Sunday, Humid Sunday

Mixed Media on a wood panel

The left mixed media on a wood panel

gardens in front of Touch of Class florist in Crete, IL.

I really like this idea. Took this for Cathy to see

I had a quick trip up to see the kids and grand kids this weekend for high school graduations. During my stay, I received a hair color treatment from my stepdaughter as my Mother's Day present. The front of the building where Tammie has her business is full of flowers, color, and art. The building houses 3 businesses: Touch of Class florist, Becoming You Salon, and Teresa Fe-Fe Art Studio and Clothing design. In case you are ever in Crete, Illinois, this is on Main Street, north side of the road, just west of the famous "yes, we have 1,000 trains a day" railroad crossing.

The gardens are beautiful, but what really caught my eye were the 2 large canvases framing the picture window of the artist studio. What a great idea! They appear to be canvas or wood,  done in house paint. Or perhaps she sealed them with something. Her studio wasn't open or I would have gone in and asked.

I have been slowly adding more art items to the Etsy shop. Take a look if you are so inclined. Adding listings to Etsy is not fast, so I do it when I can.
Have a relaxing Sunday.
Linda

Where did my week go?

12x12 cement paver on my work table, with my feet below. Just realized that. DUH!

2 more pavers

This was one of the collages from Lesson 4 that I just added more elements, and some black scribbles

I take all of my photos with my phone, and pay Dropbox annually to upload those photos automatically. That way I don't have to worry about where they are. Unfortunately, there is a problem. Dropbox, in the past 8 days or so, has slowed down to the point that photos are not uploading until much later. Not sure if it's my phone which is now 2 years old, or if my memory capacity on Dropbox is almost full. I take a ton of photographs. I apologize for missing more than a few days, but I really need to get this worked out. The other scenario is that the Mac desktop is 8 years old and very tired. I have never come close to filling the 640gig hard drive, but it is old....like me.

This is what I did for the pavers: buy cement pavers in your choice of size and dimension. Clean them off, let dry completely, and pick a flat side to paint. I base coated each with a cheaper gesso to seal it. Then used whatever craft paint I had on hand. These were painted with Americana, the base coat allowed to dry, then put large stencils over it. I rolled the contrasting color onto the base with a foam brayer, the type of roller you would use on the walls for trim. Press down on the stencil so it does not move when doing this. Let all of the layers dry at least overnight, then sealed with a heavy coat of Mod Podge.

Will make great garden decorations that are unique, and you can say "I did that!" Enjoy yourselves.
Linda

Happy Mother's Day

Siberian Iris

Heirloom Iris

Day lilies not yet in bloom

Hope everyone has a wonderful and relaxing Mother's Day. I have already been doing weeding and trimming, so ready for a break. The dogs did not help me at all. Hmmmm.

We will head to the dog park this afternoon to sniff some sniffs and vegetate. A gorgeous day, breezy and warm. Enjoy.
Linda

Little Treasures

It is garage sale/flea market season, and will be until the first frost hits. I wanted to share what I found in a resale shop in Martinsville, IN. several weeks ago. This is an old high chair made of hard wood. It has been painted in some type of rustic finish, and is missing parts. Now I could have refinished the chair, but I happened to like that rustic, primitive look.

The chair was a whopping $12. I knew immediately what I was going to do with it, because I remembered I had this particular clay pot sitting in the garage. I placed it up against the fence so it wouldn't get knocked over from running, leaping, crazy dogs. They have basically ignored it. And with the pot filled with dirt and the two plants, it is fairly heavy and stable. Yes, the weather will beat the wood up some more. That's okay. If I take the chair in for the winter months, it will survive many more summers, I'm sure.

So the point is, if you want to have a unique accent in your yard, keep an eye out at those garage sales, flea markets, and resale shops for anything that can accent your gardens. Old wheelbarrows, buckets, chairs, bathtubs, I've even seen toilets with petunias planted in them and around them that were stunning. It helps to have an open mind, and if you're married, a husband who will say "if it makes you happy, dear."

Enjoy yourselves.
Linda