From the land of make believe...

I was so excited to post this one! I love it, but I had to wait til the father received it as a gift! One of my lovely Etsy customers commissioned me to create this work of her daughter and husband doing what they love to do! Play hide and seek, prince caspian style!

This type of work is inspired by the beauty and rich imaginative play inspiration of storybook art, surrounding portraits of loved ones doing things they love to do, to preserve memories, and create unique works that will be meaningful to the recipient now and in the passing years.

Hope you like it!

COOOOKIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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I LOVE THIS!!!!

So fun....SO HAPPY!!!! He was my childhood favorite on Sesame Street..I even had this record...

Go to this cool ETSY SHOP Apiecebydenise to see more!

I am not a web designer...

And it's truly taken its toll on my site! Yikes... I have been in a state just trying to get it up and running...

To get rid of my excruciating headache as a result of web woes, I went surfing for cool stuff....

I found these....think I will have to scrape up enough in my playmoney kitty for these.

We are doing away with paper towels and as a result are going through our cloth napkins faster than I can blink...Since my kitchen is red gingham, these are perfect....

Really cute napkins from 'tis sew cute...

Here's the site: www.tissewcute.etsy.com

No Government Shutdown

Breathing a sigh of relief for all the families that, had this played out differently, may not have been able to pay their rent. Or their mortgages. Or feed their kids. Or pay for insurance. Or pay the electric bill. Or the water bill. Or tuition.

I am grateful, but by no means happy that it had the potential to even come to that.

Scribble, scribble

From the sketchbook...

Happy Birthday, Dad!

My dad doesn't live here. He's in Cleveland, my hometown. I adore Boston, but home is where your heart is, so a big chunk of my heart is still in Cleveland with my dad.

Today, he was tickled because he got to sit and watch an entire day of the Discovery Channel's UFO marathon. It was blissful synchonicity. Someone up there was thinking of him, scheduling that awesomeness on his big day. Had I known earlier, I would have done all I could to plop myself in front of that TV to catch some of it, despite my obligations. Apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

I love and miss you, Dad. Happy Birthday.

Making Myself Scarce!

My family and I decided last week to run away to Cape Cod to disappear from the world.

It was so serene. Windy and sandy, and embracing everything that is not Boston. Don't get me wrong. I adore my city. I am blessed to be in such a beautiful place, so rich with history, education...GOOD FOOD...But you need to escape to a different rhythm to reset your mindset.

We did just that.

I did everything I don't normally do. Like, sleep.
Nap.
Sleep.
Feel the tide pull the sand out from under my feet. Admire the seagulls on the beach rather than in a parking lot.
Stay quiet.
Be present.

I always have to be reminded that when we do all those quiet, rare things, funny synchronistic blessing start cropping up. Problems solve themselves. Things seem less dire. You feel more alive. You pause more and interrupt less. You pause, for nothing in particular other than because you know it is good to do. Your timing suddenly becomes right. I find it odd that while I know this rhythm is good for me. While I know it's healthy and right, I find it hard to maintain it on a daily basis without serious, mind-rattling effort. So I have to return here. This time it took me three days to settle in. Maybe next time it will take me two...

Anyhow, while I mostly lazed about, I did manage to pull out a pencil a couple times, and this is what I did...

Congratulations! It's a TEAM!

Oh yes. We are official!

After lots of primping, polishing, and scouting the happiest, brightest, most heartfelt artists for children, a team is born!

ETSY CHILDREN'S ART STREET TEAM IS A GO!

And we are so excited to strut our stuff. Please visit our delightful, fresh blog as we nail the final boards in the treehouse, and set up shop....

http://www.etsychildrensartstreetteam.blogspot.com/

HIP HIP HOORAY!

Can you hear it?

Shhh...

Wait. there it is again....
It's the sound of something absolutely, delightfully exciting and new happening!

Aren't you dying to know what it IS??!
A new team is waiting in the wing - we should hear from ETSY any day now! In the meantime, come see what we're all about!

www.etsychildrensartstreetteam.blogspot.com

Finally Spring

It's been so totally warm here, and after a long cold winter, I am happily thawing out my blog, my shops, and my paints...

I have been doing lots of new stuff but my newest, happiest re-emerging star is my little banana slug. A lovely Etsy friend of mine brought him up and was seeking notecards, and I was inspired...

So thaw out everyone! Here comes Spring!

The Holidays are here!

I always say Halloween is my favorite, until Christmas arrives. Then I change my mind. Every year.

If you aren't in the mood already, here's some things to get you in the mood for winter (if you are in a colder part like we are) and the holidays, and if you create, to get you inspired if you make items for the holidays. It's my little list that helps me when I am making my greeting cards for the holidays:

Christmas cookies
Pretty lights
PRESENTS!
Buying other people presents!
Little surprises
Ornaments
Candy Canes
Cranberries!
PUMPKIN PIE PUMPKIN PIE PUMPKIN PIE
PRESENTS!
Santa Hats
Snow
Logs on the fire
Big Red Bows
Mistletoe
Scarves
Candles in the windows
Hot Chocolate
Reindeer
Bells
The smell of your neighbor's fireplace in the cold winter nighttime air!

Got any more?! I would love to hear it! I always need inspiration and love to hear what brings other people joy!

