Lemoncholy's Easter Swap photos

I invited 16 of my friends to participate in an Easter ornament swap. it was alot of fun and i love how different everyone's ornaments are. mine have been hung on my tree and now we are just waiting on the Easter bunny.

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fabric collage by me

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polymer clay frame by Laurel Steven

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paper mache lamb by Pamela Huntington

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soldered charm by Amy Huff

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wire nest "home" by Kim Boehm

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recycled lid frame with clay flower by Denise Mares

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collaged egg with flowers by Allegra Smith
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"Blessed" by Danielle Green

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fuzzy chick in egg by Vivian Neroni
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hollowed egg with bunny inside by Lori Guerin

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Easter egg hunt basket by Melissa Merrill

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fuzzy chick sitting in crepe paper basket by Heather Bluhm

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fabric egg by Keli Hansen

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paper bunny inside flower by Zhulia Abrok

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faux scrimshaw by Brenda Bliss

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sewn little blue bird by Lonnie Jenck

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sewn bird with fabric dyed like an Easter egg by Joanne Thieme-Huffman

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here is miss lilly helping me with the packages.

Being a salesperson

We all know by now that i love to create art. but i really dislike the business end of it all. This is where i want an agent (aka my husband) to come in and do the rest of it. a few days ago i answered an ad seeking handmade items for a new store opening up. we made an appointment for today. i showed up with by bin full of goodies and put them on a table for her to see. her mother was there too and the mom looked at my stuff and said "oh, how different". this is the type of comment that i can not stand. what it really means, is "huh, i don't get it". the daughter didn't say much and didn't write anything down as far as my merchandise, etc. she then says to me, "we already have someone doing mixed media work", which i thought was funny because when i originally made the appointment, she had no clue what mixed media was. now here she is throwing the word around like she's an expert..... she then said, i love your mosaics and we don't have anyone doing them.

but i'll have to tell you that the minute the mom made her comment, i was done. it's not so much that maybe they didn't like my stuff, because everyone has their own tastes. it's just that they didn't pick up anything, no examining, no realizing the materials used/recycling involved - no appreciation - and i knew that was not a store for me.

the most important part of today? is the fact that i ventured out and did something i hate doing.

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now on another note. i'm sure you noticed i changed my background again. i really like the other one, but a few people mentioned to me that they felt it hard to read some of my posts when the lettering fell over the darkened areas of rust. i think this one if the perfect solution! thanks goes to gail.

Lemonade award

A blog reader that i 've recently met, sent this award to me. Misa sent it to me and it is called "the lemonade award". cute huh? so what is the lemonade award? A Lemonade Award is given to bloggers that show a positive attitude and gratitude. Sort of a list of bloggers who not only write for their own fun, but share the sunshine and help others in the cyberspace. i 'm passing this award onto Joanna of Moss Hill Studios. Joanna has faced more than a couple of crisis in the last few years and yet she allows her faith to carry her through. i admire her for that.

it's PERMIT time!

Dillon turned 16 last weekend, so Friday morning he got picked up by Carr's driving school to take him to DMV to get his permit. i can hardly believe it's that time already.

soldering class today

today i taught my first soldering class to my new acquaintenance, Stephanie. we met when she ordered a soldered bracelet from me. she expressed interest in learning, so i said, "i'd be happy to teach you". it was a great experience as it taught me things to look for, situations to encounter and to remember that what comes easy to me, isn't so easy for the person who has never done it! we worked our way thru a couple easy soldering situations and then onto a harder project. i found myself really tired when we were done, since i usually don't talk that much! and it found it hard to try and teach without sounding bossy or impatient (even though i wasn't feeling that way, but felt like maybe i was coming across that way..) things to work on....

by the way, the picture is an old class photo of my dad when he was little. he'll read this, so dad, how old are you in the picture?

booth for Artnsoul

pictures of my booth for Artnsoul in May. once i get everything priced, i'll pack it all back up. on top of the booth are these great metal baskets (for sale) that i purchased. they are old locker room pool baskets.

this is my favorite lamp and it used to be in my bedroom. i was sorry when it died. since it is vintage, we had a hard time fixing it. but, i still did not want to throw it away. so the other day when i saw it in my basement, i thought, that might look cute at my booth. i'm glad i can still use it in some way.

