Don't Forget About Free Bling Friday!

Scroll down to the November 14th post for this week's offering and more information on Free Bling Friday! Click here for the Happy Shack Designs website. Go shopping!

Someday Was Today

Note: This post was partly prompted by Miranda's post over on Creative Construction. Yes, Miranda, someday WAS today. But first let me back up a moment to give you a little perspective why today became so important.

Saturday morning as I was driving around the block three times near Garnet and Gold in Tallahassee trying to find a place to park so I could pick up a new t-shirt for the FSU Homecoming game that night, I got a call from my best friend Becky. Becky and I have been friends since 9th grade English with Mr. McDonald. We sat behind Wally Rakestraw and both had a crush him (on which Becky’s brother Robert commented at Becky’s wedding rehearsal: “Wally Rakestraw!!?? Damn you girls for always going for the jocks!”). Becky and I went through high school and college together, became sorority sisters in college, and are still best friends 20 years out of college. When she called that morning and asked what I was doing, she said, “Well maybe I shouldn’t tell you this while you are driving.” With a comment like that, now you know I really had to know, so she told me.

At 9pm the night before, one of our sorority sisters in Tampa had a knock on her front door. It was a State Trooper. Her daughter, her 17-year-old daughter on her first trip away from home without her parents, had just been killed in a car accident. She was on her way to Tallahassee with three friends for the very same game that prompted my t-shirt search; the other three girls survived the crash but were in ICU. I pulled into a random parking lot and just stopped. What do you do in that moment? What can you possibly say? No words seem to fit. All I wanted to do was hang up the phone and call my own children at home, just to hear their voices. I cannot imagine the devastation our friend’s family must be feeling. My heart and prayers go out to them.

Which brings me back to the importance of today…. That moment crystallized for me that someday truly is today, and that you never know what that someday, this today, that tomorrow is going to bring you. And for that reason, I realized that every moment, big or small, must be cherished. Today was one of those moments. It was the day that all the kindergarten parents were invited to come to school and have a Thanksgiving lunch with their children. Before Saturday morning, I hadn’t really thought about going. Work is very hectic right now, and I have to travel to Orlando tomorrow and Friday for a meeting. But I went. And as I walked down the hall to the cafeteria, Olivia spotted me and yelled “Hey, there’s my Mama!” to all her friends. When I got in there, I saw that Sarah was still in line and hadn’t spotted me yet, so I told Liv to save us a seat and got in line. I saw Sarah walk out of the serving area with her little tray in her little hands, looking so smart and so grown up, and my eyes filled up with tears. When she saw me, she almost dropped her tray and yelled, “Hey, Mama!” So we sat down. And we ate. We ate terrible elementary school cafeteria turkey and dressing, box mashed potatoes and pre-packaged fruit cocktail. But it was one of those little moments to cherish. It was the day that someday did become today. It was the start of a lot of somedays that will become todays. When will your somedays become today? Do it now.

Sunday Evening Shopping Spree--Lauren Alexander

Don’t you just love this little gal!? It’s a very cute little ACEO by Lauren Alexander. I found Lauren’s work through Karen Faulkner’s blog. I love it! I bought this ACEO and one more to add to my ACEO collection as well as a little pack of five magnets for the girls. Lauren’s work is very whimsical and very affordable. Great for artsy little Christmas gifts! Visit Lauren’s shop here and visit her blog here.

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Free Bling Friday Number 55!

It’s Free Bling Friday time! Congrats to Free Bling Number 54 winner, Karen F. from Pennsylvania. I recently featured Karen in my Sunday Evening Shopping Spree and she had beginner's luck, winning on her first try! This week’s entry features some gorgeous shell shaped lampwork beads highlighted simply by one Swarovski crystal dangle. Simply elegant! They hang on sterling lever backs. To be eligible to win this pair, simply email me or leave a comment in the comment box by midnight Thursday, November 27, with the subject line FREE BLING and include where you're from. The next winner will be drawn Friday, November 28. Don't want to miss a single Free Bling Friday? Click here to sign up for free weekly email reminders. Click here for the Happy Shack Designs website. New items listed!

Creativity Challenge: Self-Portrait

This is my entry for this week's Creativity Challenge over on Creative Construction. I wasn't going to enter anything this week since Miranda already used my silly self-portrait trio for my Breakfast interview, but I took this picture of the girls yesterday at Fort Caroline, and it just struck me how much of myself I see in them. I haven't written any poetry in a while...

