She a soulful flower in the garden......

There are few line from a much lesser know beautiful song by Sting which is one of my favorite song's and the inspiration for this piece. The title of the song is "She Walks This Earth".

She's a soulfull flower in the garden

She's bobbing in the sunlight

and flirting with her eyes

The way she walks by,

I see a wave of color

moving like an angel

trailing butterflies

Give me water

give me inspiration

I want to speak now

but I can't find a word

So unforgiving is my infatuation

Now that I know she walks upon the earth

she walks this earth...............

Isn't it just perfect for "Princess Stella"! She was created from cardstock, decorative papers, brads, glitter, fabric flowers and ribbon. I painted her sweet little face with acrylics. Lips and nose are done with marker. Arms are stationary but her legs are moveable. She is edged in antiquing ink. She is ready to fly at a moments notice with her fabric leaf wings.

Available at the Honey Girl Studio Shop.

100th Post Give Away!

In celebration of my 100th post I'm doing a give away! I know it's hard to hear but autumn is just around the corner and so is Halloween so in anticipation of both fall and Halloween I created a set of tags for the occasion. The tags measure 4in. X 2 1/4 in. They are "Cats & Crows" and consist of decorative papers, book text and stamps all aged with a tea dyed brown. I took a slight departure from the traditional orange and black and used browns, with a touch of aqua and pink. The strings on the tags have a multitude of fibers in orange, pink, blue and black and tie together the colors of the tags nicely. So to enter just leave a comment and I will draw a winner on Wed. afternoon!

Smiles-

Tootie

Autumn Blessings...........

Well, the old crows are at it again. Here they got together to celebrate all that is good about the season. And really when you think about it there are so many good things about autumn.....stitting on the porch on a chilly fall night wrapped up in a cozy wool sweater listening to the gentle rustling of leaves and sipping a glass of late harvest riesling....it really doesn't get any better than that! The mayor and his friends are celebrating such moments (he's the one with the black velvet top hat and the host of the party)! This piece measures 25 by 12.5 and is made from a solid maple raised panel. The birds are collaged with decorate papers as well as the background. Couldn't you just see it sitting on a fireplace mantle with a few mini pumpkins on each side of it and a jumble of colorful maple leaves scattered about? It is available in the Honey Girl Studio Shop under "Halloween Goodies and Fall Offerings".

Beware of the Type!

This is my newest paper art doll. Don't you must love her funky boots? She is part Halloween rock star part editor with the sign across her stomach proclaiming "Beware of the Type". Pretty fitting words for the crazy media world we live in these days. Remember just because you read it, it isn't always necessarily true! That's why she has her trusty owl with her.....they are very wise you know!

She is constructed of cardstock, Basic Grey decorative papers, rubber stamped face and owl and glitter dots on her hat and boots. She is a one of a kind original and available in the Honey Girl Studio Shop.

Wicked!....and the Little Devil

I'm still getting into that Halloween mode. Christmas use to be my favorite holiday to decorate for but I'm thinking that Halloween is now my favorite. Plus unlike Christmas, you aren't going to freeze your candy corns off when taking the outside lights down! Well, that might not be so true as you know this is Northwestern Pennsylvania where on any given year on Halloween night your costume might be worn over a snow suit complete with stocking cap or shorts and a T-shirt (if you live in this region you can definitely relate, believe me!) But I digress........today's collage is entitled "Wicked" because that is the word which popped into my noggin' when I first saw the vintage photo of the little girl in this collage. She has the most wicked look on her face like she is trying to cast a spell on you to turn you into a frog! Such a possessed look of fierce concentration. If I look at her too long.........well.........frankly, she scares me! LOL!

How about that big bling-bling necklace she's wearing......it was the hood ornament from the Batmobile! I had to add it on her so that she had that "wicked urban" appeal!

On this collage I used aged (tea dyed) book text, a copy of a vintage photo, markers, gold glitter dots on the wand, a bat cut out from decorative paper and I cut out the paisley design from a piece of decorative paper, there is also a touch of black glitter on her dress. I also used Sugar Loaf stamps and ink.

The flip side of this collage has a very friendly looking little devil and I really do mean a "little devil" complete with sparkling red glitter which did not show up on the photo. I think he looks like the love child of the comedian George Gobel, remember him from the original Hollywood Squares in the 1970s and early 80s? If you are under 38 years of age, you have no idea of what I'm talking about!

My goal is to get this collage soldered between two pieces of glass and "chooch" it up with some little danglies and ribbon and have it with a few others available in the Honey Girl Shop under Halloween Goodies by Monday. How cool would one of these be hanging on a door knob or in the middle of a Halloween wreath or even just hung on the wall?!?!
Smiles-
Tootie

Under the Tuscan Wine.....er....I mean "sun"!

