She Brews

Cat--tastrophe!

sheba
Originally uploaded by shebrews

I still don't have my computer and I am feeling a little stifled by it. I have continued to work on projects and visit your blogs, but it's like not being at home and writing from a hotel........
Meanwhile, leaving my blog address with every customer at shows, I find that very few of them know what a blog is, or have no interest in finding out---so, how do we get them to be followers?
I pass out hundreds of sheets every weekend, and feel that some percentage of my customers look it up to see what it is, but I would love to hear from some of you that you did just that.
I have one more trek up North this coming weekend-----I hate to end those trips, they are so much fun, and a reason to be there. I hope that we have good weather and lots of people.
Hoping to get my computer soon, and hoping that you won't quit visiting me while you wait..........

dog day...continued

Work in Progress....

I am struggling with this lap top as it works differently than I am used to, and I couldn't get the pictures to post. Here is some embroidery that I am working on for another piece.

For some reason it posted the last picture ahead of the first picture, so you see the finished product first......*sigh*. At this point, I am glad to be able to post.  This picture I combined a vintage postcard with embroidery. The Audrey Hepburn in the previous post was embroidery, first day of issue stamped cached envelope with a first day of issue Audrey Hepburn stamp postmarked photo postcard. I then calligraphied a quote from Audrey on the hand-stitched applique.

If I can get a new digital camera for Christmas (hint, hint kids), I will offer some of these pieces in my Etsy shop. I just don't like the pictures I get of them now.

That's it for today. Computer is still in the hospital.  *sigh*

dog day....

This is what I am working on today. I found some Peanuts first day of issue's and thought this Snoopy in his clown outfit was so fitting! I thought of lots of dog quotes. For instance: Your dog will never think you are doing something silly, they will gladly join you in the silly thing.

I don't have a dog, but I know plenty of people who do. Strongtoe has Weimeraner's. They are the most like people I have ever seen. I think she fell in love with them when they were on Sesame Street and photographed with all their silly costumes.

I am going to another post because this one isn't working.

what's happening?

I am eating Halloween oreos and drinking my Starbucks while commiserating (sp?) over my crashed computer. I am using my son's laptop and did my whole post and somewhere in space it went when I clicked "preview".......*sigh* So, I am rewriting it and trying to do an even better job......LOL.

I don't like manuevering with just the touch pad, it is frustrating to me----besides the cookie crumbs get into the key-pad (*don't tell my son*) and then things just go wrong........ Anyway, here with my Starbucks and oreos, I should feel better, but I went to look at new computers today and was overwhelmed again and came home empty.......does anyone have the new Windows version? Do you like it? I didn't see a Windows XP offered at all......more stuff to adjust to......*sigh*

This is Northern Wisconsin in all its color palette. I think it was peak colors this weekend, it was unbelievable. I was so happy to be there. The sales were so-so......don't know what to expect anymore. Lots of Christmas shopping going on already. I was wish I could be doing mine now, too. I see so much cool stuff. I did buy a bird bath to go with the new feeders outside my studio window. I have been waiting for the birds to show up, today, one very nervous chickadee. I will let you know the progress.......

That's it for now. Borrowed computer, computer shopping, bird watching and oreo eating. Starbucks? I am looking for a hot-pot to carry into the studio, as I can't make coffee in there, yet. I want one that pumps, but keeps the coffee real hot.

Any ideas on my secondary market artwork, yet? No comments. Hmmmm.

The phone call.........

I am getting ready for Halloween sales, but today is my Starbucks day. Tuesday I try to meet with special friends at Starbucks, and I always wish our Starbucks was larger, with a bigger lounge area. Me and my friend, Rob, try to guess the occupation of people who come in for coffee---he is astute at it, I think---notices things that I should never have to have him point out to me (*smack on head*), because I am the great observer, don't ya' know? When he decides what they do, a story forms in my mind---although, I don't think I have ever revealed one......

It always reminds me a little of the scene in Out of Africa where Meryl Streep starts to spin a story out of a few words that Robert Redford says.......anyway.....

This is the flavor of the week for me. I will be brewing up a pot of it early tomorrow morning, as I lost some work time today......

