Wood Burned Jewelry

A few years ago I began playing around with my wood burning tool and, through my 'playtime', I ended up designing some unique woodburned necklace pendants. While it took some time to get my style worked out, things began to come together for me last Christmas after my sister bought a few of these pendants from me to give to her co-workers as holiday gifts. I was a bit nervous to hear what everyone thought, but--THANKFULLY--they were very warmly received by her friends so I took this as a sign that I should forge ahead with more designs.

I made a few wood burned pendants and pins with a springtime theme and took them with me to a few art shows that I attended. Lots of positive feedback and compliments were shared by my customers so I was pleased by the response.

But lately I've been infatuated with the Chevron print pattern. I'm sure you've seen it in fashion, home decor and everywhere. If you aren't familiar here's a sample of the design that I found online:

My infatuation began when I had a customer order a name sign with this pattern. I blogged about designing this name sign on my Creative Name Signs Blog. In a nutshell, I was very nervous to create a design with this pattern. I never thought I'd be able to do it. But after some thought and planning it worked out. I was so happy with the outcome I began figuring out other items I could create with this pattern. Of course creating wood burned jewelry came to mind and I'm happy to report I've gotten a few pendant orders featuring this design! Yay! Here are a few photos:

So I'm happy that my infatuation with this design is paying off for me. And with the holiday shopping season just around the corner more sales are coming my way!

Okay...it's time to run...lots to do on this busy morning! More fun topics to share soon...until then,

Zebra Print Nursery Room Decor

As I'm sure you're aware animal prints are super popular in home decor styles as well as clothing, jewelry and more. I recently painted a really fun name sign for a customer that had the zebra print pattern on it.

Before I get ahead of myself, let me back track...

Several years ago I painted a room sign that had a border with zebra print but the design ended up being very small and wasn't very prominent on the sign at all. Take a look...

See what I mean? I like the color combination, I LOVE the quote and the details are perfect for the theme. But in looking back it just doesn't get me excited. As a matter of fact, after painting that sign the thought of painting a zebra pattern made me nervous.

So when this recent order came up I got a bit on the jittery side. But I was upfront and honest with my customer. I shared the photo with her explained how tiny the pattern ended up. She understood my point and after a few emails discussing this design we figured out a way to make the zebra print stand out. Now I can't wait for someone to order this pattern! I LOVED PAINTING IT!

This sign was created for a newborn baby and the customer wanted the little zebras on there to fill in the space. But if you don't want the zebras on there I could leave them out. In the empty space I could paint some flowers, trees, stars or just about anything will work. Or we could just leave it be with the name. Then the sign would be sure to 'grow' with your little girl. Picture it...this design without the zebras. Wouldn't it still work well for a teenager? I certainly think so!

While custom artwork can be frustrating at times I do love it! I enjoy the fact that any piece of my artwork can be tweaked to suit your needs. This 'tweaking' opens up a whole new world for satisfying your room décor needs. What may be perfect for a newborn girl could also be perfect for a tween girl as long as you're in tune with your imagination and you're up for me making a few small changes.

Fun, fun, fun! My work is almost always fun! And I am blessed!

More sharing coming soon...until then,

Dragonflies...

I am intrigued by dragonflies because they remind me of my dad.

Several years my husband bought my daughter a book called "The Secret of the Dragonfly, A Story of Hope and Promise". I fell in love with the story which, in a nutshell, is about how a grandmother uses the life of the dragonfly to help her grandson understand how they will always be together even after her death. It's a sweet story about transformation that displays how even after death we are still together.

It has always meant so much to me because I was still in the grieving stages of dealing with my father's passing when we stumbled upon this book.

Then to tie things together even more...my dad was a fisherman. He loved going fishing with his brother up to Lake Erie. He had a little trailer there and spent lots of time over the summers doing what he loved. And if you've ever spent anytime by a body of water...whether large or small...you will see lots of dragonflies.

