Feeling Fairy Tale-ish

Good morning. Enjoy a little fairy interlude through the eyes of Edmund Dulac.

The last picture is me waking up. I wish.

Have a wonderful day!

xo milady

Shoulda Coulda Woulda

a friend's wedding card- milady productions

I had a dream, to become a self made millionaire from my whimsical little drawings that would take the world by storm like Harry Potter making me one
happy mom free to live wherever, whenever, in style without a care in the world.
my 1996 Christmas Card - milady productions

I even made it to trade shows in places like Seattle and NYC with fabulous response. But then i had 3 little children and we came to a stand off. (imagine an old western town, no one out except 2 gunslingers on opposite sides of the main dirt street. on one side Milady Productions...on the other my family.)

And when i see wonderful companies like this one Rifle Paper Co.(thanks for reminding me Make mine mid-Century!) i feel 2 things at once:

1. inspired and delighted by seeing someone doing what i thought would be a good idea

and its evil twin,

2. jealous that it isn't me and that i must've missed the boat.whaaaaa.

But then again, i look at this darling work and simply wish i had a portrait

of my family for Christmas cards. I just love it.

So, if you suddenly see me illustrating the alphabet or making little family trees with angels, i swear, im not copying! :) its a great idea indeed .

Cheers to Anna and her success!

This lady continues to find her balance.:)

New! Gifted Magazine

xo milady

Goatie and Lambie

Here is a little diddy that I made for Morgan when he was a wee babe. It's called Goat Boy. (If you look closely you'll see I forgot to draw the rest of the harness!)

that little dog looks an awful lot like Pearl who was but a twinkle of a star sky back then.

Ah, the good old days...when a kid could ride a goat for fun. I have some photos of my great-grand-people riding goats. So does my husband. We're working on bringing that trend back. Its good old fashioned clean fun.

Goatie reluctantly leaving me. Goats heads can turn around like an owl's. He escaped twice this way . He has a good home, its down the road. In fact, we kinda knew whose it was but figured if they really wanted him they'd come at least look for him. Goatie was free to go wherever but he chose to stay with us.

Lambie goes wherever she pleases and is always there to greet me when I pull up the drive.

Goatie was just too cool. Calm, and quiet. His little bleat was so sweet. He would just come up and let you pet his funny head and stroke his long bassett hound ears and liked it. If you quit, he'd lean in and wait patiently. I'm missing that little guy!

I BRAKE FOR JUNK bumper sticker from my friend Mary Randolph "Carter"

And as a true goat, he got in my car , first the front seat, then he checked out the backseat, then the 3rd row...(yes it is a HUGE car) and finally made his way out the very back. He never pooped or ate my seats. Silly goatie.

Roscoe feeding Blossom.
We are all looking forward to spring when we can have a goatie of our own!

xo milady

Obsession

antique German ornaments found at christmas past collector

I have a lambie obsession, I love them, I love the way they look, I love what they represent. Now that I have my own little lamb (who is a full grown overweight sheep) I am even more obsessed. Now I want a goat. Did I tell you about the goat? A goat came a wanderin' into our lives and stayed with us for almost a month. Naturally, we named him Goatie, he lounged on the deck, napped under the horses' feeder, snuggled with Lambie once she got over her fear of him.

Then, sadly, his owners came. He reluctantly left, rope around his neck, escaping his leash twice.

I miss that guy but I don't think Morgan misses him that much. At least when he's trying to paint en plein air.

Come springtime, I'm getting a baby goat. :)

xo milady

Madsen Bicycle Contest!

i've had some luck with giveaways lately and am hoping i could hit the motherload with one of these amazing revolutionary vehicles The Madsen Cycle
eventhough i live in the country, it drives me nuts that i have to run all my errands with my giant loud vehicle i need for my life on the county road, with horse trailers, with umpteen sacks of feed and a healthy helping of children in tow. if i had one of these...i could actually park it at a friends and do all my in town stuff like a real townie. my kids are always wanting to bike along the river on the smooth urban cement...such a novelty for these bumpkins...which i love to do but am always the odd one out because my bike doesn't fit on the rack.
this too could change :)
i wish i may , i wish i might....here's where you could enter to win one too!

xo milady

Tricks or Treats

Ever wonder about this? I did. Now its clearer. I think.
Nice to know now after I walked the town lastnight in the pitch of night with an audience hanging on my every word about the ghosts of Ouray.

