Luiza Vizoli

Autumn Symphony ~ This would have to be my favorite.  It reminds me of strolling along in the park on a cool crisp Autumn evening.  The lamp post allowing you get a sneak peek of Autumn's sheer elegance and grace.

Luiza Vizoli ~ Featured Artist
I would like to introduce you to our featured artist for today, Luiza Vizoli.  He is a professional abstract modern artist originally from Europe and now resides in Minnesota.

Original Modern Abstract Tree Landscape ~ The multi canvas for a bigger wall.  Just look at all the vivid colors that want to reach out, grab you and drag you back in.  Very whimsical and fun loving.

According to his profile, his  main styles are contemporary abstract expressionism paintings, contemporary impressionist flowers and landscape paintings, abstract religious paintings and contemporary figurative paintings in oils and acrylics on stretched canvas or wood.

Sale Tale of Tree ~ I love the warm effects in this painting.  The kisses of red leaves to remind us that the old is over and gone.  Time for Winter's rest, so new will Spring forward once again.  

His ideas and inspirations came from his travels, from his European route and from his dreams.  His artwork is held in private and corporate collections in USA, Europe, Canada, Australia. 

Fall Tree ~ So warm and inviting.  Capturing all the beauty Autumn offers.

His work is absolutely captivating. If you've been keeping up with my blog, you should know by now that my decorating style is being bold, rich in color and romantic. This means, I love to decorate with bold rich colors such as dark purples, reds, blues, greens, deep warm colors. I LOVE COLOR! With all of this said, I instantly became lured easily to Luiza's paintings.

He sells his paintings on Etsy HERE .  I have to give you heads up, they are not inexpensive works of art by no means.  In my opinion very beautiful and captivating pieces of art.  I only have a few of my favorite Autumn pieces displayed on this post, but he has several different styles for sale.  Right now, he is offering a discount you might be interested in.

Some Catching Up

Make your own free collage

The above pictures were taken at Katie's school by photographer, Jill Amey. You can check out her website HERE. I think she did a fabulous job on Katie. I got this small package of 4x6s and 1 - 5x7 (her sitting by the tree) for $30. All the pictures were purchased in black and white, but you can purchase them in color. Her and I talked about how we love black and white pictures, to capture the moment. 

Speaking of photography, I recently discovered Flora Bella Texture Photography Collection.  I'm in LOVE!  CLICK HERE to check out the website. I've been online the other day in chat rooms talking about "How To Create The Florabella Texture Look of Your Photos?" Some of the sites sound logical, but I haven't tried it out yet. I think they are so beautiful.

The above picture is an example of the vintage textured look aka Flora Bella style.  It looks like an old washed out photo, but it was probably taken just a couple of months ago.  I wished I could have posted a picture of one of  Flora Bella's Collection, but their blogsite has security measures to where you can't copy any of her works.  Online, I found you can do this with your photos by using Adobe Photoshop, which is the exact program that I have currently.  A couple of photographers said you just have to experiment with your different textures to get the right one that suits you.  I didn't know this, but they added that I could use more than one texture on top to get whole different look.  I've only dabbled a little with textures.  I like to use the spotlight soft and omni for a few of my photos of Katie.  Now, to find more time to really get my hands into this technique. 

Ballet

Katie's ballet group picture - there were a couple of little girls out that day

ballet rehearsal is well on it's way and I'm excited to see the final performance. Mrs. Elaine told all the parents the other day that our recital will only last approximately a little over an hour long this year.  All the classes/groups are doing their own thing instead of one whole production.  You'll get to see not only ballet, but jazz and hip-hop as well.  During rehearsal, you should have seen those little girls' eyes when they were watching the big girls dancing all over the studio.  Afterwards, Katie (all big eyed) asked me if I saw the big girls dance.  She told me, she wants to dance like that when she gets older.  Hopefully, dance will be in our future.  The younger ballerinas' theme is "Dances Around The World."  Katie's group represents France and will be dancing to French music.  Don't ask me the name because I really don't know. 

