BlueRidgeLady

2012-01-26T19:44:00.007-05:00

Credits:
"Love" & Pink Cat holding heart- Nancy Baumiller
Top border-phoebe photo (FeeBeeDee)
Black & white bottom border-sassyarts
Roses & Angels -Neefer
Blue heart- seasiderosegarden
Valentine car- Plaisanter
Flowers at top in center- picture of my Heleboros growing in my yard

Well, this is what I did today! Created for Collage Play With Crowabout on Flickr. Painted background, dabbed with contrasting colors. I get to the part where the actual journaling begins, the dreaded lettering...the lettering that I want to do, but am SCARED to do. I've never gotten comfortable with it, or nearly as good at it as I want to be. Only thing you can do is do it anyhow! Of course after the first line, the Sharpie I was using ran out, sometimes I hate Sharpies...sometimes not. Luckily my red Copic came to the rescue. I adore these markers! I have had the "LOVE" sign from Nancy for along time, I have always loved the LOVE image, and today's collage seemed like the perfect time to use it. The other day I was stolling around in the yard looking for any sign of SPRING, and took just a few pictures. I actually saw a few signs:

I've always loved moss... it is growing on the banks of my road. My friend Linda has the most beautiful yard. She gave me the idea of digging some to use in the fairy house gardens, that I hope to create! Maybe I should let it take over my entire yard! It always stays green, and you don't have to mow it!

This is a close up of my Daphne shrub. I have it growing right by the steps as you walk up to the front door, on purpose, because it smells sooo good when it blooms in February! I nearly lost it one year, it doesn't like damp soil, and I guess we had too much rain one year, and every leaf drooped and fell to the ground! I cut it back and pulled the mulch away from it and eventually it came back, and is getting ready to launch to perfume the air!

This is Heleboros, or Lenten Rose...I have them planted along the front of the house in a bed. I have been noticing deer around the bed, so....hope they don't eat them all!

This is a close up of the Heleboros, and also the feature of the top of the above collage! I downsized it, and cut out like two or three of them and glued them together to paste onto the page. Of course I doodled and enhanced the center color with colored pencils. My sister Molly suggested I use it in a collage, I told her that mayyybe I would!

Here is the entire photo of the Daphne shrub :D

Well, what do ya know? If this isn't a sign of SPRING I don't know what is, HYACINTH emerging by the FAIRY GARDEN! I planted it there last year, thought it would look cool there. I must take some pictures of the fairy house once things are blooming and I get it like I want it.

That's about all for now, enjoy the night, and go make some ART!

2012-01-10T20:09:00.002-05:00

Credits:
Background- littlebrownwren
Moon Fairy- Pringle Hill Studio
Flying birds- Digital Collage Images
Two Sisters- Autumnsensation
Labels- iHanna
Old Bottle- takeabreak
Checkered strips- gr8plunder
#3- plaisanter
red/white circle- lolalee1002
Legs on Moon Fairy- Nancy Baumiller
Eyes- Nancy Baumiller
Some border pieces- Dover Publishing

Created for the Crowabout group. A little early for Valentines Day, but that is kinda the vibe I got from the images this week. That is okay, it will be here before we know it, and I love Valentines Day! Not much going on here, Christmas tree, still up....but I did walk 3 miles today! I really need to go down to the basement to work on some jewelry, but a couple of months ago, the Orkin man came. After going down in the basement to treat it, he came walking up the stairs and said "well I don't guess you want to know what I found down there" he puts those sticky paper things in several places down there...and he showed it to me, and it was a baby SNAKE! It was about 8-9 inches long, skinny, and dead! I screamed so loud, I scared him, and the cats flew off the couch and ran upstairs! I have no idea how it could have gotten down there, unless it was in those plants I brought in. Makes me literally cringe....and so, I haven't been down there much since then! I know it was a rare thing and all, but just not very relaxing trying to bead in fear. So I really wish I could bring all the beads and art stuff back up here to my loft desk, but the whole reason I moved them all downstairs was because of the cats laying on top of everything and I could leave the desk messy if I was working on something, etc. I really envy those that have studios, I look at them in magazines and wish I had one too!! One day maybe.
Almost time to watch Parenthood! My favorite show! Enjoy the night :D

Well Hello! New Art!

