Ooola, la lamps!

Life is amazing and crazy...I'm behind on everything! I'm so sorry for some of my customers! I'll catch up soon! Here are some new designs and items in my shoppie!

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Vast Holiday Sale

Visit the Vast blog to take a look at our member's work!

Click here to view some of the artists participating in the Sale from 11-7-08--11-15-08!
http://vastgallery.blogspot.com/2008/11/vast-holiday-sale-november-7-15.html#links
Then remember that I have some specially marked off items too! Holiday Vast Sale Baby!

My Fox image is also available as a small sized print or printed on canvas, matte finish or textured paper 16" Wide and 20" Tall~ your choice in paper. Send me a convo through Etsy if you'd like the smaller size and don't see it listed.

Seaside View of Patterns Print

This is a bit of fantasy. Images of illustrations, textile patterns and photographs compiled to make this mystic image.
Printed on canvas, matte finish or textured paper~it's your choice. Size is 12 x 12.

In honor of my reaching 500 sales, the next three purchasers names will be dropped into a hat for a chance to win a free 8.5 x 11 or smaller print of their choice! One winner will be announced three days after purchases have been made. JUST ONE MORE ENTRY NEEDED AND I'LL CHOOSE A WINNER!

Self Portraits

I'd love to design a large sized print of us...This is me and Chuck after twenty-three plus years :)

Shimmers Sweet Terra

The Shimmer's Sweet Terra choker:

Using my own art for the design...I have a little Gocco print as the focal of this pretty choker in terra cotta and gold. Surprisingly, this color combination goes well with many other colors, navy (a natural compliment to orange tones) browns, greens...

I purchased my supplies for these new choker style necklaces from both http://DIYSTASH.etsy.com and http://SUNANDMOONCRAFTKITS.etsy.com. They are both fabulous to work with! Make sure to stop by!!

The cord is deep chocolate brown, 18" long and the cord itself is 2mm thick, lobster clasp.

Don't forget that I'm now taking credit cards~ send me a notie throught Etsy and we can proceed with your purchase!

Choir Practice

Choir Practice is another print created in my series using nature and my own textile prints. My daughter insisted these were birds lined up and I suppose with that suggestion, I considered birds sitting in choir practice. How to you title things? I'm not sure if we should find out how I title all of my projects, but this one was safe enough.

Swirls, cross hatches, dots, flowers...all shapes used to create this print.

Deep greens paired with rich cinnamon, sand and terra cotta hues all blend beautifully here in Choir Practice.


Image is printed on Epson's finest 8.5 x 11 matte finish paper with just about 1/2" of white space surrounding the image. Also available in larger sizes.

Don't forget that you may pay with a credit card, by sending me a conversation through Etsy!

Now Taking Credit Cards!

When shopping within my Etsy store, I now will take MasterCard®, Visa, Discover, American Express with out using a Paypal Account. When making a purchase, mark 'other' as your payment option. Then send me a note through Ety's Conversations! I can take the information by phone or send you an invoice! Simple, simple!

Front Page Visitation!

This piece visited the front page of etsy....but I'm a little unsure of the time and what treasury it was it. But, I knew because there were hundreds of hits on it and lots of hearts too. So...thank you, thank you~ Front Page Gods!

Nearing 500 Sales on Etsy!

In celebration of reaching nearly 500 sales the next ten shoppers will see 30% off their orders Large prints will not show 30% but see 10.00 off each print. Please wait for revised invoice prior to paying.

If you haven't registered with Etsy you are missing out! The front page always features an amazing selection of artists and products! By all means, stop by shop check out my designs, stationery, photography, small and large prints and say hello too!

Needs Front Page Glory!

DIDDLEDUMPLING
Really..these are just the sweetest things! These should grace the front page of Etsy!

Fall Fell Last Night 2

Thank you so much:
KAE1CRAFTS

Go Vast Team!

OOh, another sweet Treasury

SASAKICREATIONS
Is the fine creator of this soothing treasury! Be sure to check it out by clicking the link above!
Click on the bag above to take a look at it! I live a few hours from Spokane, Wa...find out why she mentions Spokane in her description of the bag!

Anmorphans

Front Page of Etsy Today!!

Deb from Deebs
Is a needle felting artist. This piece is 6" x 12"., created from wool on felt with art yarn.

I'm totally infatuated with it! Someday, (I'm not ready yet) I'd like to try needle felting. I'm not sure if this will be before I learn knitting, metal smithing, writing that novel, illustrating a book or after....
Thanks Deb for all of your help!


