Whimsical cats and dogs… betcha didn’t know this either. I love painting miniature pieces and did so steadily for a good year.

These are just a few of my original paintings… I have lots stored in a box. This seems to be my method of storage because this is how I store all my layouts too… so BAD!

and I think there is nothing prettier than watching a golden do what it was bred to do… retrieve birds. I was lucky enough to get to train and put two field titles on my golden retriever Sonny. We adopted Sonny from Dallas Fort Worth Metro Golden Retriever Rescue when he was 10 weeks old. He came into rescue and instantly stole me heart. I was wanting to train a golden in the field but was waiting for just the right dog and time… well as soon as I saw Sonny I decided to take a chance. This was one of the best decisions ever as he has never let me down and is the best canine companion I could have ever asked for.

Sonny slept with me every night in bed in the bend of my knees, he played lots of fun puppy games etc. which led to us building a bond of trust and loyalty. Everything we did led up to his hunt tests. I am happy to say this boy has never not brought me back a bird, not even during the very first stages of his training. He has always trusted in everything I have asked and has always done it with flying colors.

So how many of you would have ever thought I would be up at 5 a.m. driving way out into the country to train in muddy water, mosquito ridden and chigger infested places just to play with my heart dog? Yep… I loved watching the sunrise with my dog in the car, radio on and a hot cup of coffee. It was always so fun to see Sonny react as I turned on to the first dirt road. He would sit up, perk up his ears and have his nose just a twitching… he knew we were about to have a really fun morning.

Here is the other make n take I did using the Maya Mists, Bird Coaster Album, Snowflakes Chipboard Set and Sheer Ribbons. This is a super easy make n take to demo at a LSS.

First, place your Chipboard Snowflakes on top of a page from the Bird Coaster Album. Completely cover the bird and snowflakes using Bue Maya Mist, and remove the Chipboard Snowflakes setting them aside. Next, lightly spray the bird using Silver Metallic Maya Mist. Once it is dry you can outline your sprayed snowflakes using white and black pens. To finish it off just tie some sheer ribbon through the hole to create a hanger. Maya Road has a new Sheer Ribbon that has Silver Snowflakes that would work perfectly.

(Blue and Silver Metallic Maya Mists Combination)

(Silver Metallic Maya Mist only)

This is such a simple make n take. You can spray the Chipboard Snowflakes you used as a mask with the Silver Metallic Maya Mist to add some shimmer or leave them a matte finish and just outline them using a black and white pen.

(Blue Maya Mist only)

Your customers now have a bird ornament and some snowflake embellishments to use in future projects.

Since I had so much fun meeting and getting to know people at CHA I thought I would share a little about myself while working on projects for my first book deadline. Which by the way let me just state now… it is so hard not sharing my techniques and projects!

So here is little unknown fact about me…

When I was in the 3rd grade. I won first place in a State Fair art contest. During my last visit to see my Mom and Dad, Mom pulled out my winning art piece. She has been saving this since 1973!

I remember making this like it was yesterday. Mrs. McDonald had each of her students randomly paint 7 areas on a white sheet of paper using watercolor paint. She then had us create a picture from our watercolor designs. Well… I instantly thought flowers so I got busy with my crayons drawing flowers, stems and leaves and filling in the background. I drew my vase on a piece of construction paper, cut it out and glued it on…. Bam I was done, never thinking a thing about my project. Well a few days later Mrs. McDonald had me come up to her desk and asked if she could enter my piece in the State Fair art contest. I remember thinking if I had known this in advance I might would have thought this out a bit more… not much has changed there just ask Caroline. I am always, always, always second guessing my work. I reluctantly told her yes and well to my surprise I won first place.

I’m sure Mrs. McDonald has passed on as she retired from teaching the very next year but she still lives in my thoughts. She was such a wonderful teacher and all who had her as a teacher were blessed.

Wendy Vecchi!!!

Lets see a little over a year ago I saw her work online in the 2Peas gallery, snagged her up and got her on the design team for Maya Road and what was she doing at CHA-S? Debuting her own stamp line through Stampers Anonymous called Studio 490!!!

I am so over the moon excited for her I can hardly stand it. Wendy’s stamps are large cling mounted stamps (I think there are 24 all together) and she has a really cool clear album to store them in when not in use. Oh and not only was she debuting her own stamp line, she was also doing demos for Ranger using Perfect Pearls which now I have got to start using cause they are so cool. I just needed a little jump start to get me going. Seriously they are COOL! I think I am going to have to beg her to let me come and visit for a creative weekend. I’m sure Rick can handle two crazy creative gals for one weekend.

Oh and I love how the catalog shows finished projects using Wendy’s Studio 490 stamp sets. So I had to share…. check these out. For those of us who are beginner stampers this is a wonderful jump start for ideas.

Yep my friend… I am so happy for you. Congrats. You so deserve all the wonderful things coming your way.