ATLANTIC ANTIC STREET FESTIVAL BROOKLYN NY

These are the treasures I picked up at the fair.
The adorable card is made by fiskandfern
The christmas ornament is by delongceramics
The silverware piece is made by a guy who's name I didn't get but he did say that he is usually set up in front of Whole Foods by Union Square in NYC every Sunday.
I had to include this photo, this is a bus I remember riding as a kid (my age is showing again!) The transit Museum had a bunch of old buses that you could check out and board.
Did you ever want to do something but then didn't because you didn't want to go by yourself? Well I found out this morning that this fair was today but for a variety of reasons my choice was to skip it or go alone. It was a beautiful day out so I went alone, and I'm glad I did! Granted it would have been way more fun with company but it was very liberating. It was in an area I wasn't familiar with so when I got off the subway I had no idea where I was, but I found my way & when all was done I found my way back! This fair was HUGE, there were a ton musicians playing all kinds of music, there was a stage with a belly dancer and another with go go dancers! There was a great variety of food, my treat today was a potato on a stick, tempting as it was I didn't have any fried oreo's! There are a lot of antique shops on Atlantic Ave so there were many fun things for sale like the robots in the photo, there were even big inflatable things for the kids to bounce around in. Something for everyone. For me it's all about the local artists and craftspeople, GREAT stuff.
For more info on the Atlantic Antic click here

NYC, Picture Books, afternoon with Callan, just a few of my favorite things!




Saturday Callan & I went to the Housing Works Bookstore open air street fair in Soho where we both added to our childrens book collections. We each bought 5 books @ $1.00 each, mine were all picture books, Callan got a mix of picture books & art books so it was a really great deal! One of my books is in French (I think) but it's all about the illustrations for me. When my son was younger & he would have a Dr. appointment he would be a little embarrassed by the fact that I would sit there looking at the picture books instead of a ladies magazine like all the other moms!
For more info on Housing Works click here

Brooklyn Flea

Aren't these fishnet floats great! I think they would look great in the garden, maybe next time!


I've been wanting to get to this Flea market all summer & since this is the last weekend of the summer I decided to take a little break from working & enjoy the beautiful day. I only spent $4.00, the shelf was $1.00 & I found a great little book "My Father Can Fix Anything" illustrated by Bill & Bonnie Rutherford circa 1965 for $3.00. My dad was a guy who could fix anything & luckily enough so is Joe so once I hit the shelf with a couple of coats of black paint I'll have him hang it in my office. Click here to see more

The Feast of San Gennaro




As predicted we made it back to Little Italy tonight and to our delight Callan joined us for her first feast experience. Joe & I have been practicing taking photos of ourselves in preparation for our trip to Ireland, & believe it or not these are the best so far!

New Flickr - Old Projects!


I made this birdbath about 13 years ago. It's made of stacked terra cotta pots. The cat on the base was our cat Tinkerbell. Because it was so labor intensive to make I never put it outside in the garden for fear it would be ruined. This year I swore I'd put it out but once again it remained indoors, next year for sure it'll be in the garden! Click here to see more

Anything this GOOD can't be good for you!



Joe & I made our annual visit to the Feast of San Gennaro in Little Italy Sunday. It was a beautiful day for a festival & a walk in the city. The feast has events & carnival games but really it's all about the food! There are a ton of resturants if you want to sit for a meal but for the feast we prefer the festival food from the many venders with booths set up along all the streets. Lots to choose from. Traditionally we always get sausage & Pepper heros. This year I discovered fried oreos, talk about guilty pleasure! I'm just grateful I didn't know about these sooner! The feast is on until the 20th of September so if your in the area there is still time to go get some fried oreos, we will definately be there again before it ends!

BUILD IT & THEY WILL COME!

Truth be told when I started making birdhouses it was purely because I liked the way they added whimsy & color to the yard. I never expected how much I would enjoy watching the birds that took up residence in them. The fact that so many birds have used these houses for shelter & for nesting has given me such a great feeling. This little bird was born this summer. We watched as both parents spent all day flying back & forth feeding the baby, their work was endless. My dog actually alerted us that the baby was out of the nest because she was crying by the steps & there was the baby bird.

After the baby was born we cleaned out the house for the next resident. We remove the bottom of the house & this is what the nest looks like. As you can see they use a lot of different things to build the nest. Joe & I saw a squirrel run up the tree with one of Joe's socks for his nest, I suspect that nest probably looks like the floor of my sons room!

SHARK MAN - Chicken Nugget Lemon Tooty

I did this illustration of Sharkman to participate in the 3 year anniversary of a great blog Chicken Nugget Lemon Tooty set up by illustrator Aaron Zenz to showcase the great art created by his kids Lily, Grace and Isaac. What a creative family! Aaron sent out an open invitation for artists to do their versions of his kids' art. He is accepting submissions till the end of the month. Sharkman is a character created by Isaac.

MONEY CAN'T BUY TASTE

If you appreciate a great story to go along with a great find, then Erin Green's very funny blog MONEY CAN'T BUY TASTE is for you. This is one of my favorite blogs, she's a very clever writer & she always makes me laugh.
Not being as clever as Erin I won't even attempt to be as witty, I do however love to repurpose great finds so I'll share a few with you here. I'm a very lucky lady because my husband brings me many great "gifts", no not flowers or jewelry.... Here are a few of my favorites.
Joe got this M off the name plate of an old tugboat and welded quarter rod to it for stakes. I can't tell you how delighted I was when he brought this home!

