tcup winners!

are you ready for this? i combined the names from the fyb ning, my blog & flickr (in that order) & got some winners!!! yay!

the lucky names that random.org picked are:

1.camille s. (from blog)
2. donna h. (from flickr)
&&&&&&&&&
3. malin w. (from flickr)

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

i believe i have your mailing info…i will send out sometime before we leave for vacation (7/11).

many thanks to all of you who played!!!

hope you are having a grand summer!

have a super day!

xo mary ann

art & independence

HAPPY INDEPENDANCE DAY

i can’t believe we’re in JULY (?!) already…much less today being the 4th.  where did the time go?  seemed like only yesterday it was the last day of school, hehehe! 

my mom has been visiting us since monday, so i have been juggling being her chauffeur/shopping companion + trying to get some work done in both the garden & studio.  it’s been so nice to have mom here though…she loves coming here & the best part is that she cooks my fave foods!   thanks mom, you are the BESTEST mom ever! xoxo

later today, if the weather holds out (it’s been doom & gloomy here the last couple of days), we may head to the farmer’s market…my mom has been craving sausage lately (esp. after i told her about a friend whose spouse forced him to eat vegetarian when really he was dying to eat burgers & italian sausages!)…there’s one vendor at the farmer’s market that sells the most DELISH brats…my mouth is watering just thinking about them.  i hope they will be there so we can pick up some cherry (yes, cherry…they are WICKED good!)  and cheddar brats.  that’s one of the good things about living here in cheeseland…you can get good brats & cheese, hehehe!

i’ve managed to get some wips completed…like these ATCs for lorri’s swap. 

the theme was rubberstamping.  i stamped all the cards prior to embellishing them…i hope that these will be in keeping with the theme.  i cannot resist not embellishing my work in some fashion…that’s the mixed media collage artist in me coming out…  i used what i had on hand…bits n pieces from other projects as well as stamp & photo images from my personal stash.  i liked the fact that i didn’t go out & buy anything new to make these…i just used what i had & also kept the color palette the same for all 7 cards, for continuity’s sake.  i had fun making these & am looking forward to getting back some terrific artwork. 

at the moment, i’m working on an itty bitty book project, SUMMER.  i am hoping to get all 13 books completed & shipped out before we head out on vacation next week.  each participant had to make 2 sets of pages…i made a couple of extras because, well, that’s what my lil brain has been conditioned to do, lol.  i just finished working on them last night.  and now, i’m getting ready to run the pages i do have in my hands thru the binding machine.  omg, so far, the artwork has been outstanding & i am happy to report, another FAB itty book in the works!   

speaking of fab books…look what arrived on my doorstep just in time for the 4th?

my red, white & tag book from jessica’s swap.  isn’t it just too cute for words?

my page…

many thanks to all the ladies who contributed & esp. jessica for this wonderfully patriotic keepsake! 

enjoy & be safe this glorious day! xoxo mary ann

going “home”

(photos courtesy of  mainemidcoast.com, wikipedia, big chicken barn antiques, timber creek fishing & atlantic brewing company)

they say home is where the heart is.  in just NINE days we will be here.  that’s where we left our hearts since relocating back to the midwest. 

the dh & i will be heading out east for a couple of weeks.   he wants to do plenty of this

& this  here 

& here

hopefully we will go hiking around too

maybe spot a whale or two…

this looks kinda neat, but not a fan of being swept up by the waves…

for sure visit our fav lighthouses…

we rented a cottage not too far from where we used to live…

i hope to do these activities while in vacationland:

 

but most of all, just take in all the salt air & sea breezes that we can… because as we know all too well, vacations fly by so wicked fast!

on the way home, we will take a short side trip to cape cod to visit some friends.  hope they will be ready for us.

yep, we’re looking forward to some much needed R n R.  & it’ll be good to go “home”.

TEA 4 u

want a chance to win a copy (there are THREE extra copies!)?  then say so in this post & leave your name & contact info to sign-up.  drawing ends sunday, july 5th at midnite cst.  bonne chance!

xoxo mary ann

desperately seeking treasures

i don’t know about you, but whenever i venture off into one of my antique flea market adventures, such as the one here, i don’t really have an ultra specific agenda in mind.  i just get up at the crack of dawn the day of the fair, make a beeline to the fairgrounds et voila, let my intuition take me where it shall…

there are over 500 dealers at this particular venue,  both outdoors & indoors.  today, i stayed primarily outside, as i wanted to make sure i got home before noon so i could tend to my many gardening chores.  most of my favorite booths happen to be outside, so it was just as well.  