Bare Escentuals
While we were at the mall, I stopped over to Bare Escentuals to get my yearly supply of makeup.  I'm not lying!  I normally buy my makeup once a year, unless I need something out of the ordinary like eye shadow or lipstick.  This time, I not only got my makeup but lipstick.  I like to wear pastels during the Summer months, so I picked up some new eye shadow (colors: soul, blush & liberty).  I think they are so pretty!  Better yet, I got a free Contour Shadow Brush for purchasing 3 eye shadows.  Yay!  The lipstick and lip liner I went with for this Summer is called Bavarian Creme and Shell.  The associate gave me a rewards cards.  For every $10 that I spend in their store, I get a stamp on my card.  Once I fill up my card, I get $10 off my next purchase.  You've got to get to your local Bare Escentual store and take advantage of these deals.  

Whole Foods Market Adventure

I've always wanted to visit our "Whole Foods Market" ever since it was built a few years ago.  Our local news station visits there from time to time, interviewing the chefs on new recipes and so on.  I've heard so much about it and I finally got to go inside. 

This fish, which you see pictured with Katie at "Whole Foods Market" is called a "Wreckfish" or "Stone-Bass."  They can be found mainly on the Western side of British Isles and round into the upper North Sea.  They feed off of other fish like Pollack, but supplements on crustaceans and squid.

Peggy, Katie and I had a blast inside this grocery store.  Doug and Millard were beginning to wonder if we were ever going to leave.  I had fun in the bakery department alone.  They had so many creative creations under glass, waiting for someone to take them home.  We went by the cafe, where everyone mingles and enjoy the flavors of different masterpieces.  They even had a special setting just for the sushi loves alike.  A couple were seated enjoying their japanese speciality and each others company, while sipping on a tasty glass of Merlot.  The meat section of the cafe were featuring barbeque ribs, pizza, roasted chicken and lots of sides.  I was shocked to see,  they had the brick stone oven like the professionals.  They must mean business with their pizza and barbeque.  It all looked very good and it made Peggy and I sad because we had just ate at "The Cheesecake Factory."  We did however grab a little dessert for the road home.  Katie had to have a chocolate truffle decorated like a pink pig.  Peggy and I had to try their Caramel Pecan Cluster.  I give them two thumbs up. You can check out their website HERE to see where the closest Whole Foods Market is to you.

Yogurt Mountain

Before we made our way to Whole Foods Market, Doug stopped by Yogurt Mountain.  Wow!  There were people everywhere enjoying this cool dessert.  People were just sitting down on the grass in groups, eating their bucket of very decked out frozen yogurt.  Doug, Katie and myself went in to check out all the excitement.  We had to find out what we were missing.  You should have seen the line of people.  The cashier told us to grab a bucket and start creating.  They charge you by the ounce ($.49 an ounce).  Katie wanted some strawberry ice cream.  I got her a little in her bucket, while Doug filled his bucket full of peach yogurt ice cream.  The line was so long just for the buffet of toppings, so we decided to get out naked bowls of ice cream, pay and leave. 

Katie's Teacher Appreciation Craft

It's finished and Katie thinks Mrs. Katie will like it.

I still can't remember where I got the idea, but made ours different from the original idea.

Teacher Appreciation Flower Pot
The title probably isn't the best, but it's what I could come up with.  You can make your own title.

What You'll Need:
1- small clay pot
1 - can of chalkboard spray paint (you can use the paint on as well)
1 sheet of pink glitter foam
1 sheet of yellow adhesive foam
2 sheet of green construction paper
2 sticks of white chalk
3 green pipe cleaners (for stems)
Flower Cookie Cutter
1 sheet of decorative tissue paper

Instructions:
I didn't measure anything out, so you'll have to go by eye. 