2012-01-06T13:54:00.005-05:00

Credits:
Fresh eggs: playingwithbrushes
girl in pink dress: Ms.bailey
bird: Smartgypsy
scalloped border: Sassy Nella Melange
wish kitty head: Becky F
map border: Norma Frances
Me, You, & Smart: Norma Frances
woman with green bow head: landofnod studios
Identity, Even if you miss you will land among the stars,
clock tower, Creativity, You: Nancy Baumiller

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!! So sorry I haven't been around much! Went to visit my Mom for Christmas. Had such a great time. Got to spend some fun times with my loved ones! I sure have missed making ART! My Christmas decorations are still up, but hopefully sometime this weekend I can get to it. I took a day and played, to create the above collage for the Collage Play with Crowabout group. I'm sure you will recognize the quote from the movie THE HELP. It was all I thought about, when I saw the words on the image sheet! Hope you all had nice holidays! I missed you :-) and I'm BACK!

The Garden

2011-11-30T00:45:00.005-05:00

Credits: Faces- Fidgetrainbowtree

This collage was a massive doodle I did one day on notebook paper. I painted the background first and didn't really know what I was going to do. I was looking through all my papers and came across it. I thought I might use parts of it but ended up using it all. It was not easy, I had to cut away the outside notebook paper first. Then, I cut through it here and there so I could involve and interweave the pieces together. It was involved alright! Luckily we didn't get any snow to speak of here, just a dusting! See ya soon!

A little new Art

2011-11-28T11:18:00.003-05:00

Credits: Cat Playing guitar- Nancy Baumiller
all other images came from magazines for the most part
there are a few that I could not find after I looked and looked and looked!

I missed making art so much, I just couldn't stand it any longer. It was a yucky rainy day here yesterday, so I dragged the art cart over and had the best time! The quote came from a sign my sister saw at the Nursery we always go to. We both really loved it! I sure hope you all had a beautiful Thanksgiving! We sure did. We went to my sisters, and the food was so good, every dish we had seemed to turn out perfect, except for my Lemon cake. Disaster again! Kathryn ended up making it for me. Hers turn out perfect, and mine stick in the bundt pan regardless of how much PAM I spray in the pan. I finally solved that problem, I threw the freaking pan in the garbage! I will buy a nice, new, good pan...that will solve it! Time to start decorating the cabin for Christmas! Enjoy your day :D

Indigo

2011-11-03T22:35:00.002-04:00

Credits: Images from my stash from magazines

I saw this pretty boy in some of my papers today, and thought he should be the star! The gold doodles don't scan like I wished they would, but you get the idea! The bird reminds me of an Indigo Bunting. I see them every once in a while around here, but not as often as I'd like. I remember seeing them for the first time with my Mom, while she was up visiting. There were quite a few in our backyard, and all at the same time! I haven't seen that many at one time since. She lives in Fla., and has seen a Painted Bunting before, out on her deck! How lucky!

Halloween Greetings

2011-10-26T17:26:00.005-04:00

Crowabout- Week 135
Credits:
Background- ArtbyChrysti

Top border & Bottom left Dream It- Nancy Baumiller
Face on left bottom- Fidgetrainbowtree
Lady's face top right-mrs parkr
Fairy dress- La Dama de Collage/Andria
Halloween card verse- Mrs. Inman
Cod fish-Plaisanter(NY Public Library, public domain)
Guy with hand out- Mrs. Inman
Guy with hands hanging down- Fidgetrainbowtree
Cat face, borders strips, and circles- Becky F
Dress on crazy lady- Land of Nod Studios
Wing on cat- astrid maclean
Checkered Border-norma frances
bottom numbered scalloped border- angellea

