The Great Frame-Up!

One of my loyal, sweet customers sent me her blog entry on how to frame my prints (or anyone else's!)... it is a great post! Check it out!

The Great Frame-Up

Also, check out my new ornaments... I love these little numbers!


Hope everyone's doing great and keeping warm! We have a ton of snow here in Wisconsin already. :)

Liz

FREE SHIPPING special!

I'm offering FREE SHIPPING on all art prints through my etsy shop! As an added bonus to all of you who follow my blog, I am offering you FREE SHIPPING on any and all items in my etsy shop! Woohoo! :) When ordering, please mention you are a blog reader in the comments section! You also receive a free art magnet with every purchase!

On another note: I got some pics from a local customer (and friend!) who I met doing a summer show this year. Her and her mom are just awesome!

She sent me this pic of a very clever way to frame my 6x6" prints (or any small square print!). It's hard to find this size frame, so what she did was buy a scrapbook frame (bought at Michael's) that's 12x12" and put a pretty piece of scrapbook paper behind the print. Doesn't it look so professional! The black border gives it that matte look. I love this idea!

Have a great week everyone! And here's a special thought and prayer for my sweet friend Jenn, whom we all adore!!! She is sick and we are praying and thinking of her!!!

Liz

Treasury

Are you all as addicted to treasuries on etsy as I am??? Gosh I could look at them all day!

Here's one that has my little fairy pendant in it!

fairy treasury

Have a great rest of the weekend!
Liz

All over the world!

My little magnets have made it to a darling little shop in Greece!

Thanks Wendy for sending me this pic... your display is so cool!

x0x0 Liz

PARTY GIRLS!

Wanted to share a new painting with you all! I love this one...



It's gorgeous here today!

Liz

and the WINNER is.........

URSULA SHAW!!!

Please email me at primoriginals@att.net and let me know which print you would like! They are all in my shop. I will pick your magnets for ya! :)

Thanks everyone!

Liz

A M E R I C A

My thumb is as good as new now! Lots of new skin.... wow, it looks about 20 years younger than the rest of me! :D

Wanted to share a little painting I just finished. I love this girl! The colors turned out beautifully... wasn't sure as I haven't really ever used this color combo before.

xoxo Liz

GREEN THUMB!!!

Yes, my thumb is GREEN! LITERALLY green!!! I am *not* a gardener!

I have an infection in my thumb most likely from paint or some other little tidbit I've smashed in there when painting! I love using my fingers so I guess it was bound to happen. It really hurts so bad... hard to believe a little thumb can hurt so much. Anyway, I lanced it myself (EEK) and.... om.... well, lots of green goop came out! I'm so sorry if I'm grossing you out here! ;o)

Liz

LAYER LAYER LAYER

I learned some new TRICKS!

I took Suzi Blu's Petite Doll class... my theory of art is that there is always always always something new to learn! Suzi's class was a BLAST and I learned a lot of really COOL new stuff! I started using some different paints that lend themselves to layering more and also got the beeswax out again! Here's one of the "layered" paintings:



I really believe this is my medium!!! I'm not great at moving the paint around in one layer and blending in one layer. I tend to overwork things and then you get the dreaded MUD! Laying is right up my alley as I do not have a hugely long attention span, so I can do one thing and the next thing is soon to come. The exception to this is that I seem to spend a huge amount of time on the face shading. I like it perfect, which I wish I could somehow STOP that as I think sometimes it's too perfect and not enough CHARACTER, kwim? I struggle to sort of "let go" when working on the face. Maybe I should just accept this.

Anyway, thanks for reading this far... here's a cute little video that made my heart sorta flutter!



Thanks for stopping by!
Liz

Time for a FREEBIE drawing!

October FREEBIE: FREE PRINT and ART MAGNET!

It's that time again... to enter this one please respond to this post and include one of your favorite etsy shops! Thought this might be a fun way for all of us to check out some shops we may have never seen before. :)

I'll have the drawing on October 28th! I'll draw two names this time!

Thanks everyone!

Liz

women lives with 130 cats!!

thanks guys!

Thanks for all the kudos! :) I am wanting to make another one already! :O)

Steph... what's the best (free) video editing program do ya think?

