Happy Day

Everyone have a great yummy delicious day! I will be traveling most of today. My biggest wish is that I can pack everything in my suitcase and not lose my luggage.
Picture found here.

Etsy Feature Wednesday...on Friday!

I missed my normal Wednesday feature because of travels and hectic family events but I want to be sure to feature this shop before the weekend is over. Bliss Candles is a shop with many beautiful candles that have so many great scents. There are a lot of great scents for summer and winter. The packaging is beautiful and would make a great Christmas gift/stocking stuffer. Bliss Candles is having a sale through Monday so check it out now for great deals. Also, check out their blog here for more info. Buy your candles here!!

Tacky, Campy and Beautiful

I did something silly. If you've seen my work you may have noticed my recent obsession with triangle flags. There's something so beautiful about them. So after spending a day going all over town (much to the delight of my driver who just wanted to go home) I finally found my triangle banner at a party store. I don't know why I didn't immediately think of the party store (much to the delight of my driver who just wanted to go home). So I had my flag but I didn't know where to put it. I considered putting it in my studio but I was afraid I wouldn't see it often enough. So one day when I got a gust of enery and determination to clean my messy apaprtment I finally decided to hang the flags. My apartment has now gone as completely camp as it can. I feel a little like I'm living in a car lot. But I love it! And it's such eye candy! They make the bleak TV area a little more festive now. What do you think? Too tacky? ( :

The Night Before the Night Before Thanksgiving.

I'm trying to tie up loose ends before I fly home for Thanksgiving. Instead of packing I've been watching Strangers With Candy with some of my friends. I love that show! This is a small effort at being productive... Posting a new blog... right? Success!

The above picture is a photo of the spoons I was using the other day when I was silkscreening. I love all the yummy colors! These colors helped me produce one of my newer pieces, Monster Towers. I wish the spoons would stay that way forever.

Tomorrow is my Etsy Feature day. I will try my hardest to do the post tomorrow but it may be later at night. Look for it here, and happy holidays!!

Amy Louise Waits

I just added this little piece to my Etsy shop.  It's titled Amy Louise Waits and it's all about waiting around optimistically for something perfect to happen.  You can find it here.  It's also on papernstitch.com here.  Don't forget if you haven't already, go to papernstitch and vote for my shop if you would be so kind.  All you have to do is quickly register in the top right corner and then click on my shop, abeautifulparty, and click the heart on the avatar. Thank you thank you for doing this for me!

Things to See Sounds to Hear

I was catching up on blogs during breaks at work and while looking at A Faciful Twist's blog I discovered some videos that I had no idea existed. Since I'm at work I haven't been able to watch them all but I really want to encourage everyone to check them out. The Eternal Children has six parts. This should get you to the first video. It features many of my favorite singers including Cocorosie and Antony Hegarty. Without trying to sound super cheesy their music moves me so much. I have some really sad memories associated with the Antony and the Johnsons CD so I can't listen to it very often but it's absolutely beautiful. And I've loved Cocorosie since they made their first album in their bathroom. Check them out and watch the The Eternal Children videos. They are very inspiring.

Here are some music videos to check out also.

Hope There's Someone- Antony and the Johnsons

Rainbow Warriors - Cocorosie

Little Houses

I just did some drawings of these little houses. They are made of gel pens and house little ghost families.  Unfortunately I got some ink where it shouldn't be so I don't feel right trying to sell these in etsy.  Instead I'm thinking of making digital prints or else getting some cards made with these houses on them.  What do you think?  Anyone make gyclee prints of their work? Do you use a particular place that is nice but affordable? Please let me know.

Today I helped rake leaves and had fantasies of making a bonfire and roasting marshmallows.  This will happen soon, I hope.

New Art On Etsy

I'm having computer problems it seems and I'm not able to upload the main image of my new work called Monster Towers.  You can see the full piece on my etsy site here.  I'm really excited about these new monsters I'm creating.  At my last critique my professor said I was getting to comfortable with my ghost character and that I should start inventing new guys.  These came about when I was painting a lot in my studio.  I love the way paint drips down so I was trying to emulate that in a controlled way.  The main shapes are screenprinted on and then I drew into them with gel pen and prisma colors.  Be looking for more monsters like these coming soon!

Tags!

Maria-Thérèse Andersson at afiori tagged my blog and asked me to write eight things about myself and tag eight others to do the same. Lets see how this goes...

----------8 things about me---------

*I'm originally from a tiny town in Kentucky that is dry (no alcohol) but has bootleggers in the trailer park. It's like prohibition without all the cool jazz clubs and hip clothes.

* I love the cool, crisp sound of ice popping in water and also love it when someone's voice sounds that way. It gives me chills.

