Holiday Cheer, Twinkle, Celebrate, Merry & Bright

Available just in time for your holiday gift giving! I was so excited to see my new mugs on the shelves when I popped in to my neighborhood Ross store. Currently they are only available at Ross, so stop by and check them out... buy one or two or three or the full set of four!

Happy Holidays!

Tis The Season...to be MERRY, CREATE and DECORATE!!!!

The sights, sounds and sweet smells of the Christmas holidays are here! 

I love this time of year. Yes, it's usually crazy as I try to squeeze it all in ...the shopping, baking and my favorite part  - DECORATING!!!

Each year I open my Christmas storage boxes to find the all familiar and sentimental ornaments I have accumulated over the years...each one holding a memory near and dear to my heart.  

I enjoy working on new decorations to add to my collections. I am particularly drawn to silver and sparkly things! I thought that this year I would add to my holiday twinkling trinkets by creating from some of the objects I acquired from my treasure hunts to the flea market and/or thrift store.  

So, upon searching through my trinkets I came across these two little white resin birds. I bought them last month in a Tennessee thrift store. These birds literally did come south for the winter! I wasn't sure at the time what I was going to do with them, but for sixty-two cents each, I thought they had definite possibilities. Besides, with the latest trends on "going green and recycling", this seems like the perfect holiday project.  

Most of the supplies I used to fancy up my birds were all items I already had around the studio - ribbon, glitter, glue, and buttons.  If you don't have these supplies, you can purchase the majority of them at your local Michael's store. I'll share with you step by step how I created my "Winter Birds" in hopes that I can inspire you to create your own new holiday creation. You may not find these exact birds, but if you find something similar, you'll have the steps I used to decorate my feathered friends or should I say "glittered" friends!    

        
Step One:  Brush the Liquid Leaf ( by Plaid #6180 Silver) over the entire surface the birds and let dry.

Step Two:  Brush Tacky Glue on the top of the tail sections only.

                                   Step 3:  While the glue is still wet, sprinkle light blue glitter on the tail and let dry.

Step 4:  Cut two pieces of ribbon into three inch sections and tie a knot in the middle.

Pictured here are also the snowflake buttons I used to embellish the birds. Glue one piece of ribbon to the back of each bird. Glue a couple of the buttons over the knot on the ribbon.

To finish: I then placed the birds on two round five inch mirrors and used some of my tree ornaments and Christmas picks to accent the silver duo.

Twinkle ! Twinkle!

Wishing you many blessings and the happiest holiday season ever!

Visit my web site:  www.KarenEmbryDesigns.com

One Man's Junk...

is another man's treasure! Or should I say a woman's treasure?

As the weather cools (yes, it's finally getting below the sweltering temperatures here in Florida) it's the perfect time to head out to the flea markets. How I love to sift through all of the wonderful little trinkets and treasures of times gone by. Some of the odds and ends aren't extremely old, but interesting in that they may remind us of our own past (and sometimes unusual) collections. If these treasures could only speak, we would know the story behind how these bits and pieces of people's lives ended up here on the many shelves and booths of this dusty market.

It's a great place to visit for inspiration and a nice inexpensive way to spend the day out and about.

Shelves and shelves of ceramic bells and shoes...and a few toys that at one point were in "McDonald's          Happy Meals". I think I see Odie next to one of the seven dwarfs on the top left shelf, where is Garfield?

  More porcelain shoes and booties galore! Is that a hamburger candle on the bottom left side of the shelf?

These boxes filled with bits and pieces of this and that have my imagination wondering...how I would love
to use them to create something new and wonderful...maybe in a piece of collage or altered art?

                                                                    Tiny pitchers...so delicate.

    AND...this is where I STOP and have to buy this adorable little trinket box with two tiny birds. It's in
    perfect condition and for a mere cost of only $2.00???? I have had this fascination with birds lately so
    this will be a perfect addition to my collection. On to the next booth! What will I find?

Oh my...another bird calling to me...only a quarter? He's simple but cute. The tiny white bird will be          
joining  my collection. Anyone collect cats? Only seventy-five cents for the three on the shelf. The bird is safe for now....MEOW.  Hmmm, let's see what's around the corner.

                                      Chuckle, chuckle...I could use a couple of these jars!

Nope, don't need the Budweiser sign.

