Spread Your Wings And Fly!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I can't believe this year is coming to an end and we are going to be entering the year 2010 (it even feels strange typing that number). I am looking forward to the upcoming year and hoping that it brings happiness and positive changes for my family and yours!!

I was commissioned to do a painting for a friend's niece for her birthday. It was refreshing to paint something other than Holiday themed pieces.

The painting was done on a 6x12 wood panel. I wood burned the girlie and ladybug and used colored pencils for the skin and Golden Acrylics and Stuart Gill paints on everything else. I'm not sure if I want to put beeswax on it or not; any opinions??

Enjoy your week and have a Happy New Year!!

Merry Christmas!!

From my family to yours, have a safe and wonderful Christmas!!

JEDI MISSION: GIVEAWAY WINNER!

Our mission this week was to give away this hand painted journal...

Jedi Master Jordan will undertake this important mission (He's very serious about it too).

The participants...

Jedi Master Jordan searched hard for the winning participant...

Finally, Jedi Master Jordan located the winning name...

Congratulations to Kolleen of Heartwingsisters!!! E-mail me with your address and I will send your journal this week.

Mission Accomplished...

Thank you to everyone who participated; I really loved reading all of your holiday traditions and I might even borrow a few!! I hope you all have fun with your traditions this year and have a very happy holiday!!!


Shonna

The Elf On The Shelf and A Giveaway!!!!!

I finished my shopping and my custom orders, so now I feel like I can finally enjoy the holidays!! Having a 4 year old really helps you to remember how magical this time of year is. Teaching him what Christmas is really about and all of the other traditions has been so meaningful for me.


I have also introduced a new tradition into our home..."The Elf On The Shelf." I just heard about this from some friends and I thought it was the cutest thing ever. This cute little elf (Jordan named ours Ted) sits somewhere in your home "watching" the little ones and taking notes for Santa. At night when we are all sleeping, he magically travels to the North Pole with his report. The next morning he is in a new place in the home causing a little mischief along the way. My son is all over this!! Every morning he wakes up looking for where Ted's new sitting "spot" is. Ted always seems to knock something over in the process of climbing up to his new spot. This is so much fun!!! I purchased Ted at Barnes and Noble along with a book that accompanies him. There is also a cute website your child can play games and register your family's elf.


Here is Ted in his very first sitting spot (He is on the Christmas tree right now).

Jordan and Ted (Jordan got his face painted at Barnes and Noble). See how Ted is keeping his eye on Jordan making sure he's being a good boy...what a good elf!

Giveaway time:

Does your family have any holiday traditions? Leave a comment about your traditions and you will be entered to win a one of a kind hand illustrated Journal (made from recycled materials). If you don't have any traditions, leave a comment letting me know what you enjoy about this time of year (I would love get to know more about you).

I will draw a winner on Monday December 21!!

More Ornaments and A Journal Jar

I am almost finished with my ornament orders. I have 8 left and one portrait...yay! Here are the latest and a Journal Jar that was mailed out to an Etsy customer last week (that journal jar was a lot of fun to make).

A few more items in my shop!!

Hey everyone! I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! I think I'm done with turkey for awhile and am looking forward to ham at Christmas...


I just wanted to let you know of two new items I just added to my shop. I actually made these last year and had them listed for about $40. I have reduced the price to $30, so come take a look. The description on each listing has more detail about how I made them.



Love ya!!!
Shonna

**UPDATE*** TURKEY DAY SALE Ends Tuesday!!!!

I just reduced my orginal paintings and ACEO's in my Etsy shop. I also added some Christmas items as well. Come take a look!!!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!!
Shonna

Even More Ornaments and a work in progress...

I am also taking Misty Mawn's online class right now. I'm a little behind in the lessons because of all of the commissions I have right now, but the class is so fun and inspiring. I can't wait to continue...

Here is the background for lesson 1.

A few More Ornaments!

Here are a few more...

It's Been Crazy Busy Around Here!

Sorry it has been so long since I've posted. We went through some major construction in our home. We had the whole downstairs floors replaced. It was crazy and we had to live in our bedroom for about a week, but it was worth it. Our new floors look great!!





I have also received a ton of ornament orders and have been working on them. I have given myself until the end of November to complete them, so I have been working hard on them. Here are some that I have completed recently.

I have also been working on some other Christmas items as well. These items will soon be in my shop.

Well, that's all for now. I will post more ornaments soon!!!

Take Care!

Shonna

My Twitter Account Was Hacked!!!

If you follow me on Twitter and received strange e-mails from me; It is not me!!! I think I fixed the problem, so I just wanted to let everyone know. Sorry about that!!!

Did you have a good Halloween?

We had over 200 trick or treaters! We are usually busy on Halloween in our neighborhood, but this was crazy! They were dropping them off by the truck loads! We always run out of candy, so in addition to the 6 or 7 bags I bought, my husband went to Costco and bought about 200 full sized candy bars. I've always wanted to do something like that and it seems this was the perfect year. We had such a blast passing out the candy to all of the little (and big) kids. My son is 4 now and had a great time going from house to house. If it wasn't a scary house, he would tell me to stay behind. He wanted to go up by himself because he was a "big boy." If it was a scary house, he would have me go with him. Once he wasn't scared anymore, he would tell me to leave. This age is so funny!