Key swap

I'm in a key themed swap with my Charmsters group, hosted by my friend, Laurel. In addition to my key, i chose to pair the key with a tiny little house (aka Monopoly hotel)). i collaged the little houses while i was with Pam in Florida (great rainy day project). i even ran out of houses, so we decided to hit a thrift store for a monopoly game, which we found - so that was cool to be able to finish them. i also added the word sweet, as in "home sweet home" (Pam's suggestion was for me to use the word "foreclosure"!) just need to get them packaged and they'll be ready to go.

i'm almost read to start sorting the ornaments for the Easter swap i am hosting. just waiting on a few more boxes.

my laptop is still down. guess i'll call Dell tomorrow. just haven't had time since getting back home. but i did get our new computer for downstairs ordered (with XP pre installed!). tomorrow i will post some pictures of my booth for Artnsoul, Hampton. i've been designing it over the last few days. since i am driving, i will be able to bring fun stuff to make a really fun and creative booth.

More from Florida

On Sunday, Pam and i hit Miami and went to a street fair/flea market on Lincoln Road. it was a beautiful day, sunny and warm. we found wonderful treasures and had a really nice lunch. here are just a few of the cool things we saw.

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these are the treasures that i came home with:

Boca, Florida

I am home from my visit with Pam. we had such a nice time even through all the rain. what did we do when it was raining? we did art, what else? Once when we ran out, Pam pointing out where Chris Evert lives and then she looked ahead of us on the road and said, "i think that's her" (she recognized her car). so we pulled up beside her and i snapped this pic. (papparazzi!)

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One morning the sun came out so we decided to head over to the beach. we weren't there 10 minutes when the wind kicked up and a nasty storm front moved in. we couldn't believe it. it was gorgeous one minute, dark and ominous the next. so we ate lunch at the beach club hoping it would disspate. after lunch we ventured outside to take a few pics. it was COLD and WINDY, so we didn't last long.

my reflection in pam's car. looked like a funhouse mirror
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back at the house we did some painting and collage.

On Vacation!

I'm in Baco, Florida visiting my friend, Pam. I flew in yesterday (wed.). i spent mon and tues. in bed after a bout of 24 hour horribleness. (i'll spare you the details). i'm feeling better, but still a bit fatiqued and my stomach is still very queasy and wonky. might be on the plain foods/broth diet for a few more days to get this thing settled. it was rough flight with thunderstorms (perfect for the already upset stomach!) and my poor seatmate was terrified. i finally reached for her hand and said, "are you all right? i told her we would be fine and tried to send calming energy to her (that sounds dorky!) but i felt really bad for the terror she was feeling. she began to relax and told me as we were debarking, that just having someone acknowledge her fear made her feel less alone and much better. job well done then!
it rained most of the day yesterday, so pam and i went and got much needed pedicures, which was very relaxing. then we came to her beautiful home and did, what else, but art! i forgot my camera battery, so we will need to go out and find one so that i can take some photos while here.

class with Lisa Kettel

Today i spent the day in Sumitt, NJ taking a class with Lisa Kettel at the visual arts center. we work with old books and created niches inside working with the theme - "dolls".

Lisa is a wealth of knowledge and can do anything with paper. she had so much to share with us. the day went so quickly. she took a class photo when we were done that i will hijack as soon as she blogs it!

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here is lisa showing us how to paint our doll faces

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these are a couple of doll examples lisa made

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here is one of my finished pages (4 more to go!)

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here's a little shout out to my dad who isn't feeling well (he's down with the flu) - hope you are feeling better soon.

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Wed. i am leaving for Florida to visit my friend, Pam. she has promised me sunshine,warm weather and fun. to quote Pam, "just bring your weary bones and i'll do the rest". now who wouldn't look forward to that? i am not bringing my laptop (even if it gets revived tomorrow!) - but promise lots of photos upon my return.

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