Friday, January 30, 2009

VALENTINE'S DAY GIVEAWAY!!

In honor of Valentine's Day I am having a giveaway!! Starting today through Feb 7Th. Winner will be drawing at random. I will be giving away a sculpted penguin gourd in a Valentine theme. I will be posting a picture on Monday of the actual gourd, I am currently cooking for the Oregon Crusaders and won't have time to get a picture up until then. Poor planning on my part! If you scroll you will see a Christmas themed Penguin Valentine will be similar to that sculpt with Valentine accents.
Please leave a comment on today's blog ,remember to include your name and email address! That's all there is to it!! My sisters at AHA art on EBay will be hosting giveaways too. Visit their blogs to sign up for their giveaways too! Winner will be drawn at random.
Hugs, Susan

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

New Creation

Our kitchen remodel is done ! yay! The new floor went in quickly which was great because all of our den and kitchen furniture was store in my living room and dining room [turned into library room]. Our Disney collections had to be taken out of the safety of their large curio so it could be moved, so the lined my book shelves until they could be moved back into the entry hall again. That was pretty unnerving for me, I am a klutz so moving all those pieces was a very slow and careful process! Not one piece got broken, thank heaven. So I can breath easier.
The guys that installed our new floor looked like teenagers to me,[ is this what is called getting old? will I be calling them sonny soon?yikes} but they were very good at their job, except for the chalking around the bases boards. My husband is obsessed with chalking, oh and did I mention I am married to a perfectionist? I have always joked that he is Felix Unger [from the odd couple] and I am Oscar? is that right? Anyway, I am not that bad but my husband is pretty dog gone close to Felix. So the next day he couldn't stand it and re chalked the entire thing. He could hardly walk the next day but it does look good.
The real kicker was the granite, which I thought would be the easier part [which I shouldn't do when it comes to things out of my area of expertise] First the men who came to install the granite were Chinese they didn't speak hardly any English. Which was kind of scary not being able to talk to one another but thankfully the owner came and stayed through the whole thing. Four days later we have an amazing new kitchen. The good news is I was able to get some real work done during this turmoil , that makes me very happy.

I finally finished my first Easter piece for 2009. Her name is Spring and she stands 8 inches tall. She is a paper clay sculpted piece. This is the first time I have used doll eyes for one of my pieces at least mechanical open and close eyes with lashes!! I have given her a tiny woven basket in which she carries tiny hand made flowers one German mushroom from spun cotton green Polk a dot top , one pink Easter egg and one purple. I love her skirt with it's full tutu style! The tiny flowers are plumerias made from clay so cute! I will be listing her with weekend on EBay.

I will posting pictures of the kitchen tomorrow, after I de-clutter them, getting ready for a show so things are stacked the kitchen for pricing. Bye for now.

Friday, January 9, 2009

Look what I found!!

Today, my husband Terry and I ran errands which is usually a chore. We are in the process of a kitchen redo, replacing the yucky flooring with wood flooring and counter tops ,With, dare I say it, granite!! yeah! So we Had to pick out a new under mount sink and hardware. Which was pretty painless and I am happy to have these little details done so we can proceed next week.
Silvia from Granite & Cabinets, came to measure everything and she discovered that there will be a nice sized piece left over so we can do our powder room too. It just keeps getting better and better, I had originally wanted to include the powder room in our makeover but my husband pooh poohed it. Now we can have it done too. Anyone living in Salem Oregon or surrounding areas thinking of granite counter tops should check them out the prices are really reasonable! Here's the best part of the whole thing ,I won't have to cook for about four whole days !
After our errands, we had some time on our hands before meeting friends for lunch at the Teriyaki House , so I drug my hubby to Goodwill to peruse the used furniture. We found a antique dressing table and drop leaf coffee table !! Usually it's hard to find one piece that Terry can transform into a cottage treasure but 2 that's amazing. . .. I also found two footed glass and metal vessels and this darling blue pedestal vase.
After that I was ready to have lunch. I ordered the Tempura plate which included scrimp, sweet potato,broccoli, asparagus,cauliflower [all dipped in Tempura batter} rice and small salad. I couldn't help myself but in my defense look at all the veggies!! Any way it was yummy. Terry was much better than I, he had the Spicy Teriyaki plate which is grilled chicken with veggies and white rice. Probably a third of the calories of mine. I ate all my veggies though!! I was hungry that's my excuse and I am sticking to it. I'll have a light meal tonight. Yeah right, I am already hungry again<>
Terry is really talented at bringing vintage pieces back to life, check out the 106 yr. old piano I found at the Union Gospel Mission .It was a steal, even though neither one of us play the piano, hummm maybe I'll take lessons... Yes that will justify the purchase of a old piano. It was in pretty good shape over all but the finish was way gone. At first Terry looked at me like I had lost my mind, he hasn't figured out that happened a long long time ago. Silly Man! Once he resolved his mind that the piano was going to sit in HIS garage for a very long time if he didn't refinish it for me . He finally got enthusiastic about the whole idea. It is turning out so pretty, I can't wait to have it moved into the house. Terry added the pretty trim pieces to the front it was really plain without them. Now I have added to his Honey paint list, I probably won't be seeing him much during the day. However, this works for me because that means I can spend more time in my studio and catch up on my work. It's all good.

Friday, January 2, 2009

Please let College Football be over!!

Let me just start with I actually like football, pro football......Die hard Bronco fan sadly. I am not however interested in the 400 and 44 thousand college bowls that are currently streaming across our TV .... it's been like 7 days of this now .
My husband has been glued to the television set since these games started. Granted television officially sucks right now, there's not a new show in sight and our weather has been horrible, but he had the nerve to question my extended time on the computer!! Ha!
Apparently his 10 hours of back to back football watching is more esteemed than my 10 hours of blog reading! Foolish man....he has no idea about the things I have learned, the creations I've viewed or the dreams I have shared with my sisters in blog world. Aw well , I will continue to ignore his queries about how I spend my free time at least till this weekend , then I retire to my studio, with new sketches in hand and begin to start my new pieces for spring. At which time he will need to start the new tile flooring in the upstairs guest bathroom. Yay! Time to go my fav show Ghost Whisperer is on, even though it's a rerun !

American Holiday Artists

American Holiday Artists
Ebay Art Group I belong to visit us to see all of our members creations

Phineas Birthday Surprise

Phineas Birthday Surprise
SOLD

Hawaii in early Dec

Hawaii in early Dec
North side of Oahu

Earlier this week

Earlier this week

Old World Santa Glass eyes

Old World Santa Glass eyes
Gourd

Snow Dec 2008

Snow Dec 2008

Snowflake Santa Gourd

Snowflake Santa Gourd
ex large gourd sculpted

Mirek's sculpt

Mirek's sculpt
HUH??

Mirek's updated version

Mirek's updated version

Victorian look Christmas Angels AHA/Adsg folk art Ooak

Victorian look Christmas Angels  AHA/Adsg folk art Ooak

Smoking Pipe & Red/Blk Santa's

Smoking Pipe & Red/Blk Santa's
Gourd Art

Mad Hatters Teapot

Mad Hatters Teapot
Just listed on Ebay

Christmas Snowman

Christmas Snowman

Fall Celebreate 365 is out!!

Fall Celebreate 365 is out!!
Be quick and grab yours! this book is amazing!

Jingle Bell Santa 2008

Jingle Bell Santa 2008