A Bonus Monkey....

Can I tell you how much I love my friend Kathi at Out on a Whim Studio?

For the second week in a row, she is joining my Monkey Madness...

As a matter of fact, she's the one who reminded me earlier that I had not posted today....how's that for a friend?

And for that she she gets a special mention...

And look at this!

This is one of her completed pieces from last week....

Check out her blog because there's more where this came from....

And if you decide to participate, let me know....I'll definitely post a link and occasionally I'll post pics too (specially if I kind of cheated that week)....

Monkey Incognito....

Psssstt!!

Cover your eyes...this Monday's Monkey has gone undercover....

You see, I can't share what I am working on this week...

It's a secret....

I can tell you that I am working on a magazine deadline and give you a few little hints....

Here's a tiny portion of what I am working on right now for Create & Decorate. Notice the slightly blurry photo which furthers the air of mystery (couldn't have anything to do with the dreary weather or the rush I was in)....



Here's a hint about the colors I'm using...you've figured it out, right?

Sorry to be so mysterious......but I really can't share....
I can, however, share what I will be working on later in the week...
It's time for me to start thinking about the holidays (yes, the ones that start in October and end in December)....I'm starting on my Holiday patterns for 2008....Yes, I know it's not even Spring yet if you live in an area like mine, but...painters start working way ahead for gifts and shows....so I'm actually on the ball for a change....

Show Me Your Buttons!

Happy Sunday, everyone! Analise over at Sugar*Sugar has issued a challenge....She wants to see our buttons....
And do I have buttons!
If you have been reading this blog for any amount of time, you know the story of the mason jars filled with buttons that make up my blog Banner (if not just click here to read a bit more about them). Well Analise's challenge inspired me to drop everything and finally give those buttons the attention they deserve. I had been putting off (dreading the task, really) the sorting and cleaning these guys, but I use these guys in my crafting. It had become a major pain to sort through every jar for just the *right* button (read this post to see what I am talking about).
Now, thanks to Anelise, they are clean (for the most part- some were so stubborn that no amount of scrubbing got them completely clean) and sorted (although I may have to find more jars or figure out a new system because I have way too many white buttons to fit in one jar but not enough to fill up two) and photographed (the FUN part!)....
So without further rambling, I share with you...
My Buttons....



Let's start with the bling.....







The Neutral Textures...







PINK!
The coral-ly pink carved button in both photos is my absolute favorite button of the whole collection. I have four of these, waiting for a very special, still unknown, project...





Reds.... After I sorted them all, I figured out that the red buttons, for some reason, have the BEST textures and details....





Blues.... The crackled glass buttons in these photos are a close second on my favorites list...they are SO interesting to look at.....





Some funky Greens....



And, last but not least (because I didn't even get to the black and brown buttons and there are some winners in there too!) Golden Ambers....







So there you have it....a small selection of my buttons....A HUGE thank you to Analise for hosting this challenge!Now I guess I have to get back to my real chores...Or I can just go look at all the other pretty buttons....decisions, decisions....

Sneak Peek...

Analise over at Sugar*Sugar has issued a button Challenge....she wants to see 'em!

Thought I would just give you a sneak peek at tomorrow's post...I have been scrubbing and sorting my buttons (a task I have been meaning to do for almost a year)....the same ones you can see every time you visit this blog (there they are, right up there on my banner)....

After working so hard, I am pooped! But the photos are taken and I will blog them all tomorrow (and there's a ton of pictures-had a blast taking them all)....so make sure you check back tomorrow for more eye candy.....

I finally got a Treasury!

I have been trying to get a Treasury on Etsy for what seems like forever....I just don't seem to have the stick-to-it-ness (ie patience) it seems to take to snag one...

Well the trick seems to be sit on the phone chatting with your sister, watching the screen as you talk... and poof!....there's the magic box down at the bottom of the screen....ok not quite that simple, but I did notice that the numbers were getting low as I did my morning Etsy run, so I decided to keep the Treasury window open and see what happened....

It's just a happy little treasury....I doubt there's any chance of it being on page one of the hot list or anything else, but these are just a few of my favorites and they all make me smile....that goes a long way in my world....

Monkey on TuesdaY....

My good friend Kathi over at Out on a Whim Studio (don't you just love that name? I am a big fan of quirky, clever business names and Kathi's is one of my faves) joined yesterday's Monkey in the Middle Festivities...

Kathi is a great altered artist with a vintage/prim influence. She makes the best grungy tags ( I have a ton of them to prove it). Go check out what she's in the middle of this week....but knowing her, she's probably finished the projects in her pics- she's fast!

