Making the leap

I bit the bullet and finally bought a really good art fair tent :)

Actually-it found me...ha. Two different artists were retiring after the Carillon art fair and sought me out-since I had an EZ up (and I was currently holding the crossbars during wind gusts when they approached!) so I was pretty easy target. I purchased a used Trimline from one of them and am SO happy I went for it!

I had a another show a week later and was soooo nervous about set up and tear done (alone) but it was actually much easier than I expected! A HUGE plus was that during gusts I wasn't a nervous wreck! I wish I would have done this from the get-go!

So here is my new-to-me tent and my current set-up. It felt so much roomier too-which makes no sense-it's 10x10 just like the old tent. I love it!

17

How on earth has it been 17 years since the day we were married? 17 YEARS! I remember it like it was yesterday-we were married on a Friday evening and it was crisp, sunny and cool all day with all the leaves turning perfectly. (yet today I sit in shorts and most of the leaves outside are still green- lol)

Anyhow, so much has happened in those 17 years and the best parts are shown in that photo above :)
Happy Anniversary, Trav!

Fall wreath

Still having the love/hate thing going on with Pinterest over here...(love being inspired but crazy antsy when I can't do these things right NOW!) --but when the hubby is free to actually do a couple things for me for prep then I fly through a project :)

Take this wreath I have seen bouncing around on pinterest-love the simplicity of it.

source

A scrounge through the firewood pile at my neighbor's house, then Travis slicing the log up and cutting out a frame from an old sheet of thing plywood and I was good to go :)

Here I just hot glued all the thin slices of log to the framing. Took about 2 minutes.

A quick trip to Hobby Lobby for a couple things. I loved the funky little flower that has beads and sparkles embedded in the center. It's funky without being too "HEY!"

A little cluster of pheasant feathers ad a roll of burlap ribbon-only because it was 50% off.

Don't forget the 40% off coupon :)

I think total I paid around $7.

I just did a gather of the burlap after unraveling the edges a bit, tied some jute around the gather and squeezed some hot glue up in there. (I'm very technical about how I do things you'll notice)

Then trimmed the stems off of the feathers and flower, poked them into the burlap and hot glued it down.

Here is the back if you're wondering. Just very thin plywood cut into a doughnut.

I may go back and unravel the burlap a bit more-I have to live with it for a few days first.

I was worried at first that it would be heavy and clanging around on the door glass when we open/shut the door but it's surprisingly lightweight. :)

Love it!

Happy Fall y'all!

Season change...time for the dining room to change up! 

We never eat in there...almost a waste of space, really. But you have to walk through to get anywhere and you look straight in there from the family room so I like it to look cute :)

I tend to just shift things around the house or make things...I'm not much into buying seasonal items. I like to change the color of things mostly- ie: books I use for risers and stuff like that.

My big 5 was printed to fit a poster frame we had laying around and was in the foyer. I found the 5 planter at Gordman's this summer and had to have it. The 5 is how many are in our family so I like 5's.
The L stands for our last name and was picked up at Hobby Lobby years ago and just decoupaged with scrapbook paper.
The copper kettle/pot thing is an antique and just fits in the fireplace opening.

I always have to incorporate something from my grandparents in each room it seems...The bible and old book came from my grandmother.

I threw in some hydrangeas from the front yard that were changing color.

Gourds from Goodwill, old Eucalyptus I've had for years.

The cabinet and shelves we built a year ago and love them! I'm so glad we did it. We previously had an antique hoosier cabinet set back in that nook.

Again, lots of grandparent items (old sewing basket, the Bostons, books, doily, photos...) 

Added more hydrangeas and the paper flowers that were made from brown grocery bags w/ black checkers for the center I taped up to the wall behind and on the fireplace surround (that we also built last year!)

{{I really need to do before photos of that room actually now that I think about it.}}

Art Spectacular at the Carillon 2013

~My booth this past weekend.~

The weather was GORGEOUS. Sunny and high of 72. The sidewalks were packed and there were people standing in line to check out. It was a fabulous show :)

Here's a peek at some new items I've been working on recently. 

 Lots  of copper with fused fine silver and bronze making an appearance. 

I love the warmth for fall :)

Gearing up for Edwards Place fair next weekend. 

I have tons of restocking to work on this week!

Thrifted jewelry display

 So...have I ever mentioned I love to thrift shop? I'm sure I have...and finding jewelry displays for my shows is always the best! :)

So I found this sad girl at a thrift shop awhile back. I had NO idea what to do about her. This is the only before photo of her...yuck, huh? It's just cotton fabric she's covered in but SO ugly and busy!

 My intention was to take her apart and start over but when I started tugging here and there I realised I would just destroy her so I decided to try out what I did with my full sized dress form....paint her!