Maybe the hat belonged to Jackie O?

 

This is a little creepy...escaped from one of the Chucky movies?

 

Where else can you meet Elvis and get your picture with him? ONLY at the flea market. It's really where
he's been all this time! He's tall, huh?

Now wouldn't it be cool to have this? I could be the back seat driver (why bother peddling?)

What's a flea market without knock-off Coach purses? As a designer, this puts a burr in my saddle.

Where are the copyright police? Hello? HELLO? This is a crime!

 

Your guess is as good as mine?&*)(*!  What a bargain, only a DOLLAR!

The produce section - usually great prices compared to the grocery stores, but the spotted pears look somewhat weird.   

Time to call it a day.

Fun day at the market.... $0.00

Additons to my collection....$2.25 for birds.

$3.00 for a diet coke and a soft pretzel.

Inspiration...PRICELESS!

"Seasons Come, Seasons Go...The Sweet Memories I'll Always Know"

   

"Halloween photos of my daughter Davi & my son Kyle dating from October 1986 to October 2006".       

HAPPY FALL!

I absolutely love this time of year. In the next few weeks the weather will have cooled down enough to leave the windows open. Then for a while, I can enjoy the sounds of the outdoors. Pumpkins are already for sale and soon everyone will have a carved pumpkin on their doorstep. With Halloween arriving, I now have an excuse to have lots of candy in the house and I am inspired to bring the feeling of this season into my home. This is actually the beginning of one of the most popular holiday decorating seasons.

The fall decorations in the stores have been up for while and although the Christmas decor is making its way into the market place, tomorrow is only the first day of October.  I could visit the shops and buy the new ready made decorations, but I prefer the sentimental decorations that I have collected over the years.  I especially treasure the ones my children made as they were growing up that are now barely held together by a thread. I smile every time I open one of my holiday boxes even though I have seen these same decorations year after year.   The sweet memories make my heart smile.

I also enjoy creating new decorations, pulling out my painting and crafting supplies and designing for myself. Since I design for a living, I occasionally miss creating a project for the sake of just making it. Exploring creativity is good for the soul. When we are creative we can express ourselves, take chances and if we mess-up, we can start over.  Pablo Picasso said, "Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life". So pull out your brushes, paints, craft supplies and "DUST OFF YOUR SOUL"!

I have included a couple photos of fall painting projects from my last book, "Painting on Glass and Ceramic". These are the perfect projects to create if you are looking to add new items to your fall decor. The "Owl and the Moon" candle holder and the "Fall Holiday" plate were designed using supplies that are reasonably priced. You can select the glass surface of your choice, reducing or enlarging the patterns as needed. The paints used for these designs are made by Plaid Enterprises and are from their line of "Folk Art Enamels". They can be purchased at any of the larger craft stores or from  http://www.plaidonline.com/

If you inspired to create any of the projects from my book, I would love if you would share your project photos!

                                 HAPPY CREATING, HAPPY FALL!

               Visit my web site:   http://www.karenembrydesigns.com/

"LIVING for the MOMENT"

"Living for the Moment" is easier said than done. It is easy to get preoccupied with what the future will bring and how we want our lives to be, instead of appreciating the simple pleasures of TODAY.

It's important to live "mindfully" and take notice of the things that give you joy and make you smile on a daily basis. It would be nice to think like a child again in some respects. Children are generally not worried about what happened yesterday or what will happen tomorrow - they are just living in the moment.  Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "We are always getting ready to live, but never living". I try to keep that in mind.

I work many hours in my home studio alone. It's not so bad, because I truly enjoy what I do. But I do get lost in my work and need to bring myself out of that isolated place. Stepping out also helps the artist in me to actually see things in the world for motivation and inspiration. So on this day (yes the same day I took my bio picture), I stepped out of my studio and took a walk to the lake to remind myself of the beautiful day to day things.  I know this family of ducks is appreciating me in this moment as I feed them bread and fill their bellies!  They are living for the moment probably because they simply do not know any different.  I suppose it would be good occasionally to take on the "DUCK MENTALITY" to make sure I am living life in the moment!

What inspires you to live in the moment? 

"Well Behaved Women Seldom Make History"

"Well Behaved Women Rarely Make History." I chuckled the first time I heard this! It was inspiring and was definitely some food for thought. Actually, I loved the quote so much I added it to my art journal.

