About Me

My photo
Sublimity, OR, United States
****WELCOME FRIENDS****
I am artist of texture and color. I enjoy working with textiles, mixed media and the graphic arts. I am an avid cottage gardener with a love for pass along plants and big fluffy pink peonies and pink roses. Many of my tangible creations reflect my love of the garden and all its wonderful colors. I have been selling my creations online since 2002 beginning as a hobby. After 10 years I quit the day job to pursue my art as a full time passion.

30 December 2009

New Year's vintage style

A year end gift to my blogging friends! Some vintage New Year postcard images!



 





 

 
Click to enlarge and right click to save
Enjoy and Happy New Year!




21 December 2009

The reason for the season

 In our tiny rural town, there is one home owner that always has a beautiful Christmas lighting theme every year. This year it was  
"Jesus is the reason for the season" 
with  a beautiful Nativity scene. I thought this close to Christmas I would share this theme too with my blogging friends.

Recently I was asked to display some of my hand work on the "artist wall" at our Church.
So since it was close to Christmas, I decided to create a couple stockings with a Nativity theme

Below is an image I created in my graphic program with vintage sheet music
with a scene of Mary and Joesph in the stable with baby Jesus.

I created this lovely cottage stocking using vintage crochet, lace, and vintage jewelry


Here is another image that I created in triple layers


And the finished stocking!



14 December 2009

Fun Christmas tags


Thought I would share some freebie tags that I print out every year for my gifts. These were some I found a couple years ago that are for personal use only, but I have so much fun decorating them in my graphics program, and some times I print them out just like they are and sprinkle glitter, add crystals, ribbons, even spray a little snow! Remember that your imagination is your only limit!

Click on the images to enlarge, then right click to save. Have fun!


02 December 2009

Christmas cookie party!

Etsy Cottage Style blog is hosting a Christmas Cookie exchange Party!
Click on the pic to join in!




this is my hands down fave!

Christmas Sandwich Cremes
I always make 2 batches because I can eat one all by myself!


1 cup butter (no substitutes) softened
1/3 cup whipping cream
2 cups all purpose flour
sugar

Filling:
1/2 cup butter (no substitutes) softened
1-1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons real vanilla
food coloring

In a mixing bowl, combine butter, cream, and flour;mix well.
Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours or until dough is easy to handle. Divide into thirds;let one portion stand at room temperature for 15 minutes (keep remaining dough refrigerated until ready to roll out). On a floured surface, roll out dough to 1/8" thickness. Cut with 1-1/2" round cookie cutter. Place cut outs in a shallow dish filled with sugar; turn to coat. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Prick with a fork several times. Bake at 375f for 7-9 minutes or until set. Cool on wire racks.
For filling~in mixing bowl, cream butter, powdered sugar and vanilla. Tint with food coloring (I use half red and half green)
Spread about 1 teaspoon filling on half of cookies, top with remaining cookies. Makes about 36-40 cookies.

25 November 2009

Meet Cleo

I promised I would feature fave artists, so here is another Etsy favorite of mine!
Cleo of Designs by Cleo has the most lovely Christmas ornaments this year! Vintage images are carefully detailed into the most wonderful work of art! Cleo resides in upstate New York and is also a talented floral designer as well as highly skilled seamstress. Check out her lovelies by clicking on the pics below...something for every style of tree, from Victorian, to country to shabby cottage!






21 November 2009

Pink Roses Heaven Part II

As many of you may remember, last spring, I had the pleasure of meeting a lovely 91 years young lady named Irene Marshall who hand paints china and porcelain. I remembered on this visit to bring a good camera, rather than trying to snap shots with my cell phone. I had so many pics, I decided to create a slide show. I wish all of my blogger friends had the opportunity to visit her studio in Salem, Oregon. Truly a remarkable lady. I walked away with a large box of her beauties that I will be listing on my website soon. I hope you enjoy her lovely hand painted treasures as much as I do!




18 November 2009

Meet Carrie

This morning I wanted to introduce a mixed media artist friend of mine~actually we work the day job together~ Carrie is just breaking into the world of Etsy. I was fortunate to see her work up close and personal~I was overwhelmed at just how gorgeous her work is! A bit of Vintage, French, shabby, and Victorian cottage style rolled into one, not to mention the bling.
As a new shop owner, she has already been contacted by a gallery to display her work! Not surprising tho, this is one talented artist!
I am including a few Christmas pieces she has listed now with more to come in her shop. You can click on the pics here to see close up too, or go to her shop by clicking on her shop name below.





you can visit Carrie at her shop by clicking on her name
CarrieMe Home



15 November 2009

The queen of cottage art

I recently did a feature on a one of my favorite artists no longer with us (Ellen Clapsaddle), but today would like to share another favorite of mine--a modern day Cottage style artist SUSAN RIOS who resides in California. If you are a fan of cottage style, you can't help but drool over her work. I own a couple of her pieces and I literally would like to jump into her scenes....

I had the opportuntity of exchanging a few emails with her a couple years back, and she is one incredibly talented lady. Most of the children in her work are her grandchildren!

I am showing a few pieces of her Christmas work, but oh, there is so much more!




enjoy these wonderful works, but remember that these are copyrighted images of Susan Rios and should not be used in your art projects or resold.
I am including a link to her website--go in and drool...and just might buy something....