I used Windows Movie Maker.

Liz :)

Mixed media art video!!!

I'm so excited to finally have my first art video done and on YouTube!!! Woohoo!! It's just a simple little mixed media painting on watercolor paper (I did attach it to wood after).

Let me first say how much I appreciate all those artists who do these on a regular basis... wow! Tons of work! Next time I won't tape the ENTIRE painting process, LOL! Hundreds of clips to edit and arrange. That said, it was fun and I'm addicted already. Just another thing to distract me. :P

Nite everyone,
Liz

Mounted prints

As the summer is winding down, I'm getting more and more anxious for fall! Is this what they call the *summer duldrums*??? (OM, not sure about the spelling there!). I feel really *unsettled*. Is anyone else feeling this way?

The farmer's market I'm doing this summer has been going very well. I'm selling good (most nights) and learning a lot about OUTDOOR shows! Indoor shows seem so easy now! I've never been so in tune to weather in my life!!! There was once I was a bit too confident and didn't cover my stuff in time and had some damage to my little magnets. I do have a big canopy, but that doesn't help when it's raining hard AND windy! I love it, though... love the challenge and activity and people.

I've just started a new thing... mounted prints. I love these little buggers.


Hope everyone is enjoying the weather while it's here. Soon enough we'll have tons of snow here in Wisconsin!

Liz

AND THE WINNER IS......

Thanks everyone for joining in on the fun! I love doing these little drawings... I spaced each paper on the tray so they didn't stick together and had my 5 yr old pick, just to be super fair. She can't read yet, so there's no cheating! :) (can you tell she dressed herself today!? hey, it's creative!)

Susan, please go to my etsy shop and pick out whatever pendant you like. Convo me with your choice and address.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Liz :)

Post winner tonight!

Due to a nutty/crazy day yesterday, I didn't get a chance to jot down all the names and pull from the "hat"... I will do it tonight and post the winner then... thanks!!!

Liz

FREE SHIPPING!!!

In celebration of my 300+ sales on etsy, receive free shipping on your etsy order (includes everything in my shop)! Please mention "FREE SHIPPING" in the comments section when ordering.

Thanks for a great time! You guys are GREAT!
Liz

Emily's kitty

A very nice/cool/awesome customer of mine sent me a couple pics of her art collection with mine in them... so neat to see people's stuff! You can check Emily's blog out at crackbraincrafter .

1st collection

2nd collection

Have a great nite!
Liz

THANKS EVERYONE!

I'm so humbled by all the comments and support... wow!!! Thank you all so much! All of us who sell online are so honored and so blessed to be able to do what we love....

I will pick the pendant name on July 31st! THANKS!!!

Liz

FREE PENDANT GIVE-AWAY!!!!

In celebration of hitting 300 sales on etsy, I'm going to have another pendant give-away! I will include those on my email list and also anyone who comments here.

Thanks everyone for all of your kindness and support! This online art community really is so special...

Liz :)))

Strawberry Pickin

Rick, Samantha and I went strawberry picking today. I grew up in the country and going out there today makes me want to move to the country again! I do get over it, though... I like city living because I love the convenience of everything and I know winter in the country would make me really DEPRESSED! But, it sure is nice sometimes... We picked about 18 pounds... giving lots of them away and of course eating them ourselves! YUM!

Liz

Art earrings

I've decided to give earrings a whirl... I made some out of little wood circles with my prints attached (same sort of thing as the pendants).

It's a gorgeous day here in Green Bay! Rick took Samantha around the block on his scooter:


And, Mystele told me about picnik.com . LOVE it!!! It's an online photo editing program and it is very easy to use and has lots of cool stuff you can do. I do have photoshop 6.0, but I admit I'm not that terribly great at knowing how to use all the bells and whistles. I use the clone thing constantly... oh and the burn tool is something I just started using. And the adjust command. BUT, for some reason getting rounded corners is so hard on there! And also cropping to a circle??? The picture of Rick and Samantha above was edited using picnik and I think it turned out pretty neat.

