nice can.

For Valentine's day this year, just tell her what she really wants to hear, "you've got a nice can."  

Love ain't so hard.  #loveexpert #sweetdumpah

4"x4" canvas painting.  Email me for one of your very own! 

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Coupla new guys.

I just painted these guys for some sweet little girls.

Maeve's favorite colors are green & pink.  Mina's are grey and hot pink.  And you'll never guess their favorite animals!...

You can see them and ORDER YOUR OWN in my Etsy shop!

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Semi-Girly Owl Triptych

Some girly owls in response to the below owls painted for a little boy's room.  They're a little softer and a little pinker but still the same idea.  

You can see the link to them on my Etsy shop here. 

 

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Candy Cane Treasury on the Etsy.com Superstore

I'm so honored to be part of such a beautiful collection of artists! Thanks Alex & Lena!

49 days to Christmas! Commence Freak-Out! Pin It

You've Been Framed: Personalized Frames for Kids

Picture frames have proven to be hands-down my biggest seller on Etsy and in real life.  They're a quick, inexpensive, personalized gift that is perfect for kid's birthdays, Christmas and -as in the 4th picture- as party favors.  Contact me to have your own painted or order one on my Etsy page.  

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Is This Appropriate?

Custom "Is This Appropriate?" speech bubble for when you're just

not sure if your Mom would approve of what you're doing.    

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Day 4: Reusable Bags: Not Just for the Grocery Store

By now, pretty much every body I know has caught on to using re-usable grocery bags as part of a daily routine.  They all have a small cache of them to bring to the grocery store or to a weekend farmers market.  What's not common practice however, is to use them when they're out shopping at clothing stores, junk shops, the beer store, etc.

Re-usable bags can and should be used in place of plastic bags whenever possible.  Today's easy way to save the planet is to try to make it your practice to carry a small reusable bag with you wherever you go for those impulse buys you weren't expecting like a quick stop at the drugstore or when you just can't resist a sale at Forever21.  

You can buy small EcoBags for just this purpose.

To help understand why it's so important for all of us to lessen our dependance on plastic Inspiration Green laid out these statistics for us:

Each year, an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide.
That's over one million plastic bags used per minute.
planetgreen.discovery.com/home-garden/plastic-bag-facts.html

Every year, Americans reportedly throw away 100 billion plastic grocery bags.

www.worldwatch.org/node/5565

The average American family takes home almost 1,500 plastic shopping bags a year...
NRDC www.nrdc.org/media/2008/080109.asp

Americans use and dispose of 100 billion plastic shopping bags each year
and at least 12 million barrels of oil are used per year in the
manufacture of those plastic grocery bags.
The Wall Street Journal

Less than 5 percent of plastic grocery bags are recycled in the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency.

Plastic bags can take up to 1,000 years to break down,
so even when an animal dies and decays after ingesting a bag, the plastic re-enters the environment, posing a continuing threat to wildlife.

www.worldwatch.org/node/5565

There is now six times more plastic debris in parts of the North Pacific Ocean
than zooplankton.

www.acfnewsource.org/environment/plastic_plankton.html

And for those times when you simply cannot use a re-usable bag, please please please recycle it or repurpose it. 

To find a recycling center near you go here.

(Did you know you can recycle the plastic that toilet paper comes wrapped in?!  Me either!!)

Or!

Weave them into a rug like Homestead Weaver or make a rainjacket like PenFelt on Etsy.



JUST SAY NO!  to plastic bags.

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Before & After: the Painting Process

Makeover shows, be them human or residential, are a major weakness of mine.  Mostly because I love a good before-and-after picture.  I love seeing a neglected little kitchen in Iowa that hasn't been updated since Reagan was in office be turned into a gormet cookery fit for the White House.  It's so satisfying to see the design come to life and the before-and-after shot at the end is what makes it all come together.

The same is true for paintings.  Whenever I'm asked to do a custom painting I always start with a sketch to make sure the customer and I are on the same page.  Once the drawing is approved, I get 'er painted up and no many how many times I go through the process I still love seeing the before and after shot at the end.    

For instance, you can go from hand-colored sketch to nice looking piece of art (if I do say so myself):

From an idea in a notebook to a wall-sized triptych that is now the highlight of Lil' Dillon's room.  

From a basic scribble to a full-blown stadium.

From outline to outstanding....ya, I just said that.  

Click HERE to see more before-and-afters.  

And feel free to email me if you have an idea for a painting...or if you just want to talk about muffins. 

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January 31st: National Popcorn Day

It's National Popcorn Day today!  Deeeeelicious! Pin It

Happy National Squirrel Appreciation Day!!

Put a Squirrel on It.

                               

                    

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The Compliment Shop for Valentine's Day!

I've started loading up the Compliment Shop for Valentine's Day.

Let your Valentine know you love them so much that you want to punch them in their adorable face with a compliment from the Compliment Shop. 

