Transition Day

Today  

Today is transition day.  Today I will transition from store attendant, mom, Nana, wife, cook, Gardener, student etc., etc., into an art crazed lunatic "gotta get ready for the show one week from today" oh my gosh optimist.  As soon as I finish this gigantic cup of very good coffee with honey and real cream.  And get rid of this headache brought on by this crazy beautiful changing weather.  Oh, it is absolutely delightful here! Look!

But the change is coming! High predicted 46 degrees on Saturday! Low of 35.  And so it begins.

In art news:

Right now, this little guy is on the table.

Sewing like a maniac is in the cards today --- journal covers and etc.

Stringing little clay bird key chains and pendants, that's happening too.

And grouting an owl and a note board.

I have a bird cage piece to finish that I am SUPER excited about.

Then I will start gluing tiles again for a Welcome sign and perhaps a few other surprises.

It's going to be a BIG day!

Tomorrow I return to store attendant.

Saturday is my sweet Paul's birthday.  So, wife and maid and cook show back up.

And I leave you with this, a little tidbit of personal stuff.  This past weekend was fabulous and special and very much like a big gift with the reunion for my grandson and dozens of children like him who are walking miracles.  I was (as well as everyone there) in the middle of children with name tags on who were running around like any other normal kids, enjoying bouncy houses, games of all sorts, pizza and cake, and giggling, laughing and being kids.  It doesn't sound like a big deal, but when you know what these children went through and the fact that they are still alive, it's MONUMENTAL!  And quite amazing.  And a very perfect reason to give thanks.  And the other big blessing was having BOTH of my children in the same place at the same time! That's almost a miracle as well :-)

Happy Thursday to all!

Blessings,

An unintended break!

It appears I have taken an unintended break from blogging.  Yikes!  Sometimes real life overcomes us I guess.  So here is what I (and we) have been up to.

First of all, I got in touch with my blogger friend, Crystal at Little Bit Funky and asked if she made pin cushions because as I was pulling a pin out of the one I'd received from a student back in 1980, it just crumbled all to bits! Yep, nothing but a pile of dust, quite literally!  Crystal asked what I had in mind.  Those of you who know her can testify to how she is amazing with creating anything ... so I just told her I like owls and birds and needed something to stick pins in and left the rest totally in her imaginative hands!  This is what she came up with. I LOVE it.  Please visit her site HERE!  She's so talented and has such a huge and wonderful inventory off all kinds of FUN and creative things.  But no pin cushion in the inventory until this.  So PERFECT!  Thanks a million Crystal!

School has been fun and rewarding, as I really am learning a lot of stuff.  I've always loved school.  I was worried about this not so young sponge (brain of mine) trying to take any information in, but I've done alright for myself ... even though the class is a morning event.  I wish I could apply everything I hear, but I'm working on it.  Hopefully I can step up to a DSLR camera soon.  But for now, my trusty point and shoot is doing me proud.  I am in the market for a step up though, so if you or your Uncle Albert have something you want to sell that might work, please holler this way!  My instructor thinks the Nikon D5100 would do me right.  Any opinions out there that you'd like to share about cameras and what works best for art photos?    

Paul & I have the honor this weekend of being able to attend the reunion for the ECMO patients and the staff at the Egleston Hospital in Atlanta.  (The Children's Hospital of Atlanta, properly)  As our grandson, Christian had the unfortunate experience of having to endure lung bypass (via machinery called ECMO --- don't even know where to begin to tell you what that stands for!) this past winter, we are attending the event to thank all the precious doctors and nurses, technicians and brains behind the miracle of saving our grandson's life ... several times.  So, Paul & I made these little birds to attach to key chains as a reminder of the gratitude and absolute grace that Christian (ECMO patient #801) and his family would like to express to each and every person who helped in his survival.  There are so many things that go on in the world that you just don't know about, that you would never choose to know about.  Then one day, the universe puts you in that situation and BAM, now you know! ECMO would be one of those examples for me.  We are looking forward to facing all the professionals and saying thank you into their eyes, as well as meeting some of the other patients who are in the ECMO "club".  I know it's going to be an intensely wonderful experience.  And there is a bonus of beautiful Atlanta fall weather! (ear to ear grin here)

aren't found objects FUN?

