Newport News Fall Festival!

I know I've been MIA for a while but it's because WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!! So this summer was all about purging old junk and moving to our new place.  As soon as the boys went back to school I told myself that I really needed to buckle down and get ready for this year's fall festival.  So here are a few pictures from this weekend:

One of my new items this fall was my zendoodle notecards.  Here's a better picture I took before the festival:

My booth may look totally different next year because as I was sitting there assessing what people were buying (and not buying) and what creative endeavor I like to spend my time doing now... I think I'm "reinventing" myself.  

I probably won't shut this blog down but I will be devoting more time to my newer blog over here: Timeless Tangles Thanks for looking!

Watercolors and ACEO's

Since I've gotten space at Olde Towne Art I've been looking through my "creative endeavors" that I've tried over the years.  About a year ago I decided that I wanted to learn how to watercolor.  I've only worked with acrylics and thought "it's time to try a new medium" so I did and  I LOVED it!  I have done a few larger paintings but then I decided to try 2.5" X 3.5" which is the size of an ACEO (Artist Cards Editions and Originals).  They are quite small and I normally like to work on a much larger scale but I loved the results.

I have never framed them but since I now have space to display them I decided to look for frames for my little masterpieces.  A 2.5" X 3.5" frame is harder to find than you might think.  And even if the frame says 2.5" X 3.5" it's usually cut smaller, thank goodness I carry my ACEO's with me wherever I go.  So I found the perfect size frames but I didn't like the plaid design on them:

So I stood there with these frames in my hand deciding how I could change them... of course... deconstruct them!  The plaid was fabric so I easily ripped that off then primed it for painting.  I have eight mini masterpieces that I had to keep in mind while picking colors.  Here are three that are painted, clear coated and ready to be framed again.

And the end product looks like this:

The yellow goldfinch is my favorite.

My other favorite that I don't have pictured in a frame is my two owls:

Jacob and I will be putting these in my studio space tomorrow.

While thinking of my space, and everyone elses, I've noticed that a lot of people have works of art to hang on the wall.  I don't.  And what better reason to go out and buy stretched canvas than that... to fill up my walls!  I had an idea in mind for my first canvas piece and it involves 3 dimensional objects.  As soon as I bought a value pack of stretched canvas all of these other ideas came to me (I love when that happens!).  So hopefully I'll have all three done before Friday when we leave to go to Illinois for Thanksgiving.

The latest

Wow I can't believe it's been a month since I last posted!  I've got to do better.  Anyway, my husband and two children and I just got back from a wonderful vacation out to WI and IL to see family.  I could ramble on and on about our adventures out there but I'm trying to stick to my crafting adventures so here's the latest:

I've told you about ATC's and how much I love creating them.  Artist Trading Cards are 2 1/2" X 3 1/2" and they are made to be traded with other artists.  I trade, or swap, mine on Swap-Bot.  Recently while in IL visiting with my mother-in-law she showed me what she has recently started to collect.  She knew I would be interested because I love to paint.  They are called ACEO's.  I've heard of them and understand that they are like ATC's but I didn't exactly know the difference.  The difference is people pay for ACEO's!  I didn't know people would actually pay money for these little works or art but my mother-in-law does so that got me thinking...hmmm... I could try my hand at that... so right now I'm in the midst of painting ACEO's to sell.  ACEO stands for Artist Cards Editions and Originals.  I have an Etsy store but my mother-in-law buys her's on Ebay so I'm thinking about jumping ship and going over to Ebay.  Another new endeavor for me!