Well, apparenty its offensive to make fun of sonogram pictures. I just want every one to know that I already love the new grandbaby and know that she is beautiful. My whole last post (deleted) was just aimed at the 4-D sonogram, NOT THE BABY herself.
Do you ever read Alice Hoffman? Its been too long since I've picked up one of her books. They always have a thread of magic woven through them,. Some of her stories are pure magic, some just have hints of it. But the most mystical of them all is Practical Magic.
That book was an all nighter for me. And when the movie came out, I didn't see how it could possibly measure up, but man. I'd watch that movie over and over just to get another glimpse of the house. But the whole thing is worth watching again and again even without the eye candy.
So, when I heard that Justina and Anna were having a Practical Magic party, I had to join in!
(right now, I'm out of town, and pre-posted this- but I will be party hopping and checking out all the garden spells and pointy hats when I get home)
I've always loved the witchy side of life. The hint of magic in all of us. Having Sugarwings around and seeing the world through her eyes has brought out the magic and fun in my life even more.
At my Sissy's 60th birthday party, we all dressed up as fairies and witches and one of the highlights of the night was to dance around the house to "Put the Lime in the Coconut" like the sisters did in Practical Magic.
Maybe what I love about the book and movie so much is the sisters. Mine are my best friends, and I miss them every day. There is power in the love of sisters.
Magic is all around you, just waiting for you to find it.
Life is too short to not be hunting the magic that is waiting for you.
No matter how silly you might look while doing it.
You don't need a crystal ball to find the kind of magic I'm talking about.
All you need to do is pay attention, open your eyes to the beauty around you.
Be light hearted. Let yourself fly.
Show love, give love, be loved. That is the greatest magic.
Being creative is a way to find the magic inside yourself too. Lose yourself in making something.
Create something to decorate your own home, as a gift, or just for the pure sparkling joy of making it.
These crowns, that I made are all from images and some techniques we provided in Romantic Gothic Ghosts. (although the crowns themselves were not taught in the classes)
I've enjoyed doing the class so much. To me, Halloween isn't about the scary stuff, its the mysterious that I find intriguing. Practical Magic probably should have been on our list of Gothic Romances in the review Beth did in our tutorial. That luscious house, the gorgeous gardens, the teaser of the unknown, all evoke the feeling we wanted to purvey, and what the class is about!
Yet another reason why this blog party drew me in. I've been knee deep in Gothic witchiness for the last few weeks!Its not too late to join us if you'd like to create some moody Halloween decor for your home too.
And please remember, that for my September giveaway, I'll be drawing a name to win one of the projects that I made for the class. All comments count.
Thanks again to Justina and Anna for coming up with a great theme and for hosting the party.
***********************************************************************************
I
will be away from my desk and unable to answer comments or mail
packages until Wed. But please do leave a comment if you'd like to be
entered in the September giveaway of one of my completed projects for Romantic Gothic Ghosts.
PS- I know I'll be spending too much in Texas, so I'm having a sale in the Boutique to replenish my funds. Type in this code:
Roundtop
and you'll get 20% off of every purchase!
We had such a blast last week at the Kansas City Renfest that we went back again for another day! And as I was going through the photos on my camera, I noticed that Sugarwings was so happy there with her own kind (fairies) that her feet barely touched the ground most of the day.
A pack of wandering fairies swooped her up and invited her to join their flock. She was thrilled to go off with them to dance around the Maypole.
So, she flew off with her new friends and we trailed along behind, walking on the ground like humans.
She fluttered over the ground as she danced with joy.
Another day filled with magic.
Like all my days spent with this little sprite.
Not a bad way to celebrate Grand Parent's Day!
I hope everyone is having a good Labor Day weekend! Ours is jam packed with lots of Sugarwings time. Her poor Hippy Chick Mommy has strep throat, so she is staying with us. It works out well, because we have my sweet little mother-in-law here for a few days and these two have become buddies.
Yesterday, we spent the day at the Kansas City Renaissance Festival. That place is beyond charming. Its tucked away into a hilly, shaded area that is a permanent location for the event, so lots of time and money have gone into the quaint little buildings. You really feel like you are in a fairy tale village when you go there.