• tape off a square section on your pot.  I taped plastic wrap around the pot, to make sure the spray didn't get out of control and get on it where it wasn't possible to. 
• spray 2 thin coats of chalkboard paint.  Let the paint dry for 24 hrs. Rub it with the side of chalk (this prepares it) and wipe off, then you can write the person's name on it. 
• I took a cookie cutter that we already had and pressed onto the foam.  Doing this, makes it easier to cut out a pretty flower.  I like using the glitter foam to give it a little bling.  Cut out 6 pink glitter foam flowers.  I tried cutting out leaves to go with the flowers, but they didn't glue right for me. 
• Fold the tissue and place in the bottom of pot. This keeps the pipe cleaner from sticking out or paper falling out of the bottom, if your pot has a hole in it.  
• Stick the pipe cleaner down in the pot to see where you need to cut.  I made the middle stem longer than the side flowers. Cut your pipe cleaners (stems) to the desired length.  I wouldn't suggest leaving them too long because they can be flimsy. 
• Glue 2 flowers together (glitter side out) with a stem in between them.  Do this for all 3 stems.  Set aside. 
• For the yellow middle of the flower, I used a Belly Tickler sippy cup lid for a perfect circle.  I'm sure a small biscuit or circle fondant cutter will work just as good.  I pressed the sippy cup lid down on the yellow foam to get my imprint and cut out 5 yellow circles.  It was great having the sheet with an adhesive already on it because it stuck really good to the glitter flower.  
• Take your photo and cut the same size circle.  Glue it to the middle of your longest flower.  As shown above.  
• Shred the 2 sheets of green construction paper.  I used my paper shredder to do the trick. Place the flowers down in the pot, where desired and begin filling it up with shredded green paper (makes it look like grass). 
• I bent the 2 side flowers to the side a little, for effect.  Placed a couple sticks of chalk in the front and Viola!

This little project didn't take very long doing it, it was finding time putting it together.

Fun Filled Weekend

Garage Sale - Saturday
I am so thankful to God for listening to our prayers. He kept the rain off of us until around noon. Sure, our plans were to keep selling until close to 3PM, but we took noon. It was a great sale. We had a large variety to choose from and I believe everyone came out a winner. We got out and setting everything out at 5AM. I had so much, I ran out of space to set all the girl clothes. Thank goodness Robin, Whitney's MIL, let us borrow 3 (store) clothes racks. They helped out a lot! Finally, I just had to put the rest of the clothes out on a brand new tarp, on the ground. I really didn't like this idea, but I had no choice because I ran out of tables and clothes racks. HAHA! Doug took a few pictures for me of the BIG Garage Sale.

By mid-morning, I could see a huge chunk of clothes and items sold. So good, I was able to transfer the clothes off of the tarp onto the tables and racks. I've come to find out there are some people that make yard sales their profession. Sure, I expected to get the occasional product offers. If the item was something that wasn't my favorite or I could see the person needed worse than I, I was happy to come down a lot. One lady bought 2 1/2 Pamper boxes full of baby clothes that I came down a lot just for her buying so much.

Several people picked up the dresses and made cute comments about them, but put them down after seeing the price. I had 3 or 4 Rosalina dresses in excellent condition in the sale. I was asking $20 each, except for the Bama Smock. I believe I asked for $30 on it because it cost a lot of money and Katie hardly wore it. The Bama smock wasn't her favorite because it wasn't pink. Ugh! Go figure. After I get a breath, I'll get them out, take photos and post them here on Blogger before I post them on eBay. So, stay tuned!

Decoration Day - Sunday
Today was our annual run around the county for Decoration Day. The church, I grew up in and the church Doug grew up, both have their Decoration Day on the same day. I've had several people ask me about Decoration Day. What is it? What do you do? I think it must be a Southern thing, but it's when we take time out and just remember our loved ones that have gone on before us to be with the Lord. To celebrate them and our memories of them. We do this by "decorating" their gravesites with flowers, stuffed toys, crafts (handmade signs), plants, pretty much anything to dress up the graves. The church usually dedicates a one hour program of songs, reading poems and playing of instruments, all in remembrance of the ones who have passed away.

This year, Doug's family decided to do something different. We all met up at a restaurant to eat lunch, instead of going back to their house to eat. It was so nice to not have to worry about staying in the Kitchen, laying all the food out and then having to clean up afterwards. Ahh! It was nice. I think we had a very nice visit and I didn't seem too stressed out by the end of the day. In the past, Decoration Days kept me all wound up and by the end of the day, I was ready to collapse. I hope we can do this again next time.

Katie and Trey are something else. We kept giggling at those two. They were hugging and hanging on each other most of the time. Katie couldn't keep her hands off of him for a second and Trey was always wanting to know where Katie was at. They kept begging us parents to go to each others houses today, so they could play. I think I heard Katie telling Trey about the "Fun" Museum aka "EarlyWorks Museum." She wants someone to go with her so bad, she can taste it. Anyways, Katie and Trey are real affectionate to one another. In the future, I think we're gonna have to remind them that they are cousins. I remember my nephew, Nicholas, and niece, Leslie, were the same exact way. We were all the time saying they were the "kissing cousins." To this day, they seem to be very close. Not too close, if you know what I mean. HAHA! I hope Katie and Trey will have the same closeness in the future.

