sore wrists and painty fingernails

I have been working my tail off in the studio (well everywhere, but this is about art) getting ready for a Pre-Holiday Boutique at a friend's house. I didn't wait until the last minute (proud of self) but I didn't exactly use my time the most efficiently either. I think when you are in creative mode its hard to always be efficient, or maybe its just me. But I finally just had to run out of clay because if I hadn't I'd still be MAKING tiles and things and not actually finishing anything. 

Fortunately my good friend Bridgette came over and helped with some of the fiddly stuff like putting the glass and stuff back in frames, touch up painting, finishing the backs of my chalk boards, etc. Even with the boutique only being 2 days away I found myself back in the studio today gluing pieces like crazy and making MORE.

I did finally drag myself out to finish up a couple things and gather my tablecloths and bags and various other things I need. I also BOUGHT price stickers but have yet to actually price anything. I guess I will be doing that tomorrow.

Anyway, I meant this to be a more image heavy post than wordy but I guess I am rambling like usual. Just wanted to share a few of my latest pieces. Next week some of the unsold things will end up in my Etsy shop and some will go to the gallery. Its ice to have my creative mojo back and I look forward to making more.  (and getting the studio organized!!) Enjoy...

A Winner

Here are a couple of peeks from the boutique we had just this past weekend. My friend Kathy hosted us in her lovely home and we spent the day together laughing and nibbling treats and sharing our wares with visitors. I was very excited that my best art pal Shoshanah came and showed her new jewelry creations which are dynamite! The picture below is her table dressed in blue. Its so great to see her being able to share her artistic visions with the public in the form of finished artwork vs. vending supplies as she usually does. I am excited to do more fairs with her and to collaborate on some pieces. This little shabby table was my table for showcasing ornaments, journals and cards. I sold every last holiday card! Now I need to get back to it to be ready for the other shows we have scheduled.

In addition to these two tables Vicki and I also had our mosaic wares and they were well received. We did our biggest total sales to date and are very happy with how this endeavor is going. The mannequin shown is covered with pins that my Mom has created with various fibers, fabric, vintage buttons, jewelry, etc. They were well received and she was excited to make a little extra cash out of something that is her hobby. (sorry the pictures and formatting are all wonky, Blogger is not cooperating with Safari)

Anyway, I am enjoying doing this artist thing for real and also being available to be with my daughter and volunteer at her school, etc. I am so fortunate that I am able to do this and my husband is so supportive. Thank you honey!!

And last but not least, the randomly drawn winner of the drawing from my last giveaway post is ... Liz aka lala! So, hopefully you are reading this as I am having difficulty contacting you. If so, please email me with your address so I can send you some holiday treats! Congrats!!

mosaics and motherhood

Well the little has been off at school for 2 weeks now. We're still struggling with the morning routine and the carpooling but it will smooth out.

In other news, last weekend my friend Vicki and I did the San Juan Bautista Chicken Festival as vendors. Here are some pictures of our booth. I have done TONS of shows but this was my first selling my art and I am pleased to say that while the traffic/ sales were kind of slow, we did have good feedback and generated a fair amount of interest. We are currently looking for some other venues for selling before the holidays and are building out our website. To tide us over until we launch that (in our spare time) we are adding things to our new Etsy shop! You can visit it and give us some feedback by clicking HERE. Also, if you are so inclined, please join our Facebook page where we will offer specials and preview new items from time to time. We had a variety of items from frames to boxes and our most popular item, handmade, mosaic crosses. My Mom provided us with candles and brooches and I also had journals and notecards . It was great to step back and see our booth as a whole and see the inadvertent color stories and realize we had created over 80 mosaic pieces for the show!













I have to say that this summer has been really cool for me because I have finally achieved some of my personal goals by starting an art business selling my actual, physical art. I have made better friends with a kindred spirit that I have known of nearly 10 years and we have made this with our own hands and souls and the blessings of our spouses and families. I feel very blessed.

fun with Flickr

Rules:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search (http://www.flickr.com/).
b. Using ONLY the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into Mosaic Maker. Change rows to 3 and columns to 3 (http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/mosaic.php)
d. Save the image and post it.

The Questions:
1. What is your first name? Heather
2. What is your favorite color? green
3. What is your favorite food? Thai
4. Favorite drink? iced tea
5. Dream vacation? Italy
6. Favorite hobby? creating
7. What you want to be when you grow up? artist
8. What do you love most in life? family
9. Best self-description? OK



1. Damp heather, 2. Agriscape - Marche, Italy, 3. Thai Food, 4. Ice Tea Splash, 5. Rural Landscape/5 - Macerata, 6. Create OLW, 7. Little Artist, 8. Family, 9. Day 110 - The Sun Is OK

flying..

I have still been on my polymer clay mosaic kick and making tiles like a mad woman. Its been inspiring and addicting and I feel free. My muse is flying.. I have been producing lots of frames and have been invited to place them in a gallery shop in San Juan Bautista which features the artwork of woman! In addition, some of my frames will be flying to OH to grace the lovely little shop Alice Adair which is owned by my good friend. Yay ( I need to get those in the mail!)
Another exciting development this week is that Sadie surprised me by making me the featured seller on Lollishops for the week. I had to hustle and get some things loaded in my shop because I had been procrastinating but I have added some new cards and mosaic pieces. I am really excited about the possibility of doing some custom pieces for people but I love all the things I have created already too! I hope you will hop on over and check out my shop as I will continue to add new items throughout the week.

Also, Friday my gal pal and co-publisher of Portals Zine, Joleen will be flying up for the weekend. We will be visiting, planning issue #8 and she will be shooting a 3 generations session of me, my Mom and Hannah. Be sure to visit the Portals Zine blog over the weekend where we will be posting a special giveaway!

working...

I'll admit it, I am pretty burned out on design work but I have some stuff piling up that I can't continue to ignore it. I figure once I fire up Photoshop I will probably get back in the swing of things. ArtFest ruined me by letting me unplug for 5 days which was so awesome. I had to laugh at those people constantly checking their emails and twitters and other stuff..

I HAVE been super busy lately.. here is a peek at my desk currently..


and the other thing that you CAN'T see is the pile of yearbook pages that I SHOULD be tackling right now. I need to completely clear off our big table so I can spread everything out and get collating. I so wish I could share the pages but since they are little kids, I wouldn't feel comfortable doing that here.

Anyway, I am off... I have some work to do for Sadie at LolliShops and preparing shipping labels for Portals. Back soon!