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! :)

Easter Greetings!

I wish you all a happy and joyous Easter Holiday! :)

Springtime......

I love Spring....the flowers blooming, the nice weather, and everything seems clean and fresh again! Spring is a chance for me to plan events for the rest of the year, get some cleaning and organizing done, and gather my ideas on things I would like to make, and new techniques I would like to try. Spring is a happy time of year for me. I borrowed the lovely photo above from a good friend of mine, Lana Manis of Honeysuckle Lane. She takes the most beautiful photographs and they always bring a smile to my face. Thank you Lana! :) Stop by her blog to see more of her photography and art.....you're in for a treat!

Since Easter is early this year, I only found time to make one Easter themed piece, which will debut on PFATT Marketplace tonight around midnight Pacific time. Here is a peek at my Easter Bunny Egg Theater....
A couple of weeks ago, Annie of Annie Beez Folk Art, a great gal & a very talented artist, tagged me to list six random things about myself...
Here are the rules:

1. Link to the person that tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
5. Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

Here are my six random facts...
1. I am a night owl....and often stay up late at night to watch a movie, or read a good book!
2. Speaking of good books...my absolute favorite author is Dean Koontz! I have read all of his books, and always pick up the new ones as they come out in hard back.
3. I am a gum chewer...I chew several pieces a day, sugarless of course! I carry a pack on me at all times.
4. My least favorite chore around the house is cleaning the bathrooms...yuck.
5. I get motion sickness very easily, and have to either drive or ride in the front seat on road trips, can't ride in boats for very long, and I don't do roller coasters.
6. I love cereal....we always have several kinds in the house, as I never know what I'll have a craving for. sometimes I'll even have a bowl at night as a treat...yum!

Here are the six people I am tagging;
Steph of Once Upon A Notion
Jamie of Peach Street's Blog
La Donna Welter
Tonya of Back Porch Pickin's
Nikki of Kaniki's
BJ of Daughternature Primitive Folkart
Thanks for the fun Annie! I'm looking forward to reading your six random things ladies, and thanks for being good sports! :)

I have also been given an award from two very nice women who are both amazing artists to boot...
Nancy Malay & Lone Pierette.....thank you both, you also make my day! :)
I would like to pass this award onto Elaine of Artful-Spirit, Lana of Honeysuckle Lane, Annie of Chickadee Primitives, and Sandy of Sam I Am Creations....their blogs inspire me, and are always a joy to read!

I hope you all are having nice Spring weather and can spend a few minutes this week taking a peek outside to see what might be blooming in your yard.

Collage Fun & More Giveaway's!

This is a new one of a kind collage piece that is available on PFATT this month. I really enjoy doing mixed media and collage work in addition to my sculpted works, as it gives me a chance to incorporate antique and vintage imagery into my art. Speaking of collage...I recently had the pleasure of attending a class with two dear friends, Colleen and Iva! We had a wonderful time making an altered book with a secret drawer to hide something special in. Here is a picture of Colleen and Iva, and of some the books that were made that day by the attendee's. As you can see, we used the same elements, but they all came out very different.

It seems that giveaway fever has spread throughout blogland....so many are holding their own this month! Please stop by these wonderful blogs to throw your name in the hat for some fabulous prizes!

Lorraine of PieCake primitives, April of April's Folkart, and Colleen of Merry Wishes and Vintage Dreams. I hope that I haven't forgotten anyone, but if I have, please let me know and I will update with your giveaway info too.

I was tagged a while back by April and Sarah to list 5 random things about myself....so here goes!

1. I am a huge Dr. Seuss fan! I grew up learning to read with Dr. Seuss, and I am helping to teach my son to read with all of my favorites too! That might help to explain my quirky sense of humor about life. :)

2. I hate coffee....including anything coffee flavored like candy, cake, mocha drinks, etc. I can't stand the smell of it brewing either....churns my stomach. I know most people like coffee and will probably think that's strange, but too me it smells just awful.

3. I am a clutter-holic.....piles seem to multiply in my home, which is why you'll rarely see photographs of my house, LOL! I live in a small house, and have a hard time throwing things away, so stuff accumulates. Now, I am not as bad as the ones you see on TV where there are only paths going through each room, but I do have to say that I have more "stuff" than I really have room for, and should really get rid of a bunch of it!

4. When I was in high school, my group of friends loved the movie The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and we used to go every Friday night, and would dress up as characters from the movie. I had very short hair back then, and so I was a perfect Columbia for those of you that are framiliar with the movie. I had the whole costume, including the top hat and tap shoes, and I'm sure our parents thought we were crazy, but we sure had fun!

5. I am always cold at home, and like to turn the heater up....hubby is always hot, and has to turn it down. And so the thermostat wars go on...day after day....year after year....with neither one of us winning. I know some of you can relate! :)

Drum Roll Please!!!

Here is the box full with everyone's entries......over 150!!!
And the shuffling begins.... And more shuffling.....
And I have my name on the winning entry....it is........

Pea Picker!! Wooohooooo Congratulations!! :) Here is what Pea will receive.....

A one of a kind sculpted Queen of Hearts in an old child's shoe, three hand glittered heart ornie's, some wonderful chocolate's, and a vintage Valentine!

And now for winner of the second drawing....a thank you gift for those that posted on their blogs about my giveaway.....

Congratulations to Lynda of Scallywags Scribbles!!! You will have your choice of a Valentine's charm necklace or a custom charm necklace of your choice.

Thank you again to all that entered, and I will be in touch with the winner's shortly via email. This was so much fun!! :)