Created for Crowabout challenge, I've had that crazy lady on the top right, for sometime now, and haven't really figured out a way to use her until this collage LOL! I really like her! She looks, how I feel sometimes! I guess since it is almost Halloween, I can get away with it! Enjoy the evening :D

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-05T14:41:00.001-04:00

Crowabout- Week134
Credits:
Background- lizzie_anne
Pumpkin, Face in birdcage- SuzeeQ
Birdcage, bat & skull- jackandcatcurio
Skeleton-takeabreak
Side border, Halloween- Norma Frances
Checkered Floor- plaisanter
Vintage cat face- greymouser2006
Vintage Photo" Mrs. Inman
Postcard- SuzeeQ

Thanks to Nancy Baumiller for finding these fun images to use in this weeks group challenge. Halloween is so fun! Guess I never grew up in some ways :D The last time I dressed up for the holiday, was for a Halloween Costume party my sister and brother in law were having. I dressed up as Elvira, with a long black wig, and my husband was a clown! I had so much fun painting his face! I also painted his fingernails red, and Molly almost didn't recognize us when she answered the door, and we almost didn't recognize them! They dressed up as old people. It was so fun and hilarious! The next day when he asked me to get the nail polish off, I went to get the nail polish remover and I didn't have any! He had to go to Home Depot with red nail polish on! So funny thinking back...guess we stopped at the drug store on the way home! Have a good afternoon!

Karen's Bracelet

2011-10-04T12:00:00.006-04:00

A bracelet I made for my friend Karen. The center, side and toggle are sterling silver. The pink and blue beads are dichroic glass beads. The green beads are faceted jade. I hope she likes it :D

New England Aster blooming it's head off in my yard. It's nice to see some color as things are beginning to fade out....

This is a native plant called Turtlehead, or Genitian ....I found growing in the woods by my cabin..the petals never really open fully. They stay closed to resemble a turtles head. It was so funny, the day I took the picture, as I was walking over to the plant, I noticed two turtles mating! What are the odds of that? They froze when they saw me, so I stayed still and observed. After the male was successful, they both tipped over on their backs. I noticed he used his head to hurl himself back over...then he just crawled away leaving the female on her back! Well!! There's other turtles in the woods! Enjoy this beautiful day my friends :D

New Bracelet

2011-09-23T11:46:00.002-04:00

Made this wire wrapped bracelet last night. Whewww...the wire I bought was a little to stiff for me, so it was hard! Will have to get some different wire when I can. My hands are sore! Still had fun playing with my beads....I have missed them! Hope you all have a nice weekend, see ya soon!

2011-09-20T15:17:00.005-04:00

Crowabout- Week 133
Credits:

Flower-takabreak
Border- Candy Smi
Background- Rubyblossom
Stained Glass Window- Home and Heart
Butterflies- Mrs. Inman
Bird: Paperscraps

Was looking for a quote that suited this scenerio, and borrowed it from my friend Silke. If you visit her blog, you will see a beautiful canvas wrapped Poppy that she has in her Etsy shop. She is so talented. I love her work AND her blog. She had a picture of the Poppy on her facebook page, with the above quote on her status. When I saw the quote, I remembered how much I liked it and thought it would work well with this week's challenge. Thank you Silke and Hans Christian Anderson!! I drew the girl and cut and pasted her in. I used acrylic paint and watercolor crayons for the background. Hope you all have a magical evening!

