So long, dear South!

Hello, Friends! I apologize for the neglect around here but my father-in-law has driven all the way from Indianapolis to South Carolina help us prepare our home to put on the market a.s.a.p! We've happily and finally been  given our relocation notice for Indianapolis and we have 90 days to get it all done! So, I'm busy spreading mulch, washing windows, sorting and packing...but hopefully I'll be around again soon! Happy Weekend! xo

Indiana or Bust!

Photo of Indiana Countryside by Meeralee on Flickr.

Mary Engel Mixed Media Sculpture

I thought I had a lot of tchochke's to manage in my studio...but it just doesn't compare to artist, Mary Engel's treasure trove-and look how tidy!! I'm especially fond of Mary's hand built mixed media  sculptures that mix ceramics and found ceramic figures and findings. Sometimes it seems the simplest  and most literally expressed ideas are the ones that work like magic...e.g. watch dog, bird dog.  And wasn't it Shakespeare who wrote, brevity is the soul of wit...  I suppose he would know! xo

 

Bird Dog 

Ceramic and found objects 12 x 25 x 10 in.

 

Joan

Mixed Media 19 x 17 x 20 in.

Kitty

Mixed Media 17 x 24 x 18 in.

 

Laying Bird Dog

Mixed Media 24 x 11 x 9 in.

Tillie

Mixed Media 32 x 43 x 12 in.

Falcon

Mixed Media 22 x 34 x 18 in.

Mary Engel's Studio corner and muse

Mary with her muses, Mingo and Bonnie.
 

 Detail of Mary's Treasures.

Visit Mary Engel's Web Site for more!

McMaster & Storm Spring Sale!

Don't forget to check out McMaster & Storm's Spring Cleaning Sale!!

I'm particularly excited to see what's inside the this & that bag o' sundries they are offering-a $30. value for $7!!  Help us make room for lots of exciting changes to their site that {yay!} I'll be working with them to make in the next few weeks! Stay tuned! xo

The Surprise "This & That" Sundries Bag!

Tender Letters

Do you ever feel a hankerin' to "favorite" someone's entire album on Flickr? I believe I did just that this morning to an unsuspecting artist, Lauren Treece-known as Tender Letters on Flickr. Here's a sampling of her photography-a mix of art and life-and really the two bear no distinction. I hope you enjoy the escape to her world as much as I do....xo 

{blog}{website}{flickr}

New Twig and Treasures Wreath

Happy Monday!

Here's a new wreath I made yesterday!

{I also marked down the two other found wreaths in my shop!}

LadyBird's Twig and Treasures Wreath

Available in my Etsy shop! xo

detail (using my new vintage letters scored from Artsy Mama's shop!
Thanks, Kari!)

detail.

xo

New Bell Jar Assemblage

hello, pretty bird! 

Available here. 

Lost Things

Lovely...magical...sweet...and best of all- an artistic collaboration!

Read all about it here. xo

Lovin' from the NYT...

Woowhee! Check out this super article from Brooke Hodge about shopSCAD in The New York Times today! Amy kindly shared our story with the writer and once again shared the limelight of shopSCAD glory with me...and she needn't! She has taken the shop to an entirely new level of awesome-ness since I was there! (Speaking of which...a print catalog that is so fabulous it blows my mind is under construction as I write this-consider yourself warned!) Unfortunately, Amy's last name was misspelled a-gain. {New note: it has been corrected!} Its Amy Zurcher..."enterprising retail director" eXtraOrdinaiRe!!  Soon to be a household name so's you better get it right! xo 

Eye Fancy, Jam Fancy

Jam Fancy Artist, Christina Gordon-Melbourne, Australia

creates these sweet-somethings using a monoprint process. 

