Little-diddle dollies

Together for a group shot, girls! These little dollies turned out kind of odd and cute. (Their hair is a single tassle!) There are more - some of them were camera shy.

This Week's Creative Works.

Here are a few things I've been working on this week. It's a doll-sized chair. I'm happy with the flower I added with wire.
Doll cradle. I like how the colors came together on this one, although the photo doesn't do it justice.

And there goes the neighborhood!!! I have a whole neighborhood of these wild things. The one on the right is an altered board book. The other two were plain brown shapes I found while rummaging.

Vacation Time (for some)

Well, my girls have skipped out on me - it's been kind of quiet - Laura (Green Girl), hubby, and kids are out in Colorado seeing and doing about everything there is to see and do there! I heard they dodged a tornado and one kid threw up in the swimming pool. I imagine she will return with some great photos to share. Jill (Paper Prayers), hubby, and kids are down in Austin visiting Emily and also hubby's relatives. They are having one lively episode after another, (as only the Brown's could do!) - from a 3-hr. flight delay to one of the boys losing his glasses in the bottom of a big lake. But they are all still having fun! Just so all of them come home safe and glad they went! Emily will be singing with Aaron Ivey on Sunday, so they will get to hear that. I hope they get some good video for me, I miss her singing so much and her! I am sure they will get back to blogging as soon as they can!

A Few More New Things:

Here a few more new pieces I've finished for our next show:


The time is getting close for our family - we leave for Austin on Wednesday! Until then, I'll be probably be painting right up until the buzzer! :-) Then it's a week of "withdrawal," i mean vacation from all things with wings, which will give my hand and arm a much needed rest. I'm afraid to say that I may be developing tendonitis or something!

Busy Times

These birds were a lot of fun to make - the cages weren't as hard to cut out as I thought they were going to be. We're all busily getting ready for our next show July 19 in Marshalltown - a new one for us - so we'll see how it goes. Two of us are taking off next week for family vacations, so the time is getting short for creating art! Busy times!

The Power Of The Cross.

I just finished up these crosses today. Let me start out by saying the cross was not a flowery, scallopy, polka-dotty place to be, in fact, it was downright brutal. But, the debt that was paid and the grace I was given in that single moment was and is a beautiful, beautiful thing! My seven year old actually came up to me and said, "Jesus' cross didn't actually look like that, did it?" "No, son. It's just art." I'm pretty sure if I painted the real deal, people really wouldn't want to hang it in their bathrooms! I hope these messages were an encouragement to you today...

Special Order

Here's a special order I just finished for someone who contacted me through etsy. It's always so much fun when I get random requests from people! (Although I did just recently pass on creating a Texas A&M sign - I wouldn't know the first thing about doing that!) This request, however was easy and a joy! It's a present for a girl who just graduated from high school. It's got her favorite verse on it: "For I know the plans for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jer 29:11. This passage has also been meaningful to me - especially during the time following my father's death.
My only guidelines were the verse and that the colors should be brown, pink and orange, so I came up with the idea to personalize the verse with the girl's name and to include a girl that resembles her. It's a lot of pressure to try to get my people to actually look like someone REAL- so I always give the disclaimer that they will 'loosely resemble' the person! I've got the long blond hair....hope they like it!

Connie's Place

Welcome back to Connie's place. Where have you been? & what have you been doing?

Here are some shots of my art room. It is very messy all the time. Organized chaos, you could call it. This is my "thinking" chair. I sit down and look around at all my stuff and try to come up with a new idea or just sit and wonder "hmmm.....what was it I came in here to get?"
Here is a shelf area with my old creative works sign. The angel on the wall says "may peace and goodwill run rampant in the world." It's pretty old. Somewhere I have a sign that says "creative minds are rarely tidy" - guess it's lost in the mess!

Another shelf and worktop. I use to paint real shoes. This one says "follow your bliss". My witch-mermaid is as halloweenish as this lady gets. The white jar is from my grandpa's barber shop. The boy statue my late husband gave me when expecting our first child (who we lost). The furry doll is my handmuff from childhood. The cap sitting on top of the lamp was my late husband's which says "go to your studio and make stuff". Lots of precious stuff here including the tape dispensor - which my girls will agree with!

This was your warning hanging on the door knob before entering the place.

And this old piece is hanging on the door as well. It keeps reminding me of how valuable my time here is. Thanks for visiting my place! Come back again soon.

SING!

This piece is a 22 X 28 canvas. The felt flowers give it dimension. It makes me happy to look at it. Music makes me happy. Singing makes me happy, although people around me may find it annoying. I really don't care. If I gotta sing, I gotta sing!!! It's a joyful noise.

CLOCKS TRANSFORMED!

All righty, remember these numbers here? Ya know, I wonder how they told time with that goose clock - it's half past a goose? I mean really! anyway, the garden tool bag that once looked like a cow is now history, as are the other two.
Here is the larger round clock. The numbers are various sizes. I thought that would be fun.

The square one - more like a rectangle - ok, it's the "cow" one! But not anymore. Now it's.....um.....er......just fun.

The "goose" clock!

Well, that was kind of fun. Now what? hmmm.....what time is it anyway? anybody?

time, time, time

I found these clocks at a thrift store really cheap (and they work!) so today I will begin major facelifts. I'll post this again with the finished pieces for your viewing pleasure. OK, just gotta tell this little tidbit: The clock on the bottom right - well, when I spotted it in the store I totally thought it was a picture of a cow - most everything in this place is "country" - all I knew was it was working and needed lots of HELP! and I was excited and well, it's black and white like a cow, but as most all of the rest of you people out there can tell, it is not a cow. I'll be ok. really. -Mama Winger

Special Order

Here's a special order I did for a friend whose Grandmother is turning 90! The family tree has her grandparents' names at the base of the trunk and all of the offspring in the leaves. Several generations are represented here. So much fun to be a small part of their celebration!

MY PLACE

I thought I would post a few photos of things around our house. This is hanging over the head of our bed. It's a verse from Ecclesiastes.
These are our closet doors in our bedroom.

Moving on to my bathroom. The large angel is painted on the front of the corner cupboard door. The angel to the left is one of my art dolls from way back. She is holding a tiny rock angel. Actually everything I am showing you is from way back. It's old, but still here! I really should update some of it, but it becomes so familiar and comfortable that I get lazy about it.

And here is another bathroom wall (from the same room.) I did this clock to sell, but once done, I decided to keep it. I will be doing 3 fun clocks very soon! I'll try to post them. Maybe before and after shots.

This is the skylight in the same bathroom. Got a star and a metal angel floating around up there!

Well, that's all for now. Maybe next time . . . more things with wings in other rooms!

New stuff by Connie

Ok, I lied. One more thing with felt on it...

I mean two...

Fine! But three is my limit! Never again! As well as being a lazy crafter, I am also a thrifty crafter, and I HAD to use up my scraps!