Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Lancaster Street Market

So the coolest thing happened a week or so ago. Carrie with See Lancaster (and I think the Lancaster Arts Council) found me through Etsy. I am assuming that she searched via the Shop Local feature but I am not totally sure. Anyway, she invited me to participate in the Lancaster Street Market May 2nd (this Sat.). Seems as though they did this little show last Oct. Nov. and Dec. with great success. They are bring it back every 1st Sat. starting May - Dec.
For such a small city we really do have a good art world..I am just still slowly getting involved.
The show is outside so I am hoping that the weather is nice - not too hot and NO RAIN!
I will also have a few of my moms handbags and my sister's pouches/totes for sale as well.
If you are looking for something to do Sat. come on out to Lancaster. The show will go from 10am-4pm on the corner of Main Street and Gay Street in downtown Lancaster. Hey and no sweat if you can't make this one there is always next month!
Here is a link...hope to see you there.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

New Growth

Our garden is coming along nicely! It is already getting into the 90's here during the day. We will drench the garden in the mornings and it is dry as a bone by nightfall...so we drench it again! We have everything planted but there is a portion of the garden that stays pretty shady so we are not sure if everything will grow back in that corner.

In our front yard garden we have planted a variety of tomato plants, red/yellow bell peppers, pimento peppers, hot peppers, eggplant, lettuce, spinach, carrots, radishes, sugar snap peas, yellow squash, zucchini, cantaloupe, and cucumbers. YUM
I can not wait to make fried green tomatoes!

Sugar snap peas- we are putting in something for them to grow up today.


little baby lettuce



Our little Herb nook...I cook with these all the time. I love stepping out my front door and clipping away with what I need.


Cute little blurry picture of London. I told him to smile for the camera, and he did :)


Me and London


Here is a new piece in the shop called "Sun Kissed" - I like how she turned out!

New abstract piece called "Morning"

And one more piece that is part of my Mod Kitchen Collection..."Strawberry" (notice it is in front of my garden- tee hee)
Let me know if you have a garden and how it is going. I have heard that since the economy is so crumby these days many people are giving it a go. I hope they feel the rewards of growing plants and eating them like we do. Oh and our blueberry bushes already have blueberries on them. They are plumper every day and I can't wait to taste them. ahhh
Happy gardening!




Tuesday, April 14, 2009

MUstache Party!!!

Mustache Awards...hee hee

My sister leaves for Alaska on Sat. I am taking her on Friday to drop off her license plate and then we are going out to lunch one last time for 6 months. I know she will have another fantastic time there. She has her own place without a roommate so she can host many visitors. Unfortunately due to the broken window (a few posts down) and taxes owed I will not get the opportunity to go visit her. I am a little sad but I guess I will just experience Alaska through her stories and pictures. It is bitter sweet as I will miss her but I know that she is looking forward to going back.


Last Saturday we had a going away party for her. Last year she had a theme (knee highs and bow ties) so she thought it would be fun to have another. Can you guess...this year was Mustaches. Some of the guys started growing them as soon as they heard about the party...so funny. I wish that I had busted the camera out a little more but here are some of the better ones I snapped. Above is my sister-in-law Julie sporting one of her stashes. She actually won an award for the most Fem mustache. Christie, Nate and Ginger all helped make these hilarious Mustache trophies...ha ha.




Nate - my brother (real Mustache) , Taylor (no mustache) and Scott my husband (full beard as always)



Scott gets his mustache darkened by Kim :)


Chrisssstie and I



good ol eyeliner




Kinda creepy (LOL)



We ran into Beth that I used to work with and had her kids in after school and camp. Christie used to babysit/pet sit and house sit for her. So good to see her!



Alison, Charlotte and me . I had to use the red eye reducer so all our eyes look strange.




This is my other sister Angie and I think this picture sums up the end of the night. I love it. She is down to half a stash and the blurry background.
Anyway, cheers to a safe trip for my sister and happy Mustaches!

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

For Treasuries Sake...

