Odd space

There has always been this kind of odd narrow space

between the kitchen window that is over the sink and the 

8 ft slider that goes to the back yard.

It's only one foot wide, if that.

For years, I have tried hanging various things in that spot and they

always look wrong.

Inspiration hit the other day and Voila...

I am happy...so is the Family.

I sketched out a design and painted 4 coats of 

chalkboard paint.

Chalkboard paint is WONDERFUL!

Created the lettering and trim in white paint.

Wait about 48 hours before you write on chalkboard paint.

Then I baked chocolate chip cookies for the Fam.

Perfect for a COLD night...plus the house smells divine 

when baking.

Happy Tuesday!

Hugs,

Lisa

Pennies from Heaven...

The Family and I had a nice Thanksgiving 4 day weekend.

We worked on Home projects. Honey pruned the front yard. We did chores, 

hung out, played scrabble, rode bikes and watched a bunch of movies.

No Black Friday shopping for us.

Don't like the crowds and money is super tight for us this year.

In trying to teach my daughter the REAL value of life, material things, 

giving back to the community, etc...and 

to better understand the value of the dollar, 

we decided to empty the change jar and roll coins.

It is good practice for kids to count change and make change, 

so we made it a learning experience in that regard as well.

Even the Pennies were counted.

We lined them up like little battalions.

Last week I was singing a very old Christmas song and a line in

it mentions a "ha' penny".  My kids querried, what is a "ha' penny"?

Well, back when a penny really bought you something, they had ha'pennies.

A smaller denomination than a penny, a HALF penny.

Can you believe that?

My kids were stunned.

How sweet and simple the days of being able to buy things for a penny,

or a ha' penny for that matter.

I am old enough to remember Penny Candy as a kid.

I wanted her to see how much it really takes to make one dollar and how

easily we spend those dollars.  The visualization is so important.

I joked with my Honey about what would our National deficit look like

lined up in pennies?  I bet we could cover our country, ocean to ocean.

Emily learned what a wheat penny is and we collected 10 out of the pennies

we counted, as well as a pair of Canadian pennies.

She is now starting a collection of wheat pennies.

It was a lot of fun and a nice learning experience for her.

Pretty appropriate for the end of a Thanksgiving weekend.

It is the little things that brought together make us one.

It is the Little things, like Pennies that 

we should be Thankful for too.

A penny is still a significant amount if money in many parts of the world.

We should all count our pennies as we count the multitude of things we are thankful for.

Happy Monday!

My Next show!

This is my Favorite show to do besides Glitterfest!

Come visit all of the talented ladies and stop by to nab some ROCKING deals on 

my current line of jewelry, belts and buckles.

Just in time for Christmas gift giving.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and hope to see you next week!

XO,

Lisa

Mother's Pride

Emily and I set out to spend the day today with our friend Julie.

Julie had never been to Treasures and Junk, or to Mollys Souper or the Antique

stores in Upland.

I needed some supplies for my upcoming shows and was in need of some antiquing.

List in hand (so I would stay focused), we set out.

First stop was T&J.

Being a dealer there twice, I know the owners/managers and many dealers very well.

They are like family.  Emily gets to help behind the counter and Alyssa is so good to her...they all are.

Today Bart, one of the dealers there complimented how well behaved and mature Emily is.
I thanked him. 
You know how it is as a parent, one worries how your children behave. 
Emily gets dragged to so many shows and places with me.
It is gratifying when you can breath that sigh of relief that your child is
acting how you have raised them to.

When we went to lunch, Emily insisted on paying.
She had been holding onto her B-day money and wanted to treat Julie and I.
She was so cute and proud.
We had to force her to let us pay the tip.

It was a wonderful day spent building my friendship with Julie,
enjoying my daughter.
To top it off, I was searching for a VERY
specific list of vintage supplies for my new projects.
With the utmost graciousness, I was gifted a pair of matching silver spoons by Bart at T&J
 and the Kind lady who owns Molly's Souper, gave me two metal flower frogs.
Neither would let me pay them.

What a Lovely way to spend a Thursday!

HUGS,
Lisa

Peace in the Garden

During the hectic and HOT past months, our Garden has been seriously neglected.

On Sunday, my Honey and I spent most of the day winterizing and cleaning up.

We still have several days worth of work, but we did make a dent in it.

This is a beautiful Rose Climber called Don Juan.

Red Velvet roses.

Promise to take shots next time there are blooms.

Smells heavenly too!

About13 years ago when my sons were younger,

we lived in a condominium complex.  I was cool aid Mom.

