Facebook Frenzy

I'm so excited to see all the enthusiastic fans!  My Facebook Fanpage continues to be a hotspot for Funamals.  I love being able to interact with everyone :)

I can't believe my Facbook says that 103 people are talking about Funamals!  That's insane.

Halloween Decorating

My Mother made the ceramic witch and painted it too!  It's at my house now.

laughing pumpkin!

Holiday Potpourri given to my by another artist--handmade!

Vintage Poster...from our childhood

blocks left from when we were kids

I carved this out of styrofoam for our college digs when I was in art school!

lots of cobwebs!

Our vintage film reel covered in spider webs really adds some spice.

we have a very spooky porch!

I got this from a party I was serving at...when I'm not in my studio
I work for a catering company on call.

candy corn candle.

we live in an upper apartment.  The stairwell is dark to begin with so it
really lended itself to spookiness ;)

An old tissue paper pumpkin that came from my boyfriend's childhood
stash.  His dad saved it from a party at the hospital he worked at, probably
some 20 years ago :)

I got the mums from my catering job after a party one night...but they died
soon after...just in time to decorate for halloween!  A few spiderwebs and
hocus pocus...our hallween decor ain't no jokus!

our vintage floor to ceiling lamp also lends itself to spookiness...just a few
spiderwebs and its nice and creepy.

This is hanging over my desk in the studio.  I think of myself as this witch..
brewing up a pot of creativity!

love the vintage decor...we have these all over the house.  They came from
my boyfriend's mother...who decorated their house with them for years.

Grandpa's Harvest

So what do you know about walnuts?  If you want to buy them at the store they are expensive!

It has been a tradition in our family to harvest the walnuts that fall on the ground at our family "farm"...an old farm property where my parent's live and run their lawn & garden business.  Growing up, we spent many fall days after school standing under the walnut trees and picking up what looked like tennis balls, but stained our hands like india ink.  At the core of this tradition stands my Grandpa, Lynn C. Bowers. At 86 years old, he still carries out our tradition of harvesting the walnuts, and it is no easy process...

Grandpa begins by picking up all of the walnuts on the ground.  He uses a device that grabs them without having to constantly bend over.

After he is finished collecting, it is time to shuck the walnuts.  Grandpa uses a sludge hammer to get the soft outer flesh off of the shell.  Inside there is a hard rounded sphere shaped shell.

Once the shucking is finished, Grandpa uses a cement mixer to clean the shells of all of the flesh.  After he dumps them out he rinses them again with the garden hose.

The shells are laid out until they are dry.

Now the walnuts are clean and round...but they are not harvested yet!

Grandpa takes a hammer to each walnut to crack the hard shell.  The nuts are inside.

Once they are cracked open, Grandpa puts them in a tub and takes them into the kitchen where Grandma does the rest.  (I helped her a lot too when I was a kid!)  Grandma picks the nuts out of the shells and grinds them in a grinder.  Then she bakes them in her cookies and pies.  Grandma's Walnut Pie seriously the best!  I sell the shells for crafts in my etsy supply shop Basics by Funamals.

My Grandpa has taught me to always work hard.  Eventually it pays off!

Gearing up for the Gallery

Well I am busy in my studio working on my gallery showing debuting in December.  This is what I have been working on so far.  I don't know how these paintings may be composed or if they will even make the final cut, but here they are...

trying out a new handmade paper...

Halloween

We had the neighbor kids over for some fun Halloween festivities...

Three Super Cute Cowgirls!

They decorated cookies and watched Hocus Pocus...

The children were very creative with their cookie designs!

We mixed up a fun "Pumpkin Potion" and served it with a ladle from a carved pumpkin.

Tags were added to each glass with a different pumpkin face on each to mark everyone's drinks.  These vintage glasses were given to me by my Grandma who had inherited them from past generations...a family that owned an ice cream shop years ago.

Even my boyfriend Cam got into the fun!  Here he is as a classy phantom butler.

The children were really intrigued with our dry ice tricks!

When it was time to go, each kid got to take home a handmade gift...

....with fun sweets inside!

Organization...again

Organization is a continual process and a constant topic around the studio.  There is always room for improvement and I am constantly up for learning new tips and tricks.  Here are some videos I came across while searching and organizing my desk/work area.

Here is a video done by AskTheDecorator.com.  This is a great video and especially helps you keep things minimalistic and focused.

  

This is an Etsy Studio Tour of Lotta Jansdotter.  Lotta is really nice and gives us a nice tour of her space.  

Well my desk is nice and clean...for now!  

Seasonal Schedule...

Recycled Art Market

	Facebook Event

Beneath the Tree

Facebook Event

Gallery Showing

"Don't Think, Don't Blink"

Facebook Event

Will You Be There Too?

Excuses

Let's take a moment to let out all of those excuses that are holding us back from what we can accomplish today.  Here is my list.  Exhale.

Now, I am going to forget those excuses and move on with my day, not letting anything get in my way, starting with a walk! :)