These are samples from her Etsy shop where she sells prints of her 

original monoprints-smart artist! Love her fanciful blog too! xo

The Crowd Gasped

 Tiny Girls

Pricking of My Fingers

Strawberry Crush

Parlour Maid

Coventry Ride

Party Nutkin

(BTW-this is crazily my 800th blog post!? What?! 
Thanks to you for visiting and keeping my art & handmade spirit strong!
I appreciate it more than you know! 
P.S. I'm working on some thank you prizes to giveaway this weekend-
will let you know tomorrow! xoxo}

Edith's La Vie en Rose

I love this old footage of Edith Piaf singing La Vie En Rose. 

Having always been a favorite song of my Dad's... 

I made sure we used it for our father/daughter dance at my wedding.
xo

Happy Day!

Happy St. Patty's Day to you and yours!

Image from Joyeux Lapin, by Alice and Martin Provensen, from 

Librairie Hachette 1954, originally Simon & Schuster 1950. 

Many thanks to Flamenconut on Flickr!

A Very Sweet and Southern Engagement!

Congratulations are in order for my sweet and lovely friend, Alicia Magee! Alicia and Clay, her Texan beau of five years, are tying the knot this summer! These shots of the couple were taken by one of Alicia's best friends and fellow SCAD alumna, Nichole Barrali of nbpimages.com. The location is Fort Pulaski on Tybee Island just outside of Savannah. The couple chose this spot as it was on one of their regular weekend outings to the island with their dogs that Clay chose to surprise Alicia with a ring! Alicia is a creative pearl of a girl and its marvelous to see these photos that so capture her enchanting spirit...

Thank you for allowing me to share these Alicia! 

I am so thrilled for you both! xoxo

It's a Flickr kind of Friday...

1. The Children’s Book of American Birds, 2. Vintage porcelain, 3. Moth 4, 4. cinema, 5. the flock, 6. photo2, 7. Nieuwe woonkamer | New living room, 8. Untitled, 9. vintage doilies, 10. Untitled, 11. wip stitching, 12. Mrs. Lilly Underwood, 13. goodbye bird, 14. Birds, 15. Le main de Madame Hugo, 16. portrait 1, 17. Untitled, 18. there were candles,, 19. Untitled, 20. Untitled, 21. IMG_7216, 22. Protecting The Nest, 23. Vintage Patent Leather Purse Embellished with Bling, 24. rose is a rose head band, 25. Jointed Swan Silhouette, 26. purrfect grrrub, 27. notre dame des 7 douleurs, 28. handmade chalk board, 29. manon-4_large, 30. quilt by darra crosby, 31. Persia and Polly, 32. Handmade Doll Creatures in their Travelling Case, 33. I can hear them......but...where are they?, 34. the collector, 35. birds in flight, 36. my three little witches!

one hundred photos project

I was fortunate to meet another extremely kind and talented friend via the interwebs a few days ago...Toni from Simple Sparrow and her new project: one hundred photos.  Toni and her family are  sleepy sunny California beach-town dwellers temporarily living abroad in Germany. I can only imagine the shock her senses are experiencing this winter! I've really enjoyed  observing her adventures through Toni's lovely photographs and text on her blog, Waking Up in Bavaria.  I'm fasting today for a yearly physical I have this afternoon and I'm trying to defeat my wimpy will-power with lots of interesting distractions!  xo

until the end

Photo from her post: Fading Tulips

my son, the human perch

Photo from her post: Off topic just a bit

Tiny Lanterns

A friend down the road.

from her post: horses

So fragile

Photo from her post: the frost i had been looking for (hoar frost)

Photo from her post: Our Swiss Holiday: Zurich

Stopping

Riding bikes with her daughter to the bakery via their favorite path...

wish i was stowed away in her sweet green basket!

inaluxe prints and papergoods

These images from inaluxe fill my head with visions of the colorful mid-century fixer-upper we may...No! MUST hopefully one day soon find and nest!  I love the retro/modern edge of the artist, Kristina Sostarko's colorful woodland creatures and patterns! Visit inaluxe on Etsy! xo

My Love Deluxe

Our Little Friends Aqua Bird

The Swantones

Orbital

Our Little Friends Peach Rainbow Bird

Fox Force Three