The joy of the season

They say the happiest people are those who put their relationships first and try always to be as grateful as they can for all that they have.

So many people in this world go without, and while I grump and grumble about silly things, as most of us do from time to time, I am going to try this season to begin a practice of being as grateful as I can. maybe even after the season is over, I will have established it as a habit.

I am grateful for:

My son, Jack and his beautiful, funny, energetic and loving personality
My husband, Mark who is my world, my support and my best friend
My health
My family's health
My eyes
My ears
My hands
Food in my cabinet and clothes on my back
My friends

and some other things:
Brownies
Pie
Autumn days
Miles Davis on my cd player
Hot baths
Good cheese

So tell me! What are you grateful for???? Tell the world!

OMG. Christmas is coming...

I think i am finally getting the hang of the card timing thing now...last year I missed it completely. Totally wasn't ready for the holiday season with my stuff. I think my halfway-preparedness is only due to the craft show on Dec 5th...If nothing else, it's getting my bum in gear.

I have to admit though. I usually LOATHE the day after Halloween, when everyone loads out their Holiday wares. I think it's way too early, but here I am, and I guess now I understand all the retail haste. I actually had people asking last week about holiday card sets, (which totally thrills me btw!) and if I hadn't had those inquries, I KNOW I would be veggin' out with Stephen King's latest instead of posting my stuff on Etsy. Thanks to those people too for getting my bum in gear!

And yet again, I am VOWING to do regular blog posts. Let's see what really happens with that!

What I do when Jack is asleep...

Eat Cookies.

Watch TV that doesn't contain overly exaggerated vocal intonations and extravagant use of suspension of disbelief for the sake of making the show colorful and full of unicorns.

Play Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook.

Check and re-check my Etsy sites way too often.

Scour for artistic inspiration.

And occasionally, when I am not supertired and superbraindead...


I don't know if the stars were aligned the day I did this, but I was so overjoyed and having immense fun when I was doing it...

As it turns out, I kept going and did about four of these. Some of them are in the Bumblejack shop. Some, not yet. But what began as just a little flower drawing ended up as something entirely different, with much more meaning to me than just a really good doodle...

These flowers I have been doing started as flowers and finished as portraits. I ended up doing one of my family, one of my in-laws. One for my anniversary, which is today btw, one for my son.

I think I found another fun avenue to explore...

My Word: FAITH

My ETSY friend JanetD, who has this amazing dreamblog Lilac Cafe, did a post on an artist who paints words that people need to hear on their bodies. I am not doing this artist's work any justice with my description. I ought not write posts at 10 PM when my eyelids are drooping...
In any case, Lilac Cafe posted her words, her experience. And moved, I have decided to post mine. My hope is to open my heart a little more by sharing my word with you, and in turn continue what I hope will be a chain reaction of inspiration and heart.

FAITH
It runs so deep with me. Even when I don't realize it, I am waiting for the other shoe to drop. What I need to hear is FAITH. I keep wanting to see proof that my hopes, risks, and dreams will happen, that my business will flourish, that God hears me. But that's just it. The beauty in not knowing is having faith that however it turns out, whether we like it or not, things will be okay anyway.

I am just going to stop there....

What's your word?

I AM GRATEFUL FOR....

My cool neighbor who, just because, decided to share her amazing hydrangea with me! I love flowers...and I love surprises! Thanks Dolly!

One for my threadkillah's!

My version of the banana slug....
The banana slug came up in conversation with my Etsy friends, and I felt overcome with inspiration!
Not a work of art...just a doodle...

The Cafe

My Etsy friend Janet is living her dream of a brand-spankin' new cafe with cool sites, cool recipes and art for all to enjoy! So stop by, check it out, and spread the word that her place is a fun place to be....

I am going there now...come join me!

http://www.janetdavies.com/lilaccafe/

I want this...

My lovely Etsy friend kclarkphotography has some amazing stuff...if you don't believe me, visit her shop...

www.kclarkphotography.etsy.com

but in the meantime, let me tell you about my love for this particular piece.

It belongs in my house. On my wall going up the stairs actually. I have the place picked out. She doesn't know it yet, (well now she does!) but I have wanted this for some time. It will be mine. Yes. It will be mine.

I have a few more Etsy goals to meet before I can make the purchase.

When that happens, I will have my River Tay picture...Thanks for the beautiful photos Kim. You have brought the beauty of far away places to those of us that, for the time being, cannot go far away (maybe when Jack's older).

Anyway, here's the thing of beauty:

Sunday morning blueberry pancake addiction

Though it may appear as if I am struggling to beat out Martha Stewart for her position, we really only had these because we went blueberry picking a couple weeks ago, and the blueberries were about to turn...why is my text underlined??? I can't turn it off!

Anyway. here is the BEFORE pic:


Successful pancake creation, noted by the AFTER pic: (hooray for no underlining!)


And with this little breakfast event came the realization to the glaring truth surrounding pancakes and my addiction to them. If no one stops me, pancakes will happen.

I really wanted to delve into my discoveries this morning related to syrup. If you want me to elaborate, give a holler, otherwise, I am going to stop this nonsense and move on to more worldly topics, like all the cool esty stuff I found last night...more later, when the boy goes down for a nap...