Colorful Shoes?

I have been in love with shoes since I was a teenager. I like unique, colorful shoes. I ran across these Alegria shoes. To say that I love these shoes is an understatement! They are the most comfortable shoes I've ever owned. The bottom sole is thick and the inside is like walking on a memory foam mattress! (No I don't work for Alegria shoes!) I'm saving for a leopard print pair next.

Now these babies are really one of a kind b/c they were painted by me! I'm channeling my inner Elvis when I wear them. I started with a cheap pair of brown oxfords from WalMart....I got them for $5. I painted them with Lumier paints and sprayed them with 5 coats of mat clear coat. I think they'll look awesome with black jeans.

The other day Gary and I were out "ridge-running" when we happened upon a road by this name.......

I'm not so sure I'd like to live on a road called "Hellskitchen".....maybe if you were Chef Ramsey it might be cool.

So we are coming to the end of my favorite August fruit.....peaches! I like the Red Haven the best. These peaches are grilled and topped with a ricotta mixture (recipe below). They are so yummy, all warm and slightly soft with the sweet cinnamon ricotta. Actually it's kind of like eating a peach canolli.

Split the peaches in half, take out the stone. Lay on a hot grill, cut side down and grill for 4 minutes then flip them over and grill for 4 minutes on the other side.

Ricotta Filling:

Wisk together 1/2 cup of skim ricotta, 1 Tbs of sugar and 2 Tbs. of French Vanilla coffee creamer

Take peaches off the grill, fill with ricotta mixture and sprinkle with cinnamon.

Wouldn't it be lovely to........

With August almost half over I get a little sad to see summer go, and I start to daydream......

Wouldn't it be lovely to grow beautiful annuals all year around like these? Wouldn't it be lovely to to not have to go to work and play fetch with your one blue-eyed dog all afternoon long?

Wouldn't it be lovely if perennials really were perennials and stayed in fresh vibrant bloom all year around?

Wouldn't it be lovely to sit outside in 82 degree weather every night and watch the sun set?

Wouldn't it be lovely to have a job taking pictures of sunsets......all around the world?

Well, I was just dreaming.....but really wouldn't it all just be lovely?

Trying Something New.....

So my friend Tracey gave me a few lessons about digital collage with Photoshop and I think she's created a monster! I'm totally obessed! I made this one today. I call it "Where To Next?" I'm not sure how it turned out as compared to other digital artist's creations but I'm learning!

I'm really more of a traditional collage artist as I like cutting and pasting but I think I'm becoming a "hybrid" collage artist using the Photoshop to get things the right size and color then printing them and cutting them out to layer in the traditional way with good old gel medium!

The elements I used for this collage are from Deviant Scrap and are from the Steam Punk pack.

Flea Market Finds!

The weather was gorgeous for the Hartville Flea Market in Hartville, Ohio and Tracey and I had a great time! You may know Tracey from Glitterbug Studios....she's a very talented altered artist with a wicked sense of humor......of course to travel through a flea market with me, you've got to have a sense of humor!

So these are my finds...... I like to look for old photographs. I found these class pictures from the 1930s for a dollar each. The first one is a group of 4th graders. Please feel free to use them in your artwork. This one is a group of 7th graders. Check out the boy in the very back row on the left....he looks like he's wearing a fur sweater! I love the teacher in the middle with her bow tie.

I had to get this little girl b/c of her ticked off look!

Ok, how stinkin' cute is Tracey's mini weiner dog? I LOVE her! Her name is Ruby and she's as such a wonderful personality. I really wanted to stick her in my purse and sneak home with her but I'm sure Tracey would have tracked me down and beat me senseless with either a large jar of gel medium or her computer cord! Check out that the stupid look I get on my face when I'm around dogs! Duh............

Sista giving sista a Photoshop lesson! I think Tracey has created a monster! I'm png-ing up the PSE!

"Hmmmm, what could one collage on this old shoe form?", she asked with a raised eyebrow.

Tracey got the buy of the day with this huge Halloween bottle brush tree for $2!!!! She has a forest of trees in studio. It was hilarious, her son Jake said "another tree!?!?!?!" when she got home with it.

Ok, this was the strangest thing I saw at the flea market........

It was like a purse sling with 4 holes for the dog's legs to stick through and both ends were open for the butt and the head. I have to wonder how comfortable it is for the dog?


Let me introduce you to Lori (that's her in the maroon shirt). She was set up at the Flea Market and has beautiful altered pieces for you home decor. She has just started a blog called "As I See It" so be sure to pop in and check her out as she will be posting soon.

Lastly, I think it's important to have goals in life, even if they are terribly mundane such as the one I set for this cherry tomato plant..........my goal was to get it to grow taller than me. I'm 5'8" so you can see that the plant made it to over 6 feet tall. I watered it every morning and every afternoon!

Alrighty then, Gary and I are off to get ice cream! Hope you all are having a great weekend!

To the FLEA!

OH BOY! I'm off tomorrow to Hartville, Ohio to the big flea market to meet my friend Tracey (you may know her from Glitterbug Studios. I'm looking for vintage egg timers, rusty square nails and vintage bloomers to collage on...... not really, I was just seeing if you were paying attention! Hopefully I'll have something interesting to post tomorrow after I return from the flea but until then here is something interesting for you to look at......LOL!.....



Circa 1974 from a catalogue!!! There is not a natural fiber on these two dudes and look at how the bartender is looking at them with a look of such utter disgust! Please feel free to leave a comment about what they are saying to each other. My friends and I have had a great time with this picture. In fact leave a comment about what they are saying to each other and I'll pick the one I think is the funniest....the winner will win one of my Beachy Bohemian necklaces!

August Daze......

