Hang Your Heart Up

'When you fish for love, bait with your heart, not your brain'. Mark Twain

Mother's Dream Artworks

Happy Jack! Halloween Gourd Folk Art

What's larger than a Hermiston watermelon and happy as can be? Jack, who is now is available now on etsy.

Light The Tree Santa - Upcycled Folk Art

Since I can't get a real job right now due to caring for my elderly in-laws, I might as well play when I can right? So I'm looking for new homes for some of my Santas that didn't get listed online during the holidays. This Santa is a re-purposed light bulb, hand sculpted with Creative paper clay and hand painted with layers of paints to add depth and shape to his features. He's a one of a kind, listed at MothersDreamRtworks ETSY

Copper and Turquoise and Silver Together...why not?!

 When I was 13 Mom decided to make us some clothes for the upcoming school year. Money was tight, so we marched on down to the fabric store in Enterprise, and got to pick out the colors of our outfits. I chose a pretty turquoise fabric for a skirt and reversible vest set she was making, and along with that some chocolate brown velveteen. The vest had button holes on each side so that three chain and button set could keep the vest laying down nicely in the front. I really loved the combination of the brown with the turquoise, just like in this necklace I've put together.

 Granted, chocolate brown and copper are not the same, but the antiqued tone to the copper findings and chain in this piece are very earthy and go well together with the turquoise colored pendant and beads.

The silver tone to the hinged bail and spacer beads makes a nice contrast to the copper, the heishi shell spacers are a lovely dark and light brown mix. Another fun creation you can find at Simply Sheryl's

A trip to the orient.....

 I had so much fun putting this necklace together! It took me back to the days, when as a child I lived in Taiwan. What an interesting adventure that was, with water buffalo taking a bath in the river next to the rice patties below our home. Often, when we would be out playing on the patio in our inflatable pool the Taiwanese children would be coming home from school. They would giggle and point at us, waving and smiling as they trudged up the dirt road to their tiny huts.

 We loved to go to Taipei where there were shops filled with smiling buddhas, gorgeous hand painted fans, and rooms filled with hand carved teakwood furniture. We begged and begged until we got our very own fans to hang on our wall in our bedroom. We had several momentos of our time there, including a lovely set of coffee and end tables with a hand carved pagoda design, and brass vessels  plus brass dragon candle stick holders.

 Sometimes Mom's helper DeeDee, who lived with us, would take us down to the market and buy us fresh sugar cane as she did her shopping. We were a novelty to the vendors and they loved looking at us American children, touching our hair, mine is extra curly, and patting us.

 I have plenty of snake stories to share, and a couple of accidents that happened but all in all Taiwan was a magical place for us. I still have copies of the hand painted Christmas cards we sent out the year we were there.

There is a romance to the orient that is hard to define, and I sure had a fun walk down memory lane as I created this one of a kind necklace. You can find more about it here - Simply Sheryl's

Amethyst... the color of me.

 While not a true purple, these glass beads and shells are a shade of amethyst that caught my eye immediately. Having worked in a jewelry store for a bit, I noticed that many stones we assume are a just one color, often come in a variation of the common shades. From what I've garnered in research, a true amethyst is purple with flashes of red. I do like the version with a touch more of the red, but all are so pretty!
Throughout history amethyst has been used to guard against drunkenness and is thought to be helpful in overcoming addiction. It has been used for hearing disorders, insomnia, headaches and other pain. Some sources suggest it is used to stabilize mental disorders. Worn to make the wearer gentle and amiable. Amethyst powers include: dreams, healing, peace, love, spiritual upliftment, courage,  psychism, protection against thieves, and happiness. While these beads are glass, and not true amethyst, I wonder if the color itself has magical powers......

This shell pendant is much like a true amethyst in that it is a deep purple, with flashes of red. It's hard to pick that up by photo though so you will have to take my word for it. Regardless, this lovely necklace is so feminine and yet bold, with the chunky beads and large pendant. For more information you can see them here.... Simply Sheryl's

The color of rain.....

 Lightning is flashing and thunder crashing,
soon there will be rain coming down.
I tremble and shiver, my heart all a quiver,
at each thunderous deafening sound.

I think I should go now,
for how do I know now....
that lightning will not hit the ground.
So I'm off to go hiding,
no more will I be writing....
as I don't like noisy loud sound.


If you like what you see here,
then please do be a sweet dear....
and stop by my etsy shop now!   Simply Sheryl's

A gift for my daughter, hand made stationery

As I talked to my oldest daughter recently she mentioned that she was thinking of hand writing letters to her friends in Alaska. With her birthday coming up this week I decided to experiment and see if I could make some art stationery for her. I first thought of scanning all sorts of lace trims and such and then it donned on me, oh duh! I have some of my art sketches on the computer already, so why not try those?! 

These aren't too fancy mind you; hey it's a start, and I'm going to experiment with different scanned items to see if I can add a touch of vintage to my stationery as well, but these turned out pretty nice. My favorite is the Pansies with it's lavender lines. I created lined sheets without the art as well, so she could have the first page with the art and the rest just for writing. These are done two to a standard sheet of paper so they are smaller, the half sheet size, which I personally like more. She will get a stack of all three designs with a request to let me know which she likes the most. So here's to a happy birthday for my Stephanie!