New Garden Blog and Update

Its been a very long time since my last post. So many changes in life. I still love art but my priorities have changed for awhile and its been mostly full of gardening and staying active. I would like to eventually get back to sewing, but for now my focus is now on flowers. I have garden blog that I started and will be keeping it updated as much as possible. If you would like to stop by and see what I am up to in the garden this new year, this is where I will be most of the time.

https://bloomsbypam.blogspot.com/

Last week I planted a few seeds and I'm super excited because some of them have already started to sprout! We have lots of snow right now. I got out for some snowshoeing last week and it was beautiful!

Inspiration On The Trail

Took a hike out on the trail today and I met a woman who was on her mountain bike with her dog leading the way. She was resting for a few minutes off to the side catching her breath and I said hello. Her dog was super cute and friendly. We had a small conversation about how long she had been biking and how difficult this trial was. She said that she has rode the trail many times but is out of shape right now and has to work her way up to it. Her goal by mid summer time is to be able to do the trail loop in about 45 minutes compared to and hour and a half of what she estimated it would take her today. I was so impressed, she kicks butt. It takes me 45 minutes to walk to the top and back down, lol!

I remembered the day me and my son went out on the trail to ride and we got just a few feet from the road and I had to turn back. I realized right away how out of shape I was and it was a super advanced trail. I had some anxiety about the narrow path and a few other things like getting a flat and not being prepared for what was ahead like rocks and big gigantic boulders, lol.  I am so inspired by this woman and how determined she is to work her way up to the level she wants to be and by her confidence of going and doing it alone. I thought how beautiful it is that we all have the ability to achieve greater fitness levels if we just work at it and put our minds to it. Last week I met a woman hiking on the trial and she asked how far I have gone and how often I hike here and I told her that I walk daily. She said it was her first time and she told me her goal was to hike Mount Whitney, wow!

Really cool that we all have goals. The key is to keep moving in the direction we want to go. I realize that I let fear stand in my way far too much and instead of continuing or finding a way. I stopped altogether and that doesn't do anything for me. Right now I am making the effort to hike as much as I can and hopefully I will get the courage up to try mountain biking again. It was a beautiful sunny morning and in spite of the wind, it was a great walk and saw many hikers out. The clouds were beautiful!! A great start to my day off. Some great lessons learned today as well.

Teaching crochet

I taught a friend to crochet the other night.
She makes the most beautiful jewelry and is wanting to expand on her skills to incorporate some crochet into her work. Never thought of myself to be much of a teacher but it was fun. I'm so happy to have met up with her tonight to see the progress she has made and has already created 2 necklaces for herself. I was fortunate to learn from my grandmother. This is one of the things I remember most as a small child visiting her we sat on the couch and would crochet all day together. Good memories. I haven't crocheted for a long time and so it felt a little awkward at first to pick up the needle again because its been so long but it comes right back easily. Just feeling a little older I guess my joints don't feel like they use to, lol. By working with her on this I have realized how much I miss crocheting and may just make a few things myself soon. Here is what I made for her to start with(pictured), a practice piece. Looking forward to seeing what she creates with this one and where she goes with it. I'm pretty impressed how quickly she picked up on it. Makes me happy that I can help. She will be opening up an etsy shop soon and I will publish the link for you to check out her work when it's up and running.

Finding time to Create again!

Wow! Has it seriously been a whole year since I've posted anything here? Life has brought on many challenges but I think that I am finally getting back to finding time for myself and work again. I've been playing with a couple new creations tonight, here is a peak, will hope to have some final pictures real soon. Getting ready for an art show in November so I have lots of work to do! Just in the planning stages and trying to figure out what I want to create. Probably the most important thing for me to remember right now is to play and have fun.
Hope to have more to share with you real soon.

New IPhone Cases- Etsy Front Page, Yay!!!

My shop was featured on the front page of Etsy yesterday, Yay!! Thank you Silvia66! She created an amazing treasury for me and I am so thankful!

