MARCH 2024
In July we moved from Faribault, MN to Mahtomedi, MN to an apartment. This has been a daunting task...lots of stuff to go through before and after moving but we are almost there! Life has gotten a little smaller, smaller home, smaller art stash, etc. There is no more gardening for us and on the flip side, no more shoveling snow (not like we had any this winter) and we are closer to where one of son's lives (about a mile away)! I do have a studio in the apartment with wonderful lighting and 2 large closets! All 6 windows overlook a wooded area (with deer!) and manicured lawn close up to the building. Very very peaceful and scenic!
I have added some new categories to my website! They are HANDMADE SOAP, FELTED WOOL, AND CLAY.
I have been making my family's soap for years now and during the pandemic I decided to branch out and make soap for sale! This has gone over well and in the near future I will be selling soap both on my website as well as with another group of artists online. This is very exciting. I find soap making to be just as fun as well as educational and let me repeat, fun!
I have been felting wool to make ornaments for years and have been playing around knitting wool purses, some with wool embroidery that have turned out really well. They are functional as well as artistic (a perfect blend for sure for me). I hope to be able to get some of those made and on my website as well.
The clay making sounds daunting but as with everything else, start doing easy and working your way up to challenging. I do love a challenge. A year or two ago I started making snowball ornaments which were so much fun and each and everyone of them made me smile. I have also sculpted some witch heads for other projects. So, we shall see where this artistic endeavor takes me.
I still paint with acrylics and am hoping to take a course in watercolors locally just because!
So, to all of you who have stuck with me and are wondering if I am still alive - I am (I think). My demand for artistic endeavors is alive as well.
Hope all is well with you and yours. Stay tuned to see further updates of what is happening here!
E-mail thesunflowercupboard@gmail.com
JULY 2019 July 4 has come and gone and what a day it was. We have an annual July 4/Birthday celebration and what a day we had! Family, good friends and lots of food - what more do you need? We are also fortunate to have a front row seat to the town's firework display! The weather was perfect which was quite a feat as the forecast was not so good. Anyway we are all looking forward to the next July 4 Celebration.
We had a late Spring and I have finally caught up with outdoor chores. The garden is thriving and the tomatoes are already outgrowing their cages (we added 5 ft+ tall cages) so it might be a really good year. I have posted a photo of a very large mailbox that I painted. This box holds my garden hand tools and right outside the garden arbor.
On the business side of things, I already have 4 new patterns under contract and 1 newly released pattern this year. I am also in the process of being part of my town's Studio ARTour in October and am preparing many many painted items. This event lasts for 2 1/2 days October 11 to October 13. I have joined up with 2 other extremely talented artisans (both potters) and am truly honored to be with them. If you are in Minnesota and would like to attend, please send me an email and I will see that you get more information.
BIG NEWS - I plan to offer all of my own designed patterns on sale at 50% off. They have been listed for $6.00 each and for the duration of the sale, will be $3.00 each. The dates of the sale are from Sunday 8:00 a.m. (Central Time) on July 14 through Wednesday, 8:00 a.m. (Central Time) on July 31. These are E-patterns and will be delivered through your e-mail. Please do be sure to download them as soon as possible as they time to download is restricted.
I hope you all are having the Summer of your hopes and dreams. Please come back and visit with me anytime!
MAY 2019 Oh my, it has been quite a while since I worked on a Newsletter. I would imagine most of us would wonder where the time has gone!
We are still in Minnesota and still loving it. I have a wonderful home/family and I am so blessed in that I love to paint and time spent in my studio is my "happy time". I have a bunch of new patterns available both on this site as well as with other outlets and all are keeping me busy.
This winter I was able to knock off an item on my bucket list. One of my patterns was published in one of the few (if not the only?) hard copy magazines, PAINTING WORLD. A real special achievement but I celebrate every single time one of my patterns is published.
My studio continues to be awesome...plenty of space to work (even though it can get messy in a flash) and lots of storage space. The lighting is excellent and my cat, Sweet Pea, has a built in space on the bottom of my shelves with her name on it. The shelves hold over 60/58 quart plastic bins and are filled with all kinds of goodies to paint.
I am also selling my hand painted pieces through this website as well as the patterns and am also selling my pieces through an online marketplace I am affiliated with, PFATT Marketplace. There are approximately 30 artists participating with this marketplace and I am so honored to be with them all! On the 10th of each month, each artist submits a maximum of 4 items which are shown until the 10th of the next month when the previous month's items are taken out and new are added in. Anyway, I would love to have you come visit me there anytime you get "get away" as well as visit with the other artists' shops. www.pfattmarketplace.com and the name of my shop is, The Sunflower Cupboard. If you wish, send me an email and I will add you my mailing list and send you advance notice of what I will be selling for each month!
Daffodils and tulips are up and summer cannot be far behind! I have added a photo of my Forsythia Bunny that will be on Pfatt Marketplace until May 10 (just in case)!
AUGUST 2017...We have had a busy and fruitful summer both business wise and on the home front.
