Come Grow Old With Me

jump on over to Flower Patch Farmhouse to read the new post.  Slowly I am migrating over.  Thanks for visiting!

Personalized Wedding or Anniversary Sign

Good Monday morning.  It has been a week filled with vacation condo and home cleaning.  An associate at work fell and hurt herself and since I was available I was asked to fill in and complete her list of cleans.  So my week off was not to be. But that is okay.  Here is a photo my husband took of me leaving a clean.  Yes, we snowmobile into the vacation homes.  It is actually quite fun if it is not too freezing cold. 

I am actually under all those layers. My little sled on back holds my cleaning equipment and supplies.  I am new at snowmobiling so I drive like a little old lady but I get there and back in one piece. 



In between running up the mountain to work I have been painting up special order signs.  My new website must be getting the traffic even though I have yet to advertise (on my list of things to do soon) or start the blog attached to it which is supposed to increase traffic as well. 

This sign is actually a gift for a friend (don’t look Lisa) and her husband.  I need to finish varathaning it well in case it is hung outside before I give it to them yet.  It is an example of a personalized sign people can order from my website. 



Lisa likes scrolly things so I tried to find something classy but not too busy for the corners.  I can do subtle roses or other designs too if people prefer those designs.

You can tell it is hand painted and not stenciled as my numbers are a bit askew.



Over the weekend I gave away some of my ladies, the pen was too full for good health of the flock and 27 chickens was too many for me so I gave away 7 of the 3 year olds.

This little lady now resides on a ranch down in the warmer climes of Vallecito free ranging to her hearts delight.  Compared to here she probably feels like she is vacationing in Florida.



Well, enough chatter from me.  I have a list full of cleans to complete and need to pack my lunch and dress for the day.  Thankfully the past few days have been quite mild on the mountain.  I sit on the deck of whatever house I am in at lunchtime to eat my lunch in the warm sunshine to soak up some rays and enjoy the beauty around me. 

Ta ta for now…enjoy your Monday!

Hand Painted Love signs with roses

Man has it been cold, cold.  It was a nippy 16 degrees this morning and the snow that fell day before yesterday stayed powdery and the pipes froze to my studio.   Boo.  But that does not stop me from painting.  I crank up the heat and paint on.  I had to haul a couple gallons of water in jugs to wash brushes but I managed.

(for a full tutorial on how I paint my signs click here "click")

I painted some loooove signs. 

My favorite is this one with the roses on the black lettering.



A detail shot.



And my husband picked the Sage Green Love sign with heart wreath. 



close up of wreath



I also had a special request of changing the egg color on my Nest painting.  I was happy to oblige for the customer.

Before:



After



She had no blue in her house and prefers a more neutral feel so requested the blue eggs be changed to light brown speckled.  No problem.

When not painting away I have been working again on my website.  It is slowly coming together but I find a few things I am having trouble adjusting.   There are some font sizes that need changing  but I am sure it is just a matter of time along with trial and error.

There is a blog feature in the website but I am not familiar with blogging in Wordpress, it may be time to learn.  It supposedly would help my rankings for the new website in the search engines so I shall have to learn it.   That shall be good for me. learning new things expands the brain cells or creates new ones, I need all the brain cells I can get.

I, for one, am ready for this extreme cold to go away.  I am dreaming of warm tropical weather, swaying palm trees, hot sunshine and cold ice tea.  But in lieu of that I have drug a steel rack of shelves into the living room to start my seeds for summer.  I will be sure to share. 

I wish you warm sunshine and soft breezes wherever you may be.

The New Year

I promise I have not fallen off the face of the earth, it just seems like it.  I have been working long hours on the mountain cleaning vacation homes after everyone left from their holiday visit.  I came home every night too spent to do much more than eat my dinner, fix my lunch for the next day and make sure I had all my supplies ready to head back out the door the next morning.  Then I would take a hot bath and slide into bed, read a few emails, respond to orders placed on my website and do it all over again the next day.  I did package up a few signs for shipment during that time too.

It was cold.  But the sky was gorgeous, the snow covered trees stood out against the blue, blue sky.



It was a balmy 24 degrees as I fueled up and in the mere teens on the mountain. I was dressed for it but it was still cold.  We ride out to the houses on snow mobiles which can be kind of a hassle but fun too.



Because I have been so busy the set up of my greenhouse on the back deck has been delayed.  It is all put together but we still need to put down some plastic material to seal the floor then pave it with cement pavers and put up some clear plastic on the walls to help add some insulation. 

I had hoped to work on that today but I have fallen victim to the flu.  I have felt like trash for nearly a week but thought it mere fatigue but after a visit to the Dr today I was informed I was sick not just tired.  I have not had any other symptoms except a slight sore throat so that is why I did not realize I was more than tired.

Yesterday I did get to work on painting.  I am still adding to my new website

 and hope to have it ready for me to launch an extensive ad campaign to get it rolling.  Everything on it now is ready for purchase but I need more stock and I have some Personalized signs to add.

I definitely want to add more large art pieces,



More vintage farmhouse type signs



with a vintage fruit stand twist



and, of course, my stand by, covered in roses signs



I have had some comments from readers that were concerned I won’t continue my Learn to Paint series and I assure you I have more coming.  Next I had thought to do one on Sunflowers, then tulips and maybe some fruits and veggies.  Life just needs to settle a little then I can have some time to do that.  To do a quality tutorial (at least as good as I can get as I learn) it does take some time and concentration.

If you have not seen the series there is a tab in the navigation bar that will take you to what I have posted so far.

So now that I have updated you all somewhat I shall bid you adieu and take myself off to relax with a frivolous novel and hopefully with plenty of rest kick this flu bug. 

Until next time…