La Befana Revisited

Popping in quickly between batches of cookies, to share the latest piece - another homage to La Befana...

She's just so fun to paint, and I so love the legend, I had to revisit her. This one (a very close companion to the recently painted plate) is on a birch wood box, and I think would be perfect for either treats or treasures. The Christmas star shines inside too...

She's listed on Etsy now, up for grabs on a first-come basis.

Thanks for taking a peek, and I promise I'll be back soon with pics of new work - and possibly cookies too!

♥ Carolee

Fun With Hardware...

Just popping in to share the latest primitive creation, an antique cabinet door adorned with rusty hardware and a single Swarovski crystal...

It's up for grabs on eBay now. :)

♥ Carolee

Halloween in April?

Of course! (Halloween all year 'round, hehe!)

Just had to share this one, black cats dancing at twilight on All Hallows Eve, as a tiny mouse looks out from one of the jack-o-lanterns...

You can't see the back in these photos, but there's a spiderweb there.



This is one of those children's chairs I picked up at the Amish toymaker's shop over the weekend, and is one of the last three he's made. (I snagged the other two as well).

I'm posting this one here on the blog for one day before listing it on eBay. The "buy it now" will be $295 either way, so if it's a "must-have", just shoot me an email before I list it. (First-come, as always) :) ~SOLD~

♥ Carolee

Old Friends, New Friends, Good Times and New Work

It's been quite a weekend here!

After a rather boring start with Friday night's annual vacuum cleaner purchase (with five fur-kids, this has become an AT LEAST annual event, *sigh*) things began looking up Saturday morning when I headed off to Lancaster to pick up fellow EHAG and PFATT member Pam of Soft in the Head. Actually, there are so many of us who are members of both groups we've taken to calling ourselves the PFATT (silent P) Hags, teehee....Not far from the truth in my case, but I digress...

With Pam riding shotgun in the Beetle, we hit the road bright and early and began our tour of architectural salvage stores, with an Amish toymaker thrown in for good measure. And I'm happy to report, we scored some real treasures. I won't share Pam's finds (although trust me, you don't want to miss the goodies she has in store for the Ghoultide Gathering) but I will share a couple of mine - a plant stand, not shown, a set of old wooden bowls...


and several children's chairs, hand made by aforementioned Amish toymakers, and shown here, in progress...


Pretty cool, yes? I'm picturing it either sitting by a hearth or used to display a favorite Halloween doll or collectible. :)

After our treasure hunt we headed over to Jen's house, where we were all joined by Joanne of Disgusted Cats. What a wonderful evening! Our guys were there too, and everyone hit it off as though we'd known each other for years (well, OK, Jen and I have, but that's another story, hehe)...Great Mexican food, a tour of Jen's beautiful gardens, and many, many glasses of Sangria later, John took this photo. can you tell we were just a wee bit tipsy? Hehe...

Left to right are Joanne, Me (hiding in the back), Pam and Jen. :)

It was such a great time, we're already planning the next get-together.

Feeling a little fuzzy the next day, I did a wee bit of basecoating and some sketching, but saved the detail work for today. Which is GORGEOUS, by the way. Sunny and 65, koi pond waterfall babbling outside the studio, flowering crabapple in full bloom...

As uncertain as self employment can be, I feel truly blessed to "work" at home.

Speaking of which, I should get back to just that. I'll leave you with the last piece I completed, listed now on eBay - a star fairy trinket box. I so love painting faces...


That's about it for now. Oh - wait a minute, no it's NOT, haha....

I have to tell you about the latest EHAG challenge - "Black and White Fright"!

Participating artists will be challenging themselves to create a piece of Halloween art with a black and white palette. Methinks it's time to drag out the pen and ink again. Stay tuned - we'll be listing our pieces the first week of May...

In the meantime, I'm off to work on an illutration project and hopefully finish that chair today.

Thanks so much for visiting - I'll be back very soon. :)

♥ Carolee

Serious Spring Fever

I know, I know....it's only March. And the Farmer's Almanac says we could still see some serious winter weather. So I'm truly trying not to get ahead of myself.

But there are tiny buds on the backyard lilac trees...

And lilies sprouting up along the fence....

And aconite flowering in the herb garden....

Even the koi seem to be waking from their winter stupor...

Now, I'm generally pretty good about living in tune with each season as it comes, appreciating the natural cycle of things and celebrating Mother Nature's magic as it unfolds.

But my goodness, this winter has been one for the record books!

So I find myself especially giddy anticipating the blessings of spring; longer days, warmer temps, flowers in the garden, birds at the feeder, planning and planting the herb garden at the back of the yard...Life, growth, renewal...it's truly a miracle, isn't it?!

Spring has also been making it's way into the work this week (with a little St. Patrick's Day and Halloween thrown in for good measure, hehe)...Here's a sneak peek at four trinket boxes which will be listing on eBay later this evening....

They'll each have a "buy it now" option, so if there's something you can't live without, you can grab it without going through the bidding and waiting process. :)

Oh - and be sure to check back on Tuesday for "Alice in PFATTland", when all the PFATT artists, myself included, will be offering pieces inspired by "Alice in Wonderland". I'm thinking a Cheshire Cat tea chest might be in order for this one, and perhaps a tea tray as well - we'll see what I have time for. I swear, when it comes to time, I'm like a greedy little kid in a candy store, whose eyes are too big for her stomach. I want to do it all, and never fail to underestimate just how LONG some of these projects can take, hehe...Ah well, at least we have an extra hour of daylight now, yes?!

Speaking of which, I need to be off to the studio. There's a commission calling my name, which I'm determined to finish before diving head first down the rabbit hole into Wonderland. :)

Wishing you all the blessings of whatever season you're in the midst of in your part of the world! I'll be back very soon with more goodies....

♥ Carolee