Art and Sand

Tuesday, April 2, 2019

I must have flowers . . .

Like Monet, I must have flowers, but it can get expensive buying fresh flowers every week

and it is time consuming fluffing the bouquets each day as flowers wilt.

More important, I need to be spending my time taming the jungle.

So, I was really excited when I came across a variety of great paper flowers

and sweet dried flowers at Tuesday Morning a few weeks ago.

I took time away from the garden to style the flowers -

mostly in the guest room.

Maybe I should call it the Flower Room.

I'm using the old hospital cart as a desk these days.

The baskets have been around forever, but only used for storage - I like them on the old door filled with flowers and books.

I have lots of real plants on the porch and remember to water them because I walk past them multiple times every day.

On the other hand, I would put fresh flowers next to the guest room bed and forget about them so a bouquet of faux flowers is perfect.

Paper flowers are fun in the old typewriter

because I don't have to change them as they wilt.

I had no idea how many faux flowers I have until I started switching out for spring.

For now they are all sitting on a chair in my shed - it's nice to know I have a fallback when I can't get to Trader Joe's for flowers or my garden is depleted.

And now it's time to get back to garden.

Monday, April 1, 2019

and the winner is . . .

I almost forgot to draw a winner and post the Canvas Factory print winner today

because I went a little crazy on Friday at the nursery and I've been working in the garden each day to deal with all those flowers.

I'm still not finished planting, but fortunately I have containers to set them in around the garden until I finish.

And now, to the winner.

The number 20 randomly came up out of 29 names - there were 32 comments, but one friend wrote two different comments, another was an anonymous comment and another person sweetly said she won my last Giveaway so she would not enter this one.

Terry of Sharing Divine Inspiration is the winner and I'm so happy because her comment was that she has had trouble navigating websites and I think she'll be pleasantly surprised at the ease of the Canvas Factory website.

Thanks for following Art and Sand - I truly appreciate all of you.

Friday, March 22, 2019

Canvas Factory

Marriage to an oil painter, means living in an art gallery with an ever changing stream of paintings to display on our walls.

You can see more of Steve's work at Steve Cook Studio.

I was hesitant at first when I was approached by Canvas Factory for a collaboration and Giveaway.

Steve has never done prints of his paintings - as his "manager", I have always felt that when a painting is purchased, the owner shouldn't see it in other homes or businesses.

Yet there have been paintings, such as "Old, But Not Forgotten, that sold and I wish we still owned a copy.

We thought this would be a great opportunity to try a print and chose to have Canvas Factory make a print of a recent painting, Full Moon Over Avalon - a wonderful memory of a family reunion on Catalina Island last fall.

We couldn't be happier with the result - a smaller version and remarkably similar in color.

The Canvas Factory website is super easy to navigate and I love that you can choose between canvas, acrylic or metal.

I wonder how this favorite pic of our grandson would look on metal?

Uploading a pic was simple - and believe me, I have used some sites where uploading a pic was not intuitive and I gave up in frustration.

I chose the Gallery Wrap because that is often what Steve does with paintings - he doesn't frame paintings that are for sale so he continues the painting around the edges for hanging in our home.

The turn around with Canvas Factory was quite speedy - I placed my order on March 10 and received the print on March 15.

The print is sitting in the guest room ready for me to package and send to my cousin Vicki who spent all her summers on Catalina Island.

Canvas Factory will give away 1 photo print of your choice - all you have to do to enter is leave a comment - USA and Canada residents only for the Giveaway.

I will assign each comment a number and use Random. Org generate a random integer.

The winner will be announced on the blog on April 1.

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

I was provided a print of my choice to write the review - all opinions about the product are my own.

Monday, March 18, 2019

Easter Pinterest Challenge

Through Instagram, I have met a fun bunch of bloggers who like to join together for blog hops and Pinterest challenges.

This month we are doing an Easter Pinterest Challenge hosted by Cindy of County Road 407.

Our inspiration is a beautiful Easter table setting created by Instagrammer Lisa of @asimplystylednest.

I don't have a dough bowl, but my wooden heart shaped bowl makes a fun substitute.

I also have a bunch of chalk eggs that usually sit in my wire chicken basket in the spring.

I had excelsior on hand along with a few Easter embellishments so I just needed to choose a bunny.

While looking for all my Easter decor in the attic, I came across this little green bunny and thought he might look cute in the centerpiece.

Then one day strolling down Main Street, I popped into a favorite shop and came across this character.

This little bunny hopped into my bag too.

Alas, they are hanging around waiting for me to decorate for Easter because another cutie stole my heart.

He is definitely not a bunny dressed formally in his waistcoat and bow tie.

Once Mr. Rabbit arrived, the fun began.

I gathered dishes, napkins, flatware, etc. to create the table setting - my Pfaltzgraff Pistoulet plates are the closest I could come to spring.

It will be just the two of us this year for Easter so it will be a simple table setting.

For a little Easter touch, rosemary from the garden is tucked into wire baskets and as luck would have it, the chocolate Easter eggs from See's Candy match the dishes perfectly.