A Few New Things.

Sneak Peak

On Saturday we are excited to be returning to Ankeny for the North Pole Village Craft Sale! It is hosted by the Ankeny Art Center and is their premier fundraiser. The show has three locations: Ankeny High School, Northview Middle School and Parkview Middle School. We will be at Parkview Middle School, space #507 in the East Gym. This show has been going on for almost 30 years and draws huge crowds. We've been attending for the last few years and have had a great time there! The hours are 9-5, November 1st. Admission is $4. For 5o cents you can ride the shuttle which will take you between all 3 locations all day.

Here is a sneak peek of some of what we'll be selling:

If You Cannot Teach Me To Fly...

...teach me to sing.

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They are really quite friendly! In fact they have moments of crazy silliness!!! I just don't know what to call them.

Wear Love

So chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense...And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It's your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it. Colossians 3
Someone emailed me awhile back, I forget who now, wanting a similar one of these that I had already sold. I decided to make some more anyways and these are a bit different, but if you're out there and you're intersted in one of these, let me know.

Bad Handbags Gone Girl!

Yes, it's true! We use to be bad handbags - now we're girls.
We are trying to smile and make the best of it.
But what if we're still just bad handbags but now we got stuffing and a head? yikes.

I'm so "Deep"

I love creating things that have depth, texture and dimension. Some of the texture just "happens" as a by-product of using recycled materials. Sometimes the more beat up something is, the finer it looks when I'm done with my techniques. I love to redo a good Goodwill find - did you get that?! For instance this "hope" piece has lots of neat brushstroke texture because I gessoed right over the existing frame and painting and made my own. Goodbye butt-ugly landscape, hello hopeful lady! Some might say I've gone "green" by reusing old materials. But I know the truth: I'm extremely cheap! I love to find a good bargain. I have ridiculously low standards when it comes to rummaging. If it's over a price I've got set in my head, I won't buy it. Even if we're just talking about a few dollars. Oh, what am I saying?! There's no such thing as just "a few dollars" in my world. I love seeing the possibility in something others might find ugly and then fixing it up.

I also love creating depth and dimension. Although it's hard to tell, the arrow sign stands out from the background in this shadow box: I added "gemstones" to this gal's crown and it was just what she needed!

Birds

Is anyone getting tired of birds? I thought I might be, but then I had these wooden pieces that looked like bird cages to me, and I just HAD to make some.

She never quite leaves her children at home, even when she doesn't take them along.
Even the flowers raise their hands to praise and worship the King. There are two lasting bequests we can give our children: one is roots. The other is wings.

Come, "Follow" Us

Blogger has a new feature that we're trying out. We've added an element to our side bar over on the left enabling our loyal readers (if we have any, we want to know!) to sign up to "follow" our blog. What this means is that if you go over to the left and click on "Follow this Blog," our blog will show up on your dashboard page, along with any of your other favorite blogs that you frequently read. At a glance, you can look at all your favorite blogs in one place, and you'll quickly know if we've posted anything new. (You can add other favorites by going to your dashboard under "Reading List" and clicking on "add.") It's handy, saves you time, and keeps you coming back to visit us! Plus it helps us to know how many people out there actually read our posts and enjoy our artwork. It's a win-win situation! If you elected to follow our blog publicly, your profile picture will be displayed on our blog with a link to your Blogger profile. You'll be able to link to the other people who "follow" us and might make a new friend! If you look over there you'll notice that so far I'm the only "follower" (I don't really like that word, I'm a lover, not a fighter. And the more I use the word "follow" in quotations, the more I feel like Dr. Evil saying the word "Laser." Now I've said too much.) - so anyways, come join me!

From Plate-Mates to Frames

I recently found these plastic "plate-mates" at Goodwill - 7 of them for $2.38! The empty hole in the middle looked perfect to me to become a frame, although I'm guessing by the name that the original use was for holding your plate! New use: hanging on your wall.

MUSE......SCHMUSE!!!!!!

I am in a mood today. It is bold and frisky and, I hope, purposeful. For some time now I have been bothered by artists use of the word "muse" like they really believe they've got one. I'm like, What the heck? I'm really missing out here. Somebody send me one - quick! I have come to the conclusion, well, maybe not a complete conclusion, but maybe a hypothesis (ooooooh, big word for me!) that muses might be for people who don't know God. I am not sure, mind you. I could get alot of flack for saying that. Won't be the first time. This morning I got out my Webster's dictionary and under muse with a capital M it says --- one of the daughters of Zeus, a divinity who presides over the arts and inspires mankind. hmmmmmm OK, not so much into Greek mythology. Then muse with a lower case m says --- the source of an artist's inspiration. hmmmmmmm, well, I don't mess around, I guess. The source of my inspiration has a capital J. Jesus. I'm not ashamed or afraid to say it. No leaning on false idols for me. I'm going right to the top - the source of my creativity, the source of my living and breathing and my everything. I love being inspired by other artists, because I know it is God at work in them - even if they don't realize it themselves. Without Him, we are nothing. Amen. I am done for now. bye. I love all you artists out there in blogland!!!!