Etsy Pick-O-The-Week - AFanicifulTwist

I've neglected my Etsy Pick-O-The-Week for most of the summer. But I'm all vacationed-out, and ready for a POW!

This week I'm featuring an artist whos work I found earlier in the summer. AFancifulTwist has originals, prints, and some very whimsical clay pieces. I love the colors, compositions, and graceful lines in these illustrations. Very beautiful stuff! And her blog is superb, and has become one of my regular places to visit.

New Pocket Mirror

Life has been very busy since returning from the beautiful Northern California. I'll share more soon, but for now I finally added my pocket mirrors to the shop on Etsy.

They come with a little organza bag to help protect it.

They're made from a painting that I did last year. I've got some other new items that I'll bring out soon. I liked this previous NibbleFest entry for "Gnarled Trees."

Another Trip!

We're leaving on another trip. Not as far this time, but don't expect to hear from me until after August 21. It's been a while since we've been to the bay area, and I'm so looking forward to it! As usual, my time is running out, so I've just found an older painting I did of my dog, Ziggy. He's all grown up now, almost 2.

Why did I choose Ziggy? Well, he's going on vacation with us, and whenever a huge dog is with you on a road trip, well it pretty much takes over a lot of your thoughts!! I've got my list of all the beaches that allow dogs, and we'll be camping, so I think we'll do ok!

Look for me after the 21, and do enjoy the remaining moments of your summer!

Beautiful BUGS!!

Today, at my mom's, we had a most interesting visitor. And how lucky was I to capture the extreme, intricate, beauty of this dragonfly! If you create a beautiful, natural setting you can have these lovelies visit you, too!... even in Orange County! What's funny is it kept returning back to this EXACT same spot, as if it wanted me to get it's picture!



Here's another gorgeous character that I was so fortunate to capture, digitally. This guy was found on our walk, at my Grandma's, way deep in the heart of Texas. Outside Austin.

And sorry for the BAD QUALITY of this last photo...



This much scarier bug (scorpion) fell down from the ceiling in the spare room at my Grandmas. Luckily I saw it land, because as you can see, it's EXACTLY the color of the carpet!! It wouldn't stand still long enough for a better pix, And Wesley soon killed it. CREEPY!!

Obligations

I guess I should be happy that I've got plans. But I really only want to stay home, after my long trip in July. I've got obligations, so I'll leave my peaceful little mountain home for a couple of days.



I've been doing a lot work on my house. Clean sweeping, spring cleaning (in summer), organizing. I'll have pix of my revamped kitchen soon. Because of the revamping, I'm able to use my juicer much easier than the space-challenged kitchen allowed before. I usually make a combo of apple-carrott with other veggies. Look at the gorgeous colors that beets, carrotts, pears, and apples make...



Yummy! So earthy, with hints of dirt! (Beets!)

Veggie Across America

Hello, My Dears...

You may have figured, or not, that we ran into some difficulties with the connection to the internet with the laptop. It was a little disappointing, but we took it in stride and had an adventurous time anyhow!

My Dad is vegan, and I'm vegetarian, so we went to restaurants with a veggie flare across the country. I'm going to give a little review of the ones we went to.

In Flagstaff, Arizona we ate at the New Frontiers Natural Market, at the deli. My Dad loved the Cashew-Tomatoe soup. I enjoyed the tofu patty. They had a good variety of prepared salads and eating outside was nice since there were some clouds, and it wasn't too hot.

We ate at an Indian restaurant called Gopuram, in Oklahoma City. Indian food is always so full of exotic flavor, and this restaurant had lots of vegetarian dishes, and the service was excellent. They gave us special treatment, and we had an interesting conversation.

My favorite place that we ate had to be Rosetta's Kitchen in Asheville, North Carolina. We had some awesome vegan nachos, and I had wonderful veggie burger. Not the average frozen patty sort of burger. I loved the atmosphere of this place the best of all the places we ate. It's very old-school hippie. Not your new-age, clean-and-simple-lines, type of place. More artsy, funky, colorful and kick-back style. I really like the colorful murals in the balcony eating area. Asheville is just the best town!!

This is a pix of the ultra cool "balcony" area...



