Creativity Takes Courage + Pinterest

-Quote from Henri Matisse.  Art by Green Girl.

We love, love, love this quote!  It's kind of a motto to live by.  Of course, some days we are more courageous than others.  That's just life.

We are busily working away on designs for Demdaco for next year (can't WAIT to show you what's up ahead for January and summer 2012!  It's gonna be on a whole. 'notha. level!)   Custom orders and all the kids home for summer vacay are also keeping us very busy!

Have you hopped on the Pinterest bandwagon yet?  Yeah, I know, I know, like we all NEED one more social media obsession.... :-)  We're slowly getting our feet wet, and if you're already a fan of it, we'd love to connect with you!  You can follow us at http://pinterest.com/thingswithwings   *If you love the creativity quote above as much as we do, maybe you'll want to pin it!   And/or, if you have a favorite item from "This Thing Called Family," we'd love if you'd stick a pin in it too!  (Do people say that?)

  

Work in Progress

 wonder what these are for?

wings for some....things

fun letters

 

stripes that stretch on....

 

 

 

 

....and on....

If Your Name Is Sydney, Raise Your Hand....

I just finished up two separate special orders for two separate Sydney's......I don't think that's ever happened before.

Sparkler Dancing

Happy 4th of July everybody!  Nothing expresses our patriotism quite like this video that we made a few years ago.

See these girls, watch that scene, diggin' the dancing queens:


Bet you've never seen anything quite like that before!

Yes, I'm the one who doesn't like sparklers all that much.  I admit it.  But I think you'll all agree that my fellow Thing With Wingers more than make up for my lack of enthusiasm! I am a fun person....really! 

We hope your day is full of family time, good food, fireworks and fun!  Go ahead:  do a little dance when you light your sparklers!!! And if you're not up for sparkler dancing, we at least hope you're having the time of your life!

Art and All the Trimmings.

 We recently acquired some wood scraps that are regularly discarded from a local millwork: trims, crown moldings, baseboards, and casings in a variety of sizes and lengths.  We already showed you what Mamma Winger did with her pieces in this post (the last 6 pieces).  She built hod-podge "frames" around the edges of her pieces, adding fabric here, paper and words there.  Doodles and paint too.  But here are a few more you haven't seen yet:

I decided to use my scraps to build "platforms" for birds to perch on.  I had so much fun experimenting with these and love all of the dimension!  The stuffed birds came about by experimenting with kraft paper and matboard.  Kind of a very simple form of paper mache.  It was fun to add doodles to the different levels of trims:

We LOVE being able to use someone else's scraps! These were super inexpensive to make: trim pieces were free and I made the stuffed birds from supplies I already had!  One man's trash is a Things With Wings treasure!

Now we just need to get Green Girl to use her scrap pieces, and show us all what she did.  I'm just sure it will be fabulous.  Will you get on her case about that?

I am trying something new this week and participating in some linky parties from some of our favorite blogs!  Sharing this project on Be Different, Act Normal, Tatertots and Jello, WhipperBerry, Finding Fabulous, Simply Designing, Momma's Kinda Crafty and The Shabby Nest.

Scallop Bliss

Can you tell that scallops make us happy?

What makes you happy in your artwork?  Share with us!

We Believe We Have a Winner for the Believe Pillow!

We have a winner for our believe pillow!

The random number generator picked #15:

Adrianne Kohl!

Here's what she said about where she's seen This Thing Called Family,

"A Whimsical Place in Woodbury, MN is the closest to me... only minutes away! I just love this pillow, and would be so cute in my daughter's bedroom on her rocking chair! Pick me!  PS I love all your new owl things!"

Congrats Adrianne!  We hope your daughter likes it!

We're so sorry that so many of you have had trouble commenting on our blog for this week's giveaway.  We are not the only ones who have said blogger has been acting funny.  So we added all of the facebook comments to this drawing.  

Fun Times at Demdaco Got Us in the Mood for a Giveaway!

*The giveaway below is now closed!

