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Good Morning:

It's been such a very long time since I've added an entry to my blog. I want to thank all of you who continue to check and read my blog.

Things are hectic around here right now, to say the least, but I still intend to put forth an effort to blog once a week or so. I miss blogging on a daily basis, but currently, my life just doesn't allow for that luxury of time.

I do have a few spare moments this morning, so I thought I would quickly share a little bit of the holidays with you. (And show you my newest collage print).

We had a very nice and quiet Thanksgiving. Each year sort of blends into the previous and will blend into the next. Our Thanksgivings are always enjoyable, but ultimately predictible. Although, I must say, our turkey was better than usual, as Ava (my daughter) prepared it this year. She added a few tasty items inside the bird and stuffed butter under the skin. It truly did make a difference....



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Now, we've just about finished putting our Christmas decorations up indoors and out. Mind you, it's taken over a week!! My main Christmas tree in the formal living room is huge. It measures 9 ft. high by 6 ft. wide. Being that I am only
5 feet 4-1/2", decorating the tree is quite a task. Obviously there is a ladder involved!! I will admit, the task is more difficult than it need be, considering the technique that I choose to use for the lights. Instead of roping the lights around the tree like so many sane folks do, I insist on wrapping each limb up, then twist the strand around the tip and back down the limb, twist around the limb base and over to the next. I'm not sure if that makes sense, but basically it gives such a big tree a lot of depth when the lights are on. There are lights all through the tree instead of just on the outside. Once the lights are done, it's on to the decorating. I really love my tree AFTER it's decorated, and I wish I could get a better picture, so you could really see the colors....



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Last Sunday, we went to the Orange County Fair Grounds to see Cirque Du Soleil's newest show "Corteo". We bought the tickets almost a year ago, and have been waiting patiently to see the show. We were fortunate to have been able to purchase front row tickets at the time. The show was fabulous, as always, and it's the first time that my daughter Ava has come with us to a Cirque show. She really had a great time, and was so intrigued by the fact that we were in the front row. The performers make eye contact with you and talk to you. Unfortunately, my two teen-age sons have never had any interest in seeing Cirque Du Soleil. As a matter of fact, they are entirely repulsed by them!! I suppose that's fairly common. Not too many teen boys are fans of Cirque. They just don't know what they're missing!! Here's a picture of the "Grand Chapiteau"...



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And....one last bit. Here's my newest 5" x 7" collage print freshly listed in My Etsy Shop.

George Takes Safari


Obviously, the little boy in the original vintage photo was named George. I think he just looks ready for any adventure that may come his way. This collage has also been made into a greeting card in my Greeting Card Universe shop.

And...one more brutal sales pitch before signing off, if you don't mind !! With Christmas quickly approaching, lots of people are shopping online to avoid the crowds. Here's the address to our online shopping mall: All Around The Mall.com
Each evening, Gary (my husband) posts some of the great deals and special sales on the Mall blog, which can be found HERE...

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Thanks ever so much for your continued curiosity with my blog.

Until Next Time:
Kim
Garden Painter Art

Good Morning:

I am going to try with all my heart to make this post a positive one!! I don't like the idea of letting my depression and sadness leak into other people's lives. So...here it goes:

It appears to be a lovely day, although it is going to be hot. I intend on enjoying the last few weeks of summer and I am heading to the beach on Thursday. Unfortunately, I have yet to do any collaging, BUT...I have lots of ideas boiling in my head. As you all know, I am not at full function in the winter and I am always dreadful of the on coming end of summer, but I love the Fall. I love all things Jack-O-Lantern and I still have a severe crush on Jack Skellington! I am getting anxious to start some articulated Halloween paper dolls and I love doing spooky collages. And...speaking of spooky, check out this picture my daughter took of my cat Bonzo ~



Bonzo is a very moody cat and enjoys sitting at the end of the hall seemingly staring at things that we can't see! Sometimes, he'll simply be lying around, and all of a sudden, he'll jump up and start bouncing off the walls. He often meows upward as though he's talking to something above him, but no one is there. Cats are just plain ol' creepy, fascinating but creepy.

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Time for my usual blatant marketing: I'm having a FREE SHIPPING sale in the U.S. on every single item in My Etsy Shop. Simply convo me before paying and I'll send you a revised invoice. If anyone is interested that doesn't have an Etsy account, the same deal applies. Just go to my blog profile and send me an email and you'll receive the same free shipping in the U.S. on every item in my shop.

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Also, there are some good sales going on at our MALL. Check out the All Around The Mall BLOG for back to school sales and other interesting stuff!!

Thanks for stopping by~
Until Next Time:
Kim
Garden Painter Art

Good Morning:

I'm in for a busy day...lots of running around to do. I'm going to the beach tomorrow with my daughter and a caravan of friends, so today will be set aside for shopping and packing.



As unusual as it may be, this is our first time to the beach this summer. I'm so looking forward to just being there. No doorbell to answer, no phones ringing off the hook. My sanctuary, my quiet hideaway.

But ~ today will be busy and I need to get going. I've got 9 ACEO collage prints to pack and send off, prescriptions to drop off to my mom and my son's guitar lessons this afternoon.

I did manage to list 2 new ACEO Collage Prints in My Etsy Shop.

