Not so recent getaway art

Wow, I'm getting so bad about getting a post on here. I've been meaning to write and show what I did get done during our RV weekend getaway last month, but didn't mean to take this long about it. We just seem to be gone so much or what little time I am home, I'm too tired to take the extra time to get pictures taken and posted. So explanation over, I'll proceed!

I say we got away, but really it was mostly me and the doggies. Kerry stays very busy working 2 jobs, but he was kind enough to help me enjoy a long weekend by pulling the RV to a campground about a 30 minute drive from our house. He was able to spend a little time with me, too, but he is tied down more to the farm than we used to be because his Dad has never really done well since a knee replacement a couple of years ago. It seemed to do a number on him, so that he has not been able to make himself move around as much as he should, so therefore, he is getting less able to. There have been some recent medication changes that will hopefully help some with this.

We are in the farming business with Kerry's parents. Due to his Dad's health and other reasons we are trying to sell the farm and have someone interested. Not sure if that is going to work out, but are praying that it will. I really don't want to leave our house, but the farm is becoming such a burden that it would be for the best even though hard. Kerry and I have done much of the work on and in our home, with some help from his Dad and then most specially to me, my Dad who I lost a few years ago, did all of the cabinetry work for us. So for me, it's not just a house, but a special place that would be hard to leave.

Well, back to the escape from reality. I took a lot of art and jewelry-making supplies, but mostly ended up making or working with jewelry. I did work in a little mini journal, that I'll try to post about later. Forgot about that until just now and it's lacks a couple of pages being done, so I'll save that for when I can scan and save to my other computer because that will show up better. Spent time relaxing on Friday, worked on artsy stuff on Saturday and Monday(when we came home), and then on Sunday drove down to Northport, where Emily lives to attend the Kentuck Art Festival. Kerry went with us, which shows the power of the draw of a grandbaby. Thomas was going, so Grampy came, too! The weather was beautiful. We met up with some friends of Emily and had a wonderful afternoon seeing some amazing art. While we were walking around, Thomas decided that the pine bark path needed some cleaning up, see below.



Pictured next are some shots of the art on display. With a grandbaby in tow, I didn't have time to take as many shots as year before last when we attended the show or time to get the artists names to give to you. I think the number of artists might have been down a bit, but still great stuff. Wish I had a bigger pocketbook!







Now on to the jewelry shots and my apologies on these pics which are not so great! First I finally did some wire wraps so that I can wear the beautiful pendants that Holly gave me for Mother's Day. Love these!



I've been wanting to do some asymmetrical earrings ever since I saw the ones in the Charming Exchange book. These look so easy, but it took me awhile to get going on them. Not as flexible as I like to think I am, perhaps,making it harder to do something not so matchy-matchy! Happy with how they turned out. The starting point were some Frida charms bought on sale recently. Took the colors of the beads from them. The glare was bad on this shot!



And the glare was really bad on this one and the colors and beads didn't show up too well either, but I want to get this post done, so here it is. This was also inspired by a book project, think it was a recent issue of a jewelry magazine. You start with a felted half circle. I used a felted ball cut in half and then attached beads around the outside and some tiny silver and clear beads to the flower center. This had a jump ring attached to the back and I'd like to make a ribbon type necklace for it to hang from. Promise it looks prettier in person.



This last piece ended up being one of my favorites. It started with an overdyed quilted fabric that I was lucky enough to get in a studio cleanout lot purchased from Belinda Spiwak of Crazy Art Girl's Musings She is a talented and prolific artist often featured in current art magazines. I've been in a few Yahoo art groups with her and lucked up on some really cool goodies! I cut a rectangle of the quilted fabric, used embroidery floss to attach some netting to "finish" the edges, then attached a orphan vintage flower earring, a few beads here and there, and finally attached a fabric piece for a hanger and dangling from the bottom a favorite pendant saved since my teenage years. I also am thinking of making a collaged ribbon and fabric necklace to wear this on, similar to one like this that I made before.