So there I am in the center row second from the top...Turn Up the Heat
made it to the front! woo hoo! Thanks Deebs for the heads up!

Stay Tuned! Next UP....a talk with Carol Preflatish

Master & Disasters of Cooking By Carol Preflatish

Carol Preflatish has been a long time acquaintance of mine and fellow member of the writing group, Momwriters, along with my friend Kathryn Lay

Carol is the author of Masters & Disasters of Cooking

Congrats Carol! Recently, she took some time to talk with me and share something about her cookbook.

Looking at the title, this does bring one of my own cooking disasters to mind. Not long after my husband, Charlie, and I were married I'd made some baked beans. I took the long route beginning with dried beans, which turned out fabulous. I poured them in to a slow cooker with brown sugar, a bit of molasses, dried mustard, pieces of bacon, a little onion....and commenced to slow cooker them to death. After about eight hours, I brought them to the table and when they landed on Charlie's plate, it sounded like gravel! Clink, clinkety, clink..clink..kkk! Ahh! The flavor was (Since Chuckles isn't here to defend me) outstanding-but the beans were decidedly hard as rocks....lots of tiny, tasty rocks!

Since then and after a few soured shots...I figured out how to make baked beans but it took me a while to understand that it was the salt from the bacon that foiled my beans!

When did you decide to create a cookbook?

It was a couple years ago when I started writing down some of the stories about my cooking disasters. I thought the stories, along with a good recipe, would make a neat little cookbook.

What prompted you?

I love to cook and had a lot of funny stories about cooking. Because I also love to write, I wanted it to be more than just a cookbook, so I combined the stories with the recipes.

Your cover is beautiful, did you design it?

I wish I had, but it's a template from the publisher. It is beautiful, isn't it?

What inspired some of the recipes?

Many of them are from my mother that I had helped her make when I was growing up. Some are from recipes that I have sampled, but I altered them a little to make it something I liked better.

When creating this project, what was your biggest struggle?

Just finding the time to get it all down was the biggest struggle. I work full time during the day where I sit in front of a computer, so sometimes I had to make myself sit down in front of a computer at night to work on it.

Any funny stories to share?

Not really any funny stories, but while writing it I was always afraid my computer was going to crash. I think I had the manuscript backed-up on at least three disks.

Here is a paragraph from the story about where I made my husband sick from something I cooked.

My husband finished (his meal) and sat his fork down. I asked if he wanted more and he quickly said, "No." He was full. Later in the evening, I never noticed him taking antacid pills.

The next morning, in the nicest way possible, he told me he thought I had given him food poisoning. I think he spent most of the night in the bathroom. As a new wife, I felt terrible that something I had prepared made my husband sick. When he left for work, he assured me he was now fine. Although, I was positive I had seen him slip some Pepto-Bismol pills into his pocket before he left. Thank goodness he worked at a hospital, just in case he got sick.

Now, that this book is done, what if anything, would you have
done differently?

I wish I would have had more stories and recipes.

Who has been your biggest cheerleader?

My best friend, Sandy and my sister-in-law, Teresa. Both really supported me during the process.

Yay, for great friends!!

What is a surefire marketing idea that you've used?

Marketing is my weak area. I have a blog about cooking and try to post as often as I can. I have the cover of my cookbook with a link posted prominently on there. My readership there is growing.

As a mom, what is something you seem to stress to your children? Or one of
life's big lessons that you'd like them to remember?

I suppose I have tried to stress the "Golden Rule" of doing unto others. I'm very proud of how my daughter has turned out. She recently moved out on her own and my cookbook is one of the gifts I made sure to give her when she left.

Are you planning more writing ventures?

I have a romance novel under consideration with a publisher right now and I am in the planning stages of writing another cookbook. This one will be of pizza recipes. Who doesn't like pizza?

Make sure to visit Carol's blog!:
Carol's Food Bites at http://carolsfoodbites.blogspot.com

Sunset Flo Print

A recent listing on etsy~ I enjoy the layered textures and soft hues and saturated hues. Continued from my new series of patterns and nature...Orange wins again! I must share that cantaloupe was used in the making of this image. And, it has nothing to do with the hues! Do you know what it is? I laced some patina in the background...couldn't resist!

This is a digital image compiled of my own illustrations, brushes and photos.

8.5 x 11 paper with image at 8 x 10 printed on Epson's finest matte finish paper

Visiting With Children's Author-Kathryn Lay!

