MEET SHARON LOVEJOY

I've had more fun getting to know author, lecturer and illustrator Sharon Lovejoy  in blog land this year! I have loved and been inspired by her books since our children were little. It all started with a post I wrote about connecting kids with nature and my mention of her book ROOTS SHOOTS BUCKETS AND BOOTS! She found me and left a sweet comment and that was the beginning of a new and wonderful friendship!

DANDELION WORKSHOP~ open house

 Welcome to where we create!

DANDELION WORKSHOP

Whew! We finished just in time for the second annual WHERE BLOGGERS CREATE party Karen Valentine is hosting at My Desert Cottage!  the day we've all been waiting for... We artists love to play show and tell don't we?

 We're just one of hundreds of excited bloggers participating this weekend.  Up until about 4 days ago our new " creative space" was your typical basement stuffed to the gills with this and that...Well, not anymore!!! I'll save you the pain of before pic's and get right to the fun stuff!

FOLLOW the pink butterfly...

We've been needing a space to spread our creative wings ~

One of the artists in residence  (our daughter ) and her friend painted these stools in preparation for today's event! Every artist need a place to sit and day dream while we create!

We keep some of our supplies in a vintage armoire'... It's doing double duty while it waits for a Painted Lady treatment.. ( that's what I call my hand painted  furniture pieces )

I love these beautiful printed storage boxes and they inspire me every time I look at them.... 

I've had a passion for the Decorative Arts, ( hand painted furniture in particular) for over 20 years and I thoroughly enjoy studying this art form! There's always something new to learn. I have been so inspired by Master Decorative Artist  Debbie Travis ... I love the way she is always so bold in her room makeovers and her books and tapes are all fairly easy to follow even if you're a beginner! Melanie Royals of Royal Design Studio is another favorite of mine. She has created some of my favorite stencils and stenciling technique's too.

I'm no different than many artists I know who long for a special private studio tucked away in the hills, a sea side cottage or bunk house, or a loft studio in the big city. We are all such dreamers aren't we? I'm lucky to share a creative space with our very creative daughter who is also responsible for the name of our studio. 

 I use this space to transform my " ladies in waiting " (cast off furniture finds)  into PAINTED LADIES...

  Our daughter loves to create with paper, paint, glitter, glue, old boxes, string, ribbon, yarn; what ever we have on hand really! 

She has been such an inspiration to me as an artist. Children are so free in the way that they imagine and create...Through watching her I have learned to let- go in my own creative expression..

           If you can picture it, YOU CAN MAKE IT

~ Nicolette

( Yep, that's her quote and if you click on the word MAKE you'll find a little story I wrote that was inspired by her and her fearless creativity )

A must have for any creative space is place where you can see all things that inspire you! We created an inspiration wall for some of our favorite pics and drawings.

Your the first one's to see the the beginning's of my next hand painted furniture collection titled, IN BLOOM. In it's previous life this frame was stained a dark walnut color. It was a cast off I picked up treasure hunting... Now it blossom's!

The LOVE tower is one of our daughter's origami creations... and sets the perfect " vibe" in our creative space... The picture book My Day in the Garden is one of my inspirations for my new furniture collection. I love how Anita Lobel paints in every color under the rainbow and in a bit of a loose style !  

Our new creative space has everything we need to create to our hearts content. We have a sewing table that folds up and down in the center of the room, plenty of shelving for a variety of ART supplies, space to store " ladies in waiting" and origami butterflies perched everywhere to help us forget we're DOWN CELLAR.

They keep us inspired and having fun!

 Thanks so much for stopping by!

We hope you enjoyed your little peak into DANDELION WORKSHOP... 

Please leave us a note in the comment box above on your way to the next stop and enjoy a wonderful weekend of studio touring in blog land. We're off to see  " where you create " !  

Thanks for hosting this party again  Karen!

Dandelion Wishes and Happy Creating to all!

 Deborah Jean and Nicolette~

Where Bloggers Create ~ It's party time!!!

Have you met Karen Valentine of My Desert Cottage?  I've been following her blog for a couple of months now. She has such a warm, sweet way of  sharing her " desert cottage life" and her talents which  also include blog design at Valentine Designs.  

 I think she has truly found her nich' in blog land!

This year she's hosting her second annual Where Bloggers Create party where bloggers get to show off  share our creative spaces! She has some great prizes and the winner will be featured on Where Women Create!

