wood bead garland I made last winter (there is a snowflake on the other side of the sign). Sunflower is from Hobby Lobby, removed from it’s stem.

Bottom Shelf: Greens from Hobby Lobby, purchased a couple years ago. Love it and use it all the time all over the house. I’m thinking about getting another. It’s very versatile. The house is a 2×6 cut into shape, painted black and modge podge buffalo check scrapbook paper on it. The kids and I made them last year (also in my winter shelf post). The bird and pedestal are from Hobby Lobby (noticing a trend?). The truck wasn’t originally on the shelf, but a couple weeks ago my mom picked it up at the Dollar Tree for me and my 12 year old son put it up there. The negative space that was there before was nice, but I like the truck too, and he was just too delighted with his decorating for me to take it down.

On the counter: The sunflower bowl was a gift for my birthday last year. I love it! We painted the jar with grey chalk paint for a bridal shower a a year or so ago. We made several for the tables and gifted one of them to the bride (it was just like one on her registry). I got the other two! 🙂 The flowers in it were also from Hobby Lobby. The plates are too cute to put in the cabinet. They were part of a gift basket from my husband’s boss last Christmas (more for me than for him I’m sure!) and are from, you guessed it… Hobby Lobby. I took all the junk that usually sits here off the counter so that it could be cute for a change and am guarding the space for the most part. It makes me smile!

What space is making you smile these days? Leave a comment and let me know! Leave a link so we can see if you have a pic online somewhere! 🙂

You can find me gathering here.

How We Do Birthdays: An Owl Theme

In our home we do parties in a big way… and simple at the same time. What do I mean by that? Basically, we have some big impact things that go a long way toward making the day special, but we don’t go overboard, or expensive, or worry about perfection.

I always start with my chalkboard. Sometimes it’s elaborate, other times it’s not. It depends on my inspiration and abilities. I wasn’t feeling super inspired this time, but don’t tell my 7 year old… he thought it was great. You can build or buy one like this (husband made mine) or get a similar effect with Dollar Tree foam board (not an affiliate link) and some chalkboard paint.

Lately the kids have been asking for donuts for birthday breakfasts. We have a donut shop right down the road, so it works out. Husband takes the birthday kid with him to pick out donuts the morning of. I never know what will come home. 🙂 When they got home I had the kids pick their donuts out and I added Oreo eyes and candy corn beaks (this birthday was the day after Thanksgiving, so there is also a turkey donut in there.) Incorporating the theme in this way made something simple into something extra special!

Even simpler and more budget friendly: You could grab donuts from Walmart or the grocery store instead of getting them from a donut shop.?

Decorations were super simple. Crepe paper and ribbon with balloons around the room and some paper cut with my Cricut. An owl and “Whoooo’s turning 7?” on the wall.

Simple tip: Hand cut these if you don’t have a cutting machine.

I found this idea on Pinterest. Kids are always asking for fruit salad, and this looked like a way to make that “fruit salad” extra special! You’ll notice that the Pinterest version looks way better than mine, but perfection isn’t my goal. The birthday boy loved it and that’s enough for me! (Sometimes I have to tell the kids what something is… but I still get credit!)

The cake was the hardest part of the day, but it wasn’t that bad either. You can pick something else from my pinterest board that might be simplier… or more difficult.

For the cake, I started with a 2 layer cake with brown frosting all over. For the feathers I made dots of brown frosting from a pastry bag (the cut off corner of a ziplock bag would work too) in a line. After the bottom line of dots is there, I used the flat of a butter knife to squish and drag the dot up into a “feather”. Then make another row and do the same. I looked for a video to show this, but I can’t find the one I learned from forever ago. (Update: this pin shows what I’m talking about… and then you can try it on a Christmas tree cookie like they do! 🙂

A dinner he loves, gifts (including some that match the theme like an owl clock and a couple owl coloring books) and time together top off the day. Simple, but special! You can pull that off in so many ways… even with store bought cake and a purchased birthday banner. What matters most is that you take some extra steps to make the day special for your kid… it will be something remembered forever!