Last week we finally made our first trip to the Demdaco headquarters in Leawood, Kansas - a suburb of Kansas City.  We've been working together for a year and a half now on "This Thing Called Family,"  so it was WAY time to actually meet some of the people that we felt we already sorta knew from our many phone and email conversations!

We stayed in this very fun hotel Thursday night just down the road called Aloft.  Here's a picture of our room:

Friday we spent at Demdaco. Their headquarters are beautiful!  Everyone we met was so friendly and it was so great to get a peek behind the scenes + get the opportunity to thank everyone for all their hard work.  This is a company that truly cares about their employees, the products that they create and the spirits of their customers. 

photo courtesy of Demdaco

We toured the showroom and the rest of the building, then had lunch with the VP of product development as well as the product designers in charge of our line.  It was so easy - we laughed and visited like the fast friends that we already are.  It didn't seem like the first time we'd actually met.  We seriously don't know the last time we laughed that much in one day!  At one point, we were told, "You guys are exactly like I thought you'd be!"   Which could have gone either way, but we took as a compliment!

After lunch we finished our tour (which was all part of the master plan to build the anticipation and drive us nuts with waiting) we finally got to see the samples of all the new pieces coming out next year!  And man, oh man, are you all gonna LOVE it!  Oh, how we wish we could share the details!  But it's all very hush-hush right now until January. 

Then it was on to a brainstorming session for future projects.  It was a fun time of getting our heads together and watching what happens! (Did you know that it's almost possible to see idea bubbles taking shape above a particular person's head?! :-)) It feels like our eyes and hearts are being opened to all of these new possibilities and directions.  It kind of left us dizzy by the end of the day!  But again, not much we can share at this time except to say that some amazing things are happening and some REALLY exciting developments are taking shape!

Basically, it rocked.  The whole gosh darn thing.

Demdaco is a company full of real people.  They are genuine.  They play hard and have so much fun together, but they work even harder.  We consider it a true honor to work along with them!

Demdaco, thanks for the warm welcome!  Y'all are invited to Iowa City any time - just say the word!

Here's just one example of what we mean when we say "warm welcome" (keep your eye on the first line of "news" scrolling across):

Since our Demdaco trip has gotten us in such a good mood, it feels like time for a giveaway!

So let's give away our Believe pillow!  It measures 18x7.  It's one of several pillows in "This Thing Called Family." Have you seen all the others?

To enter: 
 Tell us the name of a store in your area that sells "This Thing Called Family" and the town it's in.     

Haven't found one yet?  Go to the store locator and find one!  Then come back and share it with us!

That's all you gotta do!

(one entry per person please! and please leave us a way to get ahold of you!)

*Your comment won't be visible until we've approved it, extra comments will be deleted.

We'll announce a winner here Wednesday night!  Good Luck!

Recent Special Orders

Here are a few special orders I've done recently. 

This first one was a big piece - can't remember exactly, 2ft x 3 1/2 ft?  Something like that.  It was made to fit above the headboard of a couple's master bedroom.

This next one was a gift for a child care provider who was retiring her business.  The parents wanted to give a meaningful parting gift that incorporated the logo:

 So I came up with this:

 family trees:

If you have an idea for a custom order (a favorite quote or bible verse? family names? a family tree? family rules? anything else you can dream up?).... and want to learn more about our prices and process, email us at paperprayers@hotmail.com and we'll send you some info! 

Be sure to go check out our Custom Order tab in the menu bar - we just updated it with some new pictures!

True Love Cross Winner!

We used the random number generator and it picked number #4 which is Sara of Sara's Art* House!!!

Congrats,  Sara!  You can email us at paperprayers@hotmail.com with your mailing address!

If any of you are interested in purchasing your own True Love cross, you can buy it online here.

Did you know that there are other crosses in our line "This Thing Called Family?"  Here's a look :

Clicking on their pictures will take you to the same site above if you want to purchase one of your own!

Go Check out Ben Franklin in Iowa City!

