in a strange and sad coincidence i made this print yesterday morning inspired by one of my favorite people and song lyrics and then in a sad twist of fate – had to read late last night that he had died.

we were lucky enough to see doc watson play a small venue a few years ago 

and will remember always the ways he made me feel...

elated, sad, sentimental, brave, honored, and so very inspired.

i remember best the story he told about meeting his wife 

and how he knew he was going to marry her by the way she said hello.

i cried in the audience then, and you bet i'm crying now.

i'm so thankful to my husband that i got to know of who he was in this life–

quite possibly the purest good ever contained in the shape of a man.

xoxoxoxoxo

hello and happy monday morning, my friends!

i am sooo excited to say that i have been asked back 

to participate in another campaign with fab.com.

{my sale starts june 4th so mark your calendars}

and i must say again that these people are the BEST to work with. 

the whole vibe there is super duper nice, helpful and improving all the time. 

so, if you want to buy from a great company 

and know it's run by real people with awesome attitudes... look no further.

smile, you're designed to.

couldn't have said it better myself.

xoxoxoxoxoxo

a little re-cap from our tent at the 2012 art star craft bazaar!

we had awesome weather and a beautiful spot down by the water – 

i couldn't have asked for a better weekend. 

and as you can see chez sucre chez and i were sure 

to make it as cozy as always in our space.

great company, great weather, great customers 

and great friends stopping by made the weekend really fly by. 

thanks so much to all who stopped to visit.

check out the ship passing by below! 

this was my view for much of the day and sometimes 

i would close my eyes and pretend i was on vacation.

super thanks to the artstar team
who really knows how to put on a quality show. 

the volunteers and spacious carts are always so very much appreciated. 

xoxoxoxoxox

hey party people! here's a bit more from the old homestead –

so many things are happening i can barely keep up. 

such as.... frog eggs!

big clusters of these eggs are all along the pond edge. 

{click on the images for a close up}

oh, can't wait for the millions of tadpoles to come...

let's just hope the monster bass don't eat all the eggs
and tiny tadpoles before they can grow big.

check out that bass keegan's dad caught this weekend.
and that was the small one!

also, we're thinking about trying to raise some koi 

in the pond and went to check some out on sunday.

how beautiful would that be to have all those colors swimming around! 

{love this image from CA state university}

and what better way to view all this pond awesomeness 

but from a new sunroom!

keegan ripped down our old rotten shed last weekend 

and a new sunny vantage point will be resurrected in it's place. 

boy, that thing was rotten, leaky and had crazy nests of all sorts – thank goodness it's gone.

(check out how the house used to be plastered at some point in it's past. 

so glad someone reclaimed the stone and re-pointed it back to it's original beauty.)

and see the old door left behind?
that passes through into the pantry
and comes out the red door in the kitchen.
hmmm still trying to figure out a cool way to paint that door... any suggestions?

well, that's it for now – check back again for more
and happy beginning to the week!

xoxoxoxoxox

um yeah. that's our bees swarming.

so, we went to check on them one evening
and to my dismay they were in a ball in the tree buzzing like mad.
(the cluster was about the size of a droopy basketball and it made all of the hair on my arms stand up when i realized what i was hearing. for me the sound of the buzzing is the most panic inducing part of being near or surrounded by the bees.)
luckily keegan "caught" them and put them in a hive box before the sun went down. it was an amazing experience i'd rather not have again until i know we have an epi-pen in the fridge.

{what's so amazing is they swarm like this and decide for a few days where their new home will be by sending scouts and debating with dance. crazy, right? bees are soooo cool to live with and experience but still wildly frightening to me. check here for more about swarming.}

new card designs just in time for artstar!

come find them in my booth –

xoxoxoxox

double dutch did the kutztown extravaganza a couple weekends ago 

and we met borge of country gallery antiques. 

i loved most of what he had for sale since it's scandinavian in design – and who doesn't love that!? borge was also just so pleasant to talk with and he gave me a discount on my rug in exchange for sending him some photos of his booth. so, here's a peak...

wish i would've gotten this lovely little birdcage 

but i was so distracted by everything else!

christin showing off my rug – love it!

inspired by this clock and the lettering.

their armories are amazing and come apart completely
so you can actually get them in your house.

(perfect for the 200 year old miniature doorways we've got going on at my house!)

here's some pics of borge!

my favorite part about shopping antiques is usually the people that sell them.

thanks again to country gallery and hope to visit you in vermont the next time we're up that way!

xoxoxoxoxoxox

from the market – all self explanatory!

enjoy and go get some for yourself –

 xoxoxoxoxoxo

just showing a pretty custom lyric print i put together recently for a customer.

this lovely m. ward piece was their wedding song and mandy wanted a print featuring the lyrics as their first anniversary gift. 

{listen to a dreamy version here}

and did you know paper is the traditional first anniversary gift? 

what a better way to remember one of the best days of your life...

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

hey friends! wow, it's here again – show season! 

so, it looks like this year i'm really cutting back on shows 

which means, the ninth annual artstar craft bazaar 

will be my one and only outing.

stop by and visit me and my fabulous booth buddy chez sucre chez 

on penn's landing (next weekend!!) along with soooo many other talented artists.

{secret note: this year i plan to have some framed art to sell along with the usual matted work!}

so, if you're feeling like celebrating a fun spring weekend outside on the water with sailboats floating by come on down and visit. bring your mom, too since it's mother's day weekend 

and i'd bet she'd love that...

xoxoxoxoxo