Look what was waiting for me when I came in the house, after working for about 10 hours straight on the editing of my little story book ! Sugarwing's Daddy is a sweet heart of a son. He picked tomatoes and peppers and fresh herbs from the garden to make the sauce for the egg plant (from the garden too!)
Not only that, he was invaluable in helping me edit the book. My son has a sharp and critical eye for detail and isn't afraid to let me know if something needs changed in my artwork. It could be irritating, but it isn't because he is usually right.
Plus, did I mention he is a massage therapist??? There was also a FOOT MASSAGE for me after sitting at the computer all day. Yep, he is just about a perfect son.
Its been a good day. Garage sales in the morning, the farmer's market with Sugarwings and her Daddy, then I finished and ordered prints of the book!
Here is the cover.
And this is the title page.
Beth and I had a craft day at her house yesterday, and I painted this page while we talked. I decided that it is much easier to pack for craft day if I'm just painting a little something. If I am packing for a whole hog craft day project, I have to haul boxes and bags of supplies with me!
Beth has a great studio, there is so much to see there. And it is FULL of vintage treasures. You could say overflowing… We joked about starting a new diet fad, the Craft Room Diet. You fill your studio with so much stuff that you have to lose weight to fit in the room with all of it.
Poor Beth, I might have over stayed my welcome. I tend to lose track of time and keep working away. It was after 6 when I realized that maybe I should take off for home.
But she was gracious, even though I am one of those guests that you can't get rid of. She even gave me a stack of these pretty bowls.
And she sent home presents for Twinkle. Now the Dorkies have a whole new wardrobe of neck scarves to show off in.
Yesterday was a slow day for estate sales, my pickins were slim.
But even though I didn't find much, what I found was really nice! Quality beats quantity any day. Seems like I've been on a book streak lately, here is another of those slim, Victorian gift books.
All the items in this collage are in the Boutique now.
Here is the back cover of the book.
I've ordered just a couple copies to see how they look in person before I offer them to anyone. I sincerely appreciate your support and kind words (and inquiries to buy!!).
My Blue Mood is behind me now, thanks for all your thoughtful and caring comments about it. Really, it was not a big deal at all. I think everyone has those days, they are just part of life and aren't anything to worry about. Not everyday can be over the rainbow. And you know what, sometimes, even when things are perfect, a mood can be wonky and out of it. It just happens.
I used to be much worse about moodiness, but had a hysterectomy back when I was 40 (the day before my 40th birthday actually!!) Now that I am hollow like a chocolate Easter Bunny, most of my moods are on a pretty even keel. But those cranky days do come around, and when they are passed, the next day seems even better than it really is.
Of course, my day really was pretty special….. We started out with a tea party breakfast.
And yes, I hate to admit it, but I have succumbed to Disney Princess mania around here. We are serving our tea party breakfast from Cinderella's breasts.
This table and chairs was 4 bucks at a garage sale this weekend and I wanted something to replace the highchair in the kitchen, so that Sugarwings had her own space in there. I was hoping to find a cute, vintagey table, but no luck yet. Hopefully, something elegant and beautiful and equally cheap will turn up and I can replace this media frenzy monster that is smack dab in the middle of my kitchen.
But I am kind of afraid that Sugarwings won't let me… She loves this one. Ooops!
Her favorite part of the meal, (well besides the garish table and chairs) was this mini grape that she called a "fairy berry" because it was so tiny.
The last illustration for my Grumpy Fairy bedtime story is done!! Now, I just need to do a cover, and a title page.
Doing this book has taught me a lot about editing software!! I scanned vintage wallpaper, then aged and tinted it as a different color for each page's background. Then, I scanned the painting, edited and sized it on Picassa, but couldn't do a frame there. So, I went to Picnik and made frames, and did a digital collage with the image onto the background in Piccassa, then added text in colors to coordinate with the painting.
It was complicated, but worth it! When I first started, I was just using the paintings as is, but now, I really like the results of all the extra effort to pretty it up.
I'd like to get the books ordered and delivered by her birthday on August 16th. If I rush, I can do it, but I think I'm going to take my time and make sure it is right. I might order one book to start with to see how it looks. I'd like to order more to sell in the Boutique.
What do you think? Any interest?
