Twinkling lights are my absolute favorite, so much so that we always keep some as part of our home decor all year round. They just create the softest, prettiest light.

This corner of our home photo was taken by Sean and I just love it. It shows the twinkling lights that drape our fireplace mantel. I thought it would be a good fit today in honor of the official start of the holiday season!

7 x 5 in.

I couldn’t resist.
Actually one of my customers suggested I create a "gang" for Thanksgiving. And I loved the idea, so the gang it is, together and thankful.

I’m so glad that being grateful has become more common, more of a daily event than just once a year, but having this holiday to remind us all together to reflect on what we are grateful for is a wonderful tradition, not to mention the very delicious meal that accompanies the gratitude :)

Wishing you a very Happy Thanksgiving if you are celebrating here in the states.

I am grateful to all of you who take the time to come here and visit this blog ~ whether you are a commenting visitor or not, I know you are here and I just want to say thank you.

I also want to leave you with this article Sean sent over to me from the NY Times  ~ I’m not the only one talking about thriving artists...classes for artist entrepreneurs, more artist’s making a living...very exciting! I’m also thankful for this time we live in where all of this is now possible more than ever before.

(click here to buy original)
 or a print is also available through the weekend at my Etsy shop

Now I bet you’re wondering what Starbucks has to do with these tiny prints? Can you figure it out?
Do the frames look familiar?

Very much a coffee drinker, especially lattes usually created by my personal Barista, Sean, I’m also known to occasionally splurge on a Starbucks latte, with whipped cream of course...several lattes later... the coffee sleeves become frames for tiny prints!!

I wish I could take credit for this idea, but alas I cannot. It’s the wide world internet. You see I was searching high and low for paper frames, because I thought it would be nice to create an option that would house a tiny print or original illustration, and after pages and pages of search, I came across a video that showed you how to make your own paper picture frame from a recycled Starbucks coffee sleeve. Seriously.

Not only was it fun to once again try something creatively NEW ~ but this creation is GREEN too. It doesn’t get any better than that. Right? Earth friendly, tiny and cute, one of my favorite combinations in creations.

These tiny prints that also might make fun Christmas ornaments, will be be available in the shop next Thursday, Dec. 4.

Is everyone here in the states getting excited for Thanksgiving?! and days off :)
(As some Christmas music just snuck into my ITunes party shuffle...I’m reminded just how excited I am to break out the Christmas music this weekend!)

6 x 6 in.

This image, the sunflower and the deer, came to me before I fell asleep and it is completely inspired and influenced by my friend Sharon’s  prints of animals, one of which is an adorable baby deer. Sharon opened her Etsy shop almost one month ago and she is literally "blowing the doors off" with her sales! I mention this not only because I’m so proud of her and so excited for her success, but also because her success as an artisan opening an Etsy shop, especially during "these economic times" is a profound symbol of hope.

And I know "hope" is a popular catch phrase of our time and with that I "hope" we don’t lose sight of what this word means and how vital it as for all of us to have hope no matter what paths we are personally traveling. Hope is essential.

I realize that these may feel like scary times for many of us, especially financially. All you have to do is get in earshot of any media and it is completely overwhelming. I normally do a good job at keeping my head above these mass consciousness fears, which is why I intentionally don’t comment much on it here on my blog either,  but even I have to admit that the fear has tried resurfacing. Having finally succeeded in getting my business off the ground and actually making a living with doing the work I love most ~ I have to say that now dealing with an economic crisis, even if it is only dealing with the pervasive feeling of fear that the majority is trying to sell us ~is not quite what I had in mind at this time. But it is what it is, and being in business is always an exciting challenge no matter what is going on with the economy.  I am so proud to even be in a position to have my own business, that I for one have decided that I will not let fear creep into my life and threaten to diminish any of what I’ve built ~ mostly my joy for creating and my peace of mind ~ I’ve come too far. And when I look at what is happening with artisan small businesses, including my own, and especially Sharon’s success in the last few weeks ~ I am completely inspired. I am reminded that times like these are exactly the times to stick with your dream, they are times to rise to the challenge to not be paralyzed by fear but instead be innovative and creative ~ especially CREATIVE for those of us who are artists~ and above all to always remain hopeful.

While the majority people are probably giving more thought to how they are spending their money, which I think is a really good thing. It is true that people are still spending, they are still buying items that are meaningful to them ~ they still want to be inspired and they are still supporting this indie artisan/craft world ~ and that is so incredible to see and be a part of.

