Shops in Portland, Oregon??

Hello dear friends.....

We are on our way to Washington state to spend Christmas with my mom and our sons. Am so excited. Haven't seen my mother in a year and a half. But we are stranded in Oregon as the freeway is closed. The Blue Mountains is covered in snow, so we are waiting until the roads are opened again. Hopefully, we will get through soon.

We will be stopping in Portland, Oregon and wanted to find some shops and galleries to go to. Was wondering if anyone knew of some wonderful little shops we could go to there? I know there's BonChic Home, but can't remember the other ones. Anyone have some suggestions? Want to find the quaint, quirky, beautiful, unique and wonderful shops that have lovely handmade things.....out of the ordinary. Or scrapbooking stores or galleries. Would be so grateful for you suggestions. Love finding really unusual places.

Hope you are warm and safe.
Take care,

Debbie

the beautiful spirit of children.......

I found these beautiful photographs on the internet and wanted to share them with you. I am always amazed at how children view the world......so pure and sweet and curious and grateful. They have so much wonder about everything around them.

I hope you are all having a wonderful day. I have found so many other beautiful pictures and will posting them on my blog soon. Hope you'll visit.

Debbie

Progress and excitement......

I'm Back!!!!!

It seemts like ages since I've spent time on my blog! I can't believe how fast time goes by sometimes. But, today I am under the weather with a cold so have some precious time to write. I have missed hearing from all of you and spending time as well visiting your blogs. I hope you are all feeling the wonderful peace and beauty of this time of year and are encouraged by the kindnesses that reign during Christmas.....if only....

We are nearly finished with our job as decorative painters at the Utah State Capital. It has been a very difficult but interesting experience, working on a construction site, with hardhat, boots and all. But, I am glad we are almost through. I long for gentler, sweeter and more feminine surroundings!!! Sometimes, when I was at work, kneeling on a cold, dusty floor, I would daydream of my pretty little things at home on our windowsil in the afternoon light, sitting peaceably, waiting for me to cherish them. How different the worlds are between men and women sometimes. I see in a way how men who work as laborers appreciate their families so much because they have to work so hard in what they do all day.

I have posted pictures of the beautiful flyer and stationary that our son Matthew made for us for our children's dvd "The Enchanted Treehouse". It is coming along very well. The marketing company that we are working with had a television commercial made (60 seconds) to air on a cable network of our choosing, when we have our dvd actually finished. We also made a 2 minute trailer (with both of our son's help....Matthew directed and edited the trailer and our other son Michael did the music! It's so perfect!) So that is done and it's so fantastic! We are so excited!

Now we are working on the story and should hopefully have the actual dvd done in a month or so and it will be ready to purchase. It will probably be a bout 30 minutes long. We will keep you posted about how everything is going.

We are going to Washington in a week or so to see my mother (who turns 81 today!) and to do some more filming and collecting of natural materials. I am so excited to go back to Washington! I've missed it so much!

Must go now, but hope you are all well and happy. Would love to hear from any of you. Also, here's some sites and other things I thought of sharing.....take care and remember to find one good thing about everyone!!

Books:

Amy Butler's Mid-Century Modern

Papier Mache' Treasures by Teena Flanner

Pretty Little Things by Sally Jean Alexander

Vintage Vavoom, by (?)

The Salvage Sisters

Websites:

Moth (natural journals, wall art, etc.)

Grenouille (design team)

More soon!

Debbie

www.artmajeur.com/debbieschramer

Working on new film.......

Hello everyone.....

I sure haven't posted anything on my blog in a long time! So sorry for that. Our lives have changed so much since we moved from California. I think we had a lot more time to do fun things when we were there. We work so hard now on our painting job that we just don't seem to have the energy to do as much as we'd like to. We are still working as decorative painters at the Utah State Capital renovation project. It's such hard work! My husband Mike fell about a month ago from some scaffolding and broke his wrist. It was a terrible thing to have happen. He landed on cement and hit his back and wrists and elbows. His back is really starting to bother him now, too. We are definitely starting to think we need to find other jobs.....I think we are just too old for this kind of strenuous work. We have to go up and down stairs and scaffolding all day and it's just a rough environment for us. I really wish I could work around more women in a more feminine atmosphere! I am amazed at how hard the men work there at the capital, though. It is really showing me how persevering men are! I wish our society wasn't so captivated by building such elaborate structures, though! Is it really necessary?

Anyway, I have been missing just having the chance to work on our art. We are excited though about a huge, very important (for us) project we are working on. We are making a children's dvd about our Treehouse and little furniture! We started working with a marketing company about a month or so ago and they are helping us do a tv commercial about the Treehouse. The dvd will be called The Enchanted Treehouse. We've been working with our son, who is a filmmaker and it's been so much fun. I've posted a few pictures from one of our film/photo shoots. We will let you know when the commercial will be out. We will possibly have a 2-3 minute trailer available in a little while. When we have the actual dvd finished, we will announce that as well. It's a wonderful opportunity for us and we've really learned a lot. We'll keep you posted how things are going.

I hope you have a wonderful Sunday and that you'll have some time to think about Heavenly Father today and remember him. Sundays are such a special, sacred day to pray, to ponder, read and think about spiritual, uplifting things and to care about others and prepare to make the upcoming week filled with kindness and smiles!!

Take care,

Debbie

www.artmajeur.com/debbieschramer

dancing feet and birds escape......

i can't believe it's been so long since i have posted anything on my blog. we have been working so hard at our job as decorative painters, we come home and are just exhausted. i wish we had a life again.....where we had the energy and excitement to create and do fun things. this job really takes a lot out of us.

i haven't even been looking very many things up on the net lately either. just busy with other things, but i do hope you are all finding moments of happiness and joy in your lives and times as well that you will remember later with fondness. nothing is as important as enjoying life and the people in it!!!

i wanted to ask.....has anyone posted a video or movie on blogger yet? i tried to do that but it just never loaded. any suggestions?

more later; have a bright and beauty filled day!

debbie

www.artmajeur.com/debbieschramer

The beauty and mystery of nature in art......

the woods are a tranquil, beautiful space on this earth where voices of history and lovely, mysterious creatures

walk about and talk and listen

with ancient ears and hearts.....

here our child can swing upon the clouds that have drifted away from the icebergs of sadness.....the child within us can walk to the place of gardens and beauty and find the hidden smile inside.

listen and dance and find the joy in your heart again.

it is there.

Time goes too fast......

We are still in Utah, working. It is so hot here; it's just unbelieveable that a place can be so hot. I think I would rather deal with cold weather than all this scorching heat. But eventually, it's bound to get cooler.

We are still working at the state capital, doing painting. Some days are very difficult; others are tolerable and sometimes even fun, especially talking with our co-workers.

We haven't had very much time to work on our art lately, though and really miss that. Need to take some time to create some beautiful things. I hope you are having time to do creative things that inspire you and make you feel happy. It's so important to use your talents.

More soon....take care.

Debbie

www.artmajeur.com/debbieschramer