snowy surprise

Wishing everyone warm holidays and a bright and creative new year!

new in the etsy shop!

Owl hats made of the softest fleece...check 'em out in the Camp Cactus etsy shop!

You can find me here for the next few days:

come on by and support the OHSU Heart Research Center!

holiday sale sneak peek

Kris Zorko will be back once again with her gorgeous journals,

signature paper tile mirrors

and cool little note totes. She also makes the most amazing, naturally scented soaps that smell and look so yummy, you really want to take a bite out of them!

Photographer Julie Jetton will be here with her beautiful

and ethereal black and white prints and cards.

Very dreamy!

ceramic artists

We'll be representing five ceramic artists this time around, all amazingly talented, and all as earthy as the material they work with!

Penelope St. Claire, a longtime potter and teacher (I've had the privilege of working with Penny at Grace Art Camp for many summers). Her functional hand thrown platters, bowls, plates and plaques are imbued with her boundless energy and enthusiasm for art and beauty.

Elisabeth Cook Sullivan, whose whimsical animal teapots, cups and bowls can make even the most mundane tea drinker into a party animal...

Liz puts on a show at her home as well: Art Over Macleay Park, happening December 5th and 6th in Southwest Portland.

These photos don't do Marla Munnich's earthy, folk art-inspired pieces justice, so you'll just have to stop by and see them for yourself!

Also returning this year is Darris Dietz, a potter best known for his colorful, sturdy, and incredibly practical bowls and vessels. Darris has been a fixture at Camp Cactus sales for years, and many of his pieces see daily use in my own kitchen.

And ceramic artist Dan Ennis will be here too. Dan is widely known around these parts for his quirky garden faces and fanciful tiles that can be seen hanging on fences and front porches throughout the Portland area.

See you next weekend!

lori presthus at camp cactus

Lori Presthus is one of those artists who manages to somehow weave art into everything she does. As well as painting beautiful wildlife portraits in the challenging mediums of egg tempera and pastel, Lori is also a professional cellist with the Portland Baroque Orchestra. Click here to view a collage of this passionate integration of her art and music.

Lori's prints and cards will be available at the Camp Cactus Holiday Sale next weekend.

holiday sale

The Camp Cactus Holiday Sale is coming up soon! Watch the sidebar for the list of artists, and stay tuned for some photos of what's to come...

In the meantime, here's a sneak peek:

Owl hats by yours truly...

Beautiful backpacks by Tamara King...

Cool and functional 3-pocket bags by Judee Moonbeam

join me here this saturday!

I've been busy day and night in the studio the last few weeks,

and my first show is coming up this Saturday, the 14th.

Join me and lots of talented artists and help us raise money for

Art Camp scholarships and other great charitable projects

in the community!

(click on photo to get all the details)

fairy godmothers and other friends

A few days ago Gay from the lovely blog, I Dreamed I Saw included my Autumn Fairy Gown in her post Tiny Things, Big Party!

Go check out the other lovely things highlighted in her post, especially this artist's work: Nicole Dextras, from Granville Island in Vancouver, BC. It's stunning!

Oh, and the Autumn Fairy Gown print and others are available now in the Camp Cactus Etsy shop! Stay tuned... the actual gowns will be for sale soon, too.

whooo let the owls in?

I'm working on some cool little owl hats for kids (big and little) based on a design I did for a sewing class in the spring. They'll be in the etsy shop just as soon as I find a better model!

fairy seasons

I've been working on some new gowns for those demanding fairies, because apparently there are lots of seasonal Fairy Events that require new ensembles...

like the Autumnal Masquerade Ball...

and the Winter Solstice Soiree.

I'll have limited edition prints of these gowns available in the etsy shop this weekend, and stay tuned for the Spring and Summer styles, coming next week!

yay!

One of my Fairy Closets is featured in an etsy Treasury today...stop by and check it out! It will be up until Saturday at this address:
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=88190

This beautiful treasury was curated by Kristin at Love Art Works.

Thanks, Kristin!

raw materials

Every day while walking the pups I find things. Beautifully colored leaves, gnarly twigs, mosses, bark, flower petals and seed pods.


I'm never quite sure what I'll do with them, although sometimes I'll just see something and get a fully formed picture of some finished piece in my head, just by picking the object up and holding it in my hand. Mostly, I just bring interesting stuff back to the studio and play with it awhile, creating different little vignettes and arrangements until sparks fly.


Lately, I've started to think the universe is trying to tell me something, because every day - EVERY DAY - I've been finding these beautiful, shiny black crow feathers. No matter where we walk, they're waiting for me somewhere along our route. I'm not quite sure what I'll do with them yet, but at this point I think I almost have enough to make an entire crow!


