Friends - Up Close and Personal

I collect vintage magazines. They are a great resource, fascinating to read and view pics of what we now look at as a gentler time in our history, and, they can be a great source of amusement. Some of the ads are particularly (unintentionally) hilarious.

Before I go into my studio to continue working on some pieces, I wanted to share this little gem with you, from a 1933

women's magazine

In never hurts to learn new things LOL

Don't Quit

We all, to varying degrees, go through periods in our life of doubt, stress, inadequacy, despair, etc. Periods when our reactions can be moderate to extreme.

I think this is particularly true of creative people. We are working on a new painting, sculpt, tune, or novel, and we just know our muse has gone on vacation. Nothing is coming together the way it is envisioned. I know I have gone through several low periods when I just felt like throwing my clay against the wall. But, in every case, my muse has returned and yes, the sun does shine again.

Those two words, "Don't Quit" say so much.

Wishing everyone a creative and sunshiney day!

Laughing to Learn

Learning a new skill, a new slant on a known subject, a new method of creating something...just about anything that one may desire and attempt to learn to add to their brain banks is usually an exciting and rewarding adventure. We crawl into the idea we want to learn about, stumble at the beginning and then as we get that glimmer of "ah ha" we start to run with it.

In today's fast paced world we often don't give ourselves the time to really absorb what we are learning. To savour the facts and intricasies of the subject at hand. We get impatient and way too serious....and we invariably miss some little element that may make a huge difference in the end result.

The pic above contains a wonderful lesson for all of us:

Laugh while you learn and remember to walk before you run!

The Proximidade Award

I am honoured to have just been given the Proximidade Award by

Baroness Bijoutery. I have seen this award on other's blogs however until this morning, I really did not know what it represented.

The description as to what this award represents is as follows:

"This blog invests and believes in the PROXIMITY-nearness in space, time and relationships. These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement! Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers!”

How lovely is that! Thank you so much Baroness, I appreciate this very much!

In following along with the spirit of this award, I must now pass it along to 8 blogs that I feel are deserving of it. The other criteria is that when accepting the award, you must post the meaning of the award on your blog (see above).

A tough decision, but the 8 blogs that I would like to pass this award onto are:

♥ Nicole at Mealy Monster Land

♥ Eugena at Polymer Clay Chameleon

♥ Joanna at Joanna Thomas Art Dolls

♥ Nita at Sleetwealth Studios

♥ Molamari at Molamari Studios

♥ Marie at My Little World

♥ Colleen at LoopyBoopy Art

♥ Pattee at Odd-Dolls

Now, I must go and notify the above bloggers to come pick up their award.

Wishing everyone a great night...and don't forget Earth Hour tomorrow!

Musical Interlude

I often listen to Blackmore's Night when I'm sculpting and this video is kind of cool.

An Early Morning Surprise

Booted up my computer while sipping my first (and essential) coffee of the day and received a wonderful surprise in my inbox. Eugena of Eugena's Creations on Etsy wanted to let me know that she had done a feature of my work on her blog.



I was not familiar with Eugena's shop and quickly checked it out. Please do yourself a favour and take a few minutes to peruse the varied and wonderful creations, all sculpted from polymer clay
that she offers. Her jewelry is absolutely stunning, and she also
offers tutorials and supplies. Here are a few items that I virtually
"lifted" from her shop offerings:







To see the blog feature that Eugena did on me, please click here

Thank you so much Eugena!

Vote Earth - Saturday, March 28/09

Where will you be this coming Saturday at 8:30 pm?

Last year my family participated in Earth Hour and after switching off our lights and unplugging appliances we leashed our dog and went for a long walk around our neighbourhood. We live in a small town northeast of Toronto, Ontario and it was so uplifting to see the huge amount of houses and businesses that were participating in this event.

For more info on Earth Hour, please visit the official site

The Little Doggy in the Window

This is Ramona. Ramona is really hoping that the little doggy in the window will be hers. Do you have a little dog that you had hoped for?

Ramona is #8 in my Kindred series and has a vintage lace overlay over her painted body/dress and stands just over 7" tall. I listed Ramona on Etsy last night.

I'm hoping to start work on another Kindred today, however I also want to start a couple of faerie pieces. Should be a great day!

Beat the End of Winter Doldrums

It's that time of year - The fresh promise of Spring is in the air, but we are still (those of us in Northern climes anyway), dealing with some ugly dirty vestiges of snow patches, wet and mucky

ground, and chilly grey days with the random day that Mr. Sun smiles on us. What to do? Well, you could Spring Clean (laughs hysterically), or....you could stretch your wings abit and take an

online class.