We live across the street from our local community park and over the years we've taken our kids there to fish in the little lake located in the heart of the park. Every time we would fish I would see so many dragonflies and I always felt it was my dad saying hello. We were doing what he loved with some of the people he loved most so it made sense that he would want to be with us.

So this explains why anytime I see dragonflies I feel like it's my dad saying hello.

Plus I also love dragonflies because I've seen so many colorful ones over the years. I recall being up at our local dam with our kids when I stopped to take a break and sit on a bench to rest for a minute. As I sat there a very colorful dragonfly came and rested on the back of the bench. It was bright blue and had some red on it as well. I couldn't believe how colorful it was. Since I love to use lots of color in my artwork I am drawn to dragonflies from that perspective as well.

Meanwhile, a couple weeks ago after running to the store I pulled into our driveway. As I walked around the van to start grabbing grocery bags I saw this dragonfly sitting on the tip of my husband's car antenna.

It was unreal how it just sat there and didn't fly away as my kids an I hovered around it to take pictures. I got very close to it and I honestly believe it had a smile on it's face. I tried to zoom in on it's face but it fluttered away before I could get to it. The cool part of this is that my dad was always smiling! That was one thing that everyone always said about him...he had a great smile! Here is a picture of my dad, me and my sister around the year 2000 or 2001. Look at that smile! It was always so bright! I sure do miss seeing it.

So I really believe it was my dad stopping by to see us once again.

You may think I'm crazy to feel this way, but that doesn't matter to me! Everyone has their way of coping and this is one of my tools to help keep me from falling into the sadness of knowing that my parents are both gone now.

To each his own, right?

Okay...I better get a move on. I have lots of work to do today. I'll be sharing more soon so stay in touch! Until then,

Howdy!

Wow! I've been out of the loop for a while now! So much has gone on during the past month and the time has comppletely gotten away from me. Needless to say my blogging habits have gone by the wayside. My oldest son graduated, then we had a handful of graduation parties to attend. Two weeks after his graduation we had his party which took lots of time and attention away from my so-called 'normal' life. Now it's almost the Fourth of July! Summer is flying by.

Meanwhile I thought I'd share a few photos of some of my recent work. I finally got around to setting up a Facebook page dedicated to my Creative Name Signs website. The first day of networking I got an order for a personalized plaque with this quote...

"Life is too short to wear department store jewelry."

My customer was very flexible with her color scheme choice and basically let me choose how to create the sign. I really enjoyed creating it...here's a photo:

Then I created this child room sign for another customer...this one--as you can guess--was for a little girl...

I love how the unicorn turned out. I thought using purple for the background added so much to the theme.

And my last sharing for today...I created this nursery room sign for an expectant mom of a baby boy...

I always love creating nautical theme plaques. I blame that on my love of the beach!

Okay...I've shared enough today. I have a book review to post and I hope to get to that in the next few days.

Until then...enjoy these wonderful days of summer! And Happy Fourth of July!

My Puppy Catching Some Much Needed Rays

I titled this post as 'My Puppy...' but she's hardly a puppy. Button--her legal name--is about 8 years old now, but I always call her 'Puppy'.

We've had a pretty mild winter up to now. The last few days it's been up in the 40's and 50's. Today it's rainy, but yesterday was pretty sunny.  Dr. Oz has said it a million times and I know it's true. We all need our daily dose of vitamin D and one way to get that daily dose is to sit outside in the sun for about 15 minutes each day.

Sitting in the sun for 15 minutes is easy in the warm weather, but when it's cold out that won't work for me. So I take my daily dose of Vitamin D in the form of a pill. Simple.

My husband and I noticed something a few years ago and it always strikes me as interesting. Every time we have a sunny day Button automatically goes out onto the deck and sits in the sun. It happens every day in the summer...unless it's raining.

So any time it's sunny and she goes out and sits on the deck I call it her time to go out and 'catch some rays and get her daily dose of Vitamin D'. Maybe this is something that's instinctual for animals.

Or maybe I'm completely off my rocker and she just likes the sun! To be honest I don't even know if animals need vitamin D!

