Torn ...

Have you ever been smack in the middle of a situation and your heart is torn in two different directions? No matter what decision you make you are going to feel bad and let someone down. No matter how hard you try you are not going to make everything work and you are going to end up disappointing somebody. I always want to do the right thing and sometimes it just is not possible. My family is the most important thing to me. My children should come first but there have been a few occasions in the last several months where I have put their feelings second and someone else’s feelings first. I explained to my son sometimes we need to make sacrifices for people that we care about and he understood the best way an eight year old could. I think it is important to teach my children compassion and patience. There are so many rude, self-centered people out there and I think it’s important to teach them to look at other people’s feelings first. I don’t want them to become doormats but I do want them to understand that it’s important to care about other people not only themselves.

I know that the choice my husband and I made was the right one for our family. I just feel terrible that I let someone down that I really care about. Sometimes I wish life was black and white and not so damn grey!

A Few New Things in My Etsy Shop …

Here are a few items I just added to my Etsy shop.

I wanted to try a new way showcase my art so I decided to make a few cute banners. The first banner I created has a little bit of a retro feel. I took a print of my original pastel and colored pencil drawling, “Green Pear” and built a fun banner around it. I took the print of the pear and hand sewed it to a vintage cookbook page. I then took the cookbook page and attached it to a piece of recycled cardboard with pumpkin orange thread. I added vintage sequins to the corners of the prints to give them a little sparkle. Lastly I strung vibrant red ribbon through the little pieces of art.

The next banner I did features my “Love Keeps Me Singing”, collage. I originally created this happy little collage to drown away the winter blues. The collage is a fun mix of brown paper bag, vintage book and music pages, beads, sequins, pictures of flowers from my yard, prints of my pink bird, pastels and colored pencils. I started creating this banner by hand sewing vintage music pages onto recycled cardboard. I then sewed the print of the collage onto the cardboard and decorated it with vintage beads and sequins. Lastly I strung white ribbon through the little pieces of art.






I also put a couple of my latest art creations onto cards.

I wanted to send out a quick thank you to Liz Revit. She always leaves the nicest comments on my blog and always has such encouraging words. If you have not been to her art blog, http://lizrevit.blogspot.com/ or her website, http://www.lizrevit.com/ take some time to catch up with this talented artist. Thank you Liz!!!!

My Kryptonite ...

We all have things we would like to change about ourselves. Things that hold us back, things we are afraid of. Like everyone else I have a laundry list of things I wish I could change about myself. There are things about myself, flaws, which I have learned to, accept because they are who I am. I am never going to be an elegant speaker, I will always be a shy and awkward, and I will never be a social butterfly.

However there is one flaw, defect, or fear which is by far the most crippling to me and that is my lack of confidence. It is the one defect in my personality that I have to change because for as long as I can remember it has held me back from being the person I want to be. I am always second guessing myself, feeling like I am not good enough, sabotaging myself.

I love creating art. It is my way of expressing who I am. There is nothing else in the world that makes me feel more complete or whole. There is nothing else I want to do with my life other than sell my art. Unfortunately when it comes to sharing my art, thinking about promoting my art, or even starting a facebook page for my art I start second guessing myself. I begin tearing apart what I created; thinking that it just isn’t good enough. My lack of confidence is crippling to the business I desire for myself, the career I have envisioned for myself. It is my kryptonite.

I admire confident people. My husband is the most confident person I know. He is so sure of himself and his abilities and because of this he has excelled in his career and in his life. In the last couple months his career has taken off and I truly believe his confidence has played a huge role in that. People are attracted to people who are confident in themselves and what they do. Confident people make the people around them feel at ease. Confidence is by far the most important quality for a person to have when they are dealing with people and selling something.

I read several artist blogs and I am in complete aw in how easy it is for them to share who they are and what they do. They are so comfortable and sure of themselves. They share what they are doing like it is the most unique, important, and amazing creation out there. Their confidence in their creations makes everything they do that more attractive more desirable.

