6th Photo Challenge in MAY... Geometric

Geometric, I love the possibilities within this theme and I admit I like the word , "geometric."
Our 6th photo challenge in May, here are some takes on it...

Lisa Bonowicz, what's not to love about this image. I love the light, tone and shape. As another photographer pointed out, you can also feel motion in it. LOVE this shot.

Phyllis Shaffer, great idea.. she captured her self reflection and geometric together. I especially enjoy the triangle in her arm holding the camera. Lots of geometric here.

My Submission, "I always see these pines as triangles and envisioned catching a row of them to be perfectly geometric but while editing, I fell for the crooked triangle instead." 

We are off to CATCH how we are feeling today~ I hope to have a variety to share with you in a few days~

5th Photo Challenge May... Your own reflection

There are those individuals who love to make self portraits, however, most people do not. Our group of photo challenge people are of the latter. But when they do they rock it out.

Holly Woiccak Dubay-- I think this is nothing short of brilliant with the lines shapes and perfect black and white. She was also our only submission.

I will do one (was camping during the challenge and not any mirrors or shiny things out in the woods.

But hats off to Holly for pulling in a strong one for everybody.

Do you like your own reflection?

4th May Photo Challenge... Blue

The 4th photo challenge in May was Blue. What a fitting color for May with the skies above and the flowers popping up. Here are some photographers with the "blues,"

Holly Woiccak Dubay was unstoppable with her blue submissions (thank God) cause there were all lovely!

Casey Craig capture these lovely white clouds that look amazing with a blue sky.

My entry, was inspired by learning a new masking technique.

What does the color BLUE mean to you?

3rd May Photo Challenge... TOY

The May photo challenge is under way and some of the people that have been pushing themselves since January to participate are still going strong. After going up and down, we paused on TOY as our theme. And we had some, "classic ideas."

Phyllis Shaffer: Gumby and Pokey, I really love the set up and lighting on this image.

Holly Woiccak Dubay: "Classic Battleship," what beautiful vibrant color.

My Entry: Bunny Rabbit in natural window light.

What's your favorite toy? Something classic, vintage, worn out or the newest tech savy gadget?

Don't Be Afraid of Freight Shipping... An Anvil's Journey

I have been an online seller for many years. My photography either fits into rigid mailers, large flat boxes or tubes. My vintage shop on the other hand poses a variety of situations, sizes and shapes. Up until recently everything has always shipped out US Mail, UPS or FedEx. Then we acquired an anvil.

And not just any anvil, this was a 400 pound Antique Peter Wright Anvil. My father was a blacksmith when I was very small, so we couldn't pass up this find. 

We did lots of research on the history of the piece. All that was left was to figure out how to ship it.

We knew we could offer local pick up, however, this is a very specialized piece and the chances of it going to a collector close were slim in rural Pennsylvania.

We knew we could offer delivery within 300 miles for a fee.

But our buyer was 2000 miles away in another country.

Learning about freight shipping became a high priority. Just down the road a piece from my parents (where we were storing the anvil) is an ABF  terminal. Our plan, to lift the anvil into a Kubota and drive it to ABF.

I first called the customer service number to get a shipping quote. Because we had researched the anvil and the marking made it identifiable as a 400 pound anvil, we knew an estimated weight. They also needed to know what we were shipping it in or on. We decided a pallet. The shipping company needed the dimensions of the pallet as well as the total height, including the anvil. When shipping freight it is YOUR responsibility make sure it is properly packaged and ready for transport. Think about what you will need and include that in your shipping.

We used zip ties to make sure that it would not move. If you are shipping something fragile, a wooden crate can be used on top of your pallet, you can even build one yourself. But because the purpose of an anvil is to get pounded with heavy hammers, we felt secure without a crate.

I made a stop into ABF to introduce myself and find out the logistics of shipping the anvil. I also made my request to deliver it by Kubota. It was so much easier than I expected. They had my shipping quote on the computer and were also able to advise me on what extra things needed to be done since it was going out of country. When shipping freight into Canada, there is a crossing border fee, which is included in the shipping fee. However, there is also a customs fee. A customs BROKER can be arranged to clear the item in Canada. This needs to be arranged before shipping. The broker's name and contact information needs attached to the shipping form. Your customer can choose SELF broker if they want, but it's not always convenient for your customer to have to travel to the customs and do this. Now we were all set to move it.

It was time to let it go. It's important to give your customer an estimated day of delivery when shipping freight. From Pennsylvania to Canada they estimated 5 days.

