Viral...you know you've seen it...unfortunately...

About 5 years ago, I posted and sold this
lil' doll on my Etsy store, it's one of my
"Cracked in the Head" nightlights...
and since then, this picture has gone viral
on the net, it's the original...everyone keeps sending
this to me and my daughter because we
sell them in our shop...who knew...

 Baby in a clock case...and why not...

 Adorbs...right...

I'd never heard of a Wonder Skin baby before...
however, with some age on her, this soft rubber baby
leaves little to be desired...over-cooked!!!

 Admit it, you love it...

 Baby in a shadow box...very Gothic...

So again...you never know what you'll see on the internet
and Crack Head babies are alive and well, sorta...
in a little shop in Iowa, Candle Shed Effect...
follow us on Facebook, if you ain't skeered...!

A day in the life...river city USofA...Muscatine Ia...

 New piece just in...black is still hot...
some pieces are screaming for it, this piece was
originally painted a periwinkle blue...NOT...
however, the top is walnut...I never paint walnut, but
since it was already painted...nuff said...

 Cute lil' parlor table, it was already painted
white, all I did was freshen the paint...sweet...

 This cute lil' tiered stand had the most
awful orange-ish stain on it...so now it's
adorbs painted white with just a hint of a
brownish wash...stunning...

 Love this lil' Eastlake side table,
it has it's original finish, though somewhat
battered, it still makes a statement...

 We have a new dealer in the store,
Jacey from 'A Beautiful Purpose'...
we share a lot of the same tastes and
both struggle with TO KEEP OR NOT TO KEEP...
some pieces just make ya sigh...

An order just in of our new coffees...
Sasquatch Coffee...it's YUMMO...
we're gettin' Squatchy in SE Iowa...

Time to soar...

You could call it a soul cleansing,
as I begin to spread my wings into a new world
of sales and life changes...
an Etsy store evolves into a new venue of
traffic online, new friends, new cash flow, new beginnings!
My blogs will also be transformed
to suit my new avenues...

More jewelry to be created...
I found these great lil' baby head charms
up at The Junk Asylum the other day and got to thinking...
perfect to go 'long side my Cracked in the Head nightlights.
Cute huh...they can be purchased for $15.00
on my Etsy store, just click my Etsy button on my side bar...
easy peasy!

I'm going to start posting furniture as well on Etsy,
I believe it will attract another group of friends to our locations...
Friends Candle Shed, Sisters' Garden and me,
A Wild Thing...

I'm going to set up a small space in front of my brightest window
in the studio where I can work on my art...

and pull those gentle creatures from my heart to the paper
and on to you...

Each new piece painted will be posted on Etsy
and a location where to find them...

new and old will all be found at one of the three locations...
just ask and you will receive.

as Spring opens new doors and adventures for this
Wild Thing...

OMG........................

I'm about to split a seam, how 'bout you!!!
I want to Spring clean...open the windows, air out the house
and play in the yard...

I want to frolic in my gardens, I want to breathe in the green,
I want to plant and harvest, get black fingers and toes
and listen to the screen door slam and cicadas...

I want to rearrange my new lil' summer studio,
fill it with soaps and furniture and...and be OPEN...
this is what it was all about, having my own rabbit hole, my shop
and a place to create with the sun streaming in through the windows...
ahhh...spring, where the hell are you and why so long!!!

I want to breath the colors of summer in newly poured soaps,
and newly painted furniture...I want to revel in rust
and chippy old paint...it's been a long scary winter,
with economic woes, but as junkers, we see the light at the
end of the tunnel and it is good...don't you feel it???
This is gonna be a great year for us pickers and packers...
we gotta plan!

MADE IN AMERICA!!!

Oatmeal cakes n coffee...YUMMMMM...

Delectable, Oatmeal, Milk and Honey...I love this soap
and the exfoliating qualities are really nice in the winter for dry skin!
This scent is sweet and milky, almost like baby powder
and it's going to the Candle Shed today.

And how about a cup of coffee to go with...
I'm so into recycling, that when I find cute lil' containers
I just have to fill them with sweets.
Fresh Brewed Coffee, boy does my house smell like a coffee shop!

Cream and sugar please...
I heart the old(or new) spatter-ware...does it just scream IOWA...
again filled with the delectable fragrance of fresh brewed java!

Do you supposed the Victorians actually used these delicate cups...
well I know one thing for sure, they didn't go into the dishwasher...

