New Works & and Xenotees on London...

"We Knew it was just the Beginning" - Fabric on Wood
I finally finished and named this commission piece which I think is a new favorite of mine.
It is still secret who it is for b/c she is surprising her boyfriend of a year with it on their 1st anniversary. I think that is so sweet and I am just delighted to have been asked to make a piece for them!

Green Patch III - which was sold to my fabulous friend Vicki (aka paperbeadgirl) who is on her journey to being as very successful inventor and I am so lucky to have gotten to know her over the past year! Go Vicki!

Here is another custom order I had last week. The sweetest customer bought the French toast and then asked me to make a matching (in size) Kiss my Grits and Pancakes. I just live for projects such as this and worked until they were done!

Then the next day I woke up not feeling so hot and have been sick all week. I gave it to London and we are slowly feeling a little better. I am blaming it all on the weather changes.

Good Night - original fabric on wood in the shop now. Oh I so want to go camping soon!

In the Heat of it All - New in the shop . I have been fabric shopping the past few weeks and found some fun new fabrics that I had to put to use. All of these in this piece are from my new stash! hooray:)

And finally, my husband told me I should make a piece with the beach and flip flops...so here is what I came up with.
As far as the Eye can see - this fabric on wood piece is in the shop now and boy do I wish I had a beach house to put it in - lol

London sporting his new Xenotees shirt. How cute is he. Noelle at Xenotees is the sweetest and surprised me with a sweet shirt for London with my order of the sawblade shirt for me!
He wore it all day and I have to say was quite adorable!
You can get your own here www.xenotees.etsy.com

London has been sick all week so we set up camp with his stuffed animal school. He listens to music and plays with them on the floor...I think it's sweet and thought I would share. Then when he gets burst of energy he runs laps around the blanket and his stuffed friends...so funny, and yes I have it on video!

Happy Memorial Day weekend all!
xoxo

FREE print for my 249th & 250th ETSY sale!

I am so thrilled to be so close to this milestone of 250 sales. So to say thank you I will give a FREE 8.5 x 11 print of the buyers choice to my 250th sale. Right now I am at 248. I have 102 8.5 x 11 prints to choose from so go browse away!
You can view all 102 prints here.

Also to be fair my 249th sale will receive a 5 x 7 print of their choice. If you come in and want to purchase 2 things and you are # 249 and 250...yup you will get a 5 x 7 and 8.5 x 11 prints of your choice.
Happy shopping!

I have posted a few of my favorite in my shop none of which are new. Each and ever sale is very special to me and I thank you all for accepting my art into your home with open arms. I wouldn't have it any other way.
Love you all! xoxox

Artist Spotlight...and a BIG Commission

Yay...I am so honored to be the spotlighted artist on www.artgaragesale.com . I have really enjoyed my time there so far and look forward to growing my shop. You can stop by my shop or many of the other talented people selling their work on AGS! It is a fantastic place to buy and sell!

"The World Around Us" is a very large commission peice I finished this week. It is all fabric on wood and is 24" x 48". What a fun project this one was. They gave me an idea of what they wanted and let me do the rest. The image instantly came to me and I drew it out right away. Doesn't get much better then that, as far as commissions go and doing what I love for a living!

I feel like the picture above would make an awesome print.

Here is the full piece. It is hard to get all the details in one snap shot but you get the gest.

Well, hubby is in Raleigh this weekend so it is London and I flying solo. We just got back from a bit of fabric shopping. London is down for a nap and I might just have to do the same. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Polarity Artist Series Lockets!

How absolutely cool are these? Polarity (aka Cat or Uncorked) has the coolest and original work in both her shops. I am so excited and honored to be included in her Artist Series Lockets in her polarity shop. And be sure to check out all her other lockets. She has tracked down some of Etsy's best artist and also has many of her own designs that rock! I have found myself getting lost in both her shops from time to time as they will suck you in. There is so much to look at! A big thanks to you Cat for letting me be part of your wonderful work!

I love them...and there a few I have my eye on. I may have to splurge one of these day!

Oh and you can find them HERE :)

WOW...what a give away!

Ok if you haven't seen this giveaway that I am participating in then you are missing out. There are 16 http://www.Artgaragesale.com artist participating. The total giveaway is valued at over $600. All you have to do is stop by Scoutie Girl's blog and check out some of the shops participating and comment on their work. You can enter up over and over again!