Happy Sunday!
Liz

The start of my art print collection

About a month ago, I bought my first art print on etsy from Jenn of noodleandlou, because Jenn's a dear friend and I LOVE HER WORK (who doesn't?). After I got it, I fell in love with the whole idea of having my own little (or big?) art print collection of prints I find on etsy. I decided to start an "art wall" in my living room. I'm going to try to keep them 5x7 or 6x6 ish so I can fit as many as I can on my wall. I think I will even paint the wall a nice rich red! I will either frame each one or I will mount them on a piece of wood with black edges. I'm so excited! So, here's my first print from Jenn:



A few days ago, Mystele of little glimpses bought a print of mine. I checked out her shop and FELL IN LOVE with this print!!

Mystele has some really great stuff on her blog!!! I loved her newest post showing her studio. She's inspired me to really shape up my studio (if you want to call it that). My studio is in the basement and is just a very drab area that needs some inspiration!!! I have quite a large area, but it's sort of on one wall (wish I had a corner spot). Organizing is not one of my strong points, so it's extremely hard for me to do. Any points you all can give me would be very welcome!! I'm too chicken to post what it looks like now on here!

Can't wait to pick out my next print for my wall! :)))

Liz

PICK ME UP OFF THE FLOOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Of course the first thing I do when I go online each morning is go right to etsy.com. Well, low and behold there was my little misfit doll, on the front page!!! I seriously got light-headed, LOL!!!

Here it is!!! --->>>> treasury

What an honor to be included with all those cool dolls! :)))

Liz

Lovely necklace!

One of my favorite customers buys my pendants wholesale and makes beautiful necklaces with them! Here's one of them: necklace

Also, I'm making some new pendants... new print designs! I love circular pendants, so I am going to offer more of those.

Hope everyone is having a great 4th!

Liz

I FOUND THE BRACELET!!!

I'm both relieved and embarrassed to say that I found the bracelet! I put it in my little wooden box of 1" pinback buttons. It really blended in with them, so when I looked in that box for the bracelet, I didn't see it as it was buried underneath all those pins!

Wooohooo!!! :)

Liz

Bracelet :(((

Unfortunately, someone ripped off my charm bracelet I had made at the Farmer's Market on Wednesday! I was shocked for a whole day! After shock came anger, and now I'm just sorta *regular* again. And smarter. My whole attitude when selling is to leave people alone as much as possible and not be "on" them when they look, but I think I'm going to have to re-think that a bit! I just don't understand how someone can do something like that.... every time they put it on how can they not think of how rotten they are!!! UGH!

Sigh...

Liz

Check it out!

My owl art pendant has been featured on the Art Bead Scene (Friday, June 27)! I'm honored!!! I love the beads they chose... so cool!


I'm having so much fun selling my stuff at the Farmer's Market here in Green Bay every Wednesday. That best part is seeing all the people. I've met some really great people, both vendors and customers.

This weekend I'm hoping to work on some more of my new "soft sculpture thingies". Not quite sure what to call them? They are a bit of everything: acrylic painting, sculpture, textiles, clay, wire, nails, wood! Anyone have a good name for these???

Have a great weekend,
Liz

SCULPTURE THINGY

First, thanks everyone for such nice comments on my little farmer's market booth! I so much appreciate it!

The earring "house" is very functional, but I found that people couldn't see the earrings well and sorta didn't notice them enough, so I put all the earring pairs on white cardstock and hang them on the wire on those. Much better!

It is such a beautiful day here in Wisconsin! The bottom part of our state is flooded right now though and we are all feeling just terrible for everyone there. :((( I just can't imagine how horrible it would be to lose your home.

Last night I got a new idea in my head. I love making my little bird sculptures with the wire legs. I thought I could make a cute stuffed muslin girl holding a cat with those same skinny wire legs... maybe subconsciously I want SKINNY LEGS! Om... OK... CONSCIOUSLY THEN! Anyway, it turned out so cute! I added two crows and put it all on an old vintage block I found at a really neat shop here in De Pere (right next to Green Bay).

Here's the girl that I stuffed and painted, before her legs and bird on top of her head are attached. :) She lays next to the little pattern I drew and used to cut the muslin out.



Here she is on my messy table. I am not the organized artist when I work... things are everywhere and I do not stop to tidy up! :)




And here she is with her two crow friends (one on her head and one standing next to her). NOT the greatest pic!




