Valentines Boxes are Showing up at TattooDreams!

I have to be honest. Valentines Day is my favorite holiday of the year! It arrives in the dark cold of winter. The stores have fragrant flowers blooming and the color combo of red and pink decorations dazzle the palette! It was a holiday, that, as a child, my Mom made special. She usually served as a 'Room Mother' for my brother or I and that meant cupcakes were made and brought to school. Usually a small token of her love for us meant a little gift wrapped in special paper. My Mom loved detail and making small things fun and us feel special. She never missed the opportunity to hug us and let us know we were a gift to her. Some things are hard to forget.
In these last few frozen days, I've taken to my studio to create some fun Valentines Day boxes. They're slowly being posted to my etsy site and available right away - and free shipping is my gift to you!
This handmade cherry box measures 8" wide and 3 3/4" deep and 7 high. The top opens by way of a wooden lift off lid with a red knob and co-ordinating red feet with sweeping pink fringe. The bottom is lined in sultry jet black velvet. It will hold anything you wish to tuck inside - or nothing at all!
Stamped with a wide array of all things Valentine from my vast collection of rubber stamps. All boxes are finished in a protective clear coat and the images will not fade.

Every piece a one of a kind! If you like it, buy it!

My boxes are quietly making their way into esteemed collections around the world. They are handmade by my husband Jon in our Bloomington Indiana studio and finely crafted. He builds, I stamp. These are not flimsy boxes purchased and decorated from a craft store.

Patricia

Walkin' In Memphis

Out of sequence here, but back in October of 2010 we did the River Arts Fest show in Memphis. Elvis still reigns supreme in this bayou town of music and nostalgia. The ever-present reminders of Martin Luther King, Civil Rights and the nearby Lorraine Motel become interwoven in this edgy city of history and strife.

Each time we do the show there, we spend Saturday night on Beale Street with friends. We take the trolley over from the show after we close our booths. On these trolley rides we've had the pleasure of meeting visitors from Australia and England as well as common folks who left footprints in our hearts and made our trip to this delightful city all the more enriching and memorable.

Last fall we met the Mayor of Beale Street, Rudy Williams. We ate dinner at The Kings Palace Cafe and took in some incredible jazz. The fried green tomatoes they served were the best!

The trip would not be complete without a meal at the famous Arcade Diner. It sits mixed in among the art fair booths that line Main Street. I do think they serve the best biscuits I have ever tasted. I'll have to return to verify this, but I'm pretty certain!
Some cities are magnets for interesting people - this is by far one of them. We look forward to a return and yet another wonderful encounter in the land of the Delta Blues.

Patricia

Why Would You Buy This?

Why would you buy this from me? I can tell you all kinds of facts about how it was made, who made it, the size, the color - buy why would you buy this? Why would you spend $55.00 for a box? $800.00 for a painting?

Financial/practical folks would say "Do you want it or do you need it?"
Of course you don't need it.
You buy art because you want it.

Will it improve your life? Debatable.
If smiling when you see this object counts, then 'yes'.
If feeling that you have helped contribute to the life of an independent artist to continue living their creative life makes you feel good, then 'yes'.
If surrounding oneself with unusual one of a kind treasures makes you feel
like you're creating a personalized pod to live in, then 'yes'.
If by owning this, you vicariously are living with a piece of this artists spirit in your home or office - then 'yes'.
Pretty compelling reasons I would have to say. Then again, I'm the artist who wants you to buy my work!

So - if this is the case.....think about these things the next time you hesitate. The next time you think,"should I buy that beautiful work of art that seems to be tugging at my soul".......just say 'yes'.

There is no right or wrong in buying art.
Buy what you love.
Buy what ignites your spirit.
Buy what makes you feel whole.
Buy what makes you miss a breath.
In becoming attuned to your inner voice, you come to count on it's intuitive input
when you need the push to say 'yes'!

As 2011 unfolds, make it point to buy at least ONE handmade piece of art each month.
At the end of the year, your collection will have grown,
your sense of collecting strengthened -
your passion expanded.
You will have grown too!
You may find yourself smiling more.
You may find yourself showing others your collection - having people into your home.
These are some of the wonderful aspects of art.
It is beauty and grace all wrapped in one!
--this is art!

Happy Collecting!

If you need any ideas - I ship for FREE on my etsy site!

Patricia

CD Cabinet Commission from TattooDreams

Every year on New Years Day our studio gets cleaned. This year we've been too busy with a few remaining orders to tackle the task. In the meantime, we completed this commissioned cd cabinet for a wonderful collector! Her patience was appreciated as the form came to life.

Made of cherry, accented with opulent gold paint, rubber stamped and finished in Danish oil, it was delivered to the Orchard Gallery in Fort Wayne, IN where our client will pick it up.
We hope it will be treasured!