And where else do you get to mingle with royalty?
There are stages all over the park with silly plays going on throughout the day. Sugarwings was picked from the audience to participate in one, and after that, she seemed to think that she was meant to be a star. That kid has some ham in her.
But at the end of the day, when I asked her what her favorite part of the festival was, she said, the play ground. There is a kid's area set up with a pirate ship, jungle gym, and lots of crafts. She would have sat and made magic wands all day if that had been an option.
Another favorite for both us us was this tent. It was such a simple thing, a floaty, diaphanous tent that hung from a tree. When you darted in and out of it, the whole thing would sway.
In past years, we have gone with big groups to the Ren Fest. This year, it was just my husband, his mom, our fairy baby, and me. We mostly followed the little one around and let her explore as she pleased. So, we were happy to sit and talk while she made friends with kids playing in the tent. She spent at about a half hour just hanging out there.
We've been to the park numerous times, so didn't feel the need to press on and fit the whole thing into the after noon. We paused to enjoy the little things and took our time watching a dragon fountain splashing against the rocks and contemplating some eggs that might just hatch into baby dragons.
The gown that she wore was just beautiful. It was a gift from a friend who shops estate and garage sales and found it for a couple dollars. The dress is vintage, and very nicely hand made, but since there wasn't a huge investment in it, I was comfortable in letting her run and play and get as dirty as she wanted.
Plus, why have nice things if you can't use and enjoy them?? "Use the good stuff" is my motto in life as well as in the studio with my supplies.
The festival has a different theme each year, this year it is Cinderella, so that is who Sugarwings pretended to be all day. And this gown was just perfect for it! Tiny girls all wanted to stop her and meet her, I think she made them think she was a real princess. She was Queen of the Toddlers that day.
Just the same way that she believed all the royalty that she met there was real.
This woman is my favorite, every year she has the most elaborate costume, and is so good natured and friendly to the little kids. For the Cinderella theme, she is playing Fairy Godmother this year, and is ideal for the part.
There are lots of games to play, too, including putting for unicorns. My husband works for a golf course company, but I'm afraid that Sugarwings and I just are not the Country Club types. I've never played a round in my life. But if we could find some courses that had horned Pan creatures as caddies and everyone dressed up like princesses, I might be able to get into the game.
And especially if country clubs awarded good putts with unicorns!
If you have a little princess or pirate in your life and live anywhere near KC, you really need to take them to this place. It goes on for 8 weekends every fall, and is $18.99 for adults, $9.99 for kids. But if you bring 5 canned goods to donate to a homeless shelter, you can buy one get one free.
The place is just too charming for words. Of course, you wouldn't know by these pictures, all I've shown you is my little obsession grandchild. The site is picturesque, and there is a lot to do besides follow a 4 year old around with a camera. There is jousting, games, elephant and camel rides, great food (beer and wine too), parades, fairy dances, shows, plays, comedians and magicians. You can be as silly as you want and dress up, or just go as yourself and enjoy seeing all the other people's crazy costumes. (wear comfy shoes, no matter how dressed up you get!!)
The states between Kansas and Virginia are so durned packed with pink and white hat bargains, that I had to be really picky about what I was buying or there wouldn't have been space in the car. There are BILLIONS of floral hat deals in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana.
By the time I stopped in Missouri at an antique mall along I70, I was plain old burnt out and not even looking at hats any more.
At one little shop in Akron, I found boxes full of corsages. They were marked more per piece than I sell flowers for myself. So, I politely asked the store owner what her best price on a dozen would be and I was flabbergasted when she quoted me a little over a dollar each. I picked out some of the prettiest pink and white roses, some that still have the original tags on them.
While my husband worked a bit in each state we visited, I killed time at nearby antique malls, unless we were already checked into a hotel. If so, I sat in the room and glittered my Dorothy tags.
I also got in a lot of high quality nap time, plus got to visit my buddy, Heather while in the Pittsburgh area.
Since I had a few days to shop, I had to be really cheap to make my $150 last all week. And that part of the country seems to be THE place for stretching a dollar, I found some lovely things beyond the hats too.
