Good news!

So, there is certainly a lot going on in this shop here, but that's part of what makes it so enchanting! One can find little treasures in every little nook and cranny!

So, what's the good news?...

The little 2-tiered basket of goodies on the corner of the table (in the above picture) has some of my little creations in it!

Honestly, I feel such a big sense of accomplishment with this, that I still have a hard time believing it!

This little shop is one that I have adored for years and years. Although the things I make always seemed like they might 'fit' in with the items they sell, somehow I never thought that they would actually, really, truly, ever be IN that little shop!

How funny, the way things go, isn't it?

So, I have a cute story to share with you...

As I was driving to the shop to deliver their order, I was so nervous! I'm sure you can imagine all the things going through my mind, like; "oh what if they decide they don't like them", or "what if they say they're too expensive?"... etc, etc...

While I was getting closer I thought; if there is a parking space near the store, THEN I'll know I'm doing the right thing and it will work out. (Finding parking in this part of town is usually pretty difficult!)

As I approached the storefront, I peered around all the other cars to see the ONE available parking space, directly in front of their front door! I couldn't have been closer if I tried!

So, the story has a wonderful ending...

Several employees, as well as the owner of the shop commented on how much they liked everything!

And, as I was leaving, I received a phone call. It was an employee who just saw the order.

She asked if I would be interested in making some wish bottles for a very special occasion in a couple of weeks...

and, of course it didn't take me long to answer,  YES!   :0)

It turned out to be such a wonderful experience! And, from here, who knows where it'll go?!

I can only...

"imagine"!

Thank you for stopping by, I am looking forward to seeing where all of this will go!

In the next post or two, I will show you how things are going with my classes. I have some interesting sketches from drawing class and a couple more fun things too!

Take care,

New Notecards

One of my most regular customers, a friend at work, just asked for more gift cards. (I love requests like that!) And, here's what I came up with.

The first two cards shown here are made with real daisy flowers and honeysuckle leaves. These were the last two actual flowers I had left over from last summer's collectings. And the last 3 cards you see here were made from a great garden poster by the artist, Jane Ray. They are color scans of small sections of the poster.

Here in Colorado, I've heard so many people commenting about how this winter has felt like the longest one ever! I tend to agree with this. And, somehow making things that remind me of warmth and green feels sort of comforting... like there is something to look forward to -something warm and beautiful and new!

And, on the subject of 'new' - I will have some great news to share in the next few blog posts!

Until then, take care!

Sweet Possibilities

Thank you Carol Mae!

Just had to show you the beautiful Valentine's Day Collage that Carol Mae had made (above) with the supplies she won in my last giveaway.

I so love seeing what people make, and especially when it's something as creative as this! I had many of the very same supplies right in front of me as I prepared to send them off to Carol Mae, and I didn't even think of making something so sweet!

Can you imagine, if we all had the same supplies, all the different variations we'd come up with? ~ What fun to think about the possibilities!

Carol Mae's blog, The Prairie Pathway, is full of other delights just like this one, ... you might like to visit!

On the subject of possibilities...

Classes start tomorrow! This will be my second semester for Graphic Design.

Being in school has been so enjoyable!  At times I wonder if something is wrong with me, as most of my fellow classmates seem to dread school. Of course, I'm in my late 30's - and that could have something to do with it! Maybe I'm finally, "ready"!?

I can't wait to show you some of my class projects this semester!

In the meantime, our snow is finally melting here in Colorado and spring feels like it's really coming! (yay)

Thank you so much  for stopping by!

Views from above

After all these years, I'm finally going to admit that I'm fascinated with views from airplane windows! Okay, maybe a lot of people are? Maybe not! But just look at these neat pictures of Colorado's Rocky Mountains, and then of California's coast...

This was just too fun! I'm sure the passengers next to me thought I was a foreigner or something. In some ways, actually, I felt like I was a foreigner. Maybe it's because I had time to just relax and admire some of these amazing scenes, as if it was for the first time? I don't know, but it was cool!