Here is the treasury. Click for a larger pop up or visit the following link to view the treasury live. I am not sure how long these things stay up but it may still be there.
Click "ETHNICAL EXPERIENCE"


I have been creating some new IPhone cases for my shop and I am loving them. Here are a few of the designs that I have available so far

Front Page!! Yay!!

Yay! My shoulder bag made it to the front page of Etsy today! What a surprise. I was not aware that if you are using the application "My Etsy" that it will automatically post to your page when you are featured, pretty cool! Thanks to snowinjune on Etsy for putting this beautiful treasury together for me!

What I've Been Up To

Its been about a month since my last post, yikes!! and a lot has been happening since then. The kids are out of school so we've been having fun swimming, biking and enjoying the river. I have made it mandatory to start taking time for myself, even if its only an hour. Its made a huge difference in my productivity and stress levels. I would work 24/7 if I could, but it doesn't make a very happy me.

I have taken a little turn in my designs. I have been thinking for awhile about incorporating some of my leather, vinyl and other fabrics into some recycled materials. I have been hanging on to years of denim jeans and some cargo pants because I thought they would make great bags someday. Well, I finally started digging into my collection and here are a few things that I've created. I am loving painting lots more too as you can see in the next photograph!



and a ...Cargo pant bucket Tote with graphic t-shirt and thread painting on my commercial machine.

and Here are a few more pictures of some denim I have done so far...



This one made it to this cute treasury created by designedbymere on Etsy


I am just now beginning another bag made out of some recycled plaid and camo pants with a graphic t-shirt mixed in. Here is a progress shot.



I hope to have something to share with you soon. I am going to try and be better at posting on my blog.

Celebrating the 4th in California

The 3rd and 4th was fun. We celebrated in Colfax, watched the parade downtown and then Dutch Flat the following day. The kids rode in a train that their grandpa made for the local Lions Club, throwing candy to the crowd. This year they had water guns. Fun!!












My favorite part of the parade was seeing the Budweiser Clydesdales up close. Beautiful horses. Loved the Dalmation! After the parade was over we headed over to see the Mini Dotson and the Soap Box Races then headed to the pool and back to the house for a BBQ before the fireworks.

We watched the fireworks at RJ Miles construction and got waay tooo close!! This is when its great to know someone in the family who can get us front row seats, and not worry about parking. He just moved some heavy equipment and we were in. The concrete below us made the fireworks echo like explosions all around us. The best view ever, shook me up good!! never seen them like that before! Whoa! I was laying flat on my back gripping onto my daughters arm for dear life, when I shot this photo showing how close we were, yikes!!

HandPainted Art Collage Tote

My latest bags included some thread painting and utilization of old scraps that I had painted for some previous work. I had no use for them and had been holding on to them for the perfect project and this turned out to be the one! I created 2 bucket totes using a large piece scrap of upholstery that I painted with random artist acrylics. (you can see the fabric being painted in my profile pic) Then I continued using some random bits of leather and other scraps to create a collage of interest. I also used some cotton fabric from a recycled skirt that I altered. It was fun to add some thread painted accents as a design element on the handle and also within the bag design itself, something I had a lot of fun with!

Jumping Jack Designs - Custom Designed Invitations

Please Check out my Feature from Jumping Jack Designs.
Looking for custom stationary or invitations? Angie is a local designer who specializes in just that! You will love her new styles that she has recently added, check out her website at JumpingJackDesigns

Reno Magazine

Something totally amazing has happened, I was featured in Reno Magazine! I knew that this magazine was one of the most well designed local publications around, but Wow! I didn't expect that it was going to look so beautiful! Cat did an amazing job putting this one together and I am very excited about it! I am very thankful for the great opportunities that are coming my way!

Leather Necklaces

Here are a couple new necklaces that I added to my shop today.
I will be working on more colors and experimenting with different designs. I have been taking some time off to get the creative juices flowing again. Things have been hectic, haven't felt like myself, going through lots of changes. With the sunny weather coming soon hopefully that will all change:)