The Monkey Is BACK!!

Woohoo!! I have something to share with you this week!

First off, I have to acknowledge one other brave soul who joined me last week (but she didn't tell me, so I have an excuse for not sharing her link). My friend Cassie at Mockingbird Hill gave us a peek at what she was working on last week....and I have to admit I was intrigued by her photo (and she apologized for being a day late....hey my Monkey never even showed up last week!)...Thanks for participating Cassie! Hope your Momma's on the fast road to recovery....

And now, on with the show....

I'm not really in the middle of this one....almost done, actually....just have to add some bits and baubles and bling (more?) and she's outta here....ok, parking on Etsy, hoping someone will like her enough to adopt....

For obvious reasons, I call this one "Our House"...

I have always loved that song "Our House" by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young....I have a slew of these plaques that I have had for almost a year waiting for the right project...I finally found it over the weekend when this little picture came together...

Sometimes, things just click in your head and you just know what you will do...how it will come together...the planets align, your fortune turns and the process is easy.... If you are a lucky soul, it happens to you often....if you're me, it's a rare bird and you better enjoy it before it flies the coop....

So anyway, on Friday, I was boiling eggs to color and humming this song to myself when the light bulb finally came on (must be one of those energy efficient fluorescent things that takes forever to turn on completely)...paint it, genius!

So I finished my eggs, dug out one of these plaques and got started....

There are allot of different mediums and influences in this one...I used a bit of my scrap booking/tag making skills, a bit of the altered art influence with some different surfaces and mediums. The cottage/shabby/ girly thing got a shout out too, with plenty of German Glass glitter (vintage buttons and ribbons to follow) and light, sunny colors, and of course, decorative painting (because at the end of the day, that is who I am)....

So I'm thrilled to be able to actually share something with you....

And I hope the upcoming week is joyfully productive and creative for you too!

Happy M-m-Monday to YOU!!

Isn't She Lovely??

Oh, I have (obvoiusly!) not been blogging over the past week or so- my apologies....

In my defense, had the perfect storm of "gotta be done- RIGHT NOW" events take place recently. We are getting ready for Mr. Sunshine's departure and the Army requires most everything to be packed up and shipped out long before the actual soldier leaves. This means Mrs. Sunshine (yours truly) got to do the running last week to get all of the little things that Mr. Sunshine wanted in his foot locker...gopher duty + Easter + a slew of tag orders last week (tags are what is keeping my Etsy shop hopping...I love making them but I hope peeps catch on to the painting soon).....

Soooooo.......I have some catching up to do.....

First and foremost is the highlight of last week!

ISN'T SHE LOVELY?

My new blog friend Tracy over at The Vintage Sister Studio recently sponsored a giveaway that I was lucky enough to win (and I NEVER win anything! I think entered almost every OWOH giveaway and won not one little tiny bit of trim or pretty pretty needful)....

Every single thing about this tiny treasure is perfect...the polka dots (which are one of my recent obsessions), the sweet girl with her bird's nest of hair and her feathered friends...the quote: "A good little house" (because even though my style seems to be changing, my favorite thing to paint is still houses). It's all perfect for me....and I love it!

Make sure you check out Tracy's blog and visit her Etsy shop...

If you are not smiling when you're done browsing (most likely you will smile long before that!), you must be having a very bad day....

Thanks again, Tracy...you made my week!

Happy Easter!

The Easter Bunny has done his job for yet another year.....He's taking his buds and goin' fishin'....

I hope you all have a wonderful day filled with happiness and family, sunshine and spring flowers...

HAPPY EASTER!!

Oh no....

But I have a good excuse!

I got swamped (in a great way!) with orders this weekend, on top of some that I was still catching up on AND a really busy week last week (i.e. no painting time after I finished the Easter Treat Cups)....it all adds up to no monkeys this week....

Got to catch up and then I'll be playing again....soon I hope....

....sigh....

There's lots of ideas swirlin' around in the noggin'....just got to get to them...

Hope your week was a tad more creative!

:o)

Six Word Memoir....

The Heart of Life is GOOD....

That would have to be my six words. Don't think they are truly autobiographical, but they are the six words that always come to me.....in happy times, sad times.... any time I want to remind myself that yes, Life IS good....because of, or possibly in spite of, what is happening at any particular moment.

These are baby pics of yours truly, by the way...had some Photoshop fun with them....that's my Dad holding me. I'm about six months old. Family really is at the heart of it all, isn't it? Good and bad, biological or not...we all have family and it forms our lives....

