HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!

Did you know that I am in Santa Fe, New Mexico, as I write this?

Well, I am.

It's the annual shopping trip with my four sorority sisters that I take a trip with every summer and have for the last 30 years or so. This year we are terrorizing Santa Fe.

That's not true. We're helping with the economic situation. LOL

Here's your assignment while I'm gone.

I want your birthday and your mailing address.

I know that I have some of yours already but let's pretend I don't remember where I put it and give it to me again.

Just email me at thomranch@hctc.net or leave it in the comment section of this post.

I'm turning over a new leaf and am determined to remember my friend's birthdays.

So, do me a favor, it'll only take a minute......go ahead, do it now:)

AND SPREAD THE WORD FOR ME, 'K???

xoxo, Jan

I'M DOING THE HAPPY DANCE!

Yes, my sweet friends, I'm doing the happy dance and for good reason! Remember the happy dance from Saturday Night Live in the '70's? Steve Martin and his happy shoes and he'd do this ridiculous happy dance?
If you look at these pictures really closely you'll see why I'm dancin' around my bedroom.......I figured out how to take better pictures of my cards for my Etsy store:) WOO HOO! The other ones are in the post below this one if you want to compare - oh, it's sad. Very sad. You would think that someone with my intelligence (hey, I went to college) and good looks (I just threw that in) would be able to post a decent looking picture. Well I'm getting there - it's obviously a slow process since I had to take the pictures of the cards THREE times to get ones that didn't look like my cat took them.
These are just a few of the chosen cards to show you how I've improved with age. Aren't you so proud of me? Now that you see how darling they are you'll want to rush over to my Etsy store and buy some - keep and old woman and her even older husband out of the poor house. www.jthom03.etsy.com




One last little bit of news....I'm going to Santa Fe with my sorority sisters this weekend. We've made a trip together every summer for the last 25 years - five of us - and I don't think I'll take my laptop.
We spend all of our free time laughing and I just don't see time for blogging or reading emails.
I don't leave until late on Thursday and will be back on Sunday so I'll be expecting to feel like it's Christmas when I see how many people have read my blog posts and send me emails while I was away.
Don't disappoint me or I won't post photos of the trip - I get good ones when the girls are laughing so hard they can't breathe - and I always try to throw in some pictures of the odd __________ that we see. You fill in the blank.


You know I love you!

XOXO,

PIXELS??? + AN ETSY STORE = A ROOM WITH A VIEW AT THE STATE HOSPITAL

It has been entirely too long since I listed anything in my Etsy store. So I get the big idea that I'll list a whole bunch of cards, tags and ATC's that I've worked up these last few weeks......all at once.
Oh, yeah, all at once so that I can kill as many brain cells as possible.
Look at me! Do I look like I can afford to lose any more brain cells???
I spent hours - oh, I'm exagerating - I spent days taking pictures of everything trying to get them to come out with the right amount of pixels for Etsy - what a joke.
I finally gave up and went with what I had after 6 or 7 weeks of working on it - that's why my work looks so much better in person than in the store.
So if you visit my Etsy store - oh, here I am, being silly again - so when you visit my Etsy store, be gentle with me and know that my work couldn't possibly look "that bad" in real life!
Then there's the descriptions - oh, my gosh, I thought I would go nuts. If I hadn't already raised three teenagers I think it would have pushed me over the edge.
Then the 14 words that describe the piece - yikes! Who thought this system up, a man???
The rest was downhill..............until I realized I forgot something in my description and had to go back and add it {several times}.................if I had a sex life it would have been severally hampered by the time it took to go back and add the infamous "The inside of this card is blank, blah, blah, blah..."
I hope it doesn't sound like I'm complaining - I gave that up many months ago when I started wearing my purple bracelet. I'm simply telling you how my last few days have been.
Blessed, actually.
I am healthy enough to want to spend hours working in my studio and on my computer.
I have a gift that God gave me that allows me to create art that blesses others.
I still have a lot to learn {about pixels and other things} and feel good enough to attack that later.
The friends that I have made through Etsy and actually, more through my blog, are some of my closest friends and they bless me on a daily basis.

I could go on and on but that would just delay you from rushing over to my Etsy shop and buying lots of my pieces of art *most with free postage* which will keep Frank the Tank and myself out of the poor house which is where we are headed.
We really should have spaced out our children as we now have two in college at the same time - have for 4 years and will have for 1 more year - then we'll just have to finish up the baby for three years. That'll seem like a piece of cake!

Isn't that great???