For me, there is no better vacation than one where I get to visit people I care about, score deals on beautiful things, take naps, eat gourmet foods, PLUS get a load of work done. Ideal! Of course, I didn't get to turn on the TV at all this week and am wondering what happened on Top Chef and Runway, but hey, life was pretty close to perfect, so I am not complaining.
The highlight of the trip was our romantic dinner on Lake Eerie at the Shoreby Club. This Victorian stone mansion has been renovated and is now a dinner club with a spectacular view of the lake at sunset.
While sipping our wine and watching the sun sink into the lake, we misquoted Gordon Lightfoot and sang the Edmund Fitzgerald song. We didn't realize until afterward that the song was about Lake Superior, not Eerie.
We also discussed how much we missed Sugarwings. That is one of the reasons why we cut our trip short a day. No matter how great time away is, its still time away from Sugarwings too.
So, bright and early on Sunday morning we scooped her up, and had a boating picnic on the lake.
There's no place like home….
Work was a secondary reason for getting back. Romantic Gothic Ghosts starts at midnight Sunday! I wanted to tweak some things and make it just right for you.
The first lesson is for 2 collages of my banner. The finish on this lady's portrait is one of the tips I'll be giving out on Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday will be finishing the banner, and then Beth does one of her projects later in the week.
She and I are planning some extras too. A few giveaways of vintage supplies, some videos, etc.
We'll be working on some unique Halloween decor ideas, and ways to display some of the art you'll be making in our class.
The classes are $25 and will be left up as long as I have a Typepad blog. And I don't see an end to blogging anytime soon…
And don't forget- you can still enter the August Giveaway for one of my completed Romantic Ghost projects.
Look what I found on Etsy! I bought all the little plastic shoe charms that I could find, even though they weren't the right colors. I fixed them by using red glitter spray to get them wet and sticky, then tossed them into a bowl of red glitter.
I mean "ruby red" glitter.
The first 50 people in our Dorothy Tag Swap will get one on their tag book. For the rest, I need to come up with something else….
The swap is still open, and I've had a lot of people say that because of Back To School, they are swamped. So…. we are extending the deadline. Instead of Sept. 15th, lets go for the end of the month. You get a couple more weeks to work on them!
Also, we have a flickr group, please join!
Personally, I'm glad to have the extra couple of weeks too! I've been trying to get ready for Sugarwing's Under the Sea Birthday Splash Party.
Yesterday, I painted this mural onto a canvas drop cloth cut down to fit the wall above the bed in her big girl room at her Hippy Chic Mommy's house.
For the party, the mural will be nailed to the side of the house. I'm setting up a tent for kid's crafts and this will be the decor behind it.
Years ago, I used to paint murals for a living. It was a goooood living. But hard. When I'd paint hotels and bars, it usually involved a lot of scaffolding, and that is heavy to move around, plus I have a fear of heights and really detested being up 20 feet high. The worst thing ever is to be on a LADDER on top of SCAFFOLDING! It gave me the willies.
Plus, not a lot of Kansans were open to murals. But gosh, other states love them! When I was painting a public space in Florida, I'd get a ton of job offers and ended up working nights in private homes as well as days on the job I had traveled there for.
My favorite thing to paint was kid's murals. One thing I always did was to make sure that each character in the painting had a buddy. Lots of conversational groupings make the picture more interesting for kids.
Painting "murals to go" sure is easier than doing it directly onto a wall! I liked using the drop cloth, I could work at my own pace, in my own home while playing with the dogs, snacking, watering the garden and taking breaks!
I thumb tacked plastic to the wall of the garage, and then tacked up the canvas over it so the paint wouldn't seep through to the wall behind it. I worked on the scene through out the day and was able to get other stuff done too.
Sugarwings loves Mermaids, I hope she likes this birthday gift from me!
While I was taking breaks from the mural, I repainted this hutch in my studio. Since I am the one who painted it in the first place, I knew that the top coat on it was water based poly. So, it didn't need any pretreatment of priming or sanding. I was able to simply dry brush a couple coats of white satin paint over the existing taupe glazed with brown.