Here she is with a couple coats of a beigey wall paint I had in the basement...trying to get all that pattern hidden!

 Then I took some burnt umber paint and mixed with glaze to help spread and slow drying time down. I smeared it all over with a paint brush then let sit for a minute or so and came in with a damp paper towel and swiped, dabbed, rubbed, etc to get a nice aged look. After wiping her down I went back in a couple times dabbing here and there adding a tiny bit of pattern from the paper towel. 

At first I hated the braided cording down her sides and wanted to try and take it off but now I love how the brown settled into the nooks and crannies and really finishes the look.

I then freshened up her black stand and knob after reattaching it and she's good to go!

Her original tag under her base says she's from TJ Maxx for $15. I paid about $2.50 I believe-Totally worth it for a little paint!

Since she's about 10 inches tall I'll just add one of my more petite necklaces on her and double up the chain around the neck. :)

Pretty cute, huh? 

Insta-Friday

Time for posting my instagrams from the last {2} weeks...

My cute date for the spring fling at pre-K

 



Playing around with watercolor pencils

 



Never noticed the sweet heart on Gigi's nose before!

 



Me and Sawyer were painting and when I was done with this he says "hey! you made me and you birds!" That kid is so awesome...

 



Our 1 baby cardinal that survived...he left the next day-no idea what happened to him...

 



Love this of Gabe-at the park on a hill just before soccer practice.

 



Then we found a duck nest with an egg!

 



An entry in Gabe's All About Me book from Kindergarten.

 



Chloe @ park. Silhouette on walking bridge.

 



Chloe and Libby before the end of the year dance.

 



Community art board at the Old Capital art fair :) {love}

 



Art journal

 



Art journal

 



Peonies and roses from the yard



Art journal from today-haven't drawn a face in 20 yrs at least. Could be worse I guess, huh?

 

Linking up with Jeanette.http://liferearranged.com/2013/05/instafriday-a-giveaway/

Time

I was thrilled to be asked to pop by to surprise my old friend, Cindi, for her 40th birthday!

 We were buddies since the 5th grade when I first moved here and hung out until we were 21. I know I've said it a million times but I LOVE FACEBOOK! It brought her back into my life and for that I am grateful :) It only took us about 15 years to find each other again...

 

Here is a photo I found of us in Key West when we were 21.

 

 

And here we are 19 years later- (we switched sides)

 



 

I love being able to pick right back up like no time has passed.



Insta-Friday

{{Insta-Friday...time to share what i've got on my instagram this week}}

 

This was the first time I've had someone tell me they wanted a piece of my jewelry but gave me complete artistic control over for a custom order. It was nerve-wracking! Luckily I know her style-she keeps it simple and isn't much of a jewelry person. She wanted something easy to get on and off, light and comfortable, low maintenance and serving as a little mindfulness...

 

Copper organically shaped bar with fused fine silver overlay. I then handmade the infinity chain and attached a little recycled sterling nugget dangle. I love it :) 

 

 

We have new life in our ivy wall out back. It's been a struggle to keep the kids off the bucket set up by it to peek up at them...Cardinals. Adorable!!

 



 

Yesterday's painting mixed with an old photo of Sawyer...kinda loving how it turned out!

 



 

The muddiest out of town soccer games last weekend ever. This was after game 1. since they really worked the field at that time game 2 was extra squishy! Blankets lined the car seats...and got some really odd looks at Cracker Barrel on the way home.

 



 

Dad was down near Olney and had to stop in at the Schwinn warehouse and get some new early birthday bikes for the summer:)

 



 

The boring square window in the foyer has been screaming at me to do something with it. I finally decided to do a faux leaded window treatment...I had the strips on hand from an old project. Just design, measure and stick! Would have been MUCH easier if I'd been able to sketch it and tape to the outside then just trace...but the window was too high. I don't think the mistakes are too noticable ;)

(note: our house is 109 yrs old and this matches some other windows we have...)

 



 

Woke Saturday morning to this sight: Chloe helping dad take shingles off the garage roof. Ugh. She LOVED it.

 



He's nuts.

 



Another art journal page.

 



 

Linking up with Jeanette again :)

Insta-friday

Here's a few instagrams from the past week or so. I haven't been good about getting photos off of my phone and onto the computer...I really stockpile on there.

 

Anyhow, here's sweet little Matilda-11 weeks old and my Aunt and Uncle's new little goofball...

 

We've had the oddest weather and went from a snowstorm to having our Magnolia trees blooming right away. I love when the kids bring me flowers-placed in my great-grandma's mini pitcher.

One of my newer pieces.

 

 

Goofball again.

 

 Started painting again. Just started an art journal last week inspired by Donna Downey. I am loving the feel of paint under my fingernails again!

 

Linking up with Jeanette this week.