blown bulbs

Apparently the arts and crafts community at the online venue "Etsy" are in quite the uproar. On the verge of a hand made strike, so to speak. Therefore, I feel compelled to join my other artist friends by following suit and signing up for craftisart.com and artfire.com. It seems as if etsy needs some competition!
Visit The Enchanted Owl here, at Craftisart.com and at Artfire.com!

all the little things

It's already April and I haven't blogged very much since my birthday. Since we left the frigid heath of Illinois, our toes have thawed almost completely as well as the water lines on the camper.

We're still trying our best to sell the RV, which is a challenge in itself. I think our last resort will be eBay, where we will most likely lose our ass. Sometimes you've gotta do what you've gotta do.

Since our departure south, I finally talked my old man into a Florida trip. We visited the gulf one sunny Saturday afternoon on my birthday weekend. We visited Grayton Beach state park and then drove through Panama City. Of course we hit spring break in full force, so after a relaxing hike we headed north again for Alabama. We've enjoyed lots of local activities here including a friday night horse auction which rivaled even the best of vintage Saturday Night Live skits. We stopped by the Pike County Cattlemens Association's first annual ranch rodeo where we found wholesome entertainment in the bizarre form of "wild cow milking". Heith decided to trick the truck a few more turns by adding front and rear Ranch Hand bumpers (much to my own dismay). We visited Patsy the weekend of my birthday as well, and had a nice dinner in Greenville with the parental unit. Most of our free time we spend way down yonder on the Chattahoochee. Dolly loves to swim at the dam and scout for squirrels. Our campground is within biking distance of the local post office which makes for excellent stretch mark erasing.

My boxwood bonsai tree is enjoying the warm temperatures. We should hit 90 degrees today, with a gentle gulf breeze. All the pleasant weather has helped me finish two books in the last three weeks. I'm delving through the Lord of the Rings trilogy right now. All is not lost on the recycle front as I sold 30 ornaments last month and had one order this first week of April. I'm hoping to join the Spartanburg Junior League Santa Shoppe this year with a trove of light bulb treasures.

The Big Easy

The Enchanted Owl found its way into the heart of another fellow blogger today! Sarah at Magnolia Surprise is featuring all things Mardi Gras in honor of Fat Tuesday, which is right around the corner. She included my recycled light bulb Mardi Gras ornament in her fabulous collection! Check out her blog here and visit her on etsy as well!

More special features...

The Enchanted Owl is proud to be the newest feature on the Official Jewelry by Tara Blog today!
Tara specializes in unique hand crafted jewelry and a love for all things Alice (in Wonderland that is!). Visit her etsy shop here to see her fine collection of altered art, banners, and more.

Thanks so much for featuring my shop Tara, I appreciate all the exposure I can get!

The Sweetest Gift

It's that time again guys & gals--I'm hosting another fabulous giveaway from my etsy shop The Enchanted Owl. This time we're joining in the Valentine's spirit by gifting one of our creative ornaments to one lucky winner!
Enter your name for a chance to win one FREE ornament (of your own choice) by emailing me, leaving a blog comment,or stopping by our facebook fan page!
Winner will be chosen on Feb. 7 just in time to receive their ornament by Valentines 2010. Good luck to everyone! XOXO

Sweet Idea

I finished up the first Valentine addition to the etsy shop this week. Here's a preview, click on the photo to visit the shop.
My debate for this uber cute ornament is A. there's no fear of calories or fat so put that Godiva box away, and B. this ornament doesn't require water everyday and a trash can at the end of the week, so put down the phone before you call that florist.
These can be completely customized & personalized per request. Hope everyone celebrates a very sweet and very recycled Valentines day!

Tweeting...well, in our case, hooting.

The Enchanted Owl is officially on Twitter as of today. According to Etsy research, the bigger your audience, the better your sales. Feel free to check out the most up to date "tweets" (I'd really rather call them hoots as it seems more fitting.)

I've also added some new creations, and I'm in the process of finishing my first Valentine themed ornament. I've had a lot of fun painting the traditional Mardi Gras mask on this Fat Tuesday ornament (which is Feb. 16, 2010 by the way!)


Many thanks to all my friends and blog buddies who have helped spread the word about the Enchanted Owl. I appreciate each and every one of you!

New Stuff

I live behind. Way behind everyone else. Being behind means that you find out about really cool stuff long after it's been over being cool for everyone else. We only get two channels on our TV and one of those is University of Illinois PBS. Thank goodness for Austin City Limits, because I'm now the newest fan of Arcade Fire.


This group defines cool. And by the way, apparently "cool" isn't the coolest way to define cool. Sweet is the new cool. I stand by my old timer ways and refer to my favorite things as boss and bitchin'. Call me what you will. Arcade Fire is a bitchin' Canadian Indie rock group of multi-talented musicians led by the uber-brilliant husband / wife duo of Win Butler & Régine Chassagne. Real talent and real women...no bones here ladies.

PBS kept me company for New Year's as well. I spent the evening with the New York Philharmonic live at the Lincoln Center while my old man finished reading Lonely Pigeon or Dove or whatever.
So I guess it's official, I am no longer anywhere close to being "cool" myself. Bring me that rocking chair.