Lots has been going on since I posted last, since it has been over a month. Maybe I'll get another post in with more news and pics soon. I'll try! To close, I'll show one more shot of Mr. Thomas. This was at Halloween, when he was Thomas the Turtle dressed in a cute costume made entirely by hand by his sweet Mom, Emily. He is being held my his Aunt Holly. Emily and Craig had to be in Texas for a wedding the weekend of Halloween, so his Aunty Yaya, as he calls her, was lucky to get to spend some time with them. Holly and Chris live in Waco, so they miss out on a lot.

Introspection

In the long interim since my last post, I turned 50. It was a birthday I was dreading a bit to be totally honest. If I allowed myself, depressing thoughts that go along with aging could take over, but I tried not to dwell on those too much. You know the ones that come if you look too long in the mirror or ponder how it REALLY does seem like yesterday that your children were babies or, heck, that I was young myself just last week! I tried instead to dwell on the blessings of my life, past and present, and to remember that each day of life is a gift from God. I think of a friend and former coworker who lost her husband suddenly and tragically six months ago. His 52nd birthday would be today. I know they would be grateful for more time together.

I really don't feel my age most days. Inside is the same spirit of the young woman I once was. The one who has dreams for the future even though it is shorter today than yesterday. She's wiser from experience, but she feels just as youthful as ever. That is why it is a shock if I take that extra time in front of that mirror. The image in my mind is not the one I see in the reflection scaring back at me. I want to be one of those women who feel beautiful and secure in their age, but I've not gotten to that point yet, maybe because I've never before felt that beautiful. I have and do feel secure about my inner self, about who I really am, but I never have about what I look like on the outside. I don't mean to imply that this is something I dwell on that much anyway, but if I think about it at all, it is with some twinges of guilt that I don't take better care of my body. Then I see women who I think are beautiful at an older age and bigger size and wish I could just learn to be happy with all of me, including how I look. Conversely, I ask myself if I'm not happy with how I look, why don't I have the gumption to do something about it. This is one of those guilt cycles that I'm a professional at riding! That inner eye with which you examine yourself is so much more critical than the one with which you view others.

Guilt is something that I believe women are more prone to feeling. If I sit and think long enough, I can find a multitude of things to feel guilty about and sometimes I do this. I've given some thought to this lately and decided to look at a list of these guilts and see what I can do about some of them. Perhaps there are some messages in some of these guilt feelings that I need to take the time to interpret. Also, I think there are some that I need to just erase, recognizing them for the garbage that they are. I do wish I could give some of this professional guilting away. I know of some people who never seem to feel guilt about anything even when they should. Those who hurt and take advantage of others and never seem to feel a qualm about it.

Getting back to the birthday itself, I did end up having a great one. Family took the time to throw a surprise birthday party for me, my MIL(70th), and our niece(her 16th). Emily and my SIL, Melinda, had a big hand in getting the party together. Several family members and friends attended and helped in making me feel loved and happy. My friends at work had balloons, gifts,and cards to surprise when I went into work on my actual birthday, along with a birthday hat for me to put on as a joke. Sorry I don't have a pic of that to share.





Emily made me some really cool and green birthday presents. One was a tote bag made from old tshirts which she embellished with embroidery, fabric, and trims. The other is this awesome scarf which she knit from Tshirt "yarn". You can see these in a pic above. I couldn't get a good shot of the tote bag, but it is the navy you see, with a blue/white striped lining. Really it would be reversible if I could stand to hide the cute bird and flowers on the side. Love these!!! Mostly I got cards and money. Also shown above are the assortment of cards which ranged from hilarious to sweetly pretty. I have to say my favorite card of all was from my hubby who surprisingly picked out a card with just the words I needed to hear and which made me start to cry.





With the money I got for my birthday, I've bought some clothes, art supplies(including some nice acrylic, oil, and watercolor paint sets) and will use part of it to get an Iphone. We've never had internet on our phones before, so that will be a new experience. Can't wait to see my computer-shy hubby using an Iphone. Probably he'll end up catching on better than me! Also had a gift card to BAM from my brother and used it to get some art magazines because you know I needed some more of those!!

