Thursday, November 23, 2006

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello friends and family!
I am enjoying a perfectly relaxing weekend at my Mom's house on the beautiful Oregon coast.
She's cooking the turkey and I'm helping out just a little... :)
The weather is very blustery and rainy...My sister, niece, and brother-in-law are in Chicago with his mom so we're missing them today.
Top ten "Thankful for" list:
My Family & Boyfriend
My friends
My kitty cat Jupiter
My beautiful home- Washington state
The blessings of being alive, healthy, whole, and happy
My artistic abilities and creativity
My new job
Artistic inspirations coming from practically everywhere!
Art supplies
digital photography...

I could probably go on and on, but I have to go make the broccoli!!.
Blessing to you!
Namaste!

Dawn E. Shepherd

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Foggy Mornings


Driving to my new day time job this morning I was able to snap some pictures of the beautiful fog that was laying in the valley. I love cold, foggy mornings like today - the sky is clear, the trees are all but bare, and winter is knocking at our door.

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Leaves are changing :)

Greetings again!
Fall is here and I am so excited!
The things I love about fall are: the colors of the changing leaves, the leaves all over the ground, foggy mornings, crisp cool air, wearing sweaters again, drinking HOT tea again, decorating for Halloween and Thanksgiving, using all of my fall earth-toned art supplies (ink pads, paints, pigment powders, pens, pastels, etc.), enjoying the waning sunny days and watching nature go through its cycles regardless of what is going on in the world of humans.
I have tried a cool idea that looks really awesome: Take a leaf - I used a dried one from last year, and spray it with Glitz Spritz....simple but beautiful!

Monday, September 18, 2006

Busy fall schedule

With fall upon us in a few days I thought I would share with you my upcoming schedule so you may drop by to see me if I'm in your neighborhood!
>Portland, Oregon.
Saturday, September 23 & Sunday September 24.
Heirloom Productions Rubber Stamp and Paper Arts Festival
at the Oregon Convention Center, 777 M L King Blvd.
>Portland, Oregon.
Saturday, October 7.
Art & Soul Vendor night - Paris Flea Market
>Tacoma, WA
Saturday October 14th.
Auntie Amy's Rubber Stamp show in the Tacoma Dome, 10AM - 5PM

Hope to see you soon!
Dawn

Friday, August 04, 2006

Stamp & Stick Glue Pad

Hello again!
I have finally tried out the amazing Stamp & Stick Gluepad from Stewart Superior and it is really fun! The way it works: You stamp your rubber stamp image with it like you would an ink pad; then heat it up a bit with your heat gun or embossing tool. The glue-ink becomes tacky and then you can stick glitter, Moon Glow Powders, chalk, or other light-weight goodies (like metallic flakes) onto the image!
It's very cool!
I'll get a sample up here within a few days so you can see the end result.

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Web Site and Dawn are Back up and Running :)




Hi gang,
The web site is finally back up and I've added new products and changed some of the departments around a bit to try to make it easier to shop.
I have found an awesome
program that takes a photo and turns it into a kaleidoscope! Very cool!
It's called Kaleidoscope Kreator 2.0 and I will be offering it for sale on my web site in the very near future. This first image (on the right) is an example of what it can do - amazing!

The next image is what I did with this image-I trimmed it out, adhered it to a piece of primed canvas and painted around it a little....tons of potential here!


Friday, July 07, 2006

Web Site Woes

Hi Gang!
Well, I went camping on the Oregon Coast for the 4th of July weekend with my sister, brother-in-law, and boyfriend Collin (and my sister's dog Wrigley). It was fun but tiring.
When I got home my computer died AND my web site was not allowing customers into our Online Store! What a double whammy!
I have a new computer but am STILL waiting for my web hosting company to get the problem with my web hosting corrected so my Online Store will operate properly. I have many customers patiently waiting for their orders - I am so sorry about this. I am unable to email them because I cannot get into the eCommerce manager to look up their email addresses! I hope some of you read this and know that I am doing everything in my power to get you your goodies!

I'll write more when Mother Rubber is back in action again...

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Art Fiber Fest


Wow, it's been over 2 weeks since I posted last!
I've been busy getting ready for Art Fiber Fest in Issaquah, WA, as well as processing orders for my web business.
Last year at Art Fiber Fest I made a cool art doll, which I posted a picture of just to make this post a little more exciting.
This year I am taking classes with D.J. Pettitt, Denise-Marie Warner (AWESOME doll artist) and Kristin Steiner. I am really excited.
Also, the vendor night on Friday (7pm - 9pm) is OPEN TO THE PUBLIC so please feel free to drop by and check out my vendor table and all the cool art for sale.

