The Urge to Purge...

Maybe it was spending a week in a house with completely empty cabinets and closets but when I came home from vacation last weekend all I could see was clutter. Too many clothes, too much toys, cluttered closets and crowded drawers. So starting Monday I tore up both of the boy's bedrooms getting rid of old clothes and toys. No, the kids were not happy to give up any toys, even the ones they don't play with. So I did the sneaky mom thing and told them I was just putting them away for later when in reality I'm going donate them to charity as soon as they are away at school:) They will never be missed!

So I still haven't been able to have much time in the studio but hopefully that will change this week when the kids start school. We had a back to school camp out in our backyard Friday night as our last hurrah of the summer. As soon as the tent went up the neighborhood kids came out like ants to a picnic! We toasted marshmallows and read silly stories and danced to

They Might Be Giants tunes on the patio. It was a great time!

Here are my two September offerings for Glitter and Grunge. They will be available tomorrow so if you are interested in them you can contact me here.

And here are my two other works in progress...hopefully I will have them finished by the end of the week and I will put them in my Etsy shop.

This little house ornament is actually finished and is made from paper clay over cardboard with collaged vintage paper, acrylic paints and mica. It's 6 1/2" tall not counting the puff of smoke!It will be $18.00. I'm going to put it in my shop but if you can't wait, email me!



Thanks for stopping by and have a happy Labor Day!!!

Well Rested...

Hello Friends,

I'm back from my most wonderful vacation. We were really only about an hour and ten minutes from home but it felt like another world. We had a house right on the beach so there was no packing of the cooler, running to public restrooms, lugging chairs and beach gear for blocks and blocks... it was truly a relaxing week. I read two and a half books and spent about six hours a day soaking up the sun. (I know that's bad) The photo above is the view from our master bedroom!

This was the view from the beach in front of our house. We were close enough to the amusement pier for the kids to walk to but far enough away that we didn't hear all of the noise. To the left of our house was a little beach restaurant that made these awesome cider donuts. Needless to say, if I don't see another donut for a few months my heart will be happy.

The boys loved to go to the beach in the evening and explore all of the abandoned sand castles and holes that were built that day. Can you tell that Alex wasn't in the mood for a picture?

So now I need to get back to business. I have two new items that will be up for sale at Glitter and Grunge September 1st and I am breaking out the sewing machine tonight to get started on some more puffy house ornaments.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Eeek, one more thing....

I just received an email from Jamie at Popin Children's Boutique. She was kind enough to buy one of my paintings and commission a matching one for her dining room. And what a dining room it is! You HAVE to check it out. It's like something out of Alice in Wonderland! Jamie and her sister own a Children's shop in Florida and they have the cutest stuff. So please stop by and say hello.

Thanks Jamie!!!

Ok, laundry to do. Bye for real this time, promise!

Why Do I Do This?

Why is it when you absolutely need to get things done you never feel like doing it? We are leaving for a much needed holiday this weekend and I have about a million things to do. Laundry, grocery shopping, cooking and freezing meals, laundry, shopping for some good beach reading material, packing everything under the sun for myself and the boys. On top of it all, I need to clean the house so the pet sitter won't think I'm a complete slob! Needless to say, it's Thursday and I've only achieved about 25% of what I need to . I'm a HUGE procrastinator. In art school, I got into the bad habit of not being able to work on a project until the night before it was due. I would have everything I wanted to do planned out in my head but I couldn't physically get started until the last minute. Most of the time this process worked out just fine but I do remember a few occasions at 4:00 am when I dropped a pen loaded with ink onto my project and watched in horror as it rolled down said project or being so tired I read instruction incorrectly and cut a project too small. So it's really no surprise to me that I have carried this bad habit into my adult life. I just CAN'T get started unless I know it's crunch time. Oh well, wish me luck!


We visited the zoo again yesterday for Jake's 9th Birthday. This being our third visit this summer, I spent a lot of my time looking at the plants and architecture of the zoo. As you may remember me telling you from my last zoo post, the Philadelphia Zoo is America's first zoo and a lot of the original buildings are still standing and some of the trees look like they have been here since the beginning of time.

I'm not really sure what this house was used for but I'm thinking someone lived there on the grounds of the zoo at one time.
This is one of two identical buildings that flank the entrance to the zoo.

This is one of my favorites. This style is what a lot of the old buildings in the zoo look like. This is the roof of an ice cream shop in the Children's zoo. I love these little windows!

This is what is left of a Northern Catalpa Tree. I wish I had one of the kids stand next to it to give you a better idea of how huge it is. I'm actually in the process of trying to buy one of these trees for my yard. They have wonderful large green leaves and beautiful flowers and funny long seed pods that hang off the branches. My dad used to tell me how they used to smoke the pods when he was little and one time he got so sick he wished he would die. He was a bad boy!
And last, here are the boys in front of the Elephant sculpture. I have pictures of my brother, sister and I standing in front of this very same Elephant. Who would have thought?

