Mother's Little Helpers

This is me in 1999 with my daughter Tangereen, proudly showing off the completed blue mural in my bedroom.

This week's Blog Carnival theme for the Etsy Bloggers team is "Your Crafting Helpers." Tangereen has definitely always been a big inspiration to me!

I designed the blue mural to be a frame around the mirror on the antique dressing table my parents gave me. Here is the same wall, as it looked when filled with lights for our TV shoot for HGTV's "Look What I Did" (don't forget to watch us on September 19 at 6:00 pm ET/PT!):
Tangereen is a very crafty child. She makes animals out of cardboard boxes and she invented her own style of "string paintings" where she weaves colored yarn through pegboard to make pictures and designs. Here we are painting river rocks at a campground on the Snake River, the summer before she started kindergarten:
Here's Tangereen now (she's going into 8th grade), in the backyard, painting a bunch of miniature coffee mugs she found at SCRAP:Now, onto Julius, who is 11 and is going into 6th grade. Julius is more of a graphic designer than a crafter. He has created many cool cartoon characters, and he is managing his own shop on Cafe Press called Julius Chaos. He also has his Dug & Burger comic books at Guapo Comics. The characters are all food. They live in a refrigerator and have great adventures. Here he is the day Guapo bought three copies of one of his books: And here he is drawing some Dug & Burger guys on my car!
I am really proud of my awesome kids and the many creative things they do. They help me just by being themselves!

Please visit Nora Bella's blog to get all the links for this week's blog carnival.

Don't forget the BOGO sale this weekend!

Thank you, LeahPellegrini, for including my Pure Pink Record Cuff in this treasury to promote the PDX Team's BOGO sale, happening this Saturday and Sunday! Read about it on the Etsy teams blog too.

I made the first Trashion Outfit!

The Etsy Trashion team has been asked to come up with outfits that put together pieces from a variety of participating shops. I made the first one! But you have to go over to the Trashion Blog to see it! It's cool and has lots of records involved. Comments are encouraged!

Rock Star wears Eye Pop Art Record Cuff

Last night Chuck and I went out to the Ash Street for the "Girls Kick Ass" rock show. The gorgeous and talented Melodie Beirwagen of the totally kick-ass punk rock band Cootie Platoon wore one of my Basic Black Record Cuffs on her guitar-shreddin' wrist! Of course, she also happens to be my best friend...

There was also an edgy fashion show from Zombie Couture featuring lots of reconstructed DIY ensembles. The event, a benefit for abused women, was sponsored by Music Fashion Magazine.

Above: Kristin, Melodie, and Rico from Cootie Platoon - you guys rock my world!

Mushrooms and Violets

I was so excited to find my work in two Etsy Treasuries today! One that features mushrooms, and includes my Shrooms Garden Painting, and one that features the color violet and includes my Violet Record Cuff. Hooray!

PDX Etsy is having a BOGO sale this weekend!

* * COMING THIS WEEKEND The Portland Etsy BOGO (buy one, get one free) sale! * * *

From 12:00 am Saturday, AUGUST 25th to 11:59 pm Sunday, AUGUST 26th (Pacific Time) selected items in the shops of artists from the PDX Etsy Street Team will be BUY ONE, GET ONE (of the same item) absolutely FREE! Start your holiday shopping early. Shop now, and come back later to get some great deals. BOGO items will be clearly marked. A list of participating shops can be found prior to the sale at www.pdxetsy.com.

In my shop, I will be offering the BOGO deal on my Basic Black Record Cuffs, Mandala Suncatchers, and Mod Mandalas Coloring Books.

So don't forget to shop for some great deals this weekend from the friendly Etsy sellers of beautiful Portland, Oregon!

Mandalas get honorable mention

The last mandala on the second row is one of my Feng Shui Mirrors. Many thanks to inspira for including it in this gorgeous treasury of mandala images, which took an honorable mention in Etsy's poster contest. Yippee!

My life is a carnival of colors

The above mandala (painted on a 12" vinyl record) is called "CMYK." I made it almost ten years ago. At the time I was working at Kinko's and I was fascinated by the color copying and printing technology at my fingertips. I used every break and every opportunity for a training session to play with my paintings and see what could be done with them at Kinko's (a million things!). Inspired by the "CLC" (color laser copier), I made this painting using only cyan, magenta, yellow, and black - the four colors of toner that can be combined to reproduce every single color that can be printed - plus a little gold for an iridescent sparkle.

Needless to say, I am madly in love with color. This week's carnival theme for the Etsy Bloggers team is "Carnival of Colors," and I could go on forever. But I'll make it quick and just quote what National Geographic Traveler had to say when they reviewed my work last fall for their Oregon Shopping Guide:

"Free-hand geometric designs that range from intense monochromes..."
"...to psychedelic colorfests...""...to black and white mod throwbacks...""...This vinyl revival is an affordable way to brighten up any ipod-age abode."

Please visit my Etsy shop to find many colorful ways to brighten up your own abode.

My awesome summer job

This summer I am working as a ceramics instructor at Art Adventures, the kids summer camp at Oregon College of Art and Craft.

I work in a tent in the midst of a beautiful orchard full of bunnies and blackberries.

The main projects I teach each week are pots and animals. The little kids do pinch pots and the older ones do coil pots. They all get to make clay animals (or imaginative creatures). They are all fired and glazed.

Below are some examples of their finished work. I am so impressed and delighted by the kids' creativity and the beautiful artwork they make. This is probably the most fun I've ever had at a job.

Check out my hot rod

This is the finished painting on the trunk of my car! (I showed some before pictures in an earlier post.)

Notice how I worked my business name and the Etsy bumper sticker in.

Let me know what you think and honk if you see me in traffic!