After it dried, I lightly sanded it all for a distressed look. Silly me, I was too lazy to run to the store to get a coarse sandpaper, and now have a sore arm from sanding with with a fine paper. It took way too much work and too many sheets to rough up the hutch! I have a bad habit of not stopping until I am done, and really should have just quit yesterday, until I had a chance to pick up another pack of sandpaper.
Another thing I got done for the party was to get a start on cleaning the studio. Its such a mess and this is spider web season. Why does my home get so cob webby every single July and August??? This year, it is so bad, I am tempted to leave them, let them spread a couple months and just throw a Halloween party.
While I had the garage cleared out to do the mural on the wall, I used the leaf blower to clean the room. I dreamed of being able to use that to just blow all the cob webs away in the house too. If I were a minimalist, it wouldn't be so bad, but as a collector of junk, I have too many things that would blow away along with the mess.
I did clean the stair way that goes up to my husband's office with the leaf blower. There was nothing that could be ruined or blown away, and I have to tell you, it was a magnificent thing to do. What a great idea! I cleaned the breezeway and my car while I was at it.
Are you wondering what the pictures of poppies have to do with cleaning my house with a leaf blower? Nothing at all.
I just thought that you might like these. I used a lot of these vintage greeting cards with poppies in my Oz tags.
I've also scanned more pages from my 1920s Oz book for you. You don't have to be in the swap to use them, help yourself if you want some.
All you need to do is click on the picture for it to pop up in a larger size,save, and print it.
Some of these are edited into sepia for you, too.
Today was special, its my 25th wedding anniversary! But my true love had to be out of town. That's okay, we celebrated for a week in California last month, it was quite the trip.
Yep, 25 pounds ago, I mean years, my buddy and I got married. We are very different people,He is a businessman and I am an artist. We look at the world from opposite viewpoints, but share a love of laughing and of family and of each other. What more do you need?
I'm pretty lucky.
I thought I'd celebrate by playing dress up with the pup. She turned out much cuter than me.
These little tiaras didn't stay in their silky hair for very long, so I put it in my summer-time frizz bomb of a hair do and it stayed just fine.
See why I call my Yorkshire Terriers "Dorkies"? What goofy looks they get on their little faces. They have the funniest personalities, and are such dorks.
Today I saw that I've done my 800th post! Wow, I do seem to think I have a lot to say, huh?
Also today, I had my 25,900th comment! On the 800th post. I figured that was worth a prize, so I will come up with a little giftie to send to #25,9000, Vivian.
Since this is my silver anniversary, I'll have to send her something silver colored. Or silver itself. I'll look through my jewelry creations and see what I can come up with.
I'm also still flying high on my zone day yesterday. There is nothing like a day of NO interruptions whatsoever in the studio!! I finished up this vintage wallpaper journal (its in the Boutique now)
But mostly I made tags for the Dorothy tag book swap. I only needed 6 plus a cover, but made about 20, both sides.
This one is an old envelope that has a flap I tie shut with ribbons. It has a flying monkey theme, and inside is a Wicked Witch of the West tag.
Honestly, I thought I'd be making pretty tags. Like Glenda and Dorothy and ruby slippers, all just lovely and sweet. But I surprised myself and got really interested in all of the old illustrations in the book that I had, even though the pictures were far from lovely.
Most were in black and white with maybe one color, so I tinted them with markers and ink. It was like being a kid and coloring again. Maybe that is why I was able to ignore all my obligations and play at my desk all day, I was being very juvenile!
The illustrations are very different than the movie. Hollywood varies quite a bit from literature, doesn't it? Even True Blood, my favorite TV show is veering away from the book series quite a bit. But I still think its successful in keeping the characters and emotions in the story accurate, so that's okay.
I'm expecting a range of tag styles from all of the entrants. They don't have to be just Dorothy, of course, I think the whole Oz theme will be explored.
The twister was especially fun to do. I drew it in 3 metallic inks, then used glittery silver Stickles over it. At first, I tried making one with wire. Notice that you aren't seeing pictures of that one?
This buckle is new in the shop.
Now that I am done, and overly done, with 20 tags created instead of 6, I'm a bit sad. I was just getting on a roll with these!!! And in one day, I'm finished. Its a bit of a let down.
