Category Archives: etsy

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You’ve Been Framed: Personalized Frames for Kids

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Picture frames have proven to be hands-down my biggest seller on Etsy and in real life.  They’re a quick, inexpensive, personalized gift that is perfect for kid’s birthdays, Christmas and -as in the 4th picture- as party favors.  Contact me to have your own painted or order one on my Etsy page.  

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Day 4: Reusable Bags: Not Just for the Grocery Store

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By now, pretty much every body I know has caught on to using re-usable grocery bags as part of a daily routine.  They all have a small cache of them to bring to the grocery store or to a weekend farmers market.  What’s not common practice however, is to use them when they’re out shopping at clothing stores, junk shops, the beer store, etc.

Re-usable bags can and should be used in place of plastic bags whenever possible.  Today’s easy way to save the planet is to try to make it your practice to carry a small reusable bag with you wherever you go for those impulse buys you weren’t expecting like a quick stop at the drugstore or when you just can’t resist a sale at Forever21.  
You can buy small EcoBags for just this purpose.

To help understand why it’s so important for all of us to lessen our dependance on plastic Inspiration Green laid out these statistics for us:
Each year, an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide.
That’s over one million plastic bags used per minute.
planetgreen.discovery.com/home-garden/plastic-bag-facts.html

Every year, Americans reportedly throw away 100 billion plastic grocery bags.

www.worldwatch.org/node/5565

The average American family takes home almost 1,500 plastic shopping bags a year…
NRDC www.nrdc.org/media/2008/080109.asp

Americans use and dispose of 100 billion plastic shopping bags each year
and at least 12 million barrels of oil are used per year in the
manufacture of those plastic grocery bags.
The Wall Street Journal

Less than 5 percent of plastic grocery bags are recycled in the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency.

Plastic bags can take up to 1,000 years to break down,
so even when an animal dies and decays after ingesting a bag, the plastic re-enters the environment, posing a continuing threat to wildlife.

There is now six times more plastic debris in parts of the North Pacific Ocean
than zooplankton.
And for those times when you simply cannot use a re-usable bag, please please please recycle it or repurpose it. 
To find a recycling center near you go here.
(Did you know you can recycle the plastic that toilet paper comes wrapped in?!  Me either!!)
Or!
Weave them into a rug like Homestead Weaver or make a rainjacket like PenFelt on Etsy.

JUST SAY NO!  to plastic bags.
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Before & After: the Painting Process

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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.