In looking around the studio for something to give as the August Giveaway, I realized I still had some of these hand painted charms, and since I was in a painting mood, I figured they would be appropriate.
All comments, all month count. Especially, all those sweet and thoughtful ones that you sent when I was needing a lift! Thanks again!
This is the aftermath when Sugarwings leaves to go to her Hippy Chick Mommy's house. I should pick up the fairy dress and sweep away the bits of play doh off the studio floor, but I kind of like seeing it all there, it makes me feel like she is still close by.
Today is a down in the dumps day. No real reason why, just a few little things that have got me down. It always seems quiet around here after I've had the whole family here and a lot going on, then they go off to their own ways and I'm on my own. I usually take advantage of those days and zip through a lot of studio hours, but for some reason, today, I am having problems adjusting.
So, I took myself out of the house and into the garden so soak up some sunshine and have a little bit of flower therapy.
Being greeted by a sea of pink Surprise Lilies every where I turned was just what I needed. (And I did a good job of looking at the overgrown masses of perennials that needed divided and weeded as "lush" not "messy".)
The purple cone flowers were still in full force too. This mild summer has kept everything beautiful. A typical August usually means a dry and cracked ground with brown grass. Not this year!
And the cleomes have taken off too! They are still short, and will grow another foot or so, but the blooms are thick and filled with little white butterflies.
I'm just sure that there has to be a few fairies flitting about in that jungle of blooms.
I'm feeling a little better after my walk around outside. But I might just take off and see a movie this afternoon too. There is magic in a dark movie theater, I love to go to afternoon movies all by myself. Especially if there is a zombie movie to go see, but looks like I'll have to settle for a sappy romantic comedy. I've heard great reviews of 500 Days of Summer. Sounds like a good cheer up one to see.
Feeling a bit down isn't exactly a bad thing. I guess you need some blah days to really appreciate the best ones when they come around. A bit of bleckiness won't hurt me now and then. On the other hand, I'm not a believer of wallowing in self pity or letting the sad days take over. So, I'll take a bit of today to let myself be sad about some things that are not going well, miss my family, and feel a tad bit lonely. Then, I'll get over it and move on.
Enjoying the flowers in the garden, and playing with my garden of vintage hats, seeing a movie, then maybe treating myself to ice cream for dinner and taking joy in the fact that I don't have to cook for anyone should be just the ticket for cheering up my day.
(I spent some time taking pictures of millinery for the Boutique today, including some fall and Halloween colors)
And how can I stay down for long, after getting this beautiful party invitation from the mailbox!? My sister, Bobbie Sue is turning SIXTY, and Sissy is throwing her a slumber party where we all get to dress up in our fairy wings.
Thanks to all of you who helped me get a hold of my Typepad dilema. I'm trying out Mozilla Firefox as a browser, so far, so good!!!!!!!
Miss Sugarwings has been here a lot this week, and with the trip out of town and the trips out on the lake to picnic and float around, I have not been able to finish the Grumpy Fairy illustrations yet. I did make a few quickie projects. When I am rushed and don't have time to start something big, a bottle of glue, some paper and old flowers will fill the need to get me creating and make me feel better.
This bird cage/dress form lady was really cheesy when I got her from a garage sale. I hope that her cheesiness has metlted away now that she is vintaged up with French dictionary pages, a skirt made from an old veil, millinery, a bird and some bling.
Honestly, there was not a single thing wrong with this little hand crocheted box. Its old and lined in silk! No problems there, that is for sure. But, I thought it could use a mini fix up and I added silk ribbons and flowers to the top of it.
This babe was in definite need of some Nanny 911. Her dress was way too big, her carriage wheels were missing, and the carriage itself wasn't in that great of shape.
Ta da! Grammy 911 to the rescue!
I stitched up her gown and took in the voluminous sides of it, then added a ribbon belt. She gets a hand made bonnet from vintage lace too.
The carriage is still cracked, but no one would know, I've covered the sides with millinery blossoms, and then I lined the bed with a lacey hankie.
Actually, she is lucky to be alive at all, her redo almost did her in. Sugarwings was "helping" me. I was able to convince my little one to work on a play-doh baby while I worked on this vintage one. This fragile tot wouldn't be able to withstand Sugarwing's good intentions, I am sure.
