Football Night In America

Thursday Night - Time to watch football! Okay, I KNOW it's only a pre-season game but it's the last pre-season event. I'm getting excited.

Our house is dedicated to the Ravens and they're looking pretty good at the moment.

We dress the part, too, so I whipped up a few outfits for the littlest fans in the family. (Unfortunately, the purple didn't photograph well. It IS purple and not blue.) Check them out:


The little guy wearing this one likes it 'cuz Coach Harbaugh wears a shirt styled just like it. (Of course, his doesn't have cutesie little cartoon characters on it. so this one is BETTER!!)

His little sister is adorable in this onesie!

This one is just right for our littlest fan!! (This style is also available in my shop now. You can choose your team colors and customize the little girl, too.) See it in detail here.

Did I mention there's a football on the rump of each onesie?


Of course, there's one in every crowd - somebody who crosses the field and gets "involved" with a fan from the other side ! Yep, folks, that IS a Steeler on that onesie. (We're soooo ashamed!)

I AM aware that the Steelers and the Ravens are mortal enemies and we do plan to show them who's boss when we stomp on them in the season opener next week!!!

Stump the Paint Chump

The kids in our family have long played a little game we like to refer to as "Stump the Paint Chump." (Me, being the "Paint Chump.") This began a long time ago when the 30-something crowd were young. We had a whole slew of kids in the clan at the time and coming up with Christmas gifts could be a bit challenging. One year, I decided to paint everybody a sweatshirt geared toward their particular interests or activities. This was back in the days of those shiny, rubbery fabric paints that stuck together when you folded a garment, chipped, cracked, peeled and were laundry nightmares.

They must have liked them because by November the following year, they were putting in requests. Most I was able to fulfill. In fact, I only remember one that didn't fully satisfy the requester and I think it was set as a trap to begin with. I collect reindeer things and he knew it and played off of that. His dad is a hunter and they were raised looking forward to being old enough to go on those hunts. He requested a big deer's head, surrounded by a scope. (The telescopic sight on a rifle.) I painted him the deer without the scope. He still mentions that "disappointment" now and then!

The myth that I can do anything has been passed down through the entire clan so the Omaha 5-year-old is usually prepared with a special request for me when I get there. (I ALWAYS travel with paints.)

The request this time was for a "Crocodile With a Heart" on a sleep shirt. Once I found a satisfactory garment to paint, I had to come up with a crocodile off the top of my head. I was confident she would not be technical enough to think it was an alligator as opposed to a croc. Most adults don't know the difference, either.

This was what I came up with. Think she liked it?

Score "1" for the Paint Chump, again.

Another sneak peek ...

Yep, still painting.

Definitely feels good to be replenishing the stock. I've been bursting with new ideas for designs and being very productive for the last few days. Believe me, when the urge strikes, I like to go with the flow. Here's another peek at things to come...

I'll be adding these items one at a time to my Etsy shop starting tomorrow. I find adding one item per day keeps my views flowing better than adding all at once.

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After a hard day at the brushes, we went for a fun evening - BBQ and some great live oldies rock music. It was an absolute beautiful day and evening here (60ish and sunny at 6 p.m.) and one of the best BBQ restaurants in the Baltimore area was holding an outdoor party on their parking lot.

If you're ever in the northern Baltimore County area and looking for some true slow cooked and smoked food, stop in at Andy Nelson's. Andy was a Baltimore Colt back in their glory days but he grew up in a Que-ing family and definitely knows how to smoke a great brisket (and ribs, and chicken, and fish, and more!) Another member of the Nelson family, Linda, makes all the homemade, Southern style desserts and sings the blues and some old-style rock with the best of them. She and The Jody West Band (a popular band in these parts) played while we enjoyed some brisket sandwiches. They certainly drew a crowd for a Thursday night! A good time was had by all!

Well, it's back to the drawing board (literally) in the morning.

Don't forget to check out Part V of the Craft Show Marketing Series here tomorrow. See y'all then.

Illegal after 2/10/09 !!!

Thought I'd show you just some of the items I can't sell under the new CPSIA as it now reads. Look dangerous don't they?

All of these items are garments made by Gerber, OshKosh, Carters and similar BIG name manufacturers who will need to test and certify all of their products before sending them to stores where I normally purchase my garments. Once I've painted them with certified safe fabric paints, I will again need to have them tested and certified by that third party tester. Not financially possible!!! I shall miss making cute kiddie stuff. Hope the old men look just as charming in my new line of painted clothes!!

Stay tuned to see the items I plan to present to the "older" generation!!!