art and excitement

it's here, it's finally here! my copy of 1000 handmade greeting cards arrived last night and i couldn't be more excited. the book is gorgeous – it even has a great die-cut of 1000 on the front cover (designers love little touches like this).

and here i am on page 174, number 0582, in all my 3x3 inch glory. the color in the book is a bit off, but the card is a white card stock with a bouquet of white roses quilled on the front, tied together by a silver metallic quilled ribbon. i used to make a ton of these and sold them in various stores in atlanta. the line included white, red or a mixed bouquet of white, red and pink roses. they were always perfect for weddings. if anyone wants a tutorial, let me now and i can post one on here. if you want a copy of the book for your very own, you can get it here.

bright and shiny

here are some of the lamps i have in line ready to shoot. all will be available on my semi-ready etsy site – www.linwoodavenue.etsy.com. oh, sorry – not all. the orange one front and center is reserved for my bedroom. i just have to find the perfect drum shade for it! stay tuned.

create and work

i love looking at peoples workspaces, it is so inspiring. today i thought i would give you a peek into mine. one thing to understand is i am not a terribly girly girl, but my office is pink, all pink. i am surrounded by 3 men (well, one man and 2 boys to be exact) and i need to have some pink somewhere! my dream is to have an office in a small cottage in the back yard, but for now, i have to settle for our small 4th bedroom. i split my time between crafting and graphic design, so i have areas for each. my desk is from ikea and i absolutely love it. it is so light and open, plus you can store all kinds of things under the glass top which keeps the desk less cluttered.

on the other side of the room is my standing height work table. under the table and behind the curtains lives my enormous flat file cabinet full of paper along with shelves full of fabric. and i can't forget to mention the sliver of crystal chandelier which started it all. this was the first chandelier i rehabbed and is still my favorite one to this day.

i can't pass up these dollar milk glass vases and bowls at yard sales. they are perfect for keeping art supplies contained and i love their aesthetic. in another year, i will probably have 30 of them filled with creative trinkets.

your workspace as well as your home should be filled with items you love. every time i step into my office, i am filled with the desire to create...which is a good thing considering i spend a LOT of time here.

gifts and wares

santa must have thought i was very, very good this year. say hello to my new camera... new camera, say hello. i have been trying to make it through with my little pocket camera this past year, and it just wasn't cutting it. for months now, i have been wanting a digital slr and my husband heard my wishes. now all i have to do is read the 2 books as well as watch the 3 dvds it came with and i should be good to go :)

hopefully my etsy shop (www.linwoodavenue.etsy.com) will get on track with the addition of this camera. i think good photos of your work are so crucial for having success as an etsy seller. being a graphic designer, i believe everything is in the details. if your look is cohesive throughout all you do, you will appear much more professional. now, i just have to decide what background will work best in the photos of my wares!

thumbprints and icing

i have been searching for a good thumb print cookie recipe for years and have finally found one! i made alicia's thumb print cookies today and they are terrific. i used powdered sugar icing instead of the raspberry jam the recipe calls for. now i just need a good, not too dry, cut-out sugar cookie recipe. anyone?

tea and trees

this year, my friend kim and i made the cutest christmas trees. you can find all the directions here. the only thing i did differently was backed 2 trees up against each other. this made them appear more full. it is a great project for the little ones, but they do tire of it quickly. the top looked a little blah, so i pulled an ornament i made last year off the tree and placed it on this miniature one. and there you have it, a sweet little decoration for any holiday table.

art and innocence

a child learning to write can create works of art without them even knowing.

lights and books

i have finally gathered together all my lamp/chandelier images to submit entries to a new book. the book is tentatively titled "creative reuse". last year, one of my cards was chosen to be showcased in a book titled "1000 handmade greeting cards" - i haven't heard a thing about it since december '07 and the suspense is killing me. i mean, did the book idea get tossed into the trash, is it just taking a really long time to publish? how long does it take a book to get published - this i do not know.

i think i might add "publish an instructional book of my crafts" to my things to do before i die list. wouldn't it be great to have a book sitting on your coffee table comprised of all your original work. or even better - have a book sitting on a stranger's coffee table comprised of all your original work and ideas!

