Recently

Things have been pretty crazy lately. I have not been doing much painting lately, but that will actually be changing... today. Marge's sister-in-law has asked me to paint some coffee mugs that will match her coffee sign as a surprise belated birthday present. How special! The other day I took my sweet sister, Sara, with me to explore the ever-so classy Goodwill. I found the most adorable little mug set! I can not wait to show you the before & after pictures!

On a personal note, I recently ended a very serious long-term relationship. My health has been jeopardized & harmed, so I decided to put an end to it.

I broke up with red meat.

& I am loving this. Who knew cooking could be so fun & adventurous? I'm not doing any of that soy nonsense (sorry for any 'soy-ers' out there). Just eating more fruits & veggies. If we do eat meat, it is chicken. I have to tell ya, the kitchen life of a vegetarian is very appetizing. I could get use to this whole easy clean up deal. I thought the hardest part would be getting my meat & potatoes husband to back me up, but he has been such great support! This past weekend, I made black bean burgers & he gobbled them up! They were so fun & easy!... & quite delicious, if I may say so myself.



I am so excited to try out more delicious things like this, & to invest in my future by changing my lifestyle. I know that I can't take care of my family if I don't take care of myself first.

Thanks for reading! Hopefully I will be posting some neat-o pictures tomorrow!

Liberation

As I write today, I sigh with such relief. I am finally done with my painting for Father's Day & for Marge. It feels so good to look at everything & be happy with the end result.

Marge's painting turned out just as amazing as I had expected. It is so rich & ...INVITING. It makes me want to sit down & have a cup of coffee RIGHT NOW. Marge told me she wanted a coffee sign for her kitchen. The colors she gave me to work with were brown, yellow & red (so cute!). That was it. She just let me roll with it! How fun is that?! I got to just... PAINT. It was so freeing & exhilarating, knowing I could do whatever I wanted. I hope she loves it as much as I do... otherwise, I may just buy it back from her. :)


Yellow Pine. Latex & Acrylic paints. Sold.

I also had a lot of fun experimenting with this project. After a great deal of frustration, I finally gave in.... & I bought a paint pen. I never wanted to use one before, because I kind of felt like I was cheating. So, I had just been using really skinny paint brushes... & carpel tunnel is real fun & everything, but I was just done. I went to Michael's & finally bought one.

BEST.DECISION.EVER.

It was such a breeze to do my main lettering with a PEN! Who would of thought! Er, Duh? It made editing an exciting process instead of aggravating.

I also did a little other experimenting recently. Thought I'd give you a glimpse.

Sifting

Have I ever told you about my amazing husband? Well, he is mine... and he is amazing. Not only does he spoil me with trips to the hardware store, but he is my own personal carpenter. Last night he helped me out with Marge's kitchen sign for hours. Yes, plural. He used a hand planer to put a chamfer edge around it. Then, as if that was not enough, he sanded the whole thing for me. Oh, dear ...he is so like-able. Even if I wasn't madly in love with him, I'd still like him. All I can say is, "Marge, this is going to be boss".

Today I started priming so that tomorrow -hopefully- I can use my AWESOME pumpernickel paint & begin! Here is a look "behind the scenes" so far... which, I warn you... is not much. But if nothing else, LOOK AT HOW BIG IT IS... it's amazing.

Mainly, I have been spending all my spare time on the other Father's Day plaque. I felt I needed to ask for permission before I used names... so in my last post I referred to a "woman" who wanted a plaque for her husband, the "marine". Which is still true, her husband is a marine, & his name is Mark. And, the woman, Christina... is my cousin. Yep, this story just gets better & better. I haven't met Mark yet, but from what I hear I am missing out because he is truly one amazing man. After all, he is a marine. To add on to that feeling of "missing out", I don't think I have seen Christina since I was a teeny-bopper. I hate that. This will in no way make up for that lost time... but we don't live TERRIBLY far from each other. I am crossing my fingers to meet her beautiful family & see her again sometime in the near future.

But for now, I am using what I do know of Mark & Christina to paint my heart out.

I will admit, I've gotten choked up a few times. Its hard to create something so sentimental, something that reads "Our Father, Our Hero". All the while knowing this family's father & hero have been gone for so long... knowing when he comes home he will be meeting yet another son for the first time ...all because he was doing his duty to fight for our country. For our freedom.

How would you handle that?

I've been thinking about it non-stop ...and I can tell you straight up, I would NOT be handling it with courage, strength & honor. I'd be angry. So angry. & who knows, maybe Mark is angry... I wouldn't know because I'm not him... nor Christina. But, if he is angry, he's still being a man of his word and thats something I am not sure I could do. How pathetic of me.

So, as I have been painting, I've been trying to sift through all these thoughts & emotions. ...& I need some tissues. I thank God for giving me this opportunity. & I hope that as you read this, you take a minute & thank God for what you have & WHO you have in your life.

A Mouthful

Sleep has become my enemy. Why such hatred for me, sleep? We use to be so close. You use to love me. How heartbreaking. We have some friends coming in tonight, and I know I won't be able to sleep very good this weekend. I was counting on being well rested today... story of my life.

I probably won't be updating much this weekend. So I would like to leave you with something delicious to chew on for a few days. The first thing you can take a bite of is the fact that next week I will be working on a huge,HUGE painting for Marge. She would like a "Coffee Shop" sign for her kitchen. Can I just tell you that I am stoked to do this? This will be the biggest project for me yet, both financially as well as physically. We found a 2 foot long 2x12 piece of yellow pine. IT'S GORGEOUS. My generous husband saw my face light up with excitement & decided to "treat me" before I dive in head first & become consumed.

He took me to Lowes.


....I love Lowes.

Oh. how he knows the way to my heart. I thank God I married a man who understands what is really going to make me thrilled. He could have taken me to get ice cream, & I won't lie... I would have been content. But, I would also be fatter. Instead, he bought me brand new primer, sandpaper & a quart of brown paint. QUART. Actually, its called pumpernickel, & its so rich, & there's a whole quart of it. Might not sound like much to you, but it is to me. I usually buy little bitty thangs.Have I mentioned my excitement? I have never painted on a "canvas" this big. I can't wait to see the finish project. & I hope Marge LOVES it. Her kitchen has shades of brown & yellow, with hints of red... just like mine :) Can you feel it? It will be glorious.

Are you still chewing? Here's something else. He also gave me some stain & finish for *drum roll* MAHOGANY. ....WORD. When we got married, my creative man made his groomsmen mahogany boxes. They were so beautiful & I have to admit, I was jealous. Mahogany is so good looking. It is the equivalent of my husband's face... in wood. & I am excited to tell you, I have TWO perfect pieces to stain, finish & paint. JUST FOR YOU. I am making a matching necklace & bracelet rack/holder. If you buy the first one, you can get the second half off.

"How much is the first one?" you ask... why, only 10 dollars, my curious friend, thanks for asking. Don't choke... I know you're excited, but try to compose yourself. If you die, you can't own these beautiful pieces. :)

The last tasty bit of information I would like to leave you with is that the Father's Day plaque is done! Destiny asked that I put some design around the wording & so this is the finished product!


and again.

Walnut plaque. Custom order for Destiny. Sold for $25.

And, ladies & gentlemen, there's still one left... just calling your name. Poor paintless plaque.