Here are some pictures of the Northern California Coast (taken from the car or while standing on a windy -and cold- cliffside);

And lastly, some scenes from the tiny plane I took for part of my trip home. Funny enough, the first plane I took held a maximum of 30 people. The security checkpoint to enter the plane was in a trailer! Then, the second plane I took  held over 400 people! What a drastic difference. Both were pretty fun! Unfortunately, I had to RUN from one plane to catch the next and wasn't able to pick up any of that great San Francisco sourdough bread on the way!  -ah well, maybe next time!

Apparently, the whales were migrating right during this time, and so I was pretty much GLUED to the window looking for them the whole time we flew over the ocean! It was hard to tell if I actually saw any, as my reference for size was totally skewed. How big would they look from the air? No idea!

(a view of part of the Golden Gate Bridge)

And so now, here I am back home and busy working on a couple of Logo design projects!

This is totally exciting, as it's what I want to ultimately do as a career, and I've only finished one semester of school for it so far. So, I feel very lucky to have some real projects to work on. I'm learning tons and feel like I'm actually figuring out more of what ~not~ to do next time!

The exciting news here is, after a lot of work, one of my clients has said he "loves" what I came up with! I never would have guessed how rewarding that feeling would be!

As soon as I've finished his project completely, I'll show you the design (and the pre-design work/sketches too).

I hope each of you has had a fantastic Holiday season and will have a great 2010! I look forward to sharing my year with you, right here!

Thank you for stopping by!

Warmest wishes,

We all win!

Congratulations to Carol Mae, the winner of the most recent Blinkles Boulevard blog giveaway! She had left the fourth comment, and ta-da... #4 was the lucky number!

She has a sweet blog called  The Prairie Pathway which I'm sure you'll love!

Thank you

to all of you who left a comment and stopped by to visit! And thank you to those who posted the giveaway link on your blog as well!

I am constantly amazed and humbled by the kindness and goodwill that I've found in this little (but BIG) blogging community. It's a great feeling to be able to share about some of what I do with you, and it's an even greater feeling to actually THANK YOU for it too!

In the next couple of days I'll show you some pictures from my recent holiday travels to the coast of California, and..... I have some exciting news about my new Graphic Design adventure! -Stay tuned!

and,... 

H A P P Y   N E W  Y E A R! too.

Holiday Cheer... a Giveaway!

(Share the wealth! Copy and paste this image on your blog with a link back here.

A lucky winner will be drawn on January 3rd!)

 

Here we are, Christmas less than a week away... a new year soon to begin.

What a great time for a giveaway!  :0)

I figured there may be some of you who would like a little project to work on while the holidays are winding down, or maybe even some of you who are ready for the next project in order to get ahead of the quickly approaching New Year.

Either way, I think you'll love what I've put together here!

This is a "Dream Pack" --- a collection of beautiful papers, charms, embellishments, ribbon and even the cards and envelopes to make 8 individual Valentine's Day cards!

Here's a list of what you will receive:

• 8 sheets of small tissue papers (4 each of 2 designs)
• 8 pre-measured & cut pieces of decorative papers (4 each of 2 designs)
• 8 large red heart-shaped red paper doilies
• 8 embossed angel wing die-cuts
• 8 deep green 'velvet' rose petals
• 8 small decorative cream-colored squares (these would look so cool as little 'stamps')
• 8 brass heart-shaped charms
• 2 spools ribbon (1 spool red velvet-like ribbon, 1 spool bright gold colored)
• and...
• 9 each 5x7" red cardstock cards with matching envelopes (one extra each - just in case!)

Sound fun?

To put your name in the drawing for this treasure chest of goodness,... simply tell your friends about this giveaway on your blog (you can take the top image in this post or use the Giveaway thumbnail on my blog as your image and link back here), then leave me a comment!  (be sure to provide your email address to contact you by, if you do not have a blog)

The drawing will be held on Sunday, January 3rd, 2010!

If you are the lucky winner of this "Dream Pack", I would love to see what you have made! Send me a picture of your fabulous crafty-ness and I'll post your talents right here (with your permission, of course!).

