DAYLILIES IN BLUE AND WHITE VASE (Copyrighted)

My husband bought this vase as an early Christmas gift on vacation one year. I've always loved it, so naturally it end up in one of my paintings.

JONI FASHIONS since 1976 (Copyrighted)

This "Charming Boutique" is located on the square in Harrisonville, Missouri. My granddaughters and I both love this store! I bought one of the colorful dresses hanging outside, and recently bought a cute pair of  raspberry colored sling pumps.  I don't know what Joni will think about the owners dog I put in the painting, but it just seemed to suit!  This painting is one of my entries in the 2011 Harrisonville Fine Arts Fall Art Show in a couple of weeks. 

FABRIC STORY PICTURES

"Pumpkins for Sale" was inspired by the local farm stands in the area. There's one going out of town towards Louisburg that has a full spread along the highway. I worked on this on a 2 day trip.  Great fun!  I told how I  make these Fabric Story Pictures in a recent post. I have this one and "The Falling Leaves"  one on my Seasonal Shelf in the kitchen for Fall.

AVON GRANDMA MOSES EMBROIDERED PICTURE

Over 40 years ago, when we still lived in Kansas City, Mo., Avon came out with this special Cross Stitch Kit. Little did I know then we would be living in the country with our own red barn and farm animals some day!  I framed my handiwork in an old frame and hung it in the Entry Hall of our Rustic Ranch Home which we built in the country in 1975-76.

LITTLE MARY JANE (Copyrighted)

Several years back the Mary Janes Farm Magazine had a picture of her dressed up in her red cowboy hat and boots with  something yellow on too, probably an apron. Yellow and red are my favorite colors, especially together! so I decided to paint this picture of a young Mary Jane feeding the chickens. This painting hangs in our kitchen most of the time!  It makes me Happy!

TILE STEPS (Copyrighted)

We took a trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico several years ago. I loved all the tiles used for decoration. Later I saw a stairway with some on them and my painting just grew from there!  I used alot of my tile designs and made up the rest. It was great fun!

ENTRANCE TO MY FOLK ART STUDIO

Colorful Appliqued "MARLYNNE'S FOLK ART STUDIO" sign and FABRIC FLOWERS were described in an earlier post. But I finally was able to rotate the picture so featured it again!

RAGGEDY ANN & ANDY PAINTINGS (Copyrighted)

One of my favorite collections is my "Raggedy's". When I decided to paint them I set some of them on a twin bed and sitting on the bed across from them I drew two different pictures. I used 5x7 and 8x10 framed copies for baby shower gifts for several years.

THE TEDDY BEAR COLLECTION PAINTINGS (Copyrighted)

Another favorite collection of mine is "Teddy Bears". After arranging some of them on the bed, I  imagined a big jar of my friend "Marie's Honey" right in the middle of them. I was also thinking of a children's book "The Teddy Bears Picnic" as I drew the pictures.

POT HOLDERS PAINTING (Copyrighted)

 After arranging the pot holders on the kitchen wall, I sat on a stool about 2 ft. away and drew and inked in two different paintings on watercolor paper, finishing with a slightly watered down acrylic paint. 

HOMEMADE GREETING CARDS

I have made Greeting cards from my paintings for 36+ years. It's always rewarding to here from someone who has received another card, "I have kept all your cards; I framed some of them; I keep them in a special box or ----".

DECORATING WITH POT HOLDERS

I actually created this wall arrangement with my old potholders and little swiss girl pot holder hanger to  make a painting of them! But I liked it so much that it's still there in our kitchen!  Yes I did make a painting actually two, and have used it on my greeting cards also. 

POLKA DOT STARS

I enjoy making and decorating with these wooden stars. The stars are made with either 2 triangle shapes or 2 arrow-head shapes placed one on top of each other.  Polka Dots are just fun on everything!

POLKA DOT STARS

I use these cut out wooden stars over or around some of my folk art paintings.  As I use a lot of bright primary colors its a good combination.

"FALL IS IN THE AIR" Mailbox sign

This is the new fall Sign I made for this season. I change the mailbox sign each seasons.  The post "Making a Mailbox Sign" is several posts down!

"CHOPPING WOOD WITH CHOPIN" (Copyrighted)

Our Lab "Chopin" is our side kick!  He likes to be with us wher ever we are!  So, I just had to paint a picture of Maurice splitting wood with Chopin at his side and our old brown 1980 Ford truck which has hauled many a load of wood for us!  

"WALKING ABBEY" (Copyrighted)

Our youngest grandson Davey was 1 year and 10 months old when the family moved back here from Montana.  They lived with us for awhile. Davey loved to hold the leash and take our bassett "Abbey" for a walk with Grandpa. He wore his brown cowboy hat and little red boots a great deal of the time.  I was so pleased to be able to capture this memory on canvas. It is a favorite with the family.