Recent swap and stuff

How is that for a snappy title for a blog post? I promised I would show what I made for Beth for our recent fabric cuff swap, so I am, even though I did post this on Facebook. I think most of my friends that come to my blog are friends with me on Facebook, too, so my apologies to most of you that have already seen this, lol!! From the hit counter, though, there is the chance that a few visitors might not be, so here you go!

Shown above is the fabric cuff I made especially for Beth. I tried to go a different direction, vintage but with brighter colors than you might think of first off as vintage. The main body of the cuff was part of the waistband from a little girl's skirt I bought at the thrift store because I loved the bright colors. It has a cute playful paisley print on the body of the skirt, but the waistband is what came in handy for this project. I've tried to look at clothes as fabric when shopping at the Goodwill, etc. There are items that you can buy for a dollar or two with lovely fabric and/or trims that couldn't be bought if you could find them for that price! Fir example, found a precious dark red velvet little girl's dress with lovely rose ribbon trim. I've already made a heart-shaped Christmas ornament out of the velvet and still have more fabric left as well as the ribbon to use on something else. But I digress! To get back to Beth's cuff, I then collaged some various fabric scraps over the turquoise cuff and then the flower is from a vintage tablecloth. I embroidered around the outline to add a little "umph" to it and the pink leaves are cut from a crocheted thrifted doiley that was damaged with a green sheer fabric circled ironed on and a center of a vintage button. A vintage button was also used for the closure.

This piece was made from the cuff of a Ralph Lauren blouse that I saved because I loved the fabric so much! It has a piece of vintage trim embroidered on one side and then a scrap of linen, gold crocheted lace, pink felt and a bone heart bead and vintage buttons for the centerpiece.

I wanted to make extra surprises for Beth, as I've said before. I owed her some hostess gifts from a previous swap and she has always been so good to send me something for my birthday or "just because". She is that kind of friend and I am definitely not one of those, SO , I wanted to make up for all that. This was a main reason it took me so long to get this all done. I deliberated back and forth about what I was going to make, and ended up deciding to do an altered jewelry box. My first step was to sand lightly and apply coat of gesso. Then I painted off-white and white paint in several layers before adding torn pieces of real old letters and red/white handpainted striped book pages for the accents front and top.

Here and there various accent pieces were glued on, some because they reminded me of Beth. There is a antique horse charm on top to represent her present home in Tennessee, a shell for the beach, old buttons and stamps to love of vintage stuff, butterfly for the outdoors, etc.



I enjoyed making this and have some other vintage jewelry boxes that I want to redo. You know, one day. That day that is going to be so busy because I've so many things planned for it!

By the way, this post was started a while ago, but blogger was not cooperating with posting pictures. They had changed the format used and it was automatically turning my photos sideways. Well, some of them. Couldn't figure out why or get help from blogger to fix it. Found out you could revert back to the old blogger method for now(will go away eventually) so that is what I've done for now. Still this post looks a little funky because it was started with one method and finished with another, but I've spent so much time on it, it's just going to be that way. I've something else more personal I want to blog about so I want to get this one off the drawing board.

Dog days of August!

Maggie Mae-mischief maker

Mr.Maximus with a sad face!

It is so hot right now that I really can't stand to be outside very long and am so grateful that I don't have to work out in it! Our particular spot of the county is very dry, also.  We are missing almost all of the afternoon heat-related showers.  Thankfully we got a good bit of rain back in the spring and early summer or we would really be hurting right now. I guess I can also be grateful I didn't bother(translate I didn't have time to anyway) with any flowers and we didn't get a garden planted this year. Kerry is working 2 jobs now and with my commutes and work schedule, time just seems at a premium.  I won't get off complaining anymore about time, though! I do wish it would set into to raining for a couple of days as I can't remember how long it has been since it even rained all day. My soul seems to be crying for some rain as does the grass and shrubberies!

