Theme Thursday ~ Flying

Happy New Year! I am celebrating the new year by entering a new challenge. The challenges are so much fun, I am going to attempt to enter some new ones in the year ahead. This one is for Theme Thursday. The theme is Flying.

Just wanted to say I hope everyone has a safe New Year's Eve and a happy, healthy 2010 filled with peace and love! Well, we can dream, can't we?

Two Favorite Purchases 

I have been MIA for the past week, so now have tons to do to whip my blog into shape!

First, I hope everyone had the merriest of holidays and will have a happy, healthy, and creative new year! I'm looking forward to all the possibilities that a new year can hold.

Second, but no less important, I'd like to show off two creations I acquired during the holidays. Both are jewelry pieces and are from two of my team members at Inspiration Avenue.

The first I purchased as a gift, and when I saw it I thought twice about giving it because I wanted it for myself! But the angel on my shoulder prevailed over the devil on the other shoulder and I gave it to the intended recipient who was absolutely ecstatic!  It is a gorgeous key holder by Mana Moon Studios. I am going to browse her shop again as soon as my bank account recovers from the holidays... Please visit and see for yourself how exquisite are her creations!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/manamoon

I purchased the second item after my holiday shopping was finished so happily decided I would keep this one for myself (it feels so wicked to do that during Christmas). This is from my team member Pat. Pat actually has three Etsy shops (!) :  She shows her wonderful photography at Photogenic Gallery; she has a vintage shop 2nd Generation Vintage with all sorts of interesting discoveries; and she sells her handmade jewelry at PatK860 Jewelry Designs, which is where I found this amazing necklace. I love the soft peachy color and the beautiful Asian-looking focal bead. Visit all three of her shops and you will be in for a treat!

There are so many talented members at Inspiration Avenue, each with her own unique creative style! Each member has a blog and at least one Etsy shop ~ visit each one for a truly inspiring experience!

Inspiration Avenue Weekly Challenge

"Hidden"

What a crazy week. And just happens I chose this week to try something relatively new for me AND something I have to photograph! I have newfound empathy for everyone who must take photos for their Etsy shop; how do you do it???
Since my work is digital, I have happily skipped over
all the posts, tutorials, etc. on

HOW TO TAKE GOOD PHOTOS.

Not a good thing.

So on to the theme, "Hidden"!
There is a quote I like by George Bernard Shaw that goes:
"When a thing is funny, search it for a hidden truth".

I like the way truth can be hidden in humor.

I made a collage using clowns, which I think can be funny and sad at the same time.  I often wonder what their lives are like when they are not performing. It's something they keep hidden while they are being amusing.

Visit Inspiration Avenue Sunday afternoon to check out all the

creative entries in the "Hidden" challenge!

Winter Wonderland

or... it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

There is a beautiful white pine in the yard in back of ours.

I don't know if the blurriness is due to my

poor photography skills

or the fact that it was snowing hard! But in real life

it looks so amazing covered with snow.

So on this last weekend before Christmas

I'll be venturing out in the blizzard

with the other procrastinators to finish my shopping!

Happy  Holidays!

Choose any 3 collage sheets in my Etsy shop 

for just $5.50!

All sheets on sale! You choose!

Inspiration Avenue Weekly Challenge

Imagine

The theme this week was "Imagine/Imagination", conjuring up some very intriguing possibilities. But it was a lot harder than I thought it would be, with nobody giving me a keyword, as it were. I have no idea what this is about, except that the cat is checking out the robin! And I am always attracted to fairies and other wee magical creatures.

The center image is from an 1896 painting by Frederick Howard Michael, called "Titania", of a fairy sleeping on her wings with some devilish little fairies sneaking up on her. The cat is, of course, my "devil kitty". The robin is from an 1858 painting by John Anster Fitzgerald titled "Robin Defending His Nest". The gnomes/elves are from vintage postcards.

