Summer, Art, and Keeping up with Life!

How does life get to be so busy!  Fiona's First Communion really through me off.  At least when it's Alexa's turn, in two years, I will have done it once - so it shouldn't be as crazy.

We are almost ready to move into our new "old" house.  My husband, Andrew, has been working really, really hard at restoring it back to it's original splendor.  Behind the garage is a never ending pile of discarded slate roofing tiles.  As soon as I saw them sitting there, piled in all their glory, I just knew I had to try collaging them.

I have also discovered that the smaller broken pieces make beautiful magnets.  I have already started selling those at Gabby Road Studios, the art gallery here in Norwalk.  They are quick to make and I can get a lot of them finished in a short amount of time.  Which is very important because lately, time seems to be the thing that I have the least of!

Finally, my parent's camper has officially opened for the summer!!  I can't wait for lazy summer evenings spent sitting around their campfire watching the girls roast marsh mellows and trying to catch lightning bugs.  And my father  - will be the biggest kid of them all.  What is your favorite summer memory?  Leave a post answering my question (by June 2nd) and I will put your name in a hat for a drawing for a magnet.  :)

Blessings ~Cassie

Doing some much needed updating!

First I must apologize for such a delay in posting!  Life has gotten extremely busy these last three months.  We are in the process of moving to a new home (same great town just a new "old" home).  Fiona made her First Communion in May and the hubby is planning a big business trip in June.  I am working on "revamping" my blog - it's only been four years!  So please bare with me while I muddle through this, in the mean time please enjoy some First Communion photos.

Letter Love 101 Class 2012

The online class I am taking (taught by Joanne Sharpe here's her blog http://joannezsharpe.blogspot.com/)

started this past Wednesday and I am so excited!  This class is a lettering and journaling class and we will be  working with different kinds of pens, markers, and journals...

I have always been told that I have very neat handwriting.  Some people have even told me that I write

the same way I was taught in the second grade.  That's not to say that I write like a second grader but

that I haven't changed it - I still add the little loop at the top of the letter "C" and I still write an "F" the

way I was taught...

I use a lot of words in my art, and all of the words I print out on vintage paper via the computer.

I would like to be able to use some of my own handwriting, I think it's another level of

expressing myself.  I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend - I am going to spend mine

practicing lots of new letters!

Getting Ready for Some Doodle Fun...

I am so excited for February 1st!  I signed up for Joanne Sharpe's "Letter Love 101" online class.  And it starts this Wednesday:)  Check out her blog for more details http://joannezsharpe.blogspot.com/

I have been so excited about this class that I have already started playing around with my markers and my drawing/doodling.  I took watercolor paper and cut it into 3.5 x 3.5 inch squares.  I am going through the alphabet, and, using each letter creating an inspirational phrase.  The small format allows me to finish a drawing in a very short amount of time.

When I am finished with the alphabet I would like to incorporate them into a piece of wall art for Fiona and Alexa's room.  I want them to think about the phrases and know that they can accomplish anything they set their minds to! I am currently up to the letter "M" so I will post more of these later in the week.  In the mean time I hope everyone is having a great weekend.

Blessings, Cassie

Finally Starting My New Year!

I'm so sorry I've neglected everyone!  We had a busy start to the year here in Norwalk.  My daughter, Fiona had eye surgery on the 16th and now that she is recovering beautifully I feel like I can finally start my New Year. Amazing how a relatively routine outpatient procedure can consume your whole world when it's someone you love. 

Now for a little bit of exciting news.  On Thursday January 26th I will be teaching a class in making this "Remember You Are" collage at Gabby Road Studios.  This is the new art gallery/studio that opened up right before Christmas and have sold several picture frames there.  The owner, Sharon, asked me if I would be interested in teaching a class in collage - I told her that I did not consider myself a master craftsman but I would be more than happy to show other people how much fun, and 

how inspiring collage can be.

I have also been busy making more coffee cozies. I thought hearts with reds and pinks was a pretty good idea being that Valentine"s Day is coming up soon.  I forget how therapeutic it is to embroider, there is just something about pulling a needle and thread... 

I wrote this Haiku sometime last year but was reminded of it yesterday - enjoy and have a great weekend.

"Calmly, quietly,

Steadiness in pulling thread

Peace in Needlework"

A Joyful Christmas and a Blessed New Year...

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to all!  I decided just to post some pictures of the holiday tidings around our house.  Life has been so busy here - I am sure most of you can relate... 

We did not have a white Christmas here this year - just lots of rain.  So the girls took it upon themselves to cover the wall going upstairs in homemade snowflakes...

Most of the ornaments on our tree are either hand made or very old.  They range from home made Girl Scout ornaments (circa 1981) to embroidered ones that I made a few years ago, to bulbs that the girls helped out with just last year.

Finally I would like to introduce you to Red Girl, the newest member of our family (she was a little embarrassed about the sweater, so we only make her wear it once in a while).  She is a five month old half German Short Haired Pointer and half English Setter.  She is VERY energetic and is already pointing birds.  You can just imagine how crazy our Christmas has been!  I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season and a Blessed New Year! 

Putting Myself Out There...

Talk about a sign from above, the day before Thanksgiving my husband showed me an article in our local paper (The Norwalk Reflector) about an art gallery/retail shop opening up just off Main Street...

Gabby Road Studios is an eclectic little shop that promotes and sells hand crafted items made by local artists.  Here is the link to their website http://www.gabbyroadstudio.com/index.html

So on Thanksgiving Day I took the plunge and emailed the owners about my interest in selling some of my picture frames.  

The owners responded right away and within a few days I had some picture frames for sale in the shop.  Gabby Road Studios has been wonderful to work with and they graciously allowed me to photograph their wonderful space.

I believe this is a sign from God that this is what I was meant to do.  Friends and family (blogger friends included!) have been telling me for a couple of years to put myself out there and take a chance.   Gabby Road Studios was the Lord's way of saying "here I am now doing everything but selling it for you  take the chance!"  On that note I will say this - for all of you out there thinking about doing what you love - take the chance!  I hope everyone has a Blessed week:)