A successful show and moo moo's in the road

I had a great show this weekend. The next few weeks I will be working on some special orders which will be quite fun. I met some wonderful people at this show. There was a couple that had a booth next to me and they were screen printers. They were helping a local artist promote his art on t-shirts and painted rocks and they had plans for pillowcases. I was of course touched by the story of this artist. He is a young guy that happened to be painting a street mural and a young boy was watching him and became fascinated by a rock he had painted. The little boy couldn't stop rubbing on the rock and was almost obsessed by it. The artist found out this young boy had Autism and since then he has been making art for autistic kids. This is where the awesome pillow case idea comes in. They are going to put textures with the art work on pillowcases. I Love the whole idea! My son was diagnosed with Aspbergers when he was 10 and at one point carried around a squishy ball in his pocket to help calm himself. Those rocks would have been awesome when he was younger. I will post some links and information on this artist when I find out more. 

My weekend started out great, but quickly took a turn for the worst. Sunday the girls and I were running fevers and I didn't have any Motrin in the house. I drove to my in-laws around 11:30pm to borrow some medicine from them. On the way there I hit a calf...no joke. My son and I are fine, but man my car is totaled. I still can't believe it! I'm not sure what the total damage will be, but life without a car for awhile should be challenging. 

I don't want to bore you with all my life drama, but this just stinks.

On a happy note it is Veterans Day and also my daughter Rachaels birthday. We are celebrating with a meal of her choice, meatloaf, baked potatoes, salad, and grilled shrimp. It sounds like an odd mix to me...we will see how it turns out. She is singing in a school program today, so I better get going and watch that kid do what she loves. 

Here are a few pictures of some more finished pieces 

Paper mache santa

paper mache elf

                                                                       paper clay snowmen

Frosty days and a few paper clay snowmen

There is something so wonderful about starting the day with a project list in hand. Today, after I took my kiddos to school, I grabbed my breakfast and list and headed to the studio. I entered my studio and was welcomed by the smells of hot glue, solder, and paint, and the sight of fabric scraps and glitter that dusted my floors. I sat down to my emails and thought about how much I have to get done in the next 3 days and my heart was filled with how blessed I am, that right now, I get to do what I love. I opened up my blinds to the sun shining and a dusting of snow on the ground. It was the perfect way to start today. All these snowmen were lined up on my desk waiting for their final coat of sealing and I just had to snap a few pictures, before they get packed up for this weekends show. Hope you enjoy! I better stay on task and get back to work. Happy Wednesday!

Rhonda

Knee hugger elf and some gnomes

I love Saturdays in the fall. Why, you say?  Well, in Nebraska, Saturdays are all about the Huskers and that means my family goes to watch the game with their grandpa. Leaving me alone for most of the day. I love my family, but I also love alone time. Today I spent the afternoon in a junk store not far from my house. I found most of my treasures in the Christmas room...Yes, this place has rooms. I can easily get lost all day looking through stuff. I am not ashamed to say that yesterday I actually listened to some Christmas music on Pandora and it probably sparked some early Holiday excitement. Photos below are of some of my favorite finds....

Knee Hugger Elf

The wood trees are a little beat up, but these gnomes are so adorable 

Tiny little wood gnomes

Happy weekend to you all
Rhonda

Halloween and Elves

I spent Halloween with the kindergartners, painting, giggling, eating treats, and I even got to walk in the school parade of costumes. Christyn's class was wonderful! I enjoyed every minute hanging out with these sweet little ones. It made my day when a little boy came up to me at the end of school and said "You have the coolest station!". I was in charge of crafts (why wouldn't I be) and we made paintings with our hands and feet and decoupaged pumpkin lanterns. Lots of laughter going on as I painted little tootsies. The day was a nice break from my everyday projects. 

Later that evening we headed to my mom's and got some take out pizza ( I think half the town was at Little Caesars last night) and went trick-or-treating around her place. We got about 3 blocks in and my kids were done and so was Grandma. So, Halloween is over and all my little ones can talk about is how many more days till Christmas. I think they are ready for a school break.

Working like crazy trying to get things ready for my last show of the year. Made this happy little elf about a month ago. I have been so busy with photo shoots I have had little time for creating. Yes, panic is starting to set in. I have one week and not as much done as I would have liked. I think no matter how much I have done I am always good at stressing over all the little things. You would think the more shows I do the easier this would get.....no such luck. I sure I will get better at a routine of some sorts, or at least I am going to give it a hard try next year.

                           

The 7 elves below were a special order, but thought I would post some pics of what I have been up to lately.

Rhonda