Are you eating enough vegetables?

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“Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie.”
- Jim Davis

Christmas Baseballs - Recycled and Repainted

I found some baseballs in my "stash-of-stuff-to-paint" pile and decided to paint them up for Christmas. I only painted three balls, but there are 4 "sides" to each ball making a total of 12 different painted images...


Baseballs are pretty easy to paint. First, I basepainted everything white. I painted half of each ball red, and then did a rich chocolate brown wash over the entire ball to give it an aged look. Next I created some original art and used some patterns I had to come up with twelve different Christmas paintings.

Here are closeups of each "side"...


These look great nestled in greenery on a decorated mantle, or on candlesticks or cakeplates, in bowls, or just any little nook or cranny that needs splash of Christmas cheer!
Thanks for looking! Have a great day!

Original Christmas Buffet Art - Notecards

Thank you for your overwhelming interest in my Christmas buffet artwork! Many of you have asked if this series is available as notecards, and I'm happy to say that I am now offering them!

I've chosen the most gorgeous set of textured paper as the backdrop for my original Christmas buffet art. Here are a few of the finished cards scanned...


And here are a few of the finished cards photographed....

Each set of 10 cards comes with white envelopes wrapped in a coordinating ribbon...sweet!

I'm going to start by offering a set of 10 cards (one of each of the designs below).

And each of the cards will have a print of the Christmas buffet on the front:

You can find the cards on my Ebay and Etsy.
Thanks again for your interest!

Gone Away is the Bluebird - Mixed Media Art

Here's a new mixed media art piece I did for the holidays. I started with a 6x6 square wooden block and used acrylic paints, papers, inks, and pens. The ornaments read, "Gone Away is the Bluebird"...

Available on my Ebay.

Boo to You

Trash to Treasure - Before & After

My online painting group is having a "Trash to Treasure" swap. Each person sends a "trash" item to someone who "treasurizes" it and sends it back to you.

My partner sent me this used cutting board. I thought for a couple of weeks about how to fix it up. Paint a picture on it? Alter it? Make it functional? Hmmm. So many options, so little time!


My plan came into focus when I saw a quote on a plaque at a craft show that I really liked. It said, "Trouble knocked at the door, but, hearing laughter, hurried away." I loved the quote and wanted to use it someway and came up with this:


First, I painted the board black. Then I adhered a black and white toile paper for the background. Next, I printed the quote and name on a different scrapbook paper, inked the edges, and attached those. Then I screwed on the "door knocker" (a drawer pull) that I found at Hobby Lobby. Next, I distressed the edges of the board and attached a toile bow at the top. And finally, I attached a hanger to the back so my partner can hang this on the wall if she chooses.

I hope my partner likes her "treasurized" item!

This before & after project is linked up with Thrifty Decor Chick's B&A party. Check out all the great projects here.

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Christmas Ornaments

I recently spotted these at Sur La Table and thought they were such pretty Christmas ornaments. But at $9.99 a pop, this was a do-it-yourself moment waiting to happen.

One trip to the craft store and I had a half dozen paper mache eggs begging to be painted. I painted half "white chocolate" and half "dark chocolate" and then inserted eyelet hoops into the tops. Then I attached a cupcake liner to the bottom of each one and now I have these...

Green ribbon "stem" adds just the write amount of whimsy. Oh so pretty even hanging solo...




This set of six ornaments is now available on my Ebay. Come back soon for more goodies!

These goodies are featured on Just A Girl's I Can Make That Party! So much fun and who can resist a party? Check it out!

Christmas Banner with handpainted ornaments

Just finished a Christmas banner for a swap with a friend of mine....hope she likes it!

Here are a few closeups with some notes. It was so hard to photograph this well and still be able to tell what everything is...

Somebody will be getting this in the mail very soon!

Christmas Ornaments - Cupcakes & Snowmen

Just wanted to share a fresh batch of handpainted cupcake ornaments with you...

A few closeups:



And a whole herd to snowmen...


And more closeups:

Available on my Ebay and in my Etsy store.
Thanks for visiting!

Christmas Cupcake Art

Here are some new Christmas Cupcake ATCs I created this weekend. I started with sheet music featuring Jingle Bells and used that as the background. Then I handpainted the cupcakes, added polkadot paper and printed text to the side, and then inked up the edges. Sweet!

Christmas ATCs (Artist Trading Cards)

Christmas ATCs I made today for a one-on-one ATC swap I'm doing with a friend....




I love Christmas!

All Things Pumpkin

I love just about all things pumpkin, so it's no surprise when I found a pattern for this sweet pumpkin in a craft magazine, I wanted to paint one, too....

And while I'm on the topic of pumpkins, I want to share my favorite pumpkin bread recipe with you. If you put a cream cheese frosting on it, it's more like a pumpkin cake. Or add a bag of chocolate chips for some variety. YUM. I've made it as a cake, bread loaves, and muffins. It's awesome any which way...great for gifts, too!

PUMPKIN BREAD

1 cup butter or margarine, softened
3 cups sugar
3 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
1 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
1 (16 ounce) can solid pack pumpkin

DIRECTIONS:
In a mixing bowl, dream butter and sugar. Add eggs; mix well. Combine dry ingredients; stir into creamed mixture just until moistened. Stir in pumpkin. Pour into two greased 9-in. x 5-in. x 3-in. loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees F for 1 hour or until bread tests done.


And one more sweet pumpkin item....

I discovered these Pumpkin Spice Hershey's Kisses today and OH MY GOODNESS they are delish...
What's your favorite pumpkin treat or recipe?
I want to know!

Spoonful of Ornaments

Some of my favorite Christmas ornaments to create are altered and handpainted spoons! They're pretty quick and easy, and I found they go faster if you do a whole bunch at once. And I can hardly do just one of anything, so it's a win-win. Here's a few I've done...

A few patriotic ornies...

And some altered ornaments for Halloween...

A handful of shabby chic ones...

And the spoons are easy to display on a tree with some fun decoupaged clothespins like these...


TA DA!
See a few of these items and more on my Ebay.
Come back soon for more new goodies!

Merry Wooden Block Banner Before & After

Oh, the possibilities when hubby brings these in from the garage and says, "I thought you could do something with these, so I sanded them down for you and cut them into equal sizes." What a sweetie!


First, I found some brand new Christmas scrapbook papers that I just love and adhered them to each block. Then I inked up the edges to give it a little something extra.


Next, I cut out some letters and adhered one to each block and voila...a new holiday decoration! Easy peasy!

The blocks are not attached to one another, so they can be displayed crooked...



or straight...


closesups...
I took these pics of the blocks displayed on my piano...but how fun they would look on a mantle with clear jars of little silver ornaments here and there...

Fun! I have a few more blocks in my stash so more coming up later.
p.s. This "merry" set is currently for sale on Ebay.

Holiday Art Prints

Many of you have commented on my artwork, and it is so very much appreciated! I've been asked if I could offer more prints of some of my work, so I've done just that.










All of the above are now available as 8x10 prints in my Etsy shop and on my Ebay.
Thank you for visiting!