Merry Christmas Cardinal Cone

I've Got a Brand New Pair of Roller Skates (You've Got a Brand New Key)

OMG...I stumbled across these on eBay. Underneath the rust and dirt is a little slice heaven. I wore out a pair of these exact same roller skates when I was a little girl. I can still hear the sound of those metal wheels barreling down the alley at blazing speed trying to make it home before the street lights came on. When I was down to my last skate, my dad took it apart and made me a wooden scooter with it. It did not take me long before I was back barreling down the alley at blazing speed on my scooter.

Memories in Bloom

A Christmas Cactus of my moms......what a wonderful treasure! Thank you Barb for taking such tender care of it all of these years!

Crafternoon Fun!

Every so many months my friend Becky hosts a fun crafternoon at her place. About a dozen or so gather for a playday of a delicous lunch, followed by a few hours of paper, glue, & scissors. Becky always choses the best of projects to make and this time was no exception. I met Becky a few years back while she was teaching art techniques and doing product demos at Red Lead, my favorite local place to shop. Thank you Becky for another great afternoon!

BCS Two Years and Counting!

"Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections but instantly set about remedying them -- every day begin the task anew." ......St. Francis de Sales

Lesson C6 - Layers w/Glazed Background

Lesson C5 - Packing Tape Transfer

Lesson C4 - 3 x 3 Composition

Lesson C3 - Shapes

The background is reassembled. Looking it over, I wish I would have reassembled the label as well. I tried to stick with rectangles and circles.

Lesson C2 - Color & Contrast

Lesson C1 - Blended Background

A bit heavy handed with the gesso.

Lesson 9 Background

(Under construction)

Lesson 8 Making It Work

Lesson 7 - Paper

The Lesson 7 challenge was to create a gluebook page with ONLY original paper. No copies but vintage papers, phone book, newspaper, magazines or whatever we have around. I looked through my cabinet cards, old magazines and books and just had trouble wanting to cut into anything. I mentioned to my husband how difficult this was for me. He said if you never use up the things you have, you will never have room for or need any new and fun stuff. I was shocked to hear such sound reasoning coming from someone who thinks 'shop' is an ugly 4 letter word.

For this page I used a not-to-old dictionary page for the background. The picture I found in an old magazine. I tore a piece of blue wrapping paper to use along the left border. I have a 1949 World Atlas book. From that I took the little map on the lower right. Behind that is a torn piece of the library pocket. There was a hand written note tucked in between 2 of the pages. I tore a piece of the note for the right side.

Lesson 6 - Visual Weight

Lesson 5 - Pieces in Composition

Lesson 4 - Positions in Composition

Lesson 3 - Patterns

Lesson three is a two page spread. This was fun. Fighting the urge to pull out paint, buttons or embellishments is much harder than I thought. I moved everything around at least a dozen times. I like it... but I still need to loosen up a little. I think I will try to do another spread using no people pics and make the background the main focal. Oops... that might be the reason for Lesson 3.

Gluebook Lesson 2 - Size

This is a 3 piece challenge... a background and two others. I made two pages. With the elements I chose they almost look as much like a scrapbook page as a collage, but that's okay. I like the one on the right the best. It must be the softer colors. Need to chose them more often. Having fun learning!

Miss Mary - Green Paper Challenge

Mary at Green Paper issued a challenge to make an ATC, assemblage, gluebook or journal page using three pieces or elements of the 3 pieces. The rest is up to us to use what we wish. Since I am just beginning my lessons, I decided to work on a gluebook page. Drop by Green Paper download a "Miss Mary Hayes Challenge Sheet" and play along.

My Vintage Gluebook Lesson 1 - Composition and Color/Materials

Ugh... Mary was right. Not so pretty. I think I cut off the part of the color that actually coordinate. I need to chose better materials. Good thing I signed up for lessons in collage.

