Season of Love Sale

Etsy is promoting this weekend as a "Season of Love" sale. Lots of great sellers are offering special deals this weekend, January 31st and February 1st. Go have a look!

I will be running a "Buy one get one half price" sale on my pendants this weekend! I will include a free art magnet with every order as well. :D

Come take a peek at my etsy shop!

:) Liz

P.S. I'm doing better on this blogging thingy! ;o) Thanks for everyone's encouragement! Now I'm off to my dear friend Jenn's blog to keep her cool music on while I paint!

VALENTINE'S DAY DRAWING!!!

In celebration of my 600th sale in my etsy shop, I'm giving away a nice little goody box of surprise stuff! I will draw a name on Valentine's Day and post the winner here. To enter, please leave a comment on this post. Let's make it fun -- state your favorite junk food in your comment! I'll start it out: my all-time favorite junk food is FRENCH FRIES. I could not live without them! ;0)

:) Liz

Treasuries on etsy

Don't ya just love treasuries! It's my favorite thing to "waste time" on. I could look at them all day long. Here's one that has my goofy little doll in: treasury.

Something very funny happened to me here in Wisconsin, where the snow is so high on the ground that when someone is walking on the sidewalk, you can't always see them from the street! Mounds and mounds of snow everywhere! My neighbor (an obsessive sort of person) had some men in his yard the other day, dragging snow from the front into his backyard! We not only have to shovel and plow, but now we have to *manage* snow!

Anyway, while pulling into my driveway, I ran into one of the heaps and it actually cracked the front of my van bumper. Imagine that! A snowbank so tough and big and frozen it can damage a car!

Liz

NEW! Wood Panels!

I'm now selling art panels on etsy for other artists to create on! These panels are made by my husband. They are made out of aspen wood. I use these for my own art. It took me a bit to find the perfect wood (in my humble opinion), and this is it! Check 'em out here: wood panels.

Liz

Soft sculpture

I finished a "doll" last night and just put it on etsy.

I don't make dolls often, but whenever I'm done with one I always think I should make more. I think I'm lazy about the sewing part. I used to sew constantly and one day I just sorta had it and ever since then I hate it! Or at least I *think* I do. It's not so bad.

I just love the back view of this girl. She looks so VULNERABLE, haha.










later,
Liz

New Video!!!

I completed this video the day before my husband lost his job. I cannot watch it without crying now. I'm really not handling this well at all. I was up all night having horrible panic attacks! My heart was racing -- it was terrifying. Molly (14) looks so down about this too. She couldn't sleep last night either. We are trying to be calm and strong around our kids. I just keep telling myself it could be worse.... one of us could be really sick, etc... ugh.

Here's my beautiful girls and my sweet husband (on the scrambler!). He hates that I put him in it. He thinks he looks dorky on the ride all alone. I think he looks like the perfect husband and father.

Molly said the driver of the little train looks like Martha Stewart! She's right!




Liz

Bad News

My husband lost his job of 11 years today. It's still a shock to me, although it shouldn't be. The company's been struggling for several years. My husband is feeling pretty badly. I feel terrible for him. I feel tears well up sometimes when I look at him.

Today I spent a good amount of time on the computer, looking for jobs, checking out our state's unemployment site. The whole time I kept getting such conflicting feelings. They sorta swept through me in strange waves. For a while I had a terrible feeling of doom. Sort of a sick feeling in my stomach. Then I felt a bit relieved, and hoping for the best, as my husband has been miserable at his job for many years now. Then there was a sort of blank feeling, like NOTHINGNESS. We've never been in this situation, and I am already realizing how blessed we have been. In this economy, we really have no idea what is going to happen.

Please say a little prayer for me and my family.

Liz

FREE SHIPPING!!!

In celebration of the new year, and hopefully a better one, I am running a FREE SHIPPING special in my etsy shop.

All orders receive a free art magnet as well!

Thanks everyone for your really nice comments. I so much appreciate all of you. It's amazing to me how supportive artists and art lovers are of each other online. It is truly such a special thing!

Liz x0x0

I've been tagged!

Micki of The Art Hermit has tagged me, so here goes!

Six random things about me:

1. I hate talking on the phone. I avoid it as much as possible. Thank goodness for texting!

2. I love vinegar. I'd use it constantly in cooking, but my family wouldn't appreciate that. Sometimes I take the red wine vinegar (or balsamic!) out of the fridge and take a little drink!

3. I love being alone! I find that as I get older, I crave it even more. The more time I get alone, the better mom and wife I am. ;o)

4. I analyze everyone too much ... it's a fault and a gift! I ask myself "why can't I just BE???" But I can't seem to change myself too much, although there are things I have learned to do to stop my brain from going too far. I am so sensitive and I just want to be TOUGH.

5. I hate wearing jewelry (haha! funny, cuz I sell it!), other than very light-weight earrings. My favorite earrings are made from vintage dictionary paper "coins" that I laminated. One earring has the front of the coin, one has the back.

6. I've lost 70 lbs in the last 1 1/2 years! No exercising involved! LOL! I just eat a lot less. That said, I'm joining a gym today, as I have more to lose, and I know I'll have to work harder the get the last "batch" off.

the rules:

Link to the person who tagged you

post the rules on your blog

write six random things about yourself

Tag six other people in your post and link to them

Let each person know they've been tagged

Here are the rockin' artists:

krissysart
mystele
littleorangekitchen
surprisedelightjoy
lindsaybrackeen
fatjakoriginals

HUGS!
Liz

pushing myself with color!

One of my goals for 2009 is to use more RED in some of my paintings. I tend to use a lot of greens, browns, neutral pinks, black, and creams in my paintings as the "main" colors. Then I add small amounts of the more powerful colors, such as red, purple, etc. I prefer more "neutral" paintings that are easy to have in a home.

I've done a few custom paintings recently and I always learn something from each one I do. I did a painting for a LOVELY gal in the UK of her and her three sisters. I got tons of details from her about her family and incorporated them in the painting. It was exhausting, but so rewarding!

She requested colors that I normally don't do in large amounts (RED, yellows, golds). After I was done, I become so much more comfortable with red in particular and realize how red can really impact a painting! So now I'm not so chicken with my reds! Here's the painting that woke me up to the exciting color of RED!


Soon after I finished this one, another great customer asked me to paint a fairy (or two) painting for her mother. She wanted purples, reds, blues. Here's the painting:



This one is available as a print in my etsy shop right now.

Hey, this is TWO posts in the last TWO days! Yeah!!!

Thanks for reading this far!
Liz

It's been a while!

I admit I am horrible at blogging! I struggle with writing interesting things. I know it takes time and practice, but I'm having such trouble! Anyone have any good advice? I find myself talking about three things too much: art, weather and my kids! I need new material!

I'm so relieved that Christmas / New Year's is over. I'm a scrooge. I just don't enjoy it. It's too stressful for me -- I love routine! I'm at an age now where I admit things that aren't so popular, LOL. It's nice to get older for that reason alone.

Anyway, I did something different: a wood framed mirror. I just love how this turned out! I want to keep it (but won't).

Liz