BOUTIK-A-BLOG: PRACTICAL ODDS AND ENDS

This is an incredible Mexican piece I got a few years back in a Salvation Army thrift store in Contra Costa County for 8 whole dollars. I found this on one of my many journeys to California during the two years I spent in counseling there. Those trips transformed my life and my soul. This piece I call The Ancestors. I am half Mexican, and while I am very proud of my heritage, there was some internal conflict because my Mexicano father's parenting was not nurturing. I see now, though, how the negatives in my life have given me amazing and tremendous gifts. So when I found this wonderful sculpture, I claimed my heritage in a new and powerful way. I have come to believe that I actually chose a rocky and difficult path in order to come to this place of incredible well-being in which I now reside. Pues, bienvenidos a los antepasados.
Another shelf in my dining room. All thrift store or flea market purchase.

An ATC.
This is a little collection of ATC's I did for a trade.

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Well, it's been way too long between posts, but I've been busy in classrooms and at my computer. I've just set up a SALES ONLY blog (Boutik-A-Blog: boutikablog.blogspot.com) as an attempt to streamline my business a little. It's definitely in its infancy, but you will find some wonderful things there. I'll have, of course, arts and crafts supplies for all you crafty people, but I plan to sell a bit of this and a bit of that flea market style. You'll be able to find vintage fabric (from what my partner, Herb, terms "the cloth mine"). Look for vintage ephemera including old photos, vintage greeting cards and wrapping paper, old wallpaper, salvaged book pages, advertising, illustrations, etc. I'll even offer vintage and contemporary clothing as the fancy strikes me. If you've read earlier posts, you know that I've dealt in collectibles, so I have things I've owned and loved and am passing on as well as things I've found just for you. Since the blog is one day old, I've listed just a few things. Some Dymo Label Makers (w/an extra roll of tape), some extra-fine mister bottles (for use in rubber stamping and watercolor) and an assortment of tags. I'll be listing more in the next couple of days as I begin to take more photos.