At any given time there were about a dozen kids at my house.

Home made rice crispy treats and kool aid was always on hand.

One Mother's day, I bought a bag of quick crete, disposable food containers from Blakes

and filled little bowls with beads, baubles, stones seashells and stuff.

Each kid in the neighborhood made a stepping stone memento for their Mom.

It was so much fun. My life has always been surrounded with children.

I still have the ones my sons made.

Their hands are all now larger than those stepping stones.

Need to make one with Emily and my grandson Ben.

My Mom's Garden will continue to flourish as grandchildren are added to our lives.

The Momma bunny with her 4 buntings was purchased

for me as a gift from my late hubby.

It's me and my 4 babies.

At Last weekends Show, I spotted this huge iron garden chair.

Being a sucker for Metal, I had to have it!

Thinking to myself, hey, this looks like a throne.

I am after all,

"Queen of the Castle"

Need to get a cushion for it.

On Mother's Day 2009, I sold at the Rose Bowl.

The really pretty Our Lady of Guadalupe was purchased

for me by my son Christian.

It is concrete and I was scared to have it hung,

but my Honey assures me it is safe.

Been wanting to paint her to look very old world.

What d'ya think?

A Corner in my Gazebo.

This Variegated  trumpet flower is creeping up the gazebo.

Isn't she pretty?

Each time my Honey prunes the roses, he makes me a bouquet.

These are the last of the roses from these bushes.

 I have about 25 rose bushes between my front and back yards...

I LOVE flowers!!!

It is so nice to share life with a man who appreciates the outdoors, 

loves to spend time in the Garden as much as I do.

Poor Emily was ill all day Sunday and slept most of the day, 

so it was really just Honey, myself and my 4 legged furry shadows who rarely leave my side.

Sophie and Dusty are two

of my 4 dogs...they follow me everywhere.

I Love them too!

Happy Wednesday!

XO,

Lisa

Hospitality and friendships

Thursday and Friday, we were honored to host two of my very best friends for those nights.

The gals were staying with me as we did the

"Tell be Bout the Good Ole Days"

show in Redlands on Friday/Saturday.

It had recently been Tricia's Big Ole 20th B-day

<wink>

So, I cooked a fansy schmancy dinner for them and baked Tricia a chocolate cake.

Rita was brilliant at suggesting we wrap Tricia's present in the

cake mix box.  

Not your regular cake mix box...Trader Joes cake and frosting mix boxes are ART.

Love you Girls!

Fun to capture the blowing of candles!

These two darling young ladies are Chloe and Maddie.

They are Lori Martin's grand daughters.

I gave them cupcake hair flowers and had to get a picture of them.

I LOVE little kids!

It was at Lori's Victorian Home that we did the show this past weekend.

Her and her daughters did a wonderful job organizing this show,

Cooking delicious food

and opening their beautiful Victorian Home to us.

I was bad to not take more photos, so click the links

above in this post and you can see more pics

from my better organized counterparts.

Happy Monday!

XO

Friends and a Show!!!

This weekend will be spent with Friends.

We will be peddling our wares in Redlands at the

"Tell me about the Good Old Days" Show.

Presented by "Two Wild Roses" Lori & Jamie Martin.

Hosted in front of Lori's beautiful Victorian Home

in Historic Redlands.

(Cute Flier too, I designed it for them)

I Love these women.

So excited to have Rita and Tricia stay at my home too!

I am ALWAYS staying and Rita and Dean's,

so now it is my turn to be a hostess.

What to cook...I Love to cook for friends.

Hoping of course the show rocks and sales are made,

but the time communing with this group of women

that I adore, is a treat as well.

Much Love!

Come visit us if you can!!!

Like a Quilt

Life is like a quilt, a mosaic. 
Small bits pieced together to create a cohesive design.

Pieces that by themselves are incomplete or lack the luster to stand on their own.

The people we meet, places we go, experiences we have

make who we are...a unique and wonderful design.

Even bad things are part of our design.  The near death experience, accident, 

illness, loss of a loved one...

Had they not occurred, perhaps life wouldn't be as sweet...we wouldn't

have had patience with the crazy person driving by...smiled instead of scoffed at the cranky shop clerk, or  appreciate that the cup is always half full.

I am particularly partial to mosaics and complex designs.

I find them rich, full of texture...as life should be, rich and full 

of experience and variety.

Today, I will share some of my favorite pieced together items...

I recently acquired this patchwork coat at Country Roads in Orange.

I almost squealed with delight when I paid eyed upon it.  

