Wild Tiles by Chrissie Grace

Greetings friends,

It's a beautiful day and the sun is shining. There's even a warm breeze out to caress the skin. I can almost believe Spring has finally set in.

I spent a couple hours at Hasting's yesterday. I love book stores. This one has an attached coffee shop that serves up the best lemon poppy seed muffins. Mmmm, yummy! I love looking for bargains and of course my favorite magazines too. Yesterday I found a real bargain indeed. I spotted the book "Wild Tiles" by Chrissie Grace. The suggested retail price on the back cover is $22.99 and I got the book for $5.99. Now that was a bargain. I've covered vases with glass beads before and enjoyed the process. Just flipping through the book I am thinking many of the projects could be done with paper, glue and paint. I plan to try this first. I love Chrissie's creations and am a follower of her blog. Go check it out here. She is also on etsy and has a wonderful collection of items available in her mixedmediamama shop.

I hope you all enjoy this blessed Sunday and have a beautiful week ahead.

Be Happy, Be Healthy, Be Safe,

Tess

Remember This...It Became This...

Remember this journal page?

Well, over the weekend it became this mixed media painting. I had so much fun playing with this. I have to admit the color pencils in my journal was easier than the painting was. I used so many things, acrylic paint, paper, markers, crayons, highlighters, my fingers and just played and played.
Then I did something else...
I put it up for sale in my etsy shop. Oh My Gosh, I think I'm hyperventilating! Ok, ok, enough of that.

The snow is almost gone here after our sudden snow storm Friday afternoon and night. It was still snowing some on Saturday morning too. So what is the saying, "In like a lion and out like a lamb", well we got it backwards. Our winter and spring sure have been mixed up here so far this year.

I hope all others that were facing bad weather over the weekend have fared well.

Well I'm off to watch 24. I just love Keifer Sutherland. This season has been pretty predictable, almost disappointing, but I love the show.

Have a good night,
Tess

Tag, Your It!

I was tagged by Martha Lever of ArtduJour last week. My instructions are to post the 4th photo from my 4th folder so here it is. I acquired some license plate tags for recycling and came up with altering some by painting and adding some collage elements. It was lots of fun. I gave my mom one that says Honey and I gave it a design with her being the Queen Bee. She loved it and has it on her back porch which is her main entrance. This one is still for sale in my etsy shop as well as a few others. I thought it would be great in a kids room. (I just noticed the etsy posts expire in a few days, eek.) I found I have a few more altered tags I should post in my etsy shop too.

So now to tag four more. I think it will be these fine ladies:

Delila of Robin and the Sage

She creates such wonderful things of and with nature. I love how soothing a visit to her blog is. I bought a lovely necklace from her for myself this past Christmas at her etsy shop.

Jessica over at vol.25
Jessi is a stay at home mom of 2 adorable children and she is very creative. I love her designs and she is always coming up with fresh items for her etsy shop. She even has free downloads on her site. Do check out her blog.

Katie of joyously becoming

I love Katie's mixed media art. I enjoy reading about the art retreats she gives and dreaming of one day attending one myself.

Linda over at 13th street studio

Linda is a wonderful textile artist. She has several of the biggest and prettiest birds and loves sharing about them. I love seeing her quilts and reading about how she is developing ideas. If you love all things textile you'll love her 13th street studio blog.

Ok, so that is it. I hope I did this right and I hope you will visit these fun blogs.

Tess

My Etsy Shop

Did you know I have an etsy shop? Neither did I, well not until recently anyway.

A while ago I registered on etsy.com to be able to purchase handmade items from wonderful crafters and artists. I had forgotten all about it. I remembered while visiting dj Pettitt's etsy shop ( http://www.djpettitt.etsy.com/ )and thought why not open a shop myself and give it a try. DJ is one of my favorite artists. Her artwork is so inspirational. I am a habitual crafter, I have a need to keep my mind and hands busy. I am always learning or teaching myself new crafting or art skills.

I painted some baby shoes a while back for a craft show here locally and had some left so I've added them to my shop. I got this idea from a craft magazine, several of which I buy regularly.

I like recycling things and altering items. I recently found painting and collaging on old license plates to be a fun and creative outlet. I've painted several of these as gifts (shhh) and decided to add some of them to my shop.

It's been fun coming up with ideas for hangers and embellishments for these car tag wall hangings. Kids love them, at least my granddaughter does.

So if you wish to have a look here's my etsy shop addy:

http://www.tess1960.etsy.com/

We're having Indian Summer weather here, it's been beautiful outside. The temps been in the 70's and the leaves are turning such beautiful colors. I hope you all are enjoying the start of November. The holidays and colder weather will be upon us before we know it. Consider buying handmade or making your holiday gifts yourself this year. Handmade can be lots of fun and most people will appreciate that special personal touch. (Another shameless plug for etsy.com, I love that place.)

Happy day,

Tess