Wanted to take some blogging time to brag on my daughters a bit.  I appreciate them in so many ways, but on this occasion wanted to highlight their "craftiness"!  I had purchased a necklace earlier this year and when Emily saw it, she threatened to steal mine!  Well, she did put mine around her neck and wear it, but I was able to grab it back from her before she left home that weekend! Since it had only cost me about $8 at a store called Holliday's, I went back the next week to get her one but they no longer had them in stock. Here is a closeup of the one I purchased.

Emily came for a visit again and we decided that we would look at my beads to see if I had enough similar beads for her to attempt a copy. Emily poured through my bead collection and in just a few hours, with a little help from me in adding the chain and fastenings, came up with her own version of the necklace.  Not longer after this Holly came home for a summer visit while she was off  from teaching(the lucky little stinker!).  She also loved my necklace and, just like her sister, stole it from my jewelry box to wear every chance she got!  When I told her that I wasn't going to let her pack it away in her suitcase to take home to Texas, she decided she would try to make one, too! I didn't have enough bigger beads of different colors any longer, so this meant we HAD to make a trip to Hobby Lobby!  So sad, I know!  Well, it WAS a little sad for my wallet since jewelry findings were half price when we got there and that meant several  bags of beads and such made their way into the buggy somehow!  A night or so before she was to head back to Texas, we stayed up late so Holly could make her own colorful necklace.  Their versions are shown below.  The one Holly made is on top and Emily's on the bottom.  I think they did a great job!!!!!  Actually I may like their necklaces better than the one I bought! 

I'm also proud of how creative they are in many aspects of  their everday life  Holly is a teacher now and I am always amazed at the clever ideas she has for decorating her room and the classroom teaching aids she creates from sometimes very inexpensive items.  Both of them are very resourceful and imaginative in decorating their homes, creating lovely rooms with mostly what they have on hand.  For Thomas' birthday party, they worked together while Holly was home to come up with the cutest invitations. Unfortunately I gave mine to the lady who made Thomas' birthday cake and didn't get it back, so I can't show you a pic of that.  Emily did make Thomas a Cookie Monster cake especially for him that was so cute!! You can see it, other decorating for the party, and some people who shared the day with us in this Webshots album. Note, Emily made the crepe paper pompoms hanging from the ceiling, too.  I am so proud of both of them and love them SO much! A Mom couldn't ask for better daughters!

In everyday life, I still remain pretty busy.  Work is mostly good.  We don't have to stay over as much anymore.  Some days are hectic, but that is any job, I guess, and I am so thankful to have one!  I am doing a little better about art. I was able to get my fabric cuff swap done along with the extra goodies I wanted to make for my friend, Beth.  I've had the cuff completed but it took me some time to decide on the "surprise" part.  Once I decided what to make, I worked here and there, and finally got it done this past Monday.  Beth should be getting the package any day now, so I will blog about the cuff and the surprise once I know she's received them.  I did, also, complete all of Thomas' collage pics that I had been working on since before he was born!  Here is the last one of an alligator.  I think I've already shown the turtle and the elephant, but if I see I haven't I'll add that to the next post.

I do hope to get back into journalling again and to try to find time to paint. These things have been said before, but maybe this will be the time it actually gets done!  I was telling a friend today at work that I still don't feel connected to my life.  I feel like I am living someone's else life, if that makes any sense.  Some is due to the job changes last year, I know, and other life changes, as well, but I expected it to be getting better by now. "One day at a time" is all I know to tell myself.

Pitiful blogger=ME

Didn't seem like it had been a month since I posted last, but I see it has. I am so really not sure where time goes when it flies by. You would think that 2 old empty-nesters would have so much time on their hands they wouldn't know what to do with it, but evidently that is not how it works. We seem to be on the go too much and with not much to show for it. I mean it is not travelling to interesting places or doing wonderful things, just life stuff.

As far as life goes, we have much to be thankful for right now. Among many other blessings, Mom is doing pretty well right now and our daughters are, too, for the most part. Holly's Chris is looking for a job at present,  but he has several prospects so we are hopeful it that regard.  Also little Thomas will be one year old next month! Hard to believe! I'm including new shots of him for you to look at since I don't have anything else photographed to show yet that I've been working on.