My first interpretation of it may have not been entirely what the author, Laurel Ulrich had intended it to be, but I believe I had the gist of it! Upon researching the quote to give credit to its author was the time I came to realize the achievements of the woman behind it. The actual quote is "Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History". I was honestly amazed to learn that she was a historian of early America and the history of women and a professor at Harvard University.

According to Wikipedia, most recently, Laurel Ulrich was recognized as an individual "of distinction ... working on the frontiers of knowledge, and in such a way as to cross the conventional boundaries of the specialties".

When writing an article about little-studied Puritan funeral services, Ulrich included the phrase "well-behaved women seldom make history." The phrase was picked up and soon was widely quoted and printed across the country. It continues to be seen on greeting cards, T-shirts, mugs, plaques, and bumper stickers. She recounted how her now-famous quote has taken on a life of its own in an October 2007 interview: "It was a weird escape into popular culture. I got constant e-mails about it, and I thought it was humorous. Then I started looking at where it was coming from. Once I turned up as a character in a novel - and a tennis star from India wore the T-shirt at Wimbledon. It seemed like a teaching moment - and so I wrote a book using the title." Well-Behaved Women examines the ways in which women shaped history, citing examples from the lives of Rosa Parks, Christine de Pizan, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Harriet Tubman, Virginia Wolf and many other notable women in American and world history.

"Well Behaved Women Seldom Make History" can certainly be used as inspiration for women, but it can also apply to artists or anyone for that matter inspired to take a journey off the beaten path. We have to learn not to just settle for how things are, but to challenge and persist in what we believe is right, in what we want to achieve...even if we ruffle a few feathers along the way!

Be notable...make history? Yes, I'm planning on it!  How about you?

Happiness...What Makes You Happy?

Happiness is defined as a state of mind or feeling characterized by contentment, love, satisfaction, pleasure, or joy. So, what makes you happy?

I imagine that some of the thoughts that would initially come to mind may include being rich, powerful and famous. Yes, those things would make most of us happy, but I am talking about the things that make your heart smile...the happiness that comes from within us.

Is there really a happiness quotient? Is there a secret formula? I don't know if we can assume that there is any single thing that will make us happy. What I do know is that we need to take responsibility for our own happiness. Leo Tolstoy said, "If you want to be happy, be."

So, let's be....HAPPY.

I have a "HAPPY LIST", do you? If you don't, it is a good idea to create your HAPPY LIST. It can include your innermost wishes and dreams or it can be a lighthearted list of the simple pleasures in your life like chocolate and walks in the park. It can include things you are thankful for, memories and goals. Remember that "HAPPINESS is about the quality of the moments in your life, not the quantity." Your HAPPY LIST will remind you of the good times when your heart needs to smile.

I'd love to hear what makes you HAPPY...

It's A New Day, It's A New Blog!

WELCOME TO MY NEW ART & DESIGN BLOG! I am very excited to be stepping into the blog world. The stars have fully aligned themselves to open up the time (and my mind) to begin this wonderful journey.

Eleanor Roosevelt said it best, "The future belongs to those that believe in the beauty of their dreams". I absolutely LOVE this quote! We all need a dream. Something to believe in, something that keeps our hearts open to future possibilities.

Do you remember as a child daydreaming about what "could be" instead of what "should be"? As an artist, I have always tried to keep that "could be" mentality. It will keep the child inside of you alive. It will leave your mind open to the opportunities of the universe.

I am truly fortunate to be able to express myself with creativity in my day-to-day life and in what I do for a living. From the time I was a child I knew that this is what I wanted to do. Although I realize that I will always be some place between where I was and where I want to be, this is a good thing. It is a life process that helps me realize I always need to move forward. I was never the one to just settle or be content without opening the next door.

I have an amazing family that has always been supportive of my creative endeavors. They have been the most important part of my life and work. At the end of the day, they are the ones that make it possible and make it all matter.

As I step into this new "blog land", I am looking forward to this new way of evolving and expressing myself. I will share with you my musings of who I am, what I do and maybe sometimes why I do it. I hope to ignite your imagination by sharing the creative process, techniques, ideas and inspiration.

I hope you will join me on this artful journey...the possibilities are endless!