My very talented friend Kerin of Remnants of Olde has just posted about some fascinating looking online classes offered by the incredibly artistic JoAnnA Pierotti of Moss Hill Studios. Visit Moss Hill Studios and check out the workshops offered. Here are some teaser pics:

According to JoAnnA's most recent blog post, she is going through some very difficult and sad times at the moment. Her track record, from reading comments on the Moss Hill Studios site for the popularity of her online classes is proven. I'm not sure if I will be able to participate at this time in a class (but boy would I like to make one of those bottles!), however I did want to spread the word, as I know many of you out there would welcome the opportunity to sign up and create one (or more) of these lovelies!

Bettina is Hungry

Bettina is #7 in my Kindred series. She is waiting for the lunch bell to ring - she's really hungry and is wishing for tomato soup with a peanut butter sandwich to dip in it. What are you hungry

for?

I'll be listing her on Etsy tomorrow with Kindred #8 that I'm still working on. These guys are so much fun to create. I'm hoping to start another ghost child this weekend and also have to start my

Shakespeare challenge piece. Fun!

Update I listed Bettina tonight on Etsy. Ramona, #8 kindred will be listed tomorrow.

Esther Needs a Home

Now how cute is this!! The adorably wistful face, the lovely blue and pink shading and the cute little button flowers on her skirt - just too, too cute! This little cutie was created by Zan Asha.

If you would like a chance at giving Esther the Bunny a home

hop (*groan*) on over to the very creative Zan Asha's blog,

Wild at Heart Art and on this blog post, you will see the particulars of this giveaway. I would wish you 'good luck', but I hope to win Esther myself, so........... :)

China Bound

This is the custom order I had for a Kindred and she is on her way to China. I was sent a picture of a beautiful gal in a prom dress and while this is not an exact copy of the dress, I tried to replicate the general idea. Now I have to finish more for my shop!

The Sisterhood :)

...of the travelling pants? No, more like the travelling blogs. I am honoured to receive this very special award from the fabulous Baroness Bijoutery. This award is presented to blogs which show great attitude and/or gratitude. Please check out the Baroness' blog and her beautifully crafted artisan jewelry.

The requirements of accepting this blog are:

1. put the award logo on your blog and/or post

2. nominate five other blogs that you feel show the spirit of the award.

3. to let the nominees know about the award, comment on their blog.

4. Link to the nominees in your blog post.

5. To show gratitude and friendship to the person that gave you the award, link to them in a blog post.

There are so many blogs that are deserving of this award, however the following five I am nominating today for it are:

♥ Nun of a Kind (this award was 'made' for this blog!)

♥ 3rd Eye Muse (always brings light in her posts)

♥ The Studio At Crow Haven Farm (her joie de vivre shines on her blog)

♥ The Art of Silke Janas-Schloesser (for her generous impish spirit)

♥ The Cart Before the Horse (for generously sharing info on her fabulous creations)

Again, I thank the Baroness for this award and I'm off to notify my nominees.

Please do take a minute to visit their blogs!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Much ADO About.....Faces

I belong to ADO (Art Dolls Only) and today snagged a treasury on Etsy featuring a few of the many talented artists that are on this team. It was very hard to pick just 12 so I had to set some criteria for myself and look for faces and backgrounds that would (hopefully) flow. You can click the above image for more detail, or you can check out the treasury on Etsy and click the various artists to check out their shops.

Music and Me

I have a constant love affair with music. Odd because I don't play any instrument, and I can't carry a tune to save my life (although I love singing along with tunes). I'm rather fickle however. I will develop a passion for a particular type of music and then play it over and over ...and over ...and then I have to leave it for awhile.

My current 'hot' tunes are by French singers. Carla Bruni (yes, THE First Lady of France). She has a breathy airy quality to her voice and her tunes are catchy. I also recently downloaded Andree Watters who is a young singer from Montreal, and Alizee, a young singer from France. All sing catchy, stay in your head tunes....now if I only understood French.

Kreativ Blogger Award :)

I'm thrilled to have received the "Keativ Blogger" award from Jan at Wyldewood Papers. If you have never visited Jan's blog, please do and
check out her enchanting and magical lamps and other creations!

The requirements of this award are that I'm to list 7 things that I love and to pass the award onto 7 other deserving bloggers (and to notify them).

So without further ado, here are 7 things I love (hard to keep it at 7)

♥ waking up early and enjoying the stillness and beauty of a new day

♥ the sound of rain on the roof when I am in bed

♥ the smell of freshly mown grass

♥ the smell of line-dried laundry

♥ sitting on my front porch in the early evening and watching the birds

♥ discovering a piece of art, a book, a song that tweeks inspiration to create

♥ family, friends, pets and chocolate (yeah I know 4 in one, but I had to mention them all as they are all important to me)

I would like to pass this blog award onto:

- Zan at Wild At Heart Art

- Julie at When the Spirit Moves Me

- Lezlei at Breath of Art

- Kim at Kim's Art by the Sea

- Kerin at Remnants of Olde

- Denise at DLynne Art Dolls

- Cindy at Oops! Desparate Blogger

All the above blogs are interesting, inspiring and so much fun to visit and read. Now, I'm off to notify them!