* I draw ghosts but I don't think I've ever seen a ghost and I never want to see a ghost but I kind of want to see a ghost... follow?

* I can't stand the sound of a chain rattling.

* I'm afraid of the dark.

* I may like hearing ice pop but I absolutely hate hearing people chew ice. It gives me chills so bad it takes my breath away.

* I tend to make up stories for a lot of people I see and they are often terribly sad stories that leave me depressed for the rest of the day.

* I have had a cold for the past three months. It won't go away!

And now to tag eight others:

A Fanciful Twist
Jennyfur's Sketchbook and Oddities
Leililaloo
Lilidoll
Millions Of People Happy
The Crochet Bakery
Local Monster
The Yellow Elephant


I also received this awesome Blog award from The Yellow Elephant. I'm suppose to pass it on to five other bloggers. With so many great blogs it's hard to just choose five.

afiori- she keeps a great blog and is always so kind and encouraging of my work. Thank You!
inside a black apple - I've always loved this blog. Emily Martin's work is beautiful and she's a neat person.
aesthetic outburst- A definite favorite and Abbey Hendrickson is an amazing artist.
the Adventures of Cassie - a classmate and friend, her work is so beautiful.
Paper and Stitch -a beautiful blog and they do so much for the indie art community.

Okay. That was hard. I think i distributed out awards and tags to great bloggers but there are many many more blogs that i love love love. another day...
have a good friday!

thank you thank you

Here's another of my favorite birthday party photos. This is a family photo. My mother is the cute little baby on the left side that looks like she's anxious for cake and balloons. My uncle is the smug little boy on the left with the suspenders. He's my father's brother. There may be other cousins or relatives in the photo but I haven't been able to identify them. This is my absolute favorite party photo. Look at the balloons! And the party dresses! Don't you want to be there?

I want to thank everyone for the great comments I've been receiving on my posts. It looks like I'm getting some new readers so Welcome welcome! I've also received a few blog awards and tags and am anxious to get to those but today I'm a little strapped for time because I'm getting to the studio so late and need to get some plates etching and some drawings started. Tomorrow may be a little easier to slow down. Today my morning was filled with waffles and crossword puzzles and a little sample of Joan Baez music and it was quite delightful. I hope th rest of my day is just as nice. And yours too...

Etsy Feature Wednesday

I just recently posted in the Etsy forum about my weekly feature and had many people respond for consideration. It was so hard choosing a shop for this week because there were so many great responses but this shop has been a favorite for quite a while. BritishCreamTea is a shop filled with yummy delicous felt treats. I love how beautiful food can look and when it's made of felt it can last forever.
There are many many items in the shop and they are all made from recycled felt. Since it's birthday party month for me I definitely have my eye on the cupcake.

I just discoverd the blog for this shop and I'm very excited to start reading. Look for it here.

Happy Hump Day.

Sitting Pretty Studio: Kisses Card Set Giveaway

Sitting Pretty Studio: Kisses Card Set Giveaway

And the Theme Is Birthdays...

A friend of mine found these old photos and gave them to me because I have a current obsession with old birthday photos.  Since this month is my birthday month I thought I would share these.  For my birthday I really want to have an old fashioned birthday party where everyone dresses in their Sunday best and doilies are laid out on the table and fancy balloons and streamers decorate the place.  But instead I'll be flying back to Illinois on my birthday and I don't think I can get the airport to do anything special. So instead I'll reminisce with other people's memories. 

These two pictures are unrelated but I think it would be so magical if they were the same person.  I wish I wish I wish....

Most of the photos I have are are family photos but it's my new favorite thing to look for at antique/thrift stores.  I'm thinking about doing a print series with the images.  More on that in the future.

Happy happy birthday to anyone. It should be your birthday everyday, minus the aging.

Balloons and Rainbows

I recently re-discovered some old drawings of mine and I think it's funny that some things seem to never change. Not only did I draw on fabulous rainbow stationary, I also seemed to have a thing for drawing balloons over and over again. Notice how they are always in sets of threes. Those are some design skills!

These drawings were made when I was three years old.  

Now I'm twenty-five and I can't say my work has changed much at all.  I'm still drawing balloons, still using pink and blue and still looking for any kind of awesome rainbow stationary!

Paper n Stitch

For the next month my work is featured on papernstitch! I'm very excited to be part of this website. There are a lot of amazing artists on the site. Thanks so much to the wonderful people who run paper n stitch for all they do for the indie art community.

Take a look at the website and if you would please rate my store. The shop with the highest rating gets a free month on paper n stitch. I think you have to register to vote but it's a quick an easy process.

I'd also like to send many many thank yous to the shop Hafandeg. She put a link to my site on her blog and her shop is beautiful. Hop over and check it out!

Have a great Saturday, readers. Do something lovely!

