Serenity Now......

Today was a stressful day to say the least but I managed to do what needed to be done and I can now say that I am ready for the show. As mentionted in my previous post I found out that after reading my paper work for this year's show the inventory was supposed to be in by Monday and not this coming Monday.

After losing some sleep then emailing my hostess, everything was ok and I am to drop off what I can of my stock. So today was a work on things day  anyways, I finished my painting yesterday, good thing, I was going to paint today but, yesterday before this all happened I said no stop and that is enough. You know when your brain says enough???? well it is for a reason.

So I plugged away all day and got everything done. I drilled holes, I hammered hangers on wood, I made tags for my items, I packaged, I priced, I counted I documented. This took me all day. I woke up at 5:30, sat with JB while he got ready for work. I then started my day around 6:30 when he left and it has been pretty much non stop ever since.

I still have 2 more things to package but it won't take long. The car is almost packed.

Phew, what a day. I was really quite stressed and even had a bit of a ugh moment but it all had to be done.

Today the Lord gave me a lot of patience and I am so thankful!

Below are 2 canvases I completed. The Snow fella I designed myself, sort of got a bit of a Monika Brint inspiration but this is all my own drawing and painting with what I had in mind. I quite like it, Big head, small facial features except that nose which I just adore.

Every snowman has to have a snowflake, afterall all those snowflakes make a snowman.

And last but not least another Kim Klassen deSign that I just love.

This is the canvas I mentioned that took me all day to do, mind you I did 2 of them at the same time but it was time to quit painting. It was taking forever for me to complete and enough was enough.

Remember those of us who do this every year, we do it with love and skill.

It takes a lot of time and effort to do our art. Buy handmade either in Canada or America, it is not made in China, but, by someone who sat either at home or in a studio skillfully crafting their wares.

We thank you for your patronage and hope you enjoy your handmade goodies as much as we love making them.

Oh Oh I am late

Yikes, last night before I went to bed I was checking out my paperwork for the Open House I submit to every year and found out my inventory was supposed to be in on Monday the 26th. OH NO, I am so late.
I have emailed the hostess Evelyn and hopefully we can work something out. I have so much left to do, putting little things together, pricing, tags, packaging. I sure could use some help but oh well I got my dates mixed up and have to deal with it. I sure hope Saturday I can take all this. If not I have boxes of things to hold on to til next year I guess. I have never done this before, mixing up dates. I had the end of the month in my head so I really need to be humble now.
Yesterday I finished up 2 Kim Klassen canvasses which took me all day for some reason to finish. Maybe a sign I had enough of painting, been going at it prettty steady.
Well if you don't hear from me in a day or so you know I am stil plugging away.
Oh it's hard to be humble....am I dating myself with that song??? yikes

Still painting away

Good evening friends.

So this is my 16x12 inch canvas I am finally able to post. There were glare issues on my part so I am happy to be able to show you this little Monika Brint design.

I just had to paint it on a canvas. It was relatively quick and very friendly to say the least. I love friendly snowmen.

You can't see in the picture here but the snowman with a greenish coat has a rusty bell hanging off his hat, the other snowmen have real wooden painted black buttons glued onto their coats. Another idea from my hubby JB to do that. He is a clever boy that one. Think I will keep him around as a craft consultant.

And below is my latest finished eDition pattern from Kim Klassen's weekly pattern subscription. I worked on 2 of these today and loved how they turned out. I bought the wood at Home Depot and thought I was buying the right size according to the tags on the wood. I get home and I can't get my 2nd tree on the wood which is to the right of the house, there are supposed to be 2 trees but I could not manage to squeeze it in.

Little did I know that when they sell wood it isn't necessarily the size that you are buying. I measured the width of my wood then I got home and I was missing 1/4 of an inch. To me that is a big difference.

With some help from Kim Klassen she informed me of what she does and the measurements that she buys so hopefully this won't happen again.

