Time to Relax (almost)!

It has been a CRAAAAZY month for me!

My daughter had an insane number of events to attend, including a piano recital, dance recital, orchestra concert, winter dance (I chaperoned...yikes!) and that is just the beginning.

I set up at several local art and craft shows, and sold online too. 

I also started a new little Etsy shop, which will remain a secret for now.  I opened it on Dec. 9, and had 27 sales in my first 8 days!  There will be more to come about that, it's a little...um...well... weird, but people seem to like it, and a big blog saw it and blogged about it after my second day online, and then another, and it's had a good start and kept me very busy!

I'm not sure if I'll blog again before Christmas, so happy holidays everyone!

Enjoy your family and down time, and think wonderful thoughts of prosperity for the new year.

Blessings,

Waxela (wa-shay-la)

Two Austin Shows This Weekend

I'm a busy Mama getting ready for two shows this weekend.

First, it's Etsy Austin's "Craft Riot"!

and in case one fancy flyer for Craft Riot is not enough, here is another:

Sounds great, doesn't it?  A little wine, some handmade gifts, photos with Santa, and me!

I also have some of my work at the

South Corridor Gallery @ First Presbyterian Church

8001 Mesa Drive, Austin, Texas  78731

 there will be a reception and market with the artists Sunday morning.

“COLOR OF THE HOLIDAYS”

A Multi-media exhibition By

 Multicultural Artists Partnership

Artists Reception and Gift Market:

Sunday, December 6, 9:45 to 11:30 am

 South Corridor Gallery @ First Presbyterian Church

8001 Mesa Drive, Austin, Texas  78731

Tel: 345-8866

Featuring art and handmade crafts for sale,

Created by the artists featured in this exhibit-

A great opportunity for Christmas shopping while supporting local artists.

Please come join us!

a Cowboy, a Fairy, and a Skeleton (with a pink bow)

I've been working on a fun project this week.  I got an order from a woman with three children.  Each Christmas she lets the children choose an ornament.  They can ask for any type of ornament they want. This is the order:

1 Cowboy,

1 Fairy,

1 Skeleton with a pink bow (hehe, love this!)

Here are the results:

 

 

Picnic in November

One of the best parts of living in Texas is that we have beautiful weather in November.  It was a perfect day for a picnic last Saturday, so we went to my mother-in-law's back yard and that's just what we did.

 

Baby G had fun frolicking in the grass...

and shaking branches on the bushes.

Sissy and Baby G smile for a snapshot.

 

Sissy made a leaf bouquet.

 

This angel statue was fun to play with...

 

until she fell over, uh-oh!

 

Time for a walk...what is Baby G looking at?

 

It's a beautiful butterfly, he doesn't miss a thing!

Gabrielle Ghost

I am so excited to share this wonderful ghostie lady with you.  She was created for me by Colleen of LoopyBoopy, and she is just beautiful. Her name is Gabrielle.

 

Do you love her?

 

Are you jealous?

You can see more LoopyBoopy creations in her etsy shop: LoopyBoopy.etsy.com.

And here is another wonderful treasure I received last month for winning second place in the PCAGOE monthly challenge.

 

It is a beautiful polymer clay pendant by Linda of NK Designs.  It has gorgeous sparkles and it's so smooth it feels like stone.

See more of Linda's work in her etsy shop: NKDesigns.etsy.com

Thanks so much Colleen and Linda, I am truly blessed to have such beautiful art!

Monsters!

I've been so busy, I forgot to go check out the monster parade at Zan's blog, Wild at Heart Art!

The monster parade is a showing of all of the monster art dolls that were created for Zan's latest art doll swap.  It is really something to see, so go take a look!

And without further ado, I will now show off Alexander, the preppy brain-bearing "nice guy" monster that I made for this swap.

 

Alexander went to live with LoopyBoopy, and from what I've heard he's very happy there!

stay tuned for a look at the beautiful monster Colleen of LoopyBoopy sent to me!

Dogs, Dogs Dogs!

Dogs have been a central theme in my art lately.  I didn't go looking for them, they came to me, so I think the Universe is telling me something.  Maybe I'll start doing dog portrait sculptures.

First, meet Rascal.

Rascal lives with a high school friend of my husband's, and his people asked me to do a portrait sculpture of him.  I had never done this type of dog sculpture, so this was a real challenge.  Rascal lived up to his name, and it took me 3 months, but I finally finished him.

 

Here is the real Rascal:

Next, I decided to do a show benefiting the CTDR, Central Texas Dachshund Rescue.  It's called "Winter Weinerland Bazaar", and it will be this Saturday, Nov. 7th.

Saturday, November 7, 10am–4pm
Renaissance Hotel
9721 Arboretum Blvd, Austin, TX 78759

Here is a little preview of what I have been working on for the dachshund show:

A pack of dachshund ornaments!

I hope to see you Saturday at the show!

Central Texas Dachshund Rescue
“Shopping in a Wiener Wonderland”
Holiday Bazaar
Saturday, November 7, 10am–4pm
Renaissance Austin Hotel,
9721 Arboretum, Austin, TX

Come shop in a casual and relaxed atmosphere that features
many of Austin’s finest artists, craft-makers, and merchants. There will also be
raffles and a silent auction.
$5 Admission includes 2 raffle tickets

Halloween, Masquerade Concert and a 1st Birthday

My daughter has taken up violin this year, and her very first concert was Oct 29th.  It was a Masquerade concert, so they got to dress up.  She is dressed as the Twilight vampire, Alice Cullen, of course!