Blondie over at Vintage Primitives tagged me to write a six word memoir meme. I think she picked me because of my sense of humor....really? :o) Sorry I didn't make this funny Blondie, but this was the first and only thing that came to my mind....the more I thought, the more I came back to these six words. I think that's a sign that I got it right for me.

Anyway......

Six words that sum up your life. Seriously (and "He Called me his Huckleberry Pinhead" -see my LOST post- just doesn't cut it).....

Ernest Hemingway was bet $10.00 that he couldn't sum up his life in six words. He won that bet when he wrote:

"For sale, baby shoes, never worn."

You can go to Bookbabie's blog and read about the book that was inspired by his quote and how it influenced her to start this meme.

Now the rules are:

1. Write your own six word memoir

2. Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you’d like

3. Link to the person that tagged you in your post and to this original post if possible, so we can track it as it travels across the blogosphere

4. Tag five more blogs with links

5.Remember to leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play!

I am inviting the following folks to come out and play. Show us your memoir, girls:

*Kaffi at Out on a Whim Studios

*Roseann at Rosebud's Cottage

*Cassie at Mockingbird Hill

*Chrisi at A Sugar and Spice Life

and

Jan over at The Polka Dot Barn

I love reading every one of these blogs for completely different reasons.....

Can't wait to see their SIX WORDS....

He Called me his Huckleberry!

OK....."Pinhead" was added to the end of "Huckleberry" and he didn't really say I was "his" huckleberry pinhead, BUT.....gotta start somewhere right?

If you are a LOST-ie like I am (my world literally stops rotating from 9-10pm EST every Thursday night), this is so much fun....

Get your very own world-famous Sawyer nickname right here !!

Now if they'd just actually show a little bit more of Sawyer this season, I'd be a happy camper...

It's about HOPPIN' Time....

They are DONE!

Worked most of the day on Monday's Monkey project because two consecutive appearances on my Monday post is the new limit....plus it's way too close to Easter (note to self: next New Year's, check the calendar and CIRCLE Easter with a big PINK Sharpie....). Story of my life: should have been done with Easter stuff a couple of weeks ago.....

These pictures aren't the best, but I wanted to share....

Mr. Sunshine is working late tonight, doing hooah soldier stuff, so I think I will take advantage of the extra time and start the pattern right now.....

These finished pieces will be listed tomorrow on Etsy. My fingers are crossed for some good natural light tomorrow morning so I can get some more detailed photos...got to decide how I will offer them also..... a complete set of four, in pairs, individually....

I can't decide...any opinions?

A Happy HAPPY Birthday....

To my friend Chrisi over at A Sugar and Spice Life!!!

If you have not had a chance to smile this morning (or even if you have...one can never be too happy, right?)....go see Chrisi's blog....

Check out her Etsy mini....looks like an Andy Warhol- style portrait of sweet Gracie Annies!

I love it!!

And I ♥ Chrisi too!

She's one of my "sisters" from the Secret Society of Dirty Sisters (the "dirty" references our shared love of anything aged: vintage, prim, shabby- if it has a HISTORY, we love it!)....

We started as an Ebay group, and many of us are still listing there, but we have also branched out to form an Etsy street team....

More importantly, we are friends- the best kind of cyber friends who are there for each other through the good, bad, and ugly stuff that life tends to throw our way....I cherish each and every one of them (sniff....sniff....I'm getting a bit verklempt....) and that's all I've got to say 'bout that....for now....

A Most Likely too late for Easter MIM MONDAY....

I have developed a routine lately: for my painted pieces, seems to take me a couple of weeks to finish a pattern project (more like a tortoise than a hare). Orders have been keeping me busy, so I'm not complaining...but it makes for a rather redundant Monkey....

I have made progress on these Easter Treat buckets....

This is the little girl bunny....she still needs a face. I always seem to save faces for last because they are a challenge for me....but I have given her a name....meet Clover....

But Poppy....he's too distinguished (despite the pink coat-lol!) to be a "boy" bunny....this is definitely a grown-up...so I have named him Poppy...maybe he's the wee one's Grand Dad....He looks a bit spotty because I have already sprinkled him with German glass glitter...All he needs is a bit of the rick rack trim, a few buttons and a handle....and then.... *poof*.....he's real.....

The polka dotted pots will have my favorite quotes from my favorite hare tale: The Velveteen Rabbit.....

This project will be finished this week...pattern available by next Monday at the latest....maybe a little late for Easter but hey, good patterns never go bad....and always in season for all you wabbit fans like me....

So anybody else want to share? I promise I will post any links sent to me....ask Janna...

:o)

Here's to the start of a great, productive, creative week.....

Happy Mon-Mon-Monkey Monday!!