Spreadin' The Love

Love Love Love! This was a month of Love! A few days ago I received "The Spreader of Love" blog award from Kelly at Happy Shack Designs! Thanks so much Kelly! Be sure to check out her blog and lovely Etsy shop. They are happy places.

Here are the rules:
1. The winner may put the logo on their blog.
2. Put a link to the person who sent you the award.
3. Nominate 5 blogs.
4. Put links to their blogs.
5. Leave a message for your nominees.

Here are my nominees... These are people that add a smile to my face, give me a shot in the arm, or never fail to entertain me, inspire me or make me laugh! I wish I could add 5 more!

1. TJ at OpheliasflowersartbyTJ

2. Golly Bard at Golly Bard's Drawing Room

3. Karen at Wall Flower Studio

4. Mystele at Little Glimpses

5. Thelma at Painting by Thelma

Whew!

I painted until the wee hours of the morning last night and then all day today. I didn't eat a bit until almost 4:00. I just forgot to and that doesn't happen often. I painted the replacement paintings that were lost in the mail and they came out just as nice as the originals if I say so myself. When I had those done I couldn't stop. I started on several more tiny ones, prepared some canvas for future paintings and I grabbed a piece of my wood destined for the dumps and painted the Kitchen Angel I had been wanting to do. Her eyes will follow you all over the kitchen. Click on her if you need to and then get up off your chair and move side to side and check it out. haha I think she's fun and funny!

Remember my redneck baby rattle? Recycle/Reuse! Well I have redneck brush washers. haha I dug some Pepsi bottles out of the recycle bin and cut them in half. They work really great for water to wash your brushes in! AND the little nubbins at the bottom really help get the paint out from down deep in your brush, better than a glass or cup!

Angels In The Universe?

I guess the post office lost my paintings. I just had a call from the buyer and they still have not received them. Made my stomach flip flop. I feel so bad, not only for the lady that didn't get her purchase, but for my angels too, where are they??!! Ultimately it's my fault for not charging people for insurance or just paying the extra for it myself but honestly I have never had a problem before and Priority boxes are usually the best and speediest. So today I will be painting some new ones for her. I hope that I can get them almost exactly the same. The lady was so sweet about it. She said that "they must have gone to someone who needed them." So my 2 angels are out there in the Universe somewhere. I hope they one day find their way home to her house, or my house, or like she said a house that needs them.

Speaking of the Universe, I was think about calling my 2 dimensional polka dot angels that I have been working on Angels in the Universe, or Angels in the stars, ..... I know that's awful, I am just having a hard time giving this series a name, hopefully I can come up with something better than that. I love polka dots. I have this swiss dot (do they even make that anymore) fabric that is baby blue with white dots that I have kept for about 25 years now and never sewn it into anything. I will pull it out, think about it and put it back in the drawer. Should I really be sharing that? In any store I am immediately drawn to polka dot things. Anyway, these polka dots aren't even, neither is the wood I cut, it's all wacky, I like wacky and wonky. The yellow angels screams out her name is Gladys to me. The angel paintings are 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 wood (those are even) just like an aceo then I mount it on wood. All 3 of these have a few touch ups to do and varnishing. I have more dots to put on the bottom 2 to make it look a little more like stars or wonky polka dots and they are not glued or nailed yet. I have some black with white polka dot ribbon that I may attached on the back instead of the metal hanger. We'll see. I also added color and polka dots to the white angel aceos that I did. I think I will list them on Etsy tomorrow but not as a set.

Happy Birthday Dad! You are the greatest grumpy old man in the world!

A Little Word on Wednesday

To show forth thy loving kindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night,

Psalm 92:2

Tuesday's Altered Thoughts

If you would like to check out more Altered Pages and some Altered pages submitted by other artists! Click here! We invite you to join us in the fun and Alter a page of your own & let us see!

Ok you might think this is gross, (I sort of do), but I couldn't help myself, I couldn't throw it away! I made this doll nearly 18 years ago. The stains on the face are from my son's kisses. He loved this doll. He would carry it everywhere and kiss it and kiss it and kiss it. He is still a very kissy person, loving and sweet. I just had to keep it, kissing stains and all. It used to have a shirt and pants but those are long gone. My grandson was over and we went in my studio to look at all the colors and I spied this doll up in a dark corner of the closet. I pulled it down, showed it to JJ and he laughed and wanted it. I couldn't let him play with it because it's so dirty & beat up. That was rotten because I love to hear that baby laugh. I want to pull out one of my sewing machines when I'm finished with the commission painting I am working on. I am going to make JJ one. Isn't it strange how just a face with little rosey cheeks and 2 black dots for eyes can mesmerized kids?

