Featured as Artist of the Month!

Greetings of Grace is an online store that sells a wide range of quality pressed flowers. I have been a loyal customer for about two years and absolutely love their products and outstanding customer service. On a few occasions I have even sent them 'thank you' e-mails and included some of my artwork that was made with some of their beautiful pressed flowers and plants. This month, I got a surprise e-mail from them telling me that they featured me in their newsletter as Artist of the Month!

Check out the newsletter here and browse through the wide selection of pressed flowers at their online shop www.greetingsofgrace.com 

Quote Of The Day:

"I have a wonderful make-up crew. They're the same people restoring the Statue of Liberty." ~
Bob Hope

NYC skyline courtesy of Creative Village

Check out more of Creative Village's vinyl wall decals here at their Etsy Shop

Quote Of The Day:

If I agreed with you, we'd both be wrong. ~ Unknown

'The Disagreement' courtesy of Renae Taylor

 See more of Renae's whimsical creations at her Etsy Shop: www.renaeleataylor.etsy.com

The Quilted House: Tuesday's Treasures: Springtime Yellow

The Quilted House: Tuesday's Treasures: Springtime Yellow: "If I had a favorite season (I truly love them all!) it would be spring, when everything is so yellow! Since spring has just begun and my fav..."

Quote Of The Day:

"Just because a man lacks the use of his eyes doesn't mean he lacks vision." -- Stevie Wonder

courtesy of Stefanie Poteet

 To see more of Stefanie's amazing photography, visit her Etsy store (intrinsic value) or web site

 

 

 

Do It, Live It, Teach It: Wine Cork Sailboats

A quick and easy craft you can do with the kids. (or for yourself, if you are a kid at heart like me!)
Make these fun boats you can race, all you need is a few basic supplies that most everyone has laying around the house:

a couple of wine corks
colorful paper (i used some origami paper)
screws (for the keels)
toothpicks
scissors
a serrated knife or small hand saw
blow dryer or fan (to set sail!)

Step one: cut the cork in half lengthwise. (and a little video tip on how i did it:)  

Step 2: insert a screw to serve as the keel near one end of the halved cork (on the rounded side)

you can also use a screw driver to make it a little easier. 

Step 3:  Cut colorful paper into small triangles and impale them onto the toothpicks.

Step 4: Stick the toothpick into the flat side of the cork and you have made yourself a cork boat! Now time to set sail!

Quote of the day

Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.
Buddha

 

Recycled Spoon Pendant ~ Sunshyne Silverwear

 See more of my recycled silverware creations on my web site  -or- my Etsy shop

Quote Of The Day:

"The Universe is one great kindergarten for man. Everything that exists has brought with it its own peculiar lesson." ~
Orison Swett Marden

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Courtesy of Northern Light Photo. Night Reflections.

See more of Northern Light Photo's amazing images here, at their Etsy shop

Quote of the Day:

"Once a woman has forgiven her man, she must not reheat his sins for breakfast." ~Marlene Dietrich

Instant oatmeal packets courtesy of Chef Tess Gourmet

 Get a taste of Chef Tess' other gourmet goodies at her Etsy shop:www.cheftessbakeresse.etsy.com

Quote Of The Day:

"Well done is better than well said." ~
Benjamin Franklin

'Good Job' greeting card image courtesy of Jessbobess.etsy.com

See more of Jessbobess'  greeting cards, stamps, prints and more at her Etsy shop : jessbobess.etsy.com

Quote Of The Day:

"It’s alright to let yourself go, as long as you can bring yourself back." ~ Mick Jagger

courtesy of Rokki Handbags

See more of Linda Sienkiewicz's handbag creations at her Etsy Shop

Quote Of The Day:

A lie cannot live. ~
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Courtesy of Daogreer Earth Works

 See more of Daogreer Earth Works art at http://www.etsy.com/shop/DaogreerEarthWorks

 

Artists In My Life: Erika L.

I have known Erika for about 3 years now and she never ceases to amaze me with her way with words.  She has made me realize that I have A LOT to learn about the English language and how much easier it could be to express my thoughts and feelings if i knew the right words to say.
Erika also has a quirky side. She is a bit of an unconventional person. I love this about her because she always keeps me on my toes and when spending time with her, there is never a dull moment.
So thank you Erika, for reminding me that the pen is indeed, mightier than the sword, what the definition of despondent is and that it's OK to like Barbarella but hate Rocky Horror Picture Show. ;)

1. How would you describe your style of writing.

Intentional, sometimes surprising.

