Pet Peeve #3

One thing that drives me nuts is when people are talking on their cell phones while they are alone with someone else. For example when you are out to eat with a friend and they receive a phone call on their cell and they sit and talk to whoever it is for over 5 minutes. Do they notice that while they are chatting away on their phone that you are left sitting there with nothing to do but look at them? Another example would be when you are in the car with your significant other and they receive a phone call on their cell and thus leave you sitting there with nobody to talk to while they chat the car ride away with whoever called them. People need to realize that the person who is right there in front of them is more important than whoever is on the phone; people need to be respectful of the person who is actually spending their time with them instead of whoever is on the phone. I totally understand if you take a phone call from someone like your parent's or a business call and such, but when you are just talking to someone who is insignificant rather than paying attention to the person who you are actually with, you are simply in the wrong and are being extremely rude.

My McDonald's Adventure

Well my son and I went and got McDonalds for dinner tonight. While we were in line to order a hornet landed on my windshield and I was like oh crap! I didn't want to roll down my window when there was a hornet out there on my windshield, so I decided I would just turn on the windshield wipers and it would scooch him off and he would fly away. Well it scooched him off and I didn't see him anymore so I rolled down my window and started to order, and while I was in the middle of ordering he started crawling into my car right by my side review mirror. So I quickly rolled up the window, but he got stuck! His feet were stuck in my window so I didn't want to unroll my window because if I did he would be free, and he was MAD. I could see him stinging my window over and over and over again. So when I got up to the window to pay the lady for our McDonald's I put my car in park, unbuckled, and opened the door to pay her. Then I had to explain to her that a hornet was stuck in my window so she wouldn't think I was crazy or anything. Then I had to get back into my car and drive to the next window to get my food where I had to put the car back in park and get out again to get my food from the guy and once again I told him the story about how the hornet was stuck in my window so I wouldn't look stupid. Well he handed me an extra straw and told me to poke the hornet with it to free him, I was like no way because then he will be free and he will sting me! I told the guy that I was too scared, so he told me to hurry and back up my car and then pull forward closer to the window (I was pretty far away from the window because I knew I was going to have to get out and get the food), so I did what he told me to do and he took a napkin and killed the hornet and got him unstuck from my window. I am so grateful to that McDonald's worker because I'm not sure what I would have done. I probably would have waited until the hornet died before I would open the window! I'm such a chicken sometimes!

September 16th, 1983

Yes it's my birthday today. I'm now officially 25 years old. I'm a quarter of a century old. I'm half way to being over the hill. Not sure how I feel about turning 25 yet. So far it doesn't seem much different than being 24. Worked a lot today, brought cupcakes for my kids and they all really liked them. Got some nice presents from my son, my mom, my mom's boyfriend, and my grandparents. Got bath/shower gel from my son (and a card), got a set of cute pj's and a loofa from my mom (and a card), got a gift certificate to Border Books from my mom's boyfriend, and I got a nice card with some money from my grandparents. I also got a nice card with some money in it from my son's great grandparents on his father's side. Today my mom took me out to my favorite restaurant called Chili's for dinner, I had chicken fajitas and they were super good. All in all turning 25 wasn't so bad, in fact it was kinda fun.

Mid-Autumn Festival

I just wanted to wish everyone the best Mid-Autumn Festival ever! This is a traditional Chinese holiday that's celebrated in the middle of Autumn (duh) which is on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar. It is also known as the Moon Festival and people tend to enjoy mooncake during this holiday. This is the second biggest holiday in China (the first is the Chinese Lunar New Year). There are many stories that go along with this Chinese holiday as well. If you would like more information please check out this site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Autumn_Festival

Moomin Postcard #3

I really love this Moomin postcard. The colors are so bright and vibrant yet the image is so peaceful. This is a postcard of Moominmama who is Moomin's mother. You can tell that it's her because of the purse sitting next to her. She isn't always depicted with a rose tucked behind her ear, but that's one of the reasons I love this postcard so much, it makes her look really cute! The hat that she's using is Moominpapa's hat (her husband's and also Moomin's father).

Minnesota Renaissance Festival

The Minnesota Renaissance Festival only comes once a year and it runs on weekends from August 16th to September 28th this year. It also runs on Labor Day and on Festival Friday which is September 26th. It's one of my favorite things to do in Autumn, I haven't gotten the chance to go for the last couple of years. I'm hoping to go again this year though (time is running out). I love the atmosphere there, the food is so good, the entertainment is fantastic, and the shops are filled with unique and diverse items. A must have for me is the beer cheese soup in a bread bowl, it is my all time favorite! I love to go shopping, they have so many different stops featuring so many different kinds of items. I love to get jewelery there, and I also always get some incense. The last time I went there I bought the cutest little hand puppets for my son, one is a knight, one is a horse, and one is a wizard. He just loves them and he plays with them all the time; if I get the chance to go this year I'm hoping to buy him some more. I also think it's really neat how they have themes, they have a different theme for each weekend. The themes this year are: A Silk Road: Discover the Riches (August 16th & 17th), Highland Fling (August 23rd & 24th), Royal Ale Fest (August 30th, 31st & September 1st), Irish Heritage (September 6th & 7th), Wine Gala (September 13th & 14th), Italian Carnival (September 20th & 21st), "Sweet Endings": Chocolate & Romance (September 26th, 27th & 28th). I'm hoping to go during the last weekend, since most of the fair has already passed. I also love how people dress up to go to the fair, someday I hope I will be able to get a beautiful renaissance gown to wear there. It's just so much fun there, hopefully soon you will be reading about how great of a time I had at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival! For more information about the Minnesota Renaissance Festival please visit their site here: http://www.renaissancefest.com/MRF/

