ARt Finds from Arts in Harmony

So I told you a couple posts ago I'd share my purchases at the last art show I went to called Arts in Harmony, which is local to me. So here they are! I didn't have much money to spend so I had to keep it economical but I'm pleased with everything just the same.


First buy was this sweet little poem printed on watercolor by a creative artist who attends a rehab service. All proceeds went to help out the programs they have there. I loved her lively colors and the poem is great inspiration

Artist Ashley from Posey Co. Rehab Services Day Program

This next piece is a hair clip made from drinking aluminum cans! How creative is that?! I love to wear flowers in my hair and didn't have a metal one. Mine shown here is a V8 juice can and I was drawn to it the second I saw it. She had all kinds of color combinations. They are surprisingly not sharp.

Artists mother and daughter team of Green Wear Designs

Then I found these cute earrings which have been hand painted with alcohol inks the artist told me. Again, I was drawn to this pair immediately. Don't you love it how just gravitate towards certain things. I guess our taste's are just ingrained in us. She had a beautiful assortment of colors and different shapes.

Stillwater Creations by Kathy Gibson (find her on Facebook)

And my last buy of the day that I couldn't resist was this super cute copper ring. Copper is my metal (besides gold) and I love the design of this one by Nancy Pace of Wild Wire Art. Nancy had a lot of different items at her booth and was so nice to meet. Her and I hit it off right away. I love connecting with other artists. Nancy has exhibits showing in Illinois. Try to ignore my chubby little hand ;)

Wild Wire Art by Nancy Pace

I met so many friendly artists at this art show. I plan to have a booth there myself one day. It's a two day show, which are not my favorite, but I'd love to get my work out to local eyes. I wish I had all the money I needed to buy something from each artist as they were all talented and I'd like to be able to support their efforts, but you know how it is.


Some of my friends and their sites that were there include:


Tom Wintczak of Bee Tree Pottery - gorgeous Redware, Stonewear and Folk Art pottery by this super nice guy whom I'm proud to call my friend. Tom had these two pieces that were new to me that I really wanted to take home with me, they were of fish and they were calling out my name! Maybe next time if he still has them.


Kay Wiggins - Handmade baskets that puts Longaberger to shame. Kay is witty and fun to be around not to mention a talented artist. We met at the Farmer's Market here in New Harmony. I'm not sure if the link will work but her Facebook is here.


Katherine Sands - Fiber artist and good friend that I also met at the New Harmony Farmer's Market. I've shown you a beautifully dyed scarf she so graciously gave me as a gift one year. She just recently ended her solo show where she showcased her fabulous fiber art. Her art is expanding all the time. Her blog is Art Journal - A Creative Journey.


If you have time visit these artists, it's great to look and be inspired by other artists :) Let me know if the links don't work. Thanks,

My Funny Valentine and a Giveaway Teaser

My husband didn't forget me on Valentine's Day like he has in the past. I've now grown smart to remind him by point blank asking him if he's got me a card yet a few days before. But the flower was a surprise. I had told him to not get me flowers because they cost a lot of money and though I love them, they just don't fit in the budget right now. While this kinda looks like he bought this single stem at a gas station, I'm not complaining. It is beautiful none the less. I made him a peach pie and it is almost gone, so I guess he liked it.

I had Asher try to contribute to his Valentine's for classmates and teachers but his attention span was won out by a video game so I ended up doing most but he did make this for his teacher.

all him! I just folded it.

inside with his signature and his drawn hearts (I helped a tiny bit with the hearts)

I'm so proud! But then when I picked him up from Pre-School he told me he had forgotten to even get any of the Valentine's out of his backpack!!!! Jeeeesh. Well, I look like the big loser mom who doesn't do anything now don't I? I told him a few times "your valentine's are in the bag" and I even showed it to him before I dropped him off! His response was I forgot. How could he forget as he was happily scooping up all of the Valentine's for himself???? Good grief.

In other and in the category of fantastic news.... I've won a give away at Jen's art blog Trial and Error! I am so excited! It is an art book called Creative Paint Workshop for Mixed Media Artists by Ann Baldwin. I'll post more about it when I receive the package. Jennifer Williams is the owner of Blueskysunburn Creations, and her blog touches on what’s happening in the studio, upcoming shows, book reviews, movies, family life and more. I've been reading her blog for a while now and she is a great artist and as a plus, she's had a lot of giveaways. I'm so happy to have won one :)


OWOH is almost over. I can't believe how fast it's gone by. I have met so many great people and am now following quite a few new blogs. Which reminds me... Welcome! to any new friends I've got now reading this! I'm not sure how I'll keep up with everything, but it's going to be fun to try. I am so revived creatively from seeing all the talent out there. I'm also loving all the tutorials out there. I'm always amazed at how so many are willing to share their techniques and ideas. Just a bunch of giving and sharing people. 


