Tripod Thursday-Hand painted ornaments for Gift Giving

As promised on Tuesday, some of today's photographs are of ornaments that I am making for presents. Actually they aren't quite finished yet, but they are close enough to give you a very good idea of how they will be when completed. More importantly, I hope that they inspire you to go out and get some to begin making gifts of your own. Let your imagination be your guide! Glittrer, beads, feathers, get busy and create away! As for mine, each one always gets the recipients name and the current year placed on it somewhere. Some will get a cute saying, and some may get some additional small items painted into the scene, small finishing touches so to speak. And of course, I always glue the hangers onto the glass bulbs so that there is less of a chance that they will be dropped and broken when someone picks them up by their tops, and they always do! Remember that each one of these ornaments was blank/plain when it was purchased. I have painted on all of them, decopaged on some, and used puff paints on others. It really is amazing what a little paint can do! The rest of the items were made this season too, but these are the latest sale items. I hope you enjoy the pictures, and if would like to share some of your projects, just email me one or two, along with the details. Depending upon the number of submissions, I will post your projects in an upcoming week! 

Franley Speaking Friday- Shop til ya Drop!

As promised, today I am beginning my shop reviews. While most shops will be new to me, this first one was chosen because I have shopped there in the past. And I have to say that I remain glad that I did. It is one of the best purchases I have ever made. A couple of years ago I met a woman on Etsy, through an animal group that we both belong to, Etsy for Animals. Her shop name is Pigatopia, and as you may infer, she likes pigs. In fact, she runs a rescue/shelter for pot bellied pigs, and even has some that stay in her home. But that is not the most unique thing about her shop, that is just a side note that I found fascinating. The owner of Pigatopia, Shannon, is an excellent artist, and her favorite subjects are animals! 
Well, my Mother's favorite children are her Yorkie dogs and they can't exactly purchase a gift on their own. Not to mention, she is extremely difficult to buy presents for. So, I commissioned a portrait of her 3 Yorkies, Misty Morning, Twinkling Twilight and Fiesty. I received a wonderful portrait. It was extremely accurate, and before you ask, NO, not all Yorkies look alike! But each dog represented in the painting certainly looked like the real them! And she even added Kiki (the cat I told you about last week, the one that Mom packed off to my house). While Mom loved the painting always, since Misty has now passed away, she really treasures that painting. While the look on her face when she opened it was worth a million dollars, the fact that it continues to hang and bring her joy, well that is a bonus as far as I am concerned! 


Portraits range in price depending on size and type (material), but begin at a very reasonable $30! Here is a sample of her work, this is her puppy, Charlie. The Charlie portrait is $130.

And here is her Mother's day gift to her own Mother, and this portrait type and size would be $32.00. 


Now, Shannon doesn't just do animals, so if you want a human portrait or even one of an old, favorite car, go and visit Pigatopia on Etsy and get in touch with Shannon. Give a gift that they won't be expecting, a gift that will keep on giving, give a portrait of their favorite classic car or their pet, or even a portrait of you! 

Crafting with Clay

Over the last day and a half, I was stuck on the interstate, broken down on the side of the road, and traveled about 900 miles to get back home to animals that think holding a grudge will make me stay home in the future, so I hope that you will forgive me for not getting the Monday post up in a timely manner.


I want to thank my guest blogger, Alyssa of Complex Beauty, for the great posts last week (Wednesday-Friday), and hope that she has a wonderful time on her vacation [in Texas] this week! I also hope that I can talk her into coming back and posting once in a while, as I really enjoyed her writing, and hope that you all did too! 


So let me back up and provide you all with a project, and then I will get some much needed sleep and try a more interesting subject tomorrow!


For a quick and easy craft project, one that will provide you with a few different finishing opportunities, try purchasing some modeling clay to make various animal decorations. Make sure to get the kind of clay that you bake to finish. You can find the white clay at a very reasonable price, in your local walley world, but if you want/need any colored blocks, you will need to shop your local hobby stores, but expect to pay a tad more, for a whole lot smaller block of clay.   


Try making a cute little sheep. It is easy and oh so adorable! To begin with, break off a small amount of the white and knead it until it is fairly pliable. Press it out until you have a nice oval shape for a body. Add a head, ears, nose and four legs in much the same way. Then make many small (very tiny works best) balls and press them into the body to create some "wool".  Before you bake it, make sure to decide how you want to finish the piece off. You can put a hole in it to allow for hanging (ornaments with an "ewes special" tag are always cute!) or you can glue  a magnet strip on the back for a fridge magnet. Then bake according to the package directions and finish by painting appropriately.

How about a cute pig? Use a toothpick to sort of give the hooves that cloven look.

Or a cow? This one's details are easily painted                  after its baked. I used white for all of these, and just painted the various colors needed. This made them less expensive to create and very easy to get the designs as I wanted.

So get busy creating, just let your imagination be your guide. You can create the whole barnyard if you want! 

More of the C Essential Oils

I have joined with several other bloggers to help advertise for each other during this holiday shopping season. An experiment of sorts, thought of by the owner of neat-o-stuff. So, today the featured shop is - www.paintingsbyjude.etsy.com .
Please check her out! Sunday is going to be the feature day for Unique Garden, so be on the look out!

With that bit of business completed, back to our list of essential oils;


*The majority of this post has been deleted due to my impending book

-CEDARWOOD (Virginia) is a base not that has a mild, sweet balsamic, pencil wood scent. .....Avoid use during pregnancy. It is generally safer to use than the Atlas cedarwood.

-CELERY SEED has a warm, spicy, sweet scent that has a long-lasting odor. ......should be avoided during pregnancy.



-Chamomile The blue variety has a strong, sweet, warm herbaceous scent. The Moroccan variety has a fresh, herbaceous note with a sweet, rich balsamic undertone, while the Roman variety is rather fresh, fruity, sweet, herbaceous and an apple like scent.

.......Since the Moroccan variety is new, information past the fact that it is considered non-toxic and non-irritating is currently unavailable. Since the other varieties are not to be used when pregnant, I would use that guideline with this variety as well. Better safe than sorry!


-Cinnamon is one of those paradoxal essential oils............