Then there was Halloween.  I was not successful in getting a picture of the whole family dressed up together.  Josiah dressed early and went trick or treating with a friend, Baby G dressed after that, and fell asleep before Daddy put on his hula attire, so at least I get shots of everyone, not together!

 

Here is Josiah dressed as Alice Cullen when she first met Bella. I upcycled the dress from an unused wedding dress that has been hanging in my closet for years.  She has everything down to the shoes (I don't think Alice was carrying a pumpkin bag though). She is with her best friend Maddie and Maddie went as a rock star but she wasn't finished dressing yet.

Here's my little chic, Baby G!

And here I am wearing skeleton tights and gloves.  I had a puffy little skirt which I sewed scary little clay faces to and they were my collection of "lost souls".  Brett dug around in his mother's costume box five minutes before we went to the party and this is what he came up with.

On November 2nd, my baby turned 1 year old!

Viva La Vida

Viva La Vida Fest 

was amazing!  I got there yesterday at 11am to set up, and I got home at midnight, so it was a very long but fun filled day!

There were people dressed up as Muertos everywhere, and there was a wonderful parade in the evening, live music all day, and an amazingly lively crowd all day long. Here are some pictures of just a few memorable scenes and characters:

 

(look at her Chihuahua wearing a skull and crossbones!)

 

  

I love this one, her dog has Frida eyebrows!

 

  

  

 

I wish I had been able to get some shots of the parade, but my booth was so full of people I couldn't get to the front for pictures! (this is a good problem ;-) ) This is a shot after the parade as the crowd was dispersing.

And now a special treat to show off.  I've been keeping this under cover until now so I could include pictures in this post.

I was the very fortunate winner of a Dia de los Muertos altar box made by Esther Verschoor from Heemskerk in the Netherlands!

 

(my little trolls were showing it off at the festival)

 

The inside of the box is filled with sugar skulls, flowers, fruits, and even a tiny cake for the muertos to feast on!

The entire box is beautifully painted on every side.

This box is wonderful, a true work of art, thank you so much Essie, for making it with such attention to detail and for sending it all this way! The crowd at the Festival loved it too.

Viva La Vida Fest Tomorrow in Austin, TX

I'll be an art vendor tomorrow, Saturday October 24th at Mexic-Arte Viva La Vida Fest!

Mexic-Arte Museum
presents
Viva la Vida Fest 2009
26th Annual
Día de los Muertos

Saturday, October 24, 2009
2:00-10:00 PM
5th Street, Austin, TX
(between Congress & Brazos)
FREE Admission

Grand Procession
6:00-7:00 PM
(gathers at Plaza Saltillo at 5 PM)

I hope you will come and join the fun!

Oh I had a Little Chicken, and we did the Monster Mash!

Today was a good day to try out Baby G's Halloween costume.

At least I thought so, Baby G may have had other ideas. 

Hehehe, isn't he a cute little chicken?

It just makes me want to sing...

"Oh I had a little chicken

and he wouldn't lay an egg..."

You know the tune right?

Except it's really not appropriate here.

But we CAN sing

The Monster Mash!

And we can dance to it too...

Here is my family doing the monster mash...

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

My daughter is the narrator, My hubby is Frankenstein, I'm Frankenstein's Bride, Baby G is the vampire, and my mom is the werewolf!

Happy Halloween everyone!!!

A Good Mail Day!

I love a good mail day. A day when I get something other than bills and junk mail, something like a box filled with fabulous goodies, and my very favorite magazine in the world! (checks are nice too) Yesterday was one of those days, here's why...

I got a fun filled box from Zan who writes the Wild at Heart Art blog!  I ordered Annie the lavender filled Voodoo Pin cushion from Zan, but Annie did not come alone!  Annie brought  Teddy Witch, another pin cushion, both came with poems and pin bouquets, so cute!  

And that's not all, my box smelled delicious when I opened it, because there was a little gift bag full of yummy smelling candle tarts!  I put them in the bathroom, and this morning my hubby said "The bathroom smells good, what did you do in there?"  Haha! (well, I didn't clean it if that's what he was wondering, lol)

And the other goodie in my mailbox...

 

Art Doll Quarterly, hurray!!!  I love to see which of my ADO team members made it in, and this month I saw some great puppets from Sheri DeBow inside! 

Halloween Magic Mushroom Tale

Just in time for Halloween,

A magic mushroom has appeared.

And on the mushroom can be seen

Fae and creatures strange, and weird!

What’s this? you ask...

an eye? some hair?

A little troll was under there!

Another troll? You guess out loud.

He caught a frog, he looks so proud!

 A nice big frog has hopped on in...

Oh wait, watch out, this frog eats MEN!

Something new has just stopped by...

What's he see? He looks surprised!

A creepy cat, a witch's brew?

Did someone evil cook this stew?

Evil? No, please have no fear...

These silly elves are the pranksters here.

And now too soon, you must move on, this party goes from night 'till dawn...

Vanessa Valencia at A Fanciful Twist hosts a ghoul, ghost, and goblin trist.

Early, late, or in between, so many blog parties wait to be seen! 

Now go have fun this party night, and when you return, 

I'll peek in

 

to say Goodnight!