We have three boys that don't use drugs, don't drink, respect their parents, love the Lord, and continue to make us so proud of them. I love my life. I love my husband, my boys, my family, my studio, and I love all of you that read my blog....my blog friends. You bless me. So, be gentle when you look at my less than perfect pictures of my pieces.
Oh, and if you think that you've seen everything that I've been working on getting listed in my Etsy store, you're wrong. There's more. Guess you'll have to go to the store........take your checkbook.
God bless you and thank you for being such good friends that a few pixels off doesn't run you off. http://www.jthom03.etsy.com/

XOXO,

A VIGNETTE - THERE'S ONE IN OUR ENTRY HALL (AND OTHER PLACES)

Oh, how I wish I were in bed, but I just must post this before I crawl into my cave with my book - I really want all of y'all to see what I've done to my entry hall. I should have taken a before and after picture - I always forget that part and you weren't here to remind me. Just trust me that it looks so cool now and it didn't before:)

I couldn't post this without looking up the definition of vignette - I've seen other artist's use it but for the life of me, I had never heard of it before - and I went to college! So now that I've looked it up and know what it means, I can use it......I want to show you the vignette in my entry hall....


Below you see the Baptist Buffet that we've owned forever. It sits on one wall of our front entry hall and the mirror has been behind it since we moved the buffet into the entry. And the lamp has been there, too. Very blah. There was a floral
arrangement on the buffet that looked very out of date {I think} though it's pretty enough. But it's gone and in it's place is.....
My mother-in-law's silver serving set. Oh, it's not sterling, heavens. It's silver plate and very pretty - I personally like it best when it starts to patina which it will in a bit and one of the church ladies is bound to come by and mention how dirty the serving set is. I'll have a rag and some silver polish all ready for them and they can clean it while we visit.

So I put Estelle's silver service on the buffet and then I filled the coffee pot with deep red velvet roses. I use the roses to make bird's nests and will take them out as needed but until then I think they look amazing in the coffee pot.

Oh, and here's a large glass jar of sea shells that my sister-in-law, Leslie, picked up along the beach in Florida for me. Wasn't that sweet? I love the way they look in the glass and every time I see them I am reminded how much I adore the beach - water talks to me.

Okay, that sounded a bit odd, but it does, in a not odd way.

There is a pile of vintage books wrapped with vintage fabric, a vintage glove, held together with some rhinestone jewelry and topped off with a sweet, sweet cherub atop the books.

And all it takes to liven up a boring lamp is a vintage hat! Try it - it's amazing the difference it makes. I love the way it looks now.
Okay, don't panic, the globe with with vintage doll heads and parts is not part of the vignette that greats you as you enter our home through the front door. (My sister said no, leave the sea shells). But the baby globe is going to be a part of the "work room" just as soon as Clay gets off to college and takes the computer with him. Then I'm completely "cute-ing" up the room! But I put this together today and just loved it and had to share it with y'all. It's cool, huh.
And on a lighter note, when I was working this afternoon I spied Baylor taking a nap on a pile of ribbon. How cute is that? So I took his picture - he's so precious. Such a good kitty.
And here's where I woke him up. But don't worry, he went right back to sleep.
Well, that's it. I can go crawl into bed! Thanks for taking the time to listen to me ramble about my entry hall and my doll heads (It's okay if you don't like them. My mother thinks I'm sick.) and sweet Baylor!
Y'all are just the best!

XOXO,

THE ONLY THING MISSING IS THE PAINT......

Hi, girls! Oh, I have been busy, busy, busy! I have been wanting to re-do my main hall bath forever. And what's my favorite thing besides the color of pink?
Birds, nests, and children with birds.
So, birds and nests it was!

So, I started and it simply snowballed! It snowballed and I absolutely love it! I have decided I need some shelves so that I have more room for more birds and nests! And, I've decided that the room needs to be painted. The antique lace color is just not cuttin' it - it's not showcasing the art that is covering the walls - it's taking away from the beauty of the rest of the room. I need to paint the bathroom. But I don't paint. I dislike painting. And I can't afford to pay anyone to paint it for me right now if I want to be able to buy gas for the car. But, and I mean this, someday it will be painted. Someday when the gas prices go down I'll get my bathroom painted and it will be a happy day! Until then. . .
Several of my precious pieces have come from swaps - like the sweet 4" x 4" piece in the picture above. So sweet and so pink! Mandy Parsons is the artist of that piece. And notice the darling guest hand towel that is christian in theme and bird in design - what more could I want?
This area of the left vanity is my favorite because of a couple of things.
One, it has a lamp on top of Frank the Tank's high school year books and I LOVE lamps, lots of lamps. And the garden book? Frank the Tank's when he was a boy. So sweet. And the shadow box on the wall? I made that. Precious, of course.
So precious that I knew you'd want to see a close-up of it. Feast your eyes. That's a real bird's nest and egg in there, girlfriends.
And let it not be said that I show favoritism - here's a close-up of the rest of the vanity - that book though? It's so darling.

