Lucky Me!

Recently, artist Lynne Perrella was a guest host on Art Propelled. Take a minute and check out her interesting post on Russian Icons over there. 

As part of her post she sponsored a generous giveaway....which I was over the moon to find out that I won! When the package arrived I tore into it right away.

Just like Lynne's art pieces, the contents of the box had to be dissected layer by layer.  First I pulled out two tissue paper hound's tooth wrapped gifts tied with black ribbon.





And a hand stamped manila envelope, which I immediately decided I had to frame because it was so beautiful.

There was a set of Lynne's limited edition icon inspired rubber stamps for me to use to make my own wonderful art pieces.....which I've been twitching to use!  Darn the necessity of first getting my Christmas shopping done.

Next I opened the package containing A History of Icon Painting  The book is packed with information about the topic and has lots of colored plates of artwork.

And last, but certainly not least, there was a matted piece of Lynne's own artwork. By the time I discovered it, I was jumping for joy! I could not have received a better Christmas gift.  

Thank you Lynne Perrella and thank you Robin Gordon of Art Propelled.  

Please check out both of their websites.

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Changing the topic....I've been meaning to show you this photo of Rachel and her two chickies.  Emma was two weeks at the time. Tuesday she'll be one month old.

 Happy Birthday little sister!

Hello World

Julie from Julie King Art posted this meme. I took the challenge...nothing much is happening in steviewren world that is blog worthy at the moment so it is a good time to fall back on one of these fun little exercises.


1. Started my own blog
2. Slept under the stars (when I was a teenager...we nearly froze our buns off)
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than I can afford to charity (my mama says, it's not nice to give and tell)
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sung a solo (people would pay me not to)
11. Bungee jumped (are you kidding?)
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught myself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning (I think I did-I was sick as a dog...does that count?)
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown my own vegetables (I've tried but it never works)
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb (I held a baby pig once... It peed on me...it ought to count)
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run (I'm lucky to hit the ball)
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of my ancestors (grandparents count?)
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught myself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied (if I have enough to pay the bills and have a little fun I'm happy)
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing (gone to where people were rock climbing...watched my kids do it)
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke (too afraid of people laughing to try)
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant (my ex would do things like that)
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had my portrait painted (does being drawn by a guy in art class count? I still have it.)
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris (got the picture to prove it)
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling (just a beginner lesson in a pool...probably shouldn't count it)
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching (nope, but I would love to)
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi concentration camp (sobering thing to do)
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy (my bouffant hair-do Barbie)
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial (drove by it on a 1 1/2 day trip to Washington once)
71. Eaten caviar (Yuck! No thank you)
72. Pieced a quilt (pieced a sad excuse for a quilt)
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job (not yet...still my get laid off...should know by next week)
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book (had a crochet pattern published in a book a long time ago)
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had my picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House (does standing outside the fence looking in count?)
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (sorry, not me)
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Ridden an elephant


41 out of 100....It seems I've got some more stuff to do!

Tag! You're it!

Speaking of bad weather days....

One day last week, I spent my lunch hour in my car as I do so often. I drive to the end of our parking lot and park facing the woods. On nice days I roll the windows down and listen to the birds chirp and enjoy the breeze. Sometimes I listen to my book on tape. Sometimes I listen to NPR. Other times I might read or take a nap. Some days I draw. Last week I flipped through my new copy of Artful Blogging while it rained outside.

You might remember that some time ago, I participated in Marie Antoinette's Birthday Soiree hosted by this blogger. Lavinia Ladyslipper of Birdbath Chronicles was also a birthday celebrant extraordinaire. The blog, Cupids Charm, and the party are featured in the February/April issue of the magazine. Pop over and visit this blog to see lots of frou frou trinkets and pretty tchochkes.

Also featured in the current issue is Geninne's Art Blog. I purchased a print from her that has found a home in my girl's bedroom here at Gramma's house. I love to browse her Etsy shop as well as her blog.

By the time my hour was up the rain had slowed and blue skies were beginning to peek out from behind the clouds again.


And then it was back to work for me.

In the pursuit of

For a while now I've been contemplating my home, looking for snippets of beauty to photograph. Take a quick look at this blog and you will quickly see where I find my inspiration to take a better picture. Her photographs are profoundly beautiful while at the same time they retain a simplicity that I find nearly impossible to copy. (I know, I know...she is she and I am me...but I want to learn...to see beauty in unexpected places)

Anyway....I was so excited when I noticed the light in the computer room the other morning. I experimented and here are a few pictures I took.



Nothing profound, but it's a start.

Where do you find inspiration?

For some people it might be something they read or hear that excites their imagination the most. While these modes of inspiration gladden my spirit and quicken my mind, visual inspiration has the strongest impact on me.

At work, where I spent the better part of the day, the walls are white, the artwork is mediocre, and the job is conventional. When we aren't busy, I tend to get bored. It is then that I doodle. I practice writing metaphors....something I remain bad at despite the practice. I daydream. I do remodeling projects in my head. Mental escape is the name of my game.