Cards are Here!! And a Monster Rally!

I finally added one of my new manila pieces to my etsy shop. You can find it here. I'm selling it in the frame so it's a little pricier than my usual stuff. It's called Monster Rally and it's one of my favorite manila pieces. I hope you like it!

Plus! I finally got cards made with some of my other work on them. I've been wanting to do this for a long time and I finally bit the bullet and did it. I'll wait and see the interest before I get more made. Are there any pieces of mine you'd like to see on a card? They are being sold in sets of five and ten. Check them out here and here.

Thanks for looking!

Etsy Feature Wednesday!

I know I've featured Michelle Moode's blog on here before but she just added new work to her shop and it's so scrumptious I have to show it off. The piece above has me especially drooling. Michelle sews teabags together and then prints and sews on them. They are so beautiful and tactile.


This next piece above is called Islands Since, Almost. It's so full of texture and yummy marks. I also love Michelle's titles for her works. They take something already dreamy and give them even more of an ethereal quality.

Michelle has also made an adorable series of work based on images from her mom's 1950's Girl Scout Handbook. They are so whimsical and fun. Very darling.

Check out her shop and fall in love!

Visiting Artist Mark Hosford!

The past weekend has been busy busy. But the delightfully busy kind. We had a visiting artist in our shop and the printmaking students helped him pull an 18 color silkscreen print. I've been a fan of Mark Hosford's work for a long time so it was a real pleasure to meet and work with him. I was able to learn screenprinting tips that will save me tons of trouble. He's an amazing artist with beautiful work and wonderful stories. Check out his site here. Make sure the sound is on your computer. As soon as I get my photos uploaded I'll put them on here. We have some great ones of all of us working and then destryoying the bad prints in the end. We told Mark we were changing the word Art to Mark because he's the greatest Art!
Mark is a printmaking professor at Vanderbilt and I got the image off the Vanderbilt website at:
https://sitemason.vanderbilt.edu/arts/faculty

Jell-o Mold

Jell-O!!!!

I mentioned in a previous blog that I went to several antique/thrift stores the other day. One of the amazing things I found was this book on Jell-os. I admit I don't love to eat Jell-o but I love the many things you can do with it. I'm tempted to quit making drawings and prints and work strictly in Jell-o. The molds are both silly and beautiful.

I love this book because it shows different kinds of parties and events where Jell-o is a great idea for a dessert. Like this nice couple who probably live in the suburbs. They brought a charming round mold that matches their clothing.

But Jell-o isn't just for the suburban family dinner party... These cool sophisticates also enjoy Jell-o. It's for everyone!

I love how the party above is so dedicated to Jell-o that all their dishes are Jell-o dishes and the lady's clothing even coordinate well with dishes. Okay, I know it's obviously set up for the book but I really really want to believe that the image came first, not the book. Maybe this party really happened and that's what inspired someone to write a book about Jell-o. Let's all hope...

See that awesome pink mold in the bottom right corner... I will make it my business to find that mold and make that same dish. If any readers find the mold let me know where it can be purchased. I'll check eBay of course but what else?

This blog does not make me walk away craving Jell-o. Maybe it will for you. But I do feel like my eyes have filled up on beautiful eye candy. Hopefully you feel that way, too!

Etsy Feature Wednesday!

So I've still been a little M.I.A. in blogland. I've been trying to catch up on everything in life including reading all my favorite blogs. My awesome houseguest left yesterday and I was terribly sad to see her go but my tears soon dried when Obama won the election! Can you believe it? I'm afraid to think about it too much and it turn out to be a dream. I feel the intense energy that's being put out all around the world and it feels good. I'm exhausted today but so happy I can't even complain. I won't even yawn. I swear I won't.

But I realize today is Wednesday and I'm very excited to present this shop to you. It's another shop I found almost immediately after opening my own shop and I loved the work so much.

Pinkshirtsncarwrecks is a neat shop that has an assortment of art and vintage goods. There aren't a ton of items in the shop but what is there is nice quality. I love collage art and this is a good shop to find it.

You can learn more about Pinkshirtsncarwrecks on their blog here.

This shop is so awesome. Go take a look, give it a heart, and have a great day!

Halloween Hiatus

Yikes! I've been away from my blog and the internet for so long.  The past week has been busy busy. My friends from Drive-By Press were here.  Check out their website in the margins.  Katy, pictured above, stayed with me and we've had Barbie Slumber Party for the past week.  We've talked about boys, tanning and art for seven days.  And we shopped at H & M.  

The pic in the middle is an image of our Halloween costumes.  We were bandits. or something.  We threw the costume together last minute but it was tight.

What did everyone else do for Halloween?

P.s. just started a flickr account. will post more halloween photos soon.