Feelin' the Love.....

This picture was taken on our 21st anniversary last year. I love this man more than words can explain. You know how relationships have an ebb and flow.......some days are great and some aren't so hot.......well, it's hot right now! I adore my husband and everything he does for me and our children, family and friends. He is generous, kind, honest, faithful, and has a great sense of humor. Thinkin' of you today, Kevin!!! mooooah!

Things that make you go....awwww

"Kindness Matters"

©teresa kogut
15" x 18" watercolor

I painted only two paintings last week but they were both large and very detailed. One is shown above. This week I am painting Christmas designs for cards and gift bags. Once I finish those, my deadlines will be met and I can paint "from the heart" once again!!

Inspiration

Inspiration 365 Days a Year | Inspriation 365 Day a Year Movie

I hope this video inspires you to go after your dreams! Make the decision today....then take small steps everyday and the next thing you know.......your dreams will become your reality.

America the Beautiful WIP

America the Beautiful

12" x 10" watercolor on 140lb cold press paper
©teresa kogut

Good Morning! America the Beautiful is a watercolor painting that is licensed for gift bags. I thought you might like to see the process......someday I will make videos, but there is a learning curve there that I haven't quite figured out.

Happy Father's Day!

We had a great Father's Day yesterday at my folks house. The weather was beautiful and we spent most the day outside playing games. Hope you all had a great day as well!

My Furry Children....

Baby Doo & Doe Bahser were groomed yesterday. You would not believe the hair that came of Daisy.....I swear we could make another dog!! I love my dogs very much and talk to them as if they can understand me but there comes a point when they smell so badly I can't take it anymore! I should probably have them groomed more routinely but I usually wait until I have to make them sleep in the garage....what is up with that? (they probably wonder the same thing) Anyway....they are once again smelling so good I just want to cuddle with them.

Oh, and in case you are wondering why Daisy has a crown and Buster doesn't....she is the queen! Buster gets so much attention from friends & family because of his unusual boxer looks and his silly personality that Daisy needs a boost in confidence once in a while.....us girls have to stick together.....right?

"Dude, you should label those sticks"

Modern Family is my favorite sitcom. All the characters on this show have endearing qualities and you will soon fall in love with them all and find yourself anxious for the next episode. I love this particular clip because I am married to a drummer and thought the last line from this clip was priceless. Now I'm off to label my husband's sticks ;-)

My poor neglected flower gardens.....

This has been the busiest spring ever! I am making big changes in my business which is requiring me to work Saturdays, my husband is in his first year of selling real estate, and we have 11 open houses spanning the month of June. Usually I spend Saturdays working in the gardens and doing housework/laundry, but this spring I do chores on Sunday.......leaving my gardens unattended. I am thankful for perennials...they put on a show all by themselves! It is a crazy busy life, but I am excited about all the changes :)

after the crackle.....

I just love seeing all those cracks in the paint.............the color looks much different than the photos I took below. I moved the painting when I took the second round of pictures (it is so cloudy today I don't have much light) and I didn't notice the difference in color until I looked at them together here on my blog. Photography is another mystery and challenge for me.

before the crackle.....

"Conscience"

©Teresa Kogut
acrylic collage on cradled board 16"x20"

I have yet to crackle this painting....will post another picture when that is done. This is a George Washington quote....another wise man that I admire. I used scrapbook papers for the flowers to give it dimension.....so much fun working in this way! Hope you like it.


A couple of updates......remember the bird's nest my son took pictures of....well, I asked him last week or so to take more photos and the eggs were gone and the baby birds were also gone already. I am hoping they hatched and flew away but it seems awful soon for them to fly.........BUT we are going to think happy thoughts and assume that is what happened!