When I look in the mirror,
I see my mother.
When I look at my children,
I see myself.
My green eyes turned blue,
my blonde hair turned red,
yet the same little twinkle,
the same little spunk,
the same great wonder,
the same boundless spirit,
building the courage to become…myself.

Finally Updating the Website!

I know, I know…I’ve been quite the slacker when it comes to updating my website, but I'm finally getting around to it! I’ve added several new bracelets today and will be adding new necklaces and earrings as the week progresses. Go over and take a peek! The holiday shopping season has begun! Of course, there's absolutely nothing wrong with picking up a little something for yourself, either. ;-)

Sunday Evening Shopping Spree--Karen Grenfell

Now here’s a girl after my own heart! Just as I can’t seem to concentrate on one thing (or creative medium) at a time, it appears that neither can Karen Grenfell, the artist behind MimiLove Forever. Karen paints beautiful water color paintings and then embellishes them with embroidery, incorporating text and designs to enhance, further illustrate and even add a little comic touch to her watercolors. The end result is truly unique! I’ve never seen anything like this before! Living in the UK, Karen also seems to be having a great time with her art. Her paintings have been signed by celebrities from World Cup winners to Hollywood superstars and even include a sale at Sotheby’s world-renowned auction house. Karen is also a fellow member of Etsy for Animals. Yeah Karen! Visit Karen’s Etsy store here, her website here, and her blog here.

Adventures in Babysitting, I Mean Festivaling...

For those of you asking for pictures from my road shows, here you go! Click on any photo to enlarge. I must admit Halifax was not as good to me [pictured here] this year as it has been in the past, but I’m sure that was due to the dragging economy and, on Sunday, the weather. Saturday was a glorious shopping day with bright blue skies, windy but at least sunny. Crowds were not as big as they have been in the past, but I understand the Daytona News-Journal was not able to sponsor this year because they are in the middle of an ownership change. I imagine that greatly affected advertising since in past years they’ve done a special section on the show listing all the artists and events. Regardless, sales were still decent on Saturday given the economy. Sunday, though, was a complete washout. Literally! It rained on and off all day, mainly on, with a few very heavy, windy thunder storms. But let me back up to my Sunday morning arrival.

[Picture of my booth here] When I arrived at my tent Sunday morning, some kind soul had added an additional clamp to the bottom right front zipper. Apparently a pretty bad storm had come through overnight and that zipper didn’t hold. I opened the tent to find a full set of shelving and displays scattered everywhere. My guess is that the gust of wind that opened the zipper then proceeded to take out that facing set of shelves. Luckily, I do not leave my jewelry on display overnight. (And in the midst of all this, I lost my keys…after Patty and I both searched off and on for a couple hours, Patty found them in HER pocket! I had put them down next to my jewelry case when I discovered the scattered display, so she had evidently picked them up and put them in her pocket so they wouldn’t get lost!)

[Nice street shot here] Back to the rain. About 11:30am Sunday morning, we got hit with a particularly stormy band of rain, so we zipped up and tried to wait it out. This time, it was my center front zipper that gave way (if I’m going to continue to do this, I apparently must replace my zippers….). The wind was really whipping and the rain was coming down in sheets, and here I am in the middle of my tent trying to hold the front panels together to keep the rain out—no way to rezip with the wind blowing as badly as it was. It was a fruitless effort, and by the time that particular band passed, I was drenched from hip to toe, in jeans. Yuck. I tried to suck it up for about an hour and then gave up and went back to my van to change clothes. My van was parked directly in front of a very popular restaurant. Have you ever noticed that your front windshield isn’t tinted? Oh well, at that point I was wet enough that I didn’t care who saw my bum.

[This is Patty!] Towards the end of the day Sunday, we had all given in to the weather gods and were standing out in the rain talking. Patty and I were talking to the artist a couple booths down from her, an acrylic artist named Bruce, and Patty jokingly said, “Tell me why we do this again?” And Bruce took that opportunity to respond with, “Hmmm, let’s see….I don’t want sick leave, I don’t want health insurance, I love spending two days outside battling the weather trying to protect the art I spent countless hours creating, and um, what else…oh yeah! Paid vacation time? Who needs that!?” Are you catching the sarcasm here? By that point, we were all punch drunk from rain so everyone just laughed about it. (If you’d like to read another very entertaining report of a disastrous show, click here.)