It was that same tendency towards boredom that made this next project appeal to me. I read in a magazine that some crafters were altering old fashioned Rolodexes and turning them into mini scrapbooks. That gave me the idea to use varied images and quotes to decorate the front and back of Rolodex cards.

This project is not finished. There is much left to do, but you will get the general idea of what I am trying to achieve.

When it is done I might place it on my desk. I will be able to give it a spin anytime I need a mini mental vacation, look at the image that rolls to a stop in front of me and perhaps be transported to another day or time.

I am including snippets of paintings I love, parts of photographs, cut up greetings cards and inspirational quotes, sayings, puns, jokes....anything that "floats my boat!"

Here is a link about Rolodex scrapbooking if you're interested in know more.

This is a link to an altered card set on Etsy.

Ali Edwards has a great blog if you are looking for practical ideas for journaling and scrap booking.

A young mom, who is local to my area, has a creative blog where you will be sure to find a fun project or two is here. Her name is Virginia. I attended a fun class she taught about how to make a book of favorite stuff. I included my love of Sun Chips and movies in mine.

This scrapper's layouts are filled to the brim with crafty goodness. She loads product on a page like nobodies business. Her pieces are fun to look at. Check her out here.

Reminder: If you will be participating in Inspirational Places and Spaces Show and Tell today, please leave me a comment to that effect and I will post a link to your blog below.

Cynthia at Muse Swings
Kat at Poetikat's Invisible Keepsakes
Teri at Teri's Painted Daisies
Lisa at Artsy Endeavors

Thanks for taking the time to visit my little spot in the cyber world. As always, your interest in my hobbies inspires me and my blogging experience is made all the better for your interest.

a sweater and seven things ...craft week continues

Most of you probably know that I was making a crocheted layette set for my new little grandson, which I put the finishing touches on the day after he was born. It was presented to him the night before he went home from the hospital. He wore the hat and sweater home.

Only one bootie was finished so he had to make the trip home wearing socks only. I made the second bootie only to discover that it was smaller, neater and better in every way than the first. So I made a third bootie, which turned out better still. Now I am making a fourth in the attempt to produce a matching pair. I guess practice really does make perfect....or at least better.....

Keep your fingers crossed please!



Linda from Linda Mahoney Art surprised me with this nice award this week.

Thanks Linda. Please check out her beautiful artwork. I practically drool looking at her fabulous pieces. She has such a talent.

I am supposed to list seven things I love and pass the award along to seven artists whose blogs I love.

For fun I'm naming seven food items beginning with the letter C that I really enjoy:

Cumin
Thai Crunch Salad from California Pizza Kitchen
Crispy Chicken strips from KFC (yes, I know it's bad for me)
Basmati rice with Coconut milk
Potato Chips
Crab Cakes
Dark Chocolate
Cashews

This list is one item too long, but I can't choose which one to eliminate so I'm not....eliminating one!

I'd like to present this award to:
Denise at Look Beyond the Picket Fence-because she makes something cute everyday!
Robyn at Art Propelled-because she carves wonderful things and inspires and teaches me something new all the time.
Toni at A Spattering-because her bird studies are fantastic and her watercolor tips are invaluable.
Teri at Teri's Painted Daisies-because I've come to love her Sunday church sketches. They make a perfect start for the week.
Diahn at Art By Diahn-because I'm loving seeing Washington DC through the pages of her Moleskin.
Linda at Quotidian Curiosities-because she is a fantastic watercolorist...even though February seems to have put her on hold...hurry up spring...Linda needs inspiration to paint again

That is just six artists, but heck I named eight foods, so we're even!

Get busy, make something creative before the week is over and remember take a picture of the space that inspires you to be creative and share it on Friday!

My Not So Secret Secret Addiction

Magazines.....Scrapbook paper....greeting cards....novels....self-help books....art books.....journals....postcards....patterned napkins....tissue paper....wrapping paper....if it is made of paper, then I love it. I collect it. I store it away like a rat! If my house ever catches on fire it will go up like a tinder box. Poof....

I recently read that Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion is looking for a new publisher. Without one, the December/January issue will be the last. This publication was launched in the fall of 1996 and I have been a subscriber since 1997. I've eagerly awaited every issue, wistfully scanned all the Artist's Life sections and avidly read every article. I'll miss this magazine sorely.

I admit, I am one of those folks who subscribe to magazines when I get a good deal, but if renewal is too costly I might let the subscription lapse the next year (Home Companion was the exception) while waiting on the publisher to send me another offer that is too good to refuse. Smithsonian, Traditional Home, Coastal Living, Cloth Paper Scissors and Time are a few of my favorites.

While I actually salivate over all of the Stampington publications, I have never subscribed to one of their many magazines. Frankly, they cost a lot and a year subscription costs as much as it cost to have my first child. Well, maybe not quite as much...but close! So instead I go to the bookstore every other month and allow myself to buy one...or two magazines. Over a year's time I probably spend more than the subscription price, but the sticker shock isn't as great.

