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Before & After: the Painting Process

Makeover shows, be them human or residential, are a major weakness of mine.  Mostly because I love a good before-and-after picture.  I love seeing a neglected little kitchen in Iowa that hasn’t been updated since Reagan was in office be turned into a gormet cookery fit for the White House.  It’s so satisfying to see the design come to life and the before-and-after shot at the end is what makes it all come together.

The same is true for paintings.  Whenever I’m asked to do a custom painting I always start with a sketch to make sure the customer and I are on the same page.  Once the drawing is approved, I get ‘er painted up and no many how many times I go through the process I still love seeing the before and after shot at the end.    

For instance, you can go from hand-colored sketch to nice looking piece of art (if I do say so myself):

From an idea in a notebook to a wall-sized triptych that is now the highlight of Lil’ Dillon’s room.  

From a basic scribble to a full-blown stadium.

From outline to outstanding….ya, I just said that.  
Click HERE to see more before-and-afters.  

And feel free to email me if you have an idea for a painting…or if you just want to talk about muffins. 

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We did it! We did it!!

 
                                                                                    painting (c) Scott Murry
Last night was a SMASH success!!!  We packed the Cantina Mexicana to the rafters, sold some art,  killed some tacos and even enjoyed some jalapeno margaritas (Marga-penos?)!  All in all, it was an amazing night!  Thanks to everyone who braved the rain and came out to celebrate our nation’s greatest food holiday. 
The tacos will be hanging at the Cantina through Sunday, Oct. 9th.  Go check ’em out!
National Deviled Egg Day is November 2nd….start the countdown!
photo credit BazBiz
UPDATE!: Bazaar Bizarre has some pictures and nice words about the event on their website!  Thanks BazBiz!
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The Things We Carried.

I’m almost ashamed to admit that, after living in New England for 10 years, this Saturday was the first time I ever made it to the Brimfield Antique Show.  Please try not to judge me too harshly.
I’m so bummed I never went before because it was awesome beyond my wildest expectations and I came home with a truckload of junk trash priceless treasures! 
Like this awesome miniature tabletop croquet set that we clearly needed for only $20-
An adorable mid-century gold and robin’s egg blue lamp with a great honeycomb pattern that is now in need of the most perfect lamp shade ever, $15-
These really cool old iron wall brackets that I plan to use, like everything else in my house, to hang plants from, both for $30-
 

An absolutely dreamy blue vintage radio that still works! $11-

And, my coup de grace- this amazing rug that I found tucked away, by some other shopper no doubt, in the corner of a lady’s booth who had a little bit of everything.  It’s about 5’x7′ and she didn’t know much about it except to say that the woman she bought it from had brought it home from her travels in the 60’s when she was in the AmeriCorps, $60-

It is my absolute new favorite thing and now makes everything else in the room seem old and boring, of course.  Looks like I’m going to have to re-do the whole room!  Bummer.
If you ever have the chance to go to Brimfield and you never have it’s definitely worth the trip.  It’s located about an hour and 20 minutes outside of Boston.  The next show is in May 2012 which gives you plenty of time to save your pennies and clear some space for all of the amazing things you never knew you needed but cannot afford to live without. 
xo, –Mandee

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flower show

The Boston Flower Show was last weekend and if you’re not familiar with it, it’s kind of a big deal.   They have all sorts of florists and gardeners and landscape architects from all over the place and it’s rather impressive. 
The show took place at the Seaport World Trade Center in South Boston and it was a massive show of amazing flowers and incredible displays.  I spent most of the day wandering around and saying, “I just can’t believe they did all of this…I just can’t believe this is inside.”  Over and over.  I’m sure it wasn’t annoying at all. 
But LOOK!  This is inside!!  INSIDE!  I can’t believe they did that!  It was gorgeous.  Oh, and this too!!
A pond with a stone archway and giant boulder stepping stones?  No big deal. 

But hands down, my favorite part of the show was an amazing found object installation done by Fine Garden Art.  Every single thing in this display was found and put together, piece by piece by.  So creepy, awesome, radical.  I loved it!  
I felt so inspired that I went to work the next day and painted these huge daffodils on the window. 
Happy Spring!!

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Fabric Bliss!!!

You’ve probably noticed that every other post of mine mentions a great little 
cafein Fort Collins or a trip to Colorado that I took.  That is because before 
moving to Boston I called Colorado home for almost a decade.  Most of my 
friends and family all still live there and I visit at least 4 times a year.  
(Really I suggest you do the same, it’s gorgeous!)  
But I digress…
This post centers around Denver; Santa Fe Drive specifically.  The 
Santa Fe Arts District is an nationally known art and culture district with 
over 60 galleries, restaurants and shops all just a couple blocks from 
downtown Denver.  
And coming soon they’ll have Fabric Bliss!!
photo (C) Aurora Sisneros, Fabric Bliss
Much more than just a fabric store some of the services offered by Fabric Bliss are:
  • hourly sewing machine rental (SUCH a good idea!!)
  • an awesome list of classes (intro to sewing…sign me up!)
  • local handmade art for sale (featuring yours truly)
  • photography services (for a small fee they’ll take your Etsy product pics for you!  amazing!)
  • and lastly, I hear there’s a kitchen full of snacks too.  Holler!!
They’ll be opening in Mid-March…mark it on your calendar and get down there and make something!

Before then, you can go “Like” them on Facebook and sign up for their mailing list for a COUPON for opening day!

Good Luck Aurora!  Can’t wait to come see it in person!!!
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Cabin Fever

This weekend is the 2nd Annual Cabin Fever Indie Gift Show.
If you live in Boston and need a really good excuse to even consider leaving the
 house and going out into the frozen tundra that is our city right now, this is it!

Stop by to find that last minute Valentine’s gift you’ve been putting off and putting off and putting off.  They have some really talented vendors this year…including some friends of mine:  
AntiDesigns who are an awesome local t-shirt company and my good
 friend Amy, the CEO and head artist/designer for ABCowls.  
 Stop by and check out her new Spring line up!   

Amy’s cowls have saved my life this winter!  
Not to mention they look really cute on Tabitha.
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My First Solo Show!!

 If you’re sensitive to the overuse of exclamation points, you’re going to want to stop reading this cause I’m wicked excited and I just can’t hide it! As I previously mentioned my “other” Etsy store, The Compliment Shop, was invited to hang our goods at the Red Table Cafe & Gallery in Old Town Fort Collins last month.
I shipped off the last of ’em about a week ago and I was just sent pictures of them in their new home!!
I’m basically freaking out.
In other news, I’ve decided I’m counting this as my first solo art show.
Even though there are other artist’s wares all over Red Table and even though it’s really more of a craft show than an art show and even though there is no free wine or cheese…it’s my party and I’ll call it what I want to.


Now go to the Red Table, buy a Compliment & order something that has Corn Relish on it cause it’s SOOOOO good!!!!!!!

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She’s Crafty

Phewwwwww!!! What a whirl wind!! Liz and I participated in our first craft fair last Saturday and have officially earned our Arts & Crafts merit badges!!

Here are some close-ups of my table that I stayed up until the very wee hours of the morning putting together…complete with white picket fence compliments of Sir Jeremy!



We had such a wonderful time at the craft fair and met a lot of wonderful people and can’t wait to do it again!!

Byeeeee!!!