Last of all, I glued old buttons on to replace the missing wheels, and gave them tiny flower hub cabs.
I've also been gluing flowers on boxes and a few other things. Its good to have these type of projects that are more "fluff" than work when I have the baby in the studio with me. I can't get into anything too serious with her by my side. She'll be 3 in a couple of weeks, so even when she does get into her own projects, I am up and down with her, admiring her work, or showing her a trick or two with the play- doh. I'm quite lucky to get anything done, really.
She and I did pluck some flowers from the hat garden. I almost hate to do anything like that in front of her, in case she is tempted to get into the hats and pluck away without me….
But, she mostly wore a few and danced around as she sang some of her favorite songs while I sorted the flowers and plucked. I realized it is not too early to start gathering up and listing the fall colors to sell. Although, I sure prefer the soft pinks in the earlier pics, its fun to have a change for the fall season that is RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER- ugh! I'll miss summer. But its not gone yet, I'm on my way to the lake again for the evening to soak up as much of this gorgeous weather while I can. Its oddly cool for August, but I'm not complaining!
Before I hit the water, I wanted to let you know who won the JULY GARAGE SALE GIVEAWAY PRIZE PACK-
Kathy from Chicago
ps- have I ever mentioned how much I HATE (*^*%$#()^^*TYPEPAD???????
I have to write the entire post off the top of my head, there is NO going back in and changing one little thing. If I try, my computer screen locks up. So, in the paragraph about Sugarwings and her work, I meant to say "play-doh" NOT just "play" and I cannot fix it.
If I ever sound like an idiot, please blame Typepad not me. Well, I do say dumb things, but still, I'd like them to take ALL the blame, I am mad right now after my screen locking up 4 times while trying to fix this one line and now I am late for the lake!!!
RE-Edit- I just downloaded Firefox to use instead of Internet Explorer and was able to go back in and change 'play' to 'play-doh'. But the hour glass icon was still flashing like it does right before the screen locks up, so I don't know if it will be the answer to the problem or not. But thanks, to all of you for your suggestions!!
The Omaha Zoo is fantastic! Our little Topeka zoo is cute and easy to take little ones to for a couple of hours, but the one in Omaha is in a whole other category. Its not just a simple walk around a park with animals to look at, here, each building is an adventure. We especially liked the aquarium where you could walk under the glass tunnel of sharks.
My husband and I had just taken Sugarwings there a few weeks ago, but saw less than half the zoo, because we let her go at her own pace, and if she wanted to sit and play with dirt and rocks instead of squeezing in another sight, we let her. This time, we took her Daddy along with us and his attitude was, that she can amble along and be entertained by dirt anytime. Today was the day to see what the park had to offer.
And still we didn't see all of it!
It might have been a bit much, this is what we ended up with. Our fairy baby wore herself out. We rented a wagon to pull her in and it was worth every penny of the $12.95 it cost. She was able to rest up and get her happy face back on so she could enjoy the butterfly house and the jungle experience.
She started out a little sleepy and cranky in the butterfly house, but once she got to put on her own butterfly wings, she felt better.
And when she got to make friends with some of the other winged creatures, then the fun started.
Her Daddy took this picture. He seemed to know more about my camera than I did
and taught me some tricks with it.
The butterflies were our favorite part of the day!
But this dainty little "Fairy Bluebird" had to be my favorite zoo inhabitant. Isn't she pretty?
Its been hard to get back to work today after such a fast, but fun filled trip. I wasn't feeling like sitting right down and painting more illustrations for the Grumpy Fairy book, so I spent a while sorting some old millinery flowers. These sets are listed in the Boutique. I also "cleaned house" there and deleted some sold goods and added some more easy to follow categories.
But now, I need to get cracking on the fairy paintings. I was so caught up in the painting process, I hated to stop and leave for the trip on Wednesday, and now that I am back, I have to restart the creative flow and get into that groove all over again. I don't transition well….
As I was laying down the bits of sparkle that I bought at a garage sale this weekend, it started to remind me of a face, so of course, this is what I HAD to do with them all…. I guess, I should have added millinery flower hair, that would have been cute. And I wonder why I never get anything done, I spend my time on this kind of activity instead of working.
My days never seem long enough. But today, I did manage to focus and get packages sent out, and two of these little brooches listed in the Boutique.