In the artistic department, I have actually gotten some things done, but don't have them ready to show yet.  I am STILL working on my stuff to send to my friend, Beth, for our fabric cuff swap. I've had the cuff done for several months, but am making myself finish the extra goodies before I send it to her. I know myself and if I don't get it all done, I'll procrastinate on the extra and never get it to her. Sad story, but I recognize the way I am. I already owed her in my mind  from a previous swap many months ago!  I am pathetic and that is a fact.  BUT, I have made great progress on the surprise and hope to have it done before much longer. Also, I finally put the finishing touches on Thomas' 2nd of 3 collage pictures.  Also, sad because these were supposed to be done when he was born.  I will be starting on the last alligator one, maybe to get it completed for his 1st birthday.  See further evidence of my professional ability to procrastinate!! I have also done some journal pages.  What I am doing on those is washes of watercolor paint on torn-out book pages and also just playing some with color blobs and such.  These are for future journalling fodder and to use on Bethie's gift.

Speaking of the paint, let me take a moment to warn you of the dangers of leaving watercolor paint out.  I had bought some assorted tubes of watercolor at a yard sale in a plastic bin.  Granted these are the regular METAL tubes that paints come in.  I had done this painting last Thursday evening while watching a movie. I didn't clean everything up because it got to be time for bed.  Planned to do it later. Silly me left the plastic bin sitting on the end of the couch.  You can probably see where this is going.  Kerry calls me at work to tell me that Maggie got into the paint tubes while we were both gone.  He gets home earlier than I do.  I was expecting much worse, but she only got it on a throw on the couch and herself amazingly enough! She has a red spot right in the middle of her throat and some blue and green on her feet.  It would probably wash off, but I've not felt up to giving her a bath. Never dreamed of her wanting to chew on metal, but there you go!  She constantly surprises me!  She makes me laugh, too, so much is forgiven.

This past Friday I contracted a really bad stomach bug or food poisoning. Anyway, was really sick.  Couldn't work Saturday. Actually couldn't even stand up. Sunday I felt well enough to sit up so I got some rubber stamps and stamp pads and played with them on some of the painted pages, using some stamps  that have never had ink on them.  Had a little fun.  I'm trying to get my artistic mojo going again.  Recently have finally had a little extra time here and there, but just had the blahs as far as art goes. Hopefully it's coming back as bits and pieces of progress are being made.  Of course, this is always at the expense of housework, but then something has to give!

I leave you with picture of this sweet face with these long eyelashes.

Father's Day

With Father's Day coming up, of course my Dad has been on my mind lately.  Here is a picture of him when he went to work at Monsanto in Decatur, Alabama in the late sixties.  I need to find out actual dates and write them down. Wasn't he such a handsome fellow!?!  He was one of the sweetest people I've ever known and always had a hug for us when we were growing up and even when we were grown. He comes from a family of "huggers".  When you leave a visit with any of them, more than likely you will get a hug and a caution to "be careful" which originated with my Granny, Dad's Mom. 

Above is a picture of my father with my Mom either taken when they were dating or very early in their marriage.  They graduated in May, 1958 and then married young in January, 1959.  Mom was only 15 when she graduated as she had been double-promoted twice during her school days, turning 16 right afterwards.  Dad was 19 when they married.  I was born then in 1960 and my brothers, Stanley and Gary, in 1962 and 1965. They were very young parents.

Here is my Dad with me at my wedding in 1980.  The year following he and my mother ended up getting a divorce.  Dad married again in 1981 and had 2 more sons, Jeremy and Tony, with his wife, Charlotte.  He always joked that I was the best daughter he had!  Because he ended up raising another family while I was doing the same, we didn't get to see each other as much maybe as I would have liked to, but still talked and visited fairly often, especially earlier on.  As years passed, seemed like life got so hectic that I didn't make the time for these things like I should have. Dad was forced to retire early, in his early 60's, because he had developed Alzheimer's.  I didn't know it at the time and only found this out later. He died year before last in November.  One of my regrets in life is that I didn't spend as much time with him as I should have. We get so involved in day-to-day living that it becomes so easy to let simple but important things like this slide.

