Grand Rivers is in the top ten!

I have often thought that I live in the most beautiful resort town in Kentucky, part of what brought me here four years ago in the first place. Now, Southern Living Magazine's wonderful readers agree with me! January's issue put our town in the top ten of these two categories, only a few years after Cosmopolitan magazine named our Lighthouse Landing one of the most romantic places to be kissed!

Best Scenic View
1. Lookout Mountain, Chattanooga, Tennessee

2. Grandfather Mountain, Linville, North Carolina

3. Chimney Rock Park, North Carolina

4. Grand Rivers Jetty, Kentucky (pictured below)

Jetty Sunset, Corinne Sullivan 2007, oil on canvas, 16x20

5. Rock City Gardens, Lookout Mountain, Georgia

6. Cades Cove, Tennessee

7. (tie) Clingman’s Dome, North Carolina/Tennessee

7. (tie) Stone Mountain, Georgia

9. Brasstown Bald, Georgia

10. Mount Magazine, Arkansas



Best Small Town
1. Beaufort, South Carolina

2. Fairhope, Alabama

3. Fredericksburg, Texas

4. Blowing Rock, North Carolina

5. Franklin, Tennessee6. Eureka Springs, Arkansas

7. Oxford, Mississippi

8. Grand Rivers, Kentucky

9. Madison, Georgia

10. Hendersonville, North Carolina

Shoppin' Around the Christmas Tree...

is fabulous fun when you can stay warm and cozy INSIDE shopping over 20 vendors and take the tree home when you're done! Well, maybe. Featuring a gorgeous, fully decorated tree from the talented Beverly at Grand Rivers Florist that will be for sale/ auctioned off, and of course, I will be there selling my collection of 2008 ornaments (in a snowflake theme this year) along with jewelry, fine art, and vases. Snowflakes like this one, that I painstakenly drew with "hidden" images (ok, so they aren't really hidden well, I'm not MC Escher for crying out loud), which proved to be harder than it looks or sounds:

Not to mention 20 some other vendors from Mary Kay and Tupperware to Silver Chics and other local artisans, it promises to be a great show! Great for early holiday shopping and getting in the holiday mood.



As long as we're getting in the holiday mood, while you're in town be sure to walk through Patti's and enjoy all the holiday lights. It gets more beautiful every year, with more and more lights. The elves (and by elves I mean my friend Kim and other volunteers from the Chamber of Commerce) have been hard at work decorating town, and the staff at Patti's has been workin since October getting all the lights up. Tonight they get lit at 6 pm, and I am very excited. It is just too beautiful to describe, and almost makes up for the fact it's too cold to go out on the lake for a few months. Almost.



You can read about it all here. I have been nagging Kim to get bloggin', and now she is showing me up! Seriously, she has a great blog about all the happenings here in our awesome tiny town. Check it out!

What a Weekend!

Hunter's Moon this weekend was busy and well attended as usual. I love doing this fest every year because the weather is gorgeous, the people come out in droves, and this year they added live music (and it was even close to my booth, which was awesome), to liven things up. I also got interviewed on the radio, on country 94.7 or something like that, which was very spur of the moment and without warning, but I think I did ok NOT sounding like a fool! LOL The DJ guy said I looked 29, so we became fast friends. It was fun, irregardless! All that, and children's activities and a parade, which makes it the only craft show Sierra actually wants to go with me to. See?

Unfortunately, the next day was also beautiful weather, which made it a great bike riding day. The wierd thing about October in this part of Kentucky is that is is often still summer weather, with leaves on the ground. So summery in fact, you can forget the leaves are there. Which is what happened when Sierra's bike flew on the leaves coming down the hill on our road like she's done a million times before. My dad always warned me about driving on leaves, and how they can be slicker than ice. Apparently, dad was right once again, because down she went, and man, was it ever scary! With the help of my neighbors, we got her taken care of and to the ER immediately, where after getting her calmed down and cleaned up, were able to see the extent of her injuries. Three head (face actually) wounds with a total of around 15 stitches, chipped teeth, head to toe deep scrapes, road rash and abrasions, and a broken wrist later, Sierra is at home on bed rest. She looks and feels pretty rough, but is a real trooper and her spirits are still high.

Poor baby!! Keep her in your prayers as we battle infection and try to get her healthy!!

Inventory Clean Out Sale!!

I have spent the last few days hard at work taking inventory of everything I have made in the past two years. In doing so, I have found things I have forgotten all about!! All of this hard work is in preparation for the craft shows I have coming up- the KWW's 33rd Annual Arts and Crafts Show on Labor Day weekend, the Paducah BBQ on the River Festival September 25th ,26th and 27th and Hunter's Moon Festival October 10th. Check out this little pretty:

To celebrate cleaning and organizing all my inventory (no small feat, if you have seen my studio!), I lowered all my prices in my Etsy shop!! So even if you have been there before, go back and look again! Almost everything is 25% to 50% lower than before!!

xoxo

there goes plan B...

It's the darndest thing. I live in a town of 350 people. we have 4 restaurants open to the public nearby- Patti's 1880's Settlement, Iron Kettle (part of Patti's, technically), The Pelican, and The Cumberland House. In less than one week, two of the four went up in smoke. Weird, huh?

So I guess I really have more time to work on my art now!! If you haven't checked out all I have to offer, why wait? I'm just sitting here, watching the town burn down, painting away...

New show

Spring is almost here! Finally! Alter being so cold for so long, I am stoked to have booked several shows for later this year when the summer is in full swing and festivals abound!! The newest one I have signed up for is probably one of the biggest- Kentucky Western Waterland's 33rd annual Arts and Crafts Festival Labor Day weekend. If you have never been, its one of the biggest in the area, and always interesting. This year their show will be right here in lovely scenic Grand Rivers, one of Cosmo's most romantic places in the U.S., at our new Little Lake Park. Set back in the trees, this "little" park is a shaded, cool place to spend a leisurely day looking at crafts, eating nummy festival food, and hanging out with your loved ones. Their show features all handmade only items, and includes a super huge variety- from over 100 vendors, including wood carvers, broom makers, painters, sculptors, and some of the craftiest folks this side of the Mississippi! So mark your calendars!! If you have not yet ventured over to my website, wander on over now and see my calendar to see where else I'll be this summer. My goods will vary from NEW fun jewelry, bedazzled versions of my printed clothing, and of course, NEW cooler vases that have yet to be unveiled!!! And while you're here enjoying our quaint little town be sure to check out the sunset at the jetty: