My mermaid painting is almost all done...just have to finish up the back. However, there is much bigger news today! Today is the birthday of one of the sweetest women I know...Awesome Guy's Grandmother...we call her Gram! Happy Birthday Gram! Gram has raised two children and had a big part in raising her 3 grandchildren as well. How lucky they and now we, their spouses, are to have her in our lives! Gram worked in a department store in Johnstown where she met none other than Van Johnson! Be still my heart! She is also the sweet sister to Sara & Aggie, the ones that joined the circus in the 30's. Gram has taken care of so many, she is a great source of wisdom, and a model of strength! Happy Birthday Gram! We love you! :)
So I went on a field trip with my oldest today. :) Desert Botanical Gardens with their special exhibit of Chihuly Glass! I won't say much now, I'll just let you enjoy the glass and the butterflies we met there too!
Miss Lisa at Faerie Enchantment is at it again and I am so glad! This time the theme is Mermaid Tea Party...we had a lot of fun with this one! And I mean laughing so hard that you can't see for the tears in your eyes and thinking you might toss your cookies. A LOT of kind folks helped out on this one...Kandace, Ryan, Zach, Savannah, Jeri, Jeri's Mom, Holly, Lillian, and two of her little girlfriends too! THANK YOU, THANK YOU!
So I FINALLY got to a First Friday. I pretty much wanted to go for 2 years and ACTUALLY REMEMBERED (!!!) it before the first friday of the month, and not the first Saturday as I usually do. We decided to take the new light rail because I've heard that it is SO easy. Not really, at least not at night anyway. It took over an hour to take what would have been a 25 minute trip and then we still had to walk more than three blocks in the middle of the city at night to get to the event.
Not exactly what I had in mind....not something like this:
Once we were there, it was very artsy, fun, and a bit adventourous. You could feel something in the air, like an acceptance of everyone. It was very eclectic...we saw a little bit of everything as we walked through each old house that had been turned into a gallery. The streets were lined with vendors, DJs, and people just dancing in the streets. There was an AMAZING tap dancer there, people were walking across the street just to see him.
I enjoyed all the art, some was dark, lots of pop and abstract too. TONS of jewelry. Great music... Glass mixed media...it was a lot to take in...we could have been there for a whole day, not just the few hours that it runs. The only thing I didn't see are pieces like I enjoy on the web. Whimsical, primitive, folk art. It made me appreciate you all even more than I already did!
It was my first Friday, but hopefully not my last. There is something planned for the next one that I just have to participate in! It is a secret for now, but I will tell you after I get back! :) Oh and guess what? Oh a whim, I decided to make a headband to wear to the event. I tried to give it a vintage feel...love the button and the dark golden beige tulle too. I curled my hair in pin curls, been learning about it here and am enjoying getting lost in that 40's style I've loved since I was a kid. It's not an everyday hairdo, but I thought WHY NOT?! I'm not going to be old and gray (already have some gray come to think of it!) and wish I had that gorgeous hair when I had the chance. I'm also slowing convincing Awesome Guy to take up swing dancing with me in someplace OTHER than the kitchen. Someplace like this.
In other news, I put some pieces in my etsy shop, decorated and painted my daughter's stage for her music program, and TODAY....today is a BIG day with a BIG project especially for you. Today I'm filming a new video for this: The last one was so fun, I had to do another. I'm getting all the props together now. Promise you'll come back Saturday to see it? I'd love to have you!
Thanks for all you do...your posts on your blog, your comments on mine. I'm grateful for you! :)
Have you ever had one of those days? Where everything you tried to do didn't work out? That was today for me. Today is the BIG day to show the eggs we made and recieved as a result of Viv on a Whim's Egg Hunt and Swap. We had to make two eggs and send them to her to then send to our secret partner. Today everyone's posts will reveal who's egg is who's. One problem...a certain two year old got a hold of my camera and deleted my egg photos! I felt bad about posting just a wordy description and wasn't sure what to do until...