[This is Malcolm, winner of the Canine Costume Contest] Bruce’s answer really made me think about that question though. Unlike Bruce and Patty, my art is not my sole, or even my primary, income. I do have sick leave, health insurance and paid vacation time. I do have a “real job”, as some full-time artists get accused of not having (ridiculous accusation, by the way…). So why do I do this? Why do I spend hours creating at night and then long weekends away from my family to show and, hopefully sell, my art? I thought about that on the way home, and I realized the answer to the question is two-fold. For me, it’s not to make money. Sure, it’s nice to make a little profit and hopefully at least not lose money, and frankly I often spend the majority of the profit I make at shows on other people’s art! But I love the people I meet, whether they be fellow artists or customers. People like Ken Dames and his wife Theresa, my neighbors this weekend. Ken’s hysterical “Bathroom Art Series” reflected his sunny personality and definitely kept people laughing as they passed by his booth. I’ve also met some great customers that have become great friends and have shared their lives with me. Wonderful people.

[Battling rains on Sunday, before I changed my clothes!] The other reason is maybe a little more intangible. Though I know it will realistically never be my life’s work, I do have that drive to create. And while creating may be a very personal thing to some people, I get so excited about new things that I create that I just want to share them! (And DH and the girls can only express so much enthusiasm on any given day.) So for me, it’s just really cool that there are people all over the world wearing a little piece of something I created. Like little pieces of Kelly scattered all over the world. That’s a cool concept, don’t you think?

So I guess I’ll keep at it. I always get a little burned out during the fall because I’m not only juggling arts festival travel and work travel, but I also have that football schedule to contend with. Gotta have my ‘Noles and my Barnaby’s. I’d love to beef up my online sales, but that requires more time than I have right now since I’m traveling so much. Maybe in the spring you loyal blog readers can help me spread the word… Till then, next stop is Tallahassee’s Market Days December 6-7. And, yeah! It’s an indoor show!

Sunday Evening Shopping Spree--PandaCub

What fun stuff in this little shop called PandaCub! I think I came across this seller through a forum discussion (I need to take better notes…:-). My girls are becoming quite the little fashion divas, and I know they’d love these little ladybug hairbands. These are made by Stephanie, who makes all sorts of fun little accessories with fabric. Here’s a little about her: “I work full-time in a very corporate environment, so making these adorable accessories is a fun way to relax and be creative. I love discovering new fabrics that I can turn into cute buttons! Some of my favorite things in the world: my husband, coffee, chocolate, getting mail, reading books, cooking, shopping, sushi, London, vacation days, the internet, Lord of the Rings, vanilla, cats, useless trivia and music.” Visit Stephanie’s shop here for great little stocking stuffers. The holidays will soon be upon us! Also visit her blog and her MySpace page!

Free Bling Friday Number 54!

It’s Free Bling Friday time! Congrats to Free Bling Number 53 winner, Ricki M. from Wildwood, MO. This week's entry has been a popular staple of mine, lovely purple crazy lace agate paired with pink and purple freshwater pearls. They are delicate and very feminine. To be eligible to win this pair, simply email me or leave a comment in the comment box by midnight Thursday, November 13, with the subject line FREE BLING and include where you're from. The next winner will be drawn Friday, November 14. Don't want to miss a single Free Bling Friday? Click here to sign up for free weekly email reminders. Click here for the Happy Shack Designs website. I’m off to the Halifax Arts Festival this weekend, so wish me luck and great weather!

Bunny Does Washington...Unsuccessfully?

Those of you that know me personally and have spent any time around my children know that Sarah rarely goes anywhere without Bunny. Bunny and her twin Sister Bunny were actually baby shower gifts from my friend and colleague Dan Rodkin and his wife Christy. Once the girls were born, we gave them each their own bunny. Early on we realized that Sarah was very attached to Bunny, but Olivia really didn’t give a flip one way or the other. That was when Sister Bunny became Bunny B, hidden away when Sarah’s Bunny needed a bath or, gasp, disappeared. At about 3 1/2, Sarah found Bunny B, officially renaming her Sister Bunny, but Sister Bunny has still never really been as important as the Bunny.

