Words of Wisdom

"Worthy"

Acrylic on 16" x 20" stretched canvas

Wouldn't the world be a better place if only people would take this great advice from Abraham Lincoln. Really.....just going about your day, doing good deeds, helping others, working hard, trying your best and giving everything you do 110%, but doing all that just for the sake of feeling good about yourself and not seeking anything in return rather than looking for an "atta boy", praise from others and hoping to be rewarded. Somethin' to think about.........

Inspiration Monday

The following is an excerpt from Napoleon Hill’s book Magic Seeds for Success:

“The Formula for Success simply in three words: Conceive, Believe, Achieve! Conceive begins the process. It is an invitation to dream and to envision whatever it is we would like to manifest in our life. Conception is the very beginning of the birthing process, and it is essential in order to achieve whatever outcome that we set our sights on for the future.

Believe is stage two of the process. This is where the creative juices are turned up a notch and we begin to align our emotions with the desire. Head and heart become one as we move toward manifesting our goal in the physical world. It can now be both clearly seen and felt, and the final logical step will enable us to achieve the intended outcome.

Achieve is the final stage of the process. Action is taken to ensure that the goal is drawn into the physical realm of our world and step by step we are led to the creation of whatever we envisioned at the onset. This is a critical stage, because many people never combine the action with the thought to create the doing. Without action on our part nothing will materialize. The achievement process is contingent on action taken.”

"All things are the result of the thought process. Man has accomplished the seemingly impossible because he has refused to consider it impossible." - Charles Haanel

“We become what we think about” - Earl Nightingale

"Nurture your mind with great thoughts, for you will never go any higher than you think." - Benjamin Disraeli

"Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you are correct." - Napoleon Hill

Finally...a give-away!

It's been since May that I've offered a give-away.......busy summer I guess. Remember the angels I painted recently for Gifts of Faith? Well, the picture above is one of my earlier angels printed on a canvas tote that Gifts of Faith produces. Don't you love it?!?!? I have had my tote for many weeks now and use it everyday to carry magazines, papers, and my sketchbook back and forth from the studio to the house. It is the perfect size measuring 13" x 13.5" with a 2.5" gusset. Soooooo, because it's been three months since my last give-away, I am offering three lucky winners one of these handy totes. If you live outside the USA you can still enter but we'll have to work something out for the shipping......I just shipped a package to Brazil this week and the shipping was $30, yikes!! All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this post telling me your favorite thing about summer. I will be doing the drawing September 9th. Good Luck to you all!!

drawn from inspiration....

OK, so as you know, I was very inspired by the Sauder Village Rug Hooking show Jann and I attended last weekend. I just couldn't wait to adapt a couple of my paintings into rug patterns so here they are! Two new patterns available at my website on monks cloth or linen.

sweet angel......

"Delight in the Lord"

collage papers & acrylic on cradled board 10x10

©teresa kogut

Sad to say this is the last angel for a little while.....seriously, I could paint these everyday, I loved every minute of it!! I really hope Gifts of Faith likes them too. Now I am back to painting inspirational folk art......stay tuned.......

Angel #2

"Guard your Heart"
collage papers and acrylic on cradled board 10" x 10"
©teresa kogut

Last week I finished the second of three angels for a company called Gifts of Faith. I love how it turned out!!! I am finishing up the third angel of this series today and will post a picture of it tomorrow. Wishing you a week full of blessings.

Sauder Village

The Wool Studio
This vendor, Rebecca Erb, allowed me to take a couple photos of her booth. I purchased some beautiful wool from her. The rugs she had on display were just gorgeous!

Finally.....after years of hearing about Sauder Village's Rug Hooking show, Jann and I drove to Archibold, Ohio Saturday morning to check it out and we are so glad we did!!! There were many incredible rugs on display by very talented rug hookers and the wool that the vendors were selling was absolutely beautiful..... it was a bit overwhelming! Alice Strebel for Kindred Spirits had a great booth there. It was nice to finally meet her, she is a sweetheart. I've been purchasing wool yarn from her for quite some time and now she is offering variegated wool yarn! I can't wait to get my hands on it! Wendy Miller from The Red Saltbox was the booth next to Alice....it just went on and on, each vendor had so much to offer.......Jann and I kept thinking "if only we had buckets of money"............

I am only showing a few of the many, many beautiful rugs that adorned the walls (these were my favorites mostly because of the colors). I wish I would have wrote down the names of the talented ladies that hooked the rugs in the above photos in order to give them a shout out, but I didn't think of it until creating this post, sorry ladies!

If you ever get the chance to attend this show I highly recommend it! I left the show inspired to get back into making rugs and even more inspired to offer my artwork as rug patterns. The folk art acrylic paintings I have been creating lately would make amazing rug patterns.....and I have a sketchbook full of more ideas so here we go!!!!

Sweet, Sweet Buster.....

Buster Nov 2004

Buster was born August 21, 2004 in Bernie, Missouri. We went down to MO to spend Thanksgiving with family and brought our precious lil' Buster home with us. He is a great addition to our family :)

What a face!

I did some photoshop tricks with this photo. Love it!

Buster always looks like he was out partyin' the night before with his droopy red eyes and sad face. Such character!

Buster may look intimidating and mean but truly he is the sweetest dog you could ever meet. He may lick you to death but biting you would never cross his mind. Off and on as Buster grew up he would wrestle and play with Daisy and end up hurting his leg and would limp for a few days afterwards. We knew he had hip dysplasia so we attributed the pain to that. Well a few weeks ago, Buster started walking real slowly and just wasn't his excited playful self......also I pet him on the back and he yipped. We were headed out of town at the time so Kevin took him to the vet and he gave him some pain medication....he wanted to do x-rays but they were backed up and it would be approx a 3 hr wait so Kevin decided to reschedule the x-rays.

