Big News!!!

My dear friend, Pam Carriker, (that I have mentioned many a time here) has written her first book and gotten a book deal!  Yahoo!  And as if I weren't thrilled enough with that news, she asked me to contribute to it!  I about fell over from excitement!  Followed immediately by a panic attack, of course.  :-D   Thankfully, she's given me a specific assignment and a deadline, otherwise I would swim in indecision right up until the last minute.

You can read about the book's journey on Pam's newest blog:  Art at the Speed of Life.  If you follow Pam and her other blog already, then you know this book is going to be great!  Hurray, Pam!!!

Week 5 video from the Melange Team

Thanks to the fabulous Glenda, another great collection of artwork from our fantastic Melange team!

Collage and mixed media slide show from the Melange Team on Etsy.com #4

Week #4 video of work from the Melange Team. Thank you Glenda!!!

Illustration Friday

Words Fall Like Snow

(available on Etsy)

Illustration Friday, this week's topic is "Frozen."  Look here to peruse the art of all the other participating artists.

You know when you're angry and your words come out so coldly, that even your body feels frozen?  That's what I was thinking when I made this.  I almost feel like I can't control the coldness sometimes.

Hmm...this is a cheery post!

Week 3 of the Melange Team's Video Debuts!

Another great video of selections from our Etsy street team The Melange Team. (I just realized that I somehow missed posting week 2 here!) Our fearless, peerless leader Glenda of Two Cool Texans is the wonderful producer and editor of these videos - Thanks, Glenda!!!

Herb and Dorothy, an Art Love Story

Watched this tonight on PBS. Simply amazing. A postal worker and a librarian amassed the world's largest collection of modern art. I was moved to tears at the end. Their love of art is so pure.

The film's page on PBS/ Independent Lens is here.  The Netflix page is here.

Mommy is Grumpy.

Mommy has no chocolate.

Dear So and So

(available on Etsy here)

If you want to participate in Dear So and So Friday, here's a link to a bunch more people doing the same.  I decided to participate so as to be able to vent my inner snarky-ness occasionally.  Otherwise I get it all over some poor, unsuspecting soul...

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Dear Earthlink,

I just want you to know I have not forgotten about the lost SIX+ hours I logged listening to your hold music while you determined that you couldn't help me with your equipment and service.  As promised, I consistently tell people what terrible, terrible service you provide and advise everyone I know to stay as far away from your company as possible.  We have had no outages at all since we left your negligent service behind.

Happy without you,
LBM

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Dear LaVerne,

You are the best neighbor we have!  Please don't move to Texas!  I know you have that new grandbaby, and that's certainly a draw, but won't you miss our weed infested yard and DH's lovely "vintage" cars rotting in the driveway???

(Plus, what if a crazy person buys your house? - or someone who likes manicured lawns?)

We'll miss you,
LBM

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Dear Driver Who Was In Front Of Me Yesterday,

This is the state of Washington.  Read your Washington State Driver's Manual.  We allow free right turns on red lights in this state.  Just stop, look, see that there are absolutely no cars coming, then turn.  It's not rocket science.

Recovering from Road Irritation,
LBM

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Hmmmmmmmmm.  Not very snarky.  I should do this when I'm in a worse mood...

Art from the Melange Mixed Media team on Etsy.com

Melange Team Challenge; Wee Witches - and an interview!

(Available on Etsy)

This week's Melange Team challenge is "Wee Witches."  I decided to do a collage on a small 5 x 5 canvas.  I thought I'd include some instructions this time.

I painted the canvas first with black gesso, then I loosely  painted some strokes across the top 1/2  with Navy acrylic paint.  Then I took a template I made with a circle punch and used it as a stencil.  I used a make-up sponge to lightly fill in the circle with light yellow paint and then a small brush to lightly stroke some moonlight onto the sky.

For the house, I used ink to distress some paper and printed my wee witches onto transparency.  They didn't show up enough against all the printing on the white paper, so I stamped a design on some orange paper (I thought some kind of design was necessary to confirm that they were transparent) and glued the transparency to that.  I thought the rectangle shape would suggest a door.

I made my wee witches' hats out of scrapbook paper that had a black and white photograph on it.  Obviously this is from a large swath of black.  I like it, rather than black paper, because it wasn't as flat and dark as black paper.  To suggest roundness, I used a white charcoal pencil and then smudged walnut ink over it.

I wrote a little mini poem in honor of the subject, printed it out and started distressing it with ranger inks.  It immediately smeared all over the place!  Humph!  So I printed it out again (This time multiple times - just in case!)...and smeared it 2 more times - no matter how careful I was.  I do this all the time, using this exact same printer!  Someone suggested it might be the paper I'm using, and I am using a different paper than usual.  Anyway, I ended up taking some matte spray finish and spraying the 2 remaining printouts, letting them dry for 2 hours (!) and then distressing them  It worked out fine.  Geez! What a process.  Of course it wasn't over.  When I scanned it, it washed out the words so they looked pure white when they are actually quite distressed.  So I tried to use photoshop to make them closer to reality - but I think I got a little carried away!  Oh, well.  Sometimes you just have to call it done.

Check out the comments section on the Melange Team Challenge post  to see other responses to the challenge.  There are some great entries!

And on the exciting news front; see my interview with Jodi Ohl on Saturday's post!  (Perhaps I should have said Jodi Ohl's interview with me?  See for yourself and let me know...)   I'm very honored to be featured.

