Don’t we all face tough decisions? I don’t think I’ve ever had to choose between chasing a cat and begging for a cookie but I still understand what the dog is going through.
This cat is alert and on duty. He has examined every leaf and is on the lookout for birds in the sky and other creatures and humans below. Even if he doesn’t take a swat at any of them, he just has to know all that is going on.
This picture is made of: gray poplar, mulberry, maple, hornet nest, cotton and banana peel.
Yes, it may be overused, but it is true that if I listed everything that I have to be thankful for I’d be here all day, and so would you. Instead I would simply like to zero in on one thing I’m thankful for.
Tour is November 11-13, 2011
I've been attempting to come up with some new cornhusk doll designs. This is one a recently came up with.
Today is one of the greatest days of the year. Today is the anniversary of something good happening to the world. An event that has improved the lives of many: it's Dad's birthday! I simply could not have a better dad and neither could my siblings. Dad is very patient and level headed. He's a man of faith and honesty. He's helped me through difficult situations, he never complains and he's joyful and creative. 
This is me.
In the spring we are delighted to see new leaves forming on the ends of branches. After that we enjoy large green leaves for months. Before the leaves fall they seem to put on a grand finale. They turn more striking than they have during the rest of their existence and then fall. Did you know salmon are like that too? The pictures of jewel colored salmon are actually near the end of life of the salmon. 
The grand opening for Sarah's Lavender Cottage was a success! To read about it click here. I would like to thank my family for the many ways they helped this show happen.
If you’ve ever wanted to step into the painting of a well-known artist, John Kollock’s upcoming Harvest Festival of Arts & Crafts might be your best chance. John Kollock of Clarkesville, Georgia will be releasing his latest print, The Dollmaker, and Sarah Samsel, the cornhusk doll artist who is depicted in the picture, will be making cornhusk dolls as part of the festival. In fact the festival will include the Grand Opening of Sarah’s Lavender Cottage, Samsel’s studio/gallery.
The Harvest Festival will take place Sept. 10 at Kollock’s gallery, the Saturday Shop, and at Sarah’s Lavender Cottage, both of which are on the home property of John and Nancy Kollock. The Saturday Shop will feature original watercolor paintings, prints, books and cards by John Kollock, who has been painting and writing about the country side and rural activities of his Northeast Georgia home since the 1950s, along with watercolor paintings by his daughter, Kathleen Kollock.
Samsel, 16, is perhaps best known for her “pressed flower pictures,” one of which took third place in the pressed flower competition at the 2011 Philadelphia Flower Show. She will have plenty of original pressed flower pictures to show inside Sarah’s Lavender Cottage. However, she will be demonstrating the art of cornhusk doll making throughout the day. Samsel’s dolls and various printed items of her pressed flower pictures will also be available. As part of the Grand Opening, Samsel will give away a framable oversized postcard image of one of her pressed flower pictures to the first 50 attendees.
Nathaniel Samsel, Sarah’s 13-year-old brother, will provide live banjo and dulcimer music throughout the day inside the Saturday Shop. The 2011 Southern Regional Mountain Dulcimer Champion, Nathaniel Samsel will leave Clarkesville a few days after the show to travel with his dad to the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas to compete in the national mountain dulcimer championship.
Refreshments will be served, and there will be a give-away. Festival hours are 10:00 to 5:00. The Saturday Shop is located at 450 Bybrook Trail in Clarkesville. For directions or additional information, call (706) 754-9200.
My new website is coming together nicely. I have had a lot of correspondence with the designer, Amanda Kaylon. We're working on putting up the art galleries. She said I should try to get true colors since I'm selling online and suggested that I take pictures of my dolls in natural lighting. That is the opposite of what I had been doing. I was finding a dark place and taking pictures of my dolls with a flash. I guess I was being too fancy. I have since discovered my friend was right, natural lighting is beautiful! Working on a website has been an educational experience and a business experiment. It has also been a nice opportunity for me to get to know Amanda Kaylon better since we write back and forth so much.
