Moving Day!!!!!

Hi Everyone, just a quick and brief note to tell you I am moving my blog today! I will be leaving Crazy4art4u up but will not continue posting here. I hope you all will follow me over to my new place http://www.elizabethstudio54.blogspot.com/ and help share in my excitement!
Hugs to you all, and hurry over to my new blog, I just put up my first post over there.

The Winner Is...

Morning All,
So in a few minutes I will be drawing a name for the winner of my giveaway, and I just want to say thanks to everyone that participated! Your help has been much appreciated. Before I go on to the winner however, I am putting a link up to a friends blogpost that I would like you all to be aware of - it comes with a warning. Unfortunately it is about a company that does not behave very well and in our sphere of artists I think that is just unacceptable so, I here is the linkk to Katarina's post so you can read and judge for yourself. Remember caveat emptor (let the buyer beware)...

OK, I have conducted this drawing very scientifically - I put all of your names in one of my husband's baseball caps and he picked the winner... I know, I know all those random number programs but I am getting a little tired of too much technology in life so, this was fair and honest - everyone had an equal chance of being drawn and I fluffed the little pieces of paper with your names on them really really well before and after I put them in the hat! The other choice would have been to have Raphael (a.k.a. monsieur kitty) choose one at the risk of it being shredded before I could read the winner. 

And now the winner is Avalonne83 over at the "The Black Cat" Blog  CONGRATULATIONS AVALONNE!!!! I will be emailing you for your mailing information so I can get your book out to you right away. Thanks again everyone for all your help - you are all true friends and I love you all :D When I finish my project for which this giveaway was designed I will post pictures - don't look for them until around late November.
Hugs to everyone,

Giveaway Ends Tonight

Hey Everybody!
Hope you all have great plans for this upcoming long weekend and for those of you not living in the states I hope you have left yourself time for creating some great art this coming weekend. I thought I would give a quick reminder that today is the last day to enter a comment on what "and then there was none" brings to mind for you and be entered in my handmade book giveaway.  I still need more ideas as this is for a project I am doing for the Brooklyn Arts Library in New York. So far you all have contributed some great ideas ... so this is it, your last chance. So, as Hercule Poirot would say, "get those little gray cells moving" and leave me some more ideas in the comments section!
Have a lovely day and good luck to all who have and will enter the giveaway...check back here tomorrow for the winner's name.
Hugs,

Dream Porch, Well, and Dream House!!!

I had planned on something else today for my friends on my blog but while out blog hopping (I really need to stop doing this and get some serious art made), I found this AMAZING - did I say AMAZING - I mean AMAZINGLY GORGEOUS PORCH - this girl has some serious talent at decorating!  I usually try to keep myself under control and say what I have is nice and I should not be jealous of what others have but oh my... well, you tell me if I am wrong - go and visit her porch redo, and other pictures of her home, and see for yourself...ooops, sorry I can't stop drooling. She is a very lucky lady, which I am sure she knows. Go and enjoy and dream...or maybe take a nap on the porch. Hmmmm, I have to do some decorating planning now!

One of those early "Fall is in the Air" Late Summer Days

The sun is finally shining again so I thought you might enjoy taking a little walk around bits of my yard and we can chat while I snap a few pictures to remind me of summer. Hope you enjoy...

I didn't get much more gardening done this year
beyond the front of the house but a little lavendar
some tomatoes, cosmos, and lots of basil
at least it smells fantastic!

This plant was gorgeous with lovely orange flowers but
it didn't fair well this very hot and dry summer either *sigh*
It looked great at the beginning contrasting with the
beautiful deep orange Tiger Lilies and the dark purple plants
that for the life of me I can't think of the name right now LOL

And of course you cannot live in the country
without having wreaths - handmade of course-
for each season of the year!

My copper cat guarding my miniature pink rose
bush that is not fairing very well this summer

What would a country house-barn be without
a front door light fixture like this?

Another coveted item that I found in the farm
garbage dump at the back of the property - I still use
it for a light potted plant to sit on in early summer

One of my most prized posessions is this bell
that sound is the bouy in Bar Harbor, Maine -
my most favorite place on the planet

I have no idea what this old hook like apparatus
was once used for but I do like the look of the
rust against the white and the cedar shingles that
cover my barn/home

What would an old farm be without a rusting horseshoe or two?
I never used to think about it but I really have come to like
old rusty things that remind us of a time gone by

Only in the summer does the sun shine in through
the front door windows like this - I love the juxtaposition
 of shadow falling on the rugs

"Out and About" Thursday

I am trying to be much better at getting a post out most days and am trying a new venue on for size. I thought doing posts by theme might be interesting for all of us. It gives me a chance to practice on all you wonderful guinea pig friends with my writing and my picture taking, which seems to have gotten marginal at best since the advent of digital...hmmm, wonder what that is about. Anyway I thought Thursdays I would post tips or other blogs/websites with nifty new ideas or techniques or new online classes I have found, heaven knows we all need more classes LOL.

