TIME FLIES when you are Livin LARGE!

So much has happened since I last had time to blog. My soul sista Michele and I have spent the past few years at Whatta Waist, a wearable art line that we have taken to the streets. We have done numerous shows in various states. We kicked ass enough to open our own storefront in Emporia Kansas and decided to sell other handmade cool stuff from artists we know. Studio 11 started on November 11, 2011 and is going gangbusters! We had 10 artists on the day we opened our doors and now a little over 6 months later we have 50 consignment artists. What a blast we are having supporting the local arts community! We frequently have live music and artists visiting. Just wait for our one year BLOW OUT party, 11-11-11! It's on!! Thanks to everyone who made this possible and most of all my family and friends who ground me and complete my happy life! Peace, love and buckets of glass shards :)

Wanna hear more about Whatta Waist and Studio 11?? Check this out http://www.facebook.com/pages/Studio-11-by-Whatta-Waist/116803751710656

Long Time no Blog!!

Whew...way back in October when I was going gangbusters on this blog I knew I would never neglect her!! But I did, now I am back..and have a commitment to update weekly if not daily!!
Busy busy in my mosaic world! I participated in the local Emporia Arts Council's holiday art sale and had a few sales but mostly got some local love and recognition! Even one customer who know has purchased two custom frames since! Great to get out and network no matter how small the venue! This was my first "set up"!

Also met a great gal who is opening a local children's boutique who has commissioned me for mosaicing the front checkout counter stand on the bottom portion and a large funky mirror for a drop ceiling type wall..it will be the first thing people see when they window shop and poke their heads in!! NO pressure right? I am really excited to do these larger pieces and expand my mosaic skills! Created a custom 6 hook coat rack for my dear friend who also happens to be the former owners of our awesome house and my real estate agent!! She's is an amazing woman and gave me no guidelines for the coat rack at all ...it just had to have 6 hooks..so look at what I did!

Also have come up with some cute inital mosaics for kid's or kid's at heart!

All this while partnering up with my AWESOME jewelry designer friend The Prairie Jeweler...check her out here http://www.prairiejeweler.etsy.com/ . We will launching a new Etsy store soon. Can't really give you any details right now but you obviously know that I do mosaics and she does jewelry soooo....it will combine our love for found objects, vintage jewelry, off-the-wall humor, tattoo art, rock chic attitude and country livin'...it has been absolutely a BLAST designing and producing the products!! We get together several times a week if we can at her house or mine and just get funky with the art of it all!! I really hope you all check it out..I will post a link to the store soon so you can be the first ones to see it!!

DONE WITH ZIGGY!

Well I complained about him yesterday so of course today I would power through and finish it. Ziggy Stardust is officially mosaiced and waiting for grout.

Neck Tie Draft Dodgers, Studio progress and Ziggy update

Whew a whirlwind is what it's been! Check out the cute little draft dodgers my kids and I made from old neck ties, hopefully they will keep the cold out and the warmth in this winter! I tore the seams out of two ties then stitched them together and the kids helped stuff them with old fabric scraps and plastic bags, would have been heavier with beans or sand but didn't have either! Madison my almost 10 year old is a great seamstress and is always making pillows, bags and other trinkets!

Wade and I put up insulation in the studio, we got some free old barn tin from his bass player which warrented a trip to the country to pick it up (forgot the camera), we got a tour of his 100 acres and stopped to visit the cow herd, they came over to the 4x4 ranger and even licked the kids hands!! Too funny to see cows and calves eating apple out of Bill's (the bass player) hands!

SO, we put up a half wall of barn tin and some trim we already had, next will be paneling but probably not until spring because I am tired of moving my supplies around and I hung up my favorite old tableclothe and I am happy how it is!!

Bill said he would help wire it some day (running an extension cord from the house currently) and I will make him a beautiful mosaic for his Buffalo Hollow Farm.

Ziggy stardust is a causing me problems...I just can't work on it for more than an hour without crapping out! So I just keep adding to it, here is what I got done this weekend on the final side to finish..cannot WAIT to finish it, SO beautiful in the light!!

Sunday Sunday Sunday

The kids helped me paint some old chairs that I am going to use for an art show or craft show sometime, you can see little pegs I put into the seats of some of them, that is so my mosaic windows don't slide off, kind of like an easel. They painted the bright colors, my plan is to gloss black over the bright color then sand through the black so some pops of color show. These are too distracting for me!! I finished a "girls only" sign that has been giving me fits...I have had coffee spilt on the white grout which ended up being a happy mistake to make it look "antiqued" and then I had a bunch of really cute buttons on it before then the adhesive didn't work so I plucked them all off and finally modge-podged some cotton doilies on the top part then did a kitsch arrangement of old buttons, barbie accessories, a locket and other glass bobbles. It turned out ok, but will probably just put it in my daughter's room. I had to paint in between the black tiles because it was hard to read, everyone kept saying "what...oh ok, it says Girls Only" geesh.

And last but not least, the kids snatched my camera and did a photo shoot with stuffed animals and one live cat..poor Lucy she slept through all the fun!!

Marble Mirror Frame pics and a ghostly tale...

Do you ever just have one of those days? I had one today. Felt like cleaning this morning so while I was wiping down every square inch of this old victorian home I came across an old key in the transom above my daughter's bedroom door. So of course I had to see what door it fit. Our home is over 130 years old and at one point in it's long life it was a boarding house so every interior door upstairs has a keyed lock above the normal door knob lock. Even the spooky 3rd story "tower room" has a lock. I don't know if the door was already locked or if I actually tripped it with the key, but the spooky 3rd story tower room was locked...from the inside...with no one else but the toddler here with me!! I tried to make the key unlock it but it didn't work in that lock! So I freak and leave the house and call my husband to come home and investigate! We have only lived here 5 months and we are still discovering things. We know that the creepy attic entrance door moves over a couple inches with the attic fan on, and sometimes the creepy 3rd story tower room door opens on it's own...sigh....I am not a paranoid person but it's days like this that make me think otherwise! My dear hubby got the door unlocked, blamed it on the kids and then peeked in the attic to soothe my fears! What a stud! Alas, no vagabond living in our attic locking the door..but it made for an interesting day!

On a mosaic note...I got the mirror in the marble frame and now I just need to name it...I am thinking "Found 'Em" (get it...marbles..lost your marbles...then..well..Found 'Em!)

While I was playing with getting a good picture of the frame, I took one of the shirt I was wearing today. It says "I'll be using these to my advantage" it's a funny around-the-house kind of shirt..my husband just rolls his eyes!

Mosaic WIPs

Here are a few of my latest works in progress...still need to get a mirror cut for the marble frame!