I have never heard of such nonsense.

Anyways more things to paint and then I think I will stop painting either Thursday or Friday to do the fiddly stuff.

Thank you for stopping by

Angels and Snowpeeps

Hello dear friends.

I have been a very busy painter this weekend.

As you can see I have been painting on canvas, probably one of my favourite surfaces, not really any prepping involved and they are so portable and you can move them around easily in your home or put away for the holiday season.

This angel pattern is again a Monika Brint design. This is supposed to be a wood cut out piece but I place it on canvas. The stars are wood and painted then glued on.

JB helped me with the stars, I was going to put Peace on Earth down the side but we went with the stars instead.

It is a rather simplistic design but everyone loves angels and this is particularly a very peaceful looking painting.

I also have a collection of snowmen I am dying to show you but me the idiot when it comes to cameras I had the flash on and the glare from the sealer I put on the canvas did not give you  a good result. Tomorrow camera in hand I will take another pic to show you along with my new own design snowman on a smaller canvas. Monika inspired me to do my own design.

And here is a little family I decided to group together instead of selling them separately. They are just too cute to sell individually. I think the little fella would be lonely without MoM or DaD to care for him.

And a little grubbied tea lite to keep them warm and cozy, but don't get too close you might all melt.

Well best get moving on. Lots more to do. I have two Kim Klassen deSigns to do as well, the wood is cut, pattern read to transfer. I am trying to stay calm and focused as time ticks toward deadline. I sure hope all hell doesn't break loose before the end of the week.

TTFN

Post-it Note holders and some gingerbread

Today was a very busy day. I started to paint a canvas and decided I had better stop and finish up a few other goodies before proceeding with something new. This time of year is very busy, ideas running through your head for show sellers, tags to be made, adding embellishments, it never stops.

Now this first picture you may ask what is this all about?

Well Lesley got hungry and wanted some lunch, for medical reasons I have to eat, I cannot skip meals.

So I decided I wanted a grilled cheese sandwhich, I put my little pan on the stove, put the sandwhich in and turned my back for just a couple of minutes because I had to fuss with something.

Well never leave your stove unattended right? or this is what happens. Good thing the smoke alarm didn't go off. My sandwhich just about burnt, the other side is good but this is what happens when you turn your back for a minute....I didn't do it, the Squirrels did.

Anyone that really knows me knows I have a nick name and sometimes I think it suits me well. Today was one of them. Not only did I have a partially burnt sandwhich but I had the kitchen, which isn't very big, in total chaos. Stuff everywhere, the table with my paints and canvas I was working on, which will be featured tomorrow, the kitchen counter with stuff on it,.

Anyways to make a rather long story short here are some things I am finally finished.

The breadpan was given to me by my Mumsy, I painted gingers on them, then I cut out and painted the larger ginger, sitting amongst the spanish moss, I painted the spoons and not sure you can see it but I made a tag that hangs off the homespun on the spoon that says " fresh baked" and I put some little pics and a grubbied tea lite in. Love those battery operated tea lites. I enjoy grubbying them as well.

.And Last but not least, these were a lot of fun are my Post it Note holders. I got the idea from a Monika Brint book and I decided to make a few other designs. Monika's cute snowmen, Katrina Roncin gingers, and a Terrye French saltbox house. Add a little Post it note and keep it by the phone, computer room, kitchen or where ever. 

Thank you for stopping by and don't forget if you click on the picture you can see it in a bit more detail.

Stay tuned, tomorrow I will show you my snowman canvas.

Hyped up on adrenalin....

This is a short post to all my bloggie friends. I have been a very busy mulit-tasker. Been cutting wood, sanding and painting like crazy, vaccuumming, doing house duties, cleaning up the flower pots outside so needless to say a busy girl here.
I will be posting some pics of my latest painted pieces. Just finishing up some Post-it Note holders, darn cute I must say, and ,some snowmen and gingers.
Tomorrow will be a better day and lighting too for taking pics. Stay tuned. I haven't gone anywhere but either the basement or kitchen studio....