The finishing touch, lots of plastic wrap to protect and keep our new friend secure and in place and then we watched them load it up.

It arrived on the date that was estimated and we had a very happy customer.

As a lover and seller of vintage, I am no longer afraid of freight shipping.

If the item's value exceeds what you think the shipping will cost, go for it, especially if it is a really special piece like this was.

So when should you use freight? According to American Freight Companies:

"freight is used for those items that, because of their shear volume, size or weight, they cannot be shipped with the Post Office or Parcel shipping companies."

2nd May Photo Challenge... DOWN

What goes up must come down and our second theme challenge was DOWN.

Here are a couple of my personal favorites:

Holly Woiccak Dubay "Down low at grass level"

Lisa Bonowicz "looking down the stairs that lead to the road that enters Sandy Hook Gateway National Park"

My Entry: "DOWN, I got down really low to shoot this"

AND the Winner Is...............

THANK YOU everyone who took the time to enter the giveaway on my blog over the last week.

 We did a very technical savvy drawing here this morning for the winner of 2 prints from WingedWorld....

And the winner is....................................................

Congratulations to our 15th entry.... eclairre from Hawaii.

And a huge thanks to Vickie for being so generous with her prints and giving away such great prizes.

I hope everyone enjoyed visiting her shop as much as I always do.

1st May Photo Challenge Theme... UP

I had such a blast hosting a photo challenge in January. Since that time we have had several other artist photographer's host a challenge and here we are into May and it's my turn again. I love that we have had 4 months of photographers shooting for fun. Sometimes the steam fizzles out with the daily routine and these little challenges are to make shooting fun.

Instead of a daily challenge like in January, we are having a new theme every 3 days. And I will post 3 or 4 images from each theme along the way. I hope you enjoy watching our journey.

May3-5 our theme was UP

First person to submit for the month was Holly Woiccak Dubay and she set the bar for creativity

Can you see the HEART that Jennifer Brown captured while looking up?

My Cherry Blossoms, I was trying to give the feeling of be able to reach them and touch them.

Giveaway for the Nostalgic at heart featuring WingedWorld

There is something that makes us feel more connected to an artist when we can glance at a piece of work and know who created it, that sense of stepping into their world and having an idea of what it must smell, taste, feel and of course look like. Vickie from WingedWorld is one of those artists for me. 

A love of story telling, nostalgia and great eye for color are the first 3 things that come to mind when I see her work. Her medium of choice is painting on real vintage library cards. The library cards bring create a genuine background to her work. Some of them are over 60 years old.

"I start each library card painting by sifting through my collection — which has now grown to a few thousand cards — and choosing one that inspires me that day. I then research imagery and select something that fits the card. I'm always careful not to paint over important words on the card, such as titles or author names. Sometimes I feel like painting a character on a card for a classic children's book, and sometimes I want to try something new and completely fresh."

Vickie is giving 1 Very Lucky Winner 2 of her pieces  

And these are the lovely prints that you can win:

Charlotte's Web by E.B. White - Print of Charlotte the spider, Wilbur the pig and Fern the girl painted on library card

Arrowhead on Library Card - Print of my painting of a painted obsidian arrowhead on a library card for The Seminole

And by the way, wouldn't these make ADORABLE graduation gifts?

Vickie and I want to make this an easy giveaway;)

So here is how to enter:

Go to Vickie's Etsy Shop, WingedWorld , and post below what your favorite item in her shop is, besides the lovely ones above. 
We will announce the winner of a random drawing on the blog next Wednesday, May 8.

For Good Karma;)
Check out Vickie's pinterest

more ways to keep in touch with me:

my facebook  my pinterest my shop my twitter

Some Big Thank You's

I love saying thank you. Etsy Front Pages make me smile and my vintage shop was blessed to be there 2 times this week.

Thank you Pedro of alfamarama

My vintage Motorola Clock Radio was featured

And thank you to Ozden of ReddApple

My Vintage Angel Head light

Pedro's shop offers handmade  mugs, journals and cards:

My Ultimate Bucket List notebook

Ozden's shop offers crochet-knitted scarves and jewelry

Handmade Crochet Necklace Daisies

THANK YOU~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Spring Inspiration

Spring finally came. The sun is shining, crocus popped through the brown grass and the robin's are bobbing around the yard pulling worms that seemed to double in size over winter.
Spring also brought with it a gift to me. I have an inspiration for a new project.
Living in rural Pennsylvania, I am privileged to have the roads less traveled around me and I am taking those roads to as many little old church's as I can find.
Many of them will be white, but I suspect not all.

