I'm running late today. It's good that I am not on a ridged schedule. That's the best part about being forced to retire sooner than I was planning on it. I can do what I want once my kids and grandkids are content for the day.

Not everything got finished yesterday that was on my "to do" list but a few things were accomplished.

The mosaic wall art is resting and will be grouted in black this weekend. I really love the green glass where the blue was. The painted colors under it give it the effect I wanted and saw in my head.

Ready for grout!

I'll share glam shots of this grouted, framed and hung on my wall before it gets shipped off.

This mosaic is heading to the Signatures Exhibition on Cape Cod for The All Artist Salon from July 10 - September 1, 2013. If you live in that area please consider attending to see lots of beautiful art. Admission is free. I can't go myself so anyone who visits or takes a workshop being offered there by some favorite mosaic artists, PLEASE take photos and share!!

Cape Cod Mosaic Workshops: www.capecodmosaicworkshops.com
Signatures Exhibit Events: www.mosaicsignatures.com

Last night I updated some pendant listings on Etsy. Some of them come with a faux suede cord now, I'm pleased to say. It's been a while since I've been able to offer cords with my wearable mosaic jewelry. Not all the pendants have bails large enough to fit these cords but those that do were rephotographed and some have been edited.

I'm slowly getting through the last few vintage items for Zibbet. Here's a sneak peek of something that's not yet been listed.

This needs to be measured, a few more photos edited before it gets listed.  I love ceramic pitchers. I'd have a large collection of vintage and new if I had the space. Some day ...


Stay peaceful.

Cindy, Earth Mother Mosaics

I had some fun grouting yesterday! I really love to grout. I love watching my mosaics come to life once I begin the process of cleaning off its grout plus polishing the beautiful glass as I go. It's a Zen experience for me. And when I'm finished, a delighted smile appears on my face and I think: "I created that!"

Mosaic Candle Holder: Stained Glass Mosaic, Earth Tones

I did quite a bit of photo editing yesterday for both shops but only ended up with a few new listings. I have a lot of updated photos for already listed items too. The perfectionist in me would not allow sub-par photos to be used which means the Camera Goddess and I will have another session soon.

Mosaic Bowl: Pique Assiette, Recycled, Upcycled, Eggplant Purple, Home Decor, Kitchen, Useful Art

Wooden Fruit, Vintage, 9 Pieces

Later in the evening I got started on the "patch of glass grass" on the wall art.

I've noticed the Mac Glue, which normally takes less than a day to dry is still "milky" looking under the glass I used around the words. I'm guessing it has something to do with our damp weather and am hoping it will clear up under there before I grout. I'm far from ready to grout and that means I have a lot of fun still left to do on this mosaic. I'm pleased with how it looks so far. Isn't the green stringer glass perfect?! How blessed I am to have been gifted most of the stained glass I use for my art. I'm one lucky ducky!

Stay peaceful.

Cindy, Earth Mother Mosaics

I hope your day is going well. I have lots to share today!

The hand painted star box was gifted over the weekend. Yay!

Birthday gift for a brand new 3 year old (it was filled with barrettes) using Minnie Mouse inspired colors (her favorite).

My Grandson playing a game with his Mom. Can you guess who won?

The Chuck E. Cheese philosophy is awesome.

I'm waiting for the frame to arrive later today so I can start in on the 12 x 12 mosaic wall hanging but while I wait, I worked on painting dots on the last bottle I'll be able to do for a while. Here's the progress so far. In spite of its name, it will be covered completely in dots.

"Black Night"

The sun was out for most of the day yesterday and I managed to make friends with my Camera Goddess long enough to get 145 photos in total of many different things. I have some wood fruit for the vintage shop and pulled that out to use as a prop for the bowl I grouted recently.

I like it! If you're interested in either or both, this bowl will be headed towards the online shops some time this week and the fruit will go in the vintage shop. Here's another shot without the fruit. LOVE the eggplant color inside this bowl!

I also got some great shots of the napkin rings I dot painted. They've been put on Etsy this morning.

Wooden Napkin Rings: Hand Painted, Dots

As I was leaving the birthday party for the 3 year old on Saturday, I noticed the sky above me. By the time I got home, the dark clouds had arrived and stayed all afternoon. I like to say: "Always look up". If I hadn't, I'd have missed this beautiful sky.

Stay peaceful.

Cindy, Earth Mother Mosaics

Look what I got in the mail yesterday!

Twenty-five 6 x 9 inch MDF crosses! Woo-hoo! I'm planning on doing a holiday craft fair in November at a local church and thought it would be a great idea to get some of these and mosaic them for it. Because my muse comes and goes and I like to have time with my mosaics, I thought it would be best to get these now and work on them throughout the summer in between other projects. These are so well made, perfect to take right out of the box and mosaic on them, no prep needed! Thank you, Mr Woody Crafts!

