In honor of JULY 4th
I have another GIVEAWAY ~
Okay, so I'm going to be gone from blogland until July 9th. I painted the tray with a hydrangea, rub-on butterfly and thought I'd give it away since I'm going to be tied up with things and won't be bloggin' for a while. Leave me a message on this post and you'll be entered into the drawing. I'll have one of my darling sons pick names from a basket on July 10th ~ so make sure you check back. If you don't have a blog/typepad, etc. leave your email address in your comment so that I can get a message to you. This would make a very cute dresser tray, or hung on the wall (the back is covered in felt so it won't scrath).

Here are some other things I've been up to ~
two of my students - Kim and her daughter Stephanie had their first craft fair today. They had already taken a special order and were working on a personalization for a customer that purchased a welcome sign when I arrived! Their merchandise was awesome and they were using their time wisely and painting while sitting there. AWESOME job ladies ~ hope your day was worth it!






















Stephanie (daughter) and Kim (mom)















I've also been painting roses again and this time roses and pansies. I painted this for a friend that I will see this week and I hope it fits into her decor. I'll share more about the other things I've been painting and post pictures on the 10th - can't do it now as it will spoil the surprise.



Have a fabulous 4TH of July! I'll hopefully be able to sneak some time here and there to read up on my favorite blogs out there! Please make sure you leave me a comment ( I know some of you lurkers don't know how - just click on the anonymous button after you write your comment, and don't forget to put your name)!!

BE thankful for the men and women serving our country today and past so that we can have the freedoms and independence that we have TODAY! Ciao!

More roses ~
Taught my last class for June last night and will not have any classes until July 16th. I have 10 classes in July and all but one are FULL so it's gonna be a busy month. Some have waiting lists and a couple have over the number I usually limit my classes to but they are gonna be so much fun and like I said I have such a hard time telling people NO ~ cause I want them to learn and I love to teach!
So, here is the tray I painted in class last night. Ellen won the tray (her first win since she's been coming to classes) It is just a bit smaller then the one she painted so they fit nicely together.




Lynne ~ this was her first class with me.
Lynne works at HL and it was so great that she was able to take a class. She is so sweet and always has a smile on her face. She works in the frame department and I try my hardest to get my ladies over there to get their canvas framed after class.
What she didn't tell me is that she is an artist. She brought pictures of things she's painted (GORGEOUS) but said she has always struggled with roses. She did a beautiful job and signed up for another class.









Kim ~
Bless her ~ she rushed to get to class after spending the afternoon in at med stop with her husband. He broke his hand the night before and after it hurting through the night he took him in to find out it was in fact broken.
She came right in though and grabbed her brush and painted these new style roses beautifully!
Her and her daughter Stephanie (below) have been painting like crazy, getting ready for a craft fair this Saturday. For those of you that live in the local area (the craft fair is at the Kroger parking lot on Zebulon Rd.) go out and show your support for them!







Stephanie and Connie ~

They both rush from Macon to get here for my 5:30p.m. classes and always come right in , smiling away and ready to paint!

Gorgeous trays ladies!






Miss tanned LISA. She was ready for a drink about half way through class she said - these roses were stressing her out! She did a beautiful job though!

















Doriann ~ she wasn't going to let me take her picture and tried to sneak out!!! Her tray is so pretty and like I told all of them - it's gonna take practice to learn this new rose with a new brush that they've never used before (5/8" angle brush).









Ann ~ this was also Ann's first class with me and she drove over 2 hours to take it ~ how awesome is that.
She came up to see her friend Ellen and take the class together ~ she got a bit lost but finally found us and jumped right into class!
So glad you joined us Ann ~ your tray is fabulous!

Ellen's tray - like I've told you before, she hates to have her picture taken so I respect that but insist on taking a picture of her work! Your tray turned out beautifully Ellen!















Still working on the last stages of this special present for my friends. I also have to get some things painted for the local Air Museum auction and get my August paint class schedule worked out as people are already waiting to sign up for classes then ~ I was thinking about taking the month of August off but I don't think I can do that ~ I missed all my student so much after not teaching for a couple weeks and now it will be July 16th before I have another class.

I'm also working on another giveaway piece and will post that early Sunday a.m. so make sure to come back and check it out.

Have an outstanding day!!

Back from the beach ~


My oldest son got back from the beach yesterday with my sister and her family. They had a great time at Hilton Head and my son had a blast. He loves the ocean, sand and sun. He really enjoyed their trip to the top of a lighthouse which I'm not sure he's ever been up in before.
He is really tan and completly exhausted! Decided to pass on the pool today and hang out inside - it's way too HOT out there today so I was happy with their decision to stay home.