"I'm Down Here"



"Birds In Sync"



Chances are, I won't be blogging tomorrow, as I'll be off to the beach bright and early. So...for all of you that so kindly read my daily (or semi-daily) entries, I hope that you have an inspiring Friday !!

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Note: Shameless sales Blurb: For anyone who has a "tween" girl (7 to 14), "Limited Too" is offering some awesome sales. Click Here.

Until Later:
Kim
Garden Painter Art

Hello There:

I'm enjoying a cool and slightly misty morning. Because it will be short-lived, as it will be in the 90's by early afternoon, I savor every moment of relief from the desert heat. A stroll through my garden is always an uplifting way to start my day.

Over the weekend, we were blessed with the flavor of our first home-grown Nectarines~



We planted several fruit trees in our yard last Spring and the Nectarine tree was full of gorgeous pink blossoms at the time:



It's an exciting moment when you pick your first ripe piece of fruit from a tree that you planted yourself. Now, don't get me wrong, it's not as though we had over-flowing baskets of glistening goodness. I think we actually had about 15 Nectarines altogether. BUT....the last few on the tree, the few that still needed a day or two until they reached their peak, were discovered by a feathered visitor:



And...this is the culprit:



A gorgeous male Oriole. He has a mate and a couple of youngsters. They nested on my neighbors hill and came to our yard for food. I gladly put up an Oriole feeder and they happily accepted, but as soon as they discovered the ripe fruit, they quickly came to the conclusion that the fruit was the more delicious choice!! I'm okay with that. We picked and ate the best of the bunch and the Orioles staked their claim on the rest. They have entertained us each evening for several months, and we are always delighted to see the flash of orange feathers twittering about in our back yard garden. They have earned their keep and I am more than happy to share my bounty with them.

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I'm sure you know by now that I like birds. I like birds of all types and I often use them in my collages. Yesterday, I listed 2 collage prints in My Etsy Shop. Here's one of them:

"Riding The Crow" ACEO Collage Print



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Also...for anyone who may be interested in electronics ~ such as digital cameras, here's a link to our internet mall with today's special offer at allaroundthemall.blogspot.com

Until Tomorrow:
Kim
Garden Painter Art

Hello Friends:

I promise I won't make a habit of using my "art blog" to advertise deals on our internet mall, but I thought this may be fitting, considering lots of artists enjoy the Harry Potter books.

Go HERE and check out this deal from Barnes and Noble.com. It's quite amazing and it's short lived!!

I guess I could also use this time to say that I've just wasted my 200th post on an entry for the mall.... I'm not happy about that !!

As always, thanks so much for stopping by.
Until Tomorrow:
Kim
Garden Painter Art

Good Morning:

Well, because of the fact that I seem to be in an unwelcomed state of slumpness, I've had the time to work on Gary's "All Around The Mall.com blog. I'll be posting particular sales events once or twice a day with links directly to those stores. Because I am the official blogger in the Wlassak household, I have lots of "influence" as to what sales and specials to post about. Hence....you can look forward to an unfair amount of art supply posts!! Here's a link to the art supply page.

So...here's the basic idea behind this mall:

"All Around The Mall.com is an easy to use, family friendly, internet shopping experience. Many directories today have gone to the extreme in design and are clogged with pop-up advertisements, making shopping and searching for products or services a true task for the average web surfer. We have put together a simple, straight forward directory with products from all over the world for your convenience".

We've owned All Around The Mall.com for almost 10 years, and at one point, it was doing a nice amount of business. Gary went back to school last year to get his Bachelor's Degree, and the mall ended up on the unfortunate back burner. Now that things have slowed down a bit, Gary has taken the time to re-design the mall and start the process of getting it back to the top of the Google search engine.

Next week, I am going to have a contest for artists on the mall blog. The winner will be linked on the Artist's Page for free!! I'll announce the contest over here as well, so that all of my artist friends have a chance to participate.

Thanks so very much for taking the time to read about the mall. I would love it if you could stop by and take a peek at the new blog.

Until Tomorrow:
Kim
Garden Painter Art
http://allaroundthemall.blogspot.com/

Moving right along here...grandkids were in school all day, so had time to spend on the computer. I've already gone through my KNOWING JOSEPH MS once and made some corrections...nothing major--mostly commas and such. Then I decided I should go through it again, so that is what I am working on now.

It's amazing on how easy it is to miss something when reading the same thing for the umteenth time. This time I found a missing period at the end of a sentence. I wonder how many times I have proof-read that MS and missed it. Have found many more things the second time, too. Whenever I am reading a book, I tend to find one or two errors in it, and wonder how people can publish books with such obvious errors...now I know.

Of course, there are whole sections of the book I would like to change/improve, but I guess we are beyond that now. I wonder...when we write, are we EVER finished with revisions?

Everything else is going along relatively smoothly...it was an 'at home' day today because we were waiting for the movers to come and get some of the stuff that needs to be shipped to Germany first (my son is in the military), and then shopping for birthday cake and a few other incidentals for Matthew's birthday, then off to Karate for Jay and Speech for Matthew. Only a couple of meltdowns, which we all survived.

Tomorrow is a golf day again...and hopefully the end of the editing for the second time.