Handmade Furniture on Etsy - Under the apple tree canopy bed - Modern romantic Scandinavian design Sleep Therapy woodland fairy tale by attiladesign

I just love wonderful beds to help dream away the bad stuff in. I've posted others before but I have been in love with this one since making a treasury with it for the New Year of the trees this past winter. I can't afford it but would sure love to have one.
Check it out, she also makes some pretty avant garde clothing as well.

Happy Memorial Day!

This year it falls early, not at the end of the month because the last Monday in the month is today, the 25th of May. It was very auspicious that it did, for my husbands Birthday was this weekend, the same weekend of a big festival in our town that also has been graced since Thursday, with the replica of the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington DC.

My Husband is a Vietnam Veteran, he served there 68-69. He was not welcomed home after suffering through rocket attacks almost every night, jungle rot, spiders sleeping on him the size of dinner plates, and that is just the small stuff!, except by family and friends. For his time there he was ridiculed, spit upon and basically persona non grata for many a year. This has had a lasting effect on him and it only began to be healed when seeing the wall for the first time.
His first time was in 1990 when we were vacationing in Cape Cod. We happened upon it in downtown Hyannis, home of the Kennedy clan. And he was moved very much that I had found this and brought him to it. This was the first time he met anyone that shook his hand and welcomed him back home ( besides family).

Then in 1994 we visited Washington DC, the first he had been there since being shipped out and the first I'd been since a 6th grade safety trip ( all students in the 6th grade who had an A average were on the safely patrol and our reward for our work as safeties was this trip to DC in the spring of 68. In fact we weren't allowed to see all the sites because ( I later found out) there were riots going on there and most likely my future husband was there serving duty from Fort Belvoir on riot patrol.

That was the first time he got to see the real thing, and It was a very moving experience for him. Later that decade he got to make the trip with his firstborn, whom he had been estranged from for many a year due to divorce. He got to pass on a bit of what it was like for him at his then sons age of 21.

In the year 2000 the Moving Wall came closer to home, in the next county and because I worked for the newspaper there I found out about it and took him again , 10 years later. It was just as moving then.

Now almost 10 year after that we found out it was here in our new home town for the Memorial weekend. He has already visited twice and will go today for the parade, and closing ceremonies.

He has always been very patriotic, despite the way he was treated after returning home and flew the flag, and proudly worn a Vets shirt proclaiming, " Just Try and Burn this one! ". This weekend he was able to fit into his fatigue uniform shirt he wore overseas over 40 years ago, something he hasn't been able to do in years as he had been so skinny over there, but it fit now and he wore it proudly. I wish I had been able to go with him, but I've been not feeling too well this past week.


As a patriotic man his favorite bird has always been the American Bald Eagle. Through the years I have bought him many different things with the Eagle on it, but this year I wanted to make something for him and this is what I did. He has that fierce look that only an Eagle can have but I have softened it a bit with the watercolor technique and he looks quite good if I say so myself. Hubby loves it so that's all that matters.

I hope you have a joyous time with your family today, but please remember why you have this day off from work, and say a little prayer of thanks that you do and have the freedom you have because of these men and woman who have risked or totally given up their lives so you and your children could Enjoy that freedom.

May God Continue to Bless America !

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Summer Sky Green Earth

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Originally uploaded by Revonav

I just came across these beauties on David Revonav's Flickr stream. Wow! Aren't they beautiful? Would make a wonderful gift wouldn't they? ( anyone want to gift me with them?) :)

I love the colors, a bit muted, yet still calming and earthy. And the Texture, like nothing I've ever seen before and you all know I have 100's of hand made texture plates as well as lots of natural 'texturizers' I use in my work.

Bravo To David for this very modern, yet timeless piece! I see he's got them in his shop, I'm sure they won't last for long though!


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Clean Art

Hee, Hee, I couldn't resist. I found these searching for a certain kind of gemstone on the internet and had to share. These are gorgeous! If I still owned my own house I would seriously want at least one bathroom to have one of these wonderful , functional pieces of natural art! Although I don't know as if I could choose just one................
This beauty is Terra Cotta and Chrysocolla


I can't believe he chisels these out by hand, would be so afraid of shattering it, I wouldn't be able to make the first strike!