I once again want to thank everyone out there who is buying handmade, who contines to show up in support of small businesess like mine. It goes without saying that your support is profound ~ especially during these times.

And for anyone who might be on the fence about starting a business or putting their creations out into the world ~ do not let the "appearance" of these times discourage you. Do not let "these times" fool you into believing that there is no time like the present to pursue your dreams. I believe above all that these times are hopeful times disguised in a crisis to get our attention. More than just our leadership has changed, but the ways of doing business have changed profoundly. Now is a time when those who found businesses built from heart, integrity, innovation, creativity and sincerity will thrive more than they ever have.

All of this message is the hope contained in the sunflower above :)  and inspired by my friend.

The state of the economy is not an excuse for your business not to thrive, it is however a really good excuse for you to become an even better business.

Just some thoughts to leave you with for the weekend. Wishing you a good one.

(click here to buy original)

It’s true...now you can have your coffee in a Creative Thursday creation. How about that?!

Here they are, a glimpse of my first Creative Thursday ceramics that I’ve been working on over the last couple of months. Each one is hand painted and glazed (thank you Outi!) I’ve left them all white with two to three tiny characters adorning the front and the back, and the insides of each cup are a filled with a beautiful color. I have made 10 so far, 6 big and 4 small ones, perfect for your beverage of choice or inspiration. And when I say inspiration (I think Outi originally named them inspiration cups) I imagine writing my inspiration and/or dreams on a piece of paper and housing them in this little cup, until they come true.

Once again in the theme of "everything is for something", this is not my first time painting ceramics ~as it turns out, when I was 12 I had a neighbor who had a kiln and I would go over to her house at least once a week and paint ceramics. This went on for quite a while until I officially became a teenager and was more interested in boys than creating. It was also during this time that I participated in my very first art show/festival selling my ceramic creations. I have such fond memories of this time, I really LOVED it!! Needless to say it has been more than fun for me to create in this medium again.

So here’s my big plan...I will be releasing these for sale along with more new creations including the softies I’ve been making in exactly two weeks, on Creative Thursday, December 4. Let’s just call it a BIG Holiday Shop Update!

Also speaking of inspiration, I want to spread the word about a very special project that Holly of decor8 and her friend EZ of creature comforts started this past week. It’s called Kindred.  Kindred is a mini celebration of friendships formed inside the delicate and vast online web, the love of art and design, and the happiness that comes from giving and receiving ~ the best kind of genuine blog nicey niceness especially in the spirit of the season!

Podcast #38 :: A Conversation with Christine Mason Miller

I’m having so much fun with these. It seems that I can’t get enough of the sewing and the sewing machine. And it’s all I can do to squeeze in a little creative sewing time. So two new friends of miss fran are here. They don’t have names yet...but soon.

It’s late Sunday evening as I post this and I also want to say that I hope that my fellow Southern California readers especially those North and South of me are safe. We are personally away from the fires located directly in the middle of both areas ~ but we are close enough to have air that is full with smoke and a thin layer of ash on our cars. The light is gold and eerie and we’ve been inside, especially thankful for the comfort of our home this weekend and for those friends I know are safe and whose homes were spared. Again, if you are in any of these fire ridden areas ~ I hope you and your loved ones are safe.

5 x 7 in.

The original painting that inspired the holiday cards for this year. I know it’s still a little early for holiday festivities, but I’m wanting to feel celebratory and festive on this Friday. I’m wanting to enjoy the season (and the weekend!) as it approaches and this painting does exactly that ~ it makes me feel happy at this time year of year.

It’s also about friends, community ~ togetherness. It’s about all of us "shining" together.

(original is sold)

You’d probably sit here, and we’d probably serve you Italian food (because that is our favorite) with red wine of course, and we’d probably have lively discussions accompanied our Ipod shuffling music in the background.

I bet you thought I forgot all about my "corners of my home" that I planned to share here...nope...didn’t forget. I could just share them with you all at once, but the idea of sharing a little bit of space at a time is appealing for some reason, kind of like a blog "cliff hanger" or blog suspense... So this is our dining room that looks out into my sunny little studio and on out into our garden.