My Baby's First Love Note

How cute is that???  Of course, my DH spent an hour with them on the playground and came to the conclusion - in total seriousness - that the boy in question is "a perv" and needs to be watched closely.  The boy is 5 years old.  Oh, Daddy...

But Can She Bake a Cherry Pie?

      So, a couple of months ago we were invited to a wedding.  Adam, the son of my DH's oldest friend was getting married in another friend's backyard.  Michelle's backyard, to be exact.Now, I don't know about you, but I've been to many backyard weddings.  Some rented tables and chairs, maybe a decorated arch, a lot of tulle, and some pastel and/or white flowers.  Maybe red roses if there was enough money in the budget.  Backyards are generally large, communicating a them on that scale is difficult and costly.  Most backyard weddings all end up looking the same.                                                                                                   

Not this one!  This was a miracle of decor, I tell you.  Michelle, with lots of help from another friend, Tammy, hunted down every last piece of anything with a picture of a cherry on it!  I didn't even get pictures of everything there was to see. 

There were little, hand-painted, cherry-decorated birdhouses (like the one above) hanging from all the trees - dozens of treehouses!  There were more birdhouses hanging from the fenceposts and in other strategic spots throughout the yard.  

There were prints of cherry paintings hanging from the fence (see below).  There were cherry printed bowls, teapots, pitchers, cups, platters, aprons, ribbons, tableclosths, and napkins.  There were tiny, little pieces of cherry printed fabric peeking out of miniature picnic baskets.                                                                       

There were little tableaux set up throughout the yard.  On the side of the house, in one small alcove was a little shelf with  a cherry printed tea set, red and white gingham fabric, and black, cherry printed fabric accessorized with glass domes, decorative iron birds, cherry printed basketry and red and white polka-dotted ribbon.  (telephoto at right and below, as well as a view of the whole tableau).         

In the breezeway between the house and the garage - always a very cutely decorated spot, the wrought iron and crystal chandelier is always there - was a buffet table filled with cherry printed serving dishes.  The fence was decorated with an adorable, vintage apron, some vintage cherry prints, and other super-cute decorations (some of which are also always there).  One one wall of this area is a fabulous, hand made, rustic buffet cabinet made by Adam's dad a few years ago.   In it, there were cherry printed cannisters, napkins, candlesticks, bowls...okay, you get the idea.  There's a picture of it below.                                

One of my favorite things was a little area she had set up behind the garden shed - which, btw, I should have take a picture of as well because it looks like a little girl's playhouse instead of a garden shed.  Absolutely adorable! Anyway, behind it she had set up an area for the photographer to
take pictures of the wedding guests.  There was a little white bench with a couple of cherry-printed pillows on it.  Above that, on the wall of the shed, she hung a framed, vintage advertising poster that said, "We tend to Seek Happiness."  Of course there was more to the saying, being that it was an advertisement for cherries, but that was the best part.  You can see it there on the right.  How sweet is that set-up?  I got a picture of Rexy just as she as jumping off the bench.

Another on of my favorite things was that apron on the side of the fence.  How cute is that?  With the light shining through it like that, it felt like you were walking into an old movie.
Those birdhouses hanging from the trees were just fantastic, too.  When you walked under the trees, it was so cool to look up
 and see them swaying in the (barely discernible) breeze (did I mention that it was 96 degrees that day? Hairdo and makeup just melted away...).

Out front she had some statuary wearing this hat with the dingle balls on it and I don't know if

you can see them, but there are little cherry charms hanging between each dingle ball.  Who thinks of these things???  Michelle.  (Yes, that's me in the hat.  I cut off the whole bottom half of my face!  Oh, well.  Rexy looks much cuter in it anyway, there's one pic below)

To the right here (hopefully, when I publish this everything will be formatted the way it is here in the "compose" mode - I don't know about you, but I often have problems with blogger just randomly changing my spacing and formatting.  Sigh.  One of those bugs I hope they fix some day.) is a picture of the "dance floor."  she has a little tinted, cement patio outside the garden shed/playhouse that was utilized
 as a dance floor.  There are pillows on the ground and on the benches - all with a cherry print.  The fence is decorated, as I mentioned above.
So tell me, how cute is all this??? I didn't even show all the tables set up with their cherry printed tablecloths, the lawn furniture with their cherry printed pillows, and everything else that I've forgotten to mention.  And, I would like to add, it wasn't too much.  Everything was tempered with enough white and touches of black to keep it from being overwhelming.  But it's a big yard, so you do need a lot of things to get your point across.   When you walked up the garden path and turned the corner, there was no doubt what the theme was, but it was charming and pretty across the board (or should I say "across the lawn?").  It was so charming and pretty that I just had to share it with you.  And, hands up from everyone who thinks Michelle should be doing something professional in this arena!

I'll leave you with a picture of my beautiful girl having fun with the hat.

(Seems like I should have had her in red and white gingham doesn't it?  The was no dress to be found like that, plus she picked this one herself.)

Hmmmm.  Too much space here at the end.  Off topic, I want to ask, how many of you have participated in the Melange Team's weekly challenge?  Why not start today?  The challenge for the week starting Wednesday, September 16th, is "Wee Witches."





Just make something using the theme "Wee Witches" and then post about it on your blog or Flickr page.  Then,  in the comments section of the challenge post (won't be up until Wednesday, I'm jumping the gun a little here), post a comment including a hot link to your blog post.  There are usually directions for including a hot link (i.e. a clickable link - not a copy and paste situation, it just makes it easier on everybody).  If not, here are directions.  (That site also has some mighty cute, free blog backgrounds - just FYI)