Got up early this morning and finally finished another fairy! This one will be named, Margaret, named by my 6 year old. I found some really neat vellum quotes at Wal-Mart of all places. They were on sale for a dollar, so I couldn't resist. Also found some new stamps for a dollar, not exactly my style, but I'm sure I'll find a use for them! I purchased some cool collage sheets on etsy of butterfly wings this week as well.

I created this for a co-worker of mine who is getting ready to go back into the hospital. She has breast cancer for the second time...but this time will hopefully be the last. She has really been brave throughout the whole ordeal....I can only imagine what she must be going through on the inside.
It is ACEO sized and has lots of neat collage elements.

Oh...forgot my email address: it's ecanady78@yahoo.com

****YAY! Spring Giveaway***

So, I have decided to have a Spring ACEO Giveaway from my etsy.com store. The address is: www.dragonflystudioatl.etsy.com.
All you have to do to enter is email me with an email that only says "Pick Me!" in the title....in the body, just put your name and email address. You have until April 24th (which is this Friday) to enter. I will pick the winner at random and notify you by email. At that time, Iwill need your shipping address. This is just me saying, "Thanks for taking the time to check out my Art!"
Pick any ACEO that is listed in my store, print or original and I will mail it to you in a pretty package with a plastic sleeve.

Good luck...remember, Friday, 4/24 is the deadline!

www.dragonflystudioatl.etsy.com

Today I figured I would try my hand at making a little fairy. I have named her "Mabel" Why? Don't know, I guess she just look like a Mabel. Of course, My daughter saw this and immediately wants me to make her one, which I will be happy to do...these are too much fun! She has moveable parts, so I've been having trouble figuring out what type of backing to use for her to make it more sturdy.
Been busy all weekend painting a nursery mural. Pictures can be found here: www.flickr.com/photos/dragonflymuralcompany
The baby is due in two weeks, so time has been of the essence. I'm happy to have finished most of it, though and will move on to finish a "Pixie Hollow" mural next weekend.

I LOVE these and am thinking about keeping them...lol

So, I was on a mission to create something pretty and useful today. I have created some handmade cards! I love them and am seriously thinking about keeping them for myself. They are for sale on etsy for $25 although I know I should charge more. Will be making more as time allows, b/c they are just too much fun to do!

Take a look and let me know what you think:

An interesting discovery

My entire life, I have been interested in our family history. I have asked my mother and father, "What is our family history???" I have almost always received "Irish/Scottish" from my father (which I have yet to research his side of the family. With a name like "Russell" which is my maiden name, I am not going to argue with the Scottish part, as I have found records of Russell's in the internet, which were connected to Scotland in some way or another. I have always been told by my mother that her side was almost completely Irish.

Well, recently, my mom was given a complete record of her family history by a distant cousin who has spent 20 years researching the family name. Come to find out, I'm French...she has French heritage on her maternal and paternal side. Wow. We are all from the Burgandy region of France and there is even a picture of a castle that had once belonged to ancestors of mine.

Now, to be honest, to find this out, I was a little disappointed (sorry to any readers that are of French decent) I had rather fallen in love with the idea that my family was almost completely Irish and I had celebrated St. Patty's day throughout the years with a sense of family pride. French?? I knew nothing of France other that what I had picked up from high school history classes.

So, I set out to learn what I could about all things French in my spare time, especially French art. I was pleased with what I had found and I think that I will let it influence a few pieces of art that I am setting out to create.

Photo Collage of ACEO's

I thought this was a neat feature of Picasa. Photo Collage feature.

Vintage ACEO's

This is a set of ACEO's that I've done recently. I have used vintage photos, stiched around the photo with thread and drawn little floral elements on them.

moving this blog....

So, have moved my blog from wordpress to here...easier I guess. I guess I might as well get started:

I'm Elizabeth, an artists living and working in Atlanta. I love anything vintage and colorful. I'm in the process of revamping my studio...it's in the garage, but it's undergoing a makeover...which is a long process of painting, etc. My studio is called "Dragonfly Studio" and I run my own mural company as well in the Atlanta area called Dragonfly Mural Company. A little history on me as stated on my website, www.dragonflymuralcompany.com:

~I was born and raised in southwest Georgia. I will be receiving my Bachelors of Fine Art (drawing and painting) degree this year and then will begin my Masters Degree in Fine Arts at Savannah College of Art and Design in Atlanta. I hope to one day teach art.

I have been painting as long as I can remember. I was that kid that never went out...very shy...I preferred to stay home on Friday and Saturday nights and create. I was so fortunate to have parents who encouraged my creativity and pushed me to major in art. And yes...they let me draw and paint on my walls when I was a kid. I have two kids now and the thought of letting them go wild on the walls makes me afraid, so, we keep plenty of chalk on hand for "outside artistic expression."

How did I get started with this??? What really got me started in this business was the birth of my first child. I was nine months pregnant and "nesting," and wanted to create the perfect little girls room for her, so with the help of my wonderful husband (who laid down the ground work and basecoated the walls, filled the nailholes, etc) I set out to create a wonderful jungle room.... that finally led to painting both of their rooms in our new house... It was so much fun to do! Family and friends saw the rooms and those murals led to more mural requests and so on and so on, so here I am, getting to make money with what was once considered to be "JUST A HOBBY". Although I do more than just children's murals now, that is probably my favorite thing to do. I've seen the effect a mural can have on a child's imagination and ability to learn. I involve the child as much as possible in the creation of the mural! I love seeing their faces light up when they see their new rooms!~

so, that's a little about me, as stated on my website. Just downloaded Picasa and I'm off to figure it out. Will post later on with some of my work.