On a side note, I had big plans to post a new podcast for you today and just as I was about to export it, I realized that some parts of the recording were missing at the very end. This is a podcast with someone, so I will wait until we can reconnect to "end" the podcast which will hopefully be tomorrow ~ but either way, you should know that a new one is almost here! ...more blog suspense.

Here she is the newest softie on the block ~ and she’s wearing my fabric as an apron/skirt!

I’m still experimenting with finding my own voice and style in the softie world and so far it is a mix of hand embroidery and machine sewing combined with several fabrics with ribbon in a loose pattern ~ keeping the overall design of each softie unique, simple and clean. Which brings me to my other exciting turn of events...After 6 months of researching and looking, I finally acquired my first real sewing machine, a Husqvarna Viking!!!! Quite a step up from my tiny toy machine that tipped over if you sneezed, I feel like a whole new world of creativity has opened up to me and that’s one reason my blog posts are filled with so many exclamation points these days!!!! I feel like there is some new direction in my creating that is just waiting to be discovered. Thanks for joining in all the enthusiasm with me :)

This creation I can hold back on no longer! I’m way too excited about this.

My first ever fabric design featuring Oscar and Olive of course. Well technically not my first ever, because in a prior incarnation, not so long ago, I actually hand painted fabric for a children’s line I designed...everything’s for something... The reason I stopped the hand painted children’s line is because I could not bring myself to hand paint the same design over and over again. And if you know me and the way I create, you can see why that kind of process would’ve literally taken it out of me. You live and you learn. Sometimes you have to try things just to find out what you don’t want to do, as much as discover what you do want to do. I DO want to design fabric, just not paint it ALL by hand.

And now thanks to a little company called Spoonflower, I can design fabric!! and order as little or as much as I want. All I have to do is upload my design online and Spoonflower takes care of the rest. The best news, is you can DO this too. Spoonflower is, as of two weeks ago, officially open to anyone who’s ready to create fabric. Can you believe this ~ really? When you think about how far we’ve come in the opportunities available to artist’s and crafters just in the last 2 years...it’s AMAZING. I’m not the only one "spooning" these days. You’ve got check out Amber’s new quilt she made all with her own fabric designs.

I’ve already created something new with my fabric and I will be back to share it with you tomorrow...My former life as an interior designer and all the fabric I worked with during that time....the children’s line....all those experiences lead me here.

Can you tell this is the beginning of something new going on over here....?????

(I’m still not entirely sure what that is yet...but I’m excited.)

In all of my "preparedness" (I was going on and on about yesterday)~ I ran out of ribbon.

So when I woke up this morning, after answering emails, purchasing ribbon was a top priority.
And then, I just went ahead and picked up some extra satin ribbon to add to my bookmarks!
And then, I photographed them.
And then I listed them in the shop right away, because I get a little too excited about new creations to "save them" and not share them instantly! (believe me I have some creations "saved" for the holidays and it is incredibly hard not to share them with you right NOW!)
So even though it’s the end of the day on this Friday, your requests and enthusiasm inspired me and bookmarks are now in the shop! (There are 2 bookmarks total, with different designs on the front and back ~ you can purchase just 1 or a set of 2)

Today, I also had an unexpected turn of events that is going to open the doors to some VERY exciting new creations for Creative Thursday ~ some of which I plan to share with you next week...including a new podcast too!

And ~ thank you so much for your holiday card purchases so far! Now that I have ribbon back in hand, I will be getting them all ready to ship early next week.

Ok, then ~ it’s weekend time ~ have a GREAT one!

...I wanted to see just how many exclamation points !!!!!!! I could use in one post...it was an exciting day, week, goodness what can I say other than !!!!!!!

Before Creative Thursday was even an idea, before setting aside a day a week for creativity ever occurred to me, I would set aside one time a year for creativity. And that time of year was now, when I would hand make my personal holiday cards. Even though I worked in "creative" jobs, this was still the one project I had all year, that was complete, pure, creative freedom.

To this day it is still one of the creations that I look forward to all year, and now I get to create them for you too! Honestly when I put it into that kind of perspective, I’m still amazed that I get to do this for a living.

This has always been my favorite season, so I think the creativity naturally flows on over drive during these months. The hardest part for me is choosing which designs I want to use. This year I made 4 designs and chose two and I also had them offset printed for the second time ~ as I used to print them all to order...having them printed is quite a bit easier on my work load, but now when they are gone, they will be gone. Also, I created an option where you can purchase both designs together if you’d like ~ if you can’t decide between the two, like me. Ooh and I almost forgot, that for the first time I have packaged these in "GREEN" biodegradable cellophane sleeves!

