Friday Ramblings

Things seem to be in a bit of a mess this week.

That must mean it's a good week to give thanks.

Mess.

Whoever invented this needs to have their head examined.

One wrong move and the whole length of tape is out of it's little routine and cannot be used anymore.

Maybe I need to have my head examined for purchasing it. 

I'm thankful I will never buy one again.

Mess.

Serious mess. As in Mother's day stuff, 

Artwalk stuff, my eldest daughter's graduation stuff and who knows what else is piled here.

It's a dangerous pile. 

At least eight graduation announcements included in the mess. At least. 

I'm thankful for these amazing kids and their progress and that we can share in their lives.

One thing that is not a mess is this page in my art journal.

 It gave me a lot to think about when facing messes.

Messy photo. But the message is good as well.

It helps a lot to give thanks when one is overwhelmed with messes.

Maybe I'll get a henna tattoo this summer with this message on it.

I have heard that tattoos on one's finger don't last very long.

Even the ones with real ink.

I'm still tempted to do it for real, but I would want to change the word every week, so I'll stick to my sharpie.

Always thankful for sharpies.

(They don't hurt as much as tattoos.)

Mess.

Seriously, how does this happen so fast?

I had it cleaned up last week....

All it takes is one small project and KABOOM! 

I have to say, it's a fun mess, but when I get called away from it before I'm finished, it's still a mess.

Thankful for art. Thankful for a room I can leave an art mess in and walk away from it.

Last week I bought a coke to help the day along.....

This week, I caved and bought into advertising. When you put the words "chocolate, cookie crumble, coffee and summer" together, I'm a gonner.

I think it really helped with all the messes, but I couldn't finish it. However, my dog liked it. (there wasn't that much chocolate in it by then.)

Next thing you know, I'll be buying little umbrellas and stashing coconut rum above the refrigerator to help with messes.

Thankful I won't really buy coconut rum.

Doesn't think she's a mess.

But if you look closely at the choice of footwear, one begs to differ.

Her teacher actually pleaded with her to loose the socks, but SOME one in my family has a sock fetish. The louder the colors on them, the better.

Lord have mercy. What am I NOT thankful about with this girl?

She teaches me patience, how to have a good time, how to be yourself, to laugh,  how to be honest.......

Mess.

In the car.

It seems to have gotten out of hand and is now following me everywhere.

All though, in all fairness, I have ONCE AGAIN realized school is out a little earlier than I planned. Frantic running around ensues when this happens.

Part of the mess in the car is from the  ever so not so helpful  County Tax Assessor's office. They decided to re-evaluate the property taxes on my deceased mother's house. They then charged me for the property taxes AFTER I sold the house.( and charged the new owner of the house property taxes as well.)  I have filled out all kinds of paperwork and this week I am trying to figure out how to give thanks for being given a letter stating they have recorded the notice of putting a Lien on any and all property that I own. 

Because I didn't pay the second round of re-assessed property taxes on my deceased mother's sold house.

Uh huh.

Makes a lot of sense to me as well.

Hmmm. This one took a while.

Thankful for my realtor. Thankful to  have sold the house. Thankful that my husband didn't blow a gasket when I told him the news about the Lien. Thankful that it will get resolved.

Always a mess.

And every time she is in the car she stares at me like this.

It's quite unnerving.

Oh, dear. Let's see.....

Thankful for, uhhh, hmmm. Well, thankful that she doesn't get sick in the car and that she really does provide some good blog fodder.

So there you have it.

Lots of messes.

Still lots of fun though, even in the midst of messes.

Still thankful in the midst of those messes.

Hope it's a fun, (not too messy) thankful weekend!

Friday Ramblings

I am definitely back in reality.

Here is how I know.

This week I was thinking about how, when I think I have it all together, this happens:

Thank you, Miss Party, for always giving us something to do in our house.

When I have the whole upstairs fresh and clean, sheets changed, you name it, my child gets sick to her stomach because I am convinced she will never, ever, ever learn to not overeat. She at least throws up in her trash can but I do have to re wash the sheets.  

And, once again, I have paint on a favorite pair of pants.

it actually came out with soaking it in hand sanitizer!!!

As I went upstairs to put my daughter's sheets on her bed for the second time in two days and found that the bottom sheet was still damp and had to go back into the dryer, I thought of something my father used to say. I would gripe about something and he would look at me and say, "Cheer up. It'll just get worse."

Now this would confuse me. If it just gets worse, how can I cheer up? What? I should be happy things will get worse? 

As I got older, it made me mad. "Ha." I would think to myself. "I'll prove you wrong."

(Where my child gets her stubbornness, is beyond me.)

I continued that practice this week...

I looked for the little things that made me happy.

I rearranged a little shelf.

I planted a tomato plant no one wanted and some flowers that I had from my show.

I made myself an Orange Chia Refresher.

I walked with a friend.

I put on country music.

I thought about practice line dancing.

I even bought myself a COKE.

I'm lucky I didn't buy a bag of Lay's potato chips and a carton of french onion dip and dive in head first.

And then....

The sinus problems began.

Darn.