Home Sweet Home sign

This has been finished for a day now but just getting to post this.

This is a Kim Klassen design from her eDition series I signed up for.

This is our 3rd week of patterns out of 4 months worth, 16 patterns in total.

I really like how this turned out. I did 2 of them for my upcoming fall show.

I enjoy the prim and worn look .

I have a table of snowmen to paint. I have completed some little tea light holder snowmen, they may be finished by tomorrow.

Well back to the workshop for my fly'n paint.

Till next time....

Inchies have a mind of their own

Over at InchybyInch our Guest designer this week is Ali Manning from the UK. Ali's theme this week is Time.  Well I had an idea and mulled it over in my mind and even thought about it during waking moments last night. This morning I embarked on a process that I thought was going to be simple, quick and just the way I imagined. Ok...simple, well read on.....
I first wanted a layered look with the clock behind the girls, so I took a piece of freezer wrap paper and proceeded to get my image ready and do an image transfer. Thinking I would stamp the clock then rub the image off the freezer paper (shiny side) over top of the clock. Well the image was too faint. Ok, darken the image a bit then go with that. Still not right...also I didn't mention the little piece of freezer paper jammed my printer. Hmmmm.... ok cut a piece larger of FP and then attach it to a piece of sturdy cardstock, works for me....ok now I am ready....well did that, still too faint for the purpose I wanted. Get out transparency paper....that will work....put that in the printer.....did I tell you this might take a while...you better grab a coffee or even lunch....LOL   So now I have stamped a Tim Holtz Fired brick nice red clock on paper and I am about to put my transparency over the clock....working fine, I lift the image then all of a sudden I have red ink on my faces....argh.....print off another transparency...good thing it was only 2 inchies by 2 inches....Well then I print it off again, this time decided I will do a black and white theme with this, stamped the clock in black put the image over after I heat set the ink...dahhh. Then things are looking really good. I put all layers together, get the 1 inch punch out to punch out inchies and the punch jams....argh, I am now convinced they made this time challenge to challenge my patience or lack there of....ok but me being stubborn and not going to let this little project beat me....I threw the punch on the floor, scared the cat, then I was able to loosen the paper and start all over again. Printing, stamping, this time I decided to glue the backs which are just supportive paper for your inchies  then cut around the squares with my scissor....Ok this is nice... going as planned. I get out my black cardstock, do some distress transfers and get it all done and the top right corner of my corner transfer is opposite to the left one...argh, at this point I said ok, this is art, I am leaving it. Any other time I would re do it but no this is staying as is.....I put it all together and I sure hope next time if there is one I won't let 12 rounds of inchie madness get the better of me.
Well right now painting doesn't look so bad so off to get the paint flying again. Oh and I forgot to mention and you can't see it here but the little girl on the right has a tiny red pimple...more red ink from somehwhere...ahhhhhh it's finally over. I am beat.
Thanks for looking.

Happy Thanksgiving

Just a short post to  all my family, friends and visitors to my blog.

I am blessed with many things in my life and today I am giving thanks to our Lord for the continuing blessings he provides to me each and every day.

Today we ate turkey dinner at my MIL's house. It has been quite a while since we had a holiday meal at her place so it was nice to have dinner and a visit.

I also received my birthday gift, a little late because my birthday is in May.

This weekend was another wood weekend. Seems all I talk about is wood, if I am not painting it, I am helping splitting it, using the wood splitter of course my job as the lever girl.

Throwing wood in the basement, stacking it and now it is all in.

I can't wait for a real woodstove fire, it is the best heat and I just love that country and cozy feel to it.

To my American friends, happy Columbus day.

Til next time....