So, here's the part the men absolutely love about the bathroom.
This rather large, okay, it's honkin', twiggy birdhouse hangs above the toilet. It's great - no eye injuries yet but lots of compliments! LOL

This sweet box sits on the back of the *whisper* commode - it's absolutely darling and I love it so much! A wonderful artist made it, Pink Butter Creme. And it adds just the right touch to the toilet. If that's possible.
On the window sill sits another swap project that has blessed me so much. I love this piece of work from the Birds and Bonnets swap! If you have never participated in a swap, I encourage you to do so - it's so much fun! If you don't know what to do, I'll help you - just email me:)
The picture on the wall below the windowsill - oh, my gosh, I fell in love with that in a junk/antique store in Louisiana. I had to have it. But it was so much money that I would have had to forgo gas to get home if I bought it.
So I used my many charms and got her down to a price I could afford AND have money left over for gas!
A close up of the Birds and Bonnets swap piece so that you can see the details on each panel. AND, what's amazing is that both sides of each panel are done. Isn't it wonderful?
Ummmmm, here's a close up of my favorite picture. I added the ribbon and millinary flowers and I think it's so special. Thanks for taking the time to look at it and listen to me gush! And lest you missed it, see what the little girl is looking at? That's what makes it so special to me. And I don' remember if I mentioned it before, but it's very old and that is what made the price so high...I'm sure glad I have a lot of charm!
This feather wreath hangs on the linen closet doorknob. Draws your eyes upwards so that you maybe miss the mess of dirty clothes that Frank the Tank has thrown on the floor.
A beautiful bird's nest that has a couple of eggs in it sits on the right vanity in front of a piece that I made. If you look closely in the nest {on the piece I made} you might be able to see that that's a real egg. Cool, huh. (until someone pushes on it a wee bit too hard to see if it's real or plastic!)
I always feel so special when I drink out of one of the bathroom mugs. Aren't they wonderful? There's a whole set of dishes that match and my birthday is September 1st.
A picture of the right vanity with a peek of the left vanity through the mirror.
See the bird in the bird feeder? He's eating. He's ceramic, but he's eating. When I tipped him like that to make it look like he was chowin' down I cracked myself up - ROTF - though I think I might be alone in that club! LOL

And last but certainly not least, the other guest towel - faith.

Faith. It's so important. It sustains me. It keeps me lifted up when I want to give up or pout or have a pity party or just feel sorry for myself.

Faith. It sustains me. And so do you all. I so appreciate my readers. You're more than my "readers" - you're my friends and you are so, so special to me.

XOXO,

I'VE STARTED SOMETHING ELSE NEW......ATC'S - AND THEY'RE FUN!

Yep, I've gone and done it, girlfriends - I've added something new to do in my spare time in the studio. ATC's! Now I know that everyone reading this knows what those are but just in case there are some of you that were like me about six months ago and you don't have any idea what I'm talkin' about, let me tell you. An ATC is an Artist Trading Card. Artists make these cards the size of a playing card, trade them with other artists, sell them in their Etsy store, use them in many fun and inventive ways (I haven't learned the fun and inventive ways yet but am excited at the prospect.)
The four ATC's above are made with Paper Whimsy collage sheet 'girls'. It's not a secret that they are my favorite girls and that Paper Whimsy is like my favorite web store - check it out. If you place an order, use my name and maybe I'll get something free. Oh, I know the chances are slim, just give it a try.
This little fella above has the legs of a P.W. girl. I think it makes him look quite fetching. In fact, I think he's feeling "tickled pink" - hahaha.This sweet P.W. girl is sitting on the back of a Paper Whimsy bird from one of Gale's great bird and egg collage sheets. And don't you just love that carnival ticket with the nest on it?? I do - I love this ATC a lot!
Now, if you can keep a secret, these four ATC's are ones that I made for a vintage bird ATC swap. Lots of fun using vintage rick-rack, vintage lace and gold trim and ledger paper along with all the rest. I love them and always feel like if I love something that the person that gets it will love it, too......we'll see! LOL

So, there ya have it - my new venture! Hope you like it and more importantly, hope you enjoyed looking at the ATC's! Thanks so much for visiting and if you leave a comment then I thank you even more:)

XOXO,