We suspected that Buster may have been hit by a delivery truck because we had three deliveries the day before this all started and Buster tends to run out to "greet" anyone that pulls in the driveway by running up to the vehicle.

The pain medication seemed to be working at first, but the past few days, he has been walking extremely slow again, was having a hard time laying down and wouldn't eat his morning meal.

I took him to the vet yesterday for x-rays and we received bad news. Buster's left knee has bone spurs and arthritis and he has hip dysplasia in his right hip. Both causing him pain. But the worse part is his spine. He has Spondylosis deformans .. "a degenerative, noninflammatory condition of the spinal column characterized by the production of bone spurs along the bottom, sides, and upper aspects of the vertebrae of the spine". Some of Buster's vertebrae are actually touching causing pressure on the nerves which results in tremendous pain.

So...the treatment you ask? Well, the pain medication he was taking for his knee and hip unfortunately cannot be taken with the steroids that he needs for his back. However, it is his back that is causing the majority of pain. Buster will be taking steroids for the rest of his life.....there is no cure, only pain management. Sweet, sweet Buster is breaking my heart :(

Can never paint enough Angels......

"HE gives me Strength"

collage papers & acrylic on 10x10 cradled board
©teresa kogut

I just love painting angels. A wonderful company called "Gifts of Faith" recently licensed some of my angel paintings for canvas tote bags, canvas transfers and jewelry. (Click on the link above to see the products pg 80 & 81) Anyhoo, they requested three more with scripture and I was delighted! Here is the first of three.......

16th annual.......

Me, Linda, Jann and Debbie at The Homestead Collection

Many, many thanks to Jann.....our driver this year and our organizer. She painstakingly planned each day's shopping ports.....our first stop, The Homestead Collection in Findlay, OH....only 2.5 hours from our starting point. Behind this beautiful store is Jeffery's Antiques.....the largest antique store I've ever seen chock full of treasures! We also shop at a wonderful store named Early American Home while in Findlay.

Next town was Tipp City, Ohio for some great antiquing. (sorry no photos)

Linda, Debbie and Jann in Waynesville, Ohio

Love this picture! Waynesville is home to many amazing primitive country stores and antique stores. Some of our faves are The Wooden Sunflower, Haberdashery & Days Gone By. The best place to eat in this adorable lil' village is The Hammel House. The food is so delicious and the coconut pie is out of this world!!

North Shore Primitives in Washington Court House, Ohio

North Shore Primitives tops our list of awesome primitive country stores. Two stories of the most incredible displays and vignettes of home decor and accessories.....by now we are wishing we brought a u-haul trailer!!

Saturday was our last day of shopping......we drove from Coshocton, Ohio to Berlin, Ohio. The most beautiful landscape was a delight to our eyes. Snippets of early Americana with barns, farm houses, rolling hills, and the Amish in their horse-drawn buggies. So quaint!

Berlin was really hoppin! I wish every town we went to had as many people out shopping as Berlin did. It was quite a sight! Even though it was 90 degrees and super humid, it didn't stop us crazy shoppers from walking the town in search of more treasures. Our slogan at this point was "it has to be small or buy nothing at all". We were packed to the gills. We filled every nook and cranny in Jann's vehicle. Ahhhh, good times.

Jann and Me :)

Oh, the simple things....

Before I left last weekend to go up north a thought occurred to me.....why haven't we used slip 'n slides down our hill yet? Geez....we've lived here for 9 years and I have yet to make this happen? So, while up north we made a trip to Wally world and I found 3 slip 'n slides for only $4 each. Ryan couldn't wait to hook them together this afternoon and let the fun begin! Actually they had to add two tarps at the bottom of the hill because they were tearing up the grass! The entire slide was over 50ft long! Nothing brings me more joy than watching my boys have good ol' summertime fun!

Great weekend with great friends!

Thank you Bob & Theresa for letting us stay at your adorable homey cabin! There's nothing like a cabin on the lake in northern Michigan. Instant relaxation!

The view...ahhhh

My wonderful husband

We celebrated Theresa's birthday one night at the campfire.

Renee, Theresa and me having our morning coffee while gazing out over the lake.

Theresa & Bob

Keri & Paul

Renee & Bob

Amy & Roger

Kevin & Me

Many great memories were made and shared over our three day weekend up north with friends. Thank you to our generous friends that opened their quaint cabin to us all. We started our mornings off with several pots of coffee while enjoying the sunshine over the lake, then onto a huge country-style homemade breakfast. Then a quick change into our suits for the afternoon flotilla...whoo hoo! After our fill of fun on the lake we headed back to the cabin to cook incredible dinners......Saturday night we had salmon, BBQ chicken, fried potatoes with mushrooms, onion, peppers & garlic, fresh corn on the cob, garden salad and fruit salad. Yummo!! Shortly after cleaning up the dinner mess we'd make our way to the campfire for a night of laughter, story-telling, reminiscing, and conversation. Kevin and I are blessed to have so many wonderful friends in our lives.

So Excited!!!

Thank you Studios magazine for featuring my studio in the fall issue!! I am so honored to be a part of such a beautiful magazine along side of such talented artists! Get yours now....on newsstands until August 10 or you can order straight from the source here.

New Patterns

Time to start making those handmade Christmas gifts....sorry to bring "it" up, but, geez, time is flying! I cannot believe it is August already! Just wanted to let you know I have the new punchneedle patterns ready for you :) Just click here to order.