I had an email this morning from a buyer in Maryland that hasn't gotten her paintings that were mailed priority on 2/14. I am worrying myself sick about it. I have the reciept for the postage but it doesn't have a tracking number on it. It wasn't insured but I am going to have to charge for or pay for insurance from now on. It's worth it. I may be repainting those for her and I hope I will be able to get them to look like the ones she purchased. I don't draw my angels out, I just paint and they usually let me know when they are finished. Well I have had a couple that I thought were finished, but they keep nagging at me, so I do more on them until they quit nagging or I completely ruin them. Like the white ACEO angels. I can't stand it that they are all white now. Maybe I was on color overload the day I painted them, but that didn't last long and they have been screaming at me. I think I will give them some color and make everybody happy. haha

A Little Survey...What Does Art Mean to You?

The Mardi Gras party was so much fun last night! It was a really great time. We always have so much fun with this group of people. We just laugh and laugh. My friend had made a wonderful red pepper cheesecake/dip, a seafood mold/dip, a sausage dip that was surprising delicious, and had hot cresents with ham, cheese & pepperoni in them, peppered nuts and some sort of pretzel. Then for dinner we had jambalaya, and for desert banana foster. So good! I didn't even get hungry today until 3:00!

It's a good day for lazing around today, which we are doing, because it's rainy and gray. Tomorrow I will get busy finishing up my commission piece. My little doodle bug JJ came over for a while today while his parents went out to lunch. He is going to be crawling anytime now. He's up on his hands and knees but just rocking back & forth so proud of himself. He's such a sweet spirit and just a joy to be around. I hated for him to go home but I will get him on Tuesday.

Ok so this really isn't a Mardi Gras painting but I thought I might get away with it. haha I painted this several years ago just for fun, wasting paint. We had taken a trip to Lake Tahoe and while waiting at the buffet there were a couple of obnoxious screaming & laughing girls at a casino table with so much gaudy on that I painted this when we got home. haha It reminds me of them. I know it's odd but you can't say it's boring and neither were those girls!

Something New!

I'm off to a Mardi Gras party tonight which will be a great time with a great bunch of friends. I may not be going all New Orleans on them but I may have a Hurricane...we'll see!

I started a new blog today! It's called Altered Pages, Altered Thoughts. Click here to visit! There is also a picture link on the right side bar that will take you there. It's for my new addiction/obsession of doing altered pages. I will just be posting Altered Pages to enjoy so I don't think it will be too much to keep up on. Don't worry I will still be posting some here on Tuesdays too! Some of my artist friends have already done some that are fantastic and I will be posting those. I'd love to see yours too!

A Glorious Morning

Another beautiful day. Hear tell, it may not last long but you know me, I won't mind the rain. This morning I got out again today and ventured to the post office but didn't do any yard work. I stayed inside and painted a garden instead. I also worked on my commission piece and finished another garden angel. This one is called "Morning Glory". I guess I am just painting all my favorite flowers first! I love morning glories. A friend of mine has 2 story trees that surround her property along the back and side and the wild vibrant morning glories grow up those trees and it's breath taking to me, they make my eyes pop open, to her on the other hand they are obnoxious weeds and tries her hardest to get rid of them. Every time I tell her I love them she tells me I'm crazy and we both laugh. A print of this painting is now listed on Etsy.

Thursday's To Do's

I got out of the house and went to the printer today. It was so nice I almost felt like doing yard work. Almost. I am working on my portfolio for a gallery in Sacramento. I have been working on it in bits & pieces this week and hope to get it finished tomorrow. I also finished up a little painting on wood I have been working on. This is the first of several flower garden angels. I hope you like her. This one is called "Angel in my Hollyhocks". If you cover one side of her face she seems to say "don't even think about picking one of these flowers", haha, the other side is sweet as pie, lovingly adoring you for wanting to pick one! haha Tomorrow I am beginning a commission piece, mailing, & helping my husband with his band's promo package. I have listed the print of "Angel in My Hollyhocks" at Etsy.

I received a really nice email inviting me to join http://www.bluecanvas.com/. I don't have anything to sell there yet and honestly haven't spent the time to fully check it out, but I did post a few pictures. I am juggling my time at the moment trying to find balance and squeezing in time to Stumble on Stumble it! I'm hooked and have found some great art there which I will have to share. I'll have to start posting some of my weekly favorites. I have Project Wonderful ads now too. I'd love to have you advertise your site here with me. Be sure to check out my new & wonderful sponsors!