Last summer (2007), Sister Bunny disappeared. Yes, thankfully, it was Sister Bunny and not the Bunny. So for the next few months, Sarah constantly reminded us that she wanted Santa Claus to bring Bunny a new sister for Christmas. Miraculously, Santa delivered. One of his little helpers found the exact same Bunny at JCPenney’s (two, actually, and I bought them both). It was quite the scene on Christmas morning when Sarah tiptoed down the stairs, Bunny in hand, and walked past the dollhouse that I had spent hours and hours restoring, past the fishing poles and the new Barbies and headed straight for Bunny’s new sister sitting on the piano. She looked at Bunny, then looked at Bunny’s new sister, then back again at Bunny, and then turned around and came running into the bedroom screaming, “Mama! Santa brought Bunny a new sister! Santa brought Bunny a new sister!” And yet still, Sister Bunny has not reached the status of Bunny.

So, you’re probably wondering why this is all important, huh? Well, Bunny had quite the adventure while we were in DC. Yep….we actually LOST Bunny in DC. It was Monday. We were spending the day on the Mall visiting the Smithsonian. We picnicked. We played. Bunny got her picture taken on the Metro, with the Washington Monument, in front of the Capitol, and in the flower garden in front of the Smithsonian Museum. Towards the end of the day, DH decided he just had to see the new World War II Memorial…which was WAY down on the other end of the Mall. Fine, we’ll walk down there; luckily we had borrowed a double stroller from a friend. After checking out the WWII Memorial, we started making the long trek back to the Smithsonian Metro stop. That’s when it hit me, and I said, “Sarah, where’s Bunny?” A stricken look of panic crossed her face...then a look around…and then the tears. I told DH to stay where we were with the girls and I ran back to the WWII Memorial (I didn’t know that I could still run like that!). No luck. Bunny was nowhere to be found. I ran back to DH and the girls, and as soon as they saw me empty handed, DH let out a few expletives under his breath and Sarah really started crying. We started retracing our steps. Are you picturing how fruitless this effort really is? We are in Washington DC, for Pete’s sake, on the Washington Mall. As we are walking back, I’m praying like I’ve never prayed before while at the same time trying to console Sarah and trying to get her to understand that Bunny is probably gone. I told her she’s probably having the time of her life, up there in Heaven with Lucky Dog, and Kitty, and my Mama. But she wasn’t buying it; in her eyes her life was over if Bunny was gone. Olivia didn’t quite know what to do, seeing her sissy so upset.

Once we got past the Monument, we got stuck at the light at 14th Street. Very busy street. And then I saw her. Across this busy street, right there on the sidewalk at the edge of the crosswalk. Standing there at the light, I turned around and yelled to DH that I saw her; he’d been lagging behind as I moved with that stroller like a woman on a mission for Earth's last piece of chocolate. And at that moment, time seemed to move in slow motion. As the cars were rushing by, all I could envision was a street sweeper coming by and sweeping Bunny up as I sat there watching helplessly, separated by rush hour traffic. The light changed and we charged across the street. A family walked near Bunny and I heard the Mom say, “Oh, someone’s really going to be missing her,” as she reached down to pick her up. And I yelled, “Yes, we are!” reaching out my hand to take her. Oh…..my….goodness….. Talk about answered prayers.

Truly, what are the chances of that? It had been at least two hours since we had been at that spot, and yet there she lay waiting for us. The whole experience was really quite surreal. Before we found her, I found myself going through my own grieving process. I couldn’t imagine life without Bunny! She’d been everywhere with us for five years. She was a living, breathing extension of Sarah. It made me realize how important Bunny had become to me simply because she was important to my child, and that humbled me in a way. One of the side effects of motherhood I hadn’t experienced yet. Not the humbling aspect of it….I’ve been humbled from the moment they arrived…but more by the effect that a little pink bunny with a star on her chest has had on all our lives. Last year, we started a Bunny scrapbook of sorts. We take pictures of Bunny everywhere. Once Sarah gets older, we’ll present her with a sort of “Bunny, This is Your Life” memorial. Though I’m quite certain that Bunny will be with her when she walks down the aisle.

