Happy Birthday to Me!

Walter's Pumpkin Patch ~ Pumpkins for Sale!
Pumpkin Salsa
The awesome craft shop!

Good grief, it's been FOREVER since I've posted! This past week has been a really stressful one for me for various reasons. My brother gave us a health scare (he's fine) & I've been trying to catch a little grey kitty at our Walgreens parking lot for about 3 weeks now with no luck. It's so frustrating. I went to leave food the other night & actually ran into another woman who was looking for it & told me she'd been feeding it too. Turns out she's an artist too! Seems cats & art just go together! Well, I had already sat in the parking lot 5 different nights with my trap set & then sat another 2 nights with my new cat rescuer friend. To our disappointment, we didn't see the grey kitty, but saw 2 other cats! There are houses around the area & we don't know if the kitties are stray or have homes & are just coming over for a free extra meal. I suspect they are feral though & that makes me sad. I'm the type that will go home & worry about them. Anyway, I've talked with the other woman & told her I needed to take a break for a while & she said she's happy to keep feeding them & trying to catch them so I'm trying not to worry about them too much. I have a husband & 3 kids & my own furry children to take care of at home & just can't spend so many late nights away. I do feel guilty though. I just wish cats would make it easy & LET you help them & not run away!

On a happier note ~ today is my BIRTHDAY! I had a really nice day. The weather was gorgeous & I told my husband I wanted to go to the pumpkin patch. My daughter went with us along with her friend & we drove out to the country to Walter's Pumpkin Patch in Burns, KS. It was awesome ~ pumpkins & gourds, hay rides, giant corn maze, creek, woods, 2 really cool gift shops with baked goodies & all the fun crafty items I love! We had the best pulled pork sandwich - yum! When we got home later Craig (the hubby) & I had a glass of wine out on the patio by the fire pit & later grilled hamburgers & hotdogs followed by birthday cake ~ chocolate with chocolate frosting of course! I had mine while watching Desperate Housewives-ha! A perfect day!

Hope your weekend was perfect too! Back to painting tomorrow. I have a commission to finish!

Decor & Dish Duty!

My prim baker's rack
Brick shelf in our kitchen

Little antique table in our living room

Fireplace mantle in our kitchen

Thought I would share a few pictures of my fall/Halloween decorations with you. I love to make up little vignettes on my black bakers rack & various other tables & shelves. And I LOVE fall candle fragrances & stocked up on all my favs ~ mulled cider, pumpkin pie, streudel & spice, caramel vanilla custard ~ mmmmmmm! During the holidays I have a million candles going - ha. Now I just need to make a trip to the pumpkin patch & grab some pumpkins, gourds & a straw bale or 2 to do up the front yard! YAY for the first day of FALL! It was a perfect cool, brisk, sprinkly day!

I added another day on to my volunteering schedule at the Humane Society & today I had dish duty. I was excited to use the new high-tech dishwasher that comes on automatically when you close the door & has a short 4 minute cycle. I have to say I was a little disappointed with it though. It was no bigger than the one in my kitchen! One of the staff members told me it's really only good for the small kitty bowls & some of the little toys. You can't fit many of the big stainless steel litter pans or dog bowls in at a time so it's just as well to wash them by hand ~ which is what I did-about 75 of them! I was impressed with the humongo double sink & counter area but still... I was picturing a gigantic dishwasher I could put a hundred bowls in at a time! Oh well, it wasn't bad & I enjoyed it. After washing dishes in the tiny sink at their old building where you laid them on racks over an old bathtub to dry, this was wonderful! It was also nice hearing the staff members thank me over & over for doing the job! If no volunteers are there they have to do it & sometimes that means working overtime. If I can save the shelter some overtime pay that's great! Note to self: Bring my own rubber gloves & wear an apron! I managed to splatter bleach on my shirt!

After the dishes were done I headed to the laundry room. Now that's amazing! There are 2 giant washers & 2 giant dryers. I think you could fit 5 people in them - ha! Wish I had one!

