A New Table for the Princess Palace

I mentioned to my husband that my daughter needed a nightstand and maybe we should buy one. At this point, I don't know if I say these things to get a rise out of him or purely for my own amusement. "Buy one?!?" he sputters, "what do you want? I can make it by noon. Buy one! Ha!" So I showed him a picture of what I wanted and voila, by evening it was ready for paint and accessories (that's 8 yards of tulle thank you very much--you can never have enough tulle!)

We put it in Peyton's room while she was sleeping and she came in this morning and said, "Have you seen my table?" (Uh, yeah, we made it.) "I LOVE it!" She was thrilled.

So there really are some benefits to having a garage full of, not cars, but loud, messy, scary woodworking machinery. :)

IF - Memories

Hilde, 6" x 4", acrylic and mixed media on 3/4" MDF (available)

This is my entry for Illustration Friday this week. The theme is MEMORIES. One of my earliest Halloween memories is when I went as a witch and the hat was so hot my head was sweaty the whole night. :)

Whewww...it's done. My ETSY shop is UpDaTeD!

It's beginning to look a lot like Halloween everywhere you turn here at T. Matthews Fine Art. I must admit, I LOVE Halloween. I look forward to it all year!

So here's what's new in the ol' ETSY shop:

Wood "Boo", "Spooky" and "Trick or Treat" Signs (Update: "Trick or Treat" sign has SOLD--thank you!)

Fun embelished pillows (Update: "Trick or Treat" Pillow has SOLD - thank you!)

Another fun pillow (my very first attempt at piece quilting--is that what you would call this? I don't know, but it was F U N!)

A Folk Art Lady Witch and a grumpy Frankenstein Jr. named Frankie (Update: Frankie has SOLD - thank you!)

AND...

Update: Monsters have SOLD - Thank you!

Lookie What I Got!

Just a couple fun things I bought on ETSY. I bought the gorgeous necklace from Genenie. It came in the mail today and I put it right on. It's soooo pretty!

I had a local place here print me some business cards a few years ago and I am just now running out of them. I saw these little cards from Avie on ETSY and I knew I had to have them. They are a little smaller than a business card. I ordered them Friday and they arrived today--LESS THAN A WEEK for custom printing. How cool is that? And they are so cute! If you buy something from me, I'll send you one! :)

Shop Update

**UPDATE ON THE SHOP UPDATE: I forgot Monday was a holiday. (Is this SUPER early for Labor day or what?) soooooo, I'm changing the shop update to Friday (TOMORROW!), August 29th.**

I am planning a ShOp UpDatE for Friday, August 29th. I will be adding a bunch of fun Halloween stuff to my ETSY shop--artsy (paintings) and crafty (signs, etc.)!

Here's a sneak peek:

IF - Routine

Yellow Lamb, 2008, 4.5" x 5.75", acrylic and mixed media on 1/2" wood (available)

This is my entry for Illustration Friday this week. The theme is Routine. Many people who can't sleep count sheep as part of their nightly routine.

This little sweetie is in my ETSY shop.

**SOLD**

Lookie What I Got!

Remember a while back I posted about the EBSQ Ripped Off Show? I ripped off one of Kris Jean's paintings and she ripped off one of mine. Well, here is Kris' painting!! The daisies. And now I have two Kris Jean originals. I bought the cigar box purse from her a few months ago. I LOVE her work!!

This is the painting of mine that she based her painting on:

Flower #11, 2005, 24" x 12", Acrylics (SOLD)

New Style Teacher Name Sign Added to ETSY Shop!

I was making some Halloween signs on black boards and decided this would be a great look for my Teacher Name Signs because it looks like a chalkboard. I'm still offering the striped or polka dot Teacher Name Signs but I've added this option to my ETSY shop too.

New Name Sign

Just finished this one for an ETSY order. Kid's Name Signs are always available in my ETSY shop.

Two Holiday Signs

Just finished these two signs today. I think I may keep these for myself--there's a novel idea. Each are on 5.5" x 4.5" x 1.5" wood blocks. I found these papers on the clearance rack at my craft store. Aren't they delicious? I love using sort of non-traditional prints for the holidays.

I almost just put one on the back of the other (B O O on one side of the blocks/J O Y on the other). But then here's my dilema: I unpack them for Halloween and then keep them out for Christmas, then I have to dig my Halloween stuff out again and put them back in there. So I figured I'd just keep the proper holiday stuff in it's proper box because that's just how anal I am! :)

Update: They Are all on E-Bay Now

Orange Cat (SOLD)

Pink Chicken (SOLD)

Blue Dog (SOLD)

Update: Yellow Lamb is available on ETSY (Update: SOLD)

It's the 20th so It's Time for Nibblefest!

Blue Dog, 6" x 5.25", acrylic and mixed media on 3/4" wood

I have been looking forward to this month's Nibblefest theme--A Dog's Life--since I printed the schedule for this year back in January! I knew I wanted to do a fun mixed media dog. Once I got the basic sketch down, he just sort of told me he wanted to be blue. This happens sometimes with paintings. I think he's rather sweet. He's on e-bay now with a super low starting bid!