Take time to hug those you love!  If your Dad is still with you, give him a big one!  Make time with loved ones a priority in your life.  One less thing to regret later on.

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!  Love you so much! 

Lovely swap goodies received!

I was so thrilled when I opened the package waiting on me when I got home Friday! I've mentioned before that my friend, Beth, and I had agreed to do a fabric cuff swap.  I've finished my cuff for Beth but have some other things I'm wanting to make for her and don't have them ready yet.  Anyway, the cuff Beth made for me is SSOOOooo beautiful!!!! I love everything about it, the colors, antique buttons, sweet little pearls and lace trims, and especially the bird charm which is the centerpiece.  Beth included a note to explain that the base of the cuff is an old quilt top and the bird charm is from a bracelet which she took apart.  She also made a gorgeous necklace from another charm with hand-wrapped paper beads, pink and white pearls, accented with clear glass rose beads to match the fabric cuff.  Again I totally love the colors and how she tied the rose theme together in both pieces.  I love birds and flowers so this was just a perfect choice. I told her I will have to hide these when my daughters are home to prevent them from taking off with them!  On top of these lovelies, her note card itself is a piece of art.  Beth is very talented at Zentangles, which is new to me, but I believe is like art doodles taken to the extreme of coolness as you can see in the pic of the card.  My plans are to mount this to hang as a colorful work of art.  Isn't she so talented!?!  Also she added some "fun stuff" in the package consisting of some of the antique buttons like on the bracelet, painted dominoes to alter, quilt heart, and some other little goodies.  She is such a sweet, generous friend! I will be hard-pressed to equal her wonderful present to me.  These will be treasured! Thanks so much, Bethie!  Please be patient with me!

Necklace and fabric cuff

Closeup of necklace

Lovely Zentangle card

Extra goodies

The beauty of trees

While at church Sunday morning, I was observing the faces of those around me.  By this I mean I was literally looking at the faces, noticing how people I've known over the years through school or attending church have changed.  If you see a face fairly often, the metamorphosis from aging is not so readily apparent and the faces are just accepted as what they are.  I changed my perspective, trying to recall the faces as they were at a younger age, noting how time has altered the person's appearance, the characteristics that stayed the same, how the changes often make the person more beautiful just in a different way.

This thought process somehow segued into comparing people to trees. I must say I love trees.  Love looking at them, marvelling at the beauty of them, the many ways that branches can grow on a tree, some twisty and curly, others straight and reaching toward the sky.  How beautiful the trees look in every season!  In spring, there are small green buds or colorful sprigs of flowers bringing hope for growth and warmth after the cold of winter. The full grown leaves of summer feed the tree, provide shelter, and give us greenness to beautify our world.  As the leaves turn the glorious shades of autumn, the horizons portray the masterpieces painted with the brush that God holds in His hand.  When bare of the leaves that graced them in other seasons, the beauty of just the shapes of the trees and their branches becomes apparent.

In the words of the preceding paragraph, I think you can see how I began to relate trees and people. Each season of our life has a beauty all it's own.  As written in Ecclesiastes, there is a time for everything.  The young are lovely in a way unmarred by the ravages of time.  They are tender but resilient all the same. As growth brings them to young adulthood, hopefully roots grow that will anchor them firmly when storms blow.  Sometimes there may be damage from these life storms, branches lost, wounds inflicted by uncaring individuals, and even some that will be lost altogether in the different stages of life to disease or the storms. Those who survive to adulthood will bear the scars and the signs of the passage of time but still have a God-given unique beauty only enhanced by these marks of character.  Often the spark of the child within can still be seen in the face of those who are granted the favored privilege of old age, especially those who can appreciate the value and preciousness of life. I had the fortune of working with people for many years in a hospital with the majority of our patients being in the latter stages of life. There is beauty in the wrinkles and the sight-dimmed eyes just as there is in a tree that has lost most of it's branches. Even when the life is gone from the tree and there remains only a stump, nature is still at work, returning the remains of a tree back to the ground to enrich the soil to bring new life again. Hopefully we leave enough goodness behind when we are gone that we, too, are still contributing to the lives of those coming along after us. Even if it be a nameless legacy that would be enough for me.