I had the pleasure of visiting with my friend Kathryn Lay and she was ever so kind in allowing a short interview!


Kathryn do you write creatively each day?

Yes. I try to spend 2-3 hours in actual writing 4-5 days a week, then another hour or so a day, sometimes 6 days in a week, of marketing stuff and researching markets.

Are you able to work from home?

Yes. I home schooled while I wrote for several years, but my daughter is in a public high school as of last year. So, I spend most of my days with writing issues -- whether writing, marketing, teaching writing classes, promoting my 2 books, or doing school visits.

Are you reading children's book in the same category as you own?

I love ALL types of children's books, but I do tend to read a lot of middle grade, especially humor, fantasy, contemporary and what's hip and popular out there. I'm reading more and more picture books now too.

What are some of you most memorable children's stories from childhood?

The book that made me decide I wanted to write was A Wrinkle in Time. I also loved Seuss, the Hobbit, and any fantasy I could get ahold of. I read a lot of Bradbury too.

When did you know, you had a good one with your first title: Crown Me?

I had a lot of good feedback on that book from editors, though it wasn't quite ready for publication. It placed in several writing contests for unpublished children's book categories as well. When my agent read it, she told me she thought it was saleable and I should consider rewriting it from 3rd to 1st person. I loved writing this book and believed kids would find it fun too.

Do you use the critique groups of Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators?

Not online ones. I have been meeting with the same in-person critique group that formed through our local SCBWI chapter for about 19 years now.

That's amazing, what do you find most valuable about the organization?

Contacts, both with editors and agents at conferences, as well as with other local writers. I am always grateful too for the Bulletin and how much information I get from both the articles and the market information.

Are you dreaming of stories now?

Always! I'm in the midst of a major rewrite on a mid-grade novel for my agent, as well as a few picture books and have other novels in stages of beginning or needing to rewrite. I also spend a lot of time writing short fiction and nonfiction for magazines and anthologies and educational stuff as well.

What is your next big goal?

To sell another book! I have a novel out in the market and a picture book, I'd love for both of them to sell. But one of my big goals is to be making enough money from book sales and school visits to concentrate only on writing children's books, though I might find it difficult to give up the short pieces too.

I am proud of you Kathryn! Thank you for taking time with me today!
Look for Kathryn's books!

JOSH'S HALLOWEEN PUMPKIN, Fall 2008, Pelican Books
CROWN ME!, Fall 2004, Holiday House
Winner, Texas State Reading Assoc. Golden Spur Award 2005
THE ORGANIZED WRITER IS A SELLING WRITER, 2004

Elizabeth Graf...enchantment

I must say I am enchanted with Elizabeth's work
Go on now...show her some attention and visit her shoppie!
She is an outstanding story teller. I have to say, she' d make a fabulous children's illustrator as well. I could swoon over pages and pages of her bright and detailed creations. Elizabeth is one of my Vast members from Etsy. I'm very proud to have met her along with my other Vast members. Take a look at Elizabeth's work as well as some of our other member's work today when out surfing the world! As a team we are having a labor day weekend sale. Who knows, you may find something you cannot live without!

'Nother Treasury! woo hoo

ValeriaH.etsy.com
Has created her first treasury and included Morteeny. I feel so special. Make sure to go and click on the photos and learn about the beautiful products she's gathered in this fine treasury! Let's get it to the front page...don't forget about the one I mentioned below either! It needs the same love.

Treasury! woo hoo

Check out this fab treasury!!

Vast Labor Day Weekend Sale

Just a reminder... come on, do some shopping! I'll do some shipping! Check out my store, choose three prints and I'll take 10.00 off your order!
FRIDAY, AUGUST 29 - TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2
Supasale! via Vast!

Visual Artists Street Team

Reminder! Only a Few Days Left!

OOh, ooh! Don't forget to stop by Coolcraftymom's Blog, show some luv and enter the giveaway for a chance to earn one of my prints!

Vast Labor Day Weekend Sale

Labor Day Weekend Sale:
As a member of the Visual Arts Street Team - VAST on Etsy, I am having a sale 10.00 off any three prints. Take advantage! When purchasing from my shop, make sure to wait for my invoice :) If you pay prior, I cannot offer the discount.

Orange Foli

Another addition to my new collection using textile patterns and nature. These are so luminescent and beautiful, I don't' know if 'screens' really capture the beauty!
Thank you for looking...I appreciate your comments!