*SOLD*

This Chick's on E-bay

Pink Chicken, 4.25" x 3.5", acrylic and mixed media on 1.5" wood

I have a little thing for birds and chickens right now. And a chicken with polka dots. All chickens should have polka dots, don't you think?

This little lady is on e-bay now.

*SOLD*

IF - Detach

Shelly, 8.25" x 4.25", mixed media and acrylic on 1/2" MDF

This is my entry for Illustration Friday. The theme this week is Detach.

Shelly always felt very detached from the other girls. Maybe it was because birds talked to her.

*SOLD*

Inspire Me Thursday - Opposites

This is my entry for Inspire Me Thursday. The theme this week is Opposites. Could any two groups of people be more opposite than Dog People and Cat People???

(Both paintings are available this week on e-bay!)

Update: Both paintings have SOLD

Now on E-bay!

Orange Cat, 2008, 6" x 5.25", Acrylic and mixed media on 3/4" MDF (*SOLD)

Autumn Tree, 2008, 1.5" x 2.75", acrylic on 3/4" MDF (*SOLD)

Polka Dot Tree, 2008, 3" x 2", acrylic and mixed media on 1/2" MDF (*SOLD)

This Is What I Do...

...while I watch the Olympics. These are for my darling nieces who I'm going to visit in September.

Dogs and Cats and Chickens and Lambs...and a Tree

I'll take better pictures outside tomorrow, but here's a sneak peak at the paintings I'll be listing on e-bay this week.

Another Sewing Project

Hey, sewing is fun. Who knew? I'm just learning, but I'm having so much fun with these little pillows. This one is for my son. I never know if he'll like my stuff. He's such a boy, but he seemed really excited about this one. I made it from fabric from a shirt he just outgrew. (I LOVE finding new uses for old things!)

It's the same size as the Peyton pillow I showed earlier--9"x9". Perfect to throw on the bed for decoration.

Brand New in my ETSY Shop

The first one was so popular, I decided to do a bigger one. This chalkboard sign is 4" x 11" and is available in my ETSY shop now.

*SOLD*

It's Official...

I have caught the Halloween Bug. I am swimming in orange and black fabric, ribbon, paint, whatever I can find. I'm thinking I'm going to do an ETSY Shop Update soon with a bunch of Halloween stuff. Here's a few teasers of what's to come...

Nibblefest is also coming up on the 20th. This month's theme is "A Dog's Life" so I'll be posting my entry for that soon too. I'm working on a dog and also a cat, chicken and lamb. I have a veritable farm in my studio right now. :)

Newest Teacher Sign

This one went out today. I'm not sure how well you can see it in the picture, but the little ribbon accent matches PERFECTLY and I didn't even plan it that way. I just looked in my ribbon box and voila--a perfect match.

Teacher signs are available on e-bay and in my ETSY shop.

Newest Teacher Sign

This one went out in the mail today. This is a popular color scheme! I originally did it for a little girl's room to match her bedding. And now people keep requesting it. Teal, fuchsia, pink and lime green. I wouldn't have thought to put them together, but now I LOVE it!

Teacher name signs are available in my ETSY shop.

Crafty Stuff Today...

I was in the studio all day today making stuff. But probably not what you'd expect. I made these for a hair bow class I'm teaching next month for church. This is the sample:



And I made this pillow for my daughter (of course eventually she'll get the hair bows too):

I have a theory that if something is easily accessible, you'll use it and if it's not, you won't. So I've been completely re-arranging my studio to make things more accessible. For example, my sewing machine used to be buried under a bunch of stuff...
Well, theory proven. I opened my cabinet, saw it just sitting there with nothing piled on top of it and all my fabric scraps neatly arranged and I pulled it out to make this pillow! The pillow is 9" x 9". The picture makes it look a little bigger than that.

I put it on her bed while she was at school and when she saw it, I heard, "Ohhhhh...." and a giggle. That's a good sign. Here it is on her bed. (Oh yes folks, that is pink faux fur. Only the best for the Princess Palace!) :)

Polka Dot Tree

Just finished this little cutie--and I do mean little. It's only 3" x 2". I think it'll be headed for e-bay soon.

*SOLD*

Two Teachers and One New Baby

These two teacher signs were ordered from ETSY to brighten these teachers' classrooms. The first one is the school colors of that particular teacher (great idea!) and the second seems to be a popular color scheme with teachers--the primary colors.

And this name sign is a gift for my new niece who is just one day old!! (How cool is her birthday--08/08/08?) Her room has light blue walls and her bedding is pink. Fun.

It's That Time of Year Again...

...Back to School!!

So I've listed my Teacher Name Signs in my ETSY shop again. These signs make a great addition to your classroom. Or a fun gift for that special teacher.