Thinking towards fall.....

'Almost Autumn'

Today is Richard's B'day...the big 4-0 lol. I got him a bunch of cool shirts and a funny/sweet card. We went out to eat at O'Charley's and I got a giant margarita that I couldn't even get halfway through lol. Oh, and I got him a lucious chocolate cake that I lit with 40 candles :). Fun. It's always great starting a new decade in your life, this is going to be a good one for him (for us) . We're settled in our house, we have an awesome dog, our kids are getting older (Erik, his son, is starting college this fall). I'm looking forward to all that's to come. I know one thing that has to happen soon - I HAVE TO GET ORGANIZED. I'm sitting at a desk full of papers, empty coffee cups, my camera, bills, and misc STUFF. It's amazing I can sit here at the computer surrounded by all this clutter. Ugh.

I have some good news that's going to contribute greatly to harmony and peace in my life though. I talked to my manager at Cato and told her I didn't want to be 2nd Assistant anymore. Whew! That means I won't be putting in 30+ hours a week there so I can get focused and organized and keep heading in the right direction with my artwork. I'm going to be able to step down the week after next. No more cramming to get ready for the Saturday and Sunday markets after getting off work, or going to work after being in Knoxville all day with my tent. Well, I have to this Saturday :(....but it will be my last. I actually get to have a life now lol. My schedule has pretty much been work M-F at Cato and Sat and Sun at the markets. I've had no creative down time at all. I'm so looking forward to this. Richard is working from home now too so we can get back to our wonderful little life of being home together doing our separate creative jobs. Sigh, I can't wait. I know the next week will go by fast.....

In the meantime, we started getting in some fall sweaters and things so I'm starting to be in an autumn frame of mind now. Here's some of my autumn inspired artwork I've been working on :) :



'Tastes Like Fall'


'That Seventies Summer'


These aren't in my shop yet but I'll be bringing one this week and the other two next week to the markets. I actually bought the lovely sunflowers at the Chattanooga Market. I love them, they're such happy flowers :).

New website - yay!

I'm loving my new website.....I can update it easily and it has links to my Etsy shop (prints) and my Soleyne shop/gallery (canvas originals). Plus it has a place for news, exhibits, etc. I'm going to keep it updated (not like I ever get behind up updating things like my blog lol), and use it as the primary gateway for my artwork instead of Etsy. I think it looks great as well as being user friendly :). I had a really beautiful website before but I wasn't great about keeping it updated. It also had a shopping cart where the new one just lets you purchase at Etsy or Soleyne. It felt somewhat redundant to be able to purchase at my website and at Etsy since you were purchasing the same thing.

Anywho, here's some artwork I've been working on :


Tangled Up in YouJuicy Summer
Through the Looking Glass

Quote for the Weekend

"When one of your dreams come true, you begin to look at the others more carefully."

- anonymous

I'm off to the farmer's market in the morning to sell my photography. I'll let you know how it goes when I get home (probably on Sunday actually, I'm usually wiped out when I get home lol).

What a morning!

' Sunday Morning and I Never Want to Leave '

Our flooding kitchen/laundry room/bathroom dilemma continues... When I got back from mom's last night, the plumbing still wasn't in functioning mode. We ended up having to get the septic tank pumped out (it was just put in 4 years ago) which cost mucho dollars of course (on Memorial Day? are you kidding me?). Anyway, I left to go to mom's, leaving Richard and Bones with the septic guy. Got home that night, there's still issues.

It turns out that the tank was full of water due to fill lines being done incorrectly or something like that. Plus there was an obstruction in the pipe. So we rented a 100 ft pipe snake this morning and ran it through the pipe to the septic tank. It was super disgusting lol. The downstairs was stinky ~ wow, I'm not even going to go into any further detail. TMI, I know. My daughter's boyfriend Nicky helped us tremendously. If you ever read this Nicky ~ THANK YOU.

'Curvy'

So, enough of our house issues lol. I still love my house. It's like a child that you really really love even though she misbehaves sometimes lol. Naughty house, we're just going to have to make you do better. Hopefully we won't have to deal with anything like this again for a few years.

'Shall We Dance?'

I sold some art today. Finally, I've had a long dry spell in my shop somehow. It was like I got several sales all at once and I was thinking that finally everything was coming together on Etsy but then no sales for like 15 days. EEEK. scary. But I've had calls from 2 galleries this month that want to exhibit me and a permanent spot from June to November in a Farmer's Market/Craft Market in Knoxville. The Farmer's Market thing was juried, I couldn't exhibit without prior approval. Ditto for the galleries of course. So all that's come together for me this month during the time I wasn't having any sells. That's funny how things work out like that isn't it? I think I just need to sit down and write out my progress this month and see how it all comes together in the big picture instead of focusing on my lack of sales at Etsy. Hmmm, I'm going to do that. It should be interesting to see how my art sells in the real world as opposed to the Etsy world lol. I'm looking forward to June, to seeing how it all goes.