AND I have an ETSY page now with some of my art for sale!

Here's the link (and I've added it to my list of links on the left)


http://DawnEstelleDesigns.etsy.com/

See you soon!

Namaste,

Dawn E. Shepherd

Sunday, June 04, 2006

Movies

I am a movie lover and get excited about new movies I think I'll like. I went to see "X-Men 3 - The Last Stand" on Friday and was NOT disappointed! Great effects and great acting. A few surprises and always the promise of more to come...go see it if you liked the other X-Men films.
I loved it and cannot wait to buy it on DVD.

Here's a partial list of my favorite movies:

Blade Runner
Star Wars (all of them)
Star Trek II - The Wrath of Khan
Star Trek VI - The Undiscovered Country
The Dark Crystal
MirrorMask
The Matrix series
Harry Potter series
Narnia
The Lord of the Rings series
The 13th Warrior
Chocolate
Legally Blonde
The Fugitive
The Quiet Earth

There are many others but these popped into my mind this morning.
Am working on creating a Yahoo! Group for Mother Rubber Art Stamps so I'm going back to work on it now.

Artfully yours,
Dawn

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Stamp Show Recovery



Well, Puyallup was a blast! We had tons of people at our booth all day Saturday and I taught my first class at a stamp show! I decided to teach an introduction to Fatbooks and had 9 ladies show up. The class was an hour long and we had a great time!
Since the show I've been catching up on orders and adding new stamp designs to our web page. The picture is one of the new designs that I used in another swap I am involved with. I stamped our new "Paisley - Four Flowers" design with Tangerine VersaCraft ink onto cotton fabric, then painted part of the design in with turquoise and fuschia fabric paint. To give you an idea of size, this little rectangle is the size of a business card - approx. 2" x 3". After painting, I sewed some beads on, then sewed a piece of coordinating fabric onto the back of this piece (this sample is not finished yet). Very fun! I'm excited about all of the art-making possibilities with my new line of paisley stamps. I'll post more samples as I complete them.
OK, I'm back to work catching up on my web and show orders!
Thanks for stopping by.
Artfully yours,
Dawn

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Art Quilt Swap


I've been burning the midnight oil getting 6 of these little 6"x 6" Mini Art Quilts finished for a swap I'm participating in. I am also getting ready for our big Puyallup, Washington, stamp show this coming weekend-very fun! I'm teaching my first class at a show-I'm nervous and excited!!
Here's a link to my Stamp Show page if you're interested in the details of the stamp show and class I'll be teaching (Introduction to FatBooks).
Well, I'm off to make some stamps-see you soon with more and better posts!!

Artistically,
Dawn

Saturday, April 29, 2006

Making art for swaps


Greetings again!
Today I am working on some art for several swaps I am participating in. I have gotten addicted to swapping art in the form of Fatbooks and fiber art.
I am working on a mini art quilt swap and figured out my design this morning. I will post a pic of that as soon as I complete one of the quilts. They will be 6" x 6" and our hostess Shari (check out her website here: http://www.sharibeaubien.com/) will be arranging them into a wall hanging - I can't wait!

For now, here is a scan of my Strange Botanicals Fatbook page.

Hope to see you soon!
-Dawn

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Generous Artist

I was fortunate enough today to visit Jami M. (check out her website here: http://www.offthehookstudios.com/) a gal I know from one of my local Yahoo groups. Well, she is moving and has accumulated tons of ephemera and stuff for making art and she offered it for free to any of us in her group who wanted to come pick it up. I was astounded by her generosity and openness. She let me rifle through the stuff she has ready for her moving sale this coming weekend too!
The drive home was beautiful and now I have a whole box of new goodies to look through for my next project - which will be a Thank You card for Jami - of course!

Sunday, April 23, 2006

Off and Running....



Greetings and welcome!
I am excited about trying out blogging and hope this will be fun for you too!
I am thinking of using my blog to share day to day artistic discoveries with you, as well as personal updates, thoughts, and opinions. Of course I would love to hear any suggested topics you may wish to hear about.

Weather update: Today is a beautiful day in the lovely Pacific Northwest - it is about 64 degrees (F) with a clear blue sky - perfect!

In my first adventure uploading a picture I have chosen to honor my roots - my silly family! I love this picture because my Sister and Dad look so funny, my Mom looks glamorous, and I just look zoned as usual! I'm sure I was trying to figure out who was taking our picture in that tiny little booth.

Anyway, my message of the day is: Enjoy the time you have! Live, laugh, and have fun!
Hope to see you soon - Dawn