Lisa Patterson

Happy Halloween

Thought I would give all my adoring fans (just kidding) a big shout out for Halloween. I love the idea of this holiday... dressing up and asking strangers for CANDY. How could you not like it. Of course, when you don't have kids people look at you a little weird when you show up at their door. NO... I've never done that. Usually, I just go and buy the candy (or candies) I like and sit in the dark and eat them all myself. Why in the dark? you may ask. Well, you don't really want to see the candy wrappers piling up. Anyway, to all you witches, ghouls and goblins have a Spooktacular and safe night, tonight.

Happy Halloween by avantwerx 

Big News

I've done a few crazy things in my life. No, I'm not going to give you examples. Usually, I stress myself out weighing all the options... and then I do the safe thing. Even if I make myself miserable in the process. I have been having a difficult time at work. Feeling like I don't fit and longing to do something else. So when a major change happened. I leapt without looking and QUIT. I am there until next week and then I'm moving on. To where I'm not sure but I'm at ease with my decision (which is a major step for me). i'll keep you up to date with what's going on.  Now off to bed.  See you later... Have a great on.

Time Flies

What happened to October??? As a matter of fact, I really don't know what happened to the rest of September. I vaguely remember a vacation (much needed) and that it was very restful. 

I have been busy in October, running around every weekend... The first weekend I was off to the Apple Harvest Festival with Lolly. All I'm going to say is "YUM" and Definately going back next year. 

The second weekend I spent working on wedding flowers. Saturday's flowers were a beautiful mix of orchids, dahlias, and fall colored gerbera daisies with some other unusual things like protea and bells of Ireland. It was probably my favorite of all the weddings I have done. The other wedding I did was for a friend of mine, Sandra. The flowers were all shades of pink. Her favorite color. It was much smaller but also very pretty. 

Finally... this past weekend arrived. The long awaited trip to Calabash, NC with my good friend, Rodney. A road trip to a Christmas and everything else store called Callahan's Gifts. OMG!!!! It was fabulous. They claim to have 3 million ornaments, I didn't count... but I can believe it. Of course, some went home with me. Surprise! Surprise! 

So,we were driving back to Orrum, NC, also known as "the Holler" (said in southern accent), where we were staying (with Bobby, a friend of Rodney's) when all of sudden the car brakes were slammed on. What the heck... animal or person on the road??? No. It was a sign for a corn maze. Then came the question 'Have you ever been in a corn maze?' My response was 'No'. Then I heard 'Do you wanna?? A reluctant okay must have slipped from my mouth. We decided Bobby had to join us. So,we stopped to ask the hours and price, only to find they had a haunted maze. Needless to say, Rodney was much more excited than me (the big wuss). Good friend that I am, I didn't want to ruin his experience so I agreed to return later (after dark). Long story... Shortened. It was SCARY and creepy but FUN. He wants to go back next year. We'll see. 

I'm still running this weekend, down to ScrapDoodles in Fredericksburg to take classes with Donna Downey. Can't wait. 

I'll catch up and write more later. OMG!!! I just realized I haven't told you about something so exciting. I'll write tomorrow... I promise.

Sharing a Discovery

A few months ago, while reading Anahata Katkin's blog, one of my absolute favs, I was introduced to Polyvore. What the heck is Polyvore, you may ask. Good question. Well, it's an easy to use website for mixing and matching images from sources all over the web. I'm pretty sure it started mostly with fashion images and accessories from catalogs, advertisements and etc. Of course, then came along the artistic people... and the site evolved into an awesome place to create collages, using thousands of images. You can add pics of everything from scrapbook papers and embellishments to images from nature and so on. This site is seriously addictive. Trust me, I have spent hours creating. This is one of my latest ones.  

Exotic Beauty by avantwerx on Polyvore.com 

Give it a try, I'm sure you'll love it, too. One of the best things about Polyvore is that it's FREE. No buying tons of magazines (and that saves trees). See it's good for the environment. Addicts are always trying to justify. Until next time...

Yesterday, my dear sweet husband, Scott and I got in the car and took a quick trip to Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, to Longwood Gardens to be exact. What a lovely diversion from real life. It is so nice to take a few hours to enjoy nature. I hadn't been there in about five years and it is just as amazing now as it was then. The great thing about Longwood is that no matter what time of year you visit, there is always something beautiful to see.  The gardens were blooming in bursts of fall colors, in reds and burgundy, and oranges and rust. The late blooming perennials like sedum, oak leaf hydrangeas, and  dahlias are in their peak. Oh, how I wish my garden looked like this... of course it could with a gardener on staff and a couple hundred thousand dollars in the checking account. 

                                                                                                                                      The property features a topiary garden, a rose garden and has more fountains than any other garden in the US. Trust me the fountains  are fantastic and well worth the trip all on their own. But, then there is the conservatory... with it's awesome 

collection of orchids. I love them, they are one of my favorites.  Along side the orchids are houses that hold other tropical plants including palms, bougainvilleas and even a special house for bonsai specimens. 