It Had to Be Harry

Last Friday night I got to meet one of my favorite singers.... Harry Connick Jr. My daughter and I saw him perform at the Fox Theatre. The show was fabulous! We left after the crowd and stumbled on three busses parked around back packing up the band gear. It was not long before Harry came out to greet the crowd and offer his signature. He was quiet but friendly and had a sweet smile. Thank you Harry!

Come Fly with Me!

All you need is faith and trust, and a little bit of pixie dust… P. Pan

Focus

A canvas board for a friend.

Something New for Tobi and the Gang

Hope they like it. Making a Pixie House was a first for me. Is there enough glitter on it? Pixies love glitter I heard.

Book Page Thongs for Swapping

Altered Houses

Happy Mother's Day

When the Good Lord was creating mothers, He was into his sixth day of “overtime” when an angel appeared and said, “You’re doing a lot of fiddling around on this one.”

And the Lord said, “Have you read the specs on this order?

She has to be completely washable, but not plastic;
Have 180 movable parts... all replaceable;
Run on black coffee and leftovers;
Have a lap that disappears when she stands up;
A kiss that can cure anything from a broken leg to a disappointed love affair;
And six pairs of hands.”
The angel shook her head slowly and said, “Six pairs of hands... no way.”
“It’s not the hands that are causing me problems,” said the Lord. “It’s the three pairs of eyes that mothers have to have.”

“That’s on the standard model?” asked the angel.

The Lord nodded. “One pair that sees through closed doors when she asks, ’What are you kids doing in there?’ when she already knows. Another here in the back of her head that sees what she shouldn’t but what she has to know, and of course the ones here in front that can look at a child when he goofs up and say, ’I understand and I love you’ without so much as uttering a word.”

“Lord,” said the angel, touching His sleeve gently, “Go to bed. Tomorrow...”

“I can’t,” said the Lord, “I’m so close to creating something so close to myself. Already I have one who heals herself when she is sick... can feed a family of six on one pound of hamburger... and can get a nine-year-old to stand under a shower.”

The angel circled the model of a mother very slowly. “It’s too soft,” she sighed.

“But she’s tough!” said the Lord excitedly. “You cannot imagine what this mother can do or endure.”

“Can it think?”

“Not only can it think, but it can reason and compromise,” said the Creator.

Finally, the angel bent over and ran her finger across the cheek. “There’s a leak,” she pronounced. “I told You You were trying to push too much into this model.”

“It’s not a leak,” said the Lord. “It’s a tear.”

“What’s it for?”

“It’s for joy, sadness, disappointment, pain, loneliness, and pride.”

“You are a genius,” said the angel.

The Lord looked somber. “I didn’t put it there,” He said.

by Erma Bombeck, Mother’s Day column for May 12, 1974

For Becky

Butterflies are free!

Look at the fabulous tussie mussie Becky sent me in the Swap for All Seasons swap. Each butterfly is sewn on and the pompom is handmade. I only wish I could have taken a better picture. Thank you Becky :)

Happy Anniversary to My Favorite Couple

25 years and still going strong!

My Spring Story

~ Spring is nature's way of saying, "Let's party!" - Robin Williams

For Linda F.

Pretty on the Outside...

and the inside. Look at the delightful package that arrived in the mail this week from my swap partner Linda F. I just had to open it from the bottom. The inside contained another beautiful box full of treasures. My favorite was this pink round box perfectly decorated with the sweetest little girl tucked inside. Thank you Linda for such a fabulous swap!

Happy Birthday Johnny

Oh yah!!

Vintage ATCs for Red Lead Swap

Happy New Year!

A Morning Wish
~A few friends who understand me, and yet remain my friends.
~A work to do which has real value without which the world would feel the poorer.
~A return for such work small enough not to tax unduly anyone who pays.
~A mind unafraid to travel, even though the trail be not blazed.
~An understanding heart.
~A sight of the eternal hills and unbelting sea, and of something beautiful the individual hand has made.
~A sense of humor and the power to laugh.
~A little leisure with nothing to do.
~A few moments of quiet, silent meditation. The sense of the presence of God.
~And the patience to wait for the coming of these things, with the wisdom to know them when they come.
by W.R. Hunt