Everyone needs a little free love. Here’s mine. I painted this a few years ago on canvas when I was designing and selling greeting cards. I bring it out for our Sweetheart dinner and hang it from French ribbon. Other than that, it stays hidden away in my craft shed.
So in the spirit of the Love season, I thought I would bring it out and share it with you. So have at it, if you like it, do whatever you want with the image, (click to enlarge). Crop, embellish, slice, modify, whatever. Even if you make a buck selling something you make from it, I think that would be great. If you do and you’re so inclined, it would be nice to have a credit line on the piece. If you use this in a craft and would like to share, I would love to post a photo of your creation. Have fun.
Before kids, Jeff and I bought a home in a cul-de-sac on Millwood Drive. There we met and became close friends with 2 other childless couples. Over the years, we all had babies and together with them and other couples they knew, we started going on fun annual camping trips, sharing holiday dinners, pumpkin carving contests and other fun gatherings for 15 years. We call our fun little group of 6 families Club Millwood. Jeff and I host the annual Sweetheart Pot-Luck Dinner Party for the adult couples only. We have a hilarious gift exchange (can you just imagine!) and a wonderful evening of great food, the best wine and lots of catching up.
I bring out all the red I can find and over-decorate in Valentine theme. I bought a kitchy red tree a couple of years ago at the craft store on clearance after Christmas, it cost around $7. I decorate it with ornaments for each of the couples. HERE is last year’s with name cookies.
The year before I had just learned to solder. I found some unusual sized glass slides on ebay and they made for great ornaments. If you don’t solder, there are other options such as these customizable frames found on SuppliesForU a supply shop on Etsy.
Using found images from a clip-art book, I scanned, reduced to size changed the colors and added each couples’ names. I added a bit of glitter, sandwiched the two pieces of art together under the glass and soldered the pieces adding a chain and glass heart that I also soldered. This was my first big attempt at soldering, so you won’t be too impressed with the quality. Over time the solder has patina’d a bit, but now it looks all the more vintage. Make a custom ornament for your Valentine, framing a love note, a photo, a lipstick kiss, and add beads or a tassle. Hang it from the light switch of the lamp on your lover’s nightstand!
A package came yesterday. I didn’t order this. THIS was a just-because-gift from wonderful Shelly Kennedy of Drooz Studio. Are you kidding me?! Who does that? Well, apparently Shelly does. Shelly, an illustrator with her own incredible product line, knows that the red truck is my business logo and was my identity on my blog until recently. She sent a darling picture frame- the baby’s coming out and a photo of my wish-truck is going in. (My wish-truck is the vintage stake-bed truck I wish I actually had.) A red truck bank that she stuck one of my stickers (that was on a wrapped item she purchased from my Etsy shop) on the door! This bank is where I’ll start saving for my wish-truck, and she even tucked in a little photo album that I’ll put my wish-truck photos in once I stop wishing and start driving!
Well a good thing can’t possibly go unreturned, so I would love to share the amazing work of Shelly with you. For starters, you have to check out her studio. Talk about inspiration. Then dig around on her site, she has some super sales going on. She has a lot of wonderful NEW things in the works -not just kid stuff- so I can’t wait to see what she’s up to. One question you will probably ask yourself when your on her site is “when does this woman sleep?”
Here are a few of my favorite things she sells:
You have no idea how appropriate this door tag is. We live on one acre of mud this time of year. I have been thinking of switching from carpet to concrete and just hose the whole place down every few days.
And I can’t help but think of my dear friend Tania’s daughter, Saylor Bleu, when I see these next two items. Saylor lives as a princess in beautiful Maine not far from the beach, now running her own little shop out of her bedroom called Bleutique. Click over HERE to Tania’s blog to see why these two items fit Saylor Bleu so well.
Shelly’s having a great, I mean, GREAT sale on these fun rugs, you have to check it out.
And who doesn’t deserve a Tiny Tiara? They come in 3 different colors of glass. Gorgeous, gorgeous.
Thank you again, Shelly, you are simply wonderful.
