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.

Product review

As a hairstylist {out of the game for the past few years} I've used my fair share of professional products. I've seen this shampoo bouncing around for awhile but never tried it. Since November I've cut 16 inches off of my hair. Yikes! At first it was nice and bouncy and sleek but as it's grown it's become so blah and flat and just hangs there.

Fast forward to the other day when I was in the supply for a product for my cousin and thought I'd pick up some shampoo since we were out and I was having to use the kids junk-lol. I was initially drawn to the smell-which reminded me of something from my childhood...but I'll tell ya what, guys! Wow. Just a couple days and I am LOVING it. Squeaky clean, smells yum and is bouncy all day! I didn't feel all flat and ick at the end of the day-crazy! So for what it's worth-if you're looking for a new shampoo to try-I love it!

Spring Bloom

Two weeks ago I was in the Spring Bloom art festival in Bloomington. It was my first year so I wasn't sure what to expect. I'd always heard wonderful things about the show but it's sounding like this year it wasn't up to par. Possibly with it being Easter weekend? I'm hoping that's all it was because other than that I really enjoyed it-there was a really nice mix of artists.

Anyhow, here's my booth from the show. It was my first time in a corner spot so I had to do some last minute reconfiguring but I think I like it :) Something about the symmetry...:) {I just realised I didn't get a decent picture with my banner in place-it was hung across the corner black curtains.}

Wishing all of you a very wonderful New Year 2013!

via

This will be another low-key year at home with the kids.
Take out pizza, smore's in the oven, rental movies...
Fine by me :)
I've been too busy feeling like I'm swallowing knives to do anything else. I wonder if I'll even make it to midnight? (I didn't last year)
I want to take a moment to thank everyone for their business this year!!I truely love what I do~thanks SO MUCH for all of your support!

This Christmas.......

Now that Christmas is over we've been blissfully hunkered down watching movies and playing lots of video games and putting Lego sets together. We were lucky enough to have oddly warm weather earlier this month which made shopping for gifts quicker and easier.

 

Hello!

My grandmother's cherry delite-mmm.

School Christmas parties :)

A nice visit with our grandmother

My brother and his family visited!

Handmade gifts :)

Practing up for his next visit to "sing-song beach"

Thanks to Grandma for the bongos :)

Christmas shopping in flip flops :)

I kinda dug it.

 

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!

I for one am on the fence over taking the trees down. I think it's just the antsiness of all the packaging and extra "stuff" laying around.

 

I told myself once the trees were down and New Years and the dreaded birthday were over that it would be time to start on the master bedroom makeover...Can't wait!