Fat Book Entry #10: Aged and Tattered Wings

Well, here it is! My final entry in the Fat Book Swap! Yeah! I really, really struggled with this one for a while. I kept getting stuck on the “aged and tattered” part. My overall style, both in jewelry and in mixed media, is definitely not aged and tattered…I lean more towards the bling! But then I decided to use this quote, which I use at work in my service learning and volunteerism student presentation. And while the art I came up with is definitely not aged and tattered, I felt like the quote had an aged and tattered feel to it. As I said last week, I have thoroughly enjoyed this project…yes, it’s stressed me out at times due to my master’s degree in procrastination, but it’s truly been fun. Now the challenge is what to do with them all! At 100 pieces of original art, that’s going to be one heck of a thick “book”. I’ll let you know once they all arrive at my door! Click here to see all ten entires.

Sunday Evening Shopping Spree: Karen Faulkner

I stumbled across Karen Faulkner’s watercolors perusing Etsy Treasuries one night. I really like the simplicity in her art. Very nice person as well! You meet so many nice people on Etsy. Here’s a little bit about Karen: “I've been painting for more than ten years now. My education and professional background are in business and marketing communications; however, the last several years have drawn me closer to art as a necessity in my life. Painting is restorative for me and I hope that a restful yet uplifting quality comes through in my work. I strive to make each piece unique, saying as much as I can in just a few brushstrokes. My paintings are often reflective of a mood or emotion.” This piece is titled “Gourd Love”, and I definitely see the emotion in it. Lovely piece, Karen. See more of Karen’s work in her Etsy store here. Her store is chock full of very reasonably price pieces, great for holiday gift giving! You can also read more about Karen on her blog here. She did a nice plug for me last week!

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Fascinated by Little Minds

No art for you today....just random Momness...As a mother of twins, most days I feel like I’m living in a real life nature vs. nurture theory experiment. Will two children who popped out of the same womb three minutes apart, and who live in the same house with the same parents, and attend the same schools with the same teacher in the same classroom be basically the same child? I am here to give you a resounding “No way, Jose!”

Take a look at these graphs. This was a homework assignment in my girls’ math awareness series. Can you believe they actually have math homework in Kindergarten?! I taught a class Monday night, and DH left these sitting out on the kitchen counter for me to see when I got home. Both girls followed the directions: color in one number 1 on the first row, color in two number 2’s on the second row, color in three number 3’s on the third row, etc. And both graphs are technically correct, yet look at how different they are. This was fascinating to me! And what fascinated me more was which graph belonged to which child. To date, Olivia has very much been a “color in the lines” kind of girl. All her drawings are typically very well thought out and organized; Sarah, on the other hand, has been a vertible Jackson Pollack. Looking at these then, I assumed that the organized picture was Livvie’s and the all over the board picture was Sarah’s. What that’s saying about the true meaning of assume? You got it. This time, the organized picture was Sarah’s and the all over the board picture was Olivia’s! I need a child psychologist to figure this one out.

Since I work in education, I hear so much about nature vs. nurture and how it affects not only our children’s success in the classroom, but moreover their success as creative, positive contributors to society as a whole. I've been visiting classes at the girls' school over the past couple weeks just to get a feel for what elementary school is all about. Through my visits and my talks with those teachers, parent involvement is certainly crucial to children’s success; that’s the nurture part. Yet, though elementary, these simple math exercises seem to also point to the major differences nature sends us out into the world with. Interesting, don’t you think? Being a leadership development trainer, I’m always fascinated by personality differences and how we all look at the world through different lenses, particularly for me when it comes to my twin girls. So what are your thoughts? What have you learned from your children’s differences in personality or your siblings differences in personality? This should be an interesting exercise in creativity!

And yes, I know you've been waiting for pictures from the wedding! I hope to get some uploaded this weekend!

Etsy Treasury Love!

Many thanks to somsstudiosupplies for featuring me in this lovely treasury. Those are my Mermaid Jewels earrings third row, center. Yeah!

Fat Book Entry #9: Pin-Ups

Oh, the end is finally drawing near! I have thoroughly enjoyed this Fat Book swap from a creative standpoint, but I have to admit creating 10 originals of each piece has been a big challenge added to an already full plate. Yeah, I know, I know. I did it to myself! But I wanted the challenge to try something new, and it has definitely given me that opportunity. I’ve learned so much! I like these little 4 x 4 pieces of art! Here’s entry number nine. Given that I have two gorgeous redheads, I immediately searched for a red-headed pin-up for this one. Nice bonus that this gorgeous redhead also happens to have blue eyes, like my gorgeous redheads. And I love the Lucille Ball quote. I have number 10 done as well but I’ll save that for you till next week.