I thought this was so funny. While waiting for Treasury West to open this morning I just knew London was getting into something. I checked on him when there was 2 minutes left before 222 expired. So below is what he did in those last 2 minutes before treasury opened. Such a stinker. He also filled the dog water bowl and the cat water bowl with pieces of dog and cat food...to the point where the food absorbed all the water. Because I am at the tail end of the cat food I decided to pick it all up and put it back in their bowl (hee hee- hey I vacuumed yesterday).

And do you think London helped me pick up....NOPE. lol

Anyway, here is my treasury (pretties) ..come stop by before it expires in a few days.

look close to see all the scattered cat food.











He's a busy one! :) That's what mommy gets for trying to make a treasury.



Here is "Yellow Expedition Tent" finished and in the shop now..I'm happy with how it turned out! Now if I can just get to the woods...and soon. (I miss you nature)

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

In the Studio and NEW works!

I have some new pieces here I am working on and then a few I finished but never posted. Above is a new camping piece that I think I love (this picture is still in progress as it has not been polyurethaned yet)! I asked my hubby last night what color I should make the tent and he said, "Expedition Yellow just like my rain jacket". This is true he has a yellow and black rain coat therefore I followed his advice and I think that is what I will name the piece as well.
Below you can see a little more of my polyurethaning process...first mix, then apply.

stirring
applying (first coat- second coat will be applied either late tonight or early tomorrow morn)

The essentials in my upstairs studio. Mallet, brush, razor blade, paint can opener, polyurethane and stir stick. :)



While I was up there with my camera I thought I would show you the backside of my studio. All of these bins are full of my sister Christies (volleyballgirl.etsy.com) fabrics. She is moving in 2 weeks back to Alaska (for 6 months to work) so I get to ship all her sales and store her art stuff again. She still has to bring her sewing machine and a few other things over in the next week or two.


Here is an 8 x 10 commissioned wedding gift piece I have just finished. It will be called "Big Sweet Love II" as it was named and modeled after the first "Big Sweet Love" I made that I only have prints of now. I live for commissioned work..some times it is nerve racking but usually it turns out to be good.


Feeling the Night lady - waiting to be cut out.


"Feeling the Night" new original in the shop here.


Also here is another new one in the shop that I showed an in-progress photo in a lower post.
"Springs First Bloom" is in the shop here.


Update on the windows...they came and took the door out yesterday. Now we are waiting of the glass to come (which hopefully they have ordered by now). Probably will not get in until next week. Hoping the den will not be dreary and boarded up much longer. Speaking of looks like rain and it has gotten chilly out today. Waiting until next week to plant garden...and it is going to be fabulous!






Thursday, April 2, 2009

Cracked Glass


It is hard to believe that this sweet little boy could have broken such a big piece of glass. During a tantrum on Sunday, London ran into the sliding glass door. He had no bump, bruises, or scratches on his head or anywhere - we watched him for any signs of a concussion and he showed no signs. We are not sure what he hit the window with but he put a major crack in it. Thank God he is ok and the glass did not shatter...things could have been really bad if it had...so I can't even bring myself to think about all the "what- ifs".
Our sliding glass door is HUGE and it is original to the house which was built in 1960. The window guys have been by a few times and the glass is a quarter inch thick. I think this is going to be quite a project for them and this is what they do for a living. They just don't make them like this anymore. After hearing what could have happened if the glass had shattered we decided to replace all 3 windows with safety glass. This way if they were to ever shatter they will break into a million little dull tiny pieces of glass instead of big shards that can kill you.
Let's just say LARGE broken glass = BIG $$$

Our first attempt to tape it up until the glass guys could come the next day.



They put a giant piece of Orange tape on the door over the break...but we had to rearrange the furniture to keep London from banging on it.



From our back patio.



Inside looking out.



We have now put plywood over the windows to protect them from London (ha ha). Still waiting for the window guys but they can not remove the glass until it stops raining and they can't order the glass until they remove one...b/c they are still baffled by these window and want to make sure they get it right.





3 little new ACEO's in the shop - "Little Spring Red, Blue and Green"
I hope that every one's spring is coming alone. We have been diligently moving dirt from the pile in the driveway to the garden. And actually we have moved all we can for now until my husband finishes digging out this one stump. Then the rows will be made and veggie planted. I will for sure start posting some pictures once it starts too look pretty!