Lots of Creative Fun!

It is hard to believe that May is coming to a close already. How can it be that we are almost halfway through the year when it seems like it just began?  I have to wrap my head around that.

As I am gathering my photos together to post on the blog, I realize just how much I have done since the last time I posted. The days have passed quickly and it seems that they come and go faster than ever. They are packed full from the moment I awake until I put my head on the pillow at night. But that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

There isn’t a day that goes by when I don’t feel fortunate. I have chosen (and worked hard to keep) a lifestyle that many only dream of. While sometimes the skeletal operation of the business gets in the way, for the most part, even the mundane tasks that are necessary are rather fun. Planning, sorting, documenting, packing orders – these are all the means to an end that makes others feel happy and creative. Crafts and art are great stress relievers and bring joy to not only the ones who make things but also those who see and enjoy the finished pieces. How wonderful is that?

While I have spent a good deal of time cutting and packing orders for our customers, I can’t help but feel pure contentment in what I do. I love when people who receive their orders are so happy with them. It really makes those long hours of work and packing and adding little ‘extras’ into the orders worthwhile. It feels so good to be appreciated.

With that said, there are many things that Keith and I have been working on since my last post. I am trying to stay caught up with things here so the posts aren’t so long. But with the two of us working every day, it isn’t always easy. But I will dive right in and show you.

First off, I worked last week on creating a class project for the online painting community called Toletown.

I am on Toletown’s “Design Team” and I enjoy contributing two full class designs and a ‘Quick Paint’ design to them every year. I am in fabulous company and look forward to using this venue to support the online painting community.

The project that I chose to create for this class is a water lily on a darker background. There are certain techniques that make it easy and fun to achieve brilliant colors on a dark background and that was the focus of my lesson. As usual, I did several step-by-step photos of the process that I used (over 35) so that everyone can understand the process easily:

I also did an accompanying video (which will be up on my own YouTube channel shortly) which shows the process that I used to create a faux porcelain finish on the MDF frame. Overall, I am really pleased with the outcome.

For those of you who are not members, I will have the pattern up on my own website (Tole Painting Designs) in July. The video will be on my channel in a couple of days.

Another thing that I have been diligently working on is the large undertaking of converting Cynthia Erekson’s “Nicklette” Santa ornament patterns to PDF format.

Her adorable Nicklette patterns have been very popular over the years, and some of the older patterns were exhausted and out of print. I partnered up with Cynthia recently and she is allowing me to carry the PDF versions of her ‘out of print’ patterns as she exhausts her current supplies. I am also going to be carrying the 1/8″ thick ornament wood pieces as well as 3/4″ thick ‘stand-up’ figures of these cuts Santas. There are 28 in all and it was quite the task for me to convert the patterns to PDF format. But I spent the last week or so doing just that and I now have the first five patterns available at my Tole Painting Designs website, along with the wood pieces for ALL 28 pieces!  I am super excited about this and I hope it gives these little guys a second life! I will be painting several myself and will be sure to post progress pictures.

I am also continuing to work on my “Santa’s Family” group of stand-up elves and ornaments that were designed by France Quirion. Last week I finished ‘Cantaloupe’

and just yesterday I finished my second piece of the set – ‘Cherry’-

Isn’t she adorable?  You can get all the wood pieces for two different ornament-sized versions of France’s pattern, as well as the stand-ups from my Tole Painting Designs website. The pattern is available from France’s Etsy shop.  This is one of the projects that have kept me so busy cutting wood!

As for Keith, he has been busy as well. He made a new napkin holder of a bear and cub that coordinates with his other napkin holder sets (SLDK773 – Bear & Cut Napkin Holder & Plaque pattern)

And just yesterday, he made a new sectional plaque pattern that is geared to those who love to fish. (SLDK462 – Give a Man a Fish Sectional Plaque Pattern)

It has already been greeted with a very positive response from our Facebook followers.

So that is about it for today.  We are going to be doing an ‘official update’ to both of our websites probably over the weekend. We are probably going to change our specials, so if you are eying anything that is on sale, please go order before we change. We don’t want you to be disappointed.

I hope you enjoy seeing our new things and like our new projects. We always do our best to make fun things for you to make. You can follow us on Facebook via our Sheila Landry Designs Scroll Sawing & Painting page, or for those of you who like painting or like to watch what other painters are creating, I have my Let’s Paint with Sheila Landry painting group that is lots of fun. We now have nearly 1000 members in the group and it is a nice, casual place to visit and share tips, techniques, and visit as well as our artwork. I keep the atmosphere there very ‘loose’ and fun and there are few rules other than to be respectful and positive. I would love to see you there!

Well, that is enough for today. I am packing up orders to ship out and then finishing up on my water lily pattern so it can be posted on the first of the month to Toletown. Thanks for following me here and I hope to hear from you. It keeps my posts being seen.

Happy Thursday to you all!