A Little Word on Wednesday

O LORD, I love the house where you live, the place where your glory dwells.

Psalm 26:8

Tuesday's Altered Thoughts & Toasty Toes

You may have to click on the page to read each one. If you would like to submit an Altered Thought to be displayed on Tuesdays, please see the rules on the right side of page.

I have been crocheting these little slippers at night. A pair only takes about an hour to make start to finish. Maybe less if you are fast. They are super easy and super comfortable. I am using up some of my old yarn. I am ashamed to say how much I have. I'm not changing colors or making them fancy. I go through a bunch of them every winter. When they get yuky I just toss them out. I had bought this yarn when I was making ponchos and selling them a few years ago. Actually sold a lot of them. Too bad they aren't as popular as they were a few years ago. They are fun to make. I have forgotten how I made them. I made up the pattern and don't really remember it now. It may take a while to figure it out again. After I had made a poncho with this beige yarn I hated it. Because it is beige, I thought it made you look a little nude with no arms and I couldn't use it for making hats either! It would make people look bald. hahaha It's not a problem for slippers though and I am glad to finally get rid of some of it. I will start another pair later today and write down the directions as best I can and take pictures. If you would like the directions for these toasty slippers just let me know and I will be happy to send it to you.

**Shortly after this post my husband was called to work the night shift!

Fun on the Highway

This cracks me up! When my kids were little I would run my hands around the steering wheel like I was turning to freak them out. Hum... come to think of it maybe that's why my 19 yr old doesn't drive yet or even want to! hahaha My bad. He always wears his seatbelt too. We used to make a game of who could put it on the fastest. Next time I get in the car I'm gonna secretly notice if he still tries to beat me at it! I love driving. I have taken many cross country road trips and I love it every time. I like Sunday drives and driving in the rain. My husband hates it. When we go on a trip 8 hours is the max he'll last in the car and we have to stop every couple of hours.


Was a sweet surprise this morning to find that my art had been in 2 Etsy Treasurys'! A big shout out goes to BusyBeads at Etsy for featuring one of my kitty angels in her marvalous Meow Treasury a great collection of kitty cats. Click here to see. To see her pretty Etsy shop click here. Another big shout goes to Abbasgirl for for featuring one of my beach angels in her heavenly Echoes of Mercy Treasury. Click here to see. To see her lovely Etsy shop click here. Thank you BusyBeads & Abbasgirl!!

A Choir of Angels

This little choir of blue-eyed angel ACEOs are now listed for sale on Ebay. You don't see many sets for sale but I couldn't bare to separate them! I did white backgrounds on all of these instead of lots of color. I suppose I'm in a winter mood. Click here to see listing and low starting bid.

I had fun at the galleries last night. Both galleries had musicians playing and wonderful art. There was a lot of fantastic Christian art at the Cafe Refugio where I was showing. As usual I forgot my camera! I believe my pieces will be up for a month there. A few people were fasinated by the way my angel's eyes followed them and how one side of the face shows one emotion and the other side another. The Marco Fuoco gallery's next show is 10 pieces, 8 x 10s, from 10 artist and I may show in that one.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

I hope you have the sweetest day!

XOXO

Feels & Smells Like Christmas!

I bought an extra turkey at Thanksgiving and took him out to defrost the other day. I figured I would cook him up so I wouldn't have to do much cooking over this busy weekend. I was feeling lousy was was heading off to bed when I had a brainstorm. I would just let him cook in the crock pot while I slept. Lazy. I've never cooked a turkey in the crock pot but thought that was a brilliant idea. Not! As I was washing him my husband kept telling me he wasn't going to fit in the pot. I insisted he would. HA! I tried everything to get him to fit. I finally had to cut him up. Ugh. I felt like Jeffrey Daumier. I hate cutting up a big raw turkey. He still didn't fit! So I kept the back part out for soup stock. I felt so silly I actually took pictures! haha

When we woke up this morning it smelled like Christmas and during the night it snowed so it felt like Christmas! This may not seem exciting to you but it really is for us. It's the big thing on the news today! I live just below the snowline so it has only snowed here about 3 times in the last 15 years. It was so pretty. It's melting now. I wish I had made a snowman earlier when I had the chance.

