fresh picked whimsy

How I'm spending my summer vacation...

 It will be a summer of big home improvement projects @ the McD household.  The to-do list is quite long but we're actually really excited about it.  Number one project is painting the exterior of the house.  We're doing it ourselves...there are many repairs that need to be done to soffits and gutters, but we're up to the challenge.  The most intimidating part of it all, is choosing the right colors!!!! 

We want to make a change.  Our house is a tudor style house and we are not sure exactly what we want.  I'm thinking an olivey-kakhi base color with white gutters and trim around windows and a deep red door.  What do you think?

Any ideas, tips, suggestions????  Should we paint the tudor trim wood a contrasting color or just paint the base color right over the tudor trim making it more of a subtle architectural feature?  I just don't know!?

We spent the weekend working around the house...getting the pool ready for the summer.  We don't have a heater, so it will be a week or two before it warms up enough to swim...it's a little green right now, but should be crystal clear within a week.

Spent quite a bit of time in this aisle...did you know they sell greeting cards and groceries at Menards?  Weird

Love my garden hopper...easy on the knees

Listened to the 500 on the radio while weeding...it's not televised in Indy.  Jim Nabors singing "Back Home Again in Indiana" is my favorite part.  This city is draped in checkered flags throughout the month of May.  Meijer got it's race day groove on...wow, that had to have taken a long time to do.

K's friend B, brought over his new puppy named "Benny"...A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E!

My manly man working with tools to get us organized.  This very long corridor room in the back of the house has tried to function in so many ways...an office, a studio, a mud room.  It's very hot in the summer, very cold in the winter and just too narrow to really "work".  But, everyone passes through it to get to the pool. 

So...we got these awesome shelves to convert this room into storage.  We have a small garage with no storage space and no basement, so I'm thrilled to find a home for some of this stuff!  Still need to purge a lot of what's here...getting ready for a garage sale in early June.  Can't wait...i'm ready to let go of some of the clutter!

Wrapped the weekend up with the most delicious SEEDED watermelon for dessert last night.  Mark always chops it up for us and does his best to get rid of the seeds.  It's a messy job, but so worth it.  Seedless watermelons just can't compare to the flavor of seeded.  Drool...wish this blog was scratch n sniff!

Wow...this post was really looooooooong.  Sorry about that.  I really want to get back to blogging daily.  Just 3 days of school left...then we will be on less of a schedule...more time to play!  Yay!

Miscellaneous life

Snapshots of our life right now...i did manage to clean this mess up...I'm sure it won't take me long to mess it up again.  I work messy. 

Anne and I participated in the Carmel Public Library's Children's Book Authors & Illustrators Festival last weekend.  Lots of fun and super friendly people.  Meet & greet, autographs, questions, etc...

Finals for my freshman.  It's been a challenging year getting adjusted to the work load.  She is sooooo ready for the summer.  Driver's ed starts in one week....watch out, Indy!

Our beloved peonies have bloomed.  Read all about our 80+ year old peony bushes here.  Aren't they gorgeous?!  I don't have a green thumb.  I wish I did.  Thankfully, these beauties bloom faithfully each May with no effort on my part. 

Finally, our neighborhood owl has got a family!  We spotted these baby "owlettes" in our tree yesterday.  Seriously, could they be any cuter?  I'm in love!

TGIF, friends!  Happy loooooooooooooong weekend! :-D

Sugar sugar

Here's the next village completed...the "cupcake village".  A dessert themed neighborhood requested in blues, pinks, yellows...  My client promises to send pictures of the villages when they are set up at her house.  I promise to share with you, too!

Dee, it's on it's way to Texas right now!

 

 

 

 

 

 

wise guy

This fella is the next big thing (since this guy) to move into the 'hood.  We first discovered him in early spring when we heard him hooting in our backyard late one night.  A few days later, we spotted him and thus began "owl watch".  Our little corner of the neighborhood has become pretty attached to this guy.  He's quite the topic of conversation around here...making appearances at the bus stop, in backyards and frontyards and entertaining us with his hooting.  He's a little more difficult to spot now that the trees are in full foliage, but we can still find him.  I think he's even getting used to the paparazzi (my neighbor, Stacey and I).