This is what I sold today :

'Love'

Wow, I hope I didn't sound whiney in my post today. Like poor me with my plumbing problems and lack of sales. I didn't mean to if I did lol. Just a day in my life, things don't always smell like roses LOL.

The Notecards Are Here :)

Yay, I finally got it in gear and did a photo shoot with my notecards. I've had them done, it was just the taking of the photos of the photos (lol) that I was procrastinating on. What, me procrastinate? NEVER. Anyone who has read my blog and knows of my intention of posting every day with relevant content is aware that I'm lying. So anywho, I'm going to only post one or 2 into my shop every day and that way I don't put them all out there at once. I took photos of five of them today. Of course each card gets like 20 shots. There's the card in the envelope, the card out of the envelope, the envelope insert, the outside of the envelope (front and back) and the card itself - the outside, the inside, etc. etc. Of course I shouldn't complain. The weather was beautiful, the sun was shining and it wasn't to hot yet. So, without further adieu, here is the debut of my first notecard :

The FRONT of the card.

The FRONT side of the envelope, it's 5" x 5"

The BACKSIDE of the envelope with the flap partially opened. When it's closed it looks very pretty the way the printing is on the book page (the envelopes are made from vintage books).

Opening the envelope to reveal the card inside. Notice the decorative envelope liner. I made the envelopes and liners from entirely different books. I looked and looked for pictures that would coordinate with the card inside for the inside of the envelope.

Removing the card from the envelope. The cards are actual fine art photographs in 5x5 size. I have adhered them to cardstock with photo safe adhesive. I was selling these same photographs in my shop for $15 each so at $6 per card + one of a kind envelope, it's a steal.

The card out of the envelope. Notice the blue square on the inside for writing your own note.

And here we have the envelope all by itself.

The great thing is that you're getting a card that you can frame if you don't want to send it. I mean, it would be beautiful to send but if you chose to keep it, you could always use the envelope to send a letter in. You really are getting 2 unique products. Every envelope I make is going to be one of a kind.

A bit of a change of subject, but I noticed that I've been tagged by Peachtree in my comments as in 'tag, you're it'. I'm going to have to investigate this evening and see who I can tag. This will probably mean another post later on tonight :).

Getting it all together (maybe?) lol

"Sunny Side Up"

Good Morning! Ok, I've decided the best way to get organized about daily blog posting is to have a routine. Get up. Get coffee. Check Etsy (briefly only....no wandering around from shop to shop checking out the new yumminess!). Post in blog. That's it, just do it Jennifer. It's not hard, it's just all about getting it done before you get distracted by everything else you're trying to do.

I've been putting a lot of thought into who I want to feature and I've decide to go with the shops that I've actually bought things from first. Things that I have touched, smelled, used, or otherwise seen with my own eyes. The things I fell in love with and would buy all over again. Having said that, my fist shop is Noirliliana.

I bought the most awesome moisturizer from her. I've been using it for a couple of months now and I will buy more when it's gone. I use it at night and in the morning or just when I want a pick me up because it smells so very delicious.

It's thick and moisturizing and comes in a convenient pump bottle. It has a beautiful citrus smell that makes you look forward to putting it on. I actually put it on 3 or 4 times a day the first day I had it just because the smell made me so happy. It goes great under make up and even gives me a slight tingly sensation when I first put it on. I have used probably every moisturizer out there including those by neutrogena, estee lauder, and clinique and this has them beat hands down. I love the fact that it has all natural ingredients such as rose bud tea, borage oil, wheat germ oil, essential oils of grapefruit, lemon, and orange, and a plethora of happy vitamins that are good for your skin. When I use all of my supply, I will definitely buy it again.

Noililiana also sent a freebie with her product, it was a sample of Lemon Candy Hand and Body cream.

The sample idea was a great one because when I place my next order, I'm going to order it full size. The smell is aromatherapy in itself. It makes you feel pretty and happy. It comes in a generous 8 oz size when you order it ~ compare this to the 4 oz you get from a lot of other places. 8 oz is large enough to slather it on as you please without worrying about it being gone in 2 weeks.

Noirliliana has other things in her shop such as face masks, liquid soap, body wash, lip balm, etc. etc. She even has some all natural cleaning products for household use. I'm planning on becoming more green in the next couple of months with recycling and using organic products for cleaning and her shop is going to be a part of my transition. When I try any more of her products, I'll post a review here. Go check out her shop :), it's definitely worth it.

