Princess Patty Sunshine - Remembering My Mom!

Today I want to pay tribute to the most special person that has ever been a part of my life . . . My Mom! It was one year ago today the she lost her battle with cancer and not a day has gone by that I don't think about her and all of the happiness that she brought to my life and the life's of so many others! 

My Mom lived life to the fullest and she gave her everything in all she did . . . and she did ALOT!

Always on the go . . . active in the community, traveling, crafting, gardening, spending time

with her family, friends, volunteering someone you could ALWAYS count on and the list goes on and on! 

I have so many wonderful memories of my Mom and I will never forget them and I will never forget the beauty of her soul.  I miss her more than any amount of words I could put on a page! She was my best friend, always an inspiration to me in my life, art and career and she had a smile that would

light up a room . . . she was and always will be my

Princess Patty Sunshine!

In Loving Memory

9/9/37 - 8/31/09

Fairy Magic - Good Clean "Soapy" Fun!

A lot of magic happens at a special place

called The Hive and recently Hive member, Michelle Rhoades,

brilliant owner and creator of

Mossy Creek Soaps

came up with the idea to add some of my  Fairy watercolor art  to her amazing soaps! 

Well, naturally I was totally on board and a few days later

I received an email from Michelle with the new soapy images attached.  

I couldn't believe my eyes when I opened up the pics to view the new Fairy "Soapy's". 

It was magical . . . the colors and the way they popped on the soap . . . too cool!

Michelle did an awesome job adding the art and making it look as good as the original watercolors. 

I am excited to be a part of Michelle's online store with a

Pop Art Minis Soapy Page

Featuring  beautifully scented soaps in 5 Fairy Magical Scents (Lavender Essential Oil, Rosemary, Fresh Ginger Lime, Lemon Flower and Sweet Green Apple.)  The soap retails for $6.00 a bar and if you buy 3 or more you save $1.00! A bargain for these amazing, long lasting "Soapy" Scent-sations! 

Come check it out and while you're there you won't want to miss all of her beautiful handmade soaps!

A special thanks from me to Michelle for taking my art to another magical place!

More "Good Clean Soapy Fun" coming soon...stay tuned for some Pop Art Minis Halloween designs . . .   definitely "soapy" TREATS that you won't want to miss!

This Little Piggy Went to HOG DAYS...or is that DAZE?

I recently had a request from a Pop Art Minis Facebook Friend to create a design that captured an annual event that occurs in my home town, Kewanee, IL every Labor Day Weekend.  This event centers around "the other white meat...pork" and is lovingly called "Hog Days!"  So what's the story behind that . . . well a long, long time ago Kewanee, Ill and Henry County was officially named the "Hog Capital of the World" and from mini shows by farmer's sharing their prize Hogs to what is now a full on weekend long event Hog Days was born!  This is a time for alot of celebrating, parades, carnivals, PORK CHOPS, craft fairs, and lots of good old fashioned fun! It's a must attend event if you live in the area and many (like myself) travel back as often as we can to partake in the celebration and the tradition of HOG DAYS!  So in honor of my home town and with inspiration from Josh T. I created . . .  

"This Little Piggy Went to Hog Daze" 

The King of the town

The best pig around

He'll meet you with a smile

Come Celebrate a while

If you're looking for fun

You'll definitely want to run

Cause the celebration is cool

Hog Daze in Kewanee will rule!

How'd she do that?

This design and others available in the Pop Art Minis Zazzle Store!

Pink, Orange and Yellow...Yummy Bubble Gum Taper Candles!

There's something new in the Pop Art Minis Etsy Shoppe! 

Introducing our newest candle creation . . .  "Yummy Bubble Gum" taper candles!   Hand dipped in our "deliciously" scented vanilla-sugar cookie wax in colorful pinks, oranges, yellows and creams...than rolled in our "sugar-like" crystal glitter!  So yummy they look good enough to eat!

So if you're looking for the perfect party treat that will make the room "glow" with delight pick up some of our "Yummy Bubble Gum" tapers and have a snap, crackle, poppin' good time!

Candles are sold in sets of 6 assorted in 3 different color combinations. 

A Frightfully - Delighful Facebook Milestone GIVEAWAY!

It's Give Away time again on POP ART MINIS Facebook Page!  You've helped us reach another milestone with 700 "LIKES" and now we're giving away a "Frightfully Delightful Goodie Basket" filled with some scent-sational goodies that we made up especially for you!  How can you enter:  Visit our Facebook Page..."LIKE" Pop Art Minis...and COMMENT on the GIVEAWAY WALL POST between now and 11:59 pm. Tuesday August 31, 2010! That's it...EASY! 

(*1 winner will be selected via random.org and announced

Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2010 by Facebook Wall post.) 

Thanks again for you support and please keep spreading the word about Pop Art Minis!