2011-09-15T19:25:00.002-04:00

Credits:
Borders: Nancy Baumiller. Becky F, astridmaclean, rubyblossom
eye- Fidgetrainbowtree
Face- Nancy Baumiller

Finished this one today, took me a while...I did the background one day while collaging with my daughter Kathryn. All I had completed when we stopped working that day, were the borders. Was nice to pick it back up and move on to whatever else I was going to do. I never really know...I used to sit for hours trying to think up a theme, trying to make it all make sense. What that did was stall the whole process. I got some good advice from a friend one time, she said not to think about it too much...Do the borders with things you like and once you decide on a central image, the rest will come..and somehow it does. So, it's always a surprise to me too, to see the final piece. Thanks to you all for stopping by! I like it! Have a good night :D

Marley Grace!

2011-09-13T11:22:00.002-04:00

Great Granddaughter Marley Grace, born Sept. 2, 2011. 7lbs. 5oz., 20 in. long! Just had to brag and share...when I saw this picture it melted my heart!!!

everything went well, and we are truly blessed!!! Today however, Jessie (Marley's Mom) is at the emergency room with a kidney stone! She passed it luckily. Hopefully she will be on her way home soon to her sweet girls! Just wanted to say hello and show you all the newest addition to the family! Have a fun filled, perfect, pretty day!

2011-09-07T18:34:00.002-04:00

Credits:
Borders- Nancy Baumiller
Background- thegraphicsaddict
Conch Shell & Starfish-CandySmi
Flowers-Kelly Kautz
Fish- dutchclogs
Beach Club border-thegraphicaddict
"At the seashore"- Suzee Que

We are having some cool weather! Air is off and the windows are open! We got some much needed rain, and today it was still cloudy. Perfect day for some new art, and that is just what I did! Where did the day go? Have a good night!

2011-08-23T18:49:00.004-04:00

Credits: Only one!
Face- Fidgerainbowtree
All the rest of the images came from magazines

Collage is such a cheap hobby! If you are a cutter and paster as I am, you can find images so easily. Kathryn had given me some magazines to look through and when I got done, I had a big stack of pretty images that I couldn't wait to use. The quote is from Maya Angelou. Loved it!

These next couple of pictures were taken last weekend at the Ocoee River, Whitewater Rafting Center. The river was so pretty and we had fun watching the rafters. I snapped this one from the hiking trail that runs along the river. We had never been on that path before, and want to take our bikes next time.

Loved this picture and this tree....

These pictures got out of sequence but...here is Pearl in the water bag again! I had to show you all, she is so funny and always into something!

This picture was taken at a baby shower for our Granddaughter Jessie, and Great-granddaughter, Riley's 3rd Birthday party a couple of weeks ago, the cute little girl on the right is one of Jessie's friends little girl. They both got lots and lots of gifts! A friend made the diaper cake for her on the left, what a great idea! I might have better luck cooking one! Hope you all enjoy your evening, what a perfect day here on the mountain, see you soon!

2011-08-14T07:47:00.002-04:00

Credits:
Background- FeeBeeDee
Oval Face- daffyd1963
Jesters-gr8plunder
Wonder Stories- takeabreak
When I Grow Up- plushpossumstudio.blogspot.com
Bottom border & top left border, round circles- from a card Molly gave me
Child picture- Mine, of me!

Whew! Finally grabbed a few minutes to post this collage I made recently, you know you are busy when you find a little time to create the collage, but you haven't had time to "post" the collage!! I was staying with Kathryn for a few days, after she had a trip to the emergency room with horrid stomach pain. They did a CT scan, and told us she had some interesting findings....they said it appears she has an accessory spleen! We were stunned. It's not unheard of, but not real common. I read that it most likely happens in birth at the embryotic stage, when the spleen is forming. Some cells may leak out around it and grow into baby spleens. Later in life they may give no problems at all, or they can become twisted, etc. That is what they think happened, and they didn't believe she would need surgery, but she was in quite a bit of pain last week. She was on pain meds, that made her feel worse. Luckily towards the end of the week she felt much better, and is hoping to return to work this week. I'm so thankful she is better, it is so so hard to see your child hurting, ya know. So I was back home for the weekend, we had a really fun day yesterday at my stepdaughter Cindy's house. It was our great-granddaughter Riley's 3rd birthday, and a shower for Marley, who will be born on Sept. 2ND! Had a great time seeing everyone, and she had enough clothes and presents and diapers to open a store! Yay Jessie!! Now later today, it's back to Kathryn's. I will have dinner at her future in laws, and I really look forward to spending time with them, always a great time. Monday evening I am going to see "THE HELP" with Alyssa, Kathryn, Molly, Megan, Linda & Ashley! We have been really looking forward to it, best book I ever read! Y'all have a day filled with whatever makes you happy! See ya!

