Happy Halloween

I enjoy making costumes for the children. I like creativity, and the fact that no one else will be the same exact thing as them. Above are our costumes from 2 years ago. My husband and I were monsters, my oldest was a werewolf, my son was a frankenstein pizza guy, and my youngest was a princess riding a unicorn (I didn't make this one). I just finished up my children's costumes this year in time for their class parties. I hope people can tell what they are! Happy Halloween everyone!

Dining Buffet Before and After

Hi Everyone! I am back from Fall Break - we didn't go anywhere, but it was a packed week. Sleepovers, projects, kids activities.....

Anyhow, I realized I have a few projects I did over the summer that I didn't get around to posting. One project I had been meaning to do for years is painting our dining buffet, if you can call it that. It is actually an old dresser that my husband and I purchased when we were first married 16 years ago. Below is the after:

Here's the before - it was functional, and I hate to throw away good furniture....

I never intended to paint it this blue color. I was going for grey, but I had a quart of blue I was sampling out several years ago. I am glad I went with it; it goes nicely with my painting. Plus, I was able to get rid of one more can of paint that is taking up space in our basement!

I was able to recycle the handles by spray painting them. I made sure to prime first. I painted them black. It gives it a nice balance of the traditional shape with the modern color. I accessorized with silver inherited from my husband's mother. There again, I like the shiny of the tarnished silver, mixed with the distressed buffet, with the modern/traditional handles.

As I write this, the wind is BLOWING hard outside. Today is trash day, and there is trash all over the street! I am so glad I got some of these painting projects done this summer. It may be a long Winter.....

Fall Break

Hello everyone! I'm sorry for the lack of postings - I am enjoying Fall Break with my children. I hope everyone has had a great week - I'm trying to start and finish a costume for my youngest. She is going to be an owl for Halloween. I'll post pictures if it turns out. :)

Happy Friday

Feelings of Fall:

Above are images from taken in Vail a few weeks ago. Below is a sitting area off the dining area in a nearby model home.

I'm loving the cozy feeling of Fall! Have a great weekend everyone!

Andante

Andante - a musical term meaning "moderately slow tempo". Something I'm constantly trying to achieve. Everyone always tells me life goes faster the older one's children get. How true that is! I want some "andante" in my life - not so slow that we are bored, but slow enough so we can enjoy it.

Happy Friday

"Sincerely" Fine Art Photograph on sale on Etsy. Click here to view.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Music Lessons

"Music Lessons" -print for sale on etsy. Click here to view.

My children all take piano lessons. My son loves it - he is fantastic - he is the musician in the family. My oldest daughter, although a good player, does not play with the passion my son has. She would rather be out on the soccer field. My youngest likes it, but lacks the discipline to practice. Music lessons, although tortuous for some, has been found to be beneficial for young kids' brains. That's what I keep coming back to anyways, when my daughter keeps wanting to quit. Though, after 10 years of lessons, and many more years of playing the piano for my church, I'm not sure I've been "thankful" for those lessons like my mom kept telling me I would be when I grew up. :)

Anyhow, I really like the combination of the above collage of my vintage music, the pears, and scribbles from my old piano teacher. I'm not sure why I combine fruit and music, but it makes sense to me.

A Butterfly Painting

"Orangey Butterfly" for sale on Etsy. Click here to view.

Can you believe the weather? We still have butterflies in October! I hope you all had a great weekend. We went up to Vail, CO for our daughter's soccer tournament. We missed the peak season of the changing of the leaves, but it was still beautiful up there.

I have a series of butterflies I've been working on. I will be listing them in my shop. These butterflies are textural and colorful!

Happy Friday

"Cotton Candy" on sale on Etsy. Click here to view.

Happy Friday everyone! I'm excited to let you know I am now offering some of my photographic images to my shop, as well as some prints of my original paintings. The above image are of the blossoms on a pear tree. I've named the above image "Cotton Candy" because it reminds me of that fluffy stuff I used to devour when I was young!

Thanks for visiting, and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

The Fall Mantle and Other Fall Touches

Hello All! I just wanted to share some seasonal decor changes in the home.

As most you all know, being an artist, I am always revolving my artwork on the mantle. Here is the latest of my blossoms series with the colors of orangey, persimmon, pumpkin, and coral. (Are there any other orangey color descriptions? :) I added my dried Chinese Lantern plant I saved from last year. I've also added my old books on the built-ins.(most are Reader's Digests with the colorful binding)

Here was the mantle in the spring/summer. Another painting in my blossoms series. That painting is really off-center!

Remember this pillow I made that I showed you in a previous post?

Here below is another Fall pillow. This was a simple pillow to make. It is 2 Crate and Barrel placemats that I sewed together, with a zipper at the end. The placemats were purchased several years ago, with the intention of making them into the pillows. Why did I wait so long to do this? It literally took 10 minutes.

I put some of my "warmer-colored" photographic work into my photo art wall. (I will be selling these soon in my shop.)

In the entry, I added some of my cut crabapple branches from the yard, and added the lamp, the candles, and photos of the children when they were younger.

I will buy some pumpkins soon, to complete the Autumnal feel in the home.

What about you? What are you working on?

By the way, I'm linking this post to the Nester's Fall Mantle Party. Thanks for visiting - I'm going to check out some more mantles at the Nester!