In the courtyard just outside the conservatory was a fantastic display of water lilies and lotus plants. All of which were gloriously blooming in the morning sun. We had a wonderful and peaceful visit. Thanks for stopping by.  

Promise Kept

As promised, here are a few photos of the ornaments I have been working on.  They are in various stages of doneness. The backgrounds are pieces of Stampbord (by Ampersand). I love Stampbord and not just because my artwork is on their packaging. It is a great surface for inking and stamping. In fact, that is what I did on these ornaments. I inked with ColorBox Chalk and Pigment inks and then blended the colors together. I add accents using punchinello (sequin scrap)  as a stencil. That stuff is so cool, unfortunately it's not easy to find anything but, stars and dots. Sometimes I'll even add stamped images. Then it's time to get scratching and no I don't need Benadryl.  I then add strips of glittered papers to some of the backgrounds. The chipboard shapes are inked and stenciled in the same way. I add glitter and bling to finish the shapes. The hangers are made of twisted 12 gauge colored aluminum wire.  Well, I should get back to my satellite studio desk (a folding table in my family room) and finish the rest of these ornaments. See you in a few day . 

Jury Duty

Well, about a month ago I received a summons in the mail... thankfully it was just Jury Duty. So, today was the day. As I sat there waiting to hear my name and at the same time hoping not to, I had some time to go through some catalogs from CHA.  My name was never called, it was sort of like getting picked last for a team in gym class. But with an upside... early release. While I waited for that, I had some time to plan out a couple of projects. I hope to have them ready in a couple of weeks.

As promised here are a few more photos of the Christmas trees I did for work. Granted, they are all a little untraditional but then so am I. A black and white tree may not be for everyone but, who could resist turquoise or orange?? Okay, probably a lot of you.  The orange one is actually one of my favs.  At least until late November when I put my personal trees (I have three). I'll make sure I post pics once I decorate for the season.

I know I promised pics of ornaments but I'm running out of space in this post. I promise tomorrow, no more delays. 

Thanx and an Explanation

First, let me shout out a great big "THANX" to everyone who purchased kits. You helped make the launch of my new venture a success.  I hope you will continue to check back for new project kits.  I am working on some cool ideas for the upcoming Fall and Christmas seasons.  

Second, I think I owe those of you who follow this blog an apology and an explanation of why it seems as though I have fallen off the earth. My schedule at my every day job has been a little crazed.  We hosted a regional Teleflora show at our location and with that entails a tremendous amount of prep work, most of which was decorating for Christmas. I know, I know in August, it makes me crazy, too. 

I have decorated no less than six Christmas trees in the last two weeks... which means I have been covered in various colors of glitter for at least 14 days. (Scott, my husband, thinks that's kind of "hot"). And it was... probably about 85 degrees in our warehouse. Let me tell you, I got more than a few strange looks at the grocery store and other places I had run errands, since I don't quite have the body of a dancer. Those of you who use glitter in your art have no doubt received some of those same looks. Anyway, I'm sorry I slacked off and thanx for hanging in there with me.

The one good thing about decorating for Christmas in August is that it gets me thinking about holiday projects. I am hoping to participate in at least one holiday show this season and therefore have to get busy, busy, busy creating. I have been working on a few things and will have a sneak peek of a couple of ornaments here tomorrow. I will also show a couple more trees. Hope this gets you in the holiday spirit and you'll return for more. 

A New Venture

As promised a few posts ago, I have some news to share...a new adventure. I have decided to start creating and selling kits (at least I hope so). My fabulous friend, Cheryl over at TENseconds Studio will be featuring my first three designs tomorrow on her famous TACOtuesday videos. I am sooooo excited. I had a lot of fun creating these little "creatures on sticks", as Cheryl calls them.   Actually, they are a bird, a butterfly and a goldfish. They are made of grunge paper, metal embossed with TENseconds Studio molds, and embellished with Tim Holtz's Idea-ology line. Each kit includes patterns, instructions complete with photo step-outs, pre-embossed metal and grunge paper, and all the Idea-ology pieces to complete the design as shown in the sample.

Purchase Details:
Kits are $14.95 each. Shipping rates are: 1st kit for $4.95; $2.50 for each additional kit in the same order. [MD residents please add 6% sales tax.  Please contact me via email at avantwerx@comcast.net to order and I will send you my PayPal link. Thanx for looking and I hope you enjoy the kits.

Eye Candy Overload

I wouldn't think I would ever admit to being on overload, but it almost becomes too much. Of course, I did say almost. It seemed like nearly every booth had something interesting. We have seen lots of cool new things and the wheels are turning. I can't wait to get my hands on some of the new papers...thankfully most are shipping to stores in August. I also got to see the prototype cover for the book my projects will be in and even found out the proposed release date might even be in October. Kind of exciting, right??? Of course I'll have autographed copies for all my friends. Just Kidding. I'll post some more pics for your viewing pleasure when I get home on Saturday.