Natural light is also good for photographing framed artwork
The technique I used for this horse is one that I use a lot for making trees. I cut lots of tiny strips out of different shades of leaves and organize them on my tree, using where sunlight would hit the tree as a guide. This is the first time I’ve used this technique with an animal. As I was working on it my dad mentioned that it might be neat to make the whole picture with the little strips and not just the horse. I learned this way of making trees from a World Wide Pressed Flower Guild class. This picture is made of: Raspberry, gray poplar, lamb’s ear, seaweed, maple, nandina, poinsettia, mulberry, money plant and aucuba.
1. I named my studio! It is called Sarah's Lavender Cottage.
Maybe they'll be found after a new pair is bought.
“I despise those gowns with sort of weeds here and weeds there,” said Professor Henry Higgins, the main guy in My Fair Lady. I found it ironic that I made that gown entirely out of weeds. Julie Andrews played Eliza Doolittle on Broadway before Audrey Hepburn was filmed in the part. It was decided when casting Eliza that Julie Andrews was not a famous enough actress so they offered the part to Audrey Hepburn. Audrey Hepburn wanted them to accept Julie Andrews, but when she was told it was to be either herself or Elizabeth Taylor in the part she accepted it. I enjoyed blending the many shades of birch bark to make her face. Eliza was a flower girl in the movie. I’m a pressed-flower girl.This picture is made of: aucuba, birch bark, corn silk, statice, pampas grass, maple, Queen Anne’s lace, seaweed, skeletonized magnolia leaves, money plant, various other leaves and some grass heads.
Today is my brother Nathaniel's 13th birthday. Nathaniel is one of my best friends. We do chores together and watch movies together. We share the same memories and know a lot of the same people. Our art forms also work well together. Nathaniel often plays his dulcimer at events while I sell my artwork. I'm so thankful to God for each of my siblings. I love the way God created families to work, play and generally be together. I have my best friends over every day.
This Saturday, May 21, is the 49th annual Mountain Laurel Festival in my hometown of Clarkesville. I'm probably not the only one who has experienced firsts at this festival. Five years ago I was an excited 11-year-old, ready to do her first art show set up with the mindset of demonstrating and showing her cards, with not many to sell. The second year was even more exciting. It was the first time I had ever attempted selling my framed pictures. People actually bought them. I went home feeling so rich.This year I will mostly bring corn husk dolls to sell, with maybe a picture or two. Many of my friends will also be there, my brother and his friend Calvin will be playing stringed instruments with a group of other bluegrass musicians. The Clarkesville Garden Club will be selling plants. John Kollock will be sketching children for free from 10:00-2:00 (ages 2 to 10). My friend Elizabeth will be selling jewelry and who knows what kind of art Miss Cecile and Miss Becky will doing. Those are just people who I know who will be there. There are a lot of other people who will be around too. The ones I mentioned and I will be in the Mauldin House Gardens. A lot of other vendors will be on the square. I think food and more music will be in Pitt's Park. The parade, which goes through the town square starts at 10:00 a.m.
THANK YOU MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
Henry David Thoreau said “The bluebird carries the sky on his back.” I thought that was a pretty way to look at it. (Forget that my sky is corn husk colored.) This particular bluebird carries flowers on his back, including some flowers from the UK. I think he also has delphinium, cornflower, and dyed spider mum on his back.
This picture is made of: corn husk, maple, cotton, banana peel, cornflower, some sort of flower from the UK, spider mum and mica.
This picture is one I made from a World Wide Pressed Flower Guild class. The way each individual feather is made was tedious. Sometimes I'd make a feather and it would fall apart or stick to my finger. Despite the challenges, or because of the challenges it was a good class. This picture is made of: hydrangea, maple, mulberry, banana peel, cotton, money plant, bark and dead daylily type foliage.
Every week I work with my friend Miss Charle' in the garden. When fall arrives we are constantly raking. Raking makes a huge temporary difference but it sort of seems like a vain effort when we're in the process of getting an area nicely raked as we're watching fresh leaves fluttering down. 
Musicians get into their music. My 12-year-old brother plays the mountain dulcimer, and I know he really gets into what he is playing. While I was making this picture he found some good music for me to listen to and advised me to make her face looking down at her instrument because that is what he does when he is really getting into the song he is playing.
This picture is made of: delphinium, seed, bark, corn silk, aucuba and dill.