Come stop by HERE and post away...good luck!

Recipes to ponder & some teacher art

Jade Plant - original fabric on wood (I may sell prints of this one b/c I like it so)

This year is London's first year in any kind of school/play program. He goes twice a week for a little over 2 hours. He has 2 main teachers and one that works with the infants but she is always in his room too. Because things are a little tight around here as far as money goes I decided to make a little piece for each of his teachers as their end of the year gift. I suppose I will see if they like them and if they do then I will probably make this a tradition where I make all of London's teacher gifts.
The hard part is I really do not know much about each of them so I decided to make things with plants...simple and sweet.

Flowers for you - original fabric on wood art

Apple Tree Swing - original fabric on wood art

Here they are all together on the front walk.

Ok now for some super yummy recipes and dinners I made this past week.

Sweet and Sour Zucchini

1 lb of Zucchini
3 tbsp olive oil
1 large garlic clove, finely chopped
3 tbsp white wine vinegar
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
3 tbsp water
3 tbsp pine nuts
3 tbsp raisins (golden or normal)
sea salt and pepper to taste
fresh flat leaf parsley springs to garnish
(optional - 6-8 anchovy fillets, canned or salted - smashed into a paste)

1) Cut the zucchini into long, thin strips. Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy skillet over med. heat. Add the garlic and then cook, stirring constantly, for about 2 minute.

2) Add the Zucchini and cook, stirring frequently, until they just start to turn brown. Add the vinegar and water. Lower the heat and simmer, stirring frequently, for 10 minutes.

3) OPTIONAL step...meanwhile, drain anchovies, if canned, or rinse if they are salted. Coarsely chip and use back of wooden spoon to mash them into a paste. Then add to zucchini.

4) Add Pine nuts and raisins into the pan. Increase the heat and stir until the Zucchini are in a thin sauce and are tender. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Add salt and pepper to taste.

5) Either serve immediately or let it cool to room temp. and serve garnished with fresh parsley.

NOTE: I did not use anchovies but instead added the rice wine vinegar to give it that sweet and sour zing. This recipe was found in my 1000 low fat recipes cookbook and it is a good one!



Here is another dinner we had this week that was outrageously good! I made some garlic and olive oil couscous and stuff the peppers.
To make the peppers it is super easy.
Cut off the top of the pepper and hollow it out. The heat like 2 tbsp of olive oil in a skillet and sear your peppers for about 3-5 min.
Then heat the oven to 425 and put the peppers in on a cookie sheet for 10 min or so or until they start to brown slightly. These pepper were so tender and just peeled like strips...yum

Paprika Garlic Chicken

2 boneless skinless chicken breast cut into chunks
Marinade-
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp of Paprika
Dash of Olive oil
1 minced garlic clove
1/3 cup of rice wine vinegar
Dash of lemon juice
Fresh chopped thyme, parsley and mint.

I put the chicken in the marinade and let it set for approx. 20-30 min.
Then I used the left over oil in the same skillet as I used for the peppers. Saute the Chicken on med-high until the marinade cooks off and the chicken begins to brown.
So tasty!

I hope you get a chance to enjoy these awesome recipes...I know we did!

"Momma"

"You Deserve the World" - new in the shop here...I love the colors in this one and how it turned out. :)
Below: I hung it on the pole in the sugar snap peas in the garden. Speaking of garden I will get some updated pictures up soon. Everything is growing growing growing...so exciting!

So we have been working diligently with London on his speech. He is picking up new words everyday. Finally at almost 2 1/2 he can say "Momma". Before now and still sometimes he calls me "Dada" and my husband is "Daddy". He has been able to say the "M" sound for a long long time but would often replace m's for d's. He would say Doon instead of Moon. There is a technical name for what he does, which I can not remember, but he is improving everyday. Since last Friday he can now say....Momma, doggie, ouch, Night Light, eyes, moon and the beginning of a line from one of his nursery rhyms songs. He sings the beginning of "Go to sleep you little baby", except the last part of that line is very jibberish.
On days when he goes down for a nap but does not actually nap he calls for daddy when he is ready to get out. Today he called for Daddy and Momma!!! Yeah
It is the coolest thing to see him grow and learn and discover new things. What a treat to spend my days with my London!