Love Never Fails!

our attitudes are a choice:

praying bird:

polka -dotted hope tree:

Learn From Yesterday...

Live for today,
Hope for tomorrow.

-Albert Einstein

I don't know for sure where Mr. Einstein got his hope from, but i sure know what my Hope is in!

Do You See Yourself as God Sees You?

I mean REALLY and TRULY?
...because he thinks you're pretty amazing. I mean, how could you not be? After all, He's the one who created you!

Busy Times!

Two recent sayings that I LOVE:

Cute scallops on the sides:
We've got some busy times ahead of us, so now's the time to get prepared! When we go to the Rivertown Art Festival May 15-16, Emily (The Austin Thing With Winger you see so little of - she's a rare bird) will be joining us! She'll fly into Minneapolis that Saturday of the festival, hang out with us, and come back to Iowa for a 2 week visit! This means we'll have to sell alot so that there'll be room for her and all her luggage on the trip back! We're so excited - but you can imagine there probably won't be a lot of arting going on while she's home. There's only 3 weeks between Rivertown and the Iowa Arts Festival June 5-6, (two of which Emily will be here) so we're preparing now for both! I say we put the thinger to work, painting black and white checks or serenading us while we paint, or something, but she might see it differently.

A Before and After

Found several of these canvases in the clearance section at Hobby Lobby awhile back. They had a cool little frame in the middle of them, but the hot pink paisley had to go. Here's the before:
And the afters:

Amazing what some patterned paper and mod podge can do!



Ahh, much better. It feels like I rescued those canvases from themselves! All in a day's work for this super-arter.

Busy At Work

We've been so busy getting ready for our upcoming shows that we've neglected to post anything new here for too long! So here's some new stuff to look at:Really enjoying adding polka dots to these trees- using different patterned papers.

More to come....

Two Festivals to Look Forward to!

We'll be at the Rivertown Art Festival in downtown Stillwater, Minnesota, Lowell Park on May 15-16!!!
10-6 on Saturday
11-5 on Sunday

***If anyone knows anything about this show, or has any advice for us we'd be grateful! This will be our first time there, and we're so excited!

Also....
Just heard we were once again accepted to Riverssance in Davenport, Iowa! September 18-19.
We can't wait to go back!

Something fun by Connie. approx.19 1/2 x 21 and sells for $49.

Oh Mother.

"She never quite leaves her children at home, even when she doesn't take them along." -Margaret Culkin Banning.

Ain't that the truth! Sometimes when we're in the thick of mothering we think, 'PLEASE, just let me get away from you awhile so that I can miss you!" But when we are away, we think about them the whole time anyway! Darned if ya do, and darned if ya don't. :-)

I did a special order awhile back that had this saying on it, and had some feedback that I should make some more. So here they are!

SOLD

SOLD

SOLD

 

 

 

ETSY!!!

I've been working hard all afternoon to get my sad little Etsy store stocked with some fun things. Here is a little glimpse of what you might find (and more!). Check it out!

*SOLD* -Thanks!

Birdies

{10x12, $35}

{9 1/2 x 11 1/2, $35}

{9 1/2 x 11 1/2, $35}

Although I haven't listed these on Etsy, if anyone's interested, let me know. Your order would be just as secure, because we would still go through the paypal process!(paperprayers@hotmail.com)

"It takes courage to grow up and turn out to be who you really are." -e.e. cummings

Sometimes I get "House Envy"

Yes, we're having some growing pains around here. We're feeling a bit of the effects of living in a house of 3 growing boys. (Which is pretty ridiculous considering how many people in the world are sleeping on dirt floors or with no roof over the heads.) But after living in the same house for almost 11 years, things are starting to look like they're in need of a face lift. Because we've lived in this same house all of our married lives, I tend to not even 'see' my surroundings with fresh eyes on most days. Which I guess is a good thing in that I don't usually notice the chips, stains, scuffs, and wear and tear, or I'd probably go crazy. Usually I'm fairly content. And contentment and thankfulness for all that I have are good, good things. The downside ("downside?!" there's not really a downside to being content and thankful...but bear with me here) is that it's hard to know what to change, or where to begin. Some of the same stuff has been hanging on the same colored walls for years. You would think that artistic creativity would translate into home decorating, but not so much for me. Green Girl on the other hand, is always painting walls and changing up her decor with creative projects. You should ask her to show you sometime - give you all a virtual tour. Anyway, some days it's all too easy for me to fall into the trap of thinking that everybody else has a nicer, cleaner, newer, whatever-er house than me. I mean surely nobody else has banister spindles that look like this, as in missing, do they?
Ok, it's not technically 'missing' - it's broken and probably not getting repaired anytime soon. Anyway, on those days I just want to move and leave all the updating projects behind. I'd move into a new house that looks like one of these - with hearts coming out of the chimneys and scallops and polka dots everywhere:

Happy Easter!

The Things With Wings Families all got together today for brunch, an Easter egg hunt and a special Easter service at our church. Tomorrow will be more celebrating at each of our homes!
Mom made us girls these owls as a little gifty! Isn't she the best thing ever?! And my mom's not too bad either. ;-)

Wishing you all a joyous Easter -celebrating the Hope that only comes from Him!

Good News!

We just got word that we were accepted into the Iowa Arts Festival again this year! It'll be June 5-6 in downtown Iowa City! Yahoo!