Best show ever!

After a couple of weeks rest to recuperate from a fantastic yet exhausting weekend of vintage shopping heaven, I am here to tell you all how it went! Junk in the trunk was a blast and a huge success! My booth turned out awesome. I upgraded to the 15 x 15 size this time to help out with my flow issue that I had last show. It helped immensely! My wonderful sister Holly and my amazing friends Katie, Alex, and Sheri all pitched in to help get it there, make it look great and help it sell. I am so blessed to have the love and support from them all! Thanks so much ladies!

Here are some pics of my space:

This last photo is of my favorite shopper of the day. What a cutie she was in her retro mid-drift top, high waisted shorts, wild hair and a cute bow! Adorable!

Now it's back to the yard sales and estate sales to gear up for the next 

Junk in the Trunk on May 2nd, 2015!

Gearing Up

I'm in the process of gearing up for Junk In The Trunk. I have been painting furniture like crazy and making all kinds of fun holiday gifts and soaps. Come and see my booth if you have the chance! It is September 20th from 8am - 5pm at Westworld.

Here is a little sneak peak of what you can expect to find at my booth. Hope to see you all there!!

Time to Play Catch Up!

I have gotten a little behind in my postings because I was excitingly plugging away at getting stuff prepped and ready for Junk in the Trunk. It was last Saturday at Westworld. What a great turn out of people!! They moved the show from the tent to the large building next door and that made a world of difference for both the vendors and shoppers alike. There was AC which is a huge plus as well as bathrooms a plenty. The lighting was hands down better as well. It made for a fantastic shopping experience. I say that because I did my share of shopping as well.

Here are some pics from my booth. It was still the smaller size booth which makes for a bit of a traffic flow issue, but otherwise I think it turned out nice. I hope to go bigger with the next show. It is September 20th for those of you who are interested in coming!!

 This is my new painting wall. I built this about a month ago and I love it!! It is double sided and make from peg board so I can adjust the layout of paintings with each show. I also added casters so that I could push it out of the way when I needed to. LOVE!! I took step by step photos while I made it, so I have plans to blog about the making of it if I can get my act together ;-)

These are handmade cutlery holders to dress up your table decor. Sold in sets of 4, they are adorned with my own crocheted flowers and vintage lace bits. Super cute! 

 A new item for this show was six different "flavors" of hand felted soaps. They were quite a hit!

I'm already looking forward to the next Junk in the Trunk. I hope to see you all there!!

New Paintings!!

I am finally done with the new paintings that I had mentioned a couple of posts ago!! I am so excited to show them to you and hopefully get prints of them in my shop soon.

I have been in a little bit of a forest woodlands kind of mode lately. All of my sketches were headed in this direction so I went with it and now I have three new friends to add to my collection... Dixie, Vixen and Henry.

Hope you like them! I am considering having giclee's made of these as well, so if you are interested... Let me know!!

 "Fawned of You"

6"x6"

  "Hedgehog Hugs"

6"x6"

 "The Quick Brown Fox"

6"x6"

Oh Happy Day!!

I recently received the email I have been waiting for telling me that I got into ALL the classes I signed up for at Art Unraveled. I am so thrilled!!

So here is the lineup.
Click on the class name links or the photos to get more information on the class. All photos included in this email are of the classes that I am taking and belong to Art Unraveled and the instructors of each of the classes. Please don't duplicate or use them without the permission of the artist. Thank you!

TUES JULY 29TH
Danse Macabre
Michael deMeng

  

WED JULY 30TH
Intuitive Drawing and Mark-Making with Collage
Crystal Neubauer

THURS JULY 31TH
Maker of Saints
Deryn Mentock

  

THURS JULY 31TH PM & AUG 1ST
Fabric Art Book
Kate Thompson

SAT AUG 2ND
Shopping Day!!
I don't ever take classes on this day because it is just too much fun to walk around and shop for hours!

SUN AUG 3RD
Mixed Media Surface Design
Mary Beth Shaw & Pam Carriker

   

TUES AUG 5TH
Time to Nest 
Diane Cook

   

So that is all of them! It will be a full week of artsy fun and I cannot wait! For the next 6 months I will have these classes in the back of my mind as I shop at art stores and pick of fun finds at estate sales. The next contest I can prepare for is the name badge contest. I can also be thinking about trades. I have never really taken part in the trades before. Maybe this is my year. How many does one make, I wonder?

The prep is half the fun! I hope you are inspired to take one (or more) of these classes with me!

Art Unraveled Registration!!

Ok. So the thing I am most excited about each and every year is Art Unraveled. I look forward to it all year long. Lucky for me, they are great about getting the schedule of classes out in early December and I can register in January even though the event isn't until the end of July. It gives me tons of time to plan and get super excited about each of my classes.

This is my retreat of choice (A.) because it is local for me and I don't have to truly take time away from my family. I still come home for dinners and to sleep. And reason (B.) really has to do with it being the only retreat that I have tried thus far. Obviously it is a good one because I day dream about it for months in advance. And (C.) I have made some pretty fantastic like-minded artsy friends from attending  for years now. I'm thinking this will be my 5th year, but I could be wrong... I'll have to check on that.

One of the many fun competitions that they have leading up to the event is that you can decorate your registration envelope. It is just one more way to earn prizes and artsy goodies. I love to take part in these. I was one of the winners for the envelope contest last year and I hope to be again this year as well. So I thought I would share my decorated envelope with you all. I am proud of it. I think it came out nice. I bet it is so much fun for Linda and Chuck to get the mail each day when all the fun art mail starts pouring in!

Here is the front:

 And the back:

Hope you like it!! 

I'd love to see yours too, so if you have blogged about it please leave me a comment with a link!

Once I hear back about the classes I got into I will be sure to post them in my "Classes I'm Taking" side bar list. So check back. Hopefully we will have a class or two together!

2014 goals/resolutions

I always have the best intentions at the beginning of a new year to better myself – make myself more productive, more organized, healthier, etc. Well, in 2013 I did the healthier thing... and I was pretty successful there. Pilates has become quite a healthy addiction for me. Three times a week and I feel strong and healthy.

So what does 2014 hold for me you ask? Well for one, I will be working extra hard on the productive goal. I have already started a series of paintings which I am super excited about. I have three that I am working on at the moment. I should have them done in the next few days. And then I have three more in my sketch book that will follow those three. My sketches have been leading me towards animals lately. I am enjoying working on getting the general shape and likeness of the animal and then giving them that little twist to have my style integrated in... giving them a life and character all my own.

I also have the goal of flossing every day - no matter what! I know that sounds silly... but I haven't exactly been the best flosser my whole life :) And if this gives you any idea of my personality, I am also one of those people who when they make a list puts down the smallest thing that may or may not already have been accomplished so that I can cross something off right away in order to feel productive.

My list actually is pretty long, so I won't go into detail on all the rest, but here is a short list for you to see what else I have in store for myself.

- take part in more art/craft shows
- build my buisness
- blog more
- submit more art to publications
- take classes
- sketch more
- put more time and effort into building my etsy shop...

I'm hoping that by putting this out into the world I will feel held accountable for making them happen. Have you followed through with any of your resolutions as of yet? I'd love to hear what yours are too!