You can find me gathering here.

Monthly Egg Log for Your Chickens

Monthly Egg Counting Log with Cute Artwork for Chicken Keepers | mamasbrush

Keep records in style with these new forms!

This project has been a long time coming, and a lot of original artwork was created to make these extra special! I’ve been wanting to create these Egg Counting Sheets for a few years (ever since I made one for for the month of April a few years back), and the drawing tablet I got for my birthday last fall was just the push I needed! I’ve been working on them for several months and I’m super excited to have them done and ready for your farm or homestead needs!

Click here to find them in my Etsy shop!

UPDATE 2023: You can also find these egg counting sheets in my Whole Coop Chicken Mega Bundle with my other chicken products. Click here to find that.

Each page has chicken themed artwork that matches the season. You may recognize the chickens from a fabric design I shared lately (available for sale here.) The chickens from that fabric were originally from these egg counting sheets.

You can keep track of how many eggs you collect each day, any expenses from the month and your gross and net sales (if you sell your eggs.) There is also a section for writing any notes about your chickens or things you need to do or buy.

See the rest of the designs over on Etsy!

And if you like my Monthly Egg Counting Sheets, please pin the image below or share it on your preferred social media! I appreciate your support!

You can find me gathering here.

Be Transformed Sign for Spring/Easter Decorating

A couple years ago I painted this in my art journal.

A few weeks ago I brought that painting into Illustrator and created a wall hanging for the International Women’s Day Spoonflower Design Challenge.

This weekend I added it to my Etsy shop as a digital download.

I love this verse in the Bible. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:2 This art print is a cute way to be reminded throughout the day that we are not to be conformed to this world, but to be transformed by renewing our minds with God’s Word.

I’ve offering this print at 33% off for my blog readers for the next week. Enter coupon code TRANSFORMED33.

Please pin the image below if you like my latest product! Also, if you have an Etsy account, would you please consider clicking to favorite my shop? Your support is always appreciated!

You can find me gathering here.

My Fabric Design For Sale

Chickens and Trucks Fabric Design | mamasbrush #oldtruck #farmhouse #chickens #fabric #surfacepatterndesign #pastelchickens

Chickens and Trucks is a fabric design I entered into the Spoonflower Challenge this last week. I am really happy with the way it turned out. We were supposed to use those three colors in our designs. I struggled with what to do until my husband suggested the trucks. I had a really cute design I was happy with, but I was getting mixed reviews from the family. It was my husband, again, who challenged me to push a little further.

I had these chickens from another project so I started to play with the colors. Who would think of making pink and green and purple chickens? I kept working with it. At first I was just going to do the chickens, but then it occurred to me that I could use both the chickens and the trucks… and “Chickens and Trucks” was born! I was super excited to see that people seemed to like it as well and I placed at #66 this week! See it on “real products” here.

I’m thrilled to announce that Chickens and Trucks is now available for purchase in my Spoonflower shop!

If you like my Chickens and Trucks design, would you please pin the image below or share it on other social media!

You can find me gathering here.

Be Transformed – Pink Chick in a Polka Dot Egg

Be Transformed (Romans 12:2) - Pink Chick in a Polka Dot Egg - Watercolor Illustration by mamasbrush

This little pink chick in the polka-dot egg was inspired by the April prompt list from Awesome Alice. Back in February, I created something from her list for every day of them month. Check out those posts here: Bunny love plus other prompts, What to do when you mess up (prompts), Chocolate and more, and Tweet Hearts and other Prompts. This month, I’m just using her list for inspiration and trying a handful. Whatever inspires me. This is one of them.

This illustration is inspired by prompt number 7: one cute chick and prompt 8: egg hunt.

My Creative Process

I had this idea in my head of the pink chick and a colored egg in the grass. First I drew the chick, then I started playing with the placement of the broken egg. Once I got the idea to put the chick part way in the egg, I decided to put the other half next to him. The yellow chick was an afterthought. I illustrated him looking down at the shell, as if he were wondering what happened to it. I ended up omitting the grass altogether.

