Away We Go...

I feel so bad that I haven't been blogging. I do have some wonderful Christmas things to show you that I've collected over the last couple of weeks. I was able to pick up a few extras to offer on ebay or my site. There is so much to do...I need to overhaul my poor neglected site. It's just that I wasn't sure what kind of transformation was taking place in my artistic world. I am so liking retro over primitive now...the colors, the history, the fun!

I did create a painting around Halloween that I called Mr. Wiggles and I'll be making a soft sculpture doll of the painting as soon as I get back...from felt of course! How fun!!

I am also looking forward to sharing some of the work of my hands! This is supposed to be a blog about whims...and I guess getting my studio ready has been my whim-more like whim of the month! It's almost ready...organization is not my strong point...as I've said before. On top of that, my daughter moved back home and I needed to put her bed and dresser in my new-fangled studio!! Talk about a wrench in the works!!! Still, I am so happy she's home! I'll work it out! Isn't my Dining Room here for me to work in-it's not really to have meals in-is it???

Tomorrow we leave for a family visit to Illinois. It will be the first time in 28 years that my Mom has had all four of her children in the same place at once. Wow! Not only that, all her Grandchildren will be there as well. She is ecstatic! There are plenty of things I'll be doing while I'm there. My sister and I bought a building in her town this summer during a crazy idea and I'll be down in town working on our building. We are hoping to open a coffee shoppe in one section and an antique/collectible shoppe in the other. There is so much work to do that I think I'll have no problem keeping myself busy! My husband will be there as the technical engineer, the plumber, electrician and carpenter-and general, all-around handy man. My sons, Brendt (24) and Jordan (20) will be there to help as well. I have 13 major things listed that I would like to accomplish while I'm there this time. Some things to do include pulling the icky paneling off the wall in the antique shoppe and possibly painting/whitewashing the plaster that covers the brick. We need to do something with the scary ceiling tile for now (most likely paint it) and paint the beat up, wooden floor and the window frames.

I'll blog our progess with lots of pictures and you can laugh and cry with us as we move ahead on our project! It's gonna happen! Really it is!!

I forgot to say that while we are driving the 18 hours to my sister's house, I will be making pom poms. I went to Michael's and bought myself a pom pom maker...although I have always used cardboard before and it worked just fine...I thought I'd give myself a little present of the plastic circles and see if they work any better, though I doubt it. For your viewing pleasure I have shown the photo of what I will be working toward...the pom pom wreath from Matthew Mead! His Holiday magazine from Country Home is so inspiring! I wish he lived on the other side of my house...yes, that's it...Paula Deen on one side and Matthew Mead on the other! Oh yes, it seems quite a creative sandwich of neighbors-if you ask me!!! FUN!!!