NEEDLEPOINT PICTURE

When we were still living in Kansas City I decided I to do a needlepoint picture of our home at 121 W. 61st terr. First I took a photograph of the house to use as reference. Then I took a piece of typing paper and folded it twice to determine the center width and length, and drew a picture of the house the size I wanted for the frame. Next  I took a piece of graph paper folded twice to get the center and drew  the house on it starting at the center using my drawn picture as my guide.  I matched wool yarn colors  to the photo colors, determined the center of the needlepoint canvas and started there using  a continental stitch.  I took it and had it stretched and framed then, but would probably do it myself now. Great fun, and a real Keepsake!

EMBROIDERED RED WORK PICTURES

I always get my handwork project figured out and handwork bag ready even before I get my suitcase packed for a trip! This project was the one I selected to do while Maurice was having his second series of Chemo Therapy. I first took a piece of lightweight paper and drew my design getting it the way I wanted. (If you don't want to draw a design can trace one from a childrens story or coloring book). Then took a piece of graphite paper, put under the paper and on the piece of old white tea towel and traced the design on to the towel. I chose to use only red embroidery thread this time to embroider the pictures.  After the little pictures were finished  I put them on a little piece of cardboard (put a second piece of the white cloth underneath your handworked piece so the cardboard color does not show thru.)  and pulled the edges around to the back and either glued onto the cardboared or did tacking with needle & thread. Then I took a piece of red & white checked material to cover the larger cardboard piece in the picture frame and pulled the edges around back attaching like I did the little cardboard .  Determine the center of your checked material and glue your little design on. place it the frame and your ready to hang your art work!

"COSY CORNER PICTURE # 1 (Copyrighted)

"THE GREATROOM"  As you can see, we love the country rustic look! I sat in the opening between the dining room an this room and painted this picture.  The fireplace is the backdrop for many family and group pictures. I looked for a long time to find just the right rug for this room.  I thought I might braid one myself, but about as big a rug as I would get was 5'X7'. I carried the framed painting over the mantel home on the bus in my younger married days!  I decided I wanted to turn the print into an oil painting years ago, so i just painted over in oils! It worked!  My husband built our home with his own hands, even the windows, doors, wiring and plumbing. He is not a professional builder,  just an ordinary guy who thought he could do it , and he did! Didn't have to have all the many inspections that they have now days!

COZY CORNER PAINTINGS (Copyrighted)

"READY FOR FAMILY DINNER" is my painting of our Dining Room. This is just how it looks when I have it set for special Family gatherings or dinner parties with friends. Starting with the Halloween Party until after Christmas we have Two Dining Tables end to end set and ready for all the Holiday Parties!  I love using the red goblets at Christmas Time, but the amber, green or clear ones are used through out the rest of the year. The Oriental Rug is a favorite of mine also!

COZY CORNERS PAINTINGS (Copyrighted)

"DINNER FOR TWO" is another of my kitchen" Cozy Corner Paintings". Red, Yellow and Blue are my favorite colors! As you see I love bright "Happy" colors!  I acually sit right in the room and paint what I see, so this is what our kitchen looks like!

COZY CORNER PAINTINGS (Copyrighted)

"MORNING COFFEE"  This is one of my kitchen paintings in "The Cozy Corner " series. I love my kitchen, especially around the wood stove in the winter!. My primary colors of red, yellow and blue keep me happy all the time. The rocking chairs are favorite family pieces used by Uncle Earl and Aunt Cora in their home in the country on the same land that we built our Rustic Ranch Home.

FABRIC FLOWERS

This is a "Cheery" little boquet made with fabric flowers and leaves glue gunned onto tree branches.  Again I did  a running stitch around a circle of fabric, pulled tight, pushed down in the middle to make a smaller circle and sewed a button in the middle.  Leaves were  2 leaf shaped fabric pieces with a running stitch to hold together, and turned right side out.

MAKING A FALL SIGN FOR THE MAILBOX

I decided on a board 18"x24" 1/4" Plywood for this sign.  This is the size of The Newsprint  I use for drawing out the pattern so that's convenient too.  First I decided on a border. This checker board design is easy to do an impressive so I use it frequently.  The outside checker board border is the width of  a yardstick  going longways. The checks are the width of the yardstick going sideways . The inner smaller border is half the width of a hand ruler. I had some fall artifical leaves handy so just used them for a pattern for the leaves. I free handed the words. then taped this drawing on to a piece of carbon paper and traced it on to both sides of the board

STARTING AN ART BOOK

The blank pages of a book you plan to use for your Art Book, can be overwhelming.  So this was the way I chose to start.  I selected 8 background colors to use repeatedly through out the book. Mine were turquoise, tan, yellow, pink, purple, green, terra cotta and blue. The paint was watered down acrylic.  Simply paint the page loosely leaving an uneven edge of the plain paper. I decided a front & back of the page in the same color continuing thru all 8 colors, then starting over again.  This gives a continuity to the book.  The colors also  inspire a theme for the page, which gets me started.  Then it's just a mattter of typing up quotes, cutting them out and randomly glueing them on to the page leaving room for a picture or two (painted by you or cut out of magazine)  and some embellishment like: lace, ribbon, silk flowers, etc. ( remember flat things are best, as the book will be pretty thick by the time you finish!) HAVE AT IT!