Most likely the real deal is that I'm just a nut case that thinks too much and Button is just a simple dog who likes to sit in the sun!

Okay...more on the way...until then,

Just finished this custom piece...

I really like how this custom sign turned out! Sure my customer likes it...my fingers are crossed!

My family and I LOVE the beach so when I was painting it I visualized us soaking up the sun and watching the surf on the lookout for dolphins. Hopefully we'll be able to go to our favorite vacation spot in North Carolina this coming summer.

Here's a beautiful photo of the sunset from our trip last year in August of 2011:

Simply gorgeous!!

Okay...more fun to come...until then,

My 'Daily Sharing'...

I've decided to try and post a piece of my artwork every day. Some of the pieces will be items that have sold. Others will be things I still have in my inventory. And I will also include some of my name signs, growth charts, wall plaques and more.

Why am I doing this??? I've noticed that lately I'm blogging so much of my personal life and very little artwork. Being that I haven't been very inspired the last few weeks and that I'm tending to put off creating, I'm thinking...HOPING...this might help motivate me to do what I've always loved...to create...create...create.

So here's my first "Daily Sharing"

I painted this little stool many years ago and sold it at a home show. I always liked it. The plain unpainted stool top was divided into sections and I just painted a checkered pattern and filled each little square with all the things I loved...everything 'sweet and simple'!

More on the way...until then,

Song for a Fifth Child

A customer shared this poem with me today. She inquired to see if I could create something with one of the verses on it.

I never heard of it before and immediately fell in love with it. As I've mentioned quite a bit recently, my oldest son is a senior in high school and will be heading off to college in the fall. Perhaps you're familiar with it? But, regardless, I have to share it...

Song for a Fifth Child
by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing and butter the bread,
Sew on a button and make up a bed.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.
Oh, I’ve grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue (Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due (Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo).

The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew
And out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo
But I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo.
Look! Aren’t her eyes the most wonderful hue? (Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
For children grow up, as I’ve learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.

My babies 10 years ago!

I get so teary eyed reading that last verse! I'm in the stage of motherhood where I see my children growing older and getting ready to leave the nest. I encourage them to go and do what their hearts want, but I feel sadness at he thought of them leaving. I can't believe how fast the years have gone by.

I gotta go and grab some tissues...more sharing on the way...until then,

Seasonal Affective Disorder - SAD

I think I might have this -- Seasonal Affective Disorder otherwise known as SAD.

First of all I was thrilled to walk out to my kitchen this morning and see the beautiful blue sky and the sun! It's been dreary and cloudy here for days...if not weeks. But that's pretty typical for this neck of the woods at this time of year. We usually have more snow, but this year we've gotten very little--something I won't complain about.

Here are a couple photos to show the difference between last winter and this winter. It's the same tree from pretty much the same point of view:

Our backyard Winter 2011

Our backyard Winter 2012

What a difference! Yes, it's a bit muddy this year because it's been more wet than snowy...but I'll take wet over snowy anytime. Well, except on Christmas Day. That's the only day I want to see snow. But I digress...

Now getting back to SAD, seasonal affective disorder is a type of depression that is triggered by the seasons of the year. The most common type of SAD is called winter-onset depression. Symptoms usually begin in late fall or early winter and go away by summer.

I noticed a few years ago that I always wanted to just stay home and curl up under a blanket and keep warm and cozy until spring. But being a mom of three with my own business and a husband with his own business, well, I didn't have the opportunity to stay put.

Last winter I didn't notice much of a SAD feeling. I actually felt pretty good considering I had just lost my mom to Alzheimer's disease. But I believe that in reality I was in shock and denial. While my mom had Alzheimer's she died rather suddenly in early December. But that' another story for another day.