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Sunday Evening Shopping Spree: Sweet Repeats

I’ve been randomly featuring my favorite Etsy finds here on my blog for a while now, and I’ve finally decided to get a little better organized! Welcome to the first Sunday Evening Shopping Spree! I love Jodi Ohl’s work. Jodi says, “I am a banker by day, artist by night! My latest works have been all about my growth as a woman and artist--and the inspiration that has sparked my creativity as I travel on this journey.” She lives in Aberdeen, North Carolina. This particular piece really speaks to me, since I’ve been asking myself that question a lot lately. It’s a steal at $15 for an original 8 x 8. I’ll give you a couple days to beat me to it! Visit Jodi’s shop here. You can also read more about Jodi and see more of her work on her blog.

So just where did the time go anyway? Yesterday my girls were tiny little babies, totally dependent on Mama and Daddy. Now it seems like they’ve grown into little people overnight, constantly reminding me “I can do it myself, Mama!” Tomorrow, I’m quite certain they’ll be starting college! Parenthood really makes you take a good hard look at life, doesn’t it? For me, it’s grounded me a bit, in a good way, I guess. I think Jimmy Buffet said it best when he wrote, “I’m growing older but not up.” Yes, I’m growing older, as I’m reminded of when trying to keep up with three five-year-olds at the zoo all day by myself (the girls brought a friend today!), but my girls are allowing me to not grow up in a sense as well, because in many ways, I’m able to relive the fun parts of my childhood with them. I guess that’s one of the benefits of having your children a little later in life! So what has parenthood taught you?

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Free Bling Friday Number 53!

It’s Free Bling Friday time! Congrats to Free Bling Number 52 winner, Liz F. from Parkville, MO. Liz was one of my very first online customers, finding me on Ebay way back when. Thanks for sticking with me, Liz! This week’s pair will brighten your days as we head into the shorter days of Fall. Fun little blue polymer clay roses highlight green glass crystal briolettes with small sapphire Swarovski crystals for that little extra sparkle. They hang approximately 1 ½” on sterling French wires. To be eligible to win this pair, simply email me or leave a comment in the comment box by midnight Thursday, October 30, with the subject line FREE BLING and include where you're from. The next winner will be drawn Friday, October 31. Don't want to miss a single Free Bling Friday? Click here to sign up for free weekly email reminders. Click here for the Happy Shack Designs website.

Marrying Off the Little Sis...

Through the magic of pre-posting, I’m in Washington, DC, today for my sister’s wedding. This event has been quite the undertaking for us! The girlies first flight and their first stint as flower girls... Needless to say, they are VERY excited.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Kim and me, and looking at the date, I see it’s 18 years old! Wow! So, yes, I’ll date myself here. I was 25; Kim was 15. We were at the 1990 Blockbuster Bowl, FSU vs. Penn State if I remember correctly. And I’m pretty sure we (FSU) won. Well, I say “we”. Actually my sister rebelled and went to UF, but thankfully has never given a hoot about football so our dad did not have to change his allegiances! It's funny to think about what I was doing when I was 25. Let's see...still on-again, off-again with my college boyfriend, working as the Public Relations Manager for Amelia Island Plantation, living in one of Jacksonville's historic districts in an 1920's apartment building right on a park fronting the river. That was a great apartment! Fun memories...

I’ll share a couple pictures from the wedding when we return next week!

Yeah for Thornebrook!

All my late nights last week paid off; the Thornebrook Arts Festival was a great success! I’ve been sticking to shows produced by non-profits this year, and thanks to great shows like this one, I will continue to do so. Thornebrook was run by the Gainesville Fine Arts Association. Though load-in and -out was a little tricky since the booths were situated in the interior of a quaint little shopping village (meaning no way to just drive the magic bus up to the spot to unload…and I forgot my dolly), I think that set up is really what helped to make the show successful. There’s full participation by all the merchants, and the GFAA did a fabulous job advertising the show as well as jurying in really great art. Amazingly enough, I managed to come home without purchasing anything for myself, the girls or DH, even though my sales were very strong. However! I did take a few cards for one special order that I’d love to do (a very cool mosaic guitar), and I snapped this picture with the hopes of convincing DH that it truly belongs in our own little happy shack. Doesn’t it just scream “Happy Shack!”? It’s 2 ½ feet tall by 5 feet wide and would be perfect for our big blank wall above our kitchen. The artist is Mike Segal, and he was also the poster artist for the show. And he was conveniently located just across from my booth, so I think that helped my traffic. I told Mike I’d do my best to convince DH that we needed it, and he’d said he’d be happy to work a deal for us! You can see more of Mike’s work, and purchase a print or two, on his website here. My next show is the Halifax Arts Festival in Daytona Beach November 1-2. I’ll do my best to get busy creating new pieces for that show now, instead of staying up till all hours of the night the week before. :-) We're heading to DC for my sister's wedding this weekend but I'm working on getting the website updated very soon!

