Well, it's been a long time between posts, but the summer show season is almost over! Here are a few photos of my booth in Spearfish, South Dakota. The show is in a beautiful little park with a cold, clear stream running behind my booth. Beautiful!

Pagoda Bird House

Our new little hanging birdhouse.

Philadelphia Flower Show

Bright bright bright colors: lime green, aegean blue, citrus, school bus yellow, tomato, happy pinks and wine. The mirror is made with chunky molding and embellished with tin flowers made from salvaged metals.

Philadelphia Flower Show

Our little 12'x12' home for 9 days. We are seeing large crowds coming thru the show this year as our friends in the East are winter-weary and anxious for spring. The show is full of flowering plants and wonderful displays.

Philadelphia

I am going flat out getting ready for our show in Philadelphia next weekend. We have a wonderful following there after many years of selling to shopowners "Out East" and always look forward to seeing our friends. Here's to good weather for our trip!

A New Birdhouse

Tom and I prototyped this little hanging birdhouse this week.....and I rather like it. It will be a second attempt to use reclaimed corrugated roofing steel for a birdhouse roof. Our first attempt failed as each time we tried to bend the metal to make a peak it snapped. Since the angle is shallower on this birdhouse we are hoping it will work. I painted it with layers of dribbles, swirls and drops. My favorite way to paint lately.

We've been making a few mirrors this winter. They take a little time but I love them! The flowers are made of salvaged roofing tin, ceiling tin, and embellished with reclaimed copper grounding wire and chunky ceramic beads that I found in a St. Vincent de Paul resale shop several years ago. I bought a big box full of them (they are vintage beads made for macrame projects. Flash from the past). Sometimes it takes a while to find just the right application for something like that. This funky lime green one will be shipped to Eureka Springs, Arkansas in a couple of weeks. You can see it at Wilson and Wilson Folk Art.

Here's another picture of the new gift shop.

It doesn't have a name yet........I love the

name Higgledy Piggledy but I'm getting

pushback from Tom. I don't think he can

imagine himself saying it!

Who can resist a little green tree frog? Thanks to my friend Blakeley Wilson at Wilson & Wilson Folk Art in Arkansas for this idea. She has a fantastic funky store in Eureka Springs and does amazing artwork with her Mother. A must-see shop if you're in the area! (She is also a great customer and carries a wide selection of our stuff). wilsonandwilsonfolkart.com

Winter's the time to create for the spring and summer seasons. It's hard to get in the mood for summer when there's 10-foot piles of snow in the parking lot and I'm wearing layers and layers of turtlenecks, fleece and down to stay warm! Temps are in the low 30's here this week (HEAT WAVE!). It gives us all hope that Spring could indeed arrive.

I am working on a display area in my studio this winter. Hours will be by chance or by appointment for now but perhaps before too long I can keep some regular hours. I hope to have an open house in the spring for my local fans.

Steel Hearts on a 4-foot tall stake, lovely in a garden or clustered with a birdhouse or flowers.

Corrugated Hearts

Our whimsical hearts are made from recycled corrugated roofing tin and painted with abandon....drizzles, spatters and swirls. My shop floor and shoes look the same after a few batches of these!

Our one-day show in Lakewood, Wisconsin is a blast for two reasons....it's full of fun and enthusiastic shoppers and it's close enough to our cabin on the Peshtigo River that we can spend a couple of days there. It's heaven. This is a picture of the river (with very low water!) right in front of our cabin. That's Tom trying to find a trout. We can open the windows and listen to the rapids all night long.

I had fun this afternoon decorating this chunky green mirror. The workshop is bustling, trying to get ready for our big September and October shows. It is always my busiest season, and full of shows that I love to do. Once it starts on Labor Day weekend, however, there's not much time to do anything but pack, drive, do the show and repeat!

I did the Stone Arch Festival of the Arts in Minneapolis last weekend.  My booth was facing the historic Pillsbury Mill and behind my booth was the only falls on the Mississippi River as well as downtown Minneapolis.  I have never been in that part of the city before and thoroughly enjoyed it.....my only regret being that I was so busy that I could not get out of my booth to enjoy some of the regional bands that were playing during the show.  There will be many gardens in Minnesota that will be a little bit brighter after they've been decorated with the birdhouses and other whimsies we sold, tho..... and I am a little more familiar with all the one-way streets in the city.  And I LOVE that vertical neon sign on the Guthrie Theatre! 

Yes, birds will use them!

Welcome, summer!  It was a long, long winter in the North and we are happy that our sunny summer season is almost here.  Our painted steel sun face is 21" in diameter.  There is a keyhole in the back for hanging.  $60.