I did a small dot painting project yesterday and made a set of 4 wooden napkin holders. I love how these turned out. I really hope I can make more soon.

I also got the glass down completely on the candle holder and it is now ready for grout.

view from the inside

I have no more vintage items photographed at the moment, so I will share them as I list them next week. I hope by then the Camera Goddess returns and the sun comes out once more. Meanwhile if you haven't yet, head on over to Gently Loved Treasures on Zibbet and take a look around.

Stay peaceful.

Cindy, Earth Mother Mosaics

Yesterday turned out to be a "down day", which means no actual work was done but lots of planning and prepping for the next wave to come.

I don't have any WIP photos of mosaics or dot paintings but I do have the newest Vintage item to share from zibbet.com.

This is called "two salts" according to my Dad. I think it's pretty cool, whatever it's called. Apparently the two glass containers were filled with salt and placed on the sideboard or side table next to the dining table. Then each container and it's spoon went on each end of the dining table so all guests could have access to the salt if they needed it. Makes sense to me!

I should be finishing the candle holder soon (maybe today) and will share photos, of course, when I do. Up next in the studio is a 12 inch framed mosaic headed towards an All Artist Salon in Cape Cod in July. I've yet to start it because I'm waiting for the frame to arrive. Once it does, I make sure it fits the Wediboard, mark off what areas I will work on and then draw a "sort of" design on the board. I will share more on that as I work on it. If you live near the Cape Cod area you may be interested in this event.

And in there somewhere I'll be working on the custom ordered gazing ball, metal tins and taking photos of the vintage items and pendants that now have suede cords to go with some of them. In other words, it is becoming a busy time in the studio once again! Yay!!

Stay peaceful.

Cindy, Earth Mother Mosaics

When I went for a walk this morning, I saw this awesome amber rock on the road. How cool is that?!

I'm not sure where it came from or how it got here but I know where it might be headed! The life of a mosaicist is always fun! I never what I'm going to find to use in art in any given day.

I'm working on the candle holder but am not happy with how the glass is fighting me to get placed on it. It's rippled glass which is often difficult to nip because it shatters. I'm putting the rippled side against the glass of the candle holder so that when sunlight or candlelight come through it, you'll see not only the ripples but the colors from the flat side. Often the flat side gets lost when the rippled side is used. This is thick glass and a bit of a challenge to cut and use.

Once the last flat part is covered I'll then start working on the sides which is also challenging. Putting flat glass on rounded anything is always harder than we think it should be!

I ordered some gold mirror for the next custom 6 inch gazing ball! Woo-hoo! My favorite place to order this mirror is from www.mosaicsbymaria.com. Prices are great, you can order pre-cut tiles or sheets and they have a great turn-around time!

The newest Vintage item was listed this morning. I only have one more ready to list. The Camera Goddess might have to be put to work this weekend!

Vintage Salt and Pepper Shakers: Vase and Wheelbarrow, Made in Japan

Stay peaceful.

Cindy, Earth Mother Mosaics

What a beautiful day we're having. I spent a little time outside this morning, going for a walk and breathing the fresh air deeply. What a treat for those of us who live with humidity. It is a welcome relief!

I finished up the gifts and took photos of them this morning. The pendant photos are before grout was completely dry. It will become lighter once it is dry.

Minnie Mouse inspired star box

Pink Pendant with Matching Tin Box

Pink stained glass and ball chain tin box to hold the matching pendant

I almost always mix up too much grout when I do it and this morning was no exception. Thankfully I had a bowl that needed grouting.

Discarded eggplant colored bowl now has new purpose.

 

 

The next project is waiting for me. A candle holder with some really gorgeous stained glass, gifted to me by a very talented local artist who does stained glass windows and inserts in doors.

 This stained glass panel is about 22 inches. I cut it into 3 sections so I can focus on which one to use for the holder. Choosing only one section is not going to be easy! It's all simply breathtaking.

I have 3 square candle holders and one round vase I can use these pieces on. And I have 4 more large panels just as exquisite that are from the same large piece of glass. I'm very aware of how blessed I am to know I can contact this guy and be given his scraps. Especially when they look like this!

The new shop has a few more items in it. Gently Loved Treasures on Zibbet is dedicated to all vintage items. Here's the latest listing. I really love the colors of these!

Vintage Salt and Pepper Shakers: Jamestown, VA Souvenir Shakers, Nautical

 Stay peaceful.