2. Are there any people, famous or not, that have influenced your work?

Kim Addonizio and Marie Howe taught me that poetry could be personal, introspective, and powerful without having to fall into Sylvia Plath's Confessionalist footsteps. In the midst of my horrible high school poetry writing I was believed in enough by two different English teachers. In early college, I was given Cliver Barker, the beautiful bastard that broke my world. His book Sacrament is one of the most powerful, wonderful works of fiction I have ever read. He taught me to bring the sacrosanct into my work; he taught me not to rely on common, holy symbolism but to create my own. He gave me the courage to explore in my writing places I was a little too afraid to go. This has cropped up most recently in my current poem, “Dreams About the Moon”.

3. When did you first discover your creative talents?

Oh, early. It happened to be a criticism of someone's work. We were practicing cursive in whatever grade grammar school kids learn cursive. Mine has always been abysmal and the process was all the more torturous by the terrible Christmas poems we were copying. White, faintly lined paper pasted on atrocious red construction paper highlighted by my even more abysmal cutting of said paper and the lopsided little holly berries in the corners.

I thought, “I can do better than this” – in regard to the poem. I still can't cut in a straight line and my cursive still leaves something to be desired.

4. Describe yourself in five words

Persnickety, Introspective, Devoted, Perceptive, Aesthete.

5. Do you have any phobias?

Yes. Even talking about house centipedes makes me want to cry and I hate clowns – not because of anything Steven King ever dreamed up. It's the deception. It's the false happiness, forced social nature, and the obvious desire to escape oneself. It's disturbing. That, and I watched Killer Klowns from Outer Space as a child and *still* cannot get the sucking sound out of my head. I recently started to lucidly dream to escape the nightmare I was having wherein the Klowns were coming. It involved me deciding to escape on a riding lawn mower. So, secretly I believe all clowns are liars that really want to turn us into cotton candy cocoon food.

And now for some of Erika's poetry: 

Dreams About the Moon

1. Today the clouds unstuck themselves

from the sky. A great unraveling.

Like clots of wool they fell

some fibers loose, drifting upward

to frame the low slung moon.

We gathered in the meadows.

We gathered in the cities

our palms brimming with the stuff,

fine scratches trailing

the delicate skin of our forearms.

Set to work carding the thick

tufts, our fingers burned

with the precision of lovers'

first touch. Thread colors

changing like fingerprints.

I opened up. A clean line cut

from groin to sternum, the star

of my chest unfurling, pulling inward

the cloud fiber, and spinning

it back out again. This time, alone.

Left to the shimmering work,

left to the task of weaving cloud,

flesh, and bone into summer

grass. Above, Athena

watched with cool, gray eyes.

2. When I was young,

we used graph paper

to draw our future

houses on the moon

(to keep them from being

lopsided). We planned

the windows, the doors.

Our tiny, space gardens.

Travel was primitive.

Each home sat

in its own fortress

between glass walkways

like interconnected

snow globes,

a lunar suburbia.

Here we wouldn't wonder

about phases – they would be true

as seasons. We would not concern

ourselves with tides,

but of the inevitable spinning

from our orbit, an orphaned rock,

made less special

away from the marble blue

center of our history.

Quote Of The Day:

“Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.”
Albert Einstein

Artwork courtesy of  Barbara Berney

 Check out the rest of Barbara's amazing digital art at: http://www.etsy.com/shop/barbaraberney

Quote Of The Day:

If you can't say anything nice, then at least have the decency to be vague.

courtesy of blindloop.com

 

Quote Of The Day:

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
--Mark Twain

 

Courtesy of presby.edu

 

Quote Of The Day:

"Now and then it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy."
--Guillaume Apollinaire

 

courtesy of thatunreliablegirl.com/

 

 

 

Quote Of The Day:

Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?
George Carlin

Drawing courtesy of http://www.robertcasumbal.com/blog/

 

Quote Of the Day:

A woman whose smile is open and whose expression is glad has a kind of beauty no matter what she wears.
Anne Roiphe

Kadi, one of my best girlfriends

 

My sister Amy

Quote Of The Day:

A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman's birthday but never remembers her age.
Robert Frost

picture courtesy of http://www.poetichome.com/

Quote Of The Day:

Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.
Thomas Merton

 

Quote Of The Day:

I think music in itself is healing. It's an explosive expression of humanity. It's something we are all touched by. No matter what culture we're from, everyone loves music.
Billy Joel