Wishing everyone a wonderful Sunday! Here in Ontario it is sunny and warm (8C or 46F - and that is warm for this time of year!). You can definitely feel and smell Spring in the air!

Do You Creep?

No, I don't mean on Facebook, but here in blogland?

I'm sure we all are. I'm a big-time creeper.

I love going to blogs I'm following and checking out their profiles, seeing who they follow and voila..... I find a whole new group of blogs that delight me.

And, if I'm in a particularly lazy mood and don't feel like working, I check out these bloggers' Etsy shops, websites, flickr accounts, and then the blogs that 'they' are following. I will also creep on comments left on other blogs and click on the avatars.

It's a vicious cycle, but not really a time waster (well, it can be LOL).I have found some wonderful artists and blogs, all of whom are inspiring and motivate me to yes, get into my studio and work.

So, if you don't creep, try it ....you never know where or whom it may lead you to.

One of My Faves

Daniel - Bat For Lashes


- this has been deleted for some reason, even on the Bat for Lashes site. Hopefully it will be reinstated soon. :(

Natasha Khan (Bat for Lashes) is one of my favorite singers. She has
such an ethereal, melodic voice and her songs are haunting and catchy.

"Daniel" is her new single, just released from her new album, Two Suns, which comes out on April 6. I can't wait! I have to have music playing when I'm in my studio and I've totally worn out her first album.

The Kindreds

♥Kindreds are gentle little beings (most of the time). They aren't very verbal, but they do have a way of conveying an affinity for others♥

I have had so much fun working on these little figures and have so many ideas swimming around at the moment for more of them. I listed three of them last night in my Etsy shop and hope to have a couple more by the end of the week. The two shown below sold this past weekend and are on
their way to China. I have an order for another one for China too.

These pieces are much simpler than my usual sculpts and it really was like playing working on them.

Lamps With Soul ~ and More

Alfheim

My camera is recharging so I can't take pics of my new pieces yet and I feel like I've neglected my blog this week, which will just NOT do. I thought I would randomly choose another one of the stores that I have 'hearted' on Etsy. This week's shop is wyldewoodpapers where the specialty is brilliantly

handcrafted lamps made from handmade paper and found objects from
nature. The lamps are called, "lamps with soul" and the name is perfect for these magical and enchanting creations.

Flidais

"Lilith", the lamp shown below is one of my favorites, and sadly for me, it has been sold. In each listing, the artist gives a description of how she creates the lamps, from raw fibre to finished product. Part of the description for Lilith reads, This lamp is made of handmade hickory bark paper. I start with the raw fiber. After cooking in an alkaline solution, the pure fibers are beaten to make a slurry and then formed into sheets which are wrapped around the twig framework. As the paper dries it takes on it's own character.Lilith is embellished with a various lichens and twigs and has a soft aqua coloring.

My title suggests that this very inventive and creative artist offers more in her shop - and she does! Delightful organic paper 'wyldestars' that would look fabulous hanging randomly in the yard, and even though there are no wall sculptures available at present, there have been in the past (a reason right there to bookmark this site and check back!).

She Who Sleeps - Leaf Sculpture

Wylde Star 6

And, did I mention that this multi talented artist also makes jewelry? Please check out her Bijouxterie Papier shop on Etsy and to delight in an overall view of all the creations, visit her website: Wyldewood Papers

Enjoy!

~ MyGrandmothersHands ~

The Healer


I'm constantly amazed at the wide variety of exceptional artisan work offered on Etsy and I decided to start going through some of the ones I have "hearted" and periodically featuring them here. It was only a year ago that I discovered Etsy and hopefully if you are not familiar with this site, you will do yourself a favour and treat yourself to the myriad of highly creative artisan
(and also some vintage) shops on this fascinating site.

Today's shop is MyGrandmothersHands. I was immediately drawn to the organic and spiritual nature of the items offered. They are creative, tactile, mystical and a treat to view.

Earth Medicine

Yemaya's Offering

Checking out the artist's profile, I was not surprised to see that she has Cherokee and Choctaw blood mixing with that of her European ancestors coursing through her veins. Her story on how she began her creative journey is interesting and I urge you to read it while visiting her shop.

Complementing her enchanting and mystical artwork, handcrafted journals (complete with tiny attached medicine bags) and leather tarot bags are also offered

Many more items are offered at MyGrandmothersHands...visit, browse and enjoy!




Cabinet of Curiosities