Strong-toe joined me in the studio today and finished some purses, but, my camera is lousey at capturing how pretty they really are. However, I took one picture that is pretty good.

I need to figure out how to take better pictures. This one captures how I work, so I guess, some pictures are worth a thousand words. Messy works for me, does it for you?

Oh, I bet you are wondering about that phone call.......

A really nice woman called to tell me that she purchased some of my "wonderful" artworks at a "junk shop" in Door County.......LOL......."sorry to tell you", she said, "but lucky for me".........

She called because she liked them so much that she looked for a name. I had stamped it with information on the back of the pictures, so she was able to track me down. She wanted to know if I would provide her some artwork for her "three shops".

"Oh, secondary market*", I replied, "lucky for me", and I laughed. You know you have been doing artwork for quite some time when you find it at Goodwill and rummage sales, and now, someone calls to tell me she found it in a "junk shop", which I affectionately refer to as a Second-hand Shop. 

Have you ever found your things at a tag/rummage sale, or Goodwill? It's quite pokey. How do I explain the feeling? Would you buy it back, if it happened to you? LOL. The one at Goodwill I bought back. The frame cost me more than what they were selling it for.......part of me wanted to leave it there for someone else-----but, I ended up purchasing it, with a little smile, because it had only been on a "holiday" and now it was coming back home......

The rummage sale pieces were found by others, who gleefully called me to tell me that they purchased my artwork "really cheap"......LOL. Mixed feelings.

Do you ever walk into someone's house who has your early stuff and want to ask them to give it back so you can give something much nicer? LOL. But, they always seem to really love it, and would never, never trade it in.......

So......the phone call was a little humbling today. AND, I wanted to immediately make up a story. How did those two pieces of my artwork end up in a "junk shop"?

Ideas? Please contribute, it should be fun. Thanks. *secondary market* is when all your work is sold out and a new customer has to purchase it from someone else who owns it, who usually sells it for more than what they purchased it for.

Clear Blogging.....what a find!

As you know, I have been frustrated with figuring out all this technical stuff about blogging. I am an artist, and I want my blog to reflect my skills, and when I don't know simple cut and paste computerwise.....*sigh*, I feel I am not showing my best side........

Last week, while browsing the long row of computer books, my eye spotted this beauty: Clear Blogging by Bob Walsh, published by Apress. Bob's blog is awesome, also, and I think you should subscribe or favorite it. I learned so much......and a lot of it, still over my head, but I feel encouraged that I will get there, eventually.

He not only tells you HOW but WHY. The chapters 8 and 9, Power Tools for Blogging and Successful Blogging were my favorite. I wrote Bob an email and told him that although I wasn't sure if it was because he explained it so well, or if I am finally getting some understanding on how things go together, I thought his book helped me a lot....and, as books go, I would say this was my best investment so far, for blogging help. Hey, chapter 1 and 2, also: Why Blog? and Hooking into Blogosphere were very insightful.

Hello?

This is how old my understanding is......I have a great cell phone that I only know how to answer.....LOL, all the other features? I have to ask my kids.

Someone said, "Life is like a ten-speed bike, many of us have gears we never use." Well, I am trying to use as many as I can, while I can......LOL. I fall off the bike quite frequently, and sometimes bike too hard because I don't know how to change gears to make it easier.

Bob's book helped me know some new gears and how they would make the ride much easier and less painful.

I thought about my ancient-hood, when I was at the art show this weekend and the phone booths were directly behind me.

Two funny things happened. One: a younger boy-between 8-10, was walking by and said to his sister, "What are those?" LOL. It never occurred to me that there were people in the world who never saw one........then, later, a little older boy-between 14-16 was trying to use his cell-phone and couldn't get service, so opted for the pay-phone,(which btw, didn't work, either).

I suddenly didn't feel so bad that I was caught between two worlds.......everybody is. Somewhere, we are all trying to adapt to the fast pace of change. Sometimes we have to step back and use the old, maybe a humbling, to remind us of how good we have it, maybe a humbling, to remind us of how good we had it........

either way, thanks, Bob, for the step-up.

Arrrrrrrrrr.....what the barnicle?

I needed a saying for my Charlie Brown pirate, and Strong-toe says that all the kids are saying this with a special handshake......maybe you know of it? or have several pirates in your house?

