Yes Virginia There is a Santa!

Here's Virginia sporting my best scarf for her Christmas walk. For those who don't know her name is Virginia because when we adopted her they told us she was rescued from Virginia.


I am so thrilled by the gift Joe made me. Now I did put the suggestion out there that he could make me some peace signs for the garden, but never in a million years did I anticipate the end product! For the larger of the 2 he used an aluminum transmission gear from a diesel boat engine. The other is a steel fly wheel from a small crane. I'll post photos in the spring when the garden is in bloom meanwhile I put them in the snow to have a look. Thanks also to Joe's buddies Neil, Mohan, & Jonathan who all had a hand in the project. Peace!

Callan's secret identity... Santas helper

Callan was about 5 when she made me her first pillow shown in the photo. 19 years later not only do I still have it but I still use it in my car everyday! Last year I got a new car so I asked her to make me a new one but it never made it out to the car...this year I got her to make me another one by saying that everyone else is always using my pillow....and thus a new tradition is born. Can hardley wait for next year! Check out last years pillow Christmas "Present"

85 DAYS TILL SPRING!!!

Every Christmas for the past 4 years Callan has made me a calendar comprised of her work. To ensure that this tradition remains a tradition I start inquiring in late October if she has started my calendar and move on to nagging in November! Here's a group shot of the new & the old. Most importantly according to my new 2010 Custom Made Calendar By my favorite artist Callan Molinari there are 85 days till Spring, let the countdown begin!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS 2009!

To make this years card production a little ( a lot) easier I treated myself to a paper cutter. Now I can't imagine how I survived all this time without one!

International Ornaments 2009

I bought the Turf Shamrock & the Angel ornaments in Ireland. The Angels were made by Eastern European Artists living in Ireland. Callan brought me the Delft bell from Amsterdam & the Sun Star from Tuscany. Ironically It survived the long trip fine but broke once it was home.

Monkeys & Cupcakes

Browsing through Etsy & came across a fabric I did the art for. It's always fun to spot something you did & in the case of fabric to see what someone else has done with it.

Happy 1st Birthday Blog!

Today is my Blogs 1st Birthday! It's been great fun & I'd like to thank everyone who took the time to look or leave comments.

Eco Friendly Objects @ Union Square Holiday Market

It was a great day to walk around Manhattan yesterday so after taking care of work related errands I stopped by the Union Square Holiday Market. It's always disappointing to me when there aren't a lot of hand made items so I was delighted to find Artist Fernanda Bekerman's booth Loco Deco, Eco Friendly Objects. The 3 pieces I bought were little gourds, Santa is only about 2 1/4" tall. She had all kinds of designs in a range of sizes & a collection of plush items. If your in the area drop by her booth.

Bring your dog to work day

There are so many benefits to working from home, but by far the best is that everyday is bring your dog to work day.

Banner year for ornaments

I haven't put my tree up yet and judging by the amount of new ornaments I've aquired this year I may need a 2nd tree! I just went on etsy & this seller was featured, I love the bold style of her work. This snowflake ornament is the newest to be added to my collection. Check her out with this link shoshona snow ceramics

Martha Stewart Holiday Craft Fair

Today I went to the Martha Stewart Holiday Craft Fair in Manhattan. It was a very nice event as one would expect from Martha. About a 1/2 hour wait to get in but once you were in you could take your time & it wasn't overcrowded. I bought a "lil purse" $10.00, a scroll work ornament $15.00 and a hot chili pepper Santa for $7.00, a great deal for handmade unique items! The stars in the 2nd photo seemed to be a big hit @ $30.00. A lot of people were leaving with them, I would have also but I had several other stops to make & given the rotten weather I passed on it, there's always next year!

MIRROR MIRROR....What's the cutest gift of all?

Here's another personalized I gift I made for co-workers & friends one year. These were fun & easy to make, ( good thing because I made 25 of them! ) The overall size is 5 1/4" square, the mirrors are 3" square & the easel backs are 5" both bought @ Michaels craft store. When I did the art I left a white box in the center to help in placing the mirror. Click on the images to make larger.

Easy Personalized Gift

Here's an easy personalized gift to make. I did mine in illustrator but these can be done in a variety of ways, rubber stamps, hand drawn, even using photos. Using an oval shape that fit nicely on the hanger I did the art lining several up on one sheet & printed on Epson premium presentation paper. I then put twin tac (double sided adhesive sheet) on the back & I put a laminate sheet on top to protect it. Next I trimmed the ovals, adhered them to the hanger & used a bone folder to burnish them. I made 21 hangers for co-workers one year so we would each have our own hanger, they were a bit hit!

These guys ROCK!

After 6 months of procrastinating and living with 2 boxes or rocks on the kitchen table, Callan & I finally painted our rocks. I think you'll agree these guys definately ROCK! My favorite is the alligator Callan painted, he'll be living in my office while the others will hibernate till spring when they will have a summer home in the garden.

