Time to Change the Decorations

My daughter and her boyfriend flew into town on Thanksgiving and are staying till Tuesday. We have had fun cooking together, playing games...Scrabble, Mexican Train dominoes and went bowling.

We are happy to say we did not buy a thing on Black Friday except we did visit the local store that was opening for the very first time that was showing my art and I bought a "Think Boise First" coupon book which was more of a donation than anything else.

Saturday we did go out shopping but at thrift stores, the ultimate green shopping. I bought the PEACE sign above and then spent this afternoon adding some red paint to match our front door and added some more bling.

Happy Thanksgiving

This is one of my latest pieces of art and it looked befitting for Thanksgiving as the girl seems to be thankful. This piece was made from a small tin, purple beads, a small doll from a thrift store, a playing card and a "crystal."

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I am thankful for my health, my patient husband, my 2 children in college that will be with me tomorrow and through the weekend, and my art. I am sad that my dad is still in the hospital after 6 weeks. I don't know that he will ever be going home. I love you Dad.

North End Organic Nursery

My friends and neighbors Lindsay and Ray are starting a new business all about being "green" and "local", Lindsay asked if I would like to put some of my pieces in their new gift shop which is opening this Friday- Black Friday. She was especially looking for things that used recycled materials. I spent yesterday going through my inventory and picked out 32 items to box up and bring her today. Wednesday will be spent setting up the shop and I am going to go down and help, the cool thing is the location is less than a mile away and they did not build a new building but are recycling and reclaiming a structure that has been empty ever since we moved here 2 years ago.

So how are the items above made using recycled materials you might ask? Well they are all made of items I either already had or found at garage sales, thrift stores etc. then I put them together in new ways and give them a second life. What was once someone's trash can now be someone else's treasure.

Wine is Bottled Poetry

Wine corks, a small chalk board, a picture of grapes and a good quote.


I feel bad begging out of a hike up a mountain in the midst of a cold and windy front coming in today. But now I get to do my blog (If you have noticed I am trying to do one a day.) And have all day to get my art ready for two holiday shows that are coming up soon.

Small tins boxes and a bit of imagination...

I have collected small tins for a while just because they might come in handy some day. I also had a little drawer of metal "spacers" to use in between a piece of art and a picture frame to take up some slack. I was playing around with my metal items and figured out I could take the top of the tin off with plyers and glue the spacer to the top of the tin so it could hang and be a little "shrine."

Yeah for a working internet connection!

Good bye and best wishes CLEAR, formally Clearwire...piece of crap, hello Cable One my new sweetheart.:)


Anyway back to the artistic alphabet:

"N" is for Nest.

How I came up with the Idea:
1. I received this charm with the word "nest" on it at Art and Soul.
2. I already had the nest and eggs and a bird.
3. Also had this candle holder and put it all together!

"A" is for Angel.

How I came up with the Idea:
1. I had bought this porcelain doll head because it came in a package with the hands that I needed to purchase for a class.
2. I heard someone mention that they used to put angel wings on everything they did.
3. I found this block with a A on it and voila!

Nancy's Nightmare

When Nancy and I signed up for Art and Soul we received long lists of things to find for our classes. One of the things to find for Michael DeMeng's class was "eyes." I have lots of doll's saved from when my girls were little but I couldn't bring myself to cut or tear out their eyes. Nancy went to several thrift stores and finally found some appropriate eyes on a cute little baby doll. When she went up to the counter to purchase it the lady said "awh, how cute! who are you buying it for?" and Nancy being in a foul mood anyway said, " I'm not giving it to anyone, I am going to cut it's eyes out with an exacto knife." The lady looked grief stricken and gave her her purchase.

After we came back from Portland, I found this picture of a doll factory were they are presumably putting the dolls eyes in their heads and I immediately thought of Nancy and her story. The metal base was purchased at The Reuseum, unique finds from the worlds of science, industry and government surplus. The hole in the center of this metal base has an "eye" suspended behind an old camera lens.

What's Behind Door Number One?

I found this neat picture frame at a resale shop in Eagle ID. For several months now I have pondered over what I could do with it. So here is how I came up with this piece:
1.My husband has been asking people this probability theory question that involves a Monty Hall style scenario were you have to pick what is behind door #1, door #2 or door #3. Most people get it wrong.
2. I found the magazine clippings: "She may be a bag of trouble" and the quote "Live Hard Regret Nothing."
3. I decided to make a collage with the quote "Live Hard Regret Nothing" and put it in the frame and said this would be my new motto for my next 50 years as in the past I have always regretted almost every choice I seem to make. (Maybe that is why I am so indecisive and have found it easier to live with other people's choices)
4. I decided the frame needed something else, but didn't know what...it sat like this for another couple months. Then I went to Art and Soul in Portland and came back with all these great game pieces and such and the final idea was born.

Frogs at the Studio

Tonight was a fun night at the studio with Marianne and Katherine. When we arrived it was nice and warm but by the time we left it was in the 5o's in the building and I was shivering. None of us accomplished much but it is always nice to have someone to talk and gossip with and share ideas and a glass of wine.

While trying to decide what to work on tonight I came across a couple of frogs I had bought at a yard sale and decided to bring those along...then when I went to pick up Katherine, she handed me a frog and said "here, this is for you" so guess I was destined to do frogs tonight. This piece is made from an old tea tin, childrens wooden blocks, and a plastic tree, which was left for me to use tonight by Miriam whose studio space we meet at.

Now that I have wireless internet with a speed faster than the old setup were the decrepit hamster had to spin on his wheel in order to get enough bars on the modem to do anything, I will try to post more often and post more of the art I have been working on.

What happened to October?

The first weekend of October I went to Art & Soul with my friend Nancy and had a great time. I created a wonderful blog all about our adventures in Portland and fun classes we took, but when I tried to publish...it would not cooperate. Then got a call from Texas that my dad was in the hospital. I have been in San Antonio for 16 days, arrived back home the evening of the last day of the month. Dad can use all the prayers you've got.

The first photo is my 3D collage from Crystal Neubauer's class. We learned how to cut plexiglass with a jewelers saw and sandwich the main element of the collage in between 2 pieces.

The second photo is one of 4 pieces I completed in Micheal DeMeng's class. I loved his definition of Assemblage: "gluing crap together." We learned lots of new techniques for layering color and making things look old and creepy. He does a class in Mexico every year for Dia De Los Muertos, I hope to be able to go next year.