Colors of Fall

My favorite time of the year is Autumn. I love the vibrant colors that the trees display before they let go of their beautiful leaves and become bare for the winter. A walk through Bernheim Forest right outside of Louisville, KY gives us time to reflect on the beauty of nature and time that has already passed.

"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower."~Albert Camus~

A bonus was to run into the local residents of the park. :)






As the sun started setting we knew it was time to go home....

Painted Stones

"Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive." ~Anais Nin~


Not too long ago I became friends with a fellow artist Amy Komar from my hometown in Alaska through a shared friend. Both Amy and I used to be in the same gallery/shop together but we never physically met each other. I started reading her blogs and fell in love with her painted stones. I collected stones since I was younger. In fact traveled with a few of my own from Alaska. Her stones though were not only beautiful but a couple of them caught my eye and I couldn't stop thinking about buying them, so one day I just did. And along with the stones I liked I also bought one that I thought would be neat to travel with Bo over seas.

Here are my beautiful stones from her Etsy shop. (All images are courtesy of Amy Komar)





The painted stone heading with Bo on his travels. He said it will fit right in his uniform pocket and will always be with him.



I was so excited to receive the stones and they were even more beautiful in person.

Then the other day Amy shared a picture of more painted stones that she is sending to us for Bo to be able to give to any patients that may need it. Not only were honored to have her artwork travel with him but was in awe of her kindness.



In Amy's words.
"These sweet stones were inspired by Abigail and Bo Coffell of Entwined Designs. Aside from making beautiful jewelry, Bo is also a nurse and will be on deployment. I admire his selflessness as I am sure it is crazy tough to be away from your family for any length of time.
Earlier this month Abigail shared that she purchased one of my painted stones to send with her husband over seas... that is when I got the idea to create a handful of stones for Bo to give to a few of his patients that may be in need of some kindness and love.

Thank you Abigail and Bo for inspiring me!"

Thank you so much for your kindness and friendship Amy. I know my husband will be proud to bring these stones with him and be honored to hand them over to whoever needs a little more love. :) I will make sure to keep you posted on it.

I am very grateful for the friendships I have formed over the years with fellow bloggers, artists, and being able to reconnect with others online. It makes life a little easier to bear when you know your support is only a click of a mouse away even if physically they are miles away. These next months will be a change to not only me but also to our boys. I know that I will have to keep my head up high and go on with the challenges and the benefits each day will bring. I thank my family and friends already in advance who have been supportive of this limbo time before Bo gets on the plane. We appreciate all the love and care given to us.

And once again thank you Amy!!

If you want to check Amy's artwork and blog out here are her links.
Amy Komar Art
Amy's Blog
Amy's Etsy site

Besides the work I am still doing with jewelry I have committed to an online class and also a sketchbook project. :) More on that on the next entry. :) Have a great Tuesday!

Finding serenity in my rock garden

The week of fall break the boys and I took away all the brown dreary looking mulch off our front garden and started clearing a way for a new rock garden. We dug up the existing plants to replant in a different location, then I planted new ornamental grasses and day lilies and put the weed barrier down.

Patiently I waited for Bo to have a day off so that we could finally order the river rock to be delivered. That happened this last Thursday and again was outside working (I should have muscles now with all the work I have put out there.LOL!)until the river rock was put in its place. The garden will be a work in progress as the seasons change. I bought decorative rock to sporadically put around the garden and will find odds and end to pop color into the yard. A gazing ball is on that list and pumpkins for this fall season. :)

As for now it is just so calming to look out my art room window and see simplicity, stability and serenity out in my garden. I have no idea what made me so connected to rocks. I have always collected them since I was little and even travel with my rocks from Alaska on every move we have made. So I don't know why I didn't pick a rock garden to begin with. Now after all the hard work it will be nice to just upkeep the new garden as needed but enjoy the benefits it will bring. :)

A little walk through the progress.......



