i noticed some dealers i used to go to are not there today.  but not to worry, i ran into a couple of new faves that i discovered in last month’s season opener:  salvaged treasures & iowa junk gypsies.  the gals over at good finds, a local dealer,  were there… as well as the husband & wife team  (whose names i still do not know!)  who have their famous $1 tables.  on more than one occasion, i found a bunch of cab cards & vintage posties  that the husband gave me  for a couple of bucks.  sweet.  i always make sure i stop by their booth. 

then there is always cindy’s greenhouse…i always buy something from there.  last time i bought tubs & tubs of sugar snap peas.  ooooooooh were they ever yummy!   this time, i bought a couple of petunia hanging baskets for mom’s deck.  at $5 bucks a pop, they were a steal!

i ran into my pal, jean.  she & i always managed to bump into each other there lately, hehehe.  this time, she was at the iowa junk gypsies tent when i happened there.  what fun!  one of these days i will (& YES jean, i will!  ) head over to her antique mall, windmill antiques.  maybe sometime this week, before we head on our road trip out east (more about that later). 

ok, i took a bunch of pix…i’ve compiled them all in this slideshow:

if the seal song bothers you or is too loud, you can always turn it off…i don’t know how to adjust the sound.  anyway, enjoy!  i’ve got to scoot & finish working in the garden & then it’s back in the studio for me. 

have a super week!!! xoxo mary ann

birthday wishes

impromtu weekend

in from my garden last friday, i picked the remaining peonies.  i felt i had to bring them in before their luscious blooms faded away. that would be such a terrible waste, you know?  so, i went to “rescue” my precious petals… i must have cut over 24 blooms!  their sweet fragrance was enchanting.  i took more pix of them, well… because i could & they were oh so charming.

(below btw is the old chippy desk that i am planning to use in my closet -turned-studio-space redo.)

i finished a couple of swap wips.  one was for jessica’s red, white & blue tag swap.  we were to create 17 patriotic-themed tags.  i also made a few extras as a lil thank you to jessica for hosting this fun swap. 

i did mention that i finished making some tags for the swap hosted in the paper whimsy group…

i kinda, no totally,  goofed up & created 12 tags, instead of making only ONE tag & sending a variety of TWELVE napkins. 

 lol…i am not usually a dumkopf, hehehe, but i was/have been so overloaded lately with the art projects…so it was easy, yeah, yeah, to get mixed up!

luckily for me, the hostess was gracious & understanding & still let me play.    my bad will actually be their good because everyone will get one of my tags.  alls not lost then…after running some errands saturday morning, i happened onto a tag sale near the post office & found these lovelies…

i was tickled to find such pretty things…& at good prices. always a good thing!

i created these digi-collages for danielle’s birdsong collage swap.  i had planned on printing them out & putting 3-d embellishies on them when the dh announced that we were going in to chi-town to visit his dad & other family last saturday afternoon. so i had to put my arting on hold…

we visited my in-laws & had dinner with them saturday nite.   it was nice to visit & spend time with my fil.  he’s been ill, but he was in good spirits.  we share the same birthday, hehehe.  we’ll have to stop by his house on the way back from our east coast road trip next month & celebrate together then. 

i had also been playing phone tag w/ my sis jo, who lives a few blocks from my fil.  i tried to give her a heads up that we’re coming to town on the fly…but i totally forgot that they were  spending a luxurious couple days downtown.  last winter, my lil niece, shioban (jo’s dd) won a guessing contest & the grand prize was an all-expenses paid, 2 night stay here.  omg, they had a taste of  the high life. it was hard for them to come back to reality, hehehe… i am sure my sis will blog about their adventures soon.  my sis & i did finally connect & we got together yesterday for dinner.  my bil put the kiddie pool together & my niece & nephew were in 7th heaven! 

this past weekend was the 1st really disgustingly hot & muggy summer weather we’ve had.  we had been so spoiled with the cool, mild temps we’ve been having up until this weekend. figures the yucky weather would rear its ugly head on father’s day/summer solstice! 

anyway, inside the much preferred temperature range, hehehe, the kids sure love their uncle joe!

 

whenever we go into chi-town to visit, i always find it hard to split my time evenly with my in-laws & my sisters.  but this weekend, we got to see both sides of the family, even if only briefly.  it’s virtually impossible to see everyone & do everything in a span of less than 2 days.  oh well, we gave it a shot…

by the time we reached home last night, we were, as you can imagine, exhausted.  lots of running around, trying to visit our families.  i had grand ideas that i would work on those digi-collages i created above, but nothin’ doing. as soon as i hit the pillow, it was lights out for me, hahaha. 

but this morning, i did finish up the collages.  one is for the swap & the other is for danielle. 

i always try, if at all possible, to create a piece of artwork for the swap hostess, especially if we are to send our works to the hostess.  then i typically will make something.  i may have mentioned this before, but i am becoming increasingly more comfortable with creating collages in my pse.  i find that i can whip something up relatively quickly, in a matter of few minutes, than in the traditional methods.  what an incredible timesaver, you know?  so wicked convenient & efficient, esp. for someone like me who has a crazy-busy art schedule!

speaking of keeping schedule, it’s back to the studio for me.  i’ve got teacup books to bind!  until next time, hope your week has started off on a beautiful note. 