Perfection is Not Going to Happen...

I read a sentence over on Creative Construction today that really struck a chord with me. “Perfection is not going to happen, but life will,” said our current Breakfast guest, Lindsey Cheney. My goodness, what a powerful statement. Very good food for thought, and something I needed to be reminded of this week. I’ve been frantically preparing for the Thornebrook Arts Festival (yes, because as you already know, I AM the queen of procrastination) so all else has fallen by the wayside. The house has been a disaster, dinner time is a true act in creativity piecing together a little of this and a little of that (thank God for DH…are you reading this Honey?...thank you for all that you do….), the girls’ laundry is not done, and they are coming up with rather creative outfits for school (I’m letting them show their individuality! Who really cares if they wear striped socks with red sparkly shoes and a blue and pink floral dress?) I’d say we’ll be back to normal next week, but really, what the heck is “normal” anyway? Read Lindsey’s full Breakfast interview here and be sure to visit The Pleated Poppy to see her lovely little things, like these travel tissue cases pictured here. I'm off to Thornebrook! Wish me luck!

Frantically Preparing for Thornebrook

.....so I've not had time to chat with you! Hang in there! Be back tomorrow or Friday!

Free Bling Friday Number 52!

It’s Free Bling Friday time! Congrats to Free Bling Number 51 winner, Jules, from West Palm Beach, FL. Congrats, Jules! Jules runs a fun little website in West Palm Beach called PBChick. Check it out here. This week’s entry is a simply elegant pair featuring one of my favorite semi-precious gems, Botswana agate. I’ve paired the agate with golden shadow Swarovski crystal rondelles and sterling silver. They hang approximately 1 ½” on sterling French wires. If you are the winner and prefer posts, no problem, just let me know! To be eligible to win Free Bling Number 52, simply email me or leave a comment in the comment box by midnight Thursday, October 9, with the subject line FREE BLING and include where you're from. The next winner will be drawn Friday, October 10. Don't want to miss a single Free Bling Friday? Click here to sign up for free weekly email reminders. Click here for the Happy Shack Designs website.

My Budding Fashion Designer

When I got home from work last night, Sarah had filled her Curious George notepad with various fashion illustrations. She said they were all of me. We had Mama in a brown dress, Mama in a purple dress, and Mama in this lovely red dress. She even had a couple with no color added. When I asked her about those, she said, “That’s Mama getting out of the shower.” Out of the mouths of babes…

Busy weekend ahead, getting ready for the Thornebrook Arts Festival which will be Oct 4-5 in Gainesville. I've been procrastinating as usual and will probably be up till the wee hours of the morning all next week getting ready for the show. Also getting in a little Florida State football Saturday afternoon. Hopefully we'll fare better than that miserable showing against Wake Forest last week. What's up in your world?

Fat Book Entry #8: Famous Women

Here’s my eighth entry for the Fat Book swap. Famous women... thousands of choices! Not sure how I settled on Madonna (I recall “Like a Virgin” being stuck in my head that day), but I felt that my all-time favorite quote fit her perfectly. I have a feeling my entries are really going to stick out in this book since, from what I’ve seen of the others, I am the “crazy color” rebellious girl (not sure if that's good or bad!). For this one, I searched out Madonna pictures on Google and settled on this one since it was such a big, uncluttered shot…you know, so I could add my own clutter. :-) I covered my cardboard with the zebra print paper and then over-stamped the card with hot pink script. From there, I trimmed and layered the photo on some hot pink torn cloth rag paper, added the rhinestones for my trademark bling, and added the quote. I have to admit, I put these last two entries together in one Sunday afternoon marathon, so as usual, I procrastinated until the very last minute! Two more entries to go and then I’ll get to see the whole book.

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