I've been working on a special project for some friends and it has to be done by Saturday as I'm delivering it next week. I can't share pics of it now as I know it would ruin the surprise but I'll share pictures after I've given it to them. It's something you'd find in England ~ hint hint!






I also created this mosaic letter for a kids class ~ Nicole is going to make them with her two daughters and friends daughter. Wouldn't that be an awesome little craft to do for a birthday party?!?













I also painted this sunflower tray for my sister to put in her kitchen. She just had it painted and is redecorating and wanted a tray for the middle of her table. So glad that she liked it. You should see the very UGLY fruit flower pots I made for her years ago. They really are hidious.



Have another paint class this evening - 8 ladies are coming to learn how to paint roses. I usually limit my classes to 6 but couldn't turn anyone away from this class ~ too excited to share with them how easy it is to paint this wispy rose.






It's so exciting to see the number of people that visit each day! Thank you for taking the time to comment ~ it let's me know you've been here and I appreciate your kinds words.

Well, gotta get back to my special project.
Have a great day.

Happy Monday!
I was so excited to teach the class this morning ~ I couldn't wait to share this new style rose with my students. I think they all loved it ~ and they certainly painted it very well ~ actually better than I did the first time I tried!

This is the tray I painted in class and Jane won the drawing so she took it home with her.




Sharlee ~
always good to see Sharlee! She is a complete riot to have in class and I love to listen to her mumble about her project ~ today I might have embarrassed her just a bit and held up her tray because she said it was horrible and I held it up for the class to see how gorgeous it was. They had creative license to paint the roses on the tray however they wanted to.













Melanie ~
It was great to have Melanie join us for her first class with me. She took lessons in NC and just moved to GA. She obviously had a great teacher in NC and she did a fabulous job on this new style rose.















Jane ~
This was Jane's first class and I was blown away with how beautiful her roses turned out! Big, open and beautiful roses.

















Alice ~
I knew she'd love this new style rose because it's much easier to paint than the other style roses I've been teaching. I'm sure her sisters are gonna start begging for this to be painted on everything!














Jenny ~
Always good to see Jenny too! Lovely roses Jenny ~ we wish you well with your knee surgery and hope for a quick recovery! Paint, paint, paint while you are recovering!
















Ruth ~
Such a ray of light you are Ruth! Super sweet and just jumps right in there at every class.
Enjoy your time at Hilton Head.
















Nicole ~
I always give Nicole a hard time in class cause she does her own thing but she knows that I'm just joking with her ~ she picks up that brush and beautiful things happen. I love how she is able to just start without hesitation even when it's something completely NEW. Beautiful as always!
Nicole also was the one who won the drawing for the Super Convention pack. I had a blast collecting, purchasing, gathering items for her SCP. My friends Hazel and Terry also picked up some extras throughout the week to put in the bag as well.







Here are the contents ~

I love that black swatch of fabric! Donna Dewberry and her son Joel have a new line of fabrics coming out and they are absolutely GORGEOUS! Not sure when you can purchase them but check out onestroke.com
to see availability.













I also FOUND this on Saturday after paint class. I was leaving Hobby Lobby and walked right past this endcap and low and behold there was the bag that I've wanted since I saw it on
Everyday Beauty's blog. I even emailed her to find out where she got it. It retails for $34.99 but HL has a coupon this week so I got it 40% off!
Did you know that you can go to HL's website and print off a coupon? Sorry if you don't have a HL in your area ~ ours ROCKS!









Just had to share this picture with you as well.
This is my nephew Chandler scoring a goal in their state championship game (which they won).
That's him ~ sky high in the air.
Such skill ~ He jumped so high and hit the ball off of the side of his body to make the goal! He is incredibly talented and I'm sure will end up with a scholarship to college for soccer.






Have a great week. My Austin comes home tomorrow from Hilton Head ~ I'm glad he got to go spend time with his Aunt, Uncle and three cousins but I sure do miss having him around
here! Off to the pool to cool off ~ 98 degrees here today and HOT.

Saturday paint classes ~
Birdhouses and flowers

Sherry

This was Terry's last class with me ~ she's moving soon and I know everyone at class will miss her very much.

Lisa

Kim

SUNFLOWERS

(my plate)

Christy

CeeAnn

Alice J.

Alice H

Betty

Ruth

She won the drawing for the project piece I painted with them in class.

I forgot to share with you a PRIZE I won when I was at Super Convention this year ~

I won a basket that PLAID donated and it has over $110.00 worth of items in it. An easel, paint, turnstyle table to help when painting glassware, three new packs of brushes, 3 new project books, brush carryall, brush stand, dvd and a really nice basket.

