Inspiration comes from many strange places, but the inspiration for this picture may be my strangest yet. There are a couple of girls from church whom I admire for their butterfly like attitude. They fly about the church smiling and encouraging and cheerfully greeting people. And believe it or not, they were the inspiration for this picture.
For a while I've wanted to get together enough cat pictures that would coordinate nicely to form a card set. I thought I had four suitable cat pictures that could be printed and that we could have ready in time for Christmas. But at the last minute I found that I didn't have one of the pictures I thought I had. It was hard for me to settle for only three cats, so I made that picture in the lower right hand corner of the cat with a ball of yarn. We got the cards printed in time for Christmas presents, and now I have another original. We ordered the cards from http://www.vistaprint.com/ and were happy with the results.
I told my little sister that it is supposed to represent Jesus and one of us. So now she calls this sculpture "Jesus and Me."
Mrs. Darlene Mae Millard Spratlin had a beautiful style of pressed-flower artwork, much different from mine. She used more whole flowers, brighter colors and was very precise, as you can see in her picture above.
A little over a year ago my Grandpa (on Dad's side of the family) saw a picture I made of a brown trout and he wanted it, but it already sold. So back in August Grandma Mary and I started plotting for a Christmas Eve surprise. Grandma Mary commissioned and I cut leaves. Grandpa was happily surprised.
This picture is made of: lily, tomato peel, aucuba, money plant, skeletonized magnolia leaf, onion peel, periwinkle, fall leaves, azalea and heuchera. 
And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
This mama bear is very patient and nice, kind of like my mom. My mom has five cubs and we all get on her back from time to time, but she’s very patient and not quick to growl. She knows that we get older every day and that someday she may miss having us on her back- maybe.
This picture is made of: corn husk, cotton, cattail, smoke tree, maiden grass, pampas grass, aucuba, poppy seed, lettuce, mica, dogwood, mica and fall leaves.
At my last show I was commissioned to make two of the same picture for two different people. It shows that even though both pictures are made out of almost the exact same plant material, individual leaves naturally look different.
It's the Christmas season! My family has been decorating for the last two days. Above is a slide show of a Nativity I made out of corn husks.
Saturday's art show was great! It was a good day of talking to people and showing and selling my artwork. I know Mr. Kollock had a nice day too. Many of our friends came including my grandparents who came up from Canton. It was great weather for the show. Now I have several commissions to fulfill but today my family is leaving for a Thanksgiving family visit and we won't be back until Monday.
Tomorrow is the art show I've been preparing for. It's a harvest festival to be held at the home of John and Nancy Kollock's from 10:00-5:00. Mr. Kollock will have his watercolor originals, prints and his latest book. My brother, Nathaniel, will be playing his mountain dulcimer but he'll have to leave around 3:00. I'll have my pressed-flower pictures, corn husk dolls and will bring out my T-shirts and totes for the first time. Come if you can! 
Some months ago I posted that we got a heat press in order to get some of my pictures on totes and T-shirts. Well, after a long time of trial and error, we are finally getting it right! We've had valuable suggestions from friends and have made a lot of mistakes. But we now have the formula for good transfers. One thing that really helped was putting a piece of matt board inside whatever we were pressing in order to get a very flat surface. (We learned matt board works better than cardboard unless you want a corrugated image). Another thing is that often the images come out darker than the original picture so before I print the transfers I usually brighten them up with a photo editing program on the computer.
This picture is made of: hydrangea flowers, hydrangea bark, aucuba, cotton, mica and a fall leaf.
Yesterday was the Christmas Open House at Homestead House and I think it went very well. I sold some corn husk dolls, talked to a lot of people, drank some apple cider and just had a good day. My dad and brother played dulcimers on the cabin porch. The weather was very nice- always something to be thankful for with an outdoor show. There was a steady flow of people- also something to be thankful for. I hope the other vendors did well too.
Here's an add for where I'll be this Sunday. I'll just have my corn husk dolls out there. My dad and brother are going to be playing their mountain dulcimers and we'll all be dressed in 1860's styled clothing. We may get there up to half an hour late (Dad and Nathaniel are playing at church beforehand) but anyone is welcome to come. Click here for directions.
This picture is made of: daisy, dogwood, corn husk, a skeletonized leaf, aucuba, Queen Anne's lace, corn silk, bark, cantaloupe peel, maple and something I don't know the name of for the border.
A couple of friends of mine where going to the 16th annual Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair. They had an extra seat in their car and invited me to come along. There was yarn everywhere I looked, as well as spinning stuff, felting
demonstrations, pattern books and much more. I saw light-up knitting needles (I guess so you can knit in the dark), and larger-that-life knitting needles like in the picture. It was nice walking around the show with Miss Cecile and Miss Carol because they could tell me what I was looking at. I bought some wooden knitting needles, gray yarn and some roving in hopes of learning how to spin. Oh, and we saw rabbits and alpacas. Below is a movie of the alpacas and the funny sounds they make.
Here's what I did while watching some movies. They're corn husk dolls, between 3 and 4 inches tall. They go pretty well at shows because there are a lot of little girls who like them and I sell them cheap. We don't have our TV hooked up to anything, because we don't want our heads filled with junk, and it's often a waste of time. But we do like to watch a good movie, and I like to make dolls.
OK, I get my seasons a little mixed up, but that's what happens when you have a Christmas show Nov. 1 and a harvest festival Nov. 21. My Dad and brother, who both play the mountain dulcimer, are also getting ready for shows, and so lately I've been listening to live Christmas music.By the way, the picture above took around 8 hours to make and it is made out of: redbud, bark, aucuba, baby's breath, delphinium, unknown evergreen, cornflower, poinsettia, Japanese maple, tendrils, forget-me-not, Queen Anne's lace, maple and other fall leaves.