My art projects have been so much fun and I have been collecting lots of new surfaces. Thankfully, my studio renovation is complete and has made a whole world of difference in finding all the odds and ends involved with all the painting projects (photos of studio are below).
As of this month, I will be adding painted items to my website. These will be one-of-a-kinds and will be from my original designs. They will be listed under a category called HAND PAINTED ITEMS. I hope you take the time to look at these as well as the patterns.
When I am not painting you will most often find me out in the garden. We now have an enclosed 40 x 40 foot vegetable/flower garden with a gorgeous wrought iron arbor gate. I also have added a huge mailbox in front of the garden where I store my garden hand tools. It has been an outstanding year for the garden. (photos below).
I hope you are all well and taking time to have some fun!
DECEMBER 2016...Just a brief note, this month I have started offering note cards made from my original designs. I think they really turned out well..note cards for any occasion! Each set includes 6 cards with one design and all are folded and blank on the inside. There are also 6 white envelopes in each packet (sealed in a plastic envelope).
NOVEMBER 2016...Hmmm...I just noted it has been a while (too long) since my last newsletter. Summer is over, Autumn is fading into Winter and it is Thanksgiving Day! We are getting ready to head out later today to have dinner with our family in St. Paul and are very excited. We now have 3 grandchildren to spoil. Damian Peter arrived in September joining sisters Olivia and Simone. We have so much to be thankful for. I am going to try and be more faithful keeping up with my web site. I have more patterns to add and will be working on those soon (really). My studio is about halfway done and as soon as it is ready, I will post photos. It has gone from having dark brown paneling to a wonderful pale grey green called Contemplation and is so much lighter and brighter. My husband has been my contractor and is doing a superb job. The dimensions are 12 x 16 and one of the 16 ft walls has floor to ceiling shelving and each shelf holds a 55 qt plastic bin. The wall opposite it has a large window and that is where my work table will be. So looking forward to having the space up and running.
Anyway, enough about me...hope you are all well and have a Happy Thanksgiving and that life is treating you well.
JULY 2016.....I think I am getting the hang of this Newsletter writing. We are in the midst of summer and it has been one heck of a summer..just the right amount of rain, sun and heat and the garden is prospering. I find it hard to stay indoors when it is so gorgeous outdoors and there is a garden to tend. So, I have been sharing my painting time with the garden and that is just the way it is. We fenced in the corner of the garden with deer fence this year and added a wonderful iron arbor and gate. Last year we ended up sharing the garden with the deer and if they had "shared" we would have been happy to share but that was not the case. We sat back and patted ourselves on the back and then realized the bunnies were free ranging inside after chewing through the plastic deer fence, so an extra layer of chicken wire fencing was added to the bottom of the deer fence. This is our last year of straw bales and next year our garden will have cinder block raised bed which we hope to have installed before winter. The border around the inside of the garden has one side of 8 blueberry plants, one side of strawberry plants, one side with a combination of rhubarb, asparagus beds, a lone grape plant and assorted perennials. When the raised beds are up, that leaves us with one side to add plants to. We will not have zucchini in the garden area - take up too much space and they will be joining the pumpkin patch on the other side of the yard. Lots of work but oh so much enjoyment! I will try and get some photos up to share!
MAY 2015.....I have been busy creating some "Americana" pieces to post before June 1....I am trying to balance getting some gardening in with the painting. My San Marzano tomatoes arrive the end of this month and hopefully I will have someplace to put them! I love discovering what perennials are popping up around the house - lots of hostas, lily of the valley, peonies and some kind of lilies. I am also trying to plant all the kitchen herbs I love to use. So far I have planted onions (sets given to me by my neighbor, Sharon), asparagus, strawberries, a lilac plant, lavender, basil, parsley (curly and Italian), sage, tarragon, English thyme, mini-carnation, black-eyed susans and oregano...still lots more to do. For our garden we are trying something new, straw bale gardens. The bales are here and have been conditioning them (hopefully correctly). We shall see....
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! 2015 already...where did 2014 go? That's right...we spent the last month and a half of 2014 moving from Virginia to Minnesota. The move went well and we are unpacked enough for me to start to devote more time and energy to The Sunflower Cupboard. I really do need to get busy painting and designing. Right now the studio is a bit chilly but we are working on that. The new studio is HUGE- 16 x23 and I am sure I can fill it up no problem. I have lots of painting ideas bubbling up and I better get busy doing something with all the ideas. Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and that the New Year will bring nothing but joy to one and all.
CH-CH-CH CHANGES - February 2016 After going back and forth with this and that, I have decided to only list my patterns on this website. All of these are E-patterns and are instant downloads meaning when the sale is complete, you will receive a link where you will be able to instantly download the pattern to your computer. I really like the instant gratification of getting the pattern now! You will receive the written instructions, supply list, photos and a line drawing. If you must have a paper copy of this pattern, please email me at thesunflowercupboard@gmail.com and we can discuss this. I have added many new patterns to my website for your review and hopefully you will find something you just must have! I hope you like my designs and will check back periodically as new designs are added frequently.
Thank you for stopping by! Please be sure to add your name to my Guest Book. Happy painting!