I also got three paintings finished for the Grumpy Fairy story I am illustrating. Thanks for all of your encouragement about the story, I decided to go ahead and make a book from it. This picture is of the Blue Bird of Happiness.
Here is a snippet of the Fairy Grandmother flying off to find the soft things to make a nest from.
I did 3 paintings today and 3 yesterday. That just doesn't seem like much to me, I am pretty fast. But I really want these to be special, so I am not rushing through them.
Tomorrow we are heading back up to Omaha to take Sugarwings to the zoo again, so not much more will get done on the book till next week. Its hard to tear myself away from it now that I have started. I don't have my paints out nearly enough, its been great to play with watercolors again! I'd take them along on the trip if I had any chance of getting any thing done without Sugarwings demanding offering to help. She likes to paint even more than I do.
Well, July is coming to a close, Friday is the 31st. I might get to garage sales one more day before my JULY GARAGE SALE GIVEAWAY PRIZE PACK is ready to send out.
From last weekend, I added the sterling bar pin with the little girl on it. Isn't she a cutie? Leave a comment if you want to be entered in the drawing.
Kansas Julys are usually miserable. I'm a summer-lovin person, but even I get burnt out by the blasting heat of late July in Kansas. But not this year! Its been as sweet as June all month long. We went to a friend's for dinner over the weekend and were lucky enough to get to sit on their country patio and enjoy our meal along with the scenic views.
Of course, I always have to get pictures of the food…. its as pretty as the view from the porch!
And their view is more than a little special. This stream is right in front of the deck of the log cabin that they built themselves.
The stream looks natural, but the home owners built it too. My husband went out and spent a day helping move rocks to form the creek bed a couple years back. Which, he would never do at our house. Funny, he'd do anything for a buddy, but when it comes to gardening at our own cottage, well, he's not that into it, I guess would be the polite thing to say…
So, do I have a little bit of creek envy? I have to admit that I do. This yard is ideal. It is all landscaped into flower gardens up by the house and the rest of the land is left to go in native grasses that never need mowed or watered.
Most of the areas are left to natural landscaping.
And other areas were steered into that direction. Some native plants that spread and become ground cover make this hillside a no-care delight now that they are all established.
This makes me miss living in the country! When we bought our farm years ago, we were in the middle of no where. Now we have civilization on three sides of us, with just the back acreage that we own still wild and free.
But I'm feeling the farmhouse vibe now, anyway. Its time to put up corn for the winter!
I'm doing it the short cut way. We shucked a few dozen ears, dumped them into the sink, then poured a pot of boiling water over them, and iced it all down after.
Then, we cut the kernels off with a simple corn cutting tool from Bed Bath and Beyond, that made the chore zip by quickly.
The kernels went into freezer bags, and one of the bags was marked Thanksgiving , another was marked Christmas. We save up big servings of fresh frozen corn for holiday family dinners, because there is nothing like the taste of Kansas summer in the coldest part of winter!
There is lots of new stuff in the Boutique right now. I've been playing with the millinery flowers and made up some deluxe, rosey collections!
Also, I did snag a little something to add to the JULY GARAGE SALE GIVEAWAY PRIZE PACK. I just haven't had a chance to get photos.
I might have time to get some photos tomorrow. I've had Sugarwings a little bit extra this week, so we've been pretty busy with the other things I found at garage sales this week, princess dresses and tea party toys!
Jen is having a make-over open house. Check out her blogfor a list of participating do-it-your-selfers, and join in yourself if you have a re-do you'd like to show.
I pulled out some photos of a redo I did a little while back for my sister-in-law, to show the Magic Of Paint. They bought an older home and didn't have anything left in the budget for remodeling, so we did what we could with paint, most of it from the surplus store where paint is only 5 bucks a gallon. The primer is the one thing I insisted that they get a specific brand, not just what was available at the surplus store.
I always look for BONDING primer. Make sure the label says, "will adhere to shiny surfaces". If you do that, and the wood is clean, you don't have to sand. Water based bonding primer (Gripper from Glidden is my current fave) is all the prep you'll need.
We primed and painted the top cabinets and all the interiors ivory and the bottoms and all the trim in the room a deep sage green. Then, we beat the cabinet fronts with tools, for dents and dings, to "distress" them.