Our stop in Memphis, Tennessess was a little different. It ended up being a bar called RP Tracks that must just try to have a little bit of everything for every type of person. They did have vegan nachos, but it was pretty much just some BBQ-Sauce-Tofu with chips. My veggie burger was run-of-the-mill. The waitress was ultra-sweet and helpful though.

In Fayetteville, Arkansas we ate at the fairly new Greenhouse Grill. This place had terrific service from a friendly guy (maybe the owner/manager?) The Greenhouse Grill was very clean, and the food was excellent, and had a bit of gourmet quality. Wesley said that it was the best food that he had on the trip. Wow, that's saying a lot!!

Another cool experience was in Dallas at the Cosmic Cafe. This place was decorated so great. Lots of influences from India, with colorful murals, and interesting items. Bursting with energy, and color and the waitresses were very nice. My only complaint about this place is I think they need a little bit of kid food. Pretty exotic, and kind of spicy stuff. Although Wesley did love the samosas appetizer that we had.

Even the parking area is groovy...



We didn't eat in Austin this year, but I know I love to eat at Mother's Cafe. I'm sure there are other great places to eat in that town.

Our last restaurant that we ate at was in Tucson called Lovin Spoonfuls. Cute name! This place is all vegan. We ate lunch there, and I'm wondering if they have an entirely different menu for dinner. We had sandwiches, and some kind of yummy fake-chicken nuggets. I loved the carrot salad that was an option for your side order with the sandwich. Another spot with excellent service. And it must be pretty popular in the desert town, it was packed!

Of course while traveling you can usually find a Whole Foods, Wild Oats. or Greenlife in a major city. It's nice to get a break from your usual roadside, Interstate-Gas-Station food and eat some quality food, and truly experience the veggie side of America!!

Check out Happycow.net for some other restaurants that serve vegetarian/vegan food. It can be an adventure.

You can expect to see me updating my blog more regularly, well, at least for a couple of weeks until my next trip!!

Yay! It seems to work! (except I can't seem to get a title on my page...I miss my Mac!!) Day one of our trip with my Dad, we got to Gallup, New Mexico. We stopped to eat at a natural foods store in Flagstaff. I've never stopped in that town, and I'm glad I got to see it this time. It's very nice, and the historical downtown is so awesome!

We went to see a couple of haunted places that Wesley had read about in book about the Haunted places of Route 66. This is the Riordan Mansion. How beautiful, enormous, and rustic. I guess there's ghosts there that like to play pool. We were there after hours, so we couldn't go on the tour. Save that for next time.

Sorry, I'm a little rushed, AGAIN. We've got to get on the road.

2008 DIARY - Goin on a trip!!

This is my entry for Fantazya's 2008 journal. I'm so rushed right now that that's all I can say. I'll update this soon. I'm going on a trip over to North Carolina, and if all works out with my Dad's laptop, I'll be able to update my blog from the road!!

If you don't hear from me soon, then look for me after July 24.

Much love!!

Happy 4th of July! Etsy Bloggers Street Team/Etsy Sellers Pick-O-The-Week - folkit

Happy 4th of July to all you Americans, or any who celebrate this day. We enjoyed the town a little, then had a relaxing day at home, in the seemingly-record-breaking heat. I hope all of you Southern California friends out there are staying cool! When it's 95 degrees at 6200 feet elevation, you know it's a sizzler!!

I'm now part of the Etsy Bloggers Street Team! There are a lot of Etsy sellers who blog, and they are fun to find, and read! The Street Team has it's first theme this week... "Orange for Etsy." To me the color orange is very cheerful and I love it in paintings. I'm combining my Pick-O-The-Week with the theme. So I was searching for something orange on Etsy using the "colors" search method. I never really understand just how this thing works. And I still think it doesn't come up with a lot of items. It did however bring me to my featured artist of the week... folkit. Dan C Pop Outsider Folk Art has a lot of original paintings and I notice quite a bit of orange being used. More importantly, this art is so vibrant, and has such a sense of humor, that I was instantly drawn to it. I love this cat, what you see is actually a crop, the whole piece is 5.5 x 23", and on recycled wood - always desirable to me. I love this Outsider Art!! And he has a blog. Good stuff!!

So again I say - stay cool out there!