Contest

I have entered this photo into The Etsy Challenge. It has been selected to be in the challenge for the week of 9/15. Please come and vote for my photo here: http://etsychallenge.blogspot.com/

Thanks so much to all of you who vote for my cute panda! :-)

I'm Back!

This last weekend I had gone up to the family cabin in Bemidji with my son, grandparent's, my mom and her boyfriend. We all had a really good time. We left on Friday and when we got up there my grandpa took my son on a 4-wheeler ride and the rest of us took a walk down one of our trails. I took my camera in hopes of getting some great photos that I could possibly sell in my Etsy store. On Saturday we went fishing in the morning. It was my son's first time ever being on a boat and he had such a good time. I caught a couple of sunfish from the lake and it was fun watching my son touching the fish and making funny faces because they are so slippery. When we got back to the cabin from fishing we decided to take a trip into town to do some shopping. I really wanted to go to a Native American store that they have up there. I always enjoyed going there as a child. I ended up buying myself and my son some moccasins. We both love them so they were good purchases. After we were done shopping we went back to the cabin, and my mom, my son, and I went on another hike on a different trail before dinner. Sunday morning we decided to go back out onto the lake for some more fishing. I ended up having to use Salami lunchmeat as bait and boy did the fish go crazy for that! I ended up catching about 5 or 6 fish (I lost track!). It was a lot of fun and we would have stayed longer but it was pretty windy out on the lake. I took my son out on another hike when we got back from fishing; it was nice being out in the wilderness alone with him. He's so curious about everything at this age and he's so much fun; I love watching him learn and grow. When we got back to the cabin we started packing up our things before lunch. It's a long trip there and back, it takes about 4 hours each way. Thankfully my son slept for most of the car ride back home (I did too...hehehe). We all had a really good time up there and I'm hoping we will be going back soon.

Stationery

I have decided to share some more of my stationery with matching envelopes collection with you. I hope you like some of the selections that I've made. I have so many to choose from that's it's hard! As my collections grows I will continue to post more pictures! :-)

Sold

I made my very first sale from my Etsy store! I sold a copy of my "Brilliant Buddha" photograph. I'm so excited and so happy! Now that I have a sale I'm hoping that I will get some more. I have heard from talking to other Etsy sellers in the Etsy forums that shops that already have a sale are more likely to get more than shops that have no sales. I'll have to keep you all posted! :-)

Glue Books

I recently did a swap on Swap-bot for a glue book. Glue books are blank journals that you glue pictures in. I used stickers, pictures out of magazines and newspapers, and some pictures off of the internet to make mine. I also printed off some black and white pictures and altered them by coloring them in myself. I also used a background on each page of mine so you wouldn't be able to see any of the original page. So for some of the backgrounds I used things like wrapping paper, fabric, felt, and decorated tissue papers. I have posted some pictures of the one that I made for the swap. My partner loved it which made me super happy, but it was sad letting it go since I put so much work into it. Anyway I hope you enjoy taking a look at the pics and let me know what you think! I'm thinking about hosting my own glue book swap on Swap-bot in a couple of months when things aren't as hectic as they are now, perhaps some of my readers will join! :-)

Featured Etsy Seller: vsilcoxdesigns

This is my second feature of one of my favorite Etsy sellers. All of the artists that I personally select have wonderful shops filled with awesome handmade pieces that I'm very excited to share with you all.

vsilcoxdesigns

Here's my take on it......
Glass painting explores a unique and profound paradox in art. By painting glass, I want the viewer to look at the shadow of the art as well as the art itself. Glass art is unique in that the shadow contains and expresses the composition and color of the art, a reflection, if you will, as well as a shadow. Trying to find where the shadow begins and where the reflection ends leads to the wonderfully infinite paradox that is glass art.

About Me....
Back in 2001, and right after September 11th, I made a life changing decision. On that day, I was sitting in a high rise building in downtown Los Angeles when the news came. Of course we evacuated, and on the long drive home I had plenty of time to think, specifically about how valuable my family was to me, how sad I was for those who were lost, and what choices I had made for my life.

I gave up my 20 plus year career in construction, to persue my passion for art. All my life I had toyed with pen and ink...and I suppose charcoal as well, but I had always envisioned painting glass, wine glasses specifically, so I figured....why not go with the fantasy. And here I am.

I usually average about 35 to 40 art and high craft shows per year, so I'm on the road constantly...from here in Southern California...to the San Francisco Bay Area...to Arizona.

What inspires me?
Light refraction....sounds weird...but it's the absolute truth.