More available soon!  check back often!  

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25 Cent Word!: Anthropomorphic

I learned a new word- anthropomorphic - suggesting human characteristics for animals or inanimate things, please be prepared for me to throw it around all the time now.  I feel like I just found out about jeans or something.  Like the entire world new there was a word for creepy smilinging vegetalbes, little girls with apple heads and hot dogs with faces happily grilling themselves except me.  It wasn't until I was using every single adjective in my vocabulary AND both hands trying to describe "those creepy teapots with faces...from the 50's...shaped like apples...you know?" that my sister-in-law said, "you mean like an anthropomorphic teapot?" 

Gah!  There's a word for that???  Amazing.

Now would be a great time to check out my brand new Anthropomorphic Label!

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National Mousse Day

November is going out with a bang folks because today, the last day of November 2011, is

NATIONAL MOUSSE DAY!!!

    See what I did there?  Chocolate moose.  Chocolate Mousse.  Get it?   My humor is very sophisticated.

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Ornament Sale!!

All ornaments in my Etsy shop normally $19 each are on sale this week (Cyber Monday, Nov. 28- Friday, Dec. 2) for JUST $15!

Ornaments make awesome gifts and can be customized just for you!  

 Don't be shy, go check 'em out!  Let me know if you have something special in mind.  

***And don't forget, custom orders must be in by Dec. 5th this year!!***

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Thank You for your Outrage.

 

When I'm mad I'm not looking for sympathy, I don't need the sage advice of an elder and I certainly don't want to hear the voice of reason.

 

What I need is for my friends to be outraged at the incredible injustice that I've had to face. I need them to fly off the handle if I've had to wait too long to get coffee. I want a table flipped if my boss wouldn't give me the day off. I want promises of hell fire any time I've been even the tiniest bit inconvenienced.  This is how I will know you're my friend.

 

And then I want to say thank you. Thank you for your outrage.

 

4x4" alternating grey on grey striped speech bubble painting with hot orange outline available on my "other" Etsy shop.

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The Owls Are Not What They Seem

If you're a Twin Peaks fan you'll love this.  My friend Amy made it.  Such a clever girl.

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Aden's Pet Dinosaur

Just listed this custom picture frame for Aden on my Etsy page.

10"x11" kickstand picture frame with a 3"x5" opening hand painted with acrylic paint and sealed with acrylic sealer to protect from sticky fingers.  Makes an excellent gift!

***I will only accepting Christmas orders until Dec. 5th this year because of holiday travel mid month so please get your order in soon if you'd like to commission a custom piece of artwork.***

Other characters, colors and sizes available.  Contact me and we'll get started. 

Christmas is only 45 days away!! Pin It

the devil you say!

National Deviled Egg Day is here again and I'll tell you what, it just sneaks up on me every year.  I mean, you hardly get past National Brandied Fruit Day and BAM- National Deviled Egg Day is here.  It's so hard to keep up!

Because of my lack of preparedness for this holiday I turned, as I often do, to Etsy and I was eggs-cited  to find eight pages of deviled egg related items in my search.  Eggs-cellent!
Here's a yolk for ya:
Q: What did the wicked chicken lay?     
A: Deviled Eggs! Pin It

Honorable Mention

It's always nice to be featured in someone's treasury.  It's especially nice when they're as beautiful as this one put together by Candace Rasmussen of KnottyTots.

Thanks Candace! Pin It

Wedding Wednesday: Tchotchke Centerpiece/Favors

...and with a little less than 5 hours left of this beautiful, rainy Wednesday I bring you:

 

                                                                                                              Picture by Kristen Mallory

WEDDING WEDNESDAY: 

TCHOTCHKE EDITION! 

For a full year before my wedding I collected tchotchkes from junk shops, second hand stores, garage sales and of course, Etsy to create my combination centerpiece/favors. 

There were a couple of rules for collecting these hollow treasures, they needed to be:

a. planters

b. under $7 (american currency) and

c. a little "off"....not exactly ugly, just "off".

To make them into centerpieces was truly a family affair.  We (my 4 year old flowergirl, Sister and I) planted succulents in all of the tchotchkes, put them on wooden disks (cut especially for me by my loving Father), accompanied them with precious little terra cotta pots filled with small white flowers (put together by Lady, my Mom) added hand stamped signs (Made by Liz) that said, "take me home tonight!" and then they were all artfully arranged on each table by my BFF, Gina Marie.

Pictures by Meredith Mascola

The results were 100% unique, semi home-made, adorable little bits of precious that I could hardly stand to give away!!  These were SUCH a huge hit I was blown away!  People were hiding them from each other and stealing them off tables all night.  I personally saw the squirrel change hands at least 3 times, I'm still hearing stories about who the rightful owner should be.  And now the fun part is finding out where all of them went.  I love going to friend's houses and seeing which planter everyone ended up with (aka who swiped what while no-one else was looking!) 

  

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