I have to stop feeling like that terribly shy, painfully awkward, twelve year old who has completely no confidence in herself or my dream of having a successful business will only be that a dream. I have to let go, jump in feet first and stop second guessing myself. I know what I have to do I just wish I was confident enough to do it!

Night Owls ...

My newest painting “Night Owls” features two colorful owls sitting on a white birch branch at sunset. Behind the vibrant owls is a dark teal sky that is spotted with little stars and a crescent moon. This little number can be found in my Etsy shop.




Have a wonderful Thursday!

Pretty Peacocks ...

Lately I have been creating pieces of art featuring birds. I love painting and drawling vibrant and colorful roosters and owls. Both birds are full of so much personality and I have endless ideas when it comes to creating these feathered friends. On New Year’s Eve we took a trip to a local zoo. They had beautiful

White Swans,

Black Swans,





and Elegant Peacocks.






I have wanted to do some pieces featuring peacocks and this week I finally finished my first three drawings. All three colored pencil and pastel pieces were created on vintage music pages from a hymn book I found at the Salvation Army.





I have a number of ideas for each image. The first project I am working on is a series of multimedia collages mostly made up of recycled materials.






This is the first collage I have created. The peacock image was printed on a recycled brown paper bag. Other materials use in the collage include a recycled cereal box, ticking, vintage book pages, vintage sequins, a doily my mother-in-law was giving away, more recycled brown paper bag, vintage beads and thread that was my great-grandmothers. I also used colored pencil and pastel, gold glitter paint and left over coffee to stain the doily. I am hoping to finish the other two collages this weekend.

I hope your weekend is full of LOVE!

Another One of my Vintage Toys ...

I wanted to share another one of my vintage toys from the 80’s, my Lite–Brite. I enjoyed playing with it as a kid and I love playing with it with my own kids.

My sister and I only used about half of the patterns so I still have plenty of new ones to share with my kids.





This toy is about 30 years old and I still think it has the original light bulb. I guess they don’t make things the way they used to.

I love the vibrant colors of the pegs, they are so cheery.

Here is an order form to get more patterns and pegs. I have a feeling this is not good anymore, especially the prices.

More colorful pegs.

If you like to see some more fabulous vintage toys stop over and visit Coloradolady for Vintage Thingie Thursday!

A Tractor, an Owl, and some Berries …

If I had time for a hobby I would choose photography. I love wondering around out in nature and taking photos. I have no idea what I am doing I just like taking pictures of things I find interesting. A couple of weeks ago I escaped for a few hours and went exploring. I usually take the camera everywhere I go, but it is tough to relax and enjoy the peacefulness of it all when you have a duo of noise makers and professional question askers in the car.

I love anything rusty, old, or falling apart. I pulled over along the side of the road and took this picture. I think it’s so pretty.




My art has been going to the birds lately. I just think they are so beautiful and so much fun to create, especially owls. Their faces hold so much personality. This is a colored pencil and pastel drawling I completed on a brown paper bag. Brown paper bags have become my favorite paper to create on. It holds the pencil and pastels so well, plus it is very green oh and inexpensive. I also have a new Owl painting in the works and some fabulous Peacocks!





Here are a few pictures I took while wandering around a local park. It was such a peaceful and relaxing afternoon.







Have a great Wednesday!

Finally, blue skies and some new Art …

Today was a great day. The sun was shining, the sky was bright blue and I completed two new creations to put in my Etsy shop.






This little creation features a print of my “Sunlight” drawling. I printed it on a piece of photo cloth and then built the collage around the print. I used vintage sequins and beads, glitter, recycled clothing, old music pages, pastels and colored pencils, vintage lace and table cloths. Everything was hand sewn on a piece of canvas. I then attached the canvas to a recycled box that I colored with pastel and colored pencil.

“Love Lifted Me” is the name of this piece of fabric art. It features a cloth print of one of my pastel drawings. I have hand sewn all of my vintage and recycled goodies around the print to create a cheery collage. I lightly stained parts of the artwork to give it an older look. It’s a perfect piece for this time of year.

Pretty Blue Sky!