It's About to Strike

https://www.etsy.com/treasury/MTA0ODU1ODB8MjcyNjYwMzQ5Mg/its-my-birthday-ill-choose-kitsch-if-i

In a few days I'll be hitting my umpteenth birthday. I'd tell you the exact number but that would require doing some quick math since, at this point, I only keep close track of the major ones--those ending in the digits "0" or "5". It's not one of those; that much I am sure of. Okay, now you've got me curious. Is it going to be 57 or 58 this time? Oh, it's 57! I'm doing better than I thought. Apart from my memory, that is.

When I was a kid, and even into my young adulthood, I had trouble understanding why any older person I queried, "What would you like for your birthday?" would inevitably answer, "Oh, there's nothing I need." But I'm getting it now. By this time in life, most of us have acquired the mainstays of life and a fair share of our wants. We really don't need anything. In fact, I ought to get rid of a truckload of stuff, and that is one of my goals for this month, to do some culling and pruning of things I no longer use or prize, and donate them to a charity thrift store whose work I appreciate.

Nevertheless, there are plenty of lovely useless things in this world that I still admire, though my husband of over 30 years (No! No! Not more math!!) still has trouble figuring out just what those things might be. Years ago I made it easy on him (and saved myself a lot of fuming) by handing him a couple of mail-order catalogs with my favorites circled so he could just choose something from the various suggestions. 

That backfired one year when I used a felt-tip marker to circle the items and he ordered stuff from the backs of the pages where the ink had bled through. I got a few oddities, but they were easily and cheerfully exchanged once I explained the mix-up. And promised not to use a felt-tip again.

Oh, well! Even that time was better than the year he waited to do his Christmas shopping until December 24 and got caught in a snowstorm and had to turn back. He ended up choosing my gifts from the local one-horse, dusty Mom and Pop minute mart which, as I recall, yielded a package of blank cassette tapes and a knife-sharpening gadget. 

That was not the merriest of Christmases.

However, we all live and learn and now my husband does his Christmas shopping in advance. He's also moved up a notch and is learning to navigate my "Favorite Favorites" list on Etsy. And frankly, he knows I'll end up buying myself something anyway, so his gift will just be the sprinkles on the cupcake. We're both happier with this arrangement!

This year I'm treating myself to something I've wanted for a long time. I'm having custom pastel portraits made of both Peppy and Wickham!

Here are the boys, checking out something rustling in the underbrush on the other side of the fence.

There are so many talented pet portrait artists on Etsy that even after I had decided I wanted to pursue this, choosing which artist was a tough decision. I had a portrait of Lollia done by watercolor artist Ron Krajewski a few years ago. You can check out the link below if you'd like to see it out. It's a fantastic portrait!)
 http://sheertrashroadshow.blogspot.com/2014/02/getting-by-with-little-help-from-my.html

But for the guys, I wanted something a little different. I knew I'd found my artist when I came across this lovely image of a kitten:
 

www.etsy.com/listing/120981980/little-fluff-fine-art-print-of-a-little

I couldn't wait to check out the artist's shop and I was captivated and thrilled with her beautiful work! I've got to share some of my favorites with you:

www.etsy.com/listing/188853507/who-me-fine-art-print-of-a-very-cute

www.etsy.com/listing/120471756/gray-schnauzer-with-red-bandana-dog-art

www.etsy.com/listing/111220349/the-boss-proud-stallion-horse-art-print

www.etsy.com/listing/108611003/sweet-red-doxie-i-love-you-dog-art-print

Isn't this artwork amazing? I am in awe of Ms. Baker-Smith's talent.

Well, it took me a while of save up the money for the custom portraits, and even longer to get just the right photos of the guys with the naturalness of expression I wanted to capture, and I finally gave up totally on getting them both looking their best in one photograph. But after a few weeks of annoying them with the camera constantly, and with great advice and input from Julene regarding photo selection, the project is underway and I'm so excited and anxious to see the results! I can hardly wait.

Do check out Julene's shop. These are just a few of her gorgeous prints, and you can get the information you need for having a custom portrait done as well if you're interested. Her prints are very reasonably priced and would make ideal gifts for anyone who loves animals or flowers--she does those, too!

 

Crawling Back in the Etsy Saddle

In case you missed it, I reopened the Etsy shops for the duration of the Olympics. I'm determined (or is that desperate?) to clear out some clutter around here, and I've got way too much vintage stuff. It's a slow start, after being away from it since before Christmas.

So I was happy this morning to find that someone had featured my nifty little vintage lace-up shoes in this very sophisticated treasury:

And last night I managed (very sleepily) to put together this one:

The Etsian who made the beautiful black-and-white treasury is such a talented artist. I visited her shop, AngelaDesign, a few minutes ago and it is filled with exuberant and delightfully bright, fun handmade polymer jewelry. Here are some examples of her work:

www.etsy.com/listing/114584638/small-elephant-rainbow-brooch-plus-drop

www.etsy.com/listing/116133182/red-texture-polymer-clay-ring

www.etsy.com/listing/129273635/french-hair-barrette-handmade-polymer

Isn't her stuff fabulous? I so adore wonderful color, and AngelaDesign has it in spades. Do check out her shop!