As I looked at this cute little illustration alone in the bottom corner of my journal page, Romans 12:2 jumped into my head:

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:2

I love the idea that this cute pink chick has not conformed to the world, but has been transformed. A cute little reminder that God does transform us completely through the renewing of our mind!

**Another plug for Bible Memory… a great way to use God’s Word to renew our minds! (I get nothing for plugging them!)

Be Transformed (Romans 12:2) - Pink Chick in a Polka Dot Egg - Watercolor Illustration by mamasbrushformed (Romans 12:2) - Pink Chick in a Polka Dot Egg - Watercolor Illustration by mamasbrush

Gathering here.

Tweet Hearts | Art Journal Prompts from February

I never did finish my February Art Journal Prompts from February. I joined in with Awesome Alice during the month and had a lot of fun. But, as is the case most years, things get busy around here from the last week of February through the third week of March with several family birthdays. I decided to finish them up though, so here they are .

I have to admit, they aren’t my favorite work. A couple are cute, but I think my first few weeks turned out better. Still, I’m not here to make myself look like a great artist, but to share what I do as I grow. 🙂 I hope you will give it a try knowing perfection is not the goal.

The Tweet Hearts (promot: “sweet hearts”) were my favorite this time around.

Followed by the “XOXO” prompt…

And then the “chocolate” prompt”.

I think I’ll do another month sometime. For April, if I have time, I think I’ll just pick a few of my favorite ideas to do. Thanks Awesome Alice for making those lists!

Gathering here.

Ask God for Wisdom – Illustrated Verse James 1:5

Spring Chick Illustrated Verse - James 1:5

Some Sunday afternoons, while we are driving home from church, I reflect back over the morning and realize that I didn’t have any truly meaningful conversations. Oh, we may talk homeschooling or child raising or gardening and chicken raising, people may even be encourage, but too often nothing spiritual comes into it. And it’s church!

My hearts desire is to talk about what we are learning in the Bible or to get down to the real story of where people are and to pray with them. I was so excited last weekend to have, not just one of these conversations, but two of them!

A couple days later as I was continuing to pray for two different ladies I got to pray with, I decided that I really wanted to make a card for each of them.

This card is for a friend who is struggling in a new phase of parenting. I chose the chick for spring (not because it matches the message), but the verse is the only one I could think to encourage because it’s one I need everyday! I make thousands of decisions everyday, some are completely insignificant, but for others I stand clueless. I lack wisdom!

“If anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” James 1:5

The answer is right there… don’t jump online to find the answers to the latest problem. Ask God!

Spring Chick Illustrated Verse - James 1:5

A few notes on the illustration:

First off, this is one of the first illustrations I have done straight from my head. Most of the time I begin an illustration with an inspiration photo. Often I have seen someone else’s illustration and I want to imitate it or, more often, tweak it to make it my own. Other times, I have an idea I want to create, but I go in search of another artists version or even a photograph to draw from. Those are fine tools to use, especially as you learn. Don’t get me wrong! But it was supper fun to see this little guy, just as he is, in my head and to sketch him out on graph paper (yep, I start everything on graph paper… it helps with symmetry and sizing.)

After the whole thing was painted and dry, I took out my artist pens to add the finishing touches. That is such a scary moment. Adding the pen lines to an illustration has the power to take it over the top, or completely ruin it. This time…

img_3423-1

I gave him chicken pox!

It was horrible.

At first, I decided I’d just give it anyway. No big deal. It didn’t have to be perfect to be appreciated. 24 hours later I was ready to start it over. Then this afternoon I had a few minutes to take pics to share with you and I had an idea.

More feathers!

Spring Chick Illustrated Verse - James 1:5

I was going to trash it anyway, so what did it matter if it didn’t work. But it did and I’m so glad. So… lesson? Sometimes you can add too much with the pen. But when that happens, sometimes you can add even more and fix everything. 🙂

Gathering here!