(**Make sure they let us know you sent them...you never know when we'll throw in a surprise giveaway for sending your friends our way!)

We "LIKE" giving away so here's hoping for ALOT more "Milestone Giveaways" to come!

Have a Snap, Crackle, Poppin' GREAT DAY!

Find us here too!

The Hive

Ebay

Zazzle

Twitter

More pics of the Frightfully Delightful Goodie Basket

Tall Boo Jar Cylinder Candle, 2 Ghostly Votives

12 Primitive Halloween Candy Corn Taper Candles

"Skully" Sugar Cookie Scented Bowl Fillers

3 Candy Corn Votives, Pumpkin Crunch Cake Potpourri, 2- 2-1/2"x2-1/2" Candy Corn Pillars

 

2 Halloween Tea Towels, 2 Grungy Star Bowl filers

Come on...what are you waiting for...Join us at Pop Art Minis!

Panda Party Time - Cupcake Celebration!

Little Panda Party Time is ready to celebrate with you!

Dressed in a party hat . . . stars, stripes and polka dots too

A cupcake with sprinkles and a cherry on top

Make this smiling little Panda want to party non-stop!

Check out all of the fun products in the Pop Art Minis Zazzle Store featuring "Panda Party-time" Design and more! Lot's of Snap, Crackle and Popping magic!

Plus, you can find Pop Art Minis in these fun places too!

Facebook
The Hive
Ebay
Twitter

And check out our BUZZzzz Un-Bee-lieveable Creative Challenge #1
Come Vote by commenting on the entry that you love the most or enter your own design for a chance to win a great prize package!  Hurry entries end August 31, 2010

It's "Panda-Moonium" - Gotta Love A Full Moon...Awesome!

Tonight when I was driving home from work I glanced up to see the most amazing full moon.  When I first noticed it, it was still low in the sky and looked like it was hanging over the mountains...very cool.  I wish I could have gotten that shot, but it would have been a little hard to stop on the Freeway ramp when there were about 25 cars trailing behind me! LOL.  Anyway, when I finally got home the moon had made it's climb to a higher position in the sky, but it was still pretty darn AWESOME!

"Over the Moon" with inspiration  I "buzzed" into the house and upstairs to my drawing table and proceeded to work on what I ended up calling "Panda-Moonium"  Why the Panda?  We'll that's what stage of my creative moon I'm in right now so I thought it just made sense...and a little telling of my current state...hehehe!  I also created a photo progression of the process . . . sometimes fun to see the start, middle and finished design.  I hope you enjoy the end result as much as I enjoyed creating it! 

Watch for the design soon in my Pop Art Minis Zazzle Store!

Just in case the blogger video link doesn't work you can view the youtube version here!

And remember

Always Aim for the moon. If you miss, you may hit a star

W. Clemont Stone

How About A Little Alphabet Soup? Animal Characters From A-Z

Thought with fall approaching and the weather about to turn it would be fun to mix up a big bowl of Pop Art Minis' Alphabet Soup.  I'm sure alot of my Pop Art Minis friends from Facebook will recognize these Alphabet Animal characters as it took me...oh, several weeks to work through the process of creating this collection called "Alphabet Soup" and I received lots of amazing suggestions and inspiration from many of them as I worked through the process.  Plus, the designs have picked up steam (aaaahhhh...a steaming bowl of hot Alphabet Soup...sorry, couldn't resist!)  in my Zazzle Store and thought it would be fun to put together a little video of the collection for old times sake!  It's always nice to share the experience with new friends so I hope you don't mind (if you seen it all before) a look back at the Alphabet Soup Collection from A-Z!

HoWLiNg-wEEn Black Cats and Jack-O-Lanterns - A Penchant for Pennants!

Halloween is one of my favorite seasons to design for and on a recent trip to Michael's I came across some fun cardstock pennants! mmm...a light went off and I started thinking about the possibilities for creating with this fun new paper format.   Since Halloween seems to be the inspiration for many of my designs lately I decided my first pennant should be Halloween Themed (probably a  theme for a few more as well! hehehe)
I'm really excited about the way the first one turned out and decided that I would offer the Original OOAK in my Etsy Store.  The pennant features the traditional bright and vibrant colors of all my Pop Art Minis with a Halloween twist and features icons of the season . . . Black Cats, Witches Wands, Jack-o-lanterns, Bats and Candy Corn all on a dark blue background with purple polka dotted border! 
Here's a few detail shots!

So I'm off on to work on another design in my new found Passion and Penchant for Paper Pennants.

(Say that fast 3 times...hehehe)

Happy Halloween!