Also....I found my screen printing contraption and watched the how-to-dvd. Well, turns out this machine is made for making t-shirts. The smallest screen I can get for it is 20" x 24" @ approx $20 each. I could "reclaim" the screen....meaning reuse it for another image but that would be a real pain and I don't want to store a large, expensive screen for each punchneedle image. Oh well, it was a good thought.......of course, now I want to make t-shirts!!!! ; )

Debbie over at Mosaic Magpie sent me an award!

Below are the requirements for accepting this award:

√ thank the person that sent it to you

Thank you, Debbie!

√ tell seven things about yourself

I have one Ghirardelli dark chocolate square every day

My pets names always morph into something strange... like "Baby Doo" & "Doe Bahser"

P90X makes me feel alive!

I love sitting around a campfire with friends & family......and do frequently

Anxiety sets in if I have went too long without creating a painting

Antiquing is one of my favorite things to do with my friends.

I am at work by 5 am

√ send this award to fifteen bloggers you follow or have recently visited

Jennifer Murphy

Background Fairy

Donna Lacey Derstine

Danita

Diane Knott

Decor8

Gritty Jane

The Holiday Queen

Johanna Parker

Marianne Richmond

Pat Murphy

Michelle Palmer

Tascha

With they Needle & Thread

Minick & Simpson

Because the time is NOW. If you are a crafter, DIY person, passionate about handmade, an entrepreneur or “mompreneur”, THE CREATIVE CONNECTION is for you. Whether you come for one day or all three, THE CREATIVE CONNECTION is the place to nourish and launch your creativity, make new connections and be part of the creative revolution.

SIGN UP SOON and SEE YOU THERE

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I cannot tell you how excited I about being a vendor at this event! As soon as I found out about it, I contacted them to ask about becoming a vendor. When I got the email that I was accepted I was dancing around the studio! Then I went to write the dates in my planner and OMG!.....it is the same weekend as our church festival! You have to understand how important our church festival is to our church, our school and our children. My husband is there for set up days before the festival starts, he is there all weekend helping out, his band plays Friday & Saturday night and he is chairperson for tear-down the week after. Our boys are there riding rides and hangin' with friends Thursday night, Friday night, all day Saturday and all day Sunday. I help out serving food, bar tending and monitoring the boys (I only give them a lil' money at a time cuz that way they will check in.....to get more money :) Anyways, we are heavily involved in our church festival.......I must admit it's not all work......we have plenty of fun with all our friends that volunteer, too.

Soooooo, it really deflated my excitement when I realized I would have to miss one of these events. My main concern was for my husband and boys.......it would put extra stress on my hubby because I wouldn't be there to help with the boys. I decided to post my dilemma on facebook to see what kind of reaction I would get. Everyone was very supportive of me going to MN for The Creative Connection Event........my wonderful friends said they would help with our boys (my friends also spend the entire weekend at the festival volunteering) So I took a leap of faith and registered for the show & booked a room yesterday........now it is time to prepare!

If there is any way possible you can attend this event, you should do it. Click here to see what it's all about.

Hot off the hoop!

PN074-A Home for Sparrow

I know this bird doesn't resemble a sparrow but Sparrow is his name (I didn't know what else to call him........not good at naming birds). I had to get a snowman design done before my distributor's market show in July. Actually, I hope to do more Halloween, Christmas & winter designs before then but I need to get the directions done on these new pieces before moving on. I also have to get that screen printer figured out and get working on my licensing deadlines so it will be a while before I punch anything new :-(

I will be offering the new designs on my website as soon as I can....I'll let y'all know........

Something to think about.........

"America"
©teresa kogut

acrylic collage on antique bread board
26" x 14.5"

Fresh off the easel! I saved this piece of wood for just the right painting. This antique board already had navy blue painted edges so I definately wanted to paint an Americana theme. I have to tell you though.....I went back and forth on what words to put in the heart. My original sketch had this Abraham Lincoln quote - "America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and loose our freedoms it will be because we destroyed ourselves". I love this quote and I feel it is the truth, however, because I have been in licensing for so many years I had these thoughts going through my head...."it will never license with this quote because the truth is too scary" or "if I paint 'America the Beautiful' instead of this quote, it will be more license-able" and so on. After talking with a dear friend, I decided to go with my original idea. So what if it doesn't license........I feel this quote should not only be heard/read, but should be in our foremost minds and in our Congressional leader's minds when making decisions for OUR country.....because America is Beautiful....we need to strive to keep it that way.