A Lot of Changes in the Past Week

Well, I did it. I quit my day job. I'm going from being a photographer for a photography company to being a freelance photographer. Wow, huge change. I've still not adjusted to the fact that I don't have to get up at 3,4, or 5 am anymore. I can get up whenever my eyes pop open and I can focus totally on my photography and selling my artwork on Etsy and wherever I can around here. I'm really going to have to start focusing on that aspect of it. I found out that artists can set up booths at the Farmer's Market in Knoxville every Wednesday and Saturday, that it's only $20 on Saturdays and $15 on Wednesdays. You have to apply to do it but that's definitely something I want to explore further. I'll have to get my art framed and matted though, I don't want to sell the photographs by themselves. So once I get several together, I'm going to apply.

I'm so excited. I feel like I have a whole new life starting now. I'm so glad I did it now instead of waiting. I was really unhappy there. Although working there certainly forced me to be more confident and I learned my way around Knoxville and surrounding areas. Those were certainly benefits. And I really like everybody I worked with. I'm going to miss that aspect of it. But that's all I'm going to miss. The time was right for this.

So now that's all behind me, I'm going to have absolutely so excuse for not posting in my blog LOL. I've been focusing more on summer art lately. Here's what I've listed:

So we have the beach and the meadow. I really love the one with the waves crashing. It's called "A Sense of Calm Washed Over Her". I love the warm grays in it. It's how I feel right now after leaving my job. Calm but at the same time excited about what the future holds :).

I actually have more time to post now...

I'm loving my new banner! I changed the banner at my Etsy shop too. It all feels very very spring time. Had a good weekend. I made baked chicken curry last night. You just take chicken breasts and douse them with lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, and hot sauce. Then you take curry powder and rub them down really good until they're that beautiful yellow/gold curry color. Then you let them sit as long as you can so they can marinate. It would be really good if you have one of those flavor injector things so you could put all the yummy curry flavor inside the chicken too. Or you could let it marinate overnight....I didn't have time for all that lol. Then put it in the over at 400 for about an hour (these were bone-in breasts) and voila, an easy supper. I made mashed potatoes and corn with it. It was quite good.

I have to tell this funny story, my daughter Chloe has the job of changing the kitty litter. This new kitty litter we have is very sandy and goes everywhere in the laundry room when she changes it. So I told her to take everything outside and change it this time. So she proceeds to take the litter box and the bag of kitty litter outside, changes it and puts everything up. WELL, apparently, the bag of kitty litter had a hole in it because there is kitty litter all over the laundry room, a trail of it leading through the kitchen, to the foyer and out the front door LOL. So much for that plan.

I want to talk about some things I bought from Etsy and the awesome sellers I bought them from. I ordered some make-up from Mixology , it was the "White Girl Sampler Pack". That way you can try a lot of different foundation colors before committing to one. I have to say it's awesome. I've never used mineral make-up before and it lasts forever! Even at my job where I'm on the go all day and have zero time to freshen up, it's good till the end of the day. I ordered some eye shadow from her also, it's just as long lasting. It came with this luscious freebie ~ some lip balm in what smells/tastes like chocolate mint. Love It! It feels all tingly when you first put it on and anything that makes me tingly, well, that's a definite winner :).

I have some new art in my shop, so here it is :

There's a wide variety this week as you can see lol. I love the carnival ones, and of course Astro Boy. The sky one is called "Morning Has Broken" , I think it's really pretty. The clown on is called "Goin' to the Fair 1952" , it's meant to look very weathered and old. The one at the lake is "Vintage Vacation Photo", somebody spilled their martini on it lol.

Spring has Sprung!

I did some really pretty art this weekend, I'm still making things from my last photo excursion, hmmm, was that just last weekend? It seems so long ago...

I'm really looking into ways to promote locally because I'm pretty much over my day job lol. Well, no lol to it actually, I'm over it. I'm ready to make that transition so I need to get focused and make some lists as far as how I'm going to go about it. Are you a list person? I am, lists always help me to figure out my direction. I think my bf making that leap into starting his own business and being able to stay here during the day is really making me want this even more. That was always our dream, to work here together at our house. Maddie at work suggested I get something part time (Mad Maddie Mammoth if you ever read this Maddie LOL)to help pay bills while I focus on promoting my art but I'm not sure I want to do that. I went onto Craig's list this morning but it's so disheartening to be looking at want ads again ugh. So I stopped and made something pretty and decided to post in my blog and make my own list.

I let our doggies out this morning and they ran amuck into the neighbors yard even though I was standing there telling them not to. Well, telling them in a loud voice that let them know I meant business. They were very naughty little dogs not to listen. So if any of our neighbors ever read this...I'M SO SORRY that I have unruly dogs.

Anyway, back to my new art. Some of it I love and some of it I REALLY love. Here's my newest:

Thanks for looking....just click on the images to the right and it will take you to my Etsy store if you want more info :).