So in keeping with that sharing spirit I will be announcing another giveaway of my own after the door prize giveaways for OWOH which is February 17th (Just this Thursday!). Stay tuned to learn more about it :)

Oh My Lucky Stars!

My lucky friendship stars are shining brightly down on me! My good friend Sandra over at Under The Sun With Me has sent me the sweetest Valentine's package! I say my lucky stars because I feel so lucky to be friends with Sandra and so many of you out there in blog land. Even though we may never meet in person, my life has been enriched and sweetened with your friendship. Sandra has also lost her dear mother and we cry together but also rejoice in knowing we will both see them again. She has a great blog, a great eye and is very creative. I've many many times wished I had the ability to "beam" myself over there in San Diego to attend her shows with her. Oh well, I'll just have to settle for reading all about it on her blog. Also, she picks out some of the greatest music to read her posts by. One of my favorites happen to be playing now, which is Into the Mystic by Van Morrison.

Now to show you all the goodies!!

Here is the pretty packaging...

pretty packaging that Lightning had to check out

The chocolates were promptly gobbled down. OOOO they were sooo creamy and yummy!

how appropriate was the little saying!

ain't that the truth!

Then a sweet little Valentine Card...

I love dragonflies!! This one has some bling! Even better!! (she really knows me!)

Part of what was inside... a sweet friendship magnet!

How adorable are these little stuffed lovey's??? She handmade them! They are so sweet! I happen to love crows and who doesn't love hearts? Their little feet are made of spools.

Here's where I put the dragonfly, right on my desk so he can watch me surf.

I haven't decided where to put my little heart yet, but the crow will watch over the birds outside and the kitchen.

Sandra, you have no idea how you've probably outdone my husband for Valentine's Day!

I really have to thank Sandra for her kindness and friendship. Thanks sistah! This just made my day to open up the mailbox to find that box! Makes me all warm and fuzzy inside :)

Aren't friends the best?!

Inspiration in the mailbox

Soul Card by Amy

I opened my mailbox yesterday (after a bit of a boo hoo fest) to find a piece of art made just for me by my new friend (yes Amy, I said FRIEND). I love it. She picked out the colors even though I had given her my picks for other colors... but I think I like this better than the ones I told her, so good call Amy!

Amy is one of the busiest artists I know that isn't selling their work online. She creates more I think in one week than I get accomplished in a year. You should check out her blog, Amy on the Flipsyde, but be forewarned she doesn't sugar coat anything and is hilarious with her mannerisms. She is brave enough to live out loud and makes no apologies, which I like. I think her cool artists exterior (dreadlocks and all) masks a soft heart.

Here is a close up, check out the texture... it's delicious. Plus as an added bonus, it smells great which we cannot figure out quite why but it may be lead. Joking.

So I'm not sure if this is burned or what, is that subliminal for my soul? Not sure but the result is beautiful. The textures comes from flowers from her garden.

So this is the backside of a sweet little note she wrote me. Alright, is wasn't really sweet that's a lie but it was totally her which is cool. Amy also has a round robin thing, which I don't really know what that means but it looks like fun and you swap things. Check it out on her blog. Even though she doesn't follow MY blog, I still like her and that's ok.

To all my friends that left me encouraging words, thank you. They really did brighten my mood.

And the Winner is...

I want to thank everyone who entered my very first give-away! I wish I had the extra money sitting around to send everybody who entered a prize! But there can only be one winner for this giveaway and the winner is... with no further delay... by a randomizer... STEPHANIE CORDER of Dragonfly Design Studios! Congratulations Stephanie! I hope you enjoy my Blue Santa and all the little goodies I'm sending along with him :)

I had a lot of fun with this little giveaway and I think I'll be doing another one before too long. So if you didn't win this time, I hope you keep coming back to my little corner of the blog world here and enter next time. If you really, really, really are bummed you didn't win my Blue Santa, you can purchase him as an ACEO here at my Etsy Shop and I'll give you a 25% discount if you just enter the code luckyme25 at checkout. This coupon code is good thru December 25, 2010 and good for anything in my shop.

Thanks again for entering and congrats again to Stephanie! Have a great weekend everyone.

Snowmen Gourds!

