If you're like me, you're already planning your next weekend on Sunday evening! And Northeast Arkansas residents, you can kick this next weekend off with a bang at Occasions Publishing Group's Holiday Art Night Out at The Basement!

You heard that right! Art Night Out is returning this Friday night to The Basement! After a successful first Art Night Out in the late summer, Occasions Publishing Group has decided to bring a holiday twist to this favorite event! Holiday Art Night Out will feature the works of local artists Misti Sims, Jim Porterfield, Beau Jones, Taylor Moore, Teresa Hardin, Vivian Hardin, Seth James, Lyn Clements, Melissa Donner and yours truly! And The Parsonage 322 is catering, so in addition to all the amazing artwork, this shindig is going to be delicious!

Now for the art! I'm going to be drawing custom portraits on the spot! Get a portrait of yourself, someone special or even some furry friends! You'll even be able to pick up some mini prints of some of my more popular illustrations to take home and frame for yourself! They make wonderful gifts! I'll also have a few Christmas exclusive designs available, including a fun photo card that you can customize with your own greeting. And speaking of Christmas, you can wrap up a LOT of your Christmas shopping at this event with so many great local artists! Here are some scenes from the last Art Night Out and my other portrait drawing events:

And if that weren't enough, I'll be hosting a GIVEAWAY! Be sure to stop by my table at Art Night Out to find out how you can win a custom FULL-COLOR 8x10 illustration of your choice to be completed after the event!

For more information about Holiday Art Night Out, call Occasions Publishing Group at 931.0012. Tickets are $20 (when ordered online) or $25 at the door. Hope to see y'all there!

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all! I hope everyone gets the chance to stop and enjoy some time with the ones you love most! My parents are coming up for Thanksgiving at my house, so my sister and I are in cleaning mode major! Also, it's very busy at the magazine as we prep for pre-holiday press deadlines, so I'll leave you with these amazing sights I saw on a recent hike through Craighead Forest Park. God made this, y'all. He's the best artist out there!

Look. At. Those. Colors!

I'm so lucky to live so close to such a beautiful place! I could so live out in the woods!

The colorful leaves, sparkling water, dreamy sunlight...is it any wonder why this is my favorite place to be?

Think back to when you were a little kid. What seemingly insignificant thing made your life so much more filled with joy? If you were anything like Little Brittney...it was probably a sticker! I remember being super anxious and stressed out on my first day of kindergarten, wondering if I was going be able to handle a full day of being in a classroom full of other little kids I didn't know. After a bit of bawling (okay a lot of bawling) on my part by the cubbies, I noticed one cubbie with my name on it...and a unicorn/pegasus sticker. I dried my tears, and I knew everything was going to be a-okay! Mrs. Larry totally made my day with that little sticker! It truly is the little things!

Now, I may be a grown up (at least my drivers' license says so), but my love of stickers still abides! And guess what? You can totally buy stickers of my artwork in the Lace and Whimsy Sticker Shop! How cool is that?

When my friend Kathy of the blog Lace and Whimsy contacted me about collaborating on some exclusive designs for her sticker shop, I jumped at the chance. My art on stickers? Oh, yeah! (Kindergarten Brittney is high-fiving present day Brittney somewhere in some parallel time-warped universe, I bet!) Kathy is a talented graphic designer and illustrator herself and a businesswoman extraordinaire. She's a feminist fairy princess with a heart of gold, and I'm honored to be working with her to bring you these awesome stickers!

Just look at these amazingly girly designs fit for covering your planner, calendar, desk phone or any stationary stationery surface!

And just in time for the most wonderful time of the year...we've got Christmas stickers! These would so adorable on Christmas cards, on holiday gifts, in your planner as a countdown to the holidays, or in that special gal's stocking! As an early Christmas present to my mom, I actually based the ornament sticker sheet on ornaments from her vintage ornament collection which she's passed down to me. And that tacky Christmas sweater one? So ugly it's CUTE, y'all!

Head over to  The Christmas Shop for these designs, because you're definitely going to want them ALL! And stay tuned each month for more fun designs from yours truly in the Lace and Whimsy Sticker Shop!