This holiday season I am also trying out the concept of being prepared. Bj left a comment in the blog discussions a few weeks ago that has really stayed with me where she said  "I still don’t have time to keep the house immaculate, create & sell a crazy amount of art and whip up a zillion crafts for each holiday. However, careful planning ahead could make it look that way." And that’s the secret folks. Careful planning. The secret to peace and the impression that you create like a crazy person. Really, this is the first year I started planning ahead of time, and I STILL  could have used more time. You see I always have to "get in the spirit" of the season to create for any holiday. Painting Christmas designs in the heat of the summer just doesn’t sound appealing ~ and painting them a year ahead of time, feels too far out as I like the creations and creating process to feel fresh to me ~ although now I’m thinking a year ahead of time may not be such a bad idea... :) Either way, this year I am more prepared than in years past ~and I have to say it has already made things easier. Maybe my usual "under pressure", "deadlines", style of creating is better left behind. It worked ok as a student, but not as a business owner, and not really as the kind of person I am wanting to become, a generally less hectic, more peaceful person. So, to summon the creative holiday spirit a few months ahead of time, I just listened to Christmas music in October and the spirit arrived!

Ok then, they’re here, the holiday cards! And a little early this year, so you have plenty of time to send your holiday greetings ~ and did I mention that each holiday card order will be accompanied by these bookmarks that I had made? I’m always using my own business cards as bookmarks and since the company I print with also prints bookmarks, I thought ~ it’s time for bookmarks!! Here, Here for Holiday time, preparation and experiencing extreme cuteness while READING!

Can you believe it? How AMAZING is this time we live in!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday morning I woke up early, something I’ve been doing more of since the recent time change. Once I started my day, it was like I could do nothing else until I voted. So at 7:45 a.m. I was standing in line at my polling place.

Never in my lifetime I have been so moved to vote. Never in my lifetime have I been so moved by a politician. A self proclaimed "hater of politics" since I can remember, I felt overcome by emotion on my walk to the polling place and overcome again as I walked out with my "I Voted" sticker. Never have been so proud to where that sticker.

Up until Monday, I had only mentioned this campaign twice on my blog. I’m still part of a school of thought where it’s not really "polite" to talk about politics. Also the idea that politics and religion are two subject matters that you tend to stay away from at dinner parties, and blogs I guess. :)
Understandable, I suppose. Because behind it is the idea to respect the privacy of individual choices on these matters. I completely agree with that notion. But this is no longer about politics, this is about an inspired human being and leader who just happened to become our PRESIDENT!!!!!!!

Never before have I literally jumped up and down for joy when a new president was named. We had friends over to celebrate with us, and boy did we cheer the moment CNN made it’s presidential projection.

Never before have I been so moved by an acceptance speech. The cheers quickly turned to tears ~ as I listened to and watched Obama and the crowds that surrounded him. And I even have to say that I was genuinely moved by John McCain’s concession speech. Which by the way, where was that side of John McCain during this entire election?

I wake up this morning with a renewed sense of hope in everything ~ not only the state of our country but the state of the world, and the kind of person I can be in the world. After I posted Monday’s post and started hearing from all of you in so many different states and countries, it became crystal clear just how connected we all are. We are no longer divided by countries and states. We are now globally connected in a way that we have never been before. It is an AMAZING and EXCITING time to be alive, it truly is. Even though our country is experiencing difficult times, I see the bigger picture to how this has the potential to unfold, and I am still inspired.

Now when I travel overseas, which I have been fortunate to do my entire life, I will no longer have to apologize for the choices made by our present administration. I will no longer have to explain that while I love the country I live in, I do not represent the values put forth by the majority. I will once again be proud to be an American, because I believe that we now have a leader that will restore America to a nation that will once again inspire hope for the world.

THIS is more than politics, and more than having a new president for this country.  Barack Obama is a person who inspires me. He is a symbol for our present time ~ a time where Honesty, Integrity, Fairness, Kindness, Compassion, Graciousness, a Level Playing Field no matter what the color of your skin is, no matter what your economic status, may be returned to this country.

Hope is here and it is time for change.

I have hope.

please vote

November 4