My first day

My first day of the year. Clean sheets, clean clothes, my first shower of the year, and my first ornament...and last. Well, the last time I EVER agree to paint "Lilo and Stitch" whoever they hell they are. Wait, did I mention my first migraine of the year?

Happy Christmas Kids!

Don't forget Monday is the last day to enter The Enchanted Owl giveaway! Winner will be announced on Tuesday, December 15. Many thanks to everyone who has entered, I can't wait to announce our lucky winner!

Cold Snap

I'm taking a day off from my light bulb crafts. I've had a serious case of the giggles since my first sale on etsy. It's a fun feeling when someone, besides yourself, enjoys your art just as much as you do. I'm thrilled that my art will be hanging on Christmas trees across the nation this year!

Enough of my gloating. I never get to do that. This is a feeling that will most likely fade away like Heith's bedtime gas, but it was fun while it lasted!

I'm excited I'm able to purchase gifts for people now with my own funds...something I haven't been able to do since I left my career almost four years ago. I guess it's not hard to tell, it doesn't take much to get me excited. Don't hate.

So, in the spirit of newfound success, I finally splurged and bought my very first Burberry scarf!
Tally-ho!

Happy Dezember!

This is the winning lightbulb ornament design..."Peace, Love, and Bugs"! This design was inspired by Kay Larch, who is the winner of the November giveaway. I had such a fun time painting this ornament and it's certainly one of my favorites! Kay is my favorite local artist and I hope to score some of her killer work for the holidays myself. Check out her blog to see some of her wicked painted mosaics!

No worries readers, since I had such a great response with the contest, I've decided to host another giveaway for December. Starting today, if anyone is interested in winning a free ornament, just email me your name & your ideas. Winners will be announced December 15 (in order to receive their ornament by the holidays!) Good luck everyone!

We have a WINNER!

Congratulations to Kay Larch, the winner of The Enchanted Owl free ornament giveaway! We did this fair, and I drew her name from a bowl full of wonderful ideas & designs. Thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway and emailed me with their creative suggestions! I now have an entire shelf of ornament design ideas thanks to you all!

Kay's idea included a 60's flower power theme, so I ran with it. I hope she likes what I've concocted, it's groovy baby!

Don't worry, I will host another giveaway for the month of December!

I miss being a kid...

Maybe I'm still kiddie because this has been one of my favorite ornaments to paint so far! The pictures don't show it, but the little cowboy is holding a stick horse, and the paisleys came from a bandanna design that I used for the background.

Not so kindred spirits...

The famous game is this weekend between our home state's two biggest rivals--so I finally forced myself to create the gamecock. This is the first time I've EVER attempted to do this in my entire life. My hands were shaking, I was crying, yelling, swearing and drawing all at the same time. This logo has made me queasy for as long as I can remember, all because I was so scared I couldn't draw it. I let it beat me for so long, thinking it was too dang hard to ever get right. Last night I proved myself wrong when I cranked out this ornament...even though it's not perfect and the proportions are a bit off, I think I finally proved to myself that logos NEVER have the last laugh! Take that Cocky!!

Go Wolves!

My latest creation for my little Wolverine. Well, he's not little...he's actually far from little. But he's still "little" C.J. to me. The Wolves are clawing a path all the way to State this year, so in honor of his team's success, I found the inspiration for my newest ornament. Happy early Christmas!!

Bandwagon Giveaway

I'm jumping on the freebie giveaways bandwagon. I've decided to paint a custom ornament for one lucky winner this month from my Backcountry audience. It's time to give back to those faithful readers & followers.
To enter, post a comment with your idea for a really cool, custom ornament that you would like for yourself or as a gift for someone special. Be sure to include your email address as well. If you'd rather send a private message with your idea, send to enoreelapo@gmail.com -- all ideas are welcome!
I'll post the winner on November 30! Good luck!!!

In my mind...

The Enchanted Owl found a smidgen of spotlight on the web! The shop was featured on the South Carolina Etsy Street Team official blog today--check us out here!

Many thanks to my fellow SC Etsy team members for their warm welcome & support!

First off...

I worked a few extra hours today to finish up a custom ornament for my sister-in-law. Here's her finished product, known as the "newlywed lovebirds":Check out the shop for more photos. I'm open to any ideas & custom designs--the holidays are almost here!!

I'm OPEN

I'm venturing out onto a shaky limb. I opened my own Etsy shop to sell my curious collection of magical creature holiday ornaments. Feel free to stop by and take a look. I'm busy adding more to the store front, so in the days to come I hope to have several different ornaments ready for the viewing public.
Who knows if these will take off, or if they're even something people would want to hang on a tree. I like my owls, so naturally I named my shop The Enchanted Owl. If the prowlers out there need a laugh, swing by and give me your best shot.One things for sure, these little guys are keeping me pretty busy--if anyone is interested in one for their own, please just email me and let me know what you'd like--I can customize and add personalization or monograms as well!Starving artists can't be choosy or pricey for that matter, so I'm practically giving them away.
Come visit me!