This is a wine cabinet my husband made of out of white oak and I painted the insert in the door. I did it with acrylics on poplar, distressed it with sandpaper (ever so carefully as not to muddle the colors) and then antiqued it with a medium oak color. This is exactly how I remember the Tuscan countryside......sunflowers, wheat and lavendar. So beautiful!
For more information about the cabinet (size, etc...) and how to purchase the cabinet please go to the Honey Girl Studio Shop.

Here's the big news!................

I am so excited! I just opened up my first internet shop: Honey Girl Studio! It has everything from altered art to jewelry to stitcheries to Halloween and Christmas goodies. Please stop in and let me know what you think. I have been working on inventory for many months and feel that I'm finally ready to unveil the goodies! Everything is made by me so I know they are quality arts and crafts. Here are just a few of the offerings........

Smiles-
Tootie

Spooky Cat Paper Doll

close up of a 8 X 10 Halloween stitchery

soldered 1 X 3 pendant

5 X 7 Best Friends Forever collage

2 X 2 paper pin

Something Big!

Something big is coming......................................................................................are you curious?
Stay tuned, it's almost ready............................

Dancing Pumpkin Girl!

This is the dancing pumpkin girl I made. The body is the size of a standard ATC. The arms and legs are moveable and she is holding a little chipboard sign and double cardstock-backed doll. I used SugarLoaf stamps. The little sign is hand lettered and the sign is secured with multi-colored fibers. Her arms, legs, body, and hat are all edged in a shimmering copper colored ink which is difficult to see in the photo. I'm going to punch a small hole in the top of her hat so she can be hung! Available to purchase at the: Honey Girl Studio Shop

Sunshine, Bees and Black-eyed Susans.....

This is a folding chair I painted for a Chinese auction. It was an old typical brown wooden folding chair so I based it in light ivory then distressed it with sandpaper. I then set to work painting the flowers and vines, bees, sun and ribbon on it. I think it turned out pretty good.....

Mom's Kitchen Wallpaper Story.........

Two weeks ago I finished my mom's kitchen "redo" with the help of my mom, dad and my wonderful husband. Mom had wallpaper on the walls which was about 7 years old and it was the country blue and white. It was time for an update. The wallpaper seven years ago was put over paneling (the 70's answer to poor plaster walls!). At that time mom put caulking into the paneling grooves and make the paneling smooth then she put a coat of Bim over it which is like a white primer which helped the wall paper stick to it. So we stripped off the wall paper from the paneling......now let me tell you, the term "dry strip-able" does not mean that the whole sheet of paper will tear off the wall in one fell swoop! It means that the top part of the paper will come off but not the backing which stuck to the paneling tighter than peanut butter to bread! The answer to getting it off came in a bottle called "Chomp", which you spray on the backing that's left and it comes right off with a putty knife in pretty big sheets.

This is what the paneling looks like with the grooves caulked and a coat of Bim on it.....pretty eh?

Second coat of Bim................Having a little lunch break.............mmmmmmmmmmm......Pepsi and ketchup! LOL!

This is the drop above the cabinets with the old wall paper torn off. The next picture is the drop painted with Bim......

The walls are now papered!!! Mom and I picked a muted yellow paper with lighter and darker areas and thank goodness there was no match to it!

Mom and dad looking a little tired....they had been working on the kitchen since 8:00AM, starting with painting the trim and then the ceiling and it was now around 7:30 PM! Long day!

In the homestretch now...........putting up the border................the border is vintage dish towels, aren't they cute?!?!?
The End of the kitchen wall papering story! It's good for another 7 years!

Ornery Friendship and Rememberance...........

Inspired by these vintage photos I whipped up 2 new ATCs, available for trade. The one is entitled "Remember with a picture of a sweet little Germany boy in a sailor suit from 1910. I like the faded, worn out look of the card.....sort of like how memories fade over time. The other ATC is entitled "Ornery Friendship" and picture of the 2 little girls is from sometime in the 1940s. The one on the left looks so ornery.....we all have friends that can be that way sometimes, don't we???!! But, that's part of their charm and what we love about them....that fiesty side, right? This card reminds me of my mom and her best friend. They have been best friends since 4th grade so that's about 66 years of friendship! They argue all the time over the phone and talk sometimes 5 or 6 times a day!

Fiber Bead Necklace..........

So I wanted to make a necklace to go with the bracelet I made but had trouble finding the antique copper colored chain so I two 2 bracelets and connected them together with the toggles and made this companion necklace to go with the bracelet. I even made a pair of earrings to go with it!

Sorry about the color in this pic. I had to hold my arms out in order to take a picture of it on me!