Salem Lutheran Church, Pennsylvania

St. Peters Church, Pennsylvania

What are your new spring inspirations?

Do you know of any old church's in Pennsylvania that you can share with me?

Who's Lovin Who? 6 Degrees of Seperation #7

This is my 7th post in Who's Lovin Who? 6 Degrees of Separation. With my love of purchasing from the etsy community, I won't run out of people to start with very soon. Today I am starting with someone I actually purchased from in Christmas 2011. I bought this piece for my husband's stocking and with the weather breaking and it getting nice enough for us to actually go out and do some GEOCACHING, I think it's perfect timing. Do you geocache? If you do, you totally get the sentiment of this.
If you don't check it out, it's an awesome, adventure hobby

I purchased this from Jerry at Creative Etching:

Geocaching Key Chain

Jerry favorited this amazing necklace from Laney at silentgoddess:

Hit The Road Necklace

We camp while geocaching. I love this.

Laney favorited this Pebble Art Piece by Sharon at  Art of NS:

Pebble Art

Love how this translates to the spirit of being outside with someone you love.

Sharon favorited these natural heart stone from MedBeachStones:

Natural Heart Wedding Favors

Anyone that knows me, knows I am ALWAYS looking for natural hearts. What a great decoration.

MedBeachStones favorited this driftwood mobile from Kat and Mel of Beh1ndHome of Greece:

Driftwood Mobil

I am seeing a theme here, I think my heart wants to go camping and geocaching at the beach this summer.

Finally Kat and Mel favorited this journal from Elena of LaDouceurDuMiel of Italy:

Moleskin Dream Journal

Everyone needs a Personal journal for journeys, physical road trips and day dreams in the sun.

That about wraps it up, 6 degrees of separation to find new things I would be quite happy to own.

Do you see anything here you would love to own?

Wool Painting with My Kids

Our spring break is short where we live, as in one day. The kids had Monday off and there was no snow to play in but it was too cold to go outside. We had played Legos, watched Wreck it Ralph and worked on a Harry Potter puzzle. Then I remembered the Artterro Art kit that I had won online.

Paint With Wool Kit

It was fun to open the package and see all of the bright colors. We have never tried anything like this before. There were 4 fun square pads, 3 very long, sharp needles and then a rainbow of colors to "paint with."

After telling the kids the needles really could poke them and rolling little hand towels underneath so they didn't poke themselves, we all got to work.

My son, 12 and a boyscout made a campfire. My daughter who is eagerly awaiting caterpillars to grow into butterflies and I am anxiously waiting for spring and made a tree with sunshine and some tulips coming up.

I love that there was no pattern to follow, we all just made what was in our hearts and minds.

A really fun project. And my daughter wants to make more.

Colors of 2013 March was GREEN

This year started with the daily photo challenge leading up to my 40th birthday. I wanted to keep going and I got the opportunity to join the Colors of 2013 with Eva Ricci Studio.
Eva is also a photographer, she has a shop on etsy and participates and promotes ladies. Win, win, win~
Eva also provided templates to show our favorites from the month.
Here is my March-Green collage.

I enjoyed shooting the color green a lot. All of the images included above are available separately in my etsy shop, MollysMuses.

Do you have any type of on going inspirational challenge for yourself and your work this year?
I would love to hear about it.

Thanks Roberta from madamaRobe of Italy

Roberta from madamRobe, I owe you a thank you for a beautiful front page feature on Etsy~

She makes handmade brooch's from polymer clay with hipster sayings. They are cute, fun, affordable and make really cute presents.

Brooch

Brooch

Expressions Collection

She included my Little Ballerina print

Oh Palm Trees you a MUSE me

Have you ever experienced the return to a place where you had once spent so much time to find that something you never really noticed before completely caught you off guard and stole your eye?
We went to Disney last week and it wasn't the princesses or cartoon characters that kept me reaching for my camera. It was the palm trees of all things; that I realized on the second day I couldn't get enough of.

Oh Palm Tree in the back light....

Palm Trees blowing in the soft sunny breeze...

Palm Trees dancing and stealing my eye, despite the blinding sun....

Spoiled Palm, manicured in glamour

Yes, these palm trees triggered something inside of me that felt good. Perhaps the cabin fever, being locked into a house with heater on and white snowflakes falling since October gave the skinny green trees and advantage over everything else. I shot them and captured them because I "felt them."

I love that feeling. I didn't shoot them for anyone but me and my spirit.