It was a perfect Halloween.

xo milady

Got Costume?

i'm having to dress mid 1800's for the Ball this weekend.

i'm going for the disheveled victorian look like this...easy to glue and pin.

but what i'd really like to be is the hedgehog

im wishing i had serious sewing skills right about now...those bustle dresses are mind boggling!

children: greek goddess

presidential bodyguard

the outhouse monster boy raised by wolves

bette go heat up the glue gun!

xo happy costuming

milady

My Life in th Bush of Ghosts

Beaumont Hotel

remember when i alluded to this?
well, thats what i've been up to lately. bringing history to life one ghost story at a time. it all takes place in the quintessential western mining town of Ouray nestled in a gorgeous box canyon dubbed Switzerland of America. I get to have fun, be creative, be a storyteller and make money WITHOUT being a dreaded waitress. It affords me to do what I want all day which is supposed to be art but then those darn kids keep needing me....kidding, well not really. :) My art isn't contained on a surface these days.

my life in the bush of ghosts music i enjoyed in art school

my life in the bush of ghosts one of my favorite books

xo milady

Wild Mushrooms

an unknown photo of a girl and gnomes 1887 - this is how i felt and wished i looked! :)

Holly and Lily

A lovely bolete!

Courthouse Rock

just a hop skip from my front door is this...the glorious Cimmaron mountains

with all their crags and points and magical forests. My friend taught me to identify chanterelles, boletes and hedgehogs but most importantly the deadly

kinds that are oh so smiliar . The day was crisp and fresh, the first day of school actually...we dropped off our children and drove here, hunted for our prizes, had a picnic on a stump then drove down the mountain to town where we fetched our kids. To think the kids were working so hard that entire time while their mothers were skipping through the woods like 2 little red riding hoods.

Dinner that night : Quinoa pasta with a Marsala wine and Chanterelle cream sauce with fresh sage.

What kind of adventures await you near your home?

Would love to hear!

vintage mushrooms for crafts

photo credit>

xo milady

Back up part 3 Rodeo

Every year, we cap our summer off in serious Western style . Out come the flashy tops and sparkly belts, tiaras and buckles, canned beer and sno-cones. Horses are washed and trimmed, pigs are srubbed and shaved, animals are hustled into the fairgrounds where they will be shown and sold to charitable customers.
Its all fun and games until the last day when the kids prepare for the truck that comes early in the am and takes them all away. Except ours. You see, i have a pet lamb who is now a very fat sheep, and have recently been adopted by a goat who enjoys the afternoons on the chaise lounge on the deck. I am not a rancher - in fact , i'm a weenie. So when the truck comes I feel just as traumatized as the little girls who get in their lamb pens and snuggle their goodbyes with their summer friends. Every year I think "what am i doing ?! "
But then i think...well, we aren't vegetarians so why not really learn where it all comes from?! If it were left up to me to harvest my own meat i'd become a vegetarian immediately. My kids pigs are still here at home.
Its a tradition in this little cow town to end the summer with a rodeo and 4-H fair complete with a spotty attendance of macrame entries, a few pies, canned goods and "art". This year I didn't enter a thing. who cares! Rosie, my daughter,the Rodeo Queen's Attendant dramatizing about something

The husband and Blue who is Red watching the Labor Day Parade in Ridgway

Roscoe showing his hog "Bonnie" for the 4-H judge. He had blue fingernail polish that matched his cowboy shirt. We Rogers like to shake it up a bit. "Clyde" missed the show, he was too fat and stayed at home. It's true, a pig can be too fat.

Did you ever think you'd see this? A chicken getting a bubble bath. Now, all she needs are some diamonds and a raspy voice like Carol Channing.


xo milady