Won't have much painting time this week. Getting ready for our annual Girl's Weekend at my sissy's house in Oklahoma City! Leaving Thursday & get back Sunday. Can't wait!

Twin Witches

Can you tell I LOVE Halloween??? I'm just full of ideas & staying up waaay too late at night painting away! I can't seem to paint fast enough to get all the projects done that I want to, but that's not the point anyway is it? Painting should be relaxing & calming which it usually is. It's just hard when I'm working on one painting & thinking about the next one! I'm also WAY too particular with my lines & edges & spend extra time getting all the details just right. I've tried before to loosen up my strokes & give my paintings a freer, more casual feeling but my hand just keeps going back to its old tricks. I've decided that is just MY style so why fight it? I love the look of rough edges, dry brush strokes & shading but I'm just better with my clean edges & flat color so I'm sticking with that (for now) & maybe incorporate in some of those other qualities here & there.

Anyway ~ "Twin Witches" is up for grabs on EBAY right here! BOO!!!

Halloween Princess

Halloween Princess
Silly Squirrel!

I finished this little Halloween painting last night. I love doing Fall & Halloween themed paintings! Halloween Princess (Wendy & her cat Sookie) is up for auction on EBAY for you to check out!

A little while ago I saw this cute squirrel scurrying along our fence with this huge hedge apple in his mouth. It was hilarious watching him carry this big ball that was half as big as he was - ha! He stopped & began chowing down on it so I snuck out on the deck & snapped a picture. It's kind of blurry because I couldn't get too close but it's still cute. He gnawed & gnawed at the thing dropping all the outside part off. Apparently the inside is tastier! Must be fattening up for winter!

I got all my Fall & Halloween decorations out & up last Sunday while watching the Chiefs game (Darn~they almost won it)! I'll post some of my little vignettes when I get a chance. Happy Tuesday!

It's Feelin' Like Fall!

AUTUMN LEAVES
Some of my favorite Fall things!

It's been cool & VERY rainy here the past few days (my favorite kind of weather) so I've been cozied up inside painting. AUTUMN LEAVES is my newest creation ~ a cute little mini 4x5 ~ & it's available on ebay right now! Check it out HERE!

I was excited to see new Fall issues of 2 of my favorite magazines in the store this morning so I grabbed them both! Lots of fun decorating ideas in both of them ~ Country Living & Country Sampler. And I LOVE filling up all my candy jars with Candy Corn & Pumpkins - yummmmm! They just don't stay full very long with 3 kids (& me) around!

I think I'll get my fall decorations out tomorrow & start doing up the house! Ahhhhhhh....Autumn!

Trick or Treat!

Just finished this last night! I love the bright colors. Fall is in the air ~ my FAVORITE time of year!!! I'm really feeling inspired to get all my fall decorations out, especially after visiting my favorite prim/antique store today during their fall open house. I haven't seen any pumpkins at the stores yet but when I do I'm grabbin' me some!

"Trick or Treat" is up for auction on ebay right HERE!

Happy Saturday! xoxo

Spooky New Frida Painting!

Frida's Fall Holidays

Happy Tuesday all! And HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my twins Kayla & Cole who turned 15 today! It seems like just yesterday I was taking them to kindergarten & now they're in high school! Where does the time go??? They had a fun joint get-together with friends at the ice rink to play Broomball last Saturday & tonight we'll go eat, do presents & of course pig out on cake & ice cream. Yummm! I guess we have to fit homework in there somewhere too - ugh.

Just finished my first Fall themed painting & here she is! I seem to be on a Frida kick here lately. She is just so interesting & fun to paint! She's posing here with her cat, Spook & the jack-o-lantern they just finished carving. Frida's from Mexico where they celebrate "Day of the Dead" but she did live in the United States for several years & I'm sure she just loved Halloween! I like to think she did anyway. Frida's Fall Holidays is up for grabs on ebay right now! Check her out!