Nothing like the delicate floral charm in each period piece...mmmmm...coffee...

Nothing like a taffy colored sunrise to make the creative juices flow...
sigh...

Fun at ETSY...

Talk about a new venue, I'm sooo diggin' this ETSY thingy!
WHO KNEW!!!
Soaps are selling steady, have nightlights on reserve,
many questions answered and lots of looky-loos...
guess this is how to sell stuff in this here new computer generation!
Poke my ETSY picture on the sidebar and it'll take you there!

As I approach the retirement age...just sayin'...
not that I plan on retiring, however...
a day will come when I won't be able to schlep all that furniture around,
RIGHT...well I guess so...WHATEVER,
thank the Gods for my pink wheeler!!!
But I really look forward to the day when I can stay home
and make soap all day long...and paint...
watercolors, that is!
I want to paint birds and nests and eggs and feathers
AND BUGS AND SKULLS...
That's right...I want to compile my art into interesting vignettes,
not just a bird on a piece of paper...
OOOH...just had an idea...
MAKE IT STOP!!!
Do you ever have one creative idea after another,
an idea pops into your head and it starts a flood of ideas...
well, this is why I don't need much sleep...
Check out The Candle Shed blog for Piper's new and upcoming
bird house designs...and my new design idea for them...ready, get set for...

THE AMERICAN PECKERS...
HA...LOVE IT!!!

Shopping...

Had a wee bit to spend yesterday, so I had to make it stretch...
actually, I had to feed my addiction, so off me and the heathen went
to our secret watering hole(yeah right)
and we found a few treasures!
Sweet chair huh, I loved the chippy white iron
and the decrepit state of the old plastic fabric...
perfect garden chair!

Petite charmers...
three adorable tiny gilded shelves,
all with their wood peeking through, fading elegance...
a nostalgic lil' cabin by the shore, is a watercolor
with an old gold frame, a glass boudoir lamp,
the cutest lil' silver plate dish with lid,
perfect for a lil' bar of guest soap...
AND...

BABY HEADS...
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!
Thanks Liz and Mark...you kids rock!!!

All displayed in 'a secret garden',
my collections for sale
(maybe)

Sad it's over...

Halloween...right...
it's the one time of year when everyone doesn't say...
ewww, that's creepy.

You can display your strange and no one thinks any different of you...
right???

Creepy crawlies are the norm on Halloween, but what's wrong
with November or even August to display the strange...

Like a turkey head and the Eiffel tower...
nothing odd to me...

The back...

The front...
OK, nothing strange about this, 'cept I just bought this
gorgeous lamp from the Salvation Army for $12.00
and it's wired!

All I can say is, I love strange...
I'll blame it on my artistic side.
Artists can get away with murder...
it's called creative ventures into the unknown.
It's just pushing the limits for me,
the boundary beyond...
the twilight zone.

Money, money, money, money....

What it must've looked like back in the day when riverboats dotted
our lil' piece of the Mighty Miss.
Blue skies and a tranquil view...is it...
Notice the smokestacks in the background,
that's near where I live, as the crow flies.

Yup, these are the ways of America today...
huge corporations are allowed to pollute the skies
with little regard for the people that live nearby.
Grain Processing Corp.

My Dad worked here back in the day, a polluting mega-corp,
whose tax base runs a city council.
Temp Employees now too run the show,
locking out long time employees to bring in cheaper labor,
expendable types that have no incentives to work hard at their menial jobs.
Notice the blue cloud...

This is the cloud that envelopes the South end of town,
the river valley, where years of workers have built their homes
to be close to the river and the rail and the agriculture.
The blue collar worker...sigh...

The thick air clouded my lungs, as I took these pictures
and a haze formed under the brilliant blue sky
drifting over the fields of what they call 'the island'.
This is the river valley where the famous Muscatine melons
are grown. Not really an island, but is mostly
sand from ancient river shores. Three miles down this road is where I live,
so the pollution is seen daily from my kitchen window,
I'm just thankful that I don't live under the cloud.
HOWEVER...
I have my own polluting demons, I live under the flight path
of our municipal airport, whose corporate jets fly in and out all day,
leaving traces of toxic jet fuel in their wake.
Agriculture that is still allowed to aerial spray, surrounds me
and the coal fired ash dump is only 5 miles as
the crow flies, wind-born pollution is everywhere,
you can't hide from big money!