Commissions gladly accepted.
Their completion depends on the complexity and our studio/show schedule.

Jon & Patricia Hecker

Fripples

Letting a pet go is perhaps the hardest part of having one. Today we had to do that. Our sweet 15 year old Fripples' heart gave out. We'd been giving him extra love and care since late fall. On New Years Eve we took him to the vet. This last week has been very difficult. When we decided to put him to sleep, our vet said he couldn't do it until Monday. That wasn't an option so we went to a vet we'd never been to. His compassion and diligence were what we needed.

I always felt Fripples was special - that's because he was! He was a gift. He found us 15 years ago in our forest home in the woods. During our time together he weathered lots of lifes' ups and downs with us.
A constant furry companion, a teddy bear who hugged us with his sweet white mitten paws, dazzled us with his watery green eyes and fluffed in the breeze on the deck sitting beside his red and pink geraniums. His sweet kittenality had everyone who came to visit us wanting to take him home! He would sense when my blood sugars were low by my breath during the night and stay with me until Jon gave me juice.
He was my best friend.

He had the same white fluffy color and coloring that a sweater my Mom gave me had. I felt he was somehow my Mom reincarnated.
I had my Mom 15 years and Fripples the same.
That just never seems long enough when you love them.


Go with God sweet bunnyman- you will always be loved.

Art Is Passion

This handmade cherry box measures 11" x 8" x 7". Perfect for the artist or imagineer in your life. Perhaps the creative soul in your family embarking on an art career.
Reinforce their decision and show your support with this great box. They will never forget it-or you!

The top opens by way of a lift off lid. The pink and electric blue feet are wonderfully colorful and accentuated with black fringe. The knob is a hand cut palette......can it get any more artsy? Fringe on any of my boxes can be removed at your discretion. This box is lined in rich black velvet on the inner bottom. All my work is sealed with a clear finish.


My boxes are hefty and handmade. Not flimsy ones from a craft store or imported. Careful attention to detail resides in all the work from our studio. My husband builds the boxes and I adorn them. We're career artists and have been for 25 years!

My boxes are quietly making their way into esteemed collections around the world.
More boxes can be found on my etsy site:
http://tattoodreams.etsy.com

95.00
Free Shipping

FREE Domestic shipping!

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Three days into the New Year. What will this year bring?
We have 12 months ahead of us.
A year from now, what will have changed?
Last year brought so many changes.
Ones I never saw coming or anticipated. Ones that altered who I am in ways I never thought possible.
It was a painful year on too many levels.
One I was more than happy to toss aside as 2011 loomed.

So far I have enjoyed the 'new' feeling this year has brought.
A chance to re-invent.
To begin again.
The sunsets feel new. The air fresh and the Earth ready to move through her seasons
and let them unfold in quiet unison.
Internally I feel a quiet I'm enjoying. I've made no resolutions and that
actually feels good.
No promises- just peace. I too will unfold and bloom as I need to.
I feel peaceful inside- maybe for the first time in many months.
I feel creative and full of ideas and that energy will soon be released in new work
that has floated through my brain for the last several months.
It will next move to my hands.
The realization that, once again, it's my passion for art that keeps me centered.
It never feels like work to walk into my studio and let my hands go to work.

My hands share a visual reference to that of my Moms.
She had long fingers and mine look like hers.
She is with me continually.

I share with you a prayer. This prayer was gifted to my friend who works in a hospital. It was bestowed on each person at the hospital, if they chose.
I find it both comforting and powerful since hands are the tools so many of us use to transform - be it to heal or to create- although that may be one in the same.
This year I hope to pursue the integration of healing by learning Reiki. This is something I've been fascinated with for a long time.


"May you be blessed with a spirit of gentleness and a heart that is tender.
May you be blessed with a spirit of strength shining within you.
May you be blessed with a spirit of compassion and a fervent caring.
May you be blessed with a spirit of courage, daring to be who you are.
May you be blessed with a spirit of openness, understanding, and respect.
May the earth hold you.
May the wind lift you ever up.
May the fire draw and warm you.
May the water soothe your soul.

Blessed be these hands that have touched life.
Blessed be these hands that have felt pain.

Blessed be these hands that have embraced with compassion.
Blessed be these hands that have been clenched in anger, or withdrawn in fear.

Blessed be these hands that have drawn blood and administered medicine.
Blessed be these hands that have cleaned beds and disposed of wastes.

Blessed be these hands that have anointed the sick and offered blessings.
Blessed be these hands that grow stiff with age.

Blessed be these hands that have comforted the dying and held the dead.
Blessed be these hands, we hold the future in these hands.

May the work of your hands bring healing to all the people you touch."

•••••••••


May 2011 touch you gently in ways yet unknown.
May this year grace you with understanding - of yourself and others.
May this year bathe you in light-
May you shine!

Patricia