She's a Bear Artist?

Who knew? Ha! I know, it's been awhile since I posted a finished bear. I actually finished two of them today! And you thought all I've been doing lately is playing interior decorator. Well, truth be told....perhaps I have. *wink* That, and landscape designer!

Anyway, I just lost my bear designer mojo there for awhile. Hit a dry spell if you will. The current issue of Where Women Create, a Stampington and Company magazine, kind of nudged me out of my funk. For some unknown reason it took looking at other womens studios to find my inspiration. I wasn't inspired to rework my studio. This chickiedoodle was inspired to WORK in her studio. I know. My brain works in very mysterious ways. ;o

Warmest bear hugs, Aleta

Monticello Antique Marketplace - Home and Garden Show!

Monticello Antique Marketplace - Home and Garden Show and Storewide Sale!

8600 SE Stark Street

Portland, OR 97216

The Atrium is chock full of fabulous things to decorate your home or garden....or even you for that matter!

There are odds and ends and things to make artful things.

There are sweet red things and flowering things.

And, there are brown things and all shades of white things...my personal favorite! So many treasures abound!!

Hop skippity skip right on in if you're in the area. It's a not to be missed kind of adventure. Hey, there's even a cafe, Monti's, if you feel the need for a bite or slurp of something yummy!!

The storewide sale is only this weekend. The Home and Garden Show will be showcased until May 24th. Happy shopping!! Maybe I'll see you there!!

Warmest bear hugs, Aleta

Feathering the outside of my nest!

This is the time of year when it is soooo very hard for me to work on projects in the home. When the weather is nice, which it has been, you can find me outside digging in the dirt. (It also helps keep me from obsessing about when sweet baby will be here!) Lately I've been digging a lot of things...out. This past winter took a toll on a lot of my tender perennials. Boohoo. The good news is, the palm trees don't seem to have suffered anything much past a little wind damage. Yay!

Sorry, no pictures of anything I've been doing outside. I really didn't think you'd like to see a picture of the big pile of dead plants and clippings I've amassed in the driveway. Better picture days are ahead when I head out to the local nurseries for replacement plants.

Here are a couple of sweet pictures though!! Look at this beautiful quilt!! It was made by my friend and fellow Bear Artist, Shantell Whitney, Apple Dumpling Diaries. She made it for sweet baby when she is here at my home. Now keep in mind, Shantell has never been in my home. Look at how perfectly perfect it goes IN my home! I put one of my needlepoint pillows next to it to show just how perfectly perfect it is!!

And here is another sweet gift from my friend, Lynn. It's the cutest little bib! Speaks volumes, doesn't it? Ha! So thoughtful and so unexpected to get these surprises in the mail. I am truly blessed with such wonderful friends. Thank you Shantell and Lynn. Your thoughtfulness has touched this chickiedoodle's heart. :o)

A little reminder for those of you in the area and familiar with Monticello Antiques....the Home & Garden Show featuring 14 guest exhibitors starts on Friday in the Atrium. There is also a Storewide Sale April 24-26th!! Now who doesn't love a SALE?!!

Maybe if tomorrow's weather is lousy I'll sneak over and get a couple sneak peek photos! Now don't everyone wish for rain. ;o) Warmest Pink Wednesday bear hugs, Aleta

Eggs, Kids and Grass!

Eggs, kids and grass. That pretty much sums up an Easter Egg Hunt. Only this Easter Egg Hunt had to be held indoors because of the nasty Pacific Northwest weather. Still, it was fun!!

Yes, even though our kids are in their mid-twenties, we still hold Egg Hunts. And why not? We're all just big kids at heart!!

Plastic eggs....sooo the way to go. I'm saving the Easter Egg Dye for dyeing ribbon instead!!

Oh, and remember this? Growing grass in a roasting pan. Dirt, wheat grass seed, more dirt, more seed and more dirt. Sprinkle, sprinkle, sprinkle with water.

Viola!! Beautiful Easter centerpiece on the cheap. The leftover grass went into smaller baskets like shown in the first picture up there. That's right, scroll back up. Heehee. I hope you and your family had a Happy Easter!

This week I'm finishing up the re-organization of my studio. My mom is also coming to visit for a few days, and, we have a weekend birthday get together for the Little Mama, Brittany. April is always a busy month for us as Bill and I also celebrated our 28th wedding anniversary this past weekend. 28 years!! Hot diggity dog and a big WHOHOO!!

The happiest of Pink Wednesday's to you!! Warmest bear hugs, Aleta

P.S To Karen Cook: Miller Paint color #8735D. Brown is a tricky pick. This one looks silvery brown in my guestroom and a little more golden in Monticello. Part of that has to do with the sheen (Monti's is semi-gloss, my guestroom is flat) and the amount of, and direction of the incoming light. I suggest lots of paint chips and then actually painting your top picks directly on the wall before picking a winner. Cheers!

Happy Easter, dear, sweet friends and family!

Warmest bear hugs, Aleta

Sooo many projects!

It's a sickness of mine...over commiting myself. Trying to do it all. I like to do it all!! There just don't seem to be enough hours or days to do it all. That's when I fall behind.

There is also the "one thing leads to another" stuff. Take for example, the display window at Monticello. Remember me painting the guestroom brown? Well, I'm into painting everything brown now. When the display window at Monti's was emptied I realized that the walls were red and green. ACK! So, I asked if I could paint them....brown. ;) They said okay. And hey, I'm off on another project!! You see how this goes. I get a hairbrained idea and I'm off like a shot.

So, this is what kept me busy last week. Painting and decorating the window at Monticello. Brown and taupe and shades of white and a dash of aqua. Soothing and fresh! It's Easter updated!

Let's see, what else have I been doing that's kept me away? Oh, I had that artistic walls painting class! I'll have to shoot pictures of my samples. That was FUN! Bill's office walls will receive a transformation this summer for sure! One of the techniques could easily pass for actual wall art on canvas. I'm really itching to try it!

Right now I'm knee deep into cleaning and reorganizing my studio. Oiy! It's really quite overwhelming. This chickiedoodle has amassed one ginormous amount of way too much.

You're kind of caught up now. And, I'm still behind. That's okay though. It's better that I'm busy rather than obsessing over sweet baby and how many more days till she gets here. Soon, very soon!

A delightful Pink Wednesday to you....even if there wasn't a pink thing to be found in any of my pictures! Warmest bear hugs, Aleta

P.S. It makes me crazy that Blogger messes up my paragraphs and jams them all together!! Oh well. It is, what it is. ;o)