SUSAN RIOS ART


09 November 2009

Celebrate our Veterans this week

I have been so busy the last week, and what was good intentions to post something interesting at least twice a week never happened! My day job was brutal with a heavy load of data imput, and my website was so busy that I have been stuggling to keep up packing and shipping, and listing new inventory. But not complaining mind you, I love being busy!!

This week I would like to take a moment to recognize our Veterans
and those currently serving in our armed forces

While none of us likes war, there is no reason not to appreciate those who have and are currently there for us in times of peril--our guys and gals in all branches of the American Service

So my hats off to all of you! I truly thank all of you for keeping myself, my family, friends and ancestors safe and living the American dream of freedom!

Celebrate Freedom! Happy Veterans Day!

...and help yourself to the images....



01 November 2009

Decorating the porch for fall can be challenging when you are two years old


Deciding exactly where each pumpkin should be


and if it looks just right...


Or we should just play with it!


Courtesy of baby Lynsie on her 2nd birthday!


26 October 2009

Ellen Clapsaddle..a tribute


You see her art everywhere. You know it is vintage and she painted sweet faces of children and inviting scenes for almost every holiday. But just who was Ellen Clapsaddle?
I was recently at an artisian group meeting where I was working on some gift tags with Clapsaddle images. Someone inquired-- how old is that image on that gift tag you are making? I had to guess, well, it must be some where before 1925???
So I decided to "google" Ellen Clapsaddle. I found a remarkable story as well as a very sad ending to this talented artists life. I have pasted exerts from an web article here.

Ellen Hattie Clapsaddle (1863-1934), born in New York State, is among the best and greatest female American illustrator/commercial artists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Not only is her style greatly admired and well recognized, today she is recognized as the most prolific souvenir/postcard and greeting card artist of her era

Ellen started out as an art teacher, and doing freelance work for wealthy families. In 1901, the International Art Publishing Company also offered her a paid 2-year trip to Germany for her and her mother. While in Germany, she refined her art talent by working directly and closely with the German engravers who were the actual manufacturers of the products offered for sale. Her designs started to appear in various forms like Valentines, souvenir/postcards, booklets, watercolor prints, calendars, and trade cards and other objects in the world of advertising.

She returned to New York around 1906. It is said that she established the Wolf Company backed by the Wolf brothers--a full subsidiary of the International Art Publishing Company of New York City. She was the first and only female souvenir/postcard artist of the era to establish her own enterprise. She was the sole artist and designer for this company.

At that time, few women were even employed as full-time illustrators. For 8 years she and the Wolf brothers enjoyed their success and there seemed to be no limit to the growth potential in the souvenir/postcard industry. (Some sources suggest that she was employed by the Wolf brothers). Nevertheless, confidence in the boom and high return in profits in this specialized area of commercial art during this boom period, led her and her partners to invest heavily in the years that followed in many Germany engraving and publishing firms. She returned once again to Germany to work with the engravers and publishers they used because they had the best printing plants.

The postcard and greeting card business was doing well, and Ellen was making good money most of which she invested in German printing firms.



By 1914, the war broke out. The majority of the souvenir/postcard publishers in the United States depended on German supplying firms but once they became disconnected from them, they had to go out of business. Many German factories suffered total destruction from bombings and all of Ellen's recent original artwork was lost along with the investments in those firms because of the destruction of the records and messages going back forth between the continents that never arrived or were never answered. Ellen was totally displaced and could not be found. She was penniless, lost, and alone in a far away land in the middle of the turmoil of the First World War.

By 1915, many firms in the United States, like the Wolf Company, did not have a business any more and in their case, their sole designer-artist was lost in Germany.

Although the United States did not enter the war until 1917. Between 1914 and 1919, Ellen was trapped and unable to leave the country. The end of the engraving and publishing industry in Germany came about suddenly and so did her livelihood and her future--so did her life and spirit and desire to live as she witnessed and suffered the war first hand.


With the end of the war in 1919, nothing was known about Ellen's fate in the United States. One or two of the Wolf brothers borrowed money so they could go to search for her in Europe. She was finally found six months later. By then, she had had a complete mental breakdown as a victim of the war, wandering through the streets, hungry and sick, and her health and spirit were totally broken-- she was only 55 years old. When the Wolf brothers approached her, she barely recognized them so disconnected from the world and reality. The Wolf brothers brought Ellen back to the United States.

Because Ellen was an only child who had never married nor had children of her own, she had no close relatives. Furthermore, she had spent all of her time and productive years dedicated to her artwork and there was no one to take care of her under those circumstances. The Wolf brothers took care of Ellen as long as they were able and alive but they too died destitute and poor. When they passed on, she was left penniless, alone, unable to work, and mentally incapacitated. She had lost the ability to make a living and her deteriorating health rapidly became a major obstacle.

She was admitted to the Peabody Home for the elderly and destitute on Pelham Parkway in New York City in January of 1932. One day short of her 69th birthday in 1934 she passed away. Like many residents of the home who had no relatives, she was buried in a potters' grave. She died totally destitute through no fault of her own just like the Wolf brothers--innocent victims of the world tragedy of the First World War.




I am sure Ellen is smiling down from heaven knowing that her art has endured and is loved and collected by so many. I for one, truly appreciate her incredible talent. Help yourself to any of these images!

to read the entire article you can find it here



Every Saturday

Where we reside

Where we reside

The Oregon Coastline

The Oregon Coastline