Remember our announcement that Ben Franklin in Sycamore Mall, Iowa City was going to be carrying "This Thing Called Family?"  I know many of you locals have been patiently waiting!  Well they've now got an awesome display going on and lots of inventory!!!  It looks like they have just about everything, except maybe the pillows.

Here are some pictures:

They have all 3 styles of lazy susans in stock!

All three big wall art styles are available: Count your Blessings, Table Manners and Family Rules.

Mirrors, ornaments, crosses, fabric wall hangings, wall art, owl sculpture.

So if you're local to the Iowa City area, THIS is the place to go!  We told LOTS of people over Arts Fest weekend about it too, so you might want to get over there while the selection is good!

We're hoping to have a "meet the artists" event there and will let you all know the details as soon as they are finalized!

A Warm Welcome and a Giveaway to Celebrate!

*THE GIVEAWAY BELOW IS NOW CLOSED.

BIG thanks to all who came out and made the Iowa Arts Fest a success!!!!  We're still recovering! 

See more pics of the festival on our facebook page!

If you're new and joining us for the first time, we are SO glad that you are here!!! We wish you a Warm Welcome! And you're in luck!  To celebrate this past weekend, we're starting a new giveaway today!  

But first, let us show you around!

If you're interested in finding out more about the Things With Wings family, head here.


If we talked to you this weekend about a custom order, you can get ideas (but are certainly not limited to these) by heading here.

This Thing Called Family

If you'd like to learn and see more pictures of "This Thing Called Family" -our national line of wall art and home decor items with DEMDACO, (pictured above) including where you can find it in your area, go check out this section.  Be sure to check out the lazy susans - they've been really popular!

Many of you asked this weekend about purchasing items directly from our website.  Although our blog here is not set up that way, we do have several options for you: 

*We have 2 etsy shops (see menu bar) that have been sorely neglected!  We've been so busy that stuff sells long before we have time to get up on there!  A good problem to have!  But our goal this summer is to update them with new original items. We will make announcements via facebook when that happens!   

*Items from "This Thing Called Family" can be purchased from a few online shopping sources that we've connected with:
Gabby's Gifts
The Village Shop
...and if you're local to the Iowa City area, go visit Ben Franklin's in Sycamore Mall -they have a great selection right now!

*If you see something here on our blog or facebook that you like, email us and we'll let you know if we still have it!  We use paypal and ship things all the time!

Lastly, we would LOVE it if you'd join us on our facebook page.  It's a great way to connect and we update it with pictures and info way more often than our blog!  *If you purchased something from us this past weekend, we'd love to see it in your space!!!  Post a picture on our facebook wall and we will repost it for all to see!

Whew! NOW on to the giveaway!

Here it is!

Our "True Love Cross!"  This cross is one of a few crosses that are available in the "This Thing Called Family"collection.  It is made from wood composite, canvas and has an iron wire hanger.  It's 15 inches long.  DEMDACO tells us the crosses are selling really well, so we're excited to be giving one away!

To Enter:

*just leave a comment on this post and tell us how you first connected with Things With Wings (if you can remember!) Nothing simpler!  Make sure there's a way we can contact you.

***If, in your one comment, you mention that you've also facebooked, blogged, or tweeted the giveaway, we'll throw in an extra surprise!  (you know from our other giveaways that it'll be something good!)

*We will choose a winner on Thursday night, 10 pm CST.

*One entry per person, please! Extra comments will be deleted. Your comment will not be immediately visible until after we've approved it.  


Good luck and a special welcome to all you new folks!

Iowa Arts Festival is THIS Weekend!!!

Iowa Arts Festival is THIS WEEKEND!!!!

Downtown Iowa City!

We'll be booth #98, the east block of Washington Street.  

Hours:  10-6 Saturday, 10-4 on Sunday

Hope to see you there!

New Creative Works by Connie (Mamma Winger)

This past weekend I took some photos of some of our mom's new pieces.  Here are some of our favorites!

Her most popular new ones were these that she took pieces of trims and moldings and made a 'frame' around the edges.

*All pieces in this post were lovingly created by Connie!