Thanks for taking a peek! I will post her in my etsy shop tonight, if all goes well! Have a great night everyone!!!

Liz

PRINTS on etsy!

I'm excited to offer several different 4x6" prints in my etsy shop! Mention my blog in the comments section and receive FREE shipping on any print order!




Thanks for taking a peek!

Liz

ON BROADWAY Farmer's Market

I decided to do the On Broadway show here in Green Bay this summer. It is every Wednesday and runs from June 4th through September. The first show was Wednesday and it was a blast! I love being out and doing something DIFFERENT. There was supposed to be rain all night, but it never happened. I still had my husband go to Sam's and get me an EZ up canopy. Every other vendor had one and I knew I would need it eventually. So we put it up about an hour into the show -- funny!!! The other vendors around me were so helpful. The best part was I got to meet a fellow etsian! Laura, from littleorangekitchen!!! What an awesome girl! I'm definately getting one of her gorgeous wallets! They are unbelievable! The craftsmanship is absolutely perfect!!!

Above you will see my very plain little booth. I took a huge easel that I got from my dad and attached a bunch of wooden pegs to it, painted it, and voila! A pendant display! On the table are magnets, barrettes, rings, sale pendants, pocket mirrors, a couple paintings and earrings. The earrings are on the wooden house and are hanging on curly wire I strung across and put on an easel.

Liz

Sale through Sunday at NOON!

I'm having a sale in my etsy shop! Buy two pendants, get the third FREE! Hurry, ends Sunday at noon CST!

I had my first outdoor show on Wednesday. How fun! I will post pictures of my little booth in the next couple days.

Liz

Bay Beach

My goal is to start talking about things other than art and my kids! So here's the first installment, which actually is partly about one of my kids. ;o)

We live in Green Bay and one of our little treasures here is Bay Beach Amusement Park. For those of us that grew up here, it holds a very sentimental spot in our hearts. It's grown and changed some, but what makes it great is that it's inexpensive and open all summer! AND, it's right on the water. A million people visit each year. The history of this great little park is a good read.

When I was a kid, it was 10 cents for any ride in the park! So for a couple bucks you could ride all day. Now tickets are a quarter, and the "big" rides take two, but the little ones are still just one ticket. Prices have gone up a lot, but it's still a good bargain.

Here's a picture of the new train station:




And a horrible picture of the little train that runs around about half of the park. It runs very close to a house that's on the edge of the property ... I've always wondered how they can handle that noise!



Here's a picture overlooking the bay:


Samantha riding the ponies. These ponies live near the beach and if you come early enough you can sometimes see the owners walking them down the road to the ride area. The bumper cars are in the background.




Samantha on the big swings:


Here's Samantha with one of her friends on the helicopter ride. This is a favorite ride for the little ones.


So brave to ride the Scrambler all by herself!



I even went on the Tilt-a-whirl a few times with Samantha. The day started out cold (60) and by the water it's colder.


The one thing I missed today was a picture of the huge slide. It's been at Bay Beach ever since I can remember. Just one ticket yet, and you grab a burlap bag, climb the endless steps, and all line up and slide down. There's three "hills" you go over. It's a tradition for us here!

I also missed pics of the *little kid* rides. They have six rides that are for toddlers and preschoolers and are all one ticket. A good deal!

If you've gotten this far, thanks for listening! Hope to see you at the beach someday!

Liz

bracelet love

How ironic it is that I make jewelry but don't wear it myself! Well, this bracelet is something I think I could wear... I just love this little number! So unique! Very time-consuming though, but worth it. It is for sale in my etsy shop.


Thanks for checking out my blog... I know I need to write more often, but I'm one of those *shy* people that feels awkward talking about myself and my life. I've read that this is something you get over if you blog long enough. I'm still waiting.

Liz

MOTHER'S DAY SALE!

ETSY SHOP MOTHER'S DAY SALE!!!

BUY ONE ITEM, GET THE SECOND FOR HALF PRICE on anything in the shop! This includes all sale items! THROUGH WEDNESDAY, May 7th. If you pay when ordering, I will refund you the difference. Or you may wait for an updated invoice.