In the OC

We went on our first mini-trip of the summer... down to the OC. I got a new camera and I'm so jazzed! I've had my oldie for 7 years, and it's such a dino. It worked good for me when no other would work with my old computer, but I was so ready for this smaller, faster, and higher quality camera. I had a fabulous time trying it out!!!

First we spent the day with my mom, sis and nephews, including the 18 month old twins. Makes for an entertaining, yet extra sandy day. Such cutie-pies!!


After that we went to eat at one of my favorite places to eat, The Gypsy Den. We usually go to the one in Santa Ana, in the Artist Village. A good day to go is on the first Saturday, monthly, for the Santa Ana Art Walk.


Before I left my mom's I had to get some pix of her garden. Here we have The Tiki Room, created by Grandma and boys.


My mom really knows how to create a delightful garden. This is one of her ponds.


She's lucky to have such beautiful water lilies blooming. And I'm lucky to have a new camera to take such lovely shots!!

Etsy Pick-O-The-Week - soapdeli

I'm always a sucker for soap with the scent of sage. While cruising etsy a couple of weeks ago I found this soap for sale. And yes, for some reason, sage scented soap is one I really like. So on an impulse I bought some soap from soapdeli. I'm happy to say this soap I bought was simply scrumptious! Sage and citrus is a perfect combination, and this soap feels so luxurious! And what topped off this perfect transaction was the incredibly high speed at which it arrived in my post office box! There are a lot of handmade soaps on etsy, but I have to say that the scents over at soapdeli are delightful! I will be back again. She's also got lotions and scrubs in her shop, which my feet are needing terribly at this time. You can also find their website at www.soapdelicatessen.com

As I mentioned, I bought this soap on impulse. I usually do buy on impulse, especially while looking at the lovely things on etsy. I've never hearted an item, then later gone back and bought it. I'm wondering how many people actually do go back to the item that they hearted, or are watching, and actually buy it?

A Decade of Motherhood

I'm amazed that my son turned 10! It's so cliche, but they do grow up so fast! I'm very proud of my friendly, creative, intelligent, sweet boy! If you've got the time, and interest, go to his blog Creep-A-Zoid Art and comment to be entered in his give away in honor of his birthday.



We already had the party for his friends a couple of days ago. So on the actual birthday we like to have a fairly relaxing day together and go out and enjoy nature in some way. We took a little hike. It was a little hot in the sun, but the sky was very blue and there was a nice little breeze. Although you can see the result of our drought. More dead trees.



Just a small amount of smog when you looked out over towards the city.



Even with the drought, you can still enjoy a little green in the creek areas. The smell is as lovely as ever, and there's still a tiny bit of water flowing in this creek.

After our day hiking, we went off the hill for dinner and a movie. An enjoyable day in honor of 10 busy, happy years!

Rosey Rose

Brad brought me home these beauties. I wish I could say they were from my garden, but I lost my best rose bush last year to a mole. I've still got a couple, but none that produce roses like these!



I always see faces in flowers, and this is the one that came to see me after receiving these lovelies.

You can find "Rosey Rose" my shop shop on etsy. It's acrylic on a 4 inch, round wooden, plaque

I'm Perplexed

I finished this little painting today. It's acrylic on a 5x5 inch wooden plaque. I'm perplexed at just what to call her. She looks very perplexed to me. So I guess she's going to be called "Perplexity".

She started out as a sketch from a couple of weeks ago. I often like to sketch and doodle in my journal while watching t.v. I was watching a silent movie and here's a spread that I doodled in my book. I don't really know much about the plot of this movie... You can miss quite a bit of a silent movie if you draw during it, but it sure had some cute girls in it! You can see this Perplexed young lady as she was originally drawn, in the bottom right corner.



Before I painted her I was thinking about the colors of the 20's. We talked about "just what were the colors of the 20's?" Wesley thought they were grey, black and white. Well of course, that's what I think too, just like all old decades, really. Then I tried to imagine more, and I thought of The Great Gatsby, and the colors to me in that story are very pastel. So here you have a little bit of pastel.

She also reminds me of the little gift books published by Hallmark in the late 60s, early 70s. I have one of those little books that I've had since I was 2. Since then I've collected quite a variety of the quaint books. For some reason, the hat, or facial expression reminds me of those books.