Rejoice sign

I just finished this and was so happy with it I had to show my blogger friends. I was given this gold picture frame, never used and found in a dumpster from a friend of ours, he gave it to me thinking I would use if for pictures. Well I love the shape of this frame, it is plastic, black but coated with a gold spray, I sanded a bit more here and there to reveal a bit more black but this turned out so nice not sure if I will keep it or not. This is a Sue Allemand design in the recent Create and Decorate. Of course I put my own take on it and instead of shading all around the vine work I used a dampen tea towel, then used Burnt Umber and in a circular motion I did the outer edge. Quick easy and just let it happen. Works for me.

I also painted this on Watercolour paper. Somehow I used all my thin plywood and was anxious to paint this because I had it pictured in my brain. Glad I didn't wait to cut the wood. I think this worked just as nice.

Well off to the kitchen studio again .

I am thinking on painting some bread pans next.....

It's rainin' again....

Thought I would sneek my Inchy by Inch theme in this morning. This weeks challenge is to  rain. So here is my umbrella, I cut out each little panel of the umbrella from 3 different papers, then I used a Sharpie marker for the stitching, a little gem at the top and gold gel pen for the handle and a little contrast with the black Sharpie again. I inked the edges with a navy blue ink pad and for my rain drops I added Glossy Accents. Wow love that stuff. I have also made rain drops in the past using hot glue, gives some nice dimension also to your artwork.
Thanks for looking and off to paint again.....

Busy brushes

Well here is what I have been up to...the paint is flying, brushes are busy and things are starting to look a little more like I have some stock.

These jars (sorry the pic is blurry) are for my mini trees and lights. These are a great way to recycle jars and  a nice little edition to your Christmas decor. Great for small spaces or the office!

In just the last 2 days I have been painting ornaments. Sometimes they go quick other years people are looking for other items. Last year I didn't do as many ornaments so I decided I had better do some this year. I still have to put hangers on these and give them some sealer but I always have fun with my ornies.

And finally my ginger shelf sitters from the Ornament Q&E magazine. They are supposed to have a crackle medium on them but my medium is too fine a crackle to use so I might just leave them as is. I thought these would be too detaily but they really aren't.  I am really starting to get in the holiday mood and we haven't even had Thanksgiving yet.

Well off to the kitchen studio and see what else I can come up with.

Or....maybe I will take a break and finish a birthday present that is long overdue overseas. Yes I think that is a better idea and take a break from the painting.

Later all.

Mask inchies

This week over at Inchy by Inch is the make an inchie with the theme of masks. I am not a big Hallowe'en person but when I got these I said yeah that will do. Now remember these are small enough to fit on a one inch square so cutting was very tricky and intricate. How I managed to have patience is beyond me but I really like intricate details so this is kind of up my alley.

I also added but you can't see it here Glossy Accents. Love this stuff. I used it for the first time tonight and I am a huge fan already. Just adds that bit of wow to your project.

Well I have to get this in before midnight tonight.

Last weeks leaves made it to the page sampler, not too shabby for my first challenge.

Off to bed soon.

Night all.

Birds of a Feather ATC

I did up a quick ATC for my group ATC for Beginners, this past weeks challenge was to use wording or text or music for your background. So being the moderator I thought I should do the challenge as well to set an example. I used a French script stamp then inked the edges , stamped the branches, collaged birds on the branches, chalked around the birds, glued a feather at the base near the bottom and at the top I set the eyelets and added some fiber for interest. Not to shabby I say.

This time of year reminds me of the Alfred Hitchcock movie " The Birds". The other day I heard this rather loud chorus of birds and looked in the backyard and the one tree was full of black birds or crows and they were cawing and cawing. Reminded me of the movie and was glad I was inside to watch the goings on.

The leaves are falling and everything is very colourful but the nights are very cold now.

I don't really like winter, this means multi layers of clothing and I will be cold til at least July.

So keep warm everyone and my next post I will be showing you some gingerbread shelf sitters I cut out and painted.

Until then keep the home fires burning.