Already into another month

I know I keep saying it but time is flying by. I just enjoyed a great Mother's Day weekend. I was off for 4 days so we took advantage of this time to take some furniture down to Emily that we had stored here in Mom and Pop's Storage Building(aka our garage)on Thursday evening and exchange it for a baby Thomas. Definitely think we got the better end of the deal all the way around, a little more room in the garage and spending time with our precious grandson. Bad Granna that I am, I did not take the first picture all weekend! Emily drove up Friday evening to join us for a visit. This was her first Mother's Day. I totally intended to take some nice photos for remembrance and then we stayed so busy I never did. Oh, well, we have memories, although Emily and I joked that we don't know how long we'll have them the way we forget things. I told her we could just make something up when and if we did!

I've spent all evening working with my desktop, trying to get it working faster, with no luck. For my internet browsing these days I'm using my laptop since the desktop is sssooo slow.  My scanner is connected to the desktop computer, so if I want to scan some art to share on my blog, I need to do it there.  The connections/plugs are not easy to get to or I would just have it to where I could use the scanner interchangeably with either my laptop or the desktop.  I got my latest art scanned but only managed to get one pic loaded onto my blog before I lost patience with it all.  Shown above is a spread I've done in a cute deco book/journal that a friend of Beth's has going around.  I've had it several months now and need to get it in the mail to the next person.  Hope to get that done this week.  The theme of these pages is to take joy in the moment and were done by gesso on the base pages, collage with various paper scraps, and a little stamping. 

I have completed and did scan the fabric cuff I've done for Beth, but the scan didn't save to my blog. It will be a post for another day and upon thinking about it some more, might be best if I wait to show it until I've sent it to Bethie anyways.  I still haven't made the extra gifts that I want to send with the cuff so that is the reason it's still here and not on it's way to her. I've ideas and plans that I hope come about soon in regards to art and crafting.  Trying to keep up hope that I will find a way to incorporate art into my life again and have a creativity spark be there as well. 

Today I had time but I was not feeling well, achy and draggy like I'm coming down with a cold.  Emily and Kerry have both been sick with some really bad stuff, so I hope that is not what it is.  I'm fortunate to hardly ever be sick, having developed a strong immune system working at the hospital, I guess.  I've been drinking Airborne and taking my vitamins trying to fight this off and hope to be successful.

Blog is evidently on vacation

Blog is not dead just not very active at the moment. Guess that goes for the blogger as well. Life has been pretty busy, as usual, although work is going much better overall. I've gotten used to the testing routines, so that is not so hard, and then some problems we had been having that caused us to have to stay over very late are better for the most part.

I've still not adjusted to the different schedule with less off days so that I find I'm not creating as much as I used to. I feel this is mostly due to not as much time but then also because I'm still not in the groove to be creative. I have finished a fabric cuff for Beth for a swap I think I mentioned before. I want to get some surprises done to send with it, as I owe Bethie for a hostess gift from a previous swap. Will have to get it scanned or take pics when I get it all together.

I really want to get to making some jewelry. I've been blessed with lots of "stuff" along those lines. For example, all those costume jewelry pins that a sweet friend gave me last year. Have lots of ideas in my head and just have to get my act together and get started.

Along the line of excuses, we've had a series of plumbing problems and we have done some travelling. We were fortunate to be able to spend a week in Waco, Texas visiting my youngest dd and her husband, Chris. We mostly just relaxed, enjoying spending time with them, but we did get a little sight-seeing in. Waco is the home of Dr. Pepper and we were able to visit it's museum. Very interesting! I've a few shots taken while we were out there. I'll try to do a post soon and show those.

