Bubbly

I really like this song by Colbie Caillat:

Fall is finally here!

I planted the Gerbera daisies in the spring and after the little varmits kept eating the flowers and the drought took it's toll on the rest, I thought the Gerberas were just a memory. Now that we've had some rain, the garden is coming back to life! I hope things stay pretty for a few more weeks - it would be a welcome change from the heat and the drought.

Paper Piecing

I don't know about you but I have so many UFOs (unfinished objects) and I just wanted to work on something quick and easy. I am addicted to fabric and paper so paper piecing this little quilt block on a book cover was the perfect thing for me. I bought the pattern on my birthday quilting trip and it's been calling my name ever since. I made copies of the paper piecing part and grabbed a stack of fat quarters. Within an hour or so, it was complete! Yay! I'm thinking Christmas prints for a special holiday book cover would be fun. How about batiks and an 'altered' book cover? The possibilities are endless. Ok, back to my UFOs. This was a nice little break.

Please bring 'em home soon.

Thank you Tim McGraw. It's beautiful.

Happy Birthday, Girls!

My latest craze is purchasing vintage cabinet cards from Ebay and altering them to create birthday 'cards'. Christa's was the first one I did and Lisa's the most recent so I'm getting a little braver when it comes to how much altering I feel comfortable doing. I'm thinking this could be very addictive. Now, off to branch out into a halloween version?
For Christa's 21st

For Lisa's 50th

For Hannah's 19th

Is he the cutest thing in the world? My little great nephew, A.T., playing in the yard. John put his Canon 30D to good use and took a boatload of pictures, one 'cuter' than the next.

Mom's at it again....

She and her friend sewed and stuffed these bears for another friend to take to a nursing home in Louisville. The volunteers are having a hard time parting with them, they're all so cute. Thought you'd like to see them on the first leg of their little journey.

God Bless America

Sorry I haven't posted much lately -- been traveling and just returned from a weekend of airshow fun in Columbus at the Gathering of Mustangs (that's WWII P51 pursuit planes for those of you not lucky enough to be married to a vintage aircraft geek). The show started with a drop of Old Glory. Isn't she beautiful?

Beautiful Butterflies?

In my small herb garden, there is a large curly leaf parsley plant and guess what's gobbling it up?
Word has it that this interesting thing will form a cacoon and hatch into a beautiful black butterfly. I would love to see that -- probably enjoy that more than eating the parsley myself!

What happens in Vegas....

I've been in Las Vegas on business but I did have a little bit of fun sight seeing and seeing the fantastic Cirque du Soleil LOVE show. Staying at the Wynn was especially delightful and something I would never do if it weren't for the conference I attended. I had no desire to go to LV but now that I've seen a little bit of it, I would love to go back!Here are a few other photos from the hotel and the strip:

Send Josh a card!

There's all sorts of info on the net about Josh Adkins and his quest to receive more get well cards than anyone....ever. I hope it's true and that my humble contribution makes it way to him. My thoughts and prayers are with him and his family. If you have a moment, maybe you'd like to send him a card, too.

UFOs

UFOs - that's Unfinished Objects in 'crafters' terms and do I have a lot of 'em. I decided to finally tackle this one for my "ME" bathroom -- the only place I can now have my Mary Engelbreit collection. I spray painted an old wicker trash basket that I think was a shower gift from marriage #1 in 1979 and then sewed a little liner for it. It does feel good to finally get another thing off of my mental list. I'll post pics of the whole room once I finish the towels - LOL!

Bailee needs a haircut...

...say the word 'brush' in any context/sentence and she takes off. She hates to be brushed and obviously, we don't fight her too much on that. It's easier to just give her a haircut. Wheatens do not shed so you have to b-r-u-s-h often (that was me spelling the 'word').

Another way to listen to music?

Just like everything else in this world, there's a bazillion ways to put music on your blog. Give my new version a try -- it doesn't start right up when you enter my blog (which some folks might think is a blessing given my music selection). Click on Finetune over on the right (you might have to click twice) and it starts right up. There are 45 different songs....a wide variety (after you listen to one, you can go forward and backward...you'd have to really be bored so much so that you'd spend that much time visiting my humble blog). OK, back to creating....some ART. Enjoy!

So what if he's out for the season...

...I can always admire the scenery.

Two years and another box emptied!

Besides shopping for clothes for a business trip to Las Vegas, creating a little art and cleaning up tiny liquor bottles, we pulled out another box from the basement and headed for the stained glass repair shop. The glass is something John purchased about in Gaitlenburg, TN (another 30 years ago!). It didn't have a frame or way to hang it. The repair shop confirmed what the seller had told John when he bought it. It's about 130 years old, from England and came from a big shipment of stained glass pieces that were shipped to the US after being salvaged from a big demolition. We hung it in the kitchen window...it's almost the perfect size. The hanging glass piece next to it is also an antique that was hanging in our old house. Funny how finally getting it hung makes me feel like we're really moved in now. Our old house had many more places to hang things, nooks and crannies, but it still looks good in our new kitchen. Labor day is really going to be a day of rest now!

Slide Mount Book Prototype

My buddy Tesse and I agreed to a little swap of a slide mount book. Before I jumped in to make one for her, I decided to make a prototype and see how it would actually work. I made the slide mounts using my little wizard die cut, used pics from a catalog and put it together with rings (that I found in the bead aisle at Hobby Lobby -- see, I told you I would be addicted to beads!). I'm thinking of a Halloween theme for my next one. It's fun to work in this tiny format.

