Happy Endings!

Do you remember this pup? There were two of them, Uno, now Lulu & Dos, now Daisy. Lulu was adopted to a family who was also in the process of adopting a baby. I was not aware that they were adopting the baby, and it turned out that adopting a puppy and a baby at the same time proved to be a little much for one family. So, Uno found herself back in our home on Monday. She had spent a good portion of the last 10 months in a kennel, because the family did not have time for her. This neglect turned Lulu from a cute puppy with a lot of potential to a one year old dog who is scared of strangers. She is still cute though. Don't worry. The story gets better. I decided to email the woman who adopted Lulu's sister, just to see what her sister's temperament is like. Turns out that the family who adopted Lulu's sister, wanted to adopt Lulu too. I love happy endings. Isn't that just so sweet. Now the two sisters are together again, the Sullivan family has a new addition to it. Lulu already loosened up with all of the attention and wonderful neighborhood kiddos running around. It just makes me so happy.

Here is another one of the pieces I made last week...dedicated to the Sullivan family because they are saints! Flowers for them!

Welcome Fall!

Finally! Finally! I love the fall. I look forward to it all year. It puts me in such a good mood. It is not very good for my pocket book, however. I always want to buy things for my house during the fall. Does anyone else have that urge? I don't know. I want to decorate and make things smell good around the house. I think it might have something to do with the fact that I know winter is just around the corner, and I will be spending a lot more time in this house, whether I want to or not. Therefore, I feel like I need to make the most of it.

I found the camera charger! I lost some tins that someone had ordered for a necklace, and in my frantic search for the tins, I found the camera charger. I never found the tins. See, that is what happens when your house is under construction. Don't worry though, I was able to come up with something for this customer that I think she was as happy with.

I have been busy these last couple of days that I have been without a camera and ignoring you. I will post all of the pieces that I have made soon. The one below is part of the new fall line. It kind of goes with the whole fall nesting theme. Preparing the house to be closed in for months during the winter. I call this necklace Nest Building.

Kitchen Crazy

Due to the insanity in my dining room, I am unable to find the battery charger for the camera, therefore unable to take any pretty pictures for you. I was however, able to catch a glimpse, for you, of how we are living before the camera died. I am pretty ready to have our new pretty kitchen, and to not live like this anymore. Our only source of water is upstairs. We have been doing our dishes in the bathtub now for 2 1/2 weeks. I am so not complaining because I know when it is all said and done it will be totally worth it. I can't wait!

I will be busy in the basement preparing for the Shaw show coming up at the beginning of October. I have some brand spanking new ideas for a new line. That is what I am going to work on this week. I have a few more custom orders to fill before I can start the creativity though.

It feels like fall is in full force here in St. Louis. It came a lot earlier than normal this year, and I could not be happier. I am thrilled about having our new kitchen, using our new fireplace and cozying up with some hot drinks. Maybe some hot chocolate or an Irish Tea. I can't wait! Steve is out of town for the next week working. It is just me and the dogs in our little bitty space we have left to live.

Have you ever heard of this company? I have recently become obsessed with them. The lighting in their photography, and the style of the sets they photograph on, not to mention the super fabulous clothes and home goods they sell. I am a woman obsessed. This is what I do. I find something I love, and I want to change everything in my house and wardrobe to look like that. Yes, this would be quite expensive if I actually followed through. But it is fun to dream about having those worn wooden floors, and woven cozy throws for my non existent beautifully upholstered early 1900's couch. So dreamy.

Oh! and Red is doing his home visit on Friday to his potential new and fabulous home. The young lady who is interested in Red is soooo sweet and will make a fabulous home for him. Red is still such a puppy and really needed someone young and ready to put the energy into that he will need. She adopting him depends on whether he is a good buddy to her brother's dog. Let's all hope, because I can just feel that this is the perfect home for Red. I was thinking about taking a break after Red, but I think I am going to foster all the way in to December and then take a break. My very patient husband says that is ok. We do need a little down time though. It is such a hard thing to stop, once you start fostering. I hope everyone had a great week, and if you are in St. Louis or any of the other towns that received terrible weather recently, you are recovering and getting things back together. There was a lot of flooding here in St. Louis, in places that do not normally flood. There were people floating in boats in the middle of Manchester (which is a major road in St. Louis). I cannot imagine losing everything. My thoughts are with those who have experienced this devastation.

Pretty Weather

There were these three cardinals outside the front window this morning making such a ruckus and having so much fun that I had to go out and see what was going on. I was out just long enough to grab a photo of one of them before the dogs figured out how to open the front door and scared them off their perch.