Any suggestions as to what you'd like to see in my next round of Lace and Whimsy sticker designs?

I am absolutely excited, y'all! The leaves are changing. There's finally a chill in the air. It's November, and the holidays are coming! My mom is already cooking up a storm, making pans of dressing, platters of cookies and other delicious dishes in preparation for our Thanksgiving celebration. I'm on dessert duty this year, so I'm thinking a carton of pumpkin pie ice cream will be just the thing for me to bring to the table!

One of my favorite things about the holidays is that we really don't have a set tradition. When my grandmother was living, we'd all head over to her house in the woods of Mississippi for a big family dinner...sometimes at an Aunt Annette's house or Uncle Ronnie's house, sometimes at an older cousin's house, other times at Grandma's house itself. Some years we'd fry a turkey. Other years we'd have a ham. In more recent years, my parents, my sister and I have had Thanksgiving dinner at my parents' house with my Uncle Ronnie, Aunt Sue and cousin Emily. Last year was my first year hosting Thanksgiving dinner at my house, and I was very thrilled to have my parents up for the holiday weekend. This year, I'm hosting again, and I'm on dessert duty!  Our lack of tradition is our tradition, I guess you could say!

No matter what your tradition is, you're definitely going to be needing a few festive items in your wardrobe this season to survive all those family get-togethers, office parties, cookie exchanges, date nights to The Nutcracker, and Christmas card photo shoots! And I've got the perfect red dress for any holiday occasion!

How amazing is this red dress from eShakti? I've been looking for a red fit and flare dress with sleeves for what seems like forever! It's been a very long search, and I've settled for quite a few "so-so" red dresses in my day. When I buy dresses, in order to get them to fit me up top, the dress often ends up much too baggy in the waist. And gals, sometimes you just want a fitted dress that you don't have to belt, cinch or cover up with a cardigan! Especially a red dress! You want that WOW factor, and this dress has it!

When eShakti contacted me about picking out one of their amazing apparel pieces to have for my own, I just had to jump at the chance. eShakti is a women's apparel company that offers designs in standard sizes 0-36W with custom sizing and design options, and all dresses are custom adjusted to your height at no extra cost. With my non-standard measurements, I had been thinking for a while about trying their custom sizing service to finally get the dress of my dreams. I perused their website and saw countless dresses that I wanted to try, but it was the Tie Cuff Cotton Knit Dress in red that really caught my eye. This was the dress. THE red dress. The red dress I'd been searching for to no avail on countless dress shopping trips. And it has POCKETS! Sold!

I really loved the design of the dress as is, but you can totally change up the neckline, sleeve length and skirt length to suit your fashion preferences. The high neckline, elbow sleeves and just below the knee skirt is perfect for my modest style. It's girly and fashionable, while not being too revealing for my tastes! I loved the look, but I needed to customize the measurements to get the perfect fit for this perfect dress!

And heads up, the measurements you provide are very detailed, more than just your typical bust, waist, hip to help you get the perfect fit. They're going to be needing your shoulder and upper arm measurements among other things, so definitely have a buddy on hand to help you measure and record! I had my sister help me record all my measurements, so that helped out a lot! She also took my outfit photos! Great job, Courtney! Thanks so much!

For my happy holiday look, I styled my new favorite red dress (which arrived super quickly, I might add!) with gold jewelry from Noonday Collection, and my always-ready-for-a-party Chelsea Crew heels from Modcloth finish the look.

Thank you, eShakti, for the amazing new red dress! It's going to see me through so many parties this holiday season for sure! If you've got heart eyes like I do over this dress, follow Eshakti on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest for even more fashionable finds! What are you waiting for? Check out their website to finally find the dress of YOUR dreams just in time for your next shindig!

Important note: I was provided this dress free of charge from eShakti for trying their custom clothing service and posting about my experience with them on the Britt Wit Blog. All thoughts are my own, and I always work with brands that I'd purchase for myself and recommend to my closest friends. If a company provides me an item to feature on my site, I'll always let you know with a little "c/o" in the outfit details! All other items are from my personal closet!

Outfit Details: dress c/o eShakti •  shoes from Modcloth • necklace and earrings from Noonday Collection