Custom Orders

Just added a new tab to our menu bar above called CUSTOM ORDERS! Now you can easily see examples of personalized orders that we've done in the past all in one place!

We've created many personalized gifts for families, weddings and other special occasions. We've also done favorite quotes, bible verses, as well as family rules and mission statements. If this is something that interests you, go to our contact page to request more information on sizes, pricing and shipping - of course this all depends on the timing and availability of materials. If we're not swamped and you've caught us in a good mood, we just might do it for you! :-)

"THINGS"

I thought I would share a little known fact about "Things With Wings". I am not sure why I think you need to know this, just felt like it was time for this Mama Winger to post something and since I can't seem to find my camera, some of my new work will have to remain a mystery for now. And now here are some tidbits hardly known to blogland: #1. Our original name was "Things With Wings and Other Things". Some of you may remember that, others will be surprised. For short, we started leaving off "and other things". Just got lazy, I guess, since we do indeed still have "other things" which do not have wings. #2. Years ago there use to be a store here in downtown Iowa City which was named "Things, Things, and Things". It had lots of funky pricey things for your home and clothing, too. When folks spoke of it, they often referred to it as "things". #3. In the 80's I had an art gallery alongside our photography studio where I sold my work along with other artist's and I called it "Things and Stuff". hmmmmm......when I couldn't sleep last night, I laid in bed and thought about all these "THINGS" and wondered if I have had a limited vocabulary all these years, but then I figure "things" covers a lot of stuff/things!!!!!

Slow Summer (art-wise)

Any artist with kids at home during the summer and all our activities and comings and goings and all of their energy and fighting and their potty training will tell you that not much gets accomplished art-wise during those so called "leisurely" months. (partly because they're following their 2 year old around waiting for the "bomb" to drop, if you know what I mean.)

But that's all OK!

Here's a look at a few new things I've sloooowly been working on this summer.

I'm in love with this message: "Welcome - enter with a happy heart." It's perfect for certain guests, AND for my OWN family, as we come and go from our home! So, I made four, because I can never make just one. :-)






Another great message:

Yesterday:

Here are few pictures from the reception at The Village in Washington, Iowa yesterday:

Cathy, the owner, was nice enough to put this together:

And with matching name tags!

If you couldn't make it this weekend, do not fret! Our work will continue to be there through the end of August!

New Things In The Shop!

I decided to update my poor little Etsy shop today after my sister, Jill, announced over lunch today that she was sick of looking at the same lousy 3 things. Okay, okay, okay.

Look What Came in the Mail Today!

A very special and exciting package arrived this morning from DEMDACO!

I was under strict orders to not open it until all of us local Things With Wingers were together. Thank GOODNESS it came today, otherwise we would have had to wait all through next week until Green Girl got back from her vacation. Whew!

Inside were 5 samples from our "This Thing Called Family" line (debuting January 2011!)

Oh dear ones, can I just tell you that we were nearly giddy with excitement and anticipation? I mean, seriously! It was like opening the best Christmas present ever!





Let's just say we were NOT disappointed! There was lots of giggling and even some jumping up and down. I can't remember what I was shouting here. I think it was "WE'VE GOT A WINNER!" And folks, they are ALL winners!


This is about as much of our collection as we can reveal at this point. We know, we know.... the anticipation is just about killin' ya! :-)

What we can tell you is that there is plenty of wonderful wall art in a variety of sizes, some awesomely cute sculptural pieces, mirrors that will make you smile, and even some pillows that will knock your socks off!

Now that we've had a taste of the collection, we can't wait until we get to see more!

The Village

Got plans for Saturday afternoon? Hey - check this out!

We are doing a gallery showing of our work at a shop called "The Village" in Washington, Iowa!
Location: 101 South Marion Avenue, Washington, Iowa

The Village is a unique collection of 6 boutique shops located on the square in Washington, Iowa.

Our work will be for sale there now through the end of August.

We'll be having a special "Meet the Artists" reception this Saturday, July 17 from 1-4pm, and you're all invited! Come enjoy some refreshments and a unique shopping experience!

Front Window!

You can view more pictures of the Village here.

SB Photography

Hey there everybody!

We had several requests from friends who wanted to see pictures of the photoshoot we did with SB Photography. The purpose was to get a 'head shot' of the three of us who are creating "This Thing Called Family" for DEMDACO. It was hard to choose, but we finally decided on this one:DEMDACO plans to use it in their catalogue and sales brochures, along with our bio and I think on their website as well. (Yikes! Scary, I know!) It so happened that this all came about when the youngest Singer Thinger, Emily, was home visiting, so she got in on the fun for some of the pictures too!

Samantha and Stephen Bender run their business, SB Photography, from their beautiful home in the country, near Wellman, Iowa. They built a separate, awesome studio (jealous!) there too, but Samantha says she mostly prefers to work outside! Our outside pictures were taken at a small park in Wellman. Samantha put us quite at ease with her sense of humor and beautiful personality and the whole thing was fairly painless! ;-)

If you've never visited their website, it is a MUST. They do awesome senior pictures, family portraits and wedding photography that will knock your socks off! Love how Samantha's so good at capturing real, unrehearsed moments. Those ones are usually my favorites! I could look at these pics for hours, and I don't even know any of them!

I first met Samantha when she approached me about doing a custom piece for their family's home. I was thrilled to create something special just for them and came up with this:

Sorry for the not-so-great picture. :-( I promise it looks much better hanging in their home than it does in my crummy picture! Since then, we've had the opportunity to work with her on our Things With Wings shoot, as well as some family pictures of me, my husband and three boys. I just can't say enough positive things about them! They'd be the first to say they feel very blessed to be able to do what they love for a living. They run their business with integrity and great creativity and we wish them all the best and congratulate them on all their success!

To see more pics from the Things With Wings' photo shoot with SB Photography, please note the 'hands' picture over on the left, (one of our favorites!) visit our updated about page and this facebook album. (You do not have to be a facebook user to view the pictures!)