U.S. Customers: If you want your shipment by Mother's Day, please make your payment by Tuesday so I may ship your item by Wednesday. I ship First Class Mail. Expedited shipping is available upon request and at your cost.

Thank you!

Liz

OUR FRIEND

Whew! We've been without internet service for FOUR days (servers down)!!! Unfortunately, it made me realize how addicted I am to the computer! :((( I was so nuts! I feel LOST! Anyway, glad to be back.

We have a squirrel friend that we feed every day. He's getting very tame lately and is coming on the ledge of our front window. When we open the front door he runs towards us... this is when I sorta panic a bit! I love squirrels, but they scare me up close. I'm sure he would eventually eat from our hand if we let him, but not sure if I can do it! I throw the nuts and sorta run back into the house, LOL.

Liz

Molly's pendant

Don't you love this little guy!?!?

My daughter, Molly, who is 14, made this pendant! Can you believe it?! It's perfect! It's a very strange feeling when your kids get older and they can do things just as well as you (and sometimes better).

Liz :)

Look at this!

Elizabeth, a wonderful customer of mine, bought a pendant from me and made it her own! Very cute!!! (Elizabeth's email is matteliz@telus.net.)

We're finally getting some nice weather here!

Liz

Love this!!!

Elizabeth, a wonderful customer of mine, bought a pendant from me and made it into the most fabulous necklace! Her email address is matteliz@telus.net.

Thanks Elizabeth for sharing this!

Liz

ETSY SALE!!!

Hello everyone,

I'm having a sale in my etsy store.... 20% off ALL items, including items on sale! Through April 25th.

Thanks!
Liz

CUPCAKES

My little one loves sweets, so we all had some fun and made some cupcakes. I can't help but think of Jenn whenever I hear the word CUPCAKE! This is a good thing.

Speaking of Jenn, I am waiting with anticipation for her new PRINTS! I want one!!!

Hoping the weather gets better here. It's been so cold this winter and now spring is cold, too.

Liz

Lots of bags

Wanted to share the good deal I got at yourorganzabag.com. Only 8 cents each for your basic 3x4" bag! And lots of fun colors.




Have a great Saturday! It's SNOWING here! Can you believe it!?

Liz

Pocket mirrors and allergies

It's been a rough couple weeks here at our house. Allergies this year are just horrible! It must be all the snow we got this year? Thank goodness for Zyrtec, Claritin, Flonase, blahblahblah.

I'm excited to offer up my new little pocket mirrors on etsy! These are just the cutest little things. Another "etsian" did them for me, and she did such a great job! Wanted to pass it on, so here's her shop: christinerenee.

Thanks for stopping by.

Liz

BIRD SCULPTURE!

Many years ago I got into wood carving (my dad carved for many years, now he does bronze... you can see his work at jauquet.com and also at edgewood orchard gallery . My brother is also a carver now and his work is also at Edgewood. You can see his work here: Chris's work).

Anyway, I had to quit carving for various reasons, one of which was that I kept getting sick with bronchitis from the dust, as controlled as it was. So, to be able to sculpt again with polymer is just so exciting, I cannot tell you how wonderful this is!

These little guys are my first sculpture that I've done with clay, and I'm in love with them! They are perched on our mantle. As corny as it sounds, they bring such life to the room! As much as I'd like to keep them, and a few other things I've made over the years, I've been taught by my folks that it is best to sell what you make, if you can. If you start keeping things, well... just isn't good. So I've taken that to heart and it works for me. Everything I make leaves, and it's very satisfying to me to think of my things being all over the country and the world! My favorite thing is to go to yahoomaps and plug in an address of a buyer of one of my pieces and see where it is. How cool is that!?

Liz

Molly's 14!

My oldest daughter is 14 today! Such a cliche', but it's so hard to believe. I keep thinking in two years..... well you know! DRIVING! EEK!

If you asked me if I had any regrets in regards to mothering... the first thing I'd say is that I regret "allowing" her to suck her thumb at night until she was 7! I would have at least TRIED to help her stop. Would have saved us $5000 on braces. Admittedly, I am not a strict mother, but that is one thing that I do regret.

Anyone else have any mothering regrets they want to share? :)

Liz

AND THE WINNER IS......

