It is finally upon us.....

I have been waiting for you...

and

you finally showed up today...

Hello Fall!

Hope you all have a great weekend...

working on getting my mojo back.

I have been in a bit of a creative slump lately

so I decided to work on some much needed organization of my

studio space again.

I went at it quite fiercely a few months ago

and then of course ended up with a lot of outside work 

on my plate that got me off track.

I'm also hoping this will help me...

 Participating for the 2nd time in 

The Fall in Love with Buttons swap at Button Floozies.

We alter an Altoids tin and then fill with lots of new and vintage buttons.

I had a lot of fun with it last year...

Here is the one I sent off for that swap

(just in case you didn't see it)

It was very inspiring and ever since I have been

snatching up buttons when they are reasonable 

and my best friend even let me have a look through a jar of buttons that

belonged to her grandmother.

She let me have quite a few-

but I won't part with those....definitely will be used for some special projects.

Do you have something that helps when

you seem to lose direction or feel uninspired?

I'd love to hear about it for a jumpstart.

Happy First weekend of Fall!

ARt JouRnaling....

I've been lacking in the ART department lately

Other than my photography and writing....

I've shared some of the work I completed

at

Art and Soul

but have yet to finish two projects

out of all the ones I undertook

With my busy schedule I figure this one should be the one I finish first

since I can work on it a little at a time

Kari McKnight

a.k.a.

The Backporch Artessa

helped to start me on this journey

of ARt JouRnaling

Surprisingly it took longer than I thought

but once you get a whole

book or two gessoed you can work on

more than one piece at a time

I started with a small book

Here are a few pages that are "finished" as far as background goes

Amazing how light can change how something looks

this page actually has gold book embossing where it looks dark or silver

it is very shiny!

I may still add to these but they are the few layered / textured pages I finished

The next is a good example of what to NOT do

when working on one of these pages

Lovely before....

I thought the pages were dry enough

and didn't put wax paper between them

and I got this...

Instead of being upset about it

Kari calls these "unexpected cool things" to challenge you..

I'm still contemplating what to do to change the image now

I'll keep you posted

Here is one I think is pretty much finished

unless I find something else that just has to go in!

I learned a lot of what I have been lacking

as far as texture and technique

especially in the case of mediums

My goal is to finish a page a week?

What do you think?

Happy Sunday!

Spotlight Etsy....

Wednesdays have sort of become my favorite day

for posting Etsy items and or Artists

that I like/love

I need to come up with something more clever than

Etsy Wednesday though.

Until I do

Here are my fav's for this week

Once you get to know me

You'll quickly learn one of my favorite things

Cannot live without

is Coffee

Especially Iced

So my top  Esty finds focus around my love for

The Bean this week...

Gotta Love this...built in cookie warmer? Genius!

at

A piece by Denise

beautiful print

at

Gallery 32

Funny handmade knit mug sleeve

(If you need a censor some of these feature adult language ;-)

at

The Knot Workshop

Cutie Pa Tootie Apron

at

Snappy Shop

Doggie at the Coffee Shop

painting

at

SchmetzPetz

I SOOO MISS ME SOME COFFEE CRISP!

It used to be imported to the U.S.

but in the last few years I haven't seen it anywhere

I found out it is only sold in Canada now...BOOOOO.

So I guess I will have to settle for this recycled wrapper

turned into a coin purse

at

TrashBaggs

Two of my favorites

Jadeite with coffee

Print at

LianXiang

Starbucks and Sweet Treats Bracelet

(It's cute - I'd have to be in a silly mood to wear it)

SweetTreatsJewelry

Silver Coffee Spoon

So Sweet...

at

Sycamore Hill

Adorable

and serve no purpose other than to make you smile..

at

Urban Farmgirl

and last but not least....

On My Freebie list..

One of my favorite Matthew McConaughey characters

from Dazed and Confused

What could be better than a Matthew Macchiato?

find it at

Daily Grinder

Have fun looking through these shops!

Happy Wednesday!