I quite enjoy this quirky Perplexity, and I'm sure I'll make prints of her in the future. For now we have the little piece in my shop on etsy.

Etsy Pick-O-The-Week - Novembermoon

I'm lovin all the time that summer gives to me! Yeah, sure there's distractions when kids are home from school, but not having to deal with the school schedule is a wonderful thing!

I found this shop Novembermoon today, and what cute and funky things! I like the way she layers many types of materials into her creations. You'll find original paintings, fun and adorable dolls (always a fave of mine!), neat things made with monoprints, and some bags and handknit items.

Novembermoon also has an entertaining blog, one that I will definitely be back to visit often!

Altered Box - Count your life with smiles!

"Count the garden by the flowers, never by the leaves that fall. Count your life with smiles and not the tears that roll."



I altered this box that once held tubes of acrylic paint. I used a little reproduction of a painting that I did earlier this year. That was collaged with tissue paper, and the quote and acrylic paint were added.

Once I collaged and varnished it, the box wasn't fitting together like it originally did. So I glued thin rope around it to act as a stopper, to keep the lid from getting stuck.

It's a little funky, but the textures make it fun to hold. And the size is perfect for holding some special little trinkets, or would make a wonderful gift box. Approx 5 x 3.5 x 1.75 inches.

I've got 4 more of these little boxes, so I look forward to making more.

-SOLD-

100th Post!!

Cheers to my 100th! How fitting that my 100th post was to happen during an outrageously busy week!

Insanely busy schedule with end of the school year activities... field trips, plays, baseball playoffs, award ceremonies, other assorted duties - throw in a wedding reception and birthday parties, friends visiting from out of state, and a family crisis... well this makes for a stressed woman, and a suffering blog! Things are looking better now, and I'm thoroughly enjoying my first day of summer vacation. I'm so ready for my time of the year with no real schedule.

My Pick-O-The-Week will return next Wednesday. I just had to get a posting done before more time passed.

I did this painting a few years ago. It's a favorite of mine and shows up from time to time in prints of different sorts. The original is on a wood panel plaque. I'll be painting some more plaques soon.

HOORAY FOR SUMMER VACATION!!

Etsy Pick-O-The-Week - MrToastStore

Who DOESN'T like Mr. Toast?

My life's a little crazy now, so I chose to do an old favorite for my Pick-O-The-Week, MrToastStore!

I first came across Mr. Toast on MySpace, and how happy to later see him on Etsy. There's something so fun about Dan Goodsell and all of his little friends, you can't help but smile when you see the creatures! My 9 year old son was instantly hooked on all the characters, and he used his hard earned art money to buy one of Dan's books last year. Of course, the book was an instant success with all of his friends as well. They liked Mr. Toast so much that there were a few days of Mr. Toast and friends games at school. One friend went so far as claiming that HE had invented Mr. Toast a couple of years earlier. We of course knew that was just a tall tale!

Over in the MrToastStore you'll find original paintings, books, buttons, bookmarks, and plushies like this hilarious "Frankentoast" that you see here. I'm sure there's bound to be other stuff there sometime soon.

Find Dan's website at www.mistertoast.com From there you can find his ever-so-entertaining blog, animations and lots of other fun, happy stuff.

Just a little Purple

My garden is becoming so very lovely that I just had to share a little bit of purple!

Every year I get some lobelia and other colorful annuals to plant in my window boxes assorted pots. I was happy to also get some violas again. I just love those little flowers, and they really do self seed themselves and spread slightly around your garden.

But what fabulous shades of purples and blues these posies add to my yard, and my blog!

Buttons are Back

These are little buttons (or pins) that I have sculpted in polymer clay, then painted with acrylic paint. They are then coated with glossy acrylic varnish. On the back is a little safety pin that is sculpted into the clay. The look is more 3D than they appear in my photo. Little pieces of art that you can wear.

In the 90s I made a lot of these buttons, in many designs. Having not made any in nearly 10 years, it was fun to make these again. Back then peace signs didn't have a lot of significance, although I made them anyway. Now I'm enjoying making these buttons with messages even more!

Look for new designs very soon.