Watch the video! My daughter, Molly, will add each name to the bowl, then at the end she will pick the winner. Thanks everyone for posting! This was a blast! I'll definitely do this more often.
P.S. She is wearing her dad's CocaCola pants, hehe (:




Liz

DRAWING THIS EVENING!

I will be drawing names from the 17 people who responded to the "free pendant" post this evening! If anyone new catches this before then, I will add your name to the list as well.

Happy day!
Liz

FREE PENDANT GIVE-AWAY!

Hi everyone!

I am going to give an art pendant away. The winner will be able to pick from a few different pendants (giraffe/flamingo/crow, cat on bike, cats eating dinner, free fairy, etc.). To enter, simply leave a comment on this post and I will add your name to the hat! I will draw the name on March 12th. Open to anyone in the world! How's that for being inclusive? ;o)

Thanks for stopping by!
Liz

hey!

Haven't posted in a couple weeks... been so busy, as we all are.

I had a bout of food poisoning last weekend and it was surely something I will never forget! Incredible pain and the most horrible discomfort... so hard to explain it! I don't think I've had anything like this before (other pain, but this was really weird). So so happy it's over!!! I think the culprit was some beef stew meat I was making in the crockpot. It was a new recipe, and there was a lot of potatoes in the pot with the meat and I don't think the meat got done enough. I made the mistake of taking a couple bites too early in the cooking time when I knew I shouldn't. So, my thing now is that red meat makes me sick, even to LOOK at! I'm terrified of it!!! This might be a good thing, really. Not that I'm against eating meat, but it's not the healthiest thing to eat too much of it.

Liz

I have a serious case of the winter blues (we live in Wisconsin). I feel like I'm going crazy sometimes, being cooped up inside. We have massive amounts of snow, which is OK, but the cold is getting to me. I need SUNSHINE! And GRASS! And not jackets, hats, etc.!
One of my favorite things to do in the summer is go to the N.E.W. Zoo. It is so gorgeous! Lots of space. Beautiful greenery. They have a wonderful petting zoo, which includes goats, sheep, oxen, a reindeer, and llamas. The last time we went there a llama spit at me pretty good right in the eye. They like to do that to me, for some reason! And I LOVE animals! I don't get it!

Here's a couple pictures I took last summer when we were there.





Many of you may have seen this video before, but just in case! These kids are just precious.



I am going to try to get some painting done this week. I have so many new ideas floating around in my head! I can't wait!

take care,
Liz

PENDANT SALE!!!

I'm having a Valentine's Day Pendant Sale in my etsy store! Buy any pendant necklace and receive an additional pendant necklace for half price. Both ship for $2.00. It runs through January. I will be putting more pendants in my shop within the next couple days.

Thanks!

Liz

Samantha - 5 yrs old on Jan 14

the penny

For the first time in my life, and hopefully the last, I had to call 911! My just-five-year-old daughter (above) was in her room playing. She came out very upset... crying and pointing to her neck. She had that LOOK that we all dread seeing on our kids! She was coughing on and off and crying in a terrible panic. She was able to tell me that she swallowed a penny and it was stuck in her throat. She kept pointing to her throat! Of course I did what any rational mother would do and screamed for my teenage daughter: MOLLLLLLLLLLLYYYYYYY!!!! My little one was speaking somewhat, and was coughing a little yet, so my oldest daughter told me that in Health (and in her CPR class) they said if the child can talk they are fine. Well I remember learning that too, but she was NOT acting fine and I grabbed the phone and dialed 911. Normally I am a bit more rational, but choking is one of those things that freaks me out. I was worried it was lodged in there and if she moved wrong or cried too hard or whatever that it might flip just the wrong way and block her breathing.

Within 60 seconds there was an ambulance with two paramedics AND a fire truck with three firefighters!!! They came in and surrounded her and sorta did their thing (oxygen rate, pulse, lung check, etc.). They said they think she will be fine, but they could take her to the hospital if I wanted and do x-rays. By this time she was considerably better and was calm, so I knew she was OK. The nice men left and everything was back to normal.

I am so happy!!! Things could have gone the other way so easily! As horrible it was it is so awesome to be reminded that life really is so precious and is but a vapor!

Thanks for reading and bless you!

Liz