100th post...lots of new work

Scott and London and Sugar bunny and Douglas all chillin - they are the best!

Yes, I finally made it to my 100th post, slowly but surely. I thought for this post I would put up a few new pieces I have completed. I have always seemed to work in spurts and the past few days have been very productive (...now if some of it would just sell- LOL). I have as of right now 372 items in my shop. Now many of those are prints of sold originals or favorite images. Acutally, probably a little more then half of the items in my shop are prints of my originals...but still...super full shop!

I just finished this one above and named it "A Thousand Kisses" it is fabric on wood and really is so vibrant in person. I must admit, I think it is a new favorite. I have really had the best time building up my stash of green fabrics. It gives me great pleasure to pair up various greens and somehow having them work well together. I will never stop making these fabric pieces and that makes me Happy!

Below is a little piece called "Tall Grass" and it is fabric on wood. We have been living in our house here in Lancaster for 3 years now and have yet to have more then a few small strips of grass. We have so many trees that they have created quite the natural space and with Scott always working and me always running around with London it just seems to stay more natural then anything. Someday we will get our grassy yard back but it could be some time and I just will continue to make grass pieces until then. My dream grass is the kind that is soft and you can roll around in it. In the winter it turns brown but always comes back green in the spring. Not sure what it is called.

More Kitchen pieces! I seem to sell my breakfast pieces pretty well and had sold out of almost all the originals so I decided to stock the shelves again.
Here is another "Kiss my Grits-Blue" I added the blue twist and rearranged things a bit from the first 2 grits pieces I made.

"Tea" original fabric on wood

"Waffles" (with blueberries) - finally I got around to making some waffles, thought it was only fitting since I have made a few pancakes already.

Finally sometimes I just want to draw on the wood. This particular piece had such nice wood grains coming through I just could not cover them up with fabric.
"The Mountains were Calling" colored pencil on wood

Hope everyone's summer is going well. I will be headed to the mountains in a few weekends and can't wait to get a little bit of that cool, crisp air!

My New ArtFire Studio

Well in looking to branch out a bit from etsy I have opened up an ArtFire Studio. I am just selling prints right now to start with. I may eventually sell some originals there as well. The site is still in Beta but is growing fast. They have some great features, one of them being the rapid cart. I have a link to it right here on my blog if you scroll down and look to the left. This means that you can buy prints directly from my ArtFire studio from my blog securely in about 30 seconds. I find that to be really cool! You can find my artfire shop Here. Feel free to come stop by, I am sure that I will throw in a few extras to my very first customer there!

We had a totally unexpected snowy night the other night (March 1st). Of course we had so much rain the few days before that the snow barely stuck out here. Scott and I ventured out late night after London had gone to bed to see how much was coming down. He did get the next day off of work but the roads were not bad out here at all - at least not compared to Charlotte.

We tried to collect snow to make Snow Cream with London in the morning but didn't really get enough to make any.

Scott and I on the front porch a little after Midnight.

It was quite chilly out and we kept capturing our breaths when trying to capture the snow.


"French Toast" - Original fabric on wood piece new in my Etsy shop now...part of my Mod Kitchen Collection. I am so pleased with the way this one turned out. Hoping someone snatches it up soon!
Alrighty, off to get the little man up and off we go outside to play in the sunshine and drawn with sidewalk chalk (a daily activity we enjoy).

As life passes us by we remember the laughs

"You Make Me Laugh" - Archival print in the shop now...original is pen and ink and colored pencil.

My husbands best friends father lost his battle with cancer this week. We attended his funeral today and it was so touching and a beautiful celebrations of a great mans life. This piece reminds me of what is so important in life. Laughing and loving with friends and family. Every day that we have here on earth is a gift to share with those we love! I hope that I never forget that as long as I live.

I know it has been a while since I blogged so I have been building up some good pictures of London doing what he does best...having fun.

He has taken quite a liking to the first step in any stair case, or porch steps, or the fire place hearth. It is the perfect height for him to help himself to a seat. Him and Scott were sitting on the fireplace the other night and luckily my camera was close by. My sweet boys!

London lives for running around in just a diaper. ha ha


I was getting something out of his closet the other day and he saw his halloween costume and just had to have it. We have tried to tell him that it is not actually a stuffed animal, oh well it is still fun to love.

Ok this one is even sweeter then the first.

London and I in Sepia.

My mom comes over quite a bit to watch London for us when we can't bring him along to where ever we are going. He loves to read stories with Grandma and gets really excited when she comes over. Tonight he got to go over to my folks house and hang out with Grandma and Grandpa.

Aunt Christie was over the other day too. She has to love on London before she heads back North to AK.

We have a squirrel friend who comes and eats on all the droppings from one of our bird feeders. When he comes to visit he is seriously right outside the sliding glass doors. London thinks it is such a hoot. We watch him the whole time until someone make a sudden movement (usually London - jumping and laughing) and he takes off. I also noticed this morning that our cardinal family is back! Yay...they are the inspirations for the couple of cardinal pieces I have in my etsy shop.

See....squirrel friend.

Well another week is upon us. After a really awesome playdate with an old friend last week we are looking forward to what fun this week will bring.