Notecards on Etsy!

More treasures found while cleaning out the "warehouse" side of the studio! Back when we had our wholesale business "Primitive Folk" we use to sell notecards. When we closed that part of the business in order to focus on licensing and raising our boys, we still had bunches of cards left. They are still as wonderful as they were back then, however, I am offering them at a ridiculously low price! They are blank inside so you can use them to write a note, send a thank you or even use as invitations. I just love them! Go to my Etsy shop for details.

I love swamp water!!

PN073-Santa Bear

Now that I have your attention......swamp water is the name of the floss I used for the background on this piece. I love it! It is variegated muddy green and black giving the background a great pattern when punching in a spiral.

FUN, FUN, FUN

Ryan & Tyler

Ryan, Tyler & Chance

Ryan, Tyler & Chance....again

Ryan, Tyler & Chance.........one last time

Daniel, Ryan, & Adam

Chance, Ryan & Daniel

Ryan & Tyler

I was a chaperone for Ryan's field trip yesterday. When my kids were little I use to go on all the field trips......it's a great way to get to know their friends and see them interact (and let's be honest....I am a bit protective and wanted to make sure they were safe). However, as they grow older, I have pulled away from attending every field trip. I went on this field trip last year, too, and had a great time watching Ryan and his friends ride rides until near exhaustion. I love taking pictures of them on the rides to see their facial expressions.....my favorite is the picture above this one.....Ryan looks a little freaked out (as does the poor sweetie behind him).....he only rode that ride once. It was a beautiful fun-filled day for the Holy Rosary students....and their chaperones.

On a roll.....

PN073-Boo Bear

Another quick, easy and fun design to punch! I love this lil' primitive bear...he is also available as "Liberty Bear" all decked out in red, white & blue. I thought it might be fun to have him dressed for the different holidays.

Most of my punchneedle patterns fit in a 7" hoop....some need the 9" hoop, but I reeeaaally want to create some larger designs. Here's my quandary.....I have rubber stamps made of each design to stamp onto the weaver's cloth but if I create designs too large they will have to be screen printed onto the fabric.......I had bought a screen printer long ago (I can't even remember why we bought it) and I need to find it and learn how to use it. Once that lil' problem is solved, I will have more freedom in what I design. It's on the ever expanding "to-do" list......and I know all you busy ladies can relate to that list........

Love this one!

PN071-Santa's Surprise

I love Santa's expression! This was a really quick and easy design to punch. I used a new color from Weeks Dye Works called "Baked Apple" for the coat and border.....it looks like a faded burgundy giving this piece an antique look. Pattern available soon!

and the winner is......

Congratulations Miz T!!

Miz T. said... That would be the perfect bag for my spindles and wooly fiber and I would love to give it a home! I just stumbled across your blog and didn't realize you had one. I'm so glad you do! Thanks for offering your giveaway to us!

Contact me at teresakogut@yahoo.com with your address and I will ship your "Got Wool" felt purse to you asap. Thanks for entering everyone.....I will have another give away this month so come back and try again :)

PREPARE....

"Prepare"

© Teresa Kogut
papers on canvas painted with acrylics and distressed 20" x 20"

"Prepare" detail

I had this finished yesterday but it was too dark and rainy to get a good photo....so here it is! I just love the textures and crackle finish on this piece....it is very antiqued. Again with the Abe Lincoln quotes!!! I just can't help myself. His words of wisdom really speak to me and hopefully you to.

Now it is time to do the drawing for the "Got Wool" purse......I will post the winner soon!