Meet Crafty Paper Girl

Lovely Amanda over at Crafty Paper Girl has named me the winner of her latest giveaway: her designer stationery. I'm so excited! I love her new line of colors. Perfect for summer.

If you haven't stopped by Crafty Paper Girl's blog, be sure to do so. And, her shop on etsy is open for business, so click on over and peruse her creative wares.

It's mid-week everyone - we're almost there!
Image courtesy of http://craftypapergirl.blogspot.com/

kiki & polly

Have you ever had a family portrait painted? Or perhaps commissioned a painting of your children? While I realize that can be quite the expense, one of my favorite bloggers, Style Court, recently featured kiki & polly, the brainchild of Oregon artist Lisa Golightly (gotta love a girl with that name). Any hoo, Lisa specializes in a more modern take on the traditional portrait, from line portraits to whimsical images of her subjects. Be sure to check out Ms. Golightly’s work.

Happy Friday everyone!
Image from kiki & polly

Art Glass

Hubby and I are big fans of art glass. He studied glass blowing in college under Stephen Rolfe Powell and has always had a love for that genre of art. We’ve attended some glass blowing demonstrations by Powell, Lino Tagliapietra, the Italian glass master, and at the Waterford factory in Ireland, among others. It’s an amazing craft and I’m always fascinated by the team work that goes into making such pieces. I imagine most people in America are familiar with the work of Dale Chihuly and the Pilchuck School. But there are so many new glass artists coming up through the ranks and it’s wonderful to see that more universities are adding glass programs to their courses of studies.

I’m currently reading John Berendt’s The City of Falling Angels, which takes place in Venice, with much focus on the Murano community of glass artisans. I would love to go there one day. It boggles my mind to think of how many centuries glass blowing has been taking place on that island. An amazing craft, indeed.
Image: "Autumn Jealous Cleavage" by Stephen Rolfe Powell.