MY FAVORITE ART QUOTE BOOK

This book is "So Beautiful" I feel inspired just looking at it!  Then the inside  fills me with lots of "Warm Fuzzys". I started with a blank bound Sketch Book I got at Borders.  (I'm so sad they just recently closed!) Then went thru my "stash" of material and found a piece of this velvet patchwork skirt, I had left over from a throw  made for "The Cottage" (that's another series of posts someday!) I wrapped it around the book like a cover we use to make for our school books to protect them. Hand sewed it, then proceeded to embellish! The picture was from my collection of lady pictures in our master bedroom.  (This one is actually a postcard!) Then again the trusty old lace, buttons, ribbon, cord and pieces of gold heavy paper that I typed  the  words: "Memories", "Words",Thoughts" and "Inspiration". The Inside is described in a following post.  I Hope This Book will inspire you to start one of your own!

A PEEK INSIDE MY FAVORITE ART QUOTE BOOK

Each page has a different theme. I love quotes and memories. So along with the fun of decorating and painting, this makes a teriffic ongoing project! I jot down quotes & thoughts that impress me when and where I see them in a little notebook I carry in my purse, or one I keep by my chair in the Greatroom or Kitchen. (You never know when your going to hear something you want to remember!) I also have,and am continuing to type up Memory Stories  like:  Jobs I've Had,  Piano Lessons,  Memories of Childhood and etc. and  giving each one a special page in the book.  Each page is also decorated with some painting, lace, ribbon, pictures or etc.Can' t you see how much fun this is?  I hope some of you that read this will try one of your very own!

MY FAVORITE ART QUOTE BOOK

I just love to work in this book! And just as much fun is sitting down and looking thru it!  I will describe how I made the cover and added the contents in afuture post.

HANDMADE GIFT TAGS

I love to make gifts, and I think the icing on the cake are the gift cards!  I recently  was in Office Supply and purchased a bag of tags thinking, "I'll use these for something", and this is the something! I took moist used coffee grounds and rubbed them on both sides and string and let them dry.  From an old children and victorian books ( which I pick up from thrift stores) I cut out little pictures, words, and quotes and started decorating the tags. (I's fun to keep the pictures and quotes and etc.in separate little old boxes for future use.) To finish them off I add bits of lace, ribbon and tiny buttons. Then on the back you can add your message.

STAR PILLOW GIFT FOR HOPE.

I love to make gifts for friends and family! This little pillow was one I described making in the previous post. The little gift tag will be featured in the next post.

VICTORIAN STAR PILLOWS

I love the Victorian style as well as the Rustic & bright colors Folk Art Style! This litttle collection of  "Star Pillows" started with a leftover piece of Ecru Tapestry. I drew a star shape on paper then enlarged it 4 times (for the 4 different size stars) To enlarge it I just drew the lines further out from the original then made my patterns on cardboard before I cut out the material stars.Don't forget to allow for seam. Then stitch around sides leaving opening to stuff thru. And then the fun part!  Embellish!  Buttons, Lace, Ribbons, Old fabric flowers, Cord. Remember "More is Best" in Victorian Style! 

.   TIP: I recycle cereal boxes by cutting top & bottoms off & one cut up the side. Open it out to a good size piece of light weight cardboard! To add the finishing touch for a gift I attach a handmade gift tag. Will do a post on that later. Have Fun!

WELCOME TO MY "MAMMA MIA ROOM"

I found this old door at a barn sale years ago. I think it makes a neat visual entrance to my "idealic" outdoor "Mamma Mia Room".  How I made the Sunflowers was described in an ealier post.  As you see I like to use lots of colored bottles, ferns, rocks and little found pieces as garden sculpture. The hanging wind chimes were made out of tin can lids punched with nail & hammer and wired together. Some of them I painted for fun! I painted several picture designs for the room also.

ENJOYING "MAMMA MIA ROOM"

I enjoy this area early morning with my cup of coffee and magazine.  Now that we have two new kittens, all four cats want to get on my lap or table as soon as I come out!  A lot of the leaves have fallen now but  I think it is  a very idealic spot!  I have painted pictues, made tablecloth  and pillows, added coloed bottles, hung wind chimes, added rock stone path, and ferns and hostas.

NEW PILLOW FOR THE "MAMMA MIA ROOM"

Even though the season is about over I made a new pillow for "My Mamma Mia Room".It's out of a dress!  I have a closet floor full of bags of material, a lot of it clothing (from the thrift store) that I like the material it's made out of .

FALL FABRIC PICTURE

This FALL FABRIC PICTURE was made on our recent 56th Wedding Anniversary trip. It's so fun to pick the subject, different fabrics and then see it come together!. I used several different fabrics in the leaves.

FALL DISPLAY

We have a built-in cabinet with display shelf in the kitchen. I change the displays seasonally. This picture shows part of this FALL'S DISPLAY.

THINKING FALL!

I cut out the SUNFLOWERS out of  1x6" boards, drilled hole for small dowel, sticks, painted with acrylic paint, sprayed with clear protective spray and stuck in flower pots along with blue bottles on dowel sticks or tree branches.  I use SUNFLOWERS in flower boxes, containers ( like a bouquet) and anywhere else I want some fall color!