First off there is this site http://www.blogguidebook.com/, which I am sure many of you have seen their bee logo floating around on different sites. Here is the skinny on why you might want to look at them a little closer - first you can list your blog in an orderly compendium of blogs by your venue; second you can advertise your blog merchandise if you are a merchant blogger, again by venue so people will find you by your category; third it is a fun place with information, how to better your blog and all kinds of other nifty stuff geared to us bloggers. There is also a special currently going on to get an upgrade to your listing that you might want to check out. The basic listing is free but there are lots of different levels and of course you get that really cute bee button for your blog! Sorry, I have this thing for bees...

Second, I found this website today while I was searching around for a template or inexpensive place to purchase tags - yes, I am crazy-go-nuts for tags too! Anyway, this site http://www.diyhangtags.com/ has free PDF templates you can download if you are into making your own tags and don't have one of those humungus (sp?) tag punches. They have all kinds of cute shape including a primitave star, hearts and lots more so you may want to go have a look see there as well.

Hope you all find some of this useful...

Hugs,

White Wednesday

My all time favorite bowl, ever! It was made in Italy and came
to me via TJ Maxx - oh how I love that store -
 my DH can tell you all about that LOL

Hi all, I apologize for not posting much this month I just can't seem to stop finding all these neat classes to take online and of course once I find them I grab them for fear they will disappear before I get back to them - where does that dumb feeling come from?

I just bought a new digital camera for taking better pictures for my Etsy shop and soon to be website and I am working on figuring it all out - I think I need some more neat props to add to the pictures.

I had planned on going outside today and taking pictures around the house but since it is pouring rain for the 5th straight day (we sure needed it so I am not complaining) I decided to do a "white" still life! I just love, love, love white don't you? This is my favorite bowl - I just love the diamond cut-outs all around the top. Ok, I digress, again, back to the photography - I was surprised with the difference between the two pictures below with just the use of the flash in one and not in the other!  Ok, my backlighting for the one that looks creamy was just a candle LOL so not sure why I was surprised...anyway, I am babbling again!  Hope you enjoy the white wednesday...

Talk to you soon,

Interesting effect, my all time favorite white, yes white,
bowl without my using a flash, hmmmm.

Giveaway Scout

Hi Everyone, just a short post right now about a neat little place that compiles blog giveaways in a search engine format. If you like participating in giveaways and finding new and fun blogs to read then try going to, or if you have a giveaway going on at your blog, listing your blog on Giveaway Scout. You can reach them by going to http://www.giveawayscout.com/.  I have a gadget on the bottom of my blog that continually updates different giveaways. Give it a try and see if you find anything interesting!
Hope you all are having a fun summer and staying cool!
Talk to you all soon.
Hugs,

"And Then There Was None" + Giveaway

Fall

Please Refer to Post on July 26th for Giveaway Details

Hi Everyone, I thought it was high time I got my act together and posted pics of what you are competing for in my 1st ever giveaway. I apologize for any rough spots you have run into with things like my button or figuring out how to email me, etc. There is now an email link on my sidebar - yes, it now works! Please attribute the missed fine tuning to my newbie status at this giveaway thing. So here are the pictures of my first giveaway - one of my handmade books - since fall is just around the corner I thought this would be appropriate for those early morning fall walks to jot down sightings and visions that for us in the northeast will all too soon be hidden underneath a thick blanket of snow:

Lots of beautiful ribbons in fall leaf colors to
inspire you or just to be there to twiddle around
with while you are writing in your new book

Several embellished pages, of course the front and back
covers along with several  pockets with pull-out tabs
to write on or add favorite pictures to

32 pages, hmmm or was it 36 pages of 140# cold pressed
watercolor paper to draw on, paint on or however you
choose to use your book

Late Summer Day at Dusk...

Sounds of the forest outside my window

The lure of nature's beauty

 Denseness is a blessing?

Living in the woods can be thrilling, exciting, a little bit scary, inspirational and...sad. You come to learn the sounds of the forest, the cheerful, carefree along with the well, not quite so carefree, actually downright distressful. My studio has two lovely windows that allow me to be right up against the woods in all its glory, sometimes a little too close. Sitting at my computer listening to the sounds of the end of a busy day of foraging and flying and singing the forest begins to settle into its nightly rhythms, which unfortunately means danger to many of the creatures who make the forest their home. You are usually taken unawares, at first not recognizing the danger or hearing the distress calls - it's all happening so fast that actually it is almost over before you realize some little creature just fell victim to...suddenly the sounds all around have quieted in the wake of the fear that just flooded through, even the crickets stop for a moment or two before resuming their familiar nightly group melody. The deed is over now, nothing can be done, the strong prey on the less strong - it is a matter of survival that the little bird who moments ago was happily singing readying for its distant journey of migration that lay just ahead as the days of sweet summer gradually grow shorter. Now she has become a part of the mechanism of survival for one larger and stronger than she ...

American Goldfinch
photo credit to blevinsphoto.com environmental photographer
par excellence!