White Snowgourd

Here are the cute little snowmen I told you about Sunday. Aren't they the cutest little guys?! Oh I wish I could take the credit for these. They are made from gourds! I bought these from a super nice gal, Lori Allen, of Carmi Illinois. She was at Christmas in New Harmony and I hope she did well. Her pieces were all so nice. These snowmen accommodate a battery powered tea light to light them from within and they are level on the bottom to stand up perfectly. She carves out designs on them and also has some that she wood burns on. See her website www.gourdsbylori.com for more of her designs. She also makes bowls, baskets, vases, birdhouses and more!

Snowgourd buddies

Adorable!

I originally bought one for me and one for a "dirty Santa" gift, but they look so cute together that I think I'm keeping them both for myself! I know, I'm a grinch for keeping all the presents. I'll find something else, this time maybe I ought to buy something I don't like... haha yeah right.

Oh, if you don't know the "Dirty Santa" gift exchange, here's how we do it: Each person buys a gift appropriate to their gender and wraps it up pretty and it goes under the tree without a tag other than it's for a male or female. We take turns opening up the gift, boy girl, boy girl style. When the first girl opens a gift she keeps it by her until the next girl's turn. When it's the next girls turn, she can open up a gift, or she can go "steal" the already open gift from the other girl, then that girl gets to pick another unopened gift. It's a lotta laughs. Last year we had a downright feud going for a red leather purse!

Kitty Update! The little beasts are still inside... I've had to bite my lip a few times. I'm still having some poop issues here and there and I found my mop bucket full of pee the other day. I'm still giving them a chance, who wouldn't? Look how cute they are. And it's sooooooo cold outside. I'm such a sucker.

Asher and Thunder, both happy

Ready to roll

New Friend, New Giveaway to share

Good afternoon friends, I want to tell you about a giveaway that a new blogging friend of mine, Diane of My Art Journal, is having to celebrate her one year blogging anniversary. Congratulations Diane! Hurry though because it ends tomorrow evening (Sunday). Plus... she's having 2 winners!! The first piece is this sweet little original collage of hers and the second is a fabulous treasure box that is just too cute.

Mixed Media Box

Mixed Media Collage by Diana of 

Don't forget about my giveaway if you haven't entered for it yet. I'm giving away my matted and framed Blue Santa (below) and some other surprise goodies. You can enter up till next Friday. Have a good Saturday night!

My Blue Santa Giveaway

GIVEAWAY!

My dear friend, Theresa, over at Faerie Moon Creations is having a fantastic giveaway of this beautiful mixed media image that she has created. She is called Serenade and isn't she lovely? I am hoping to win, but go ahead on over there and sign up for your chance, I don't mind a little competition ;)

This little beauty is created on birch wood and isn't little at all. She is a full 5"x7"!  Now that's a giveaway, huh? I have the perfect spot picked out for her in my studio already :)  Theresa has done all sorts of magical things to make her look as sweet as she does. Go quick now and check out her blog and also her Etsy shop where she has beautiful jewelry and knitting as well as her painted beauties. She is a woman with many talents!

Delayed gratitude

This post is a long time coming. About a month overdue that's for sure. As some of you know I turned 40 this past April and my dear friend and fellow artist, Kathy Sands of Art Journal - A Creative Journey, graciously and unselfishly gave me this most beautiful scarf that she hand dyed herself. Kathy is one of the most creative people I know. She is trying new things all the time and comes up with fabulous work without even an effort. Truly a natural and creative soul. 

I love this scarf and was immediately drawn to it when she told me to take my pick. I felt bad about taking it, but only for about 2 seconds! haha I proudly wore it through out the show Arts in Harmony where she was displaying her art that weekend and got many envious looks.

Kathy creates unique hand dyed and painted silk scarfs and cloth. She makes her fabric by dyeing, painting, bleaching, printing, silk screening and just about anything she can think of. She has branched out and now also makes felt bead earrings, digital collages, fat quarters, artful cloth bags, children's wear and even doggie clothes. There's just no telling what Kathy will come up with next. She really has been an inspiration to me and has given me uplifting words and kindness when I have been down, a helping hand when needed, and a shoulder to cry on. I am proud to call her my friend.

Kathy and I met at New Harmony's Farmer's Market last summer and became fast friends. I am truly blessed to have met her and I hope you take the time to read her blog and visit her etsy shop, MyWildflowerDesigns, I'm sure you'll find something you can't live without. 

Thank you, Kathy. You have made a lasting impression on me more than you may even know.