Blogland to the rescue! My partners not only posted photos of what they sent, but a photo of the eggs I sent as well! YAY! So forgive me for cheating and posting their photos, but it is all I can do today. So without further ado...
These are the eggs that I made. I loved making them, especially how the colors are muted and blended and then stained. Fun, fun, fun! :) The nest was made out of fabric strips. They have a new home with the Faerie Wysperer...I hope she likes them!Now for the eggs that have a new home with ME. :) First up is a tea cozy!! Can you believe that?! You all know my fascination with tea parties...can't seem to stop painting about them! I have the perfect teapot that has been dying to get all cozied up! Look at how much work went into it! I appreciate every stitch! Thank you so much Little Black Crow!The next egg was from Lisa from Faerie Enchantment, which is SO neat because it was only a couple weeks ago that I discovered her blog and joined her Carnival Soiree! Such a gifted artist and such a beautiful egg! I am a fan of Marie as well and this egg brings back all those lovely images of the movie. I am SO happy to have this egg from my new friend! Thank you Lisa! :) Please do yourself a favor and stop by these and all the other blogs involved in Viv's Swap...I found some new ones to subscribe to...maybe you will too! :)
I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! I put up three pieces on ebay today and have 5 pieces to put on etsy this week. Thanks for visiting me today...I'm so glad you stopped by! :)
Ooooooooohh...I can barely hold my excitement! Prim and Whimsy is doing an egg hunt and my dear, sweet friends...they are having a giveaway just for you! :)
Here is how you enter: I donated items for the baskets and entered the Easter Egg Parade as well. You might remember this make-do set. I dressed it up some more...click on the link for a bigger picture. There is lovely, delicious glitter inside the egg now and each has a creamy satin ribbon too! It is now up on ebay, along with some paintings too!So won't you please join in on the egg hunt? Just go to Prim and Whimsy to pick your favorite egg. If that just happens to be mine, then that's just icing on the cake! :) And don't forget to search for that Golden Egg! I hope you win! :)
My Madeline turned two...can you believe it? Has it really been a whole year since this? Madeline has a very strong affection for that lovable furry monster known as Elmo. Don't you love the tutu?! It was made by a friend of mine that I used to work with a LONG time ago. Now she's all grown up and creating cute and adorable kid stuff! Her shop is here.Funny how kids pick what they like. Lillian was SO into the Wiggles and when Madeline was born, we assumed that we'd be pulling out those tapes again. Strangely, she had no interest in anything expect Elmo and the occasional story about the monkey and the man with the yellow hat!Our little girl loves to jump so an Elmo bounce house was the perfect activity for her. She was jumping all over, singing, "Happy Birthday to Me...Happy Birthday to Me!" Lillian had some of her girlfriends there too! As I took these shots of them, I realized that they are not even "little" girls anymore. How did that happen so quickly?!
These were her invitations. I loved the idea of the red fur envelopes, but I was covered in it by the time I was done! I'm heading over to put some of these in my shop, as birthday cards, but also as invitations. Some of you may know one of my other hats is that of a children's party planner. Business for all inclusive parties have slowed, so at least I can offer bits here and there. :)
I'm off to hug my baby girl...she's growing up too fast!
Thursday was our 9 year married, 15 year "together" anniverary! He is the Fred to my Wilma! :) This picture is from 2006...taken just south of the Grand Canyon in a tourist attraction called Bedrock. I was last there when I was just three years old...it's SO much fun! It's the whole town, even has its own movie theater, and dinosaur for you to slide down when you are finished with work.
We love the Flintstones. When Lil was born she looked just like Pebbles. Her first birthday party was a Flintstones party and we were all in costume. Lil to the bone in her hair, me with the raggedy white skirt, and Awesome Guy in well, bright orange fur. My one friend told me the next day that after they left, her husband turned around and said, "Hey must REALLY love her." I love him for putting up with all my crazy ideas, some willingly, and some not so willingly. Teehee. The things we do to make each other happy!
