Gardening.

I love it.

I was on the front page of Etsy!!!!

And I missed it...shucks. It was my shadowbox from the previous post. How exciting. Wish I would have seen it! Oh well.
I have been super busy sorry for the lack of posts. The Great ATC Exchange was so super fun! I went back to Stumpjack on Sunday and a few people added new cards. It is going to be so fun watching the exhibit change everyday! Thanks to all of you who donated cards to get it going. If you live somewhere far away and are interested in doing one in a coffee shop near you just let me know and I will let you know how I did it! I would love to spread the love of ATC's to all. Seeing them up and out is very inspiring and a lot of people who saw them went home and made cards. I even had a few classes of 1, 2, 3, and 6 graders do them from my teacher friends! They were great. A ton more happened this weekend but I will blog about it tomorrow and later in the week. Man having a day off is fun but it sure makes me fall behind! Have a beautiful day!

We are all the same inside.

I made a creepy little box yesterday. I am really having a lot of fun with the little sample pack of Golden products I got. It is really hard to tell from the picture but I did a fun molding paste texture in the background of this box which when I painted red then dry brushed turquoise reminded me of veins. I recalled in my heaps of junk seeing a picture of circulation and thought up this little masterpiece. I used a zipper, some old stamps, a tape measure, and a few bones (from what I do not know) that I found on the beach to bring the creepiness level up just a tad. I am feeling happy but you couldn't tell looking at this. I love it.

The great outdoors.

There is nothing more inspiring than being outside when the lilacs are blooming....























seeing this everyday.....


















or coming up with a little idea that my husband says is cute like this little soda birdie. Well since I got the thumbs up on him you know our fence is soon going to be filled with soda birdies.

A DIY direction

I love making stuff...and for those of you who know me you know I love showing people how to make things too. I personally think every single person out there is creative and can create beautiful things if you just sit down and give it a try. Now don't get me wrong I think I may be a tad more creative than many but I think I could encourage almost anyone to give crafting a try and actually enjoy not only the process but the finishing product too. Realizing this has really made me start to think about everything and how I can really incorporate that in my store and artistic life. I have been really focusing on fun vintage ephemera and other little supplies to share with other creative types. In the store you are going to find much more silly little stuff like rusty old keys, odd coins, old stamps, and funky vintage fabrics. The fun thing isn't that I am just making all of this fun stuff available but that I am also willing to share with you fun techniques and ideas on how you can use this stuff too! For example I have a pretty nice stash of old slides. The slides are just coll by themselves but the normal person may not understand why someone would buy them ... but then when you see them used in a piece of art you see the possibility and hopefully it opens your mind to other things you can do with that simple little supply.

One of my favorite things to make is soldered pendants. While I really am not inclined to teach people something like soldering I love to let them know they can create a similar thing themselves with the memory glass frames and glass. (see the picture above) I will be selling these little metals frames individually so you can get one for $1.75 or 3 for $5. I am also selling the glass individually for .25 each so for only $2.25 you can have the supplies to make a pendant of your very own! How fun is that? Now again I know some people have no desire to be creative and that is fine too. I will always make the soldered ones for you.

So come in and see this new direction and tell me what you think.

Oh and don't forget about the ART and ABOUT Spring ARt Tour this weekend! It kicks off with a reception at Full Circle Products studio Friday 6-9 and then the big demo and tour day is Saturday 10-4. You will get to take this free self guided tour at your own leisure and see artist demonstrations, tour studios, and maybe even win some free art. Hope to see you there!

My first bouquet of the season.

Hopefully there will be many more to share with you all! I will be starting to post lots of pictures of my little urban garden soon too! I love playing in the dirt and can't wait. The lilacs will be blooming soon and our hostas are starting to come up too! I love green.

Some new work.

I am being published!!!

Yeah yeah yeah. My favorite magazine Somerset Studio has a Holidays and Celebrations issue and they are going to put 2 of my fan ornaments in the upcoming issue!! I am a little excited about this. A fun thing...another etsy friend bagladysart is also going to be in the same issue!! Fun fun fun. So watch for it!

Finally made some new stuff.

I started out today making a few ATC's and playing with photo transferring using old dictionary pages and gel medium. Fun stuff I tell ya. So I got a few ATC's done and then it got the juices flowing and I came up with this little cutie. I take the pictures off of cabinet cards sometimes so I can photocopy the pictures to use over and over so I am left with all the cardboard frames. Well I had a mini canvas here so I started playing on it with layers of paint, paper, gel medium, ink, buttons, photo corners, bingo number, and old photocopy photo. Oh by the way you can get the sheet or one very similar here. I nailed the frame on the canvas and whala you have a framed little canvas collage. I like him. Haven't decided if I am going to put him in the etsy shop or not...what do you think? Think he would sell there?

A great package in the mail

So this fancy little ATC made by Rayann of the fantastic etsy shop mycreativeinstincts was waiting for me in the mailbox when I got home from vacation! It will make a wonderful addition to The Great ATC Exchange at Stumpjacks on May 23rd! Thanks Rayann...you rock.

Ahhhhh vacation.

I am so relaxed and rejuvenated! We got to Minocqua at about 5pm and our friends who have the cabin didn't get there until 9ish so we did something we never ever do...we sat in a tavern (I say tavern because up there it just seems like the right word) for 4 hours! We had a blast. The first pic is Cletus (really Dane) from The Black Bear Bar (11045 Hwy 70 West, Minocqua WI). Dane is a real character. By the time our friends came we were a little loopy (see that glazed over look in the picture?) It's the kind of place that you instantly feel at home.
Saturday was super relaxing. We spent the day antique shopping. The first mall was the best one. It was Ages Past Antique Mall, 8714 Hwy 47 S, Minocqua. It was so super neat and clean and pretty decent prices. The owner was a hoot too. He tried to sell me a taxidermy drunk frog. I passed but it was a hard thing to pass up. We also went to The Mill on the same Hwy and another mall in town. The Mill was good but junky and I think if the place is that junky the prices should reflect that. I did get a few great postcards. The one in town was good but the women working weren't exactly friendly. We went to lunch at the Minocqua Brewing Co. It was soooo good. I had a pulled pork and gouda open face sandwich with sweet potato fries and the best iced tea I have ever had. Glenn had a good beef and brie sandwich that looked pretty tasty too. I was too full to try it. After that we went back to the cabin and just acted lazy. The guys put the pier in and I took a 2 HOUR NAP!!!! Yes a NAP! Oh was it great. We had soup and sandwiches for super and sat around talked and watched movies. I was reminded what stars look like that night and I liked it. I tried to take a picture but of course it didn't work. It was so dark there so those stars were so bright it almost hurt to look at them. I went in because I couldn't stop looking at them and it made me dizzy. The loons were serenading us the whole time too.
Sunday I was still having fun but missing Molly something awful so we didn't do too much because I wanted to get home to her. It was so nice to see her and how totally excited she was to see us. She had a lot of fun with Grandma and Grandpa Geiser but like me I think ready to go home. She fell asleep on the way home so I didn't even get to play with her so I just snuggled a little on the couch with her and put her to bed. Next time she is coming with us.

On vacation!

So Persimmons is closed this weekend.

We will be spending some time up north relaxing. We were going to bring the canoe but we hear there is still ice and snow there so maybe we will just do some hiking and maybe drink some beer. It will be a kid free weekend so just to be able to eat more than one meal in a row without having to share it will be nice.

This is one of the hidden lakes we found last time we were up north that had the best rocks!