Until next time...

H A P P Y   H O L I D A Y S!

May your days be filled with loved ones, special moments and much Peace.

"Honey Bee" Gift Tags

Here are some images of a second style of Gift Tag I had made recently. These were a blast to make! I used up all the "bees" I have and even broke into some gorgeous golden yellow ribbon too.

Also, the leaves on the tags are from a little fern plant I'm growing - just for special projects like this!

There are currently 4 of these tags for sale in my Etsy shop. And, they're all "one-of-a-kind"! Since I've run out of bees, and this batch of  handpainted tags are all used up now, this is actually all there will ever be for this particular style.

If you are considering purchasing one of these tags, or anything else you see in my store, it can be shipped anywhere in the US (and some parts of Canada) by Christmas.

Personally, I think they would make beautiful tie-ons for a bottle of wine, baked goodies or even an elegant gift box. Also, if you're giving someone the gift of a book or journal, what a cool bookmark they would make!

The possibilities are endless!

Thank you for stopping by, and stay tuned for an awesome giveaway coming up... you won't want to miss it!!

Sweet Gift Tags

Here are some images of a series of Gift Tags I had made last weekend.

There are 4 tags, each with a different bird image. The tags were hand-painted then decorated with papers, ribbon and a gold leaf. In the corner of each tag is a little velvet-like flower blossom and a brass dragonfly.

The bird images on the tags, along with the velvety-purple colors and golds are really stunning together. They have a very 'warm' and almost a regal feel to them.

I am on a kick to use up most of the art supplies I currently have, as it's always so tempting to come up with new ideas and get lost in the craft store thinking of completely new ideas, instead of using what I have already! So, these are limited edition tags! (They may already be sold, so they're not listed in my Etsy shop, however if they aren't sold in the next couple of days, I will list them for sale there.)

I have been truly fortunate to collect some beautiful art supplies over the years. And, finally challenging myself to use up and make things with all of these lovely supplies feels right. It's almost like I was afraid to use things - as if they'd then be gone forever! It's a funny thought... but something has certainly changed. And, now I'm delighted to see what comes of these gorgeous little supply collections!

I hope you enjoy it too!

PS- In a few days, I'll share images of more tags I had made too. They are a different style, but really just as lush and elegant.

You can find them in my Etsy store by clicking ~HERE.

Take care and thank you for stopping by!

~Janee

True Wealth

Recently, I made several "Sand Dollar Ornaments", and so enjoyed getting back to making some things by hand! It felt like a nice break from the work I've been doing on the computer lately.

Here are some pictures...

Here's what the back sides look like;

The brass wire is designed to hold each shell 'just so' - giving it the most visible area on the front, balancing it nicely and making sure of the least possible shell damage. (I went through a few shells while figuring this out!)

Something fun happened while wrapping one of these ornaments for a gift...

A beautiful piece of paper was sitting next to one of the boxes, and so I decided to try to incorporate the paper into the packaging. Seems like it turned out pretty nice.

Several of these ornaments are currently for sale in my Esty shop. Click ~here~ to check out the available styles!

THANK YOU!

I hope you had a wonderful holiday filled with friends and family. I feel so fortunate to have such wonderful people in my life. The feelings of gratitude that I have for each person sometimes feels to the point of overflowing. Thanksgiving and the Christmas-time holidays bring up thoughts of loved ones, yet, often it's the little things throughout the year that make up those powerful moments of fulfillment and joy too.

For the time you've taken to see what I'm doing in my little tiny part of the world, I Thank you. It means so much!

Amazing Artists

Can you believe, just for leaving a comment, I won these beautiful handmade fabric postcards? I am always so amazed at the things people create and on top of that the generosity that comes with sharing such heartfelt items like this.  Here are a few pictures of the postcards made by Kathy at Glacial Ridge Knits and Quilts.

If you haven't already, I highly recommend you check out her blog! It's fantastic!
GLACIALRIDGEKNITS.BLOGSPOT.COM


Also I mentioned that I had attended a "Clay Date" (clay making party)... and would love to show you some pictures about that fun evening!...