Fabric Canvas Wall Art - "The Tidymom"
This is such a great idea! Here I thought I was going to have to learn how to paint, so I could make my own works of art at an affordable price. Shoot! Now, I can change up my household wall art as much as I want. I love this idea and hope to find the time to do it. Whose with me? CLICK HERE FOR INSTRUCTIONS. Have you ever done anything like this? Is it really that easy? Oh, I'm so excited!

The Gulf of Mexico - Oil Spill
Have you been keeping up with the latest on the oil spill off the Gulf of Mexico? First of all, the explosion is awful and I hated to hear about this tragedy. My thoughts and prayers go to the victims from this disaster. I really hope BP are able to cap this spill before things get worse for everyone and the environment. Isn't it something? No matter how BIG or small, a bad choice or tragic experience can affect so many many people and living things. Thank goodness God knows what's best and He always allows us to find a way back into balance for a brief moment. This spill could not have happened at the worst time right now. Now, when we need our oil rigs running smoothly, so the more than average environmental crazed nuts won't come jumping out of their skin saying, "see, see, we told you." "You're going to ruin the environment and kill off the endangered species by drilling for oil." Please don't get me wrong. I love animals and most other living species. We have to remember God created us for His glory. The animals were created for Adam's amusement, to care for. We just need to keep our priorities in check and make sure we are doing all we can do without jeopardizing our good will. We have to remember God is in control at all times. Accidents happen and yeah, most of the time it's our fault. Thank God because he is ever forgiving.

I'm still hearing reports that this oil will more than likely hit our coast in the next couple of months. At the same time, I'm hearing BP won't be able to guarantee a cap for that length of time. As much as I hate the affect this spill will have on everyone and every living thing, all I can think about is our future vacation plans. This definitely slings a dirty mop into the wash. Thankfully, like all dirty mops, they always come out clean in the end. I revisited our current contract and we have at least 6 weeks to cancel, in order to receive our deposit. So, what will be the alternative vacation spot? I was thinking about Biltmore Estate in Asheville. CLICK HERE FOR WEBSITE.

Biltmore Estate in Asheville ~ America's Largest Home ~

 Completed in 1895 ~ owned by George Vanderbilt

Several of my family members have had the opportunity to not only visit here once but twice. They love it and recommend the trip! Unfortunately, I never had the chance to go and would love to because of all the stories I hear about it. You can tour the house, winery and grounds. While you are touring the winery, you have the opportunity to taste a little as well. I understand there is a small town to visit and do a little shopping and sightseeing. The place is localed in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains, so there's lots of wildlife and beautiful scenery. I have a nephew that doesn't live very far from there and I think he mentioned that a lot of people like to do a little hiking and whitewater there as well.

Guess who?

Okay girlies, I love seeing new young actors/actresses making their way in the film business, especially if their any good. In the past couple of years, I've seen quite a few new faces and some I really like their acting. One new actress is making her way and we know her dad oh so well, growing up in the 80's. She played Sandra Bullock's daughter, Collins, in the hit film "The Blind Side." What's ironic about that is she really is a Collins. Lily Collins is the daughter of the famous pop rock star Phil Collins. She is so much prettier than her father, thank goodness. Phil may can sing, but his looks . . . whew! I'm glad he stuck to singing. (haha) Anyway, Lily will be costarring in a new thriller "Abduction" soon with actor Taylor Lautner, Jacob from "Twilight". She's supposed to play the girlfriend that helps Lautner find his real parents after he finds his baby picture posted on the missing person's website.

Sips n Strokes
Have you ever heard of this party? Whitney was telling me about it last night and sounds like so much fun. She said there's a "Sips n Stroke" located near the Summit in Birmingham. She told her mother, Maryann, about it and she seemed interested as well. What started the conversation, I was telling Whitney how I would love to take a few oil painting classes. I just think it would be fun. That's when she told me about "Sips n Strokes." Apparently, you bring your favorite beverage and they supply the canvas. Whitney said you basically drink your beverage or wine and paint your picture of the subject they have out in front of you. Everyone's painting will be different from one another, but it's supposed to be a fun girl's night out. I told her that if she decides to go, call me up because I want to go. If you would like to have a little painting party, Check out the nearest Sips n Strokes in your location. Cheers!