It fits like a glove, is all vintage quilting and are you ready for this???

It was only $35.

Woohoo!

Gonna wear it to some of my shows...

The above quilt is fun 60's/70's fabric.  

I bought it unfinished at another FAVE Antique store I go to,

Treasures and Junk in Ontario.

I finished it with some batting, new retro fabric and blanket Binding.

As a Muralist, most of my murals have always been with just paint.

This is part of a mural in my daughter Emily's room.

It was an experiment...a happy one at that.

I combined painted elements with fun scrapbook paper that I cut into

animal/leaf shapes and decoupaged on the wall.

Very fun effect, but not looking forward to trying to remove it from the walls one day.

When the LOVELY Plumber punched a hole in the wall behind

my stove while installing a gas line, he looked at me and said...

"Oh, by the way, I punched a hole in the wall...but

I don't do drywall repair."

Irritated to say the least, but decided to create a mosaic for above the stove

which spread across my entire kitchen back splash.

The Fireplace is also a fun mosaic...will show that another day.

Loving rich textiles, I amassed a collection but have been gradually whittling

it down to only my faves.

The above is one of three 7ft by 7ft. panels I have just sewn of

rich Damasks, flocked silk, embroidered silk, velvet and tafetta.

The panels are to be part of my canopy at shows...only now I am not wanting to use it for

that purpose and the valance below was also created for show use, but faded horribly after only

one use outdoors...

Might be used in my house somewhere...Rob likes it too, so that helps.

The valance above is comprised all of antique fabrics, the center being

part of a Victorian dress.

Also for use on my canopy, but not so sure now.

The belt buckles I create are very much like a mosaic.

Carefully pieced together to create a fluid design.

I am honored that several of them are published in this month's Altered Couture...

The above car is one I found on a blog called Gypsy Purple.

LOVED this car.

Maybe, I'll paint one instead though!

Be inspired today!!!

XO,

Lisa

Inspired Tuesday

I promised yesterday to find more dress form mannequins that I have done.

Here are a few more of my pieces including the very First one I created...

I went through a period where I did a TON of mosaic work.

This was the first mannequin I altered.

She is done with Vitreous glass as the flesh, black tile and white marbles for the dress.

Her ruffled trim at the base of her skirt is an old rose plate

and then I chopped up some Bone china flower pots for the trim

at the top of her dress.  She also has a pair of parakeets on her as well.

This lass looks like a Vegas Show girl or Moulin Rouge.

Two types of mirror are carefully glued to form the bodice,

then A LOT of vintage jewels to created the bust line and trim the bottom edge

of her bodice all the way around the back.

Yes, Vintage Jewelry was harmed in the production of this piece!

<wink>

The wings are not attached, they are separate props.

Yes, this was our Christmas tree last year.

This tall Form has a vintage hoop skirt on her with which I 

hung all of the ornaments that my children, Mother and Nana

Made over the years.

 The tall black one on the right is actually the same form as the above Christmas Tree.

The tiny white one in this photo what altered into a lamp.

She was a cutie and sold many years ago.

This uber cool pink and aqua bust I made for my friend

Beth who an Editor for Stampington and has become a dear friend.

This Photo is not my work.  I snagged it off of an ebay Auction.

Part of a photo shoot for some pretty famous designers.

LOVE it!

Thought I'd share it as it is so cool to me!

Happy Tuesday Everyone!

Enjoy your day and 

BE INSPIRED

to create today!

Inspired

Artist's need to be inspired as well as being able to inspire and provoke thought in others.

I am honored to be a guest Curator on Crescendoh this week.

Crescehdoh is the brain child of Jenny Doh.

The multi talented ex-Editor in chief of Stampington.  An artist, forward thinking

mover and shaker of a woman who has created Crescendoh as a means of connecting and inspiring creativity in this amazing Cottage Industry of Creative Women doing what they love and building their lives around that which they love.

Please visit Crescendoh to read a little about me and how I got to where I am in this life.

For my part in this, I am going to share with you art I have created from my past as well as present.

Pieces that I still have, or have sold that I find inspiring.

May you find them inspiring as well.

I Hope you enjoy.

 "The French Fashion Lady"

"The Royal Jewels"

"Penelope"

"Groovy"

"Mermaid Dreams"

"Dreaming in Pink and Aqua"

"Time Flies"

"Agape Vintage"

Mannequins and dress forms have been a core art subject for me.

I will share more with you this week of these multi use pieces.

Happy Monday and Be Inspired today!

Hugs,

Lisa