& don’t forget these lil gems: &

   xoxo mary ann

sweet scent of summer

freshly picked from my garden…bringing the sweet scent of summer in.

my summer plans

 

what i’ve been up to these first days of summah vaykay

it feels sooooooo good to be at home, doing my own thing on my own time & creating stuff in my jammies pretty near all day!   that’s how my summah vaykay is shaping up & i am LOVIN it!

my summah “uniform”, hehehe: apron & jammies!

this month’s spc is SHOES…here’s me in my super comfy slippers, which i found not too long ago on my thrifting jaunts for a mere 49 cents. 

don’t i look like one happy camper?!  you betcha!!

i just finished this massive swap wip, the sweet sentiments tag book swap that i hosted here. 

my days lately are spent cutting, pasting, embellishing, stamping, glittering…  

(a baby shower card i made for a group of teacher friends to sign & give to a mutual teacher pal) 

(my itty bitty summer book wip that i started…)

pretty much creating with abandon. & i am not even complaining!  hehehe…didn’t someone famous say that if you are having fun & enjoying what you do, then it is not work?  well, that’ how i feel these days.

i’m planning to use these sweet fabric scraps that i got recently from here in my other tag book swap, christmas in july (which btw there are 6 spots left before we HAVE reached our 20 participant max as of 6/18/09). 

have you seen dear lisa’s piddlestix zine?  i’ve been meaning to mention this…she did a lil write-up about the itty bitty book club.  thank you so much lisa for the plug!  xoxo

speaking of itty bitty books, i’ve also been working on the itty bitty vintage tea cup books.  they were due last wednesday, june 10th.  there are a couple fo teacup pages still outstanding, but it’s just as well, beacuse i’ve got my hands pretty full these days (not complaining, mind you.  just saying…)

from what i can tell, these books are going to be A*M*A*Z*I*N*G!

oh yes, i finally got around to taking pix of those large-ish finds that i snapped up in last month’s antique flea opener here>>>

they’ve been sitting in the garage…i’ve already found homes for them, yay!

this went on the front porch…

this sweet tier went into our guestroom/office (which i currently am re-doing…pix to follow)…

the white whicker shelf went to my lil shop at the antique barn, while the wood trim are awaiting alteration in the studio…

the pale sagey green moulding will be mounted on our bedroom wall, hopefully soon…

i haven’t just been homebound entirely my 1st days of summer vacation…i did venture out to go to my yoga class & then to the farmer’s market another day…

this is my fave barn, which is not far from the house.  i pass this barn every time i make my way to my yoga class.  it is on a back road that i take & seeing it always makes me smile.  i just love all those windows…i’m thinking, wouldn’t that make an amazing studio space or what.  but cows live in there.  pretty fancy digs if you asked me!

 aren’t the clouds & blue sky so quintessentially SUMMER? 

after my yoga class, i went to a local resale shop & boy, was i ever glad that i stopped in.  i found some wicked good deals & look at all this stuff i snatched up for under $25!!

i especially love this vintage ribbon (in my color palette too!), it was only 75 cents!  i bet there are  75 yards of it or maybe more on this roll.  sah-weet!  so many possibilities…

i also found these sweet martha stewart napkins that i thought i could use for paper whimsy’s altered napkin tag swap.  i’ve got to get to this wip soon as they are due 6/20…eek!

last saturday, i went to the farmer’s market & bought some cut flowers. 

they just looked like summer to me.  i actually have these same flowers, daisies, cornflower & sweet williams, but they are still coming up…they haven’t yet bloomed in my garden.  idk what’s taking them so long…

anyway, i stopped by my friend cj’s shop, annabelle’s.

i spotted this wicked darlin’ birdie tuteur.  you know me & birdies…i am such a softie, hehehe.  i thought it would come in handy next time i am doing an art fair.  i can use this to hang tags, small packages or even some handmade jewelry.  plus it makes a nice decorative statement.     

after the farmer’s market, i scooted down the road to the stateline flea market.  i found some sweet things…

i thought with these spools of patriotic ribbon, i could fashion some badges & bows. 

another weakness of mine…vintage buttons!  i snap them up whenever i can, esp. if they are a good price as these were.  they reminded me of these lil flags i found hidden in the coat closet.  pretty soon, i will be decorating the fron porch with these.

 aren’t these too cute for words?  i found them at my local scrap n stamp store.   

& these, i found here. 

they sure will come in handy for those teacup books!

yep, that’s how it’s been so far.  & i wouldn’t have it any other way!