LIQUOR...I hardly even...oh, whatever.

So, here we are again. At the end of another creation. Obsessing over whether it's good enough, if the 'client' (Oh my gosh, I have a client!) will be so pleased that she'll pee her pants do a little dance, asking myself why I put these things off until I have to do them to remain a good seller.

In the end, I am happy with the result of my first attempt to paint on a tiny little glass. I know it could always be better, but let's face it, I'm not making a living on this...yet.

I am going to do some research on how to get the paint to go on a little more smoothly (smoother?). It may just be that I need better paints. Right now I'm working with the cheapest paints I could find...with the best brushes. It probably evens out somehow.

So, here's the shot glass. I will finish the wine glass tomorrow.

I was only using the quarter dollar, quarter, two bits, Johnson Sandwich (I still don't understand why it was called this since LBJ was never ON a quarter) for a size reference, but my husband pointed out, "Because she'll be playing Quarters with this glass." Ha ha. Funny. I wanted to use a bottle of fiery pink fingernail polish called 'Scarlet' by SinfulColors...hmmm.... Maybe we're both in the wrong. Typical.

Anyway. It was cool making it. Now on to the wine glass.... I have asked myself whether or not I should be painting glasses that will inevitably hold liquor or wine (or booze in general). I am not for or against drinking alcoholic beverages unless you are a) underage, b) don't know when to quit, or c) causing someone else to stumble (i.e. you have a friend who is a recovering alcoholic and you bust out a bottle of wine around him...not cool).

I'm serious. Don't be a jerk. Drink responsibly.

I can't keep up!

*Foreword: Those of you that receive automatic e-mail updates saying a new blog has been posted, you may not be able to see when there is a video attachment or a picture embedded in the blog. To see all content, you may need to come directly to the blog site Did I just say that? That is all, thank you. (OH, WAR EAGLE!)

So, things have been absolutely wonderful lately. Ham is just getting cuter and more entertaining (if that is possible). She plays really well by herself, but I find myself looking for excuses to watch her all day instead of doing housework or run errands. I have the heart of an organized person, and none of the skills I desperately long for to be a clone of Martha Stewart-ness. (I do not want to be Martha Stewart, however.)

I have had another order for glasses. YAY! A girl from etsy.com wants me to do a wine glass and shot glass with the pink owl on it and Chi Omega written in black on the opposite side. I'm working on that today.

Also, I have now gone to the infamous Sips-n-Strokes twice in one month. The second time we went to the Vestavia location and the painting was really difficult and took a lot of time. We also ended up moving our table halfway through the lesson because...well...because of the 'sipping' part of SipsnStrokes, some ladies get WAY too loud. So, for the second half of the night, we couldn't see what the instructor was doing at all. We were pretty frustrated. Regardless, this is how ours turned out:

This is mine:

This is my friend, Mer's:

This is what the instructor's original looked like:

We will probably stick with the Highway 280 store because we had a great experience there.

So, as you can see, no one painting is going to turn out exactly the same. I decided I wanted some blue in my background instead of all brown and white, while Meredith followed the instructor at first, she then decided she didn't want a lot of black in the background and it turned out really cool and sorta abstract. Mine is more realism...which, I wish I could get out of that stage. I'd love to do some abstract and even cartoonish-style stuff.

Anyway, here is the finish product of the wine glasses I did for my friend Ashley's Bachelorette Party two weekends ago:



That was a lot of fun and it definitely opened up some doors. However, painting glass is a lot harder than I thought it would be! I'm glad for the experience.

BTW, Ham heard a bird outside this morning and she cupped her little hand around her ear to sign 'hear.' SOOOO cute!

No teeth yet. LOL

Set of four hand-painted tumblers and pitcher

OK, I must be insane, right? I am now venturing to make a set of four hand-painted owl tumblers with an iced tea pitcher included. I don't know if I want to sell this on Etsy.com or list it to win on my blog. Here is a picture of the sample owl glasses:

I would love to paint an owl on one, my giraffe on another, an elephant, and maybe a koi fish. What do you think?

Option a) All one design (with maybe the animal being different colors on each), b) all one design (with animal being one color on all), c) a series of different animals in the set, or d) do all four sets with one animal per set?

Does that make sense?

See, I get too much going at once. Don't worry though, I am going to finish my friend's wine glasses before taking on this endeavor, so it could be weeks before I get around to making the iced tea set.

Selling more art

I love that my friends now know that I am back into art. For some, it's the first time they know I paint or draw. I am getting a lot of, "I didn't know you were an artist!" and I must say, there is still a twinge of guilt.

I am far from that man in the Bible who went to his master and said, "Sir, I knew that you were a hard man, harvesting where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours." No, at least this man admitted to burying his talent. Parable of the Talents

Even though he was still punished, the message I see in my case, is that I didn't even want to tell anyone that I had a buried talent! If it's hidden, no one can hold me accountable.

So, now that it's in the light (and I'm so thankful and excited about that), a friend asked me if she could pay me to paint 12 stemless wine glasses for a bachelorette party in a few weeks.

Here is my rough draft:

For this, I actually used Sakura Gelly Roll pens. I wanted to get a good idea of what it would look like and what I was aiming for with this. I don't know if I'll do the first initial of each bridesmaid or what. My friend has to OK this design. However, I am generally pleased with my first attempt. Now let's see if we can do it with enamel paints and a tiny paintbrush! I also have to write an actual saying on the glass.

This has led me to list the item (as an example) on Etsy.com and try my hand at painting glass on commission. If it gets too crazy and I get orders I can't fill, I'll just stop doing it.

I also uploaded my painting of the peacock I was working on for weeks. For your sake, I'll just put a picture of it up, here:

However, it is on sale at Etsy.com. Feel free to check it out. I also have a semi-precious bracelet I made for sale.

On a different note, same vein, my awesome sister-in-law and her husband have put up a shop on Etsy, too. They had been thinking about doing it for a while now. It's called thesmallwoods and they sell Mr. Fox Brand products. TOO cute. Here's a sampling: He is a handmade, embroidered felt plush original based on Mr. Hoot Hoot of TheSmallWoods world. Isn't he adorable? He comes in different colors, too!

That's all for now, in my world.