'Cause I'm HAPPY

I've been piling up an abundance of scrap wood rectangles from making crosses, and I just couldn't decide what to do with them. I only knew that I wanted them to be happy. So I decided to take my idea quite literally, and I made these happy little signs:

Each sign is an original hand painted work of art and is approximately 5 inches by 2 inches. They make a wonderful and upbeat gift for a friend or coworker, and look extra cheerful sitting on a bookshelf or the corner of your desk!

Order yours today for just $7.50 in my etsy shop: TangentsbySHS.Etsy.com

Wild Inspiration

I visited the zoo on Sunday and collected all kinds of color and pattern inspiration. The aquarium is a particularly inspirational place!

Good Bye Garden

Well, the weather people are predicting patchy frost for this evening. My house sits in a low spot, so "patchy" typically means "at Kristi's house". I'm always telling Jason that I think our house and lawn are in a special climate zone separate from everyone else in town. Our flowers bloom last, our tomatoes freeze first, and our grass takes exceptionally long to get green. I've learned to outsmart the weather, though, and I made sure to pick ALL of my available produce this afternoon, so none of it will have mushy frozen spots in the morning. My flowers, on the other hand, cannot be saved, and so I decided to post this commemorative photo of them in all their glory.

Just in case this possible "patchy frost" becomes a reality, I wanted to be able to say 'Good Bye' flowers!

It's always sad to see the flowers go at the end of the summer, but I know it makes the first bloom in spring all that much more awesome!

Art! Upstairs

These past couple of months I've spent an abundance of my time creating hand painted wooden signs. Each morning, I climb the stairs to my studio with dreams of creating a spooky house sign for Halloween, a Thanksgiving sign with cheerful pastel squash, or a cute little whale sign for everyday (because whales are awesome...)

And each morning I pass this sad paper and tape sign pointing towards my studio:

Finally, I decided the embarrassment of this paper sign was too much to bear, and so I decided to create a new and improved sign for my studio:

After hanging this beauty up, the old sign immediately went into the recycle bin, and I no longer have to feel sad and forlorn each morning as I walk up the steps to my creative space. What a relief!

The Painting Process

It's rainy and a pretty darn chilly outside today. It's so chilly, that I've already had two cups of tea. I needed to cheer myself up, so I turned on all the lights in my studio, and I'm just doing a little painting today. Here's a picture to prove it!

A New Friend

While weed eating yesterday, Corinne discovered that we had a new outdoor pet at the shop. This little (BIG!) guy was still hanging out in the same spot this morning. It must be a hot spot for long-legged, large-winged, exoskeleton-sporting critters.

He was a very willing subject, staying almost completely still while I snapped dozens of photos this morning. It may have something to do with the cool temperatures causing his fragile insect body to seize up in these early morning hours. I'm sure he'll be on the move again after the sun gets his buggy little system going.

This was my favorite photo of the bunch. Someday, when his praying mantis band really takes off, he'll use this as an artsy album cover. He'll have all instrumental tracks with ridiculous titles like, "Six Legs into the Sunset on a Sunday Afternoon." And I'm certain that his album title will be "Pouring Our Hearts Out on a Porous Concrete Wall."



Images Copyright 2014 Kristi Schmit