Shannon and I have a show coming up in a few weeks.  I should be jamming my art heart out, but I seem to be very calm about it all.  I love it if this is my new normal and I'm hoping I get in a more concentrated art gear when we get back from the trip.  Meanwhile,  above is what I worked on this Saturday just past.  More to come.  If you are a mosaic artist or a wanna be, check out this site!  The Ciel Gallery is a newer Gallery in Charlotte with Mosaic artists!  Not exactly an abundance of that around these parts.  They are offering classes and all sorts of good things!  Seems like we mosaic artists are kind of a "different breed", so this is a wonderful addition to my life.  And the four women who own it are amazing artists and women!  Please visit them!

my studio buddies

So I (we) will wish you all a very happy Wednesday afternoon and get on with my progress.  Today I sew journal covers and stuff them with the guts of the matter.  Doesn't that just sound lovely?  Well, they are lovely, and I LOVE making them.  I hope all of you get to do exactly what you LOVE to do today too! 

My lesson learned for today: emanate love.   Inhale calm and exhale peace.  

Oh yea! (thanks, Todd)

Blessings,

 

Field Trip!

No, really! We had a field trip in photo class today.  It was lovely! The weather was P.E.R.F.E.C.T. and everything was absolutely delightful (well, in my opinion that is).  So, here without further adieu are some of my captured images.  I'm not showing the people because, well, I'm not sure how they might feel about that!  But, I will show off my newly acquired ability to use the "macro" feature on my camera! And the ability to photograph water that you can almost see falling.  I'm excited and very grateful to our incredible instructor, Todd Bush.  And if you are interested you can entertain yourself for hours on his website here ... and he was generous enough to share the photos he chose to publish in his recent coffee table book with us.  The man is seriously creative and immensely talented.  Such a wonderful gift to just hear his little tidbits of wisdom.  Check out this book!  Really worth it.

 So, we went to a little water fall park where there were some HUGE lovely mountain boulders.  Those of you who know that I'd rather hike than eat are probably aware that today was a GREAT day for me.  AND I had an excuse to be there, a real workable excuse.  So great!

 Here is one of the water falls we saw today.  I really don't know if this is a good photo or not, but I like it!  You can see the water spray, and it doesn't look frozen to me.  But hey, I was there so who knows! But I'm pretty stoked about my little point and shoot camera holding its own.

 I LOVE this beauty.  She was teeny tiny ... but so photogenic.  There were lots of fun flowers showing off for us today.  I liked taking the shots of the flora the best.  I have LOTS of them, but don't panic, I'm not posting them all. (bet you're relieved to hear that!)

 These little ladies were SO happy to be sunbathing.  I figure they better hurry up because we're going to see some COLD on Friday.  I have a flurry of pictures with bugs and sticks and all kinds of stuff.  But I'll spare you all that.  You're welcome.

And as always, there was treasure.  I very seldom go into the woods without finding a present.  Thanks to the fairies.  I love it.

Ok, so in other news, we are consolidating one side of the store into the other at The Rusted Periwinkle in Elk Park.  There is a lot to get done and I will be working it tomorrow with Tammy trying to accomplish fitting 200 pounds of merchandise into a 100 pound capacity space.  You know the feeling, I'm sure.  Good thing we are able to visualize space ... all that choreography is coming in quite handy!  Space design ... not the kind in the final frontier ... but the actual filling of open space.  Aren't you jealous now?  ;-) And if you are gifted in this particular genre, please come on out - we can use all the help we can get!

Paul and I have been digging a moat.  Well, actually we are digging inside the building formation to further our progress with the building actually being erected.  It's not really going to be a moat, but it sure seems like it.  So, we've been shoveling dirt, and it's hard!  Not the dirt, but shoveling it!  The wall is too high for me to shovel the dirt from the inside and throw it over the wall.  So I have to shovel from on top of it about 1/3 of the way down, and Paul comes in from the inside and shovels the rest out and over the wall.  It's crazy!  I hope the moat fairies show up and finish this project during the night while we sleep.  Is that too much to hope for?

The art show is slowly approaching (slowly, like a runaway train barreling downhill) and I am ever so aware that I need to be doing art and nothing but art 24/7 for the next 3 weeks.  So with that being said, I must go glue tile, glass, sew, paint and grout!  I am SO lucky to be doing what I love.  I hope you can ALL say the same thing, feel the same thing, and live your dreams.  Life is good!