I like what Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn say in the book, " Now and then we had a hope that if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates." in Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain.

My studio has been getting a work out and I am loving it. You must do this if you are currently working on your dining room table....what a difference in concentration and organization-----I don't want to leave!

I will be gone until Sunday evening, so no posts after this until then. But I will leave you with what I did today! Whew!

This is an illustration I put on an old first day of issue envelope to make an apple collage. I watercolored over the writing on the envelope and I think it works really well. I did a lot more things, but I can't post them all, just to give you an idea of my day.

I forgot this little witch....does anyone know which character this is? I couldn't seem to find her in my short search....let me know if you know who she is.......

Here is the finished apple collage:

I definitely need a better camera, because I cannot photograph the whole piece with clarity in it all........christmas wishes??????

Well, I have miles to go before I sleep...........arrrrrrrrrr........what the barnicle?????????

Halloween Wips...page two

So, I have picked out the illustration I want to illustrate and made a complimentary applique to iron on with heat and bond lite.

I want to match the border embroidery in the print of the fabric but keep it contrasting enough to be appreciated.

The quote I want to use is a little long to embroider on this small piece, so I have opted to make a tea-dyed tag and hand-letter the quote on it instead.

Sometimes I like the effect of the border being a little darker than the middle, and the easiest way to get that is to watercolor around the edges of the tag after you write the quote.

Sometimes, and I prefer this, the quote is small enough to be worthy of the time to embroider the quote as I did with the next piece.

In this particular piece, I had a dark backround to work on, so I use a gold gel pen to write the quote first and then I embroider over it. If it is a light backround, I use a blue washable ink quilter's pen and rinse it out after I embroider it.

I then bond the finished embroidery to a mat board or foam core with iron on heat and bond lite, and then apply the illustrated playing card to the piece with photo corners and frame appropriately. I will show more pieces I did later in the week. Enjoy!

Halloween Wip

Oh, my!

What does an artist person do with a stack of playing cards this fun?............................I was in Barnes and Noble yesterday, and I had a blast! I came home with a huge dent in my savings.....I will show you some of my purchases in the next few days. Today, I will be working on a project including these cards! First, you find some fabric that will compliment the art.....

And then, you find the shape of the picture you want to make and get a frame, so you know how to cut out the fabric. Then, you find yourself some delightful quotes or one-liners, and you match them up with the pieces that you want to do.....

The next thing is to pick the second contrasting fabric and the embroidery thread, or papers that you will write the quote/one-liner on........I will return with the results in pictures, later today.

Meanwhile, one of the other finds in Barnes and Noble yesterday was Somerset Studio's Artful Blogging . Described as: Visually Inspiring Online Journals. It's a Stampington & Company Publication. I started reading it before I fell asleep last nite, it is full of information that is helpful to a new blogger. It was a whopping $15.00, but should be considered a book and not a magazine.

So, I will see you later today, after I work on the WIP's.

No two days......

are the same in one garden....... It's true about art shows, too.....There is always something to be entertained about......This time I actually won two silent auction items. I could not "afford" the artists, so, it was nice to get them that way. The show was poorly attended, and I think that is how I managed to win them.....I won a glass work mosaic.....sorry, I forgot to write the artist's name down (sigh--at myself), but her work is quite breath-taking---I don't have her latest stuff to show you. The piece I won, I suspect, is one of her earlier, less tedious pieces. It is a mosaic, but then she seals it with something, I think a resin of some kind, so that she can layer the pieces and make them uneven, and then have texture also, and depth. You won't be able to appreciate the piece like I do, for my photo does not do it justice. Here it is:

You can't see the texture of layering, and the photo doesn't appreciate the flowers......

The other thing I won is a hooked wall art.

Marlene Heard is the artist, and she has delightful pieces that I couldn't take pictures of, either....but she tells us that rug hooking began with sailors.....hmmmmm, sounds like an interesting history story. Here are a few views of the wall hanging: Here is the label. I have always wanted to do this, but it's still remains on my list of things to do......lol. I will hang this to inspire me...... I am working for the show this weekend at Wisconsin Dells. Hopefully, I will have some new things to show you soon, as no two days in the studio are the same, either........