I just wanted to drop in and tell you about the show this weekend. It was the BEST show I have ever done in many ways. People were buying and they were so friendly and wonderful and interesting. One of the women who bought this piece just returned from the Serengeti. She was there working with rescued elephants! What a dream. Really! It was great to talk with her.
There were so many great people at the show. Saturday was a 12 hour day plus setup and breakdown. I was delirious by the end of the day. A little on edge. But was able to come home and rest and be ready for the four hour day on Sunday. We could not have had better weather. It feels like fall here. Fall puts me in the best mood. It makes me feel like exciting things are about to happen. I don't know why. I think it stems from my youth. My birthday is in October, and my favorite holiday when I was young was Halloween. Not to mention the raking of the leaves. Like so many other children, I loved to jump in the leaves. Thinking about that now makes me itch. Ha ha, I think that means I am old. I used to put my cat Dixie in the leaves too. She would get all sassy and playful. I actually think she liked it.

I have a ton of custom orders to fill today. I am a little behind on orders. If you are one of those people I am getting back on track today and tomorrow. I have to admit that it is hard to get to work the day after a show is over. I am going to discipline myself and get down in that dungeon very soon.

My next show is the Shaw Art Fair at the end of this month. I have never done Shaw before, but I have shopped it plenty of times. I think it is the prettiest setting for an Art Fair that I have been to. I am really looking forward to being a part of it. The Shaw art fair is where I purchased my favorite bird bath ever by a woman named Jennifer Pass of Rock Candy Mosaics. I just love her birdhouse that she sells on etsy.

I hope everyone had a great weekend. I could not help but think about all of the fun things I would be doing if I were not working. I decided my hypothetical weekend would consist of taking the dogs hiking somewhere around an animal friendly winery, stopping for a glass of wine and then heading home. Did you do anything fun in this fabulous weather?

Sneak Peek for the show this weekend!

And the Doyd perched in his window like a cat. He has trouble getting down once he gets up there, so he stays there for long periods of time. He also poses for the camera. Love that dog.

Raindrops keep...

It's raining buckets here. I love, love love the rain, but the dogs do not. I cannot get them to go outside on their own when it is even just sprinkling. So, I have to take the little princes and princess out one by one with an umbrella that sort of protects them. If they were smarter they would stay right next to me until they decide on their potty spot. Red will not stay still for the camera. He is the hardest dog I have ever tried to photograph. I will get a good one of him one of these days.

Oh! Oh! Clarence is in his new home. He has to be the luckiest dog ever! He went to PJ's sister and her husband. PJ is the woman who feeds the dogs in East St. Louis every single day since 2001. I drove Clarence to her sister's house on Monday (labor day). As we pulled into the private driveway, I gave Clarence a little talking to. It went something like this..."Now, Clarence, this is your chance to have the best home ever. This is your true life rags to riches story, and if you don't get it together within the next 5 seconds, you are going to blow it. Take a few deep breaths and get it together. You hear me! Clarence, stop looking at me like that. You are no longer a gangster, you are a prince that is going to have tons of land to run on, and horses to play with and a wonderful woman who will love you and make briscuit and slow roasted chicken for only five people and YOU, my friend will get the left overs." I did not really know about the briscuit before we pulled up, but Clarence got a little piece before any of the humans even ate. He was not on his best behavior as we had discussed, but apparently she is a patient woman. She was not bothered by his growling at her pups, nor his marking on her Ralph Lauren chair. It sounds like they are really going to keep him. I would love to say that I am happy to see him go, but I would be lying. I am happy for him, don't get me wrong, but I dreamt about him last night. I have never had a dream about a foster dog. Floyd's in trouble too. We figured out at the vet that his going to the bathroom in the house was not in fact thyroid issues, but because he missed Clarence while Clarence was in board training. Floyd and I are going to be a couple of blubbering sad dummies looking for Clarence in our dreams.


I am working on a design for a baby blanket that I am going to make. It is going to be of the softest organic cotton ever. The girl's blanket will have pink stitching squares and this design will be in the center. Steve and I created this little girl on paper. We are a really good team. I have an idea, tell Steve and draw it. He redraws it, and then I take that drawing and tweak what I think should be tweaked. Sometimes he will come back in and tweak some more. And this goes on until we think it is perfect. Next I drew her in Illustrator on my laptop, without a mouse. It hurt. So, I ordered a Wacom tablet in order to complete the other half of the drawing which will be a cold giraffe in need of that little girl's blanket. I am going to call it the Birthday Blanket. It is still a work in progress, but I thought I would give you a sneak peak! There will be a boy version too. But, back to that Wacom tablet. I am so excited about it, and so is Steve. It is like digital painting. Can't wait to see what we can create with it. We got the 9 x 12 tablet. I will let you know how it works for us. I am thinking it is going to be one of the best purchases ever. Alrighty, I should be making jewelry. The procrastination gene has kicked in. Schlafly Art Outside is tomorrow. It is supposed to be a beautiful weekend. I am really looking forward to this show. I hope to see you there!