Oh well, I'll start having a blast when all of your tags start filling my mail box. I just can't wait, its so exciting to check the mail everyday.
And please remember, if you haven't signed up yet, its not too late. I look forward to seeing what you make!
Plus, Beth and I are working on a little sumpthin-sumpthin together for you. I'll get my fill of lovely and moody and romantic with that one. Plus GHOSTLY-hint hint. More details when we get them…
Lately, one of Sugarwing's favorite games is playing bride. Today I was lucky to find a vintage dress up bridal gown at a flea market, still in its original box! She spied it in the studio immediately and had to marry her puppy as soon as she could shimmy into the dress.
The dress is about 10 sizes too big for her, and kind of fragile. I'm not sure if its the right outfit for my little wild child to play in. Plus, now that she and the dog are already married, she doesn't really need to wear it anymore. It was a quick ceremony, but lovely and heartfelt, so the dress has had its use.
And we have the wedding photos from the day. Of course, she might want to save the gown, hoping that her daughter (or puppy?) will someday want to wear it, but it seems to me that most daughters want to pick out their own gown, and rarely wear mom's.
I might hang on to it for a while, to see if she asks about it again. If she's forgotten about it in a week or so, I have a feeling it will end up in the Boutique.
Another game we had fun with today, was "Find the Picture". My copy of Somerset Home has arrived, and it has the article about my home in it (with photos by Carol Spinski). Sugarwings looked at the pictures in the book and then found the spot in the house where they were taken.
She is much better at that game than my husband is. One time, when his mom was visiting from out of state, he was proudly showing her an article that I had written for Country Victorian and talking about the house and how these photos were of the room upstairs, and those were of the kitchen before we remodeled. I looked over his shoulder and saw that the article wasn't even mine.
The photos weren't even of our own house.
That is why I can do anything at all to my cottage and foof it up any old way I please. My husband doesn't even notice! He could live in a pink cotton candy explosion of a doll house and not know the difference. That gives me full license to foof!
Of course, over the years, there have been a lot of changes and I can't blame him for not being able to keep up with what our house looks like. When I was in the furniture painting and antique biz, the look would change weekly sometimes. If I found something wonderful at a garage sale, it would go right into the house and the piece it replaced would go to the mall.
Now that I don't sell furniture, the revolving door has slowed down. But I do like a change now and then, and mostly get it by repainting and rearranging.
This photo is of my studio a few years back. I've added it and a few more pictures to the Where Bloggers Create Studio Tour (hosted by Karen Valentine) post I did a while back, and added a button to my side bar with a link to that posting, if anyone wants to see some of the past looks I've had in the room.
As a matter of fact, while out junking and scrounging today, I found a new glass door cabinet to fill with supplies, so my studio is getting another mini redo this week too. I'll have some more pictures to add in the next couple of days.
Since I don't have the antique business anymore, I try to keep myself entertained with smaller foofing projects. Gift wrapping has become a big hobby of mine. This is a package sent out this week, it was a Bible Quotes booklet, so I wrapped it in hymnal sheet music and tied a little cross to the ribbon.
No matter how big or small the project is, its "the process that counts". Beth and I quote Jenny Doh to each other with that line a lot since we heard her speak at Kim's event in California. That phrase struck us both, as good words to live by. As an artist, its not always the end product that counts, its the process and the love of creating.
So, if I can't remake a room on a monthly basis anymore (yes, I was pretty bad, Beth called me a serial painter), I can get my fix in the little things I do and love the process, no matter what I am spending my time on.
Simply being creative brings joy. To paraphrase Horton the Elephant, "A project's a project, no matter how small."
If you feel like being creative with me, I hope you'll join us for a small project. 6 tags with a Dorothy theme in a collaborative tag book swap. Email me if you want to join! Just click on the button on my sidebar for more info.
We have 40 some people entered to swap so far, and room for YOU too!
Thanks to all of you who signed up for our Dorothy Tag Book Swap! There is room for plenty more, if you haven't joined yet, please do.
I added pdfs of images from my 1920 Wizard of Oz book to the previous post, where you will find details about the swap. Even if you don't join in, please use and enjoy the images. I'll be posting more images in future posts as I get them scanned.