How was the turkey? The turkey was so dry he had to be raised in Arizona. haha I shredded the breasts, put the breast meat back in the crock pot and smothered it with bbq sauce, mustard & vinegar. We'll just have to have pulled bbq turkey sandwiches with it. Better than tossing it away. It's smelling like the South in here now and I'm getting homesick! With the rest of the turkey I think I will make some more Turkey Tiki Masala like I did after Thanksgiving. That was so good I took a picture of it and posted it.

I ended up staying up late. I needed a kitchen angel last night. I had sketched this one out to maybe paint in the future. I have a notebook full of sketches of things to do! Maybe I'll get her done.

I listed 2 ACEO Trees this morning in my Etsy shop.

Today I'm Hanging

I was up in the wee hours last night finishing up 2 paintings for a gallery exhibit this weekend. It was kind of a short notice invitation but I got it done. I did remakes of a couple of paintings that I had done in the past. I think they came out better than the 1st time around! I didn't take pictures, sorry. One was an angel like below in red done on a 12 x 24 canvas only I put hearts in her hair. The other was my Love Grows, trees with hearts dripping from it. I have a bookmark with the 1st Love Grows in my Etsy shop if you want to take a peek. I did that one on a 8 x 10 canvas. My husband and I drove them down this morning to Cafe Refugio and got them hung up. The theme of the show is Love. What else on Valentine's day right?! I am looking forward to going to all the gallery shows on Saturday. I can't wait to see what my Swell Sister's have done at the 30/30 show at the Marco Fuoco Gallery. That was the one I decided not to participate in a few weeks ago. 30 paintings, 30 days, 6 x 6 pieces. I bet the gallery is going to look so awesome. It was tempting to stop in and take a peek today! We didn't. I just drove straight home. I kind of feel like I am coming down with a little bug today. Maybe I'm just tired so I'm having flu like feelings. So I'm just hangin around today not getting much done. Hopefully I'll be bright & shiny tomorrow. I have too many things I have to do, need to do and want to do!

A big Thank You goes to Darla at ArtisticAccents on Etsy for featuring one of my angel cats in her heavenly Treasury! You can check out her art & shop here.

This is so sneaky! I think I'll pull this on my son or husband next time they come into my studio! hehe I know I'm bad. hehe

A Little Word on Wednesday

He is like a tree planted by streams of water,

which yields its fruit in season

and whose leaf does not wither.

Whatever he does prospers.
Psalm 1:3

Tuesday's Altered Thoughts

I was trying to do a Sudoku puzzle and realized in a hurry it was not for me. Seriously it made me feel like I was so retarded. I can't even say it right. I get all tongue tied! My husband and sister tried their darnedest to get me to understand it but I still don't get it. I know some of you who do them are thinking I am retarded right now. I picked it up because I was watching tv and reading the PennySaver at the same time. I have been painting so much lately and needed a mind break. Anyway, forget it, I can't do Sudoku. So I picked up a very old paperback and started altering the pages with a big black marker. I have to say this kept me entertained for a long while and did them while I watched tv. I can't just sit and watch tv. I have to watch and crochet, knit, embroidery or whatever at the same time. Well there are a few shows that I get totally absorbed in and do nothing else but for the most part I can't sit still. You would think I would be skinny as a rail. Not so. So destroying a paperback has actually become my new addiction! I even made up rules for myself. haha Yes I did! No more than 7 consecutive words, only a black marker, yada yada. I can entertain myself quite well. Maybe I'll start a new blog and just post those and have you send me yours to post! If not I'll post one on Tuesdays and you can still send me yours if you want to. I'm sure you can do better than mine! Here are a few I had fun doing... You may have to click on them to read them.

I have a few Big Shout outs to several Etsy peeps for including my angels in their wonderful Etsy Treasury's. Be sure to check out their great Etsy shops by clicking on their names!
ArtAngel , BlueSkySunburn, & TotallyCrosses. Thank you so much!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BEAUTIFUL MOM!

I Love You!
You are forever young!
I hope I grow up to be just like YOU!

I Slept In...

actually slept too long and have been groggy all day. Think I'll go to bed early too.

Oh Heavens!