This one made of Amber looks like it has a butterfly caught in it, because it does! Go to the site and look on the bottom of the page and you can see this one lit from below and a close-up of the butterfly. I think I would have pruney hands everyday because I would spend so much time washing my hands, like I don't do that enough already!
Persian Turquoise Go and check out this studio, and be awed! Rachiele - Sinks that make Sense



OK, last one, this is my favorite, It is Arizona Turquoise and Terra Cotta, a very earthy and beautiful combination. Reminds me of earth and sky or earth and water, or earth and sky and you then add the water!




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Sweet Cherry Blossoms

Last week I mentioned I went out to the farm, instead of going to the park to see the Cherry blossoms that line a street that cuts through the park. However I really didn't miss them. About a minute before the farm I glanced down a street in the middle of cornfields and saw a magnificent site! This little street that ended in a cul-de-sac was lined by very old Cherry Trees, full of blossoms. On the way back from the farm I slowed down and started snapping pictures. This street was not only lined with them but it seemed almost every house had another somewhere on their lawn along with other ornamental flowering trees and shrubs. A truly magnificent site! I'll try not to show you all the pictures I took, try to restrain myself but I have never seen such a thing and it was much more wonderful than those at the park as they are on a double wide street and this was much more intimate, the trees almost touching over the roadway.

Ahh, what I wouldn't pay to stay a week, that week in one of those houses! doesn't that look like someone had a Barbie party there? Or maybe Elle Woods lives here?

But first some pics from the farm, I am getting so excited, craving in fact some fresh greens, garlic, onions, spinach, peas, strawberries..............................opps better stop, getting myself hungry, and probably you too!

Ah never mind, lets go PINK!

This particular house had what looked like a weeping cherry among the regular cherry and it sure looked like a lovely place to picnic! Sad thing, I saw no one out of their houses on such a beautiful day on such a beautiful street!


I couldn't stop snapping pictures, from all angles, sadly the street was set on North South axis and it was getting late so the color wasn't as good as I'd like, but it still was wonderful to drive slowly down this street, and be amazed at all the beauty, beauty that would only last one week of the year, beauty, that if a storm came and it was a rainy week , would last even less and may be missed entirely. If I hadn't gone early to the farm, I never would have seen this , so am very grateful to be blessed with this wonderful site. Even Jazz seemed impressed, she loves Pink, the Princess that she is. We got her a new collar last year for her b'day, and put it on and told her how pretty she looked in her pink collar. She had never, in her 11 years liked wearing a collar, and would only tolerate it for going out for a walk, but this she liked and still wears it to this day. Now the pink princess t-shirt I got her last week for her birthday, lets just say they haven't made friends just yet.


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Mica Challenge!

It totally slipped my mind to post about this, mainly because I was so busy this past weekend getting out my third edition of the PCAGOE's Newsletter. If you haven't subscribed yet, do so now, it's free and informative. I try to get at least one tutorial in each month and this month we have two! To subscribe just go here and look on the right side and sign up, you can opt out anytime you like.
Now to the subject at hand. This Months Challenge at PCAGOE was the technique called Mica Shift. Certain Polymer clays are formulated a bit differently and have translucent tints to them and lots of mica particles. Something really cool happens when you run the clay through a pasta machine in the same direction two dozen times or so.

The mica particles all line up their 'faces' the shiny part, and it becomes many shades brighter. But when the particles are moved onto their sides, you see that side of them which is dark. So when you take a piece of clay that has all the particle lined up and it is nice and shiny and you press something into it, a stamp, leaf, or even a scribing tool, it moves the particles onto their sides, only where you pressed in, and a design is left. Then you have to carefully 'shave' off the raised portion, until it is level and smooth. But you haven't taken away the design, it miraculously remains in the clay, like a hologram.