After the paint was dry, we mixed Min wax poly/stain combo (in walnut) with a bit of turpentine to thin it, and brushed it on in small areas, then wiped it off (with cut up old tee shirts), for an aging effect.
Oh, and I added some little vines in green on a few of the top doors before the stain-
The walls were already white, so I used the ivory and green to do a faux finish on the walls of the room. The entire project, walls too, took 3 of us most of one day to do.
Leaving the cabinet doors on and painting right over the hinges makes the job a bit faster and unless you have drop dead gorgeous hardware, why not? We did remove the handles and reuse those because they weren't bad.
I think the total cost was about $15 for primer, $10 for paint, and $8 for the stain/poly mix to go over the top.
And here is a make over of another kind. This photo of Sugarwings on the Yellow Brick road was edited with Picassa. I lightened, brightened, and retouched it, then deepened the colors with saturation.
I wanted to make the picture look more like Oz than Kansas.
This is how it started out.
(its a picture I took right before the other one, not the same one, but the same conditions). Picassa is easy to use and this only took about 10 minutes to do. I'm not real good with the retouch button yet, but I'm figuring it out.
Now, I need to go and see some of the other redos that Jen has links to on her blog. I love before and afters!
Today, Karen is asking us to show our workplaces. My studio is one of my very favorite places in the whole world to be, so I am happy to show mine!
This week, I has some friends over for a craft day, and Mary brought her Flip Camera again, and made a few videos of what we were doing and of the room. Here is a rambling, incoherent video of me showing my hat collection.
Okay, I tried to load the video directly into the blog, but if you don't see it, you can check out the YouTube site, if you want. (Yes, that is paint on my pants. And no, I was not painting that day. I am a poor dresser)
Mary made a few more videos that day, hereis one of just some sights around the studio. I'll try again to load it directly, but my tech skills are severely lacking.
Mary does a good job with the videos, but I don't think I loaded them right….
So here are a few photos of craft day, "Where Bloggers Create" like the title of the party says.
My studio would probably be much more convenient without the big wardrobe I use as a treat cabinet, but it seems to be a popular piece of furniture. Especially to Sugarwings.
Although there is a lot to be said for using the right pieces of furniture. I'm loving this new hutch that I bought last weekend at a garage sale for $35 and fixed up a bit. I added old wallpaper trim around the base of the top section to hide some missing trim. I'm still thinking about adding wallpaper to the inset panels too.
One thing I really like about this cabinet, beyond the fact that it holds so much and I was able to get rid of two smaller pieces so that the room is less cluttery, is that there is not any glass in the doors. I can reach right inside and get to things easily.
Here is the hat garden from the video. Its an old buffet that I have piled with stuff. Its top holds supplies for my work, as well as some completed pieces that are or will be for sale, things I've bought from other people, and gifts I have received.
Its important to me to have things out where I can see and enjoy them.
I've discovered that if I put too much away inside of cabinets, I forget what I have. So I try to arrange my goodies out in the open and leave interior spaces of the furniture filled with basics. Like paints, sandpaper, book binding materials, jewelry making supplies, and baskets of bottles.
Things that I use a LOT go right above my desk, within an arm's reach.
On the front half of the studio, I have two dining room tables that I use for extra work surface or for dinner parties. The centerpiece on this table is really just crap storage. And I am all the time rifling through the tablescapes for a little tid bit here or there to add to something I am making.
The other table's centerpiece is often things I have just made, or stuff I just bought while junking recently.
This bird in its nest is something I just finished, and need to list in the Boutique. Her egg is a regular plastic Easter egg covered in vintage wrapping paper, then a sugar coat of glitter.
This little bird's nest is a treasure trove of pretties and bits of jewels. I need to get pictures of it and get it on the website too….
All of the things I have listed for the Boutique and Etsy in the last day are mostly supplies and jewelry, not handmade things.
Sometimes, even with a big room, it is a challenge to store things for upcoming shows. I've turned a corner of the room into a closet filled with shelves to stack up stuff for events I'll be selling at, but some things are just too pretty (or large) to put away. And what is the fun of buying them, just to lock them away in a dark closet till I take them to a show? So, just about every surface is full of some sort of collection. Right now, I am stock piling figurines and statues for use as jewelry displays. Won't these ladies look nice dripping with jewels? Then, hopefully, they will sell too and I'll have less to pack up after the show.