This was the very last evening event and I had thought with all the drawings they did and some people being called twice during the week that my luck ran out last month when I won the Coach bag ~ but ~ just as I was saying "I really want that to my friend Terry" they called my name!

I also have been dying to give this bag away to my student that took 6 classes last month and won the drawing for doing so ~ NICOLE. She won a Covention pack FULL of fun goodies! I cannot wait for her to open it when I see her tomorrow and I'll share the pics of the contents tomorrow with pictures from the All kinds of Roses class. I didn't want to spoil the surprise since I know she checks my blog 4-5 times a day (so she says) hehehe.

Anyway, I hope you have a great week. Hug your kids! Show your significant other how much they mean to you! Don't take things for granted! If someone is making you unhappy, tell them and find a way to make things better ~ life is way too short to live in misery or just contentment ~ YOU can decide to make your life happy or not, productive or not, fun or not. YOU ARE WORTH every minute of every day and all the happiness in the world! So, what are you waiting for....go and get it!!!

Family Fun ~

My sister and her three boys came yesterday for a stop and go on their way to Hilton Head for a short beach vacation. My younger sister and two kids (the only girl in the photo and the youngest boy) came over to hang out as well and it was FUN to have them all together and getting along great!

Here are all the cousins together!

I've learned in the last few years that if I want a good picture of my boys I have to give them the opportunity to do a crazy photo. So, I start off by saying let's get a couple of good photos to send to family and then we'll take some crazy/whacky photos. Holland usually still finds something crazy to do ~ he is the comedian of the family and I love how he is looking up to his older brother in this one ~ totally Holland.



The craziness begins. We didn't get the youngest one (Andrew) to do his funny face when we were taking pictures but he had an adorable one he did every time we stopped taking photos.






















My middle son finally has hair! Since he was about 6 he has wanted to shave his head. We lived in England at the time and I think he really liked David Beckhams look and since then he has always had very little hair. Well, he decided to let it grow out and boy is it strange to see him with so much hair! I think it has something to do with a girl but he says not.








Still painting ROSES ~
I am teaching two classes next week that are totally booked so I've been playing around with the different kinds of roses to paint. I'm still totally hooked on the new style rose I just learned how to paint at convention and know that my students are going to LOVE it as well.

I think this tray would look pretty with a piece of glass laying over the roses so it could be used.


Have a great weekend. I have two painting classes tomorrow and will share those pictures with you sometime this weekend.

Blessings!

A corner of my home ~

I have been slacking on sharing corners of my home with you so here are two!

I love this area of my living room. I had these pictures taken of my boys several years ago and absolutely LOVE them. I really need to update their photos but I just love these too much to not display them.


Below the pictures is a monks bench that I purchased in England. This is such a unique piece of furniture. It's English Oak and really ornate.

Here is a close up of it with the lid down







and a picture of it with the lid up so that it can be sat on - which it's not since it's covered! It's also full of bunches of neat little things that I purchased while in England. On the bench are some of the blue and white dishes that I really like. The stoneware "very heavy" bowl is one that I purchased when I lived in Japan. It's a handpainted bowl from Thailand.

The tea set was given to my husband and I as a wedding gift from one of my Japanese friends. It's Noritake and has a really soft delicate leaf pattern on it.





This is another unique piece of furniture that I have in my house. It's actually 2 step tansues. They are from Korea and I purchased them when I lived in Japan.

If side by side they form stairs coming up from the right and from the left. With the limited wall space in my open floor plan this was the best way to have these pieces of furniture. I stacked them on top of each other and took the door off one side in the middle to be able to display things.

The painting above it hung in my grandfather's house for as long as I can remember. It's on canvas and I believe my grandmother purchased it at an Art sale in the 40's. I purchased the clock in England and when it worked it had a Westminster Chime that was wonderful to hear. It hasn't worked since we moved from England the first time and I haven't found a place to have it fixed yet. Really, I think I'm afraid if I take it they'll tell me they won't be able to fix it and I'll be really SAD to hear that news. The Olive jar is Southern Living at Home and the jar on the left is a large ceramic "kimchi" jar. In Korea it would be filled with kimchi and buried in the ground for it to ferment. I don't care for kimchi but my husband loves it and purchased two of these jars on one of his trips to Korea.



I painted this yesterday for my dear friend Terry as a little going away present.

We had a nice lunch at the local sushi/thai restaurant and it was really nice. We're all going to be so sad to see Terry go.