Etsy Advent Day 2 : Play in the Fairy House

Don't I wish I knew a sweet little girl I could use as an excuse to play with this fairy house

There's a fairy tea party, fairy kitchen, bee keeping set and even a school. Each playset comes in its own beautiful little bag - perfect for leaving at Grandma's.

All wooden toys are hand painted. No toxins, no plastic, no small parts, but intended for children older than 3, who are past taste-testing the world.

AND 25% off until December 15th. Visit The Enchated Cupboard on Etsy to snag your favorite playset.

(Fairies not your thing? - pirates, astronauts, storybook characters and regular dollhouse people are all available too)

Etsy Advent Day 1 : Clementines

What a gorgeous celebration of my favorite Christmas tradition - clementines.

The soft bloom, the translucent fruit and that piece of pith just waiting for you to peel it before eating. Such satisfaction.

I can almost smell that sensational spritz as I dig my thumb into the peel. YUM

Visit Aufide's shop on Etsy for more breathtaking simplicity

Etsy Advent Calendar starting early : mini houses

I am kicking off my online Etsy advent calendar a day early with .... an advent calendar

I just love this cardboard holiday village. It combines lots of my favorite things - cutting and sticking, mini boxes, old houses and Christmas Shopping. If there was a "Color Your Own" version, well that would just be about perfect.

Print it out yourself, cut, glue and tie with ribbon. Smashing.

Use the boxes as holiday gifts bags, place settings, or a project-a-day to amuse your little ones (or yourself) and at only $12.50 a cracking bargain

Pumpkin Pie for Cheats

Just found out my charcoal drawing "Thanksgiving, Canned" was included on Etsy's blog : The Storque this ThanksgivingNo wonder my stats went through the roof! Time to celebrate I think...what flavor pie do you think I should have?

Sipping, Supping and Shopping

Come out this evening for some sipping, supping and shopping at Shop Sharey in South Orange. I will have some of my new small charcoal still life drawings for sale, as well as some miniature color pencil landscapes, giclee prints and note cards.

My friend Alison Oxman will also be showing some of her gorgeous semi-precious jewelry. I have been admiring her beautiful necklaces for a while now. I am always a sucker for pearls!

Your entrance fee of $5 will help fund the pre-school programme next year as well provide you with a glass of wine and dessert to enjoy whilst you shop

Supporting your local artisans
Helping to educate the next generation
Getting unique holiday gifts for the family
Silent auction and raffle prizes

Not bad for one evening! (If you bring your own shopping bags you get to be "green" too)

November 19th 7pm - 10pm Shop Sharey : benefit for the pre-school Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel 432 Scotland Road South Orange, NJ 07079 www.tsti.org

onion skin charcoal still life drawing (Carbon Footprint #36)

charcoal and pastel still life drawing of an onion skin

I can't believe it has taken this long for my beloved onion skins to put in an appearance on trash day!

This picture was originally in black and white, but after taking it along to The Exhibitors' Co-op, my weekly art critiquing group, it was suggested that what this picture needed was a spot of color ...and boy were they right!

I may not always agree with each objection and/or solutionn - and frankly they do not always agree either - leading to some livley discussions over the tea and brownies.

But each opinion has the same motivation - to make the piece better and to keep me learning and growing as an artist.

I thank each one of them for the lessons they have taught me. (And I do love to hear those magic words "It's Done")

Description: charcoal and pastel still life drawing of a transparent onion skin

This charcoal still life drawing is part of the “Carbon Footprints” series.

Lettuce charcoal drawing (Carbon Footprint #35)

charcoal and pastel still life drawing of bagged lettuce

It's getting too cold for lettuce now, so salad is on hold for a few months now. Goodbye goat cheese crumbles. Farewell balsamic dressing. Walnuts...well you can stick around to double as croutons.

Anyone have a good recipe for Lettuce Soup?

My Precious (Charcoal Footprint #34)

charcoal still life drawing of a colored pencil stump

charcoal and pastel drawing 13" x 11"

Purple stubby pencil ends may not be in your trash...and frankly they rarely make it to mine. They are just too darn cute! I keep promising I will make them into earrings, or string them onto a necklace, but they just end up kicking around the bottom of the pencil tray with the scratty ends of eraser and frisket paper.

(Frisket Paper is like low tack see through sticky plastic and is very good for lifting small details in color pencil drawings - not it's original purpose. Found in all good Art Supply Stores)

I'm rather happy that this drawing has been accepted for the Exhibitors' Co-op Healthy Heart exhibition this Spring in Summit New Jersey, along with my squishy strawberries.

Description: charcoal and purple pastel still life drawing of a pencil shaving and stub

This charcoal still life drawing is part of the “Carbon Footprints” series.

useful boxes (Charcoal Footprint #33)

charcoal still life drawing Now this is not truly "trash", as I have a hard time actually throwing away useful cardboard boxes and bubble wrap and these guys have ended up in the basement, contributing to my ever growing collection.

It is both a blessing and a curse that my husband is of the same opinion. Neither one of us has the resolve to recycle the mountain of "useful boxes", but at least we don't fight about it.

Description : charcoal still life drawing of packaging materials - an old cardboard box, bubble wrap and polystyrene packing peanuts

This charcoal still life drawing is part of the “Carbon Footprints” series.

Clementines at last! (Carbon Footprint #32)

charcoal still life drawing of clementine ppel

Father Christmas would always put a clementine and some Brazil nuts in the toe of my stocking. It was something of a let down after all the silly plastic toys, but I suppose it gave the stocking some weight to hang straight, and as ballast an orange is much better than a lump of coal.

Now I'm all grown up I love the start of clementine season. Every scrap of peel sends up such a glorious wiff of orange and then peeling away all the stringy white pith is so much fun.

And those huge boxes of satsumas are just around the corner...

Description : charcoal still life drawing of clementine peel

This charcoal still life drawing is part of the “Carbon Footprints” series.

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