There were 8 of us ladies at the party, plus Brian, who is the actual clay-maker and organizer of the party!

We had so much fun!

I must admit, I hadn't met most of the people there, but after a few minutes of the banging and pounding of clay, as well as the (ahem) comments that were made during our play time, I feel like I know these people pretty well now!

You can see, we made a lot of Christmas Ornaments that night. We also enjoyed some delicious appetizers and drinks too. What a great idea huh?

Here are some of Brian's creations (to give you an idea of what the finished works look like)...

And, last but not least, our group picture!

Until next time, have a wonderful holiday!

Illustrator Madness!

I thought I would show you a class assignment I had for my Adobe Illustrator class. We had to recreate a car using the "Gradient Mesh" tool.

I found this to be really hard. But kind of rewarding. Although my project doesn't look anything like the beautiful image of the actual car, still I feel like I'm learning!!

**Since it's really hard to read the captions on these images, here's what they say;

1. (top image, above)  "The original image (taken from the web and imported into Adobe Illustrator.") Note:-this way I can use it as a guide underneath my drawing, but not a part of the actual drawing.

2. (bottom image, above) "Redrawing the car in separate sections and applying a 'gradient mesh' in order to color the surface with various shades."

1. (top image, above); "...more mesh sections. This was really hard! (as you can kind of see from how badly the sections 'blend') --- I need a lot more work in order to get this down!"

2. (bottom image, above); "The project as I will turn it in. I figure, hey, I'm just beginning! So, I chose not to spend a ton of time perfecting it. I can imagine that it would take hours upon hours to get it just right!"

1. (image, above); "A hand-drawn replica of a work by the artist Mucha, done by Yukio Miyamoto."

1. (image, above);  "An illustration by Pisan Kaewma. Look at all the work that went in to just the bracelets alone! Doesn't this look just like a real photograph?"

So, that's what I've been up to lately! As some of you know, Adobe Illustrator is a companion program to Adobe Photoshop. Illustrator is the preferred program for Graphic Designers and most digital artists (who are not working exclusively with photographs). Well, I guess "preferred" may not be the best choice of words! Illustrator is a very difficult program to master. It makes Photoshop look easy! But, it is the #1 tool one must know when creating original (digital) artwork, as your work is all based on vectors.... mathematical values. And hence can be scaled (enlarged, etc...) almost infinitely without loosing any quality. Whereas, raster-based programs like Photoshop, depend upon pixels. And, as you know, pixels really can look bad once enlarged even a little bit!

I hope I'm not boring you to death here! But really, I find it to be so fascinating! And to think of all the amazing amounts of time people put in to creating artwork in programs like this... it just boggles my mind!

After all these computer programs, I'm taking an actual DRAWING (pencil, paper) class next semester!! That should be a blast!!!  :)

PS- Next post; I will share with you a sweet gift I had received as part of an Art Exchange. AND, also, I'm so excited to tell you about a "Clay Date" that I had. (Really; it was a clay-making party with about 9 or 10 ladies). So fun!!

Charm everywhere!

I've made a new 'batch' of tiny woodland houseplant charms. And I only have 8 of these left! Now would be a great time to pre-order for the Holidays!  (Hint; they make the ~best~ stocking stuffers.)

They're only $3.99 each plus shipping. Each charm is individually wrapped and will be packaged well, so they arrive safely right to you! (If you buy more than one charm, I will combine shipping charges so you only pay the one fee of $4.95.)  For orders of 12 or more charms, please send me an email and I'll give you a personal quote.

You can also find these in my Etsy shop, if you like to browse there.

To celebrate the subject of "charm"... here are some pictures of a big snow storm we had a few days ago. The pictures feel so outdated now, as it's been so warm here in Colorado. I can hardly believe we just had snow! But, nonetheless, I think you'll appreciate how pretty it was here.  :)   ...

(So nice to see the snow from the INSIDE of the house sometimes!)

This picture (above) is a view while stepping in to my car, to go to work!

Until next time,... see you down the road!