Even though I have a hundred things to do this week, my brain is already on vacation….I am already thinking about boat drinks, warm breezes and naps in the middle of the day.  Captain hubby & I will be taking Adios on a little journey later this week and I can’t wait.  Until then, won’t you join me for a summer spirit?  Which is your favorite?

What gal can ever have enough shoes?  This is part of a series.  What a can you never have enough of?

Just got back from the Atlanta Gift Show. A day late. For the very first time, in all my years of traveling, my flight ~ along with about 60 others ~ was cancelled out of Atlanta. I won’t bore you with the frustrating details as I don’t particularly want to relive it myself, but I got home nearly 24 hours later than I had intended.

The show was rather quiet, but I had some good meetings, dropped in to say hi to others, and spent an entire day just stalking showrooms with my art buddy Joyce Shelton. I have to say, we really didn’t see anything “new”. With the economy the way it is, manufacturers are playing it safe it seems. This too shall come to pass.

Here’s a view of the endless escalators in the Gift Mart looking down from the 18th floor.

And of the open atrium area in the Apparel Mart…

One of the fun things about going to shows is seeing your product on the shelves, and better yet sometimes, in featured displays. Toland Home & Garden was featuring my fall leaves toss flag and door mat in their booth in The Gardens (my favorite section of the show). I am happy to report that I was told it was selling very well.

I just have to show a detail from this design because it is what makes it even more special…

This gift bag was brand new in the Leanin’ Tree showroom. It was derived from an assortment of cards I also did for them.

But the best thing about shows is connecting with friends. Joyce and I met up with Andy Mathis and Phyllis Dobbs and were sorry to miss a couple others that were in attendance.  Also had a relaxing breakfast cathing up with Joanne Fink who I had not seen in some time.  Here at dinner are myself, and fellow artists/bloggers, Joyce Shelton and Carol Eldridge. You gotta love Carol’s Bloomin’ Bosom! How cute is that shirt?!

Ok, time to get myself organized and back to work!

My contribution to this week’s Illustration Friday.  It was so much fun, I drew a whole series of them.  As soon as I get them designed up, I’ll share!

What a gorgeous day it was in Florida! If I do say so myself, we have the most beautiful lighthouse on the Eastern seaboard.

We took the good ship Adios out to enjoy the day and this lovely area in which we live. She was flying her colors….

This is the fist shot I’ve gotten of her in the water. We took our hand-me-down dinghy out for a maiden voyage and had quite the adventure.

This is her logo ~ of course I had to custom design it!

Even with dinghy engine problems, seam leaks and one of the pad-eyes coming off completely and setting her adrift so we had to circle back in Adios to retrieve her ~ we managed to take Hola (dinghy’s name :-) into Down the Hatch, one of our favorite weekend Ponce Inlet haunts. What could be better than some spicy shrimp and a cold beer on a day like this?

The pelicans took a rest from skimming the water to oblige us with a picturesque view.

…and Mother Nature outdid herself with the sunset. Wish I had some firework pics, but I just kicked back and enjoyed!

Rhonda loved Sparky’s new collar.  In fact, she thought it was fierce ~ even if he didn’t seem to.

I had a very unruly pile of business cards on my desk that I wasn’t quite ready to commit to my roladex, yet I can’t seem to toss a business card for at least 7-10 years after receiving it…so, one evening I decided to decorate a wooden recipe box I had in the craft closet.  I had painted it crakle brown and drawn gold swirlies on it a lifetime ago and used it briefly for a recipe box.  Time for a face-lift and a new career for this box!

I started by gathering some scrapbook papers to decoupodge onto it and ran across some fun wooden rosettes I’d torn out of a magazine.

I tore the papers into odd sized/shaped pieces and then brushed the top of the box with regular gel medium and started sticking the papers on.

I soon moved to using just Matte medium, which is thinner and seemed to work just fine.

Once I had the box covered with a collage of papers, I decided that in addition to some of the rosettes I had cut out, the box needed something dimensional ~ like some pretty glass pieces.

Before sticking them down, I arranged them where I might want them.  I used  good ‘ol white glue to stick the glass pieces on the top & sides, letting each side dry well before turning the box to stick the others on.

Last, but not least, I finished it off by painting the inside with a metallic gold acrylic paint.

My pile of business cards might not be any better organized but they are at least out of sight.  Besides hiding cards or recipes, what would you do with this box?

I decided to give Illustration Friday (IF) a go this week ~ no matter what the subject, I intended to come up with something, anything! When I read “Hoard”, I thought: What do I personally hoard? Instantly I thought of sketchbooks and journals. I can’t get enough of ‘em. Have shelves of ‘em. Buy more even when I (obviously) don’t need more of ‘em. Can’t help myself….

I purposely did not turn this sketch into an actual final illustration as I felt it was fitting, given the subject matter, that it stay a sketch. In one of my books.

During one of my “treasure hunts” at one of my absolute favorite haunts, I came across this large, (and very heavy) somewhat grumpy-looking fellow and knew I just had to bring him home. I think I’d be grumpy too if I were painted that funky green that made me blend in with the scenery ~ and I’m a HUGE green fan! He was just crying out for a make-over. I thought terra-cotta was just the thing! His expression hasn’t changed much, but he now owns that corner of the yard!!!