 I decided to participate at the last minute on a whim!  It's just the sort of pressure I need to finally put together a " creative " space just in time for summer.  Those of you who know me know that I'll paint just about anywhere there is space inside or out and that my dining room table is usually covered with crafty stuff...

I'm in hopes of having a " space of our own " soon!  A place where I won't have to clear the table to eat dinner, where sandpaper dust and hardened glue will no longer be mistaken for Parmesan cheese and salad crutons'. Finally a place to  create to our hearts content. Where we can close the door behind us on the artful mess that making art creates leaving it behind until inspiration hits!

My dream studio, a barn/studio out back with a roaring fire and music is out for now so there's only one place to go...  DOWN CELLAR! That's what Yankees say when they mean the basement!  

Over the next few days I'll be re-designing a portion of our basement to be UN- veiled in my post on Friday June 18th!  I can't wait for the party to begin so I can visit all the wonderful " creative spaces " of bloggers everywhere!

Click here to see who's participating and don't forget to check back at Karen's place starting on the 19th...


Once the party has started you can blog-hop to your hearts content where you'll be sure to find  more than enough inspiration for creating the studio of your dreams even it it's a tiny corner of a room, a small desk space tucked away in your bedroom, or your dining room table...


 Your creativity needs an outlet!  Don't sit on your " creative dreams "  for lack of space... Use what you've got and get busy making each day YOUR masterpiece!


until then,
Dandelion Wishes,
Deborah Jean~

MULTIFARIOUS~ opening reception

( post card created by J Long )

Last night was the opening reception for an art show I was invited to participate in with two other great artist's titled MULTIFARIOUS!

( Turquoise bowl created by Kendra )

I LOVE IT!

The three of us couldn't be any different in the way we approach the creative process and in our creations which makes this show very exciting! I'll share a few pix from our evening.... but first, here's a little " history" on this born again creation! It started out as your basic pine dresser...It's the perfect size for a child's room, so I channeled some of my favorite children's book illustrator Mo Jo and came up with the idea of gold stars for drawer handles and a starry night sky sprinkled on the dresser top just for fun!

 Hence, the title REACH FOR THE STARS!!!

Bring a little child like magic into your life ...Think BIG and BELIEVE IN YOUR DREAMS!!!

On with the show...

The Multifarious crew! Kendra D' Angora ( sitting on my hand painted bench titled Out of Africa )  is a master with pastel's and a potter as well, who channels Alice in Wonderland, J Long  is an AMAZING computer artist who seems to delight in keeping his viewers guessing at what he's trying to communicate with his art and me, the girl who loves to find any old thing and make it beautiful and functional again.... with a story book twist.  

While folks mingled around inside chatting about all things artsy fartsy, we heard drumming.... Loud drumming.  Some of us thought it was a marching band practice. Turns out it was our son and his friend who were providing the meditative back beat to our evening inside the gallery!  I LOVED that they found something creative to do once they had looked at all the art and had devoured had a bite to eat.

We enjoyed the performance art in the park...it added a cool vibe to the night.

My hubby even ran over to play the bells!

It was a GREAT NIGHT!

I hope you enjoyed the show!

IN BLOOM~ Peonie

This is the first of my IN BLOOM  weekly posts and I'm devoting it solely to the beautiful Peonie.

 I'll let the petals speak for themselves!

  Are you ever inspired to paint what you grow in your garden?

 Their fragrance gives me the same old fashioned feeling as roses, lavender and lilac's do.

 Sweet, pungent and pure heaven to look at !!! 

We  only grow two Peonies plants in our garden and I would love to plant more! I just covet them when they blossom.

Here's something I DIDN'T KNOW about Peonies ( yes, they come in red too; but besides that ) when I planted ours 5 years ago.  The Peonie buds have a hard waxy coating on them that large carpenter aunts eat away so the bud can burst open...A Gardner friend told me about this while we stood over my peonies watching the aunts work their magic. Lunch for the ants...

BEAUTIFUL BLOSSOMS FOR US!
PERFECT!

It's never too late to  invite these beauties into your garden! Find a little spot and plop one in!
You'll be SO glad you did!

 Go HERE to learn more about the perfect planting time for Peonies and more secrets to growing these old fashioned charmers.

 Do you have something IN BLOOM that brings you immense joy, evokes a sweet memory or just plain tickles you every time you see it?  I would love to hear about it!

" I am following Nature without being able to grasp her...I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers.” Claude Monet



This post is linked to Tootsie Time   Fertilizer Friday!