Of course, I get to the point where there is so much in the room that there is barely room for people… When craft day comes, I bring in extra tables to set up for guests (Beth and Mary are working away in this photo), but I am rapidly running out of space to spread out into when guests come!
Of course, there is always the patio too! When guests are as messy as this one, that seems to be the best solution.
Feel free to join in on Karen's party, I'm looking forward to going around the list and seeing "Where Bloggers Create"
(Which reminds me, some of you have asked when I was going to be in "Where Women Create" by Somerset. Well…. now I don't know. The editor had spoken to me about scheduling my studio, then postponed, but said to keep in contact with her. But I just feel like I am bugging her if I remind her, so who knows?)
ps- Thank you all for your encouragement about the Grumpy Fairy story. I think I just might make it into an illustrated book.
Thank you all, for your concern for Twinkle! I could tell you all could feel the pain of losing a helpless little pet and the hopeless dread that goes along with it. I appreciate all your big-hearted comments! While she was missing, I was so worried. Sparkle and I put on a bucket of bug spray and hunted through the 7 acres of trees on our property, in fear that Twink's collar had snagged on a branch, and she had been cold and alone in the woods overnight. I drove up and down the streets, dreading a stain in the road that would mean she had been hit by a car. All the worst case scenarios were running through my brain.
Thankfully, my little Dorkie is safe and sound, and is now being pampered and cuddled (plus watched like a hawk!).
Twinkle has decided that Sugarwing's new bed must certainly be meant for her, not the fairy grand baby. The mattress I made for it is thick and soft and fluffy, and since it is a miniature bed, it is low to the ground. Even chubby little Sparkle sneaks up onto it, even though it has been years since she has been able to jump on the sofa or our bed by herself.
Sugarwings calls it her "Princess Nest" because of one of her favorite stories that I tell her at bedtime. The story is about a sleepy fairy who is grumpy but will not go to sleep.
When I first showed you the bed in its before stage, I mentioned that I paid way too much for it at an auction, but I guess what I meant was I spent too much in Auction Thinking Dollars. Have you ever noticed that price is relative to where you are shopping? If I'd seen this miniature antique 4 poster bed at a nice antique store, I'd have thought it was the world's biggest bargain at $70. At an auction, I felt like I over paid!
(It does have finials for the tops of the posts, but they are so narrow and pointy, I thought they might be dangerous, so left them off. I'll probably add knobs to the tops of the posts later)
And my other redo project? This $35 hutch from the Shabby Chic garage sale came out great! It has so much space in it, I don't even have it full yet.
Notice the beautiful, blooming ball in front of it? That was a gift from my pal, Kim. I won it on her giveaway!
I'll show more photos of the hutch, and the rest of the studio from yesterday's craft day on Friday when I join in on what looks like an interesting party. Karen is hosting the event and asks us to show our creative areas.
Its been a long time since I threw a blog party myself, I should think about it, they are so much fun to go to. I look forward to seeing this one!
Maybe an apron party? Aprons are the theme for Silver Bella this year and that has got me thinking about them.
The theme got me looking around at aprons in a new way. So did the swap Heather and Stephenie hosted this spring.
So, I've been foofing up some aprons with millinery, ribbons and jewels. Some are listed in the Boutique, along with some other new items. (The sale for my Etsy shop has morphed into a new version, prices are marked down in the shop itself. Thank you to everyone who shopped with me and scooped up some half price deals!)
Oh, and here is the updated photo for the JULY GARAGE SALE GIVEAWAY PRIZE PACK.
I'm finding lots of tidbits to add to this month's giveaway at garage sales! Isn't that English bone china little plate pretty? (it was only a nickle)
At craft day, I tried to make Sugarwings paper dolls, but the hair color looks more red than blonde when I printed the doll onto cardstock. I need to do some tweaking…
I'll leave you with the bed time story Imade up to tell the baby when she doesn't think it really is bedtime. And also with my thanks once again for all of your kind messages about Twinkle!
edit- sorry, I have to delete the story, working in Word, then copying the text to typepad caused problems with some readers being able to open the posts.