Maybe they will give you some ideas… I hope something gives me a few. I jumped into this swap without a single idea for a tag!
Maybe because I am still knee deep in mermaids, its hard for me to switch over to Oz.
This is for playing "Pin the Shell on the Mermaid" at Sugarwing's 4th birthday party. I painted it on foam core board, and added lots of glitter. (why doesn't glitter ever look glittery in photos??) We'll tie a bow on a shell and stick a thumb tack to the ribbon, then kids can try to get the shell on her necklace.
Today while looking over the list of kiddos attending, I was struck by how pretty all the names were.
Look at these unique names!
Leandra Joy
Gaea
Baila
Lillie
Madison
Sarah
Adeline Grace
Lizelle
Finn
Clover
Calliope
Amadeus
Cohen
Today, I also finished my air clay mermaid, to go with the ones I made in Jenny Hernadez's class. I'll use these fishy gals as decor on the buffet, not out with the kids' stuff.
There are some other shell decorations for the party, that I have a feeling the little ones won't appreciate as much. So I'll be using the shell art that I got from Kim on the grownups table. The kids get Ariel and pirates.
ttp://artisticbliss.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/06/a-few-spots-still-left-.html
Finally, I might be getting burnt out on making mermaids. When I got to the base of this, I was sick of it, and just glued wide satin ribbon around the box, with a smaller ribbon and a shell brooch over it. I'd spent enough time on it already, so finished it quickly. The boxes under the ones I did in Jenny's class were loving covered in vintage wallpaper and properly foofed. This one is just "completed" and that was enough!
There is still a banner to be painted for the party too. I want to do an under the sea themed canvas for Sugarwing's new room. She and her Hippy Chick Mommy just moved to a new place, and I wanted to do a painting for her as a gift. I'll nail it to the side of my house for the party, it will go with the theme.
My little fairy baby loves mermaids, even more than fairies. I nicknamed her Sugarwings before she was old enough to know what her likes and dislikes were going to be. But "Sugartail" just doesn't sound very wholesome, anyway.
That little girl loves to play in water, summertime and garden hoses are great for her. Poor Agnes Rosebud isn't as fond of watersports. You can tell by the look on her face that she knows that a cup of water is about to be poured on her again, and she is resigned to it. You can almost see the plan forming on Sugarwing's face too.
And its not such a bad thing on a hot day to be a bit wet.
By the way, have you seen "Dispicable Me" ? The cutest little orphan is named Agnes! Maybe this will become a trendy name. I hadn't heard that it was a popular one, have you? My dog is named after my grandma.
The little girl from the movie kind of looks like my Agnes Rosebud too. Here she is, its about 4 seconds, so look fast.
Isn't this a gorgeous pendant? I liked it on this bust so much that I thought about keeping it there, but I took the listing photos anyway, and will add it to the Boutique.
Along with a few other trinkets.
Hmmm, odd picture? My son found these rocks out in Western Kansas, I'm not sure what they are, but they are unique. Some of them are large and have caves in them, others look like little peanuts. Or, to Sugarwings and I, they looked like people. So we drew faces on the peanutty little rocks with black markers.
Some of the little stones looked more like dogs than people.
Sugarwing's Daddy brought a pile of these rocks and left them heaped up by my garage last year. I don't know why. I figured he had some plan for them and just ignored them. But today my fairy grand baby and I sat down to look at them and realized just what a gold mine of fun they were.
It was her idea to add the glitter. A lot of glitter.
I tied ribbons to a stick to make a flag. We built our "castle" near a weed that was growing through the rocks so our people could have some shade.
Funny, that such a silly thing made such a fun morning for me. I hope it was for her too. And I'm glad that I didn't nag at my son to "do something with those durn rocks or get rid of them!" like I had been tempted to do a few times over the last year or so.
She and I might have some of the peanut people come and live in our mini fairy garden too.
I am in CA playing mermaid with my arty friends and spa-ing it up, so this was written before I left, and I will not be able to answer emails or ship purchases until I return.
Please do leave comments, though, I love reading them. And each is an entry for the July Giveaway, a pair of genuine pearl and sterling silver earrings.