Eeek! They're Here! The Little Scribbles Monsters

Eeeekkk...I'm so excited about my new "Little Scribbles Monsters".  I've been thinking about these little "pops" for a while, but hadn't had a chance to sit down and put them to paper.  Late last night the time arrived! I think appropriate that they turned up in the wee hours of the morning . . . monsters, indeed! LOL   So what exactly is a Little Scribbles Monster?  They're cute and colorful personalities, a little sketchy at times, definitely full of mischief and a little on the wild side! 

Who arrived first?

Red Bunny Foo Frou

Poppy Pinky-Purple

Green Bean Bear

Here's a few more details that I'm sure will come out as they evolve and take over the Pop Art Minis Planet!

1.  They love sweets! Any kind of candy, cupcakes, oooeeey-goooeeey yummy sweet treats!

2.   Tricks are part of their trade.

 3.  They definitely have to voice their opinion in sometimes silly ways...mmmm...wonder what that could mean! LOL

3.  They can't get enough of colors, patterns, accents and accessories. 

4.  They are all a little crazy (in a fun and cuckoo kind of way) because a monster can never be predictable!

5.  Last, but not least . . . they have alot of Heart!

Be on the look out for the fun adventures of The Little Scribbles Monsters!   

You never know what they'll do next . . . have any ideas?  They love to be inspired...me too!

P.S.  They'll be joining the Pop Art Minis Zazzle Product store soon too! Will be tweeting when that happens! Stay Tuned!

Have a Magnificently Monstrous Day!

Go "Wild" Horses On Your Birthday!

Recently a personal friend of mine, as well as a friend of Pop Art Minis purchased my Wild Horses design on T-shirt from the Pop Art Minis Zazzle store.   She had emailed me shortly after receiving it to say how much she liked the quality of the shirt and her satisfaction overall . . . I was very happy to hear!  

Well, time passed and a couple weeks ago I received another email from Karen about the t-shirt.  She was finally able to "gift" her Granddaughter with the t-shirt . . . a "WILD birthday present! This is where the adorable pic comes in  of  her Granddaughter wearing the shirt. 

Karen told me that her Granddaughter "loved it" and it was definitely a big hit  (she loves horses so that might have had something to do with it to! hehehe)  

I must admit that I was thrilled to hear such amazing feedback and wanted to say thank you to Karen for supporting my Pop Art Minis designs and her Granddaughter, Brianna for taking the time to model the Wild Horses T-shirt! 

And with that I'm galloping off to work on some new Pop Art Minis designs and a another new collection ideas . . . can't wait to share it with you! Stay Tuned!

A Day In The Park - SNaP! FLasH! PoP! . . . It's Picture Time!

What a morning, well yesterday morning actually . . .with the dew still fresh on the ground, off to the park we went for an on location photo shoot. From Celebrations of the Seasons to Tea Parties and even a little football-cheer action thrown in for good measure this was one fantastically fun shoot. So, here’s a behind the scenes look of some of the fun that we had as the dolly’s and some very special friends helped make this day one full of fun, sNaPs and camera FLasHeS!

You can find these and more amazing dolls on our Paradise Galleries website!

A special thanks to Kristin @ Blue Sky's Studios for capturing this amazing day and for all of our new little friends that loved playing dolls!

Calling All Creatives! It's An Un-BEE-lievable HIVE Challenge! Are You In?

With so much creative talent at The Hive I thought it might be fun to start an Un-BEE-lieveable Bee-Weekly (Hive talk for Bi-Weekly)  Challenge.  Themes for the challenge will mainly be-BEE related to The Bumble Buzzing Beauties themselves . . . BEES! 

Anything goes as far as the medium (paper, pencil, fabrics, etc.)  used to create your entry.  The only thing that is required is that you use the Concept for the week as the inspiration for your creative entry and that you copy and paste the challenge link on your blog or website after posting your entry.   

The Challenge is open to anyone with a special incentive for Creatingthehive.com  members . . . not a member yet, sign up for FREE here.

(Each entry from a member of The Hive will be placed into a bonus drawing for a $10.00 gift card for Amazon.com  Winner for the gift card will be selected by random.org from all The Hive member posts and the winning name posted at the end of each challenge) 

Once you have finished your Un-Bee-Lievable Bee-utiful Challenge Piece You will need to go to the Pop Art Minis Un-BEE-lievable Challenge Page to post your entry, copy and paste the link up tool to your blog in order to be counted in the voting.  Then . . . send your friends, family, twitter and Facebook Peeps to view your entry and VOTE!!!!

The winning entry from each Bee-Weekly Challenge will receive a Winning Blog Post on The Pop Art Minis Blog site that posts also to The Hive.  I will also feature the winning entry on the Pop Art Minis Facebook Page and Tweet at the top of my Twittering lungs about your Bee-utiful Challenge Winning Entry!

On top of all that you will receive a Bee Inspired Collection of Scented Candle Goodies and a $15.00 Amazon Gift Card.