Giveaway Goodies

I received my package today from Print Pattern Paper. What a treat!! A few weeks ago, Holly at Decor8 blog sponsored this giveaway and I won. Imagine out of 621 responses I was a lucky winner. I chose an apron, two lovely tea towels and a really fabulous market bag. Of course Iggy had to get right in and check it out immediately. This bag is now cat approved! Thanks so much Rebecca. Your products are wonderful and I really like the idea behind art and philanthropy.

Madness

No, I'm not angry or going crazy or anything! I titled this Madness because I'm listening to Madness right now. Remember-Our House. From the 80's??? I've been listening to 80's music while painting today. Sometimes it just puts me in the mood. Yes, my studio has been a mad house (see, my title does fit!) I'm in planning stages for a new series of paintings as well as finishing up 3 custom orders, and I have everything everywhere again. I will be re organizing my studio and workspace over the holidays. I've also got to get our place cleaned up and "Christmassy" for friends and family that will be visiting. It does not look very festive yet. The little tree is up but looking rather empty. I think a few new decorations are in order. I've got white sparkley lights strung up over my work table so that looks nice especially as it's been getting dark here about 4pm. The weekend will be the usual around here shopping, laundry, cleaning, etc. Actually, Holly over at decor8 has a wonderful post today about her mood board and has inspired me to re-do mine. I'll squeeze some time out for myself to do that and post photos here. What have you got planned for the weekend?

I did the above little painting in my workshop a few weeks ago. Just a fun little piece I titled Desparate Housewife. Available in my shop. Please note that holiday purchases should be made by Monday December 15th to ensure delivery for the holidays.

Link Love

I meant to do a blog post yesterday, I really did but then the day just got away from me and it never happened. Usually I'm very organized and my Mondays start with a big cup of steaming hot coffee and a list of all that's to be accomplished that day and the rest of the week. Well it was about 3 in the afternoon before I got to make that list. I started yesterday with a few emails I had to write which I found rather frustrating because the words just wouldn't come. So I do what I usually do then-I take a break and check out some of my favorite blogs. I popped in to see what Veronica was up to and found her photo of a new painting. I hope you feel better Veronica!!. Then I checked out my two favorite design blogs decor8 and decor addict. Awsome as always.

Gabriela was next-she's always got something very interesting going on. She didn't disapoint! And then on to Marisa's blog. A very interesting post on a heated topic!! It was after I had finished reading Marisa's post and spent way too much time writing and leaving her a comment that I thought I should check on the time. Oooops, 11:30 already??!?? Time to get those emails written and sent.

I spent the rest of my day varnishing and wiring 20 smalls for Art Interiors, and wrapping six new paintings for XC Art Restoration that I'm delivering later today. Oh yes, and because my studio is in my home, I also managed to get in three loads of laundry, make dinner, feed the cats, blah, blah, blah.

The little Daisy piece above will be available in my shop later this week. I'll be listing lots of new work very soon. Please check back often.

Thanks Holly and Decor8!!!

There's been a lot of buzz over at Decor8 lately. Holly's new blog went live this past Monday and there's been big excitement. The new blog design looks great. Check it out here. The winners of the Inspire Me Giveaway were also announced. Congratulations to all who won one of the fabulous inspiration packs painstakingly put together by Holly herself. So many donated for this- including myself. You can see the long list of contributors here. A special thanks to Holly for pulling this off and inspiring so many others. I have been going through my boxes and drawers pulling things together for a little giveaway of my own. Stay tuned!!!

The above is another "mini" acrylic on canvas. Available at my online shop.

Creative Recycling

A very popular design blog that I read is inspiring a creative recycling project. You can read about it here under the post "can you inspire someone". I am off to the post office with my donation of 12x12 original artist papers and original art cards that will be included in "inspiration packs". I first discovered Holly and her decor8 blog last spring. Blogging was totally new to me and I just loved (and still do!) reading her posts. Many of the stores and places I visited during my trip to Boston last summer was thanks to Holly's blog.

The artist papers are something I started doing awhile ago just for fun. They are a great way for me to loosen up before doing a larger painting. Just playing with paint, stamps, mixed media and such. They are all about "playing" with materials and just having fun with it. After the papers started piling up in the studio I decided to cut them into 12x12 squares and pass them on to friends as original scrapbooking sheets. The art note cards I've been doing since I began painting and used to sell them at outdoor art shows. Now I just do them so that I will have original art cards to give away for special occasions. Thanks Holly, for the opportunity to recycle "creatively" and for inspiring me with your wonderful blog