Back to reality.

But......

Outside, the call of summer is beginning..

The Agapanthus is beginning to bloom,

The Day Lilies are coming out.

This makes things better.

So will doodling in my art journal.

And buying an eraser to carve out a stamp.

Taking some Sudafed...

Yep, I'm gonna cheer up!

Have a fabulous weekend...

Art Show Thanks

How do I even begin to say thank you to all the people who have supported me and helped me through this big art show?

By taking horrible pictures of us together and posting them, for one...

Sue...you totally rock.

My friend, Sue. This gal volunteered to do the show with me. Not only do the show, but get up at 5:00 a.m., and start setting up at 6, and talk and network and get contacts and information and water and bathroom breaks and help sell, and bring laughter and, and, and until tear down time at 5:30. 

I seriously could not have done it without her.

brave girls are friends forever!!!

Thank you to people like my sweet Brave Girl Sister, Julie, who came out to say hello and encourage me. Like Rachel and my sister, Sue, and Mary Beth and Wendy, and Libby, and and and...for all the HUGS (and strawberries!)

my heart is full.

Even with all the hard work, it was a blast.

It was a stunning beach day, and I met so many people.

Like my new friend,  "O". Or as he put it, "Oh!! Oh, oh oh!!"

Short for Owen.

He told me aaalll about his life. Some of which I believe, some of which made me wonder if Oh! was on the loose from his retirement home. Either way, I had a blast talking with him.

I'm not sure which got me more-the socks or the pajama shirt.

This was our spot. This was not our yacht.

But we like to pretend. The spots were 20ftx3ft.

Yes, 3 feet wide, and it really worked well and it was nice to be able to sit on the sea wall.

This is what is on the other side of the sea wall.

As you can see, Brenna had a great time at the show!

Today I really ought to be putting artwork away, doing laundry and 100 other things, but for the most part, my view today has been this:

new issue of Country Living

I had a lot of people at the show asked if I have my artwork up on my blog.

I'll post some of what I have available today and will have a new page or something that you can clickon SOON (as in this week, THANK YOU, Karen Valentine)
  and view what's for sale. Until that gets set up, I will keep adding items during the week.

Feel free to email me (contact button on right side bar) or by visiting me on my Face book page.

Many thanks to all those who inquired during the show!

8x8x1 3/4 wrapped canvas. Mixed media. Vintage papers, free motion sewing on vintage pattern paper, acrylic and watercolor crayon

$50

one inch painting soldered on 12 inch drop chain. Vintage wallpaper on the back.

$15

.

Various 8x10 Matted vintage children's book pages.

(5x7 opening)

$15

let's go on adventures every day-sold

9 3/4x8 wood block. (one inch thinck) Mixed media. Acrylic, free motion sewing on vintage pattern paper, ink, photo on tissue, vintage papers.

$50

mixed media 12x12 wrapped canvas, 1 1/2 in.  thick.

acrylic, ink and watercolor crayon.

$100

12x12 mixed media wrapped canvas. 1 1/2 in. thick.

Vintage book pages, acrylic, ink and watercolor crayon.

$100

Mixed media 12x12 wrapped canvas 1 1/2 in. thick.

Acrylic, pen, ink and watercolor crayon.

$100

Sharing Time With Paint

Catchy title, no?

I didn't think so either, but I do kinda like it...

ANYWAY.

I decided what I wanted to do this week!

It has to do with paint. And sprays. And little, tiny spray bottles. 

I started by wanting more Glimmer Mists, so, being the cheap skate that I can be, I looked for a tutorial on how to do this myself.

I found several that were very handy. Until I learned from the last class I took from Christy Tomlinson that these can be combustible when make with alcohol inks.

oops.

Plus, after taking her class, I used Dylusion Sprays.

Oh, man.

When you want fabulous, rich color, go purchase these.

Or, be a cheapie like me and look on the internet on different ways to make sprays with a lot of color.

When you do it this way, you also have an added benefit of finding really cool blogs.

This tutorial I tried came from Julie Fei-Fan Blazar.

*edited note, this post was a guest tutorial, and not written by Julie*

It's super easy.

You put paint and Mod Podge in a tiny spray bottle and add water.

Done.

Or....

You think more is better and don't really pay attention to Julie's directions and you put just a tad bit too much paint in the bottle and have trouble stirring it up.

But.

This is where being a Starbucks addict comes in handy, because you have a little stopper handy from your last cuppa joe and it fits perfectly into the bottle.

I love how this turned out.

It's not runny, it's color is fairly strong and it's a bit thick, which works well for me.

Sorry for the lousy photo.

I had so much paint on my hands, I was trying to shoot left handed while actually holding my camera with my left hand.

Yeah.

Don't ask.

I wanted a soft, soft look for this canvas.

Just a touch of pink to cover. Which is odd, as I am so not a pink person and neither are my canvases usually done in soft, soft colors.

 Which is why I think I really messed up this 30x30 canvas, because I just can't leave well enough alone and the next thing I knew, I had RED all. over. it.

But that's a different story for a different day.

 Check out the tutorial, make some sprays and let me know what you think!