I needed a mirror to take with me to the art shows.......not just any mirror.........a unique mirror.........one that when someone picked it up to check out how a necklace looked on them, they'd say, "cool mirror!" Enter inspiration and the Dollar Store! I bought a very ugly print on a 1/2 thick Masonite board and peeled off the very ugly print. Next collaged the entire board with decorative papers then using my Tim Holtz embossing plates embossed some white wash cardstock and blue cardstock. Sanded the embossed white washed cardstock and swiped over the blue with Distress ink then glueed then down. Sealed the whole piece with 4 coats of sealer. Lastly I glued on the mirror with E-6000 then glued the shells around it. Most of the time when I start a project I have no idea of how it will turn out but I like how this one turned out!

Next to my flip-flops, my Keds are my favorite summertime shoes but the plain white laces just weren't making it. So I used the same technique I use to make the fabric cording for the necklace and made laces! I think they add a nice splash of color. What are your favorite summertime shoes?

Just some new jewelry you can find over at Honey Girl Studio Jewelry........

Have a great day!

Many Peppers & Still More Summer!

I don't like to brag or anything but my peppers I planted in my pots are beating Gary's peppers in the raised garden bed! Yahoo! Check out these Cubanella peppers.....

How about these hot banana peppers? I planted four plants in this pot and I counted 32 peppers with still more blossoms! These are so good stuffed with spicy turkey sausage.

Here comes August!!!! We still have more summer left and as August the month for beach vacations so in honor of August, I broke out the sea glass. You can find these wire wrapped sea glass necklaces over at Honey Girl Studio Jewelry.

I found this short poem about August that I really like by R. Combe Miller

August
Fairest of the months!
Ripe summer's queen

The hey-day of the year

With robes that gleem with sunny sheen
Sweet August doth appear

This charm bracelet is made with new teal batik fabric I got last week. I love the deep blue color.

I think Shakespeare put it best with this quote, "Summer's lease hath all too short a date". Enjoy the last one third of summer!

Flight 77 of the Monarch Butterfly

When I was about 11 years old, so this was around 1977, I remember a swarm of Monarch butterflies came sweeping into the yard, sticking to the rough bark of the maple trees surrounding our house and clinging to the leaves. It was pure magic to me! Of all the places to make a pitstop and they chose my yard! My mom had a hurricane lamp with a huge green globe on the the top of it in the living room, so I plucked up about 20 butterflies, went through the side door on the porch and deposited them inside the globe of the lamp, sort of like my own little butterfly garden! Well, she didn't know what I was up to because she was in the kitchen cooking supper and when we sat down at the table to eat supper, blurs of orange and black started to flutter throught the air above the kitchen table. That's when mom jumped up and grabbed the fly swatter and started to chase the Monarch butterflies through the house with me yelling "don't hurt them, I put them in the globe of the hurricane lamp!".......however they escaped and were all clinging to the lace curtains in the living room! Isn't it funny how I can vividly remember the strangest occurance from 34 years ago but can't remember if I put the garage door down from 5 minutes ago!?!?!?

Anywho......this necklace was inspired by that summer. You can find it over at the Honey Girl Studio Jewelry Shop.

Hey, stay cool! It's 98 degrees here in Northwestern Pennsylvania and very humid

New Jewelry, ICE Resin, Conneaut Ohio and Flowers

Ok, I'm going to cover a variety of "stuff" today in this posting.........
First I'd like to thank my dear friend Tracey over at Glitterbug Studios for creating my new fantastic banner. She really knows my artistic eye and picked the perfect things to put into the banner. Thanks little sista!

Gary and I went to Conneaut Ohio to Lake Erie yesterday. It was a beautiful day! This is a picture of the little light house in the harbor. We had lunch at the White Turkey Drive-In in Conneaut. It's my favorite place to eat there. They have the best turkey sandwiches and the rootbeer is served in frosted heavy glass mugs. There's Gary sitting on the right up against the wall.

On the way out of Conneaut there is this old building. I think at one time it was a gas station. How stinkin' cute is it!?!?!? I think it would make a great studio!

I wanted to show you my Clematis. They did very well this year. Of course earlier in the spring I juiced them with a little Miracle Grow. This is the one on the back porch.........

This is the one on one side of the front porch......

This is the one on the other side of the front porch........

This pot is on my mom's patio and her flowers are pretty fabulous this summer. I joke with her that watering them really does work! Martha Steward would love the white schmootz on the bottom of the pot but mom can't stand it.

Ok, now on to jewelry. In the past few days I've had a creativity infusion.....lots of ideas swirling around in my noggin! This is a custom order. The butterfly in the center is a Scrabble tile.

A few weeks ago, when the humidity was low, I tried out ICE Resin and I absolutely LOVE IT! It's so easy to use and I got no bubbles what so ever. The inside of the bezel with the sailor girl has the ICE resin on the inside. Don't you just love her cool, fierce look? The necklace is coral chips and shell chips. Click HERE to find these necklaces over at Honey Girl Studio Jewelry.

This is another custom piece I did, again with the ICE resin. It's sooooo clear and smooth!

Handmade fabric beads with batik fabric and and sewn fabric cording make this larger shell necklace very unique. You can find all of following necklaces at Honey Girl Studio Jewelry.

This sweet little leather pendant bird has two charms dangling from it by the wing but they flipped behind it when I took the pic!

Since I'm going to be harvesting about 3,000 egglants over the next few weeks in my garden, I was inpired by the deep purple color when I created this necklace.

Hand sewn light blue seed beads adorn this fabric necklace with echos of the sea dangling from the center.

Oh how I love this necklace! It reminds me of the deep shade you seek from the lush trees in hot, hot summertime.

Whew! That's all for now. Hope you all have a wonderful Monday!