The one thing I know is that this is a man that I can have fun with. Who puts up with my art supplies everywhere and doesn't blink when I make bunnies in October and Santas in February. Who dances with me on stage at the Big Bang in Tempe, and loves festivals and road trips. Who's so incredibly smart and can make me laugh like no other...especially when he quotes from movies at the just the right moment. :) He's a great friend, husband, and father. Love you honey!
Yabbaa Dabba Doo!
P.S. This is what we did for our date out! It was SO much fun!
Thank you SO much for all the video love on the post below...I truly appreciate it and I'm glad you liked it! The painting isn't finished, but I'll post it when it's done. :)
Now it's time for that announcement that I talked about a couple posts ago. I am SO excited about this!!!
In an effort to become more serious with my painting (even though it's the most fun thing I do next to laughing at my little redheads), I applied to join the Prim & Whimsy Girls on ebay. I thought it would be a perfect fit since I can never decide if I want to glitter something or age it, and sometimes do both. :) They do challenges and swaps and that seemed like fun too. They even have some giveaways planned for YOU coming up in the next month!
I was nervous about applying, afraid they would say no...so you can imagine how ecstatic I was when I got an email saying I am now a Prim & Whimsy Girl! Woohoo! The first challenge I've joined was to create something around the theme "A Bird in the Hand." This is what I came up with. This girl is hopeful that her bird's eggs will hatch soon. Of course this could be taken as the whole "signs of spring" kind of thing. However, I was waiting on results from some scary tests done on Madeline and I was trying to keep from freaking out. She's okay, the tests have confirmed, but it was terrifying there for a while and I am so grateful it turned out the way I wanted! :) As I painted this, I started to realize that this girl looks like a friend of mine from middle school! Her name was Jennifer and she and I would play the FIRST Nintendo Mario Brothers every day after school. We did it the "cool" way though. lol We turned down the volume, and turn up the radio (same station) while we talked on the phone. We could play all the way to the end every night in an hour or two.
She had beautiful curly black hair (think Diane of Anne of Green Gables), the bluest of eyes, and naturally rosy lips. Everyone called her China Doll because she looked so much like one. I haven't seen her since middle school, but here's to you Jen, wherever you are! :)
I've put two other things on ebay too, and a couple paintings on etsy as well. I just posted this one today, so it's not showing up yet in the search engine.
I hope you're having a great day! Lillian is on spring break and her only request was to go to the Phoenix Art Museum...that's my girl! :) I've never been, so it will be an adventure for us all!
Faerie Enchantment, a blog I only stumbled upon yesterday (much to my pleasure!) is having a Carnivale Soiree. Awesome Guy's great aunts (twins) were in the circus when they were young. We only have 1 photo of them during this time, but I absolutely cherish it! Can you imagine the guts it took to leave their family and join a circus?! They had great training though...Gene Kelly's (be still my heart!) dance studio was right in their hometown! They traveled up and down the east coast in the Johnny J Jones train circus. They are gone now...how I wish I could of heard those stories!
I love these ladies...they accepted me right when Awesome Guy and I started dating and would look at me with so much love in their eyes that they dazzled me. There is more on the description on youtube, but enough talk...you've waited long enough already! The show MUST go on!
I hope you all realize how much I love you...I stayed up all night. :) Enjoy it!
The posters are up all over blogland! This show is about to start! I am SO close to being finished on this one...been up all night! I found this wonderful blog only yesterday and having relatives that were once in the circus, I HAD to do something! I put a lot of work into it, so if you would please come back in just a little bit, I promise to give you an amazing show!
My mermaid painting is almost all done...just have to finish up the back. However, there is much bigger news today! Today is the birthday of one of the sweetest women I know...Awesome Guy's Grandmother...we call her Gram! Happy Birthday Gram!
Gram has raised two children and had a big part in raising her 3 grandchildren as well. How lucky they and now we, their spouses, are to have her in our lives!
Gram worked in a department store in Johnstown where she met none other than Van Johnson! Be still my heart!
She is also the sweet sister to Sara & Aggie, the ones that joined the circus in the 30's. Gram has taken care of so many, she is a great source of wisdom, and a model of strength! Happy Birthday Gram! We love you! :)