So to combat the extra 20 pounds I've been hauling around for years I started going to the gym everyday. On top of trying to lose weight and get healthy I hoped to eliminate my chances of getting SAD. While I've lost a few pounds so far I've noticed that I feel tired...not all the time, but more tired than I ever expected. It's confusing me. If I'm exercising every day why am I tired??? Shouldn't I have more energy?? I don't have an appointment to get my yearly check up until March. At that point if I'm still feeling this way I will talk to her about it.

So for now I attribute my tiredness to SAD. I'll keep exercising plus I've upped my daily dose of vitamin D-3 from 1000IUs to 2000IUs. My husband says I should take even more, but we'll see how I feel with this small increase first.

As well as those two things I'll pray that we continue to get more sun! A beautiful sunny day with blue skies always lifts my spirits no matter how cold it may be outside!

More sharing on the way...until then,

Wordless Wednesday

My first day of participation in Wordless Wednesday...

My daughter and I walked almost every night this past summer. We live directly across the street from our community park. Buhl Farm Park ...it's the crown jewel of the Shenango Valley.

Every night--as long as we had clear weather that day--we got to see these glorious sunsets. And almost every night I'd kick myself because I always forgot to take my camera with us. FINALLY I remembered and got these beautiful shots!

I still walk at the park eveyday by myself while my kids are in school, but it's too cold to go at sunset. So for now I'll have to enjoy these beautiful photos.

More fun on the way...until then,

Sharing photos of some recent work...

Here are a few new name sign samples that I don't have displayed on my website. I was sorting through my picture files and thought maybe I should share some new sample photos on my blog rather than try to add it to my website. As it is Creative Name Signs has over 250 pages so to add more can be time consuming.

Posting samples here is easier and more fun! Here you go...

It's only a few, but I think I might post other photos of different items separately so it's not so overwhelming for everyone!

Okay...more pictures on the way!

Until then,

On this cold winter morning...

I, like most everyone else in the country, am sick and tired of this stinkin' cold and snowy weather.

BUT...

...it does have it's moments...

The way the sun was hitting the pines trees this morning was breath-taking and I simply HAD to go outside and snap a few photos.

I am missing my mom a lot lately and it seems the mornings are the hardest. Probably because it's when the house is the quietest. But when I looked out the front window and saw this beauty out in nature my spirits were lifted.

Every once in awhile I see something outside that brings me back to the state of appreciation...this image was my medicine today.

More on the way...until then,



Sharin' some fun...

Just taking some time this morning to look over some of my work that I haven't seen for a while. Here are some of my FUN favorites:

This is a fire house located in New York. It was painted for the young son of one of the firefighters. I was pretty nervous to paint it but it ended up being fun to create and love how it turned out. :)

This plaque was painted for my sister's friend who loves to decorate her home with peace signs. I like to try and show some dimension when I paint...this one was fun, too!

A few years ago I ordered some plain MDF coasters so I could paint some for myself. I had some blanks left over and decided to do something different. I sort of made these into ornaments, but not the kind for a Christmas tree. I was thinking more along the lines of hanging it in my window from one of those small suction cups that work well when hanging things on glass. I love the colors! I must be itching for spring time since I'm choosing all of these bold pretty shades to share!

Here is an angled photo of the set of four ornaments that I made...more color!

Okay...I better get to work now! I had lots of family related appointments to tend to this week and now I'm behind! Oh well...what else is new??? I'm always behind!

More fun on the way...until then,

Back at it!

My stained yet colorful brushes welcomed me back to work today!

The sun was at a great point in the sky this afternoon and I glanced up very quickly and the pretty colors that stained my brushes caught my eye.





I haven't painted since before the holidays and I was kind of slow moving and not too motivated to get back to work. But when I glanced up and saw the pretty colors I instantly felt better and got a sudden burst of energy! Every little bit helps on these cold winter days.

More to come soon...until then,

Pretty Pinks and Purples!

Sharing some pretty pink and purple flowers...

It was a glorious morning yesterday and I couldn't help myself...I HAD to take pictures of the 'oh so pretty flowers' blooming in my mom's yard! So glad I had my camera with me...









Enjoy!

More goodies to come...until then,