I will be back soon to share pictures of our beach vacation. See you all soon!

Don't forget.....

Don't forget to check out Spooky Time Jingles for the midnight update!!!! I checked our our Flickr group and the offerings for this month are amazing!

See you there:)

What I'm Working On.......

This is my first attempt at paper clay. I have to say I'm quite pleased with this little guy! I really had no intention of creating anything but a JOL head but then I started digging in my treasure chest of collage junk and came up with these old wooden thread spools. This one still had thread attached so I just varnished over it. I think it gives him more character:) Then I started to think about arms and I came up with sculpey clay. I just thought it would be a better choice for the thin arms since it's a bit stronger. His pants and shoes are made from sculpey as well and he will be mounted on a wood block when he's all finished. Now I have a few more ideas for ornament sets that I'm going to start on this week...hopefully! I'm heading for vacation soon so what I would like to get done and what will actually BE done are two different things.


I was tagged the other week by the lovely and talented Christine at Dubuhdudesigns to show pictures of the tools I use in my work. Truth be told, I have my hands in so many things I would need to take about 25 pictures and bore you all to death so I just chose a few. If you have never seen Chrisitne's dolls, you have to check them out. They are the most amazing, wonderfully detailed little things! I would love to own and wear all of the clothing she designs for them. They are very lucky girls!

I would like to pass this tag on to:

1. Dani of Ambitions Design

2. Lance of Crescent Hill Designs

3. Courtney of Finding Home

Brushes to the left, pencils to the right. Oh, and Burts Bees in the middle;)

And here is a brand new box of watercolour pencils. I'm too ashamed to show you the nubs I am still using in the old box....waste not want not! I know...not very exciting. The next time I sew I'll show you a few of my handy stitching tools! Can you stand to wait? (much, much sarcasm)

Now on to a great new purchase. I bought this Flip video camera off of Amazon about a month ago because our current video camera was like 10 years old and I felt like I needed a flatbed to carry it around. This camera is tiny, the size of a regular photo camera. It takes great video and it has a little USB stick that pops out from the side and you can connect it directly into your computer to upload the video. You can also do still frames of the video and make them into individual photos. Great for kids who are always moving, kicking, punching.... and the best part is it's only a little over a hundred dollars!

Here are the items I will have up for grabs at Spooky Time Jingles August 13th! Don't forget, the Holidays are just around the corner.

Shelly Skelly and her Boney Baby

Snowy Spreads Joy

Zooey and Pumpkin

"Eve" Holiday Nest Head

***NOTE***** Thanks to you all for your interest in my House ornaments. I will be making more soon in September!

Have a great day!!!

Vintage Indie Feature!

Hello Friends,

I just wanted to pop in to share that my "Cake and Cats" painting has been featured on Vintage Indie along with another Glitter and Grung artist Gretchen Fabre. Thanks so much Gabreial! This just makes my day!

I also wanted to thank you all for the kind comments about my little Jake. He's doing much better although I think he looks much worse. All of the bruises are now dark purple and green....should make for lovely Birthday photos this weekend!

Don't forget to stop by my Glitter and Grunge shop. My little house ornaments are up for grabs as well as a new nest head.

The Ornaments have SOLD, thank you!

I'm off to have some summer fun with the boys! I hope you all have a great day:)

I'm Still Here....Really!

Hello Friends,

Yes, I am still alive. I spend a small part of every day thinking about doing a post and then I never find the time. Thank you so much for all of your comments on your busy summers, they made me feel so much better! I'm struggling with trying to balance my work and my need to let myself do what I need to do. I am constantly reminding myself that this is the reason I am a stay at home mom. The whole reason we are making this big financial sacrifice is for me to spend quality time with my kids while they are STILL kids. I catch myself trying to find things for them to do so that I can get some work and that's not what I really want. So, if my blog and my art are a little neglected it is for a good reason. I look at them (my kids) every day and I feel like I can actually see them growing. Alex has been getting into bed with us again lately and I have to say I really don't mind. He kicks me, throws his arms over my throat and face, completely hogs our queen size bed but I don't care. He's 5 now and I know soon he won't want to give me all of the attention he does now.
Speaking of quality time....we had our very first Emergency Room visit yesterday. Jake fell and hit his face on the brick hearth of my neighbors fireplace. What a mess. Three stitches, xrays and a CAT Scan, and a black eye later he's doing fine. I guess I'm fortunate that we went 9 years without such a visit but I hope we are done for a while. He looks like he got into a fight!





So I am now going to try to get a shower, get to the party store to get some things for the boy's birthday absh on Saturday, make Dr.'s appointments for my little patients, and try to find some time for work. But if it doesn't happen, it's ok:)

Have a great summer day!