Awesome mail and Painting my Shoes!!!!

Today was an absolutely wonderful mail day!!! My wonderful friend Martha of Ontario , Canada created a fabulous House Collage for me- we were swap partners and it arrived today!!!!!!! Oh Happy, Happy, Happy!!!! Martha is a mom and a Fulltime kindergarten teacher and a fabulouso artista. You can see more of her wonderful work in the new book A Charming Exchange and on her blog, Destination Unknown.

The task before us was to create a collage on an 11x14 inch canvas with a House theme. You saw my collage for Martha several posts back.

Here is the glorious piece that she has created for ME!!!!!!

The colors, the layers, the textures, the bird, the words, the images of the children- I LOVE it all!!! Here are some close up shots so you can see some of the wonderful details. You can also visit Martha's blog where she wrote about how she created this piece by clicking here!

The top with the darling little bird!

The bottom with the kids!

The middle portions with all of the words and window details. Martha does such wonderful work!! I am soooo very lucky to add this piece to my new art wall in the family room!!

Now for a total change of pace. For 6 years I have been wearing a wonderful pair of Bojrn sandals. I got them for half price in Oklahoma and my feet absolutely adore them. Over the years they have started to show their age although they are structurally very sound. the shine is off the leather, there are paint splatterson them (oh yes!!) and I wear them in the garden when I am opicking veggies. they were starting to look treaty doggone tired, soooooooo, I painted them of course!!!

Here they are!! First of all I wiped them down thoroughly with Isopropyl Alcohol to remove any residual shine (you have got to be kidding!!!) and to remove any dirt (that's more like it!!) Then I went at them with several coats of my Metallic Lumiere paints!! I did all of the design work with the end of the paint brush as I did not want the patterning to come out looking stamped or too perfect. What a fabulous remake!! I have a new pair oF sandals that no one else on the planet can possibly be wearing !! as Michelle Ward would say How Cool Is That??!!???!!! To seal the paint I sponged on two coats of Future Floor Wax and let them dry overnight!!!!

So don't be getting rid of that expensive ,favorite pair of sandals , just paint 'em!!!