We went to the Glendale Crossing Festival in Glendale, KY yesterday and I picked up some bronze fairies that now sit on some of my rocks. I wanted to buy more of the wrought iron pieces but I will do that in time, so I always look forward to adding more to the garden. :)

Enjoy my new garden. :)

Tonight we are headed into Louisville to watch Stomp! :) I have been excited all week about this and cannot wait to see the show. I hope you all have enjoyed your weekend. :)

Future Rock Garden

Days seem to be flying by when I want them to slow down. We have finally painted the whole kitchen and living room and I love the color. It is such a cheery color and will help during the dreary days.

I then started work on my front garden. The boys have been on fall break so I put them to work the other day raking out all the mulch and helping me pull out all the plants. The mulch ended up making the area look unkept and attracted every critter in the world. I am all about simplicity and maintenance free so we are changing it out to a rock garden. It will be work but worth it in the end.

Between the heat this summer and the bugs my poor garden is holding on.


The boys hard at work getting all the ugly mulch out.


We are hoping to turn that area into a rock garden with ornamental grasses and the front of the porch to something similar to this picture.



The garden area is right outside my art room window. It would be nice to be able to look out there to a simple and serene garden. So we are getting the ground prepped to get the edging in and the weed and grass barrier down and the ornamental grasses in so that all we have to do is get the river rock delivered to us. :)

Snippets of our visits to garden places.

New art room and finally painted walls! :)

(This must be the life...:) Totally opposite of what our days are like for the humans in our household. LOL!)


Since the art show weekend we have been steady on getting our to do list for the house done in between cross country practices and Bo's work. He wanted to finish the painting he started so that we can move on to finishing the other half of the basement and landscaping before he leaves.

He used to be a painter with his Dad before heading into the Army and during our break in service. So he is very particular about the paint and how to paint right. He is meticulous, so I don't touch the paint brush. I leave it up to him to be able to work so that in the end it is rewarding for him.

You probably remember the post I did on how we repainted the master bathroom after our trip to Florida.http://abigailscreativejourney.blogspot.com/2010/08/getting-ready-for-show.html Well he liked the Benjamin Moore Aura paint so much he wanted to paint the rest of the house with it. We did paint the house when we first moved in but he wasn't satisfied with it and now with the house settling we are seeing all the screws and nail spots that he has to fix.

So we are on this painting marathon. LOL! He started with the office room in our house used for my arts. The paint on the walls were a faded pink. I wanted a chic room but we realized fast that when it is cloudy and dreary out the pink actually made the room unwelcoming. :( So I wanted a brighter color that despite what the weather is like outside I can feel energized in my room to create.

My before art room:





The new paint: Benjamin Moore Pear Green



My new art room. :)I LOVE how bright the color is!!















After my art room he progressed to the boys rooms and finally put some colors on their walls. :)

Nick picked a burnt orange color called Burnt Caramel. He is a Texas Longhorn fan and wanted his room that color. Now all we have to do is put his posters up and window coverings.








Jared picked a slate blue color called Atmospheric







Rolling right alone he then started on one of our hallways. We had picked a golden type color for our living room and kitchen area against our red accent walls but despite how warm it makes the room feel he wanted something a little brighter so we ended up with a color called Squish Squash and it did brighten our hallway up! This color will end up in the living room and kitchen area.

This is the walls we have right now and you can see the swatch of Squish Squash up against the door.




This is the color going up. The newly painted hallways with the new color Squish Squash.







Today as I blog, my living room is in chaos. Bo is painting the living room and kitchen area. So I cannot wait until we are finally done with the painting upstairs and can finally start on finishing up the room in the basement. We can then concentrate in re-seeding our lawn and changing our landscape. I was going to change the front garden into a rock/zen garden. I think it would be a much easier upkeep plus the rocks will not attract bugs like the mulch did and it will be a peaceful sight from my art room window. :)

I hope your weekend is going great. Now I need to go outside int he nice 50 degree weather-yes it has finally cooled down here- and pot my new Mums that I bought from Three Springs Farm. :)

Have a great day!