It's grey outside and I feel like curling up under a quilt and may do just that later! It rained last night so I listened to it while I was painting. I love that. I hope it rains again later. I'm having fun painting my heavenly little kitty cats. I haven't painted them in quite a while. I listed a new kitty on Ebay and the print on Etsy today. I like this little guy a lot. I love the purple, lime green and orange combination of colors. It's really different. This little guy seems to have a real attitude too!I started a painting of a kitty on canvas for a customer on Ebay and will hopefully finish that one today. I also started some long paintings, a mermaid and another angel. I am not completely satisfied with those yet though but will post a picture of them when I'm finished. I am having fun painting the long odd sizes. My long blue angel sold yesterday *see below* and I listed this red one yesterday afternoon. One thing about my angels that I personally like is that one side of the face shows one emotion while the other side shows another. If you take a look at almost any of them and cover one side of their face, then the other you'll see what I mean. I also like how some of their eyes follow you. I love red. I'd say mustard yellow is my favorite color but red and turquoise are next in line as my favorites. My husband bought me a new heat gun so I plan to paint some new angels on LP records next week. Another thing I enjoy that I haven't done for a while. I broke my last heat gun working on those! It actually melted itself. Weirdest thing. It was next to a tube of oil paint when it happened so that tube is toast. I smelled it and couldn't figure out where the smell was coming from. When I did finally see it, the heat gun was just a big glob of plastic! I was lucky it didn't start a fire!

A big shout out goes to Abbasgirl for featuring one of my kitties in her lovely Etsy Treasury. You can see that here. She has a wonderful collection of pretty things in her shop which you can check out here. I just love her Peasant Girl box! I have yet to make a Treasury myself. It seems too complicated and you have to wait until an opening and hope you can hop in. So I have to give kudos for people that take the time to put one together. I love browsing through them.

I had a call from a friend and colleague last night. She called to tell me she is losing her job. The company was recently bought out and now they are completely closing my old office. I was laid off last year as well as many other underwriters, which was an attempt to cut cost and remain open. My heart goes out to all of my friends and ex-teammates. It's a hard time for people in the mortgage business now. Most positions are so specialized that it's hard to get into something else where you can make comparable wages, or even qualify to do anything else, and there certainly aren't many job openings in the industry right now. In the mortgage business when it gets slow there are always lay offs, then when it's busy, companies beg for people. Companies usually work people to death too before hiring new people too. It's tough and extremely stressful. So layoffs go with the territory but this time it's really different. A lot of long time major players in the industry are now gone. This economy so disturbing. I am saying some prayers for them all.

A Little Word on Wednesday

The lips of wise people spread knowledge, but a foolish attitude does not.

Proverbs 15:7

My Nest

My littlest birdie came flying back to the nest last night. I was slowly taking over his room but hadn't moved his bed out yet. It was covered with paintings! There were so many paintings & boxes in there that there wasn't much room to move around. So at 11pm last night we were moving paintings and boxes. I found some I even forgot I had! This is a good thing him coming home, a big step in the right direction for him, but I dare say it's going to be an adjustment, just like it was when he moved out. So I am going to be listing lots of paintings in the next few days. I will be putting them on Ebay and at pretty low prices so that I can make some room for my little birdie. I signed up to sell at Artfire.com yesterday but haven't had the time to list anything there yet. I am also working on a shopping cart for this blog so that you can purchase my art right here.

I put lots of angels on Ebay auction today and a couple new angel cats. You can check those out here. This is a little angel I will be listing tomorrow. She's really different and is on 3"x 6" wood. Painting her was almost like painting an ACEO. I used a brush about the thickness of a eyelash in places. It was fun painting an odd size though. She would be perfect in a little nook & cranny.

To my Entrecard bloggin' buddies I have to apologize for not being able to drop on many of your blogs much lately. I intend to jump back on the wagon tomorrow. *visualizing a gypsy wagon* I look forward to seeing what ya'll have been up to!

Big Sweet Shout Outs

Happyshackdesigns purchased my little dachshund angel painting a month or so ago. What a sweet surprise to find it's little picture and a story about what it means to her on her blog. I got all choked up. My little angel is in a happy home and her story and how she feels about my art means a lot to me. She has a wonderful blog and you can check it out and her great story here.

A big thank you goes out to Minaude at Etsy for featuring one of my paintings in her lovely treasury. You can check out her wonderful jewelry here. You can see her pretty Etsy Treasury and other pretty things on her blog here.

Last Monday it was a "redneck rattle" and this Monday I made a baby sling out of an old sweatshirt. I found the directions online. Click here to see. It works pretty well but I wouldn't jog around with a baby in it but it does work pretty well for the moment. JJ was in the sling less than 5 minutes and was sound asleep. So he is sleeping away on me while I blog and list new paintings. I just listed these 2 paintings on Ebay. I can't get the pictures of the angel to come out really well they definitely don't do her justice.