I wanted to make this an actual collage rather than a digital collage, and I had planned on adding some embellishments. But alas, my printer is almost out of ink. I had plenty of time to run to Staples to replenish it, but as luck would have it the entire region is being hit with freezing rain this morning! Cars that have ventured out are piling up on top of each other! When you look outside, it just appears to be a rainy day. But the roads are covered with a sheet of ice, so I am staying put for now.

Please visit Inspiration Avenue to see all of the entries!

Free Download of Vintage Skiers

Here is an image of two skiers from my collection that I have hand-colored. Ski apparel has certainly changed! Feel free to download and use in your own art work. Just do not use the image itself in any collection for sale or to give away.

Wow, Look What I Just Made!

I just discovered Animoto.com. It's so easy! This is one I put together not knowing what the heck I was doing. I'm going to try a better one. It's free to make a short, 30-second video, of course they would like you to pay to create a longer one. For now, I'm just going to play!

Inspiration Avenue Weekly Challenge

Peaches and Cream

O boy, another challenge to make me hungry! Peaches and Cream! I decided to go with the colors that this reminds me of, which are soft hues of yellow, pink, and of course peach.

It began to look a little pale, so I snapped a picture of my kitchen floor and put it on the wall. My cat thought it was time to eat and kept getting in the picture. This is not the "devil kitty", but the one the devil kitty torments. She sticks to me like glue because I protect her from the evil cat.

I liked the contrast between the black and the peach. The Alice-in-Wonderland-type girl on the stairs looks like she is dreaming or hallucinating the strange images, so I added a line from the story. My apologies to Lewis Carroll.

Visit Inspiration Avenue Sunday afternoon to see all of the entries in this week's challenge, or better yet, join in for next week's challenge if you don't already! Info is posted on IA's blog.

The Great Debate: Real or Artificial?

This is the first year we are seriously considering buying an artificial Christmas tree. Up til now, I have just adored having an actual real tree in my house during the month of December!  Here is our last year's real tree. Our ornaments are always a hodge-podge of things that we have collected over the years. Someday I would love to do a themed tree!

I love the piny scent of the branches, and I guess I just have an aversion to things that are "fake", whether that's a valid point or not. I'm sure I use hundreds of things every week that are "fake" and think nothing of it!

Now there is the "green" debate, which adds to the confusion.  I had to look it up, because I wasn't sure which was more environmentally friendly, real or artificial. I should have just asked one of our lovely new team members at Inspiration Avenue, Cyndi of Small Footprints. She's the "eco-friendly" guru, and would have been able to offer help! As it was I ended up at Julie's Health Club, where she has pros and cons of the Christmas tree options. I am still confused of course! Our original goal was to be more economical, since we would not be shelling out large amounts of cash each December. We would just bite the bullet and shell out a bigger amount once! Makes sense right?

Well, we are off to see what we can find!  Judging from what I've read, though, I think the greener choice might still be a real tree! Is your tree real or artificial? Which do you like? I'd love to hear comments on this great debate!

December 9: I want to thank you all  for the comments you left about the real vs. artificial trees! And just to let you know ~ we  bought a *faux*  tree that actually looks very nice. I have it semi-decorated, and once it is finished I'll post a picture. The good points are: 

1 ~ The lights are already on it,

2 ~ It is tall and rather narrow and actually fits the available space in the house better than the kind of chunky frasier firs we were getting,

3 ~ I started to go to the kitchen to get a pitcher of water and then realized, Hey I don't ever have to water the tree again, and

4 ~ It went up in no time and we didn't have the agonizing ritual of making sure it wasn't leaning one way or the other! All in all, a good decision!

What?!? (Sorry I Missed This County Fair...)

While browsing through my vintage photos with the weekly challenge at Inspiration Avenue in mind (the theme happens to be "Peaches and Cream"), I came across this poster for the Greene County Fair circa 1890.  Now Peaches and Cream is a lovely theme for a county fair, but this poor little milkmaid  looks like she has a serious sinus problem! Even the cow is concerned!

So, no, this isn't my submission for the challenge (unless I run out of time lol)! But I just wanted to share this curiosity. If anyone would like to use it for anything, feel free to download! Now I had better quit fooling around and get to work . . .