In the meantime, here are a couple of recent shots of little Thomas. One is at bath time and the other of him enjoying a simple wooden spoon. He has learned to crawl and is working on pulling up, so fun times are in store for all, especially Emily and Craig!

I thought you might also like to see what Miss Maggie looks like after a few months living with the Thompson's. You can see her before pic on the side of my blog. Bless her heart, she is looking too much like her Mommy(me, that is) and also kind of like a little pot-bellied piggie!

Happy Easter

Happy Easter to everyone!  I'm so bad about posting I thought I would get this post in early and I'm cheating by using pics from last Easter's decorations.  None out this year.  Busy with the "this and that" of life in general.  In addition, we are participating in an Easter musical drama at church  and so have some extra practices this last 2 weeks before the performance.  My friend, Jeanie, has a wonderful post of her Easter decorations replete with bunnies and a gorgeous chandelier egg wreath.  So it inspired me, not to get my decorations out, but to just take the easy route and show what I did with some of my bunnies last year.

Shown above are some the Capidomonte rose candleholders I have and a sweet lamb planter that once belonged to my Granny Parker(my Dad's Mom).  I had put this out in memory of them, but also to be symbolic of Easter's true meaning by placing the cross inside the lamb. I think I posted these photos last year, so please forgive my cheating!

For our Easter drama, the choir has to wear a Biblical costume as we are the "crowd".  I had one(made about 20 years ago) but Kerry didn't, ssoooo, this had led me to get the sewing machine that I bought about 2 years past, brush the cobwebs off it(literally, lol), and get past my fear of the scary sewing machine monster. I learned how to sew many, many moons ago from my Mom, but she was not totally patient, shall we say, so I only learned the basics.  The experience left me with a lack of confidence in that area  that grew over the years in my mind.  Mom gave me her old electric sewing machine about 20 years ago and I managed to thread it and sew a few things, including the costume I'm wearing, but it messed up so much that I again got discouraged.   That machine ended up being thrown away as it wasn't worth fixing and that was the last time I sewed anything except by hand until yesterday.  Made myself get the manual for the machine  and follow the directions for threading the bobbin and the sewing machine itself step-by-step.  After I got started some of what I learned before came back. I've gotten Kerry's costume sewn together, although some is poorly done. It  was just basically a large rectangle with a slit cut for his head that I hemmed the edges of and sewed the sides together. My hope is not to get good enough to make garments, but to be able to use the sewing machine in my artistic endeavors, like with art quilts or the like. 

I'll leave you with a shot of my favorite little man, as he was one morning last week, bad hair and all!

Postscript: In my busy-ness and my not posting, I've forgotten all about the feature I have available to me that enables me to see the number of visitors to my blog.  Went there today and saw that people are actually checking in, so my sincere apologies for not updating more.  I'll try to be more faithful about putting something here for you to read.  Not that I'm arrogant to think that what I post here is that great or anything, I just hate to think someone takes the time to drop by and I've offered nothing.

FYI

I added back the word verification feature to the comments as I am getting tired of Anonymous spam.

Interesting results, but not surprising

took this online quiz for right/left brain tendencies with the results being split exactly down the middle. Was hoping for answers that would help but have to admit I am really not surprised. Now I have proof that I have a split personality, lol! My entire life is like this. Examples: I love artistic things and self-expression, but then my career has been that of being a technician; I'm organized in some ways(close friends and family are not allowed to let me know how hard they are laughing now!) but totally scatter-brained and disorganized in others; when I was trying to decide what I wanted to be when I grew up(you know, like last week I was wondering) the possibilities were all over the map! Heck, even my husband and I are totally opposite! I'll just end this by saying I'm going to interpret this to mean that instead of being crazy, I'm just a "well-rounded" person. Ha, in more ways than one, she says, looking down!

Right Brain/ Left Brain Quiz The higher of these two numbers below indicates which side of your brain has dominance in your life. Realising your right brain/left brain tendancy will help you interact with and to understand others. Left Brain Dominance: (16) Right Brain Dominance: (16) Right Brain/ Left Brain Quiz