Thursday, August 30, 2007

New Listings on eBay!


Wow, I've finally got some new items listed! You can click on the link on the left hand side of this page where it says: "My eBay", to see the details OR Bid :-} if you'd like. That will take you to my "ME" page ~ where, at the very bottom, you can click on "Auctions" to find them all! Punch Needle embroidery is so much fun to do, and it's an easy "portable" project you can work on anywhere. I'm so very pleased with how these all turned out!










Tuesday, August 21, 2007

One of My Favorite Holidays!

I'm chomping at the bit here for cooler weather now! Although Fall, here, does not put on the colorful display I grew up with, were are close enough to Asheville to be leaf peepers!

One of my favorite holidays is Halloween. I shall forever recall fond memories of my Mom dressing up as a witch to hand out treats to the neighborhood children, and taking great pleasure in giving them all a witchly fright!

Although I don't have much inventory ready to list for the season, I've got plenty of templates...Here's my latest Halloween-themed design!



Hope everyone enjoys a well-designed day!

Sunday, August 19, 2007

My Wish for You

I've been playing with some of the digital images I've captured recently, adding quotes that seem to play off the image. Here's one I did today, although I'm not entirely satisfied with it. It's really difficult to find a font and color that shows up really well when you try to reduce the size of the image.



Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Saturday, August 18, 2007

A Day at the (Private) Beach

DH took the afternoon off from work yesterday to get a little boating in ~ With a boat slip right at the condo, it's convenient for him to get out fishing and exploring the many crooks and crannies of the inner coastal waterways. I'm glad I wasn't with him the day he got caught up in the oyster beds with the tide going out!



It was a gorgeous, hazy, Friday afternoon, the temperature perfect when catching that brisk ocean wind. The tide was going out, and the current was not too strong this day, making for a pleasurable outing.


We moored the boat at the very end of Kiawah Island, past the "bird sanctuary island" which you are not allowed on, the dogs took a swim...




..and we found a huge orange buoy which appeared to have come in on the tide from the big water!


We headed back to the condo to finish our cooler of Coronas on the screened-in porch. When we reached the dock and DH was spraying the saltwater off the boat, disaster struck! Sophie had jumped (or fallen ~ we can't decide which since it happened so fast), off the end of the dock, 15 feet below into the water. Although I immediately panicked, DH kept his head, calmly instructing me to lower the boat lift back down to the water while he wrapped the water hose around the steel beam. When he was about 8 feet above the water, he held onto the hose and jumped in, quickly rescuing poor Sophie!

And so, all's well that ends well! We shall have some wonderful memories of this day of pure bliss!

Friday, August 17, 2007

Where I Come From...

Born and raised in Tupper Lake, New York, one of the many small towns that make up an area known as The Adirondack Mountains, I enjoyed a carefree upbringing in much simpler times. Here is a wonderful link to my birthplace, with some very interesting "external links" (go toward the bottom of the page) ~ for the Adirondack Museum, where my father and grandfather worked for many years on its construction and restoration of the exhibits. Also, be sure to check out the external link for "Adirondack History" for an interesting read!

The Adirondack Mountains

Home of the Adirondack chair, the famous Great Camps with twig furniture, and tramp art, the harsh clime and remoteness of this region certainly spawned the earliest efforts of "make-do"!

In 1990, I moved to Atlanta, Georgia, to be closer to the majority of my family who had moved South to follow work in the construction industry. Born in the late 1920's, my father worked with his father at many of the Adirondack Great Camps. His career as a construction superintendent evolved, taking him away from home often to provide for his 6 children, but enriched life greatly for he enjoyed travel immensely. Mom and Dad's travel journeys include Israel, Rome, Hawaii, the Caribbean, and other destinations up and down the eastern US seaboard. He is now retired in the Atlanta area.

I'm proud to be part of the "third generation of builders" in my family. Some of the favorite projects I was involved in include the South Carolina Aquarium in Charleston, Strom Thurmond Fitness Center in Columbia, SC, and the Olympic Village project in Atlanta which now serves as dormitories for the University of Georgia. My twin brother owns his own commercial general contracting firm, and a younger brother continues his career as a general superintendent.

Recently, DH and I decided to "get off the road", quit traveling from job to job with a national commercial contractor, and put some roots down. We had moved like 7 times in 8 years and it was getting really old. Hubby had a great opportunity in the greater Greenville-Spartanburg area of South Carolina, which has allowed us to purchase our first, very own home in a small town ~ Travelers Rest.


While I have not been successful re-entering the work force in the general contracting industry here, I've embarked on a very creative period in my life ~ designing, fashioning and creating primitive and folk art that I sell from time to time on eBay. It keeps me occupied doing something I love until the right job opportunity does come along.

Until next time ~ have a well-designed day!

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Spreading a Little Cheerfulness



To me there's nothing as cheerful as the sight of a sunflower ~ I do believe it's one of my favorite flowers! Sunflowers could never fall in the "pretentious" catetory of blooms ~ They speak of old farmhouse fields and cottage-style blooms ~ some of the things that are "sew (very!) dear to me."

If you find the print too small to read, the quote says:

"The Sunflow'r, thinking 'twas for him foul shame,
To nap by Daylight, strove t'excuse the blame:
It was not sleep that made him nod, he said,
But too great weight and largeness of his head."

(By Abraham Cowley ~ Of Plants)

Monday, August 13, 2007

My newest Graphic Design Auction Templates



NEW for Halloween and fall eBay auctions, I had a GREAT time designing these just before my Mom took ill and spent a month in and out of the hospital. She had new & improved hardware installed ~ a total of 3 arterial stents and a pacemaker! We've started calling her the Bionic Woman ~ anyone remember Lindsay Wagner??!! I'm so happy she's finally on the mend for we had some very bad days fretting and worrying about her recovery.

I'm starting to feel like I enjoy the graphic design work more than the sewing, stuffing, painting, & "primming" handmade items! Without any formal education or training, it's provided a real challenge for me.







Guess I missed the boat on this one ~ I'll have to change up the text "Christmas in July" to something a little more current!


My Blog Spot ~ New Today!

Good Day!
I've decided to start a Blog and see where it leads...

Everybody's "doin' it", so why not! It will be a couple of weeks before I can devote a good chunk of time to tweak the site, add some interesting photos and my artist group affiliations. Please do come back and check on what's new!

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