Nonpareil

California based Anthony Hansen‘s artwork is made mostly from found automotive sheet metal. His various hearts are incredible. I also love his description about his work:

“Creating hearts out of found/reclaimed elements constantly reminds me of the humanity that we all share, and how closely all of our different lives and journeys are connected”

Anthony has no online store, but he posts his show schedule, and maybe you’ll be lucky enough to see his work in person.

*edit* you can find his work at Fiona Bleu Gallery in Morro Bay, California…

I’m absolutely, totally in love with Texas based, Goodbloom‘s fabulous flower prints. Just crazy about them. Love love love….especially the ones painted on wood. The artist, Holly, also has a lovely blog too!

I love this project by Belgium based Art Mind. It is a series of babushkas with added textures to convey different feelings. Here’s how artist, Mitsy explains it:

“It derives from a project I did many years ago reflecting my self-portrait. I called it ‘how the outside can tell how you feel inside’. I started out with 9 feelings and then I suddenly thought of making 99 of them…”

I love the swirly “giddy” one above…You can see all of the babushkas on her flickr page…or check out her blog…she’s multi-talented, and has lots of crafty things to share…{including a rad scratch-off lottery-ticket tutorial}.

Fellow crazy-dog-lady Leigh Jackson, from Noisy Dog Studio creates some great dog portraits from her Washington studio. They are so sweet! Guess which one of the dog’s above belongs to Eva Longoria?

If you have a rescued or adopted dog, you can submit his or her photo to Noisy Dog Studio’s 2009 Faces of Love project. 10% of the purchases will go to A Place to Bark Animal Rescue in Tennessee {you are not obligated to purchase the portrait}. It’s a win win! If I could only get my daschund, Weenie, to sit still for a minute, I’d send in his picture.

Here are the photos Leigh used for inspiration:

I was welcomed back home with freezing cold weather and snow! Vacation is officially OVER. We had a blast, and I wanted to share my favorite store from the little village of Sayulita, Mexio, where we stayed. It’s called Gypsy Galeria, and is cram-packed with local handcrafts. They have a ton of oilcloth goods {all my photos turned out with an ugly reflection}, Frida Kahlo’s mug is on anything you can imagine, beautiful handwovens, all of the crafts are displayed beautifully, and it’s just steps from the beach. What I love the most is that everything in the shop is hand selected. It’s not just the same ‘ol tourist crap, and it satisfies my need to buy a few cute things while I’m away. I miss it already.