From the bottom of my heart...

a million thank yous.  I am overwhelmed and humbled by the sweet messages of encouragement and votes that i have received over the past week.  I know everyone is anxious to hear how the contest ended up, but the fact is, they have extended the voting through Friday.  Voting was originally supposed to begin on the 4th and it didn't actually begin until the 6th, so I think that's why they have extended it.  Regardless, of whether or not my design wins, I am a winner with all of your love and friendship.  I promise you will be the first to know when I know anything!!!!! :-)

The studio has been buzzing with activity these past two weeks.  I am putting the finishing touches on my second village of houses for Dee (a cupcake village!).  I hope to have photos to post tomorrow.  I painted 6 little church houses for the First Communions and Confirmations in the family... 

I have been working on illustrations for the book and spent Monday at G's school with Anne visiting with the K-2nd graders.  That was a lot of fun!  I personalized this fun bucket on wheels for a client (she found the bucket at Walmart)... 

And, finally...I even found time to do a little personal painting.  I do not have much of my own original art in our house.  I am always painting for someone else....gifts for loved ones, clients orders and for my etsy store.  Mark and I painted our bedroom 2 summers ago and there is not a single picture hung on our walls...it drives me CRAZY.  So, yesterday, I decided to steal away a few hours and paint just for the fun of it.  I didn't really know exactly how it would turn out, i just knew that I wanted it to go over our bed and I wanted to hand letter the word 'love'. 

What do you think? 

After that one, I quick painted this one for my kitchen...it has been in my head for months and just dying to come to life on a canvas... 

Now, i'm completely inspired to add to it on my big wall in the kitchen.  I'm kind of nuts about cute coffee mugs...not the kind of hallmarky funny jokes on mugs coffee mugs, but the kind of wonky, handmade, imperfect, yummy ones.  And...i do love me some coffee in the morning.  This canvas just makes me happy.  The steam heart over the mug is similar to the one in my book, but i actually had orignally done it in my sketchbook a few years ago.  

Hey before I forget, if you are in the Carmel/Indy area, stop by the Carmel Library on Saturday and see Anne and I at the Download Flier with Programs Authors from 10-3.  There will be over 30 authors and illustrators for children to meet and several programs and activities, too!   Should be a lot of fun.

Moms rock!

After the pleasure of sleeping in and breakfast in bed! (kolaches and Starbucks!), I was painting cards for our moms this morning and Mark came into the studio and asked if he could make the one for his mom.  So, we sat at the table together and painted cards for our moms.  It was a lot of fun.  I think he did a great job!  Much love to all the moms out there!

 

P.S....I got a brand new computer this weekend from my father-in-love...I am back in business! Love you, Duz.

Get out there and vote!!!

Yes, friends, I'm back.  My computer crashed over the weekend and my awesome father-in-love is repairing her...actually, re-building her.  She will be back, feeling better than ever this weekend.  For now, i am improvising, using our laptop, but do not have access to my old files, pictures or address book. It's been a challenging week, but I'm so thankful to Duz for coming to my rescue!

There's so much to share with you, but today I want to share some excitement here in the studio.  I had entered a t-shirt art design contest on the Fresh Produce sportswear website.  Are you familiar with Fresh Produce?  It's that yummy, beachy clothing line that you see everywhere.  They have stores in many beachside vacation spots around the country and also, an online store.  Anyway, they had an artist callout in April requesting artwork for t-shirts that would compliment their "beach vacation state-of-mind" style.  I entered 3 pieces and one of them made it to the finals.  The winner receives $1000 and will have their artwork printed on an upcoming clothing line.  2nd place winner gets $500 and artwork printed on an upcoming clothing line.  There are also "honorable mention" awards as well.  Anyway, the 16 finalists are posted on the site and now the public gets to vote for their favorite!  The link is just below You don't have to register or sign in or anything...just vote (and tell your friends!).  Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!  You are the best!!!!

Go to http://votefp.fresh-produce.biz/ and vote 5 starfish for "peace + love + sun" by Lori McDonough.