My favorite, Somerset Studio, is dedicated to the paper arts. They announce upcoming topics on their website and put out the call for submissions of art. For a long time now, it has been a dream of mine to get published in their magazine. My big problem is that I don't have the time to sit and dream and then make great original stuff within the given time constraints.

Last year I had an epiphany! The magazine always prints mail art in the Letters to the Editor section. Hmmm, no time constraint issue, no specific category.....eureka, I can do this! My mission will be to decorate an envelope so cute...so fantastic...so special they will receive it and yell "Eureka! Just the thing for our next issue!"

I got straight to work....first the original idea....hmmm....then the execution....add the perfect stamp and send my masterpiece on its way. I used scans of vintage advertisement from my granddaddy's newspaper and combined it with scraps of more modern advertising for botox. I put most of the pieces together in Photoshop and printed it out. But I wasn't able to get it to print correctly on the whole envelope. So I used oil pastels and and black pens to draw and color the portion not printed. Voila!

Somerset Studio is a bi-monthly publication, so when it was due out next I ran over to the closest bookstore on my lunch hour and picked one up as usual. On the way back to work I remembered my submission and flipped to the Letters section for a quick look...imagine my surprise when I saw it! My artwork published in all of its postage stamp sized glory! I skipped and hopped into the office and declared my good news! I called my daughter! I showed my whole family!

I've had a taste of glory, now I want more! I want to get a piece published that is at least the size of a index card! Dream big, that's my motto! I'll do it too...one day...as soon as I have time to dream up that great original idea.

Mad About Tea Towels

For the past 10 years I have been mad about tea towels. Recently, I have noticed that tea towels aren't just for your old granny anymore. They have evolved into an art form for the kitchen, into eye candy for your home. Young artists have reinvented the humble linen tea towel and are using it as a canvas to display their clean graphic artwork in an affordable and utilitarian way.

Nicholas Gallery in Cincinnati is currently displaying towels contributed by contemporary artists the world over.


Etsy shop ower MrPS named this screen printed towel Ice Cream Lollies. MrPS is a resident of the UK and has many other designs for sale in his/her ? Etsy shop.

Heather of Skinny LaMinx is an artist who lives in Capetown, South Africa whose tea towel designs I have long admired. She just announced she has sold 1000 towels in her Etsy store. Heather used her love of 60s era coffee mugs to design this towel. If forced to choose, I would say that this is my favorite of her designs. Her wildflower designs are very beautiful too.

Heather's website features the vintage work of Pat Albeck, who she calls the "Queen of the Tea Towel." Albeck's website features her work from the 50s right up to today. Be sure to check her out if you love the genre.

Remember those hand stitched towels that our mothers used. Well, embroidery is making a come back and many vintage patterns like your mother sewed can be found at Sublime Stitching. My mother had the bee's of the week...a little bee performed some type of domestic chore for each day of the week. Mom cross stitched these on towels and put them away in her hope chest to await her first home.

A wide variety of charming towels printed on beautiful fabrics can always be found at Anthropologie. I have been known to haunt their sales looking for bargains on tea towels. The colorful way they put fabrics together inspired the design of the aprons I recently made for my granddaughters.

Alicia Paulson of Posy Gets Cosy has redesigned traditional days of the week embroidery patterns by bringing the design up to date for the modern home. She offers her patterns as a free download here.

Whole Flickr Groups are devoted to tea towel love. Check them out here.

So if you are mad about tea towels like me, then please explore all of these options and enjoy!

Soft Sculpture

I used to do a lot of sewing. When I was in high school I made most of my own clothes-dresses with sweetheart necklines, dresses with pouffy romantic sleeves, pastel pantsuits. When my daughter was young I made many of her little dresses also. Lately I find my thoughts returning to those clothes frequently. I wish I had some snippets of all that cloth. I would really like to make some type of collage with it. One day the ideas that are swirling in my head will take shape and I will do something with these memories.

Speaking of sewing, while I surfed the Internet a few nights ago I found something I think is really remarkable. This woman has a whole gallery of her soft sculptures on Flickr. The name of her blog is Sewn By Blythe.

Phone sculpture by Blythe

Click here to see what I'm talking about.

So what about you? Do you sew? Can't resist buying beautiful fabrics.? Secretly wish you could find the time to make a quilt? Me too!

The Playlist

If I was going to go to the trouble of setting up a playlist it would be a close double of this one. Sometimes I open two windows when I am online. One to browse and one to listen to this. Oh my gosh, this music is sublime. (most of it anyway) This blogger is Finnish. She loves nature and she is very creative.

Just thought you might like to take a listen today....just a short vacation into sublimity.

Touched by God

I just found this post on one of my favorite blogs. It is so appropriate for this season. Please take a moment to read it and all the comments that were left for her.

Amazing Blogger

Since my early blog experience consisted of stalking and lurking on other people's sites, since I think that said lurking has made me somewhat of an blog connoisseur, since I love to share my admiration of said cyber-jewels with you, I will from time to time recommend certain of these blogs for your perusal.

So without further introduction, I give you Granny Smith.

I hope my mind is this sharp when I am her age....unfortunately a lot must improve before I am in her league.