Happy Thanksgiving!

One day my dog "Virginia" was barking at the door so I went to check what was going on. When I opened the door there were 4 turkeys on my doorstep! I don't know who was more surprised me or Virginia! Now this may not be unusual in some places but it's not what one would expect in a borough of New York City!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOE!

Can you guess how old Joe is?
Nope......No......Not even close.......!
He's 57, Unbelievable right! Proving life with me must be pretty good! Barely a gray hair in sight & still strong as an ox! I'm one lucky lady!

Things I learned on my vacation....Driving

We had heard that Ireland had the highest accident rate in western Europe but for some reason that didn't bother us, until we got in our tiny rental car & hit the road! Life altering to say the least, I aged 10 years from the airport to the hotel. We alternated between cursing & laughing so hard we could hardly breathe. Don't underestimate the learning curve of everything being opposite, even the gas guage works in reverse. We did have GPS, a few flaws with that were we had no idea what distance a kilometer or meter is so when instructed to turn in 250 meters we were at a real disadvantage. Also the streets are not clearly marked with standard signs, in standard places, like on a corner, like we're used to. The GPS spent more time "re-calculating" than anything else. We had also read that while the roadsides are beautiful they tend to be narrow & curvy, that was the biggest understatement of all! We had to back down a windy road until we came to a driveway to go in so a truck could pass us, another day a car had to back off a little bridge so we could pass. The highways are roomier but they have these things called "roundabouts", the name says it all! Now when all is said & done and we swore never to drive in another foreign country we were quite proud of overselves for not adding to the high accident stats!

I'm Baaaaaa Baaa Back!

Things I learned on my Vacation...Fly Direct!
Just got back from Dublin with a few new rules for traveling. Most important new rule is to only fly non stop from now on! Last night on our incredibly long journey home we flew over New York (Home) and 1 hour 40 minutes later landed in Atlanta Ga., 4 hours later got back on a plane to New York & 1 hour 40 minutes later landed in NY! INSANE!!!!
To pass the time on the plane I read Kathy Griffin's Memoir which I very much enjoyed, unfortunately I finished it before I hit Atlanta (oh No!) She had a line in the book that totally spoke to me.... "Even vacations start not to feel like vacations after 5 days: They become the thing that keeps me from working." It's good to be home & back to work!
More rules & photos to follow soon!

ATLANTIC ANTIC STREET FESTIVAL BROOKLYN NY

These are the treasures I picked up at the fair.
The adorable card is made by fiskandfern
The christmas ornament is by delongceramics
The silverware piece is made by a guy who's name I didn't get but he did say that he is usually set up in front of Whole Foods by Union Square in NYC every Sunday.
I had to include this photo, this is a bus I remember riding as a kid (my age is showing again!) The transit Museum had a bunch of old buses that you could check out and board.
Did you ever want to do something but then didn't because you didn't want to go by yourself? Well I found out this morning that this fair was today but for a variety of reasons my choice was to skip it or go alone. It was a beautiful day out so I went alone, and I'm glad I did! Granted it would have been way more fun with company but it was very liberating. It was in an area I wasn't familiar with so when I got off the subway I had no idea where I was, but I found my way & when all was done I found my way back! This fair was HUGE, there were a ton musicians playing all kinds of music, there was a stage with a belly dancer and another with go go dancers! There was a great variety of food, my treat today was a potato on a stick, tempting as it was I didn't have any fried oreo's! There are a lot of antique shops on Atlantic Ave so there were many fun things for sale like the robots in the photo, there were even big inflatable things for the kids to bounce around in. Something for everyone. For me it's all about the local artists and craftspeople, GREAT stuff.
For more info on the Atlantic Antic click here

NYC, Picture Books, afternoon with Callan, just a few of my favorite things!

Saturday Callan & I went to the Housing Works Bookstore open air street fair in Soho where we both added to our childrens book collections. We each bought 5 books @ $1.00 each, mine were all picture books, Callan got a mix of picture books & art books so it was a really great deal! One of my books is in French (I think) but it's all about the illustrations for me. When my son was younger & he would have a Dr. appointment he would be a little embarrassed by the fact that I would sit there looking at the picture books instead of a ladies magazine like all the other moms!
For more info on Housing Works click here

Brooklyn Flea

Aren't these fishnet floats great! I think they would look great in the garden, maybe next time!


I've been wanting to get to this Flea market all summer & since this is the last weekend of the summer I decided to take a little break from working & enjoy the beautiful day. I only spent $4.00, the shelf was $1.00 & I found a great little book "My Father Can Fix Anything" illustrated by Bill & Bonnie Rutherford circa 1965 for $3.00. My dad was a guy who could fix anything & luckily enough so is Joe so once I hit the shelf with a couple of coats of black paint I'll have him hang it in my office. Click here to see more