BABYCAKES MERRY WHATEVER BLOG GRAND OPENING!!!

**TODAY** is the GRAND OPENING FOR BABYCAKES MERRY WHATEVER BLOG!!! Support local and small artisans of color, beginning TODAY!...Monthly features of wonderful designs and artistry will be featured on a monthly basis. You will be able to view and purchase unique hand crafted designs all throughout the year for that special occasion and someone in your life. You also get to meet the designers and support their local handmade efforts in their communities. Stop by daily - you never know what jewel you will find there!

Tea Time Tea Caddy .. Making Progress

Tea Time In Progress ... it's coming along ... I'm trying not to rush it. Roses aren't my best or fav thing to paint .. but I'm not done yet - so I'll see what happens. I'm just "winging it".

Tea Time .... In Progress

Good Morning! I have started a new piece .... it's amazing what you can find when you clean your stash room!!LOL This surface is a wooden tea packet holder - and I've just begun a loose freehand sketch with acrylic paint and a round brush. I hope to paint all the tea packet holders I was able to find - they are a really nice size and weight - so stay tuned!!

Hand-painted Wooden Surfaces for Spring

Just a peek at the outside of the surfaces that I did this weekend - which are done....still working on minor details for both pieces.

Both will be listed in my ETSY store as well as included on the Babycakes Merry Whatever blog beginning April 1st. It will be hard not to keep these - I love them both so much ... I love to paint and when it all comes together like this - it's wonderful. I hope they find happy homes.

Getting Ready For A New Team

I'm so excited I've been invited to join a team of fellow artists on the Babycakes Merry Whatever blog. I have been busy working on some new pieces, which will be featured beginning April 1st. Each month will be something new and different from all 10 artists ... so stay tuned!

To give you an idea of the types of things I'll be offering ... here's a sneak peek at one of my pieces - it's still in progress - but I'm already attached to it! It will be hard to put it up on Etsy for sale! :)

Don't Toss It...Recycle It!

Sometimes I look around at my box of bottles and wonder why I can't throw them away ... then I get inspired to paint...and realize why. I love painting on glass, and I love painting on bottles especially.

These two bottles are actually water bottles that my sister sent to me...and because of the writing on them...I painted a white undercoat ... then basecoated in blue - and threw some roses on them.

They make nice table toppers...and are also re-usable!

Quick and Easy Bird Tutorial

Back in 2000 I was crazy about One-stroke painting, and during my OSCI certification with Donna Dewberry, she gave us some good advice. She told us no matter how good we learned to paint flowers - that we should always know how to paint the basics - Fruit and Birds ... and practice your lettering!

Fast forward to 2012 ... I haven't painted strictly One-stroke in a very long time...but Donna Dewberry's prediction has come to fruition over and over again over the past 12 years. Customers always request fruit ... some type of bird ... and personalization!

The pictorial tutorial below is a Quick and Easy method for painting a cardinal. Luckily for me my customer did not want a realistic bird...they wanted a whimsical floral design with a cardinal...and they wanted the mailbox cover to be personalized.