Spooky Moon

The excessive heat and smog was good for only one thing----making the moon look so unusual and spooky. Reminds me that my favorite season is coming soon. Bring it on!

Feels good to empty more moving boxes!

We saw this cabinet in an unfinished furniture store and I just knew it was the perfect thing for our foyer. I didn't know what we'd put in it but I knew we had something. How about a 30 year old liquor collection that John had from his business traveling days? Fabulous idea, John! Two boxes of little dusty bottles and a few hours later, the bottles are finally in a cute little home. It was fun to remember the travels and talk about the possibility of a really fun party should we ever want to really "tie one on" one night. These unopened little babies are organized by type and can you believe they all fit in the cabinet with room at the bottom for a modest shot glass collection. Some things are just meant to be!

Hooked on Beads

I saw a very expensive bracelet in a catalog that I liked. I just know I can get hooked on beads so I've tried to stay out of the bead shops and bead aisles at Michaels and Hobby Lobby, etc. But I wanted the catalog bracelet so bad and figured I could make something similar. The colorful bracelet in the bottom of the pic is my creation. The pink one is for Mom -- she saw mine and wanted one made from beads of her own choosing. Yep, this bead stuff is addicting. Ok, back to paper and ink. Ü

Remember Me - Celtic Tenors

Pause my music over there on the right and take a listen to my favorite Irishmen. The quality of the video is not good but the audio is worth repeating here. Enjoy!

The First Birthday!

My great-nephew is one! We had fun today watching him with his presents, cake, icecream. What a big day for a little boy. We love A.T.!

More Grapes

I mentioned my brother's grapes a while ago but today I had a chance to take a few pics of them on the vine. They're so pretty! I also tasted the wine made last year but it's definitely not ready yet. It's a beautiful color and has a wonderful aroma but it's not ready for consumption quite yet. Maybe next year.

Eclectic Music Collection

If you have your speakers on, you'll hear I added a music section to the sidebar over there ------> My playlist is rather strange....maybe a very eclectic collection. As you can see, I love all sorts of music. Hop through and see what's in there. Maybe there's something you'll like, too!

Stampaway USA 2007

I told myself I didn't need to buy any more STUFF so wasn't planning on going to Stampaway USA this year. But when Freda called and said she and Cecile were going to be taking classes and wouldn't I please change my mind and meet up with them for a little visit, I couldn't resist! They are such awesome artists and fun to be with. Every year, I wish I had signed up for classes with them after hearing and seeing what they created. Maybe next year. Ü I shopped for a couple of hours and this is what I came away with, although, you should have seen the bazillion dollars I didn't spend! Artful Illusions and Eclectic Marketplace are the best (web sites still under construction). I love Stampers Anonymous and now they have a line of unmounted, including Tim Holtz, so you can get more for your money there. The leather band is a bracelet created by Linda Crofton at Studios Blackbird/Invoke Arts (buy some stamps, get a bracelet - what a deal!). Their booth had some wonderful finds also! Wish you could have been there with us!

Freda & Cecile

Caught up with Freda and Cecile at the convention and they were so gracious to share with me their 'trade' for the event. Ironically, I have the same stamp that Freda used but I would never have thought to use it like she did. Isn't it beautiful?
Cecile made a tiny little wooden block -- she stamped images and then reduced them (with permission!), to fit on the block. It's like a die (singular of dice?) but with images instead of dots. So cool! The picture did not look detailed enough to post here -- you'll just have to imagine it. Thanks girls, for sharing these with me. Just love 'em!

Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.
-Albert Einstein

Kevin & Winnie

I miss The Wonder Years. Happened across this on YouTube and it reminded me how much I enjoyed this show set in 'my era'. Where does all the time go?

More July travels....

Thunder over Michigan was a different sort of adventure this year because we had official "Photographer's Passes". Yep, never saw so much camera equipment in my life. Most of the photographers were men in love with warbird and other vintage aircraft. It was SO HOT and humid but we managed to have a great time anyway. If you're interested in airshows, this one is at the top of the list for some of these guys. They travel from all over the world to see this one!

Where did July go?

After a business trip to Windsor, CT, I rented a car and drove for about 1.5 hours to to spend a few days with my Dad, his wife Suzanne and my sister and her family. Dad and I drove up the coast to Glouchester, MA.



It was a fantasticly beautiful day -- perfect temps, blue water and lovely clouds. We toured Cape Pond Ice company -- a very interesting and "cool" place. You'll have to watch the Perfect Storm to see the town and the ice company (and of course, George Clooney....Kentucky boy!).



We had a huge lunch at Woodman's of Essex and drove through Newburyport on the way back home to Chelmsford. What a wonderful visit!

More Elton

Charms Galore!

I don't think I ever showed you my finished charm bracelet! Kristen did a beautiful job assembling all of the wonderful charms from all of our creative friends. In addition to the charm that I made and described in a previous post, I made the "ART book". It has a few stamped pages for fun. I know now that I should have made it even smaller. I'd like to do another swap like this in the future. Thanks to everyone who contributed!

Cones & Butterflies

The cone flowers in our garden are really beautiful this year. Before the rains came, there were lots of butterflies and bumble bees all over the place. Sitting on the front porch, I could hear birds chirpping and little yellow finches flitting about. Last night, a toad (or a frog?) hopped across the driveway and into the garden on the other side. I watched him for a while and saw his long tongue fly out to grab a bug and take a big gulp. It's dark now -- whoa, what was that animal that just ran through the yard? I love livin' in the 'country'!