Got any ideas?

new fairy couture

Some new fairy dresses I'm working on for the fall collection...

this one was inspired by a dress worn by Claudette Colbert

in a 1930s movie I can't remember the name of.

Fittingly, it's for a Parisian garden fairy named Claudette.

The bodice is composed of guinea fowl feathers and down,

with cap sleeves and brooch of poppy pods, and a slim, pencil skirt of paper birch.

Here's a frothy, floaty, sensual dress with a skirt and top of hibiscus flowers, trimmed with gladiola petals and tiny blossoms. It was commissioned by Sofia, a flower fairy from Tuscany.

They'll both be available for purchase in the Camp Cactus etsy shop on Tuesday.

those cwazy wabbits!

Here's another wascally wabbit I caught flying through the garden yesterday. He'll be in the Camp Cactus etsy shop later today.

this is as close to twittering as i get...

I just posted these little guys in the etsy shop today...

they're tweet er, sweet!

the camp cactus zoo

Today a bunch (flock?) of owls flew in...what next? Elephants? Check 'em out at the Camp Cactus etsy shop!

those wascally wabbits!

Hey, these cwazy wabbits hopped into the studio today, so I sent them off to the etsy shop...catch 'em while you can! They're fast little buggers!

a hand drawn tour of camp cactus

My drawing skills have gotten a bit rusty lately, so I've decided to dedicate some time every day to sketch in hopes of improving enough to continue a project I started a long time ago. I'll let you in on it soon!

the stove of my dreams (click on picture to enlarge)

a very belated thank you

It's been really busy around Camp Cactus lately, what with visitors and studio sales and remodeling and dog sitting, and a bit of freelance work sprinkled in here and there.

In all the craziness, I realized I'd never acknowledged a lovely award given to me almost a month ago by Eugena, a very generous and talented polymer clay artist and blogger, who has blogs here, and here, and an etsy store here.

Thanks, Eugena!

Now I guess I'm supposed to tag some other bloggers with this award.
Here are the rules:
• Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link.
• Pass the award to 15 other blogs (or as many as you can) that you’ve discovered.
• Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

And the winners are:

1. artsyville

2. papaver jewelry creations

3. genine's art blog

4. mo "mad dog" stoneskin

5. an open sketchbook

6. writing photography studio

7. doves today

8. alive in wonderland

9. all adither

10. ta-dah

11. written inc.

12. cheap vino

13. left coast cowboys

These are all folks I admire for their creativity, writing skills and wit. Please go and check them out, and tell 'em Cactus Petunia sent you!

r.i.p.

Today I'm mourning the loss of a companion of nearly 20 years. My Husqvarna Viking sewing machine, number 6020. After valiantly hemming countless pairs of jeans, hundreds of yards of quilter's cotton and slogging through more polar fleece than I care to think about, my trusty Swedish sidekick gave up the ghost sewing, of all things, a pot holder.


I rushed it to Adam, the sewing machine doc, with hopes of a quick lube job and tune up, maybe even a transplant, but I read the bad news on his face as he heaved it onto the counter. Adam delivered the bad news, then steered me over to the new Vikings, and demonstrated the wonders of modern sewing machine technology. He's shrewd, that Adam. He didn't show me the top of the line Vikings, on the contrary, he proffered an updated model with just enough improvements over my old friend to tempt me.



Automatic buttonholes! Built in needle threader! An up/down needle control! Variable speeds! I barely kept myself from swooning. When I saw the price for these perks, I reluctantly snapped out of his spell and got down to business. How much to fix it? ($260+) That's about half the price of a new machine.

I'm tempted, but thinking it over.

What do you think? Is it worth it? Am I a traitor?

no need to panic

The Summer Sale is coming up this Friday, and I'm trying not to panic. Somehow, I'd forgotten that all my signs were stolen during last December's sale. My hand-painted signs that I've had for years. Yikes.

I'm currently awaiting a call back from two sign companies for some quickie printed plastic ones. 

In the meantime, here are some images of work by the talented group of artists I have yet to list in the sidebar. (I AM NOT panicking!)

magic marble 8 ball, by Megan Klepp

Artist Megan Klepp makes amazing mosaics with found objects like bowling balls and marbles and tile. You can see more of her work and a schedule of classes at her website, TaDah!

chicken pendants by Papaver Jewelry

My friend Maggie Kearns over at Papaver Jewelry makes very cool accessories and ornaments and doodads from a variety of materials. Her newest work involves felting, and metal, but she also works with fused glass, bottlecaps and scrabble tiles. Maggie's also an urban farmer and a  blogger! You can read about her little homestead and all her livestock (chickens and ducks and dogs and cats and her boyfriend Brandon, and their new truck) here.

felted polka dot earrings by Papaver Jewelry

Ok, I've gotta go now before I hyperventilate... Stay tuned for more artists later!