My best friend Sue gave me the top of this bird bath and told me to do something with it... it was Joe who came up with the idea for the base. Also from a tugboat, the base is a brass shaft cutless bearing.

How clever is this door mat! Once again Joe brought this home, it's a conveyor belt from a skimmer boat (ironically it's from a sanitation boat) used to clean up the water. It is a little rough on bare feet though!

This little guy is a recent "gift", I'm sure many will recognize him as the hood ornament from a mac truck.

Here is the most recent treasure to be brought home; 2 Lobster pot markers that got caught up in a propeller. I have no idea what will become of them but I'm sure with a coat of paint they will grace my garden next year, stay tuned!

"TOADALLY" SWEET

Surprise surprise more frogs! I came across this one in JCPenny girls dept. It just never gets old finding your art out there, especially when it's been reproduced so well. There were only minor changes from my original print; the words toadally sweet were removed & some minor color changes but I think it looks great!

I've made my mark...(Tattoo Update)

Ta Da! Here it is... the healed tattoo, as you can see it looks a good deal different than my original design. When we met with Anil for the consult he made some very helpful suggestions, he felt it was too colorful and too feminine so I "manned" it up a bit, lost the flowers, distressed the banner, moved the names & dates around & left the color up to him. Since it was in honor of our 25th anniversary he chose to use red and blue, red to represent passion and blue to represent the calmness, a good mix for a successful long term relationship. It sounded really good, besides red is my favorite color & blue is Joes!
This photo was taken right after it was done, it took about 2 1/2 hours but that was because we had almost 20 years to catch up on! It was fascinating to watch it being done, I'm so tempted to get a little one myself!
I met Anil Gupta 20 years ago when we both worked for the same garment company. Over the years I heard a lot about him and his tremendous success in the tattoo business. I even saw him on several tv specials. One of the things he became quite famous for is his miniature reproductions of the old masters paintings, amazing work, as is his portrait and fantasy work (I could go on & on!). His place is not your typical tattoo parlor, there are no stock designs. He does all the art custom for each client ( some very famous ones), they either give him a concept or just leave it up to him. Because he also respected me as an artist he clearly made an exception by using my art but his suggestions made made all the difference. He has a tremendous following, which keeps him booked for months in advance but because I knew him he squeezed us in without the long wait! It finally paid off knowing someone! Check out his website (link attached), he's an amazingly talented artist and a really nice guy.Anil Gupta

Kutztown Folk Festival

The Funnel Cakes alone makes it worth the trip!This 4th of July Joe & I went to the 60th Annual Kutztown Folk Festival. As always we had a wonderful time. When our kids were young we would go every year, planning a camping trip to the area and going to the festival on multiple days. It is a great family outing, a ton of things for the kids to participate in, lots of history, music, square dancing, petting zoo, horse drawn merry go round, crafts etc. For the Adults there is a wonderful variety of high quality handmade items, with a lot of the artists demonstrating their crafts. Rumor has it that the beer in the Beer Garden is ice cold too and always seems to have a croud! There is a good variety of food and if you’ve never been to an OX Roast, this is the place to go! It’s an annual event I highly recommend! Next years festival dates are July 3 –July 11 2010 Kutztown FestivalGotta love recycled garden art, and for me this was love at first sight! Bill & Margaret Tamburino of "Funcrafters" created this dragonfly and they have several more pieces that I look forward to purchasing in the future. You can email them for future show info; Funcrafters@enter.net
Wherever I go I’m always on the lookout for hand made Christmas ornaments made by local artists, this year I hit the jackpot! I bought quite a few but by far these by the “Tin Tinker” are my absolute favorites! Tin Tinker

"F" is for Friday, Frogs, Flowers & Fun!

I have drawn more frogs in the last year than I have in my 30 year work experience! As long as they keep selling though I’m “HOPPY” to keep making them! I’m not a big frog collector but I did buy these pj pants @ Sears since I did the print & they are very comfy!
IT’S ALL ABOUT COLOR! I barely recognized this one when I came upon it because of the color changes. What happens is that a store will have a color palette for their line that they will then re-color bought art / prints into. I actually did this for fall so I was also surprised to see it in a summer line. Forgive the blurry photo, I used my phone to take the shot, you have to be quick since taking photos is frowned upon in most stores. If you get caught you could try telling them that you did the art but no one would ever believe that! Trust Me!

HAPPY 24TH BIRTHDAY CALLAN!!!!!

24 years ago today I got the greatest gift I could have ever wished for, a beautiful, Incredibly smart, amazingly talented, all round wonderful daughter…and it wasn’t even my birthday! How lucky am I!Some Photos from"Back in the day!"1.) One day old Callan with Joe (2.) Hey it was the 80’s so no laughing at my glasses! (3.) My 2 favorite “girls” my mom & Callan (4.) Cal’s 1st birthday with Joe & cousin Patrick (5.) Cal’s 6th Birthday.