This technique takes some patience and hard work. I have only tried this myself a few times and then move on to other avenues of PC exploration. But since there was a challenge, and I had a bit of time on the day it was due.................................I figured, I would try to make a piece and enter , what could a loose? So I did. Actually I had wanted to try some experiments with some inks that I say in the latest PC magazine, even though I didn't have the colors they did, I wanted to try anyway. So I figured to do a kind of yin yang piece. The mica shift is shiny, and smooth, and you know my pieces usually have lots of texture. So I did half the mica, shiny and smooth and the other half is deeply textures and colorful, with only a bit of shine to it.

The other one you see in the top picture is my second candidate but it needed too much sanding to finish it in time. It was done in a copper /gold mix whereas the other was straight gold. So I entered the Yin Yang one, ran outside about 7pm and too some quick pictures ( I liked how it came out, will have to do that more often, if it ever stops raining! ).

So here is the Challenge, go and read about them in this slideshow too!


While you are over at the PCAGOE blogsite, be sure to check out the newest listings of what is in the Mother's Day Basket giveaway and follow the directions to enter to win!

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World Peas?

Nope, just local. I now know for sure that Spring has sprung, at least in this part of my world. I have been out to my CSA Organic Farm and seen the peas, springing up from the earth. Nothing says Spring to me like fresh peas! Needless to say I was surprised to find my pea vase in a Pea Treasury today --------->.

The peas did not do well at the farm last year. In fact there really was no picking of them, I only got a few to use in my art, and this vase is the only thing I made, I didn't even take a mold so it is very special. I love how the tendrils show up, so delicate, they reach out and grab a hold of anything that they brush against. Reminds me of a newborn babe, who when you place your finger, so large, inside their palm they instinctively grab a hold, so tight, not letting go, grabbing onto a stronghold, to keep them grounded so to speak. Yes, I wax philosophical. I guess I needn't tell you how much I love spring, that it is my most favorite time of year, nor will I reveal how many photos of SSring things I've taken or how little of my art...................but I will get back there.

We took a drive, just to go see the cherry blossoms at the park, but I got guided in the opposite direction, the farm was calling to me to come, see the new life emerging from the earth, so I heeded the call and am glad I did. I will share with you later some of the wonderful discoveries I made, and would have missed had I not gone out just then, but for now, here's what I found at the farm. Yes, the onions are high, the leeks too, the strawberries look good and the fields are freshly plowed, but what captured my heart and attention was this field , that if you didn't look closely enough, you wouldn't notice the little plants emerging from the earth with their rounded , petal shaped leaves, and the delicate tendrils budding, ready to start reaching out....................to grab a hold, to steady themselves, to weather the winds, the spring rains, to grow, still delicate, but full of the fruits of their labor, the sweet, green pods, full of little round orbs, waiting to be eaten fresh or cooked slightly and buttered, bursting spring freshness and earthy goodness into ones mouth. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

I still recall the wonderment on my grandsons face, years ago, when I brought him out to my garden and showed him my little pea patch. I taught him how to carefully pick them from the vines, careful not to pull up the whole plant, and then we sat on the porch and I showed him how to get the peas out. He was enchanted, I told him to go ahead, taste one. At first he wasn't so sure , then looking at me with trust, he reached into the pod and took one and popped it into his mouth. A look of delight first came to his eyes and then radiated down to his mouth where it ended in a smile. He loved them, and finished off that pod in no time and then set about eating the rest that we had picked. They never saw the inside of my kitchen! What a delight to share that with a child, but then again, I love it too every Spring so it is a pleasure that can last your whole lifetime.

If you haven't your own pea patch, see if you can't at least get some fresh at your local market, and taste spring once again! Enjoy the Peace ( peas)! :)

For the first few that come in, why not add fresh and uncooked to some fresh made potato salad that is sprinkled with some fresh spring chives!


Reminder, there are 3 spots left in my Pay your Creativity Forward .

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Still So Behind - Yom Ha-Atzmaut

Wishing Israel a Yom Ha-Atzmaut ( Happy Independence Day) a bit late ( it was April 29th). As a revived nation, she is 61 years old this week.

What a day that was, and the world hasn't been the same since. If only all would choose to live in peace with each other, but some choose power over peace and until they choose love first, peace will elude us all.

Happy Anniversary Israel, may your days be long in the land of our forefathers!

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