This ALWAYS Freaks Me Out!

This is the second or third time I've seen one of my creations in an Etsy ad on Facebook. Pretty cool, eh?

And here's where you can adopt this charming pumpkin fellow!

Did Your Microsoft Office Starter Stop Working Too?

About two weeks ago, the Microsoft Office Starter software on my Dell laptop stopped working after one of those weekly Windows updates. Suddenly I had weird ORANGE icons on my desktop and also in the file list when I went looking for the actual files in the folders. Although I have an extended warranty from Dell (thank goodness!), I have been absolutely dreading calling to ask them to help with this problem. If you've ever dealt with Dell tech support, you know what I'm talking about ... 

In a last ditch effort to resolve this problem myself (before giving in and calling Dell tech support), I decided to try to "repair" Office Starter. It said I would lose any UNsaved work, but of course I was freaking out that SAVED work might be lost as well. But I had to try it ... and less than 2 minutes later, I'm once again able to get into my Excel spreadsheets that I use for my business!

Just one small problem, which was super-easy to fix. After the repair, the shortcut on my desktop asked me to put media in the F: drive. I work off of a flash drive and it's the E: drive. So I deleted the old shortcut and made a new one, which references the E. drive and it works just fine. 

BIG WHEW!!!

Oh, just in case (like me) you've never tried to repair a program, here's how you do it!

1. Click on the Windows (Start) button.
2. Click on Control Panel.
3. Click on Programs.
4. Click on Programs and Features.
5. Find your program (Microsoft Office Starter 2010 - English).
6. Click on Change (at the top of the list).
7. Click the Yes button (I left the box unchecked).
8. There will be a pop-up showing the progress of the repair. Literally, it took maybe 2 minutes and the regular icons were back on my desktop!

Fall Shows & Current Work

This past week I applied to the "Holiday Art & Craft Festival" sponsored by the Crocker Art Museum. I'm every bit as nervous about this show as I was about the Art Fiesta in June; I won't know for sure whether I've been accepted for this show until the notification date in mid-August, so your finger-crossing is most welcome!

These shows are among what I consider the top three Sacramento-area juried art fairs. The third show is the "Sacramento Art Festival" which is held at the Convention Center downtown in early November; this is a very expensive show to do ($560 for a small booth in 2013), so it's not likely that you'll ever see me at this show. But maybe after I see how much commission I have to pay at the Crocker show (they request 15% commission in addition to the booth fee), it's possible I could change my mind. LOL!

I still have quite a bit of Americana in my Etsy shop. As a special treat for my blog readers, you can use Americana10 to get 10% off anything in my shop through July 13, 2013. It's all included, not just Americana, however you do need to spend at least $25 to activate the discount.

I've begun working on Autumn items and will continue with that through July and possibly into August before starting work on Winter and Christmas things. I will probably start listing my Autumn items around mid-July.

Good morning! I wanted to share some photos of my booth from the "Art Fiesta" art fair which I did on June 1st and 2nd. Some of these items are still available in my Etsy shop. Enjoy!

ACCEPTED!!!

I'm delighted to announce that I've been accepted to show my primitive folk art at the 55th annual Art Fiesta, so please mark June 1st & 2nd on your calendar! The Art Fiesta is the longest-running juried art fair in the Sacramento area.

This year, the Art Fiesta will be held at The Pavilions, an upscale shopping center, located on Fair Oaks Blvd. (x-street Howe Avenue) and next door to the Borders book store that closed awhile back. Shoppers will probably be able to park at Border's -- there are always some cars parked there anyway. This show has been held at the Town & Country shopping center in the past (Fulton @ Marconi), however they're doing a lot of construction over there this year, in preparation for several new anchor stores.

These are my "Berry Dolls" (still need to make their berries!). They will be available for adoption at the Art Fiesta. I will have several other styles of dolls as well, and a variety of pillows and other "smalls" for you to choose from.

My booth is #325 (click the link for a map of the art fair booths) which is between Julius, where you can shop from such clothing lines as Armani and Stella McCartney, and Pavilion Shoes, an equally high-end shoe "salon."

I've got a LOT of work to do between now and then ... but I look forward to seeing you in June!

Sewing Lessons in Sacramento

I've been thinking about offering beginning to intermediate sewing lessons here in Sacramento, California. 

I've been sewing since before I entered high school, so that's more than 40 years. I have made clothing as well as craft and home decor items. I can teach you how to use sewing patterns and explain the terminology. What is a selvedge? What is the grain of the fabric and why is it important? What is a seam allowance? And more!

Unfortunately, I don't have enough room in my small apartment for students to come sew, but if you'd like to learn how to sew, let me know and maybe we can come up with a solution! 

Can You Help the Four-Leggers?

Y'all know I don't blog unless I'm really inspired to, and this photo from Facebook has inspired me!

One of my Facebook friends is Bernie Berlin. I first heard Bernie's name after taking a collage class. Bernie is an quite an accomplished artist! Then I started seeing Bernie's pics of puppy dogs on Facebook, and learned that another of Bernie's passions is rescuing the four-leggers from shelters where their days are numbered.

Bernie lives in Tennessee and rescues animals, primarily from the Sumner County, Tennessee shelter, where their days are numbered. Bernie's organization, "A Place to Bark, Inc."  provides food, shelter, and veterinary care for these animals until they can be adopted. Needless to say, all of this requires quite a bit of money! If you have the ability to donate a few dollars to help Bernie out, it would be so very kind!