Good Day...with the sweetest of old friends!

The kids at play.

I finally, after quite possibly 6-7 years, caught up with some of my favorite old friends (thanks to facebook). The Sikes (Robin and Brian) are just the best people. I met them in college when we all worked at Daniel Boone Inn Resturant, and we had some goooood time! They were the first of my friends to get married. I drove Brian to his own wedding in Richmond. Today I got to meet their two beautiful little girls and they got to meet London and Scott for the first time.

On the way home my husband and I were just glowing at home much fun we had. It was a hit and boy did Robin cook it up. She made this incredible brunch cassarole dish. I can not wait for our next get together...I know for sure it will not be another 6-7 years before we do. I give it less then a month.

Robin and London

London and Olivia


Madeleine and Olivia...sweet girls!



Here is what my art looks like waiting to be sold. I have lots and lots of work, neatly placed in the appropriate sized baskets. It takes up a shelf and 1/2 in our walk-in hall closet. They only go in the baskets once they are givin a backing. Oh this reminds me, I am participating in a show/craft sale March 14 in Rock Hill.

I would love to see you if you are in the area...here are some details
York County Army National Guard FRG
Spring Bazzar and Bake Sale
Sat. March 14 8am - 2pm







Yes this is right below where we store clean sheets- hee hee

It has been since Nov 2007 since I have shown and sold anywhere in person. Hoping to sell a lot and meet some good people!

Garden Plans '09

Here is a sneak peek of our garden plans for 2009. When we moved here in May 2006 I was only a few months pregnant and it was super hot outside...so we had no garden that year which made me sad. I was working full time and commuting 81 miles a day so really I had NO energy for digging around in the dirt by the time I got home.

The next year we tilled up a small patch where our herb garden resides now. It was so dry the summer of 2007 that we barely got any veggies. The deer would come and eat our green tomatoes and I let them b/c I could only imagine how thirsty and hungry they were.

Last year we planted some Hot red peppers in planters and I think a tomato plant or two and then converted our once patch of garden into a permanent herb garden. I cook with herbs all the time and it is just outside my front door so I just love it.

Here is a look at our future plans. Hopefully we will get it all going this season so I can post a lucious garden with plenty of harvest!

My hearty rosemary that we have had for about 2 years now...I cook with it all the time!

Right now the herb garden is under a cover of leaves. I purposely let the leaves hang out this winter just incase some of the herbs make it through the winter. So far it looks like the sage, parsley and thyme are still hanging in there.

View from our driveway looking down upon our garden layout. We have a lot of work to do still. we have to round up the area, then till it and then fill it with a few truck loads of top soil. Not to mention we have to build up the wall since this is the sunniest spot of of our yard but it is down hill.

We have split rail fence on 3 sides of our yard and these are some extra. We are going to try to build the wall around the garden with these and Scott is going to sink some poles on the side that will be the tallest and is at the bottom of the hill..hope it works.

This is a little patch that the original builder/owner of our house planted a bunch of bulbs. I love bulbs but I plan on digging up this spot and planting sweet potatoes. If you have never seen sweet potatoes in the ground they make a beautiful ground cover. They have lush green leaves and these beautiful purple flowers. Then you just dig up the sweet potatoes and usually you will have enough to share! :)

View into your compost box...this will be so fantastic once mixed in with our garden dirt. Plus we feel so good about composting because that is that much less that goes into the landfill.

Compost box chillin with it's lid closed.

This is the wall the runs along our front walkway. This spot does get a lot of sun all year and we considered putting our garden here at one point but decided upon the other area. Instead we are planning on lining a row of blueberry bushes on the inside of this wall. Oh so yummy to have fresh blueberries on my cereal in the morning.

One more peek at our garden lay out. I really want to do a patch garden again but my husband is dead set on rows. I think he has agreed to put the viney plants (squash, cucumbers etc.) up in the top of the garden that is at the highest point in a patch. We may even build a trelis on one side for some of them to venture up.

I am so excited to get my hands dirty and get this thing going finally this year. I will keep you posted on the progress...wish me luck!

Magical...life

Sometimes when I find an artist or interesting person I want to know more about I see if they have a blog or a flickr account. Then I dive in and try to find out who they are or more about their lives. Often I find them to be so very magical and inspiring. Or I find myself trying to relate to what stage in life they are in. Kind of like reading a good novel. The books and authors I love tend make me feel as though I am the main charater and I am going through what they are going through in that moment...even if I have never been in those shoes.

Then today I stopped and wondered what do strangers who come across me on the web (my blog, flickr, etsy shop) think of me and my life. Is it magical to them like so many are to me? I do not plan on changing who I am or how I do things but I do wonder. Who do I seem to you?

I recently dumped the memory card on my cell phone (that I have had since Aug.) and found so many fun shots...mostly of my little guy. When we go and do fun things I still have my cell phone camera- which is quite spectacular if I do say so myself - even if I forget my real camera.

So some highlights of my wonderful, magical little life with my family for whom ever would like to enjoy them too. :)

xoxo

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I take each day as it comes and try to make the most of it!