ornaments and hot chocolate

my girl friends and i have been getting together once a month to hang out and be silly. this month, i hosted a handmade ornament exchange and i hope it becomes an annual tradition. the group includes all levels of creative talent and i think all the ornaments turned out amazing. plus i am shocked we got such a great photo of the 5 of us! thanks honey :)

if anyone is interested in the stockings in the background. email me and i will get you in line for my 2009 holiday orders. i will post more detailed photos of them soon.

since it is the holiday season, i thought peppermint hot chocolate would be a great drink instead of wine. i used milk, hot chocolate mix and peppermint schnapps – they were so good! i think i will be having this every evening until christmas.

pumpkins and red velvet

i was chatting with my friend jessica today about favorite recipes. i thought with the holidays coming up, this would be a good time to post my 2 favorite dessert recipes.

the first is a 4 layer pumpkin cake from kraft. this is so easy to make and the frosting is so light that you don't feel like you are slipping into a sugar coma with your first bite. it is quickly becoming a holiday tradition. i have never been a fan of pumpkin pie and this is the perfect replacement. even my cynical brother (wink wink) approves.

the second dessert is a party table favorite. red velvet cake balls from bakerella. i have never had anything like these little balls, they are so delicious. plus their size is reminiscent of candy bar mini bites. for the holidays, you could use white chocolate and then drizzle red or green colored chocolate over the top. they are time consuming and messy, but are truly easy to make.

enjoy!

blue sky

here is my latest chandelier. i recently rummaged through a friend's old barn filled with long forgotten treasures and this is one of my finds. luckily, i bought a few on the same day, so more are coming your way. i absolutely love this color. i can see it in either a chocolate brown room or a bright white room. the shades are made out of amy butler fabric and cast a great blue glow when the light is on.

i just finished a great festival in newnan, ga at their monthly market days. it was wonderful hanging out around the town square and meeting a ton of new people. i hope everyone loves their purchases from Linwood Avenue.

i received a lot of requests for chandeliers of another color than the blue and cream i had. if you could dream up the best color for a chandelier, what would it be? red, brown, hot pink????? if you haven't noticed yet, i like to be different :)

anyone, anyone?

i recently helped my friend move out of her circa 1960-70 ranch and i came across this bizarre piece of ceramic. now, i know i watch too much antiques roadshow, but i just have a feeling that this piece is important. but, what it is, i don't know. i am hoping someone out there can help me figure it out. only one other woman owned the house and she left a strange curled elephant foot sculpture on the front porch and a gazillion arts and crafts magazines among other things. all which lead me to believe that the previous owner had a history with art.

the artist stamp is on the top and resembles a figure eight, or a squared off letter "B". there is a hole that goes through the entire piece. it is roughly 7 inches wide by 3 inches high. it has a brown glaze that reminds me of the trim color on my childhood dishes.

please help!

(don't worry jaime, i will remember you when the cash starts rolling in)

athens, ohio

this past weekend, i went back to my youth - back to athens, ohio / ohio univeristy. i have been a southern transplant for over 10 years now. there are some things i love about atlanta, like not having to own a scarf, outdoor restaurants and dogwood trees in the spring. however, with the first step off the plane in ohio, i can smell my youth, i can smell the crumpled fall leaves, i can smell the chill of fall. can someone please bottle this smell? things seem simpler here, the sky is closer to you here. i want to go back to the days where it has snowed too much to leave your house, and you don't feel one bit guilty about doing nothing. i want to see the amazing colors of the turning leaves. i want to wear sweatpants to the grocery store, because people definitely do not do that in atlanta! somehow this old life is embedded into my DNA, i can't escape it and i never want to forget it or how it makes me feel.

shakerag festival

a big thank you to everyone who came out to support me at my first festival. the weather was great, the food was wonderful, however, the ponies behind us needed a bath!

i was so excited when this chandelier sold. it is absolutely gorgeous and just dripping in crystals. part of me didn't want to let it go, but i put on my brave vendor face and cashed the check. the chandelier was rescued from a local thrift store with about twice as many crystals as you see here. i painted it and added the tiny shades which are adorned with handmade red crochet flowers. it takes a special eye to buy a yellow chandelier and i am glad someone loved it as much as i did.