I have not been posting for a reason

Yesterday my wonderful, sweet and loving delight of a mother-in -law Kay Karpinski passed away. She told us she is ready to have Christmas in heaven with her husband John, her mom and dad and all her family. I will miss her so much and have so many memories of good times with her and the Karpinski clan. And she did raise an amazing son my husband Gary for which I am continually grateful and was a spectacular grandmother to Anna.

I’m so excited and I just can’t hide it

Finally my Acorn Acres Holiday Line is out and in the market! This holiday line has been in the making for two years and I cannot believe it is actually in stores and online.  Acorn Acres was produced by One Hundred 80 Degrees and art directed by Stephen Brown of Glitterville and his cohort Byran Crabtree. Stephen Brown, for those who watched Craft Wars, was one of the judges. It was so fun to work with them and I am uber pleased with how the line looks. I have been dreaming of the day I will have a whole holiday line out in the stores.

Now, of course, you are all thinking...well some of you might be..where can I buy some of Linda’s cute items for my tree...well so far I have found some of the ornaments at two web sites. The Weed Patch www.theweedpatchstore.com., once you are at this store go to Christmas and then to ornaments and then to woodland, and Red Chair Kids www.redchairkids.com, once you are at this store go to Christmas and there is two different sets of the ornaments. If any of you find them anywhere else on the web, could you please let me know and I will send you a surprise. If anyone finds the collection selling anywhere is St. Louis and lets me know, you will get a handmade prize!

So here are pictures of the collection from the One Hundred 80 Degrees site. I have also attached at the end of the collection several pictures of One Hundred 80 Degrees showroom in Atlanta that Sheila took last year at the trade show. And also you might look at this collection and think the lumberjack looks like someone you know...the reason is I fashioned the lumberjack after my husband Gary. Gary now uses his ornament as his facebook profile. The lumberjack Gary was also made into a big pillow. Gary asked Annie if she would like his pillow for her dorm room and I bet all of you could hear her groaning response all over the US. The beaver ornament is named Truman after my friend Liz Sullivan’s son....he loved the ornament when I showed it to him so I named the beaver after him..Liz I am working to get Truman a pillow.

My Etsy site is a changing

Gary and I have decided we need to revitalize my Etsy site and what better time to do it than before the holidays. We will be taking down much of the artwork we have had on the site for a long time and putting new prints on it. We will, of course, keep our best sellers but there will be lots of new and sparkly prints for you to choose from. Be sure to check back to my blog because in the next few weeks I will be posting some of the items we will be selling. In addition to new prints, there will be pillows, pillow plushes, small prints on wood blocks, embroidery kits, notecards and fabric wall hangings. Here is what my desk looks like right now. Check back soon to my blog or my Etsy site to see where these animals that are on my desktop will end up.

My Embroidered Wall Hanging is done

I always have at least 5-10 projects going at once....and of course I have materials and ideas for at least 20 more. One time my friend Laurie said to me that I bet you have at least 25 projects I in the works or at least had the supplies for the projects. So I decided to make a list and see if she was right.

Okay so I have more than 25 projects.

But over the summer I did get one of my projects done. I wrote about this wall hanging I was making using embroidery, Michael Miller Mirror Dot fabrics, and my collection of flower pins and doodads. If you want to see this post go to my archives and look for the post on 8/11/11 Back from Vacation.

So here it is all put together and in my bedroom hanging over my bed. I am super pleased with how it cam out.

Mr. Gary

I made this for my studio to say how much I love my husband.

Amy Ruppel

I love birds in particular images of birds. My mom and dad loved to watch and feed birds and my friend Laurie loves to buy bird items in flea markets. So over time I began to love to draw birds and collect bird images.

One of my favorite bird artists is Amy Ruppel. I have one of her bird pieces right next to me on my desk. And one year when I really wanted some of her bird cards for my birthday and I could not buy them unless I was a wholesale dealer, I wrote to her asking if she had any sample cards...I usually get a bunch of sample cards whenever I do a greeting card.....and that I would be willing to buy them from her if she had any extra cards. She did me one better, she sent me the four images as prints signed! I was thrilled. (Now please do not write to her for this request!) After I received the prints I made a special Amy bird and sent it to her.

Here is Amy’s website and Etsy site. www.amyruppel.com, www.etsy.com/shop/aruppel She has sales online of her artwork, just get on her mailing list and from time to time she will have a sale. That is how I got the piece of artwork in my studio. And now on her Etsy site she has prints and I have been seeing her work in licensed products.

Look at the fun we had in NYC

Here are just some random pics of all the fun we had in New York. We saw the Letterman Show, ate loads of chinese dumplings, went to many shops in the Soho area Melinda Beck suggested we would enjoy, walked in Times Square and all in all had a wonderful time. Chi-Wen went with us for a whole day. Can’t wait to go back.

former student Hannah who is a page at Letterman

Surtex Show 2012

It is always so much fun to go to the Surtex show as well as walk the New York Stationary Show. This year Gary and I were joined by Annie, of course, and our intern Chi-Wen Lee. The work at the Surtex show is amazing...so many talented artists work to look at and meet. Here are some pics of the show, my work in Sheila’s booth and images of the work from some of the artists we met. I got to meet several of my favorite illustrators including Helen Dardick and Carolyn Gavin. I also got to visit with a former student, Emily Kleinman, who works for Galison/ Mudpuppy.

Here are the Surtex artists we met whose work we loved.

The Comstocks

Caleb Gray

Erin McMorris

Carolyn Gavin/Ecojot

Feng Liang

Helen Dardick

Paper + Cloth