Cindy, Earth Mother Mosaics

It's HOT here in PA. I normally fuss very little compared to others about weather, it is what it is and there's nothing to do but find ways to stay cool and comfy. I wasn't prepared for the large jump in temps however, because this time last week we were living with rain and 60 degrees temps. Today it is not quite noon and close to 90 degrees. Whew. Add that to the fact that I am 58 years old and more bothered by weather changes than I used to be when I was 28. Bah-humbug.

I managed to walk to the local dollar store and found square 3 inch glass candle holders! I only had one left in a green stained glass available so I grabbed 3 more to mosaic. They are hard to find in the local dollar store and often I have to travel further to find them. So, that was kind of exciting. Then I went to the local grocery store and found my favorite coffee, normally at $6 for $3. Woo-hoo! Top it off with a bottle of red and a bottle of white in my favorite wines and that was my perfect morning. Walking home with heavy bottles and glass containers wasn't as much fun but I managed it.

I worked a bit more on the bottle last night and found some wooden napkin rings I purchased forever ago that I am going to dot up soon!

Check it out: the coffee lid sitting by the toothpicks has a black cat on it! That was purely accidental, but I may have to use another lid now because I like finding art in unexpected places. I'm painting the background and will share a photo when it's finished.

Speaking of finding art, I now have a printer (yay) and can print out Art Abandonment tags to go with the few things I want to drop off here and there. I am hoping to do that next week when the temps drop to the mid 70's. It will also give me time to make up a few more pieces to abandon. I'll share photos when I have them all gathered up, which means it may take more than a week, come to think of it ... the photos haven't been all that great lately.

I added 2 more items to Gently Loved Treasures this morning. These photos were taken months ago!

Vintage Salt and Pepper Shakers: Pink Seashells, Florida, Flamingos

Vintage Pepper Shaker: Single Shaker, Penguin

I've been photo editing a few items each day and getting them set up to list for the next day. Eventually I'll have no more to share until more photos are taken but hopefully by then, the Camera Goddess will return to me.

I made a treasury on Etsy this morning that I really love. If you have a chance, hop on over and give it some love (click on the link below the photo), favorite the items in it and share it if you'd like. I'm discovering I have a certain color preference when I make treasuries. I made quite a few last week, one for each team I belong to! It has been quite a long time since I've done that.

Peaceful Morning

Meanwhile, I have dots to make, stained glass and dish shards to glue to stuff and things and finally things to sort and gather together. And I'm having the time of my life!!

Stay peaceful.

Cindy, Earth Mother Mosaics

Zibbet Vintage Shop Opens Today

I'm pleased to announce the Grand Opening of the vintage shop: Gently Loved Treasures on zibbet.com this morning.

So far, I've put up 8 items. I have quite a few photos to edit and list. As the weeks progress, that shop will become fairly filled with treasures. It's not just geared toward vintage. It's also geared towards those who do mixed media art and mosaics. Stop by anytime and take a look as items continue to be added.

 McCoy Flower Pot - Robin Egg Blue

Good news on the "Back to Basics" mosaic. #4 in the series, this has been grouted and glued together and looks pretty awesome, if I do say so myself.

I haven't decided if I want to let this one go and list it just yet. But listing it doesn't guarantee a sale immediately which means listing it today just means at some point it might leave me, so chances are good that it will be on Etsy soon.

I sold a candle holder a few days ago that surprised me greatly. It is heading towards Switzerland! Wow!

Sold!

I also took a weird turn at continuing to grout the 3-D elephant, Luna Nuren. I hadn't really thought of this crazy thing for a while but had leftover grout and decided to add it to that. It is a lighter color, however, so chances are good I'll be grouting over it to appease myself. Also, someone took an interest in this piece of art on the same day! I'm not sure it's headed anywhere unless I can get that wonky ear to behave. It was nice to have a mutual family friend contact me on Facebook, asking me for photos of it because they know a person who collects elephants and they were interested in seeing it. It's nice to have such a wide network of people to share my art with. I'm so grateful for that!

Tail and a bit of hindquarters were recently grouted. Will possibly re-grout those areas for consistency and my peace-of-mind.

I have a few mosaic things to do now, which means the organizing of my living space has stopped for now. It is in a bit of chaos, really, so there will be days when I'm waiting for glue to dry or grout to cure where I may take the time to continue with cleaning and sorting. However, it's been a great deal of fun to see the small section of the crafts area come back to life a bit. I need to find a sturdy bar stool so I can sit at the crafts table instead of stand and I'll be able to work there again! Yeah buddy!!

I'm never sure where the muse will take me each day. Today I think she may lead me towards painting the bottle I started and grouting a little more of the elephant. One or the other may happen, or something entirely different. It's always wise not to get too attached to a plan!

 Stay peaceful.

Cindy, Earth Mother Mosaics