Another terrific artist you should know more about is Ron Krajewski. He's the one who painted the lovely watercolor of Lollia I posted  here yesterday. Not only is Mr. Krajewski an amazing artist, but so is his horse! Yes, you read that right!!

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-H-Pn6dfCVfQ/Utkb-ySOlUI/AAAAAAAAAYA/FpBux1G25rs/w426-h425/metro+and+portrait.jpg

 Here's a short video with Metro's story. This is so cool!

Ron's paintings are terrific, too. Send him a photo of your pet and he'll work with you to produce a beautiful custom watercolor. I'm so happy with mine! He also sells prints of his work. And his prices are very affordable. 

Isn't this super? Glorious color and such an evocative image. I remember my old cat Hammy (now presumed deceased--pretty sure he fell prey to coyotes) in just such a pose as this. I think I need this.

 

Please check out the artist's website:  http://www.ronkrajewski.com/
and his Etsy shop, DogArtStudio:  www.etsy.com/shop/dogartstudio

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Okay, here's what you've been waiting for. This morning's close-up of my own Olympic Rings (the ones under my eyes)...

 

Wow, it's scarier than I thought. 
Are you sure you want me to continue this saga?

 

Getting By with a Little Help from My Percolators

Original watercolor portrait of Lollia by artist Ron Krajewski

It's Day Something-or-other of the 22nd Olympiad and, while I am adjusting slightly to chronic sleep deprivation, it's still a rugged moment each morning when Lollia, my sensible little female pomeranian, begins her quiet sneezing at the side of my bed, alerting me that's it time for a quick trip outside and her breakfast. She's really most tactful about it, but if I ignore her for more than a few minutes, she will escalate to a series of very quiet growls. This is the signal that things are getting dire and she really wants to be let out now. So I flop out from under the blankets, stumble around until I find some shoes, and out I go with the tribe. Once I've been on my feet for a bit I start to "come to".

Nevertheless, what would I do without coffee? Particularly after staying up late watching people willingly destroy their knee joints on moguls, and staring blearily at packs of hunched-over skaters go circling round and round an ice rink like schools of sharks? And it that weren't bad enough I stayed up after the broadcast and read a couple of chapters of Gervase Phinn's Over Hill, Over Dale for about  half an hour before switching out the light. Ding-Dong!!!

So how am I faring today? You may judge for yourself.

Coffee! I can sleep when I'm dead! Or after the Olympics.

Coffee is a way of life in this household and I have the vintage percolators to prove it. Sadly, my favorite one died last week. It started leaking a bit and I noticed something rattling around inside the heating element. My electrician husband examined it, declared it unsafe and unrepairable, and so I have reluctantly retired it. The silly thing only lasted for--what?--fifty or sixty years? What is the world coming to?

Rest in peace, old faithful Proctor-Silex

Now I know it's not coffee percolators you want to see more of, it's that intriguing little pink furry refrigerator magnet in the background of today's portrait. Well, you're not going to. I'm too sapped to haul out the camera for more photos of that fellow now. But fortunately for you, a few days ago I did take a picture of the others which are obscured behind me in this morning's shot.

These are simply felt, fake fur, googly eyes, and pom poms, with magnets glued to the back. They're easy to do--no talent and no pattern required! I suggest you whip some out forthwith. They'd be fun to make with your kids, as well. 

Okay. Gotta dash--er--crawl off and do some housework.

By the way, I did reopen the shops temporarily and, in honor of the Olympics, you can type in coupon code 22OLYMPIC at checkout and get 22% off your order. The sale ends with the games do, though, so don't delay! I'm not listing any new stuff right now, but trying to clear out what's on hand.

Facelift: It's Becoming Unavoidable

All right, smart aleck! No, that is not me and that wasn't actually what I meant!

(The photo is from Pinterest and these are sphinx kittens, I'll have you know.)

It's just that I've been perusing some other blogs, and I realize mine is

UGLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DUDDY LOOKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HOMELY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not to mention:

VISUALLY BORING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here's a gorgeous one I just ran across, and very interesting as well:

 

http://prairieflowerfarm.blogspot.com/

It's not so much that I just now realized how blah my blog looked--I've been thinking about the need to jazz it up for a while--but now I know I REALLY need to jazz it up, get a new template, the works. Finding the time, however...always the challenge. I'd welcome any suggestions or help from readers, keeping in mind I am nearly technology-illiterate. 

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, I tortured you with a grotesque photograph at the beginning of this post, so I'll reward you now with a lovely portrait to make up for it:

Watercolor portrait of Lollia by Ron Krajewski 

This artist is on Etsy (dogartstudio is the name of his shop, if I recall, though he does other animals besides dogs). This is what I chose for my birthday present a year or so ago, having Lolly immortalized. Type in "custom pet portrait" in the search bar of Etsy and you'll find scads of wonderful and willing pet artists. Some will even do a realistic felt sculpture of your dog or cat. They're pretty amazing!

That's it for this post. I hope to unveil some new creations/works in progress in the next one.  Stay tuned!