My husband has been dressing in this Gorilla costume for about 12 years. He loves to pass out candy and scare the kids.

Jordan was a Red Power Ranger. I'm having a hard time convincing him to take it off.

My daughter as a "Nerd." Even as a nerd, I still think she's beautiful!

Ashes and Wine

I am really inspired by music and one of my favorite artists right now is "A Fine Frenzy." Alison Sudol is an amazing songwriter and her voice is that of an angel. I think her songs are so meaningful, sometimes sad and uplifting all at the same time. This latest piece of mine is named after one of her songs "Ashes and Wine."

Here are the lyrics to the song:

Don't know what to do anymore

I've lost the only love worth fighting for

I'll drown in my tears

Don't they see?

That which show you that which make you hurt like me

All the same

I don't want mudslinging games

It's such a shame

To let you walk away
Is there a chance?

A fragment of light at the end of the tunnel?

A reason to fight?

Is there a chance you may change your mind?

Or are we ashes and wine?

Don't know if our fate's already sealed

This day's spinning surface on a wheel

I'm ill with the thought of your kiss

Coffee laced intoxicating on her lips

Cut it out

I've got no claim on you now

Not allowed to wear your freedom down

Is there a chance?

A fragment of light at the end of the tunnel?

A reason to fight?

Is there a chance you may chance your mind?

Or are we ashes and wine?

I'll tear myself away

That is what you need

There is nothing left to say

But

Is there a chance?

A fragment of light at the end of the tunnel?

A reason to fight?

Is there a chance you may change your mind?

Or are we ashes and wine?

The day's still ashes and wine

Or are we ashes?

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Wanna See What I've been up to???

Last year I made personalized Holiday ornaments for my friend's children. Well this year I have gotten requests to make them again. So far the requests have been for non-holiday ornaments (people want them to hang in their children's room). Here is my first batch!


If you are interested in one for your child, go to my Etsy shop and purchase one ($20 plus shipping) and I will customize it to your liking.

Kreativ Blogger Award...

I received an award from the lovely Micah of the blog "Notions of Fancy." It's kind of funny that I received this award because as you know from my last post; I'm not feeling so creative. Thanks so much Micah!! I do appreciate the award!!! I'm supposed to list 7 things about myself and then pass the award to 7 others.

1. When I was 5 years old, I handed out loads of "Flinstone" vitamins to the neighborhood kids (this was before childproof lids). We all ended up getting really sick and puking in my backyard and I got in major trouble...oops.

2. I love putting A-1 steak sauce on macaroni and cheese.

3. I have to have my coffee super hot or I can't drink it.

4. I used to make my prospective boyfriends watch the movie "Wuthering Heights" and if they didn't shed a tear, then they were "out." (Luckily my husband passed the test).

5. I used to be a Church Youth Leader for high school students.

6. My mother has 9 brothers and sisters and their names all start with the letter "J." I decided to continue the "J" tradition by naming my son Jordan.

7. I am an only child, but always wanted an older brother.

Ok, now I am passing this on to 7 of my favorite bloggers.

1. Debbie Eggizio (did you see her on
HGTV's "That's Clever" today?)

2. Scrappy Jessi (she's very talented and such a sweetheart!)

3. Autumn Rae Art (Such beautiful portrait work)

4. Katielynn (such a crack-up; I love this girl!)

5. Kaili Art (wonderful artwork; I could look at her work for hours).

6. MLB Studios (Such beautiful mixed media and paperclay sculptures).

7. Linda Vincent (Beautiful artwork!!)

Thanks for looking!!

New Painting...Sarah's Light

I have been in a total rut when it comes to art. I have so much to do because I have a craft bazaar in November, but I haven't felt the mojo. Usually this time of year really inspires me, but for some reason I am not feeling it. Well it better happen soon or I won't have anything for the bazaar... Thanks for letting me vent! I needed that!

I did finish a painting for a friend who is having a birthday party this Saturday. I really hope she doesn't see it here...She hinted that she would love to have a painting of her and her kids. I have been working on it for about 2 weeks and finally finished it last night. In spite of the lack of inspiration I have been feeling, I am pretty pleased with how it came out. It was painted on Canvas board, so my hubby is going to make a frame for it out of wood tomorrow. I really hope she likes it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PUNKIN!!!

Happy 4th Birthday!!! I love you!!!!

Mommy

"I'm Melting..."

So sorry it has been so long since my last post. Things have been a little crazy here lately! We had a pipe break in one of our walls and it ruined our hardwood floors. This was especially upsetting to us since we put these floors in with our bare hands about 7 years ago. Well needless to say, the whole floor has to be replaced. At least we don't have to do it this time. The first step was to dry out the floors, so they brought these huge dehumidifiers to do the job. Great, right? No! These machines sucked out any cool air we had in our house. The temperature in our house raised to 92 degrees downstairs and 94 degrees upstairs. We didn't last too long, so we packed up and went to a hotel for the weekend. We came back today and they removed the machines from hell. I love air conditioning!!

Upstairs temperature...

Downstairs temperature...

Machines from hell....

On an art note, I decided to try my hand at paper clay. I saw a great article in a magazine on how to make a Santa Claus from the artist from Polka dot Pixie. Check out her work; she is just amazing!! I took ceramics in high school, so it kind of brought back memories. I really like the way he came out and he will look nice with my Christmas collection. I think I will try a snowman next because I collect them.