Pictures, Pictures, and You Guessed it, More Pictures!

They say a picture is worth a thousand words...so I have included a lot of pictures in this post, and few words....I think you'll all get the gist....this is what I have been up to in the month of April. First up, more lovely photo's from my day with the Pfattie's~



I was sneaky and snapped a pic of Iva and Colleen when they weren't looking ....shhhhhhh don't tell! :) They both found some fabulous treasures that day!









And here they are...the Pfattie's!
My little guy isn't so little anymore...Simon turned 5 on Monday the 28th....Happy Birthday Simon! :) Oh, and if you're wondering why there are more than 5 candle's on the cake, it's because we celebrated my mom's birthday too, which was on the 26th.
Roller coaster fun with Dad.....
Hangin' with Spongebob at Great America!
Being silly with Mom.....
Updated mural pictures....




This painting represents the preschool that Simon attends....it's a work in progress, designed by one of his classmates, a talented 5 year old girl named Jamie
Here is the start of my Thomas the Tank painting..Simon Loves Thomas!
This is the school district logo...we painted it on a separate board and then mounted it to the wall
Here's how it looks currently~

Aye Mateys~ don't miss the Swashbuckler Soiree this Saturday May 3rd, or ye be walkin' the plank!
I am working on some new pieces for Donna's Soiree this Saturday, so please drop by and join in on the fun!

Busy as a Bumble Bee!!

That's how I've felt for the past several weeks...constantly running from one place to another, trying to complete several projects at once, and never catching up! Below are several pictures of the progress we have made on the mural in the last two weeks. I will be painting again all day tomorrow, and will have more pictures to post this weekend, so please stay tuned!

The lovely and talented Miss Donna O'Brien is hosting a smashing Swashbuckler Soiree ....oh what fun!! Don't miss the excitement....rush over to her blog now to join in on the upcoming festivities!
Here are several pictures of the mural in progress...and a couple of the high school students that are helping us complete it.



And here is what it looks like today. More pictures coming soon!
About a week and a half ago, I had the pleasure of catching up with the Pfatties at PFATT PFEST 2008, in Alameda at the monthly flea market. What a fun day we had, and it was wonderful getting to meet all of the ladies that had traveled from all over the US! Many of these gals I have known from online groups for several years, so it was so nice to finally put a face to their names. :) I shot several photos that day, and will share them with you in a separate post soon, but I wanted to show you the goodies that I purchased that day....some wonderful vintage finds to use in my art....

Here is one of the pictures that I shot in a dealers booth...I just love the old bear, and the pretty birds nest under the glass dome! I will share more eye candy pics with you in the next couple of days, so check back soon.

Mural Progress & New Gocco Art Cards!

I LOVE my new Gocco!! It arrived from Japan a week ago, but I was so busy working on the mural that I didn't have time to play with it right away. I wanted to try it out using some imagery that everyone loves, Alice in Wonderland. I burned my screens and printed the note cards above in classic black ink on cream. I love how they turned out, and each one has slight variations due to the nature of screen printing by hand. If you are interested in purchasing these, they are available in my Etsy Shop now.

Here are a couple of pictures on the progress we've made in the last week on the mural. We got all of the grid, letters and numbers transferred up onto the wall, and started painting the base coat colors behind each letter. The letters and numbers, and the border around it will be painted in black, and the Center Unified logo will be a separate large circle of wood that will be mounted in the center of the banner. The high school students are doing a great job helping out with this, and I will have more pictures to show you next week!

A new Giveaway~~~Hurry over to Doreen's blog to sign up for her 100th post giveaway! You have until the 10th to sign up for some wonderful primitive goodies. Congratulations Doreen!


Are you a "Pink" girl? In the past I would have said no....preferring blues and greens to pink. But when it was time to upgrade my cell phone, which one caught me eye??? The pink one! I just love it!! It has little pink crystals and pink numbers that light up on the keypad, and it slides up to open...how fun is that? So I guess I am a "Pink" girl now!

A GIANT Blank Canvas....

This is by far the largest "blank canvas" that I have ever worked on. This is a 90 foot long exterior wall that I am helping to paint a mural on. I was asked by my son's preschool to help them design and paint a mural to beautify this large wall which faces the main road that everyone travels. It will be a mural celebrating the state of California's second official school district Center Unified, which was started in 1858 and is now 150 years old! There has been a school house on this site for 150 years, starting with a small wooden, single room building back in 1858 where all grades were taught together by one teacher. Today there are several buildings on the site, and it is a combination high school, and a co-op inclusion preschool. The mural that I helped to design will span the distance between the two sets of windows, and will be a large banner that reads "150 Years Of Excellence In Education 1858-2008" with the district's official logo in the center. Each letter and number will have it's own mini mural around it, designed and painted by some of the high school students and volunteer's....sort of a mural within a mural...and will give the overall effect of a mosaic. I have spent several hours working on this project over the past month, and will post pictures as we progress. The shots above are before pictures, and the two below were taken on the day we primered and painted the base coat. We had several parent volunteer's that came and helped paint that day which made it go a lot faster!We have started to paint the base coats of the spaces behind each letter and number, and I will post more pictures in just a few days so you can see it taking shape.

I've received several emails from friends asking if I am OK and where I've been, and this is where a lot of my time as of late has been spent. Thank you for your kind emails and posts, and please know that I will do my best to keep everyone updated, but that I will be a bit "scarce" until this project is completed, hopefully by the end of May. Wish me luck! :)