Blessings!

Inspiration Journals

It is time to make a boatload of inspiration journals for the holiday season.  Can you believe we are having to think about holidays already?  Well, it's only 64 degrees in the house this morning and this subtle reminder of what's to come got me inspired to think about it!  So, here are a few of the covers I've come up with.  The art work is from the Tammy Brinkley collection (here).  Some of my newer covers have messy ruffles and some handmade flowers.  But this morning I've chosen to share the ones with the art work.

 

Some of them have lace trim, some have beads, some have ric-rac, some have no trim on the outside so the papers with trims will dominate.  They are FUN to make.  I love making them for a "special order" because I can add personal touches to them, and even put initials or names in the inside covers.  The options are endless.  When the person opens them, they are always thrilled.  It's a good feeling!

Here are some of the inside pages for writing on, scribbling, doodling, sketching, etc., etc.  Those of you who art journal know, you can glue pictures, post mantras, WRITE OUT THE MAD, insert your goals, plan your dreams to come true, there are SO MANY reasons to have an inspiration journal!  I dedicate an entire table in my booth at festivals to these jewels.  So ...

I like to put initials inside the cover and maybe a ceramic heart or a special broach

I love the layers effect

There are plenty of pages that allow BIG spaces to write your stuff

I love adding ric rac for color, lace for texture and pleasure, flowers and embellishments, stamps, whatever!!!  I sew right onto the paper and it's very fun (feels a little outside the box for you purists).

I love adding handmade bookmarks and special touches!

This ceramic heart was made by firedandfused.etsy.com.  She is amazing! I ordered a bunch of custom pieces just for this reason.  Now my husband and I are learning pottery so we can do our own.  But I will always need Sheree's work because she has an expertise I do not possess!!!  (here)

So, this is my BASIC inspiration journal! I always throw in a brand new pen to encourage writing in it! Some people say they can't write in it because they don't want to mess it up!  MESS.IT.UP.! That's what it is all about.

If you are interested, there is a "Journal" category on the page under the heading.  If you click on the journal tab it will bring up some other journals and their special pages that have been made for the custom orders and special gifts. They can be quite fancy, or quite casual.   It will give you an idea of what can go in it.  I hope you enjoy!  If you'd like to have one made, just contact me and I'd be delighted to help you out.

Happy Friday y'all!!!!

Blessings!

Tuesday Tale

This was yesterday ... not a great HUGE production day, but a very fun art day indeed!  Glued the owl's glass in my newly painted, clean and organized studio ... studied the Internet and solved some mysteries ... talked to some important friends and family members ... took a nap ... cooked dinner ... took a walk with my sweetie ... enjoyed a wonderful autumn day.

Today is school and The Rusted Periwinkle.

Hope you have a few blessings of your own!

Success!

I finally finished all the window casings... YAY!!!

 Turquoise and purple! So much fun.  Did the first coats yesterday, then the second coats this morning.

 LOVE the way this looks!

 Look at the trees - so lush and green now.  But they are already beginning to turn to reds, oranges and ambers.  And today we have rain ... lots of rain ... forecasted for the entire week! We need it, but I prefer the sunshine personally!  And it makes glue, grout and paint dry faster when the sun shines on it!

More purple ... terribly dark picture, sorry.

THEN ... yesterday after the windows were painted I painted this board ...

Took out this box filled with glass scraps and picked out the ones I wanted

Set up Pandora music for my happy place

And got this layout which I will finalize and glue today for the beginning of the next show inventory!

FINALLY ... an art day in my newly cleaned, painted and organized studio.  Blissfully grateful.

I've already re-laid out the bottom so she has talons, her eyes will be black, and her beak??? Yellow?  It's been a real challenge sticking with these colors in a blue, green, purple world!  But Paul says it's a fall festival (apple festival even!) so I'm trying to support the whole fall thing.  

I hope we are going to see The Help (the movie) today.  But if we don't, I won't care.  I'm in bliss right here in my little world of art.

I sure hope you are having as wonderfully happy of a Labor Day as I am!

Blessings!

Cheri (lost my signature again...)