Lucky Me!

2011-07-21T00:08:00.003-04:00

Just thought I would show y'all the necklace and bracelet I got the other day! I had been eyeing the bracelet for some time now. They are both from the "Lucky" designer jewelry. I love everything they have, but especially this bracelet. I loved the way each stone was different on the bracelet. I tried it on many times, and reluctantly put it back and never bought it. It wasn't like it was even that expensive. Guess I had other things I needed more, you know....anyhow, the other day was the day I guess, because I decided I was having it! While I was trying it on and paying for it, my husband walks over and was looking at it, and I was showing him some of the other cool necklaces, earrings and other stuff on the display rack. He liked them all too, he said, then said he was going to go look at the men's shoes. So I went over to where he was after I got done and he ended up buying some shoes. While I was paying for them, he said he was going to go get the truck and pick me up. I walked out into the heat wave and I didn't see him anywhere. I was just getting ready to call him and here he came out of the mall. He said he was looking at some T-shirts or something. We got in the truck and I get a call on my cell from a lady at the mall where I bought a new bra. She asked me to look in the bag and by mistake there was the same bra, but the wrong size in there. Sooooo, we had to go back...my husband dropped me off at the entrance, and I went in and exchanged it. I come out and get back in the truck and hanging from his rear view mirror was the necklace! That is where he had gone before when he said he was looking at T-shirts. He went and bought it for me! Long story just to tell you all that, but that's just the way I have to explain things sometimes, so you would be surprised too! Wasn't that so sweet??? He is a sweetie!! I really AM lucky!!

2011-07-02T17:18:00.002-04:00

Credits:
Borders- Nancy Baumiller and Becky F
Lady- magazine
children- Collage Play with Crowabout Image from Nancy Baumiller

I remember going to my first Firework Show. My Dad was in the Jaycees in the town I grew up in, and they always put on the firework show every 4th of July. I just thought it was the most magical experience I had ever seen. I didn't know about the "grand finale" and thought some war had broke out when it happened. Scared me so bad, but I still love them! We don't really go watch them anymore, but we can see them over the mountains, in this town and that town, and from people shooting off their own. We have our own show! I plan on taking a little toddy out on the porch and watching them! Hope you all get to see some where you are, have fun!

2011-06-30T12:08:00.002-04:00

Credits:
Top corner pieces- Art by Chrysti (personal use only) Link back to this site:
FREE Textures provided by: Chrysti
Cat-Becky F
Top yellow border- Land of Nod Studios
paper butterfly wings- mesec_od_papira
Words- Nancy Baumiller
Bottom border, Lady head, eye border, left word border- Nancy Baumiller
"Good Words"- gr8plunder

Had fun creating this collage yesterday, I used a patterned scrapbook page for the background. I cut it to the proper size, then painted it and stamped over it before cutting and pasting the images on.

Looking forward to a laid-back 4th of July weekend! Alyssa is coming up to spend a few days! Looking forward to it and hanging out with her. We can usually see fireworks down in the mountains....our own little show! Hope you all have a "blast" of a weekend, heee hee, I'll see you all soon!!

The Unfortunate Mishap

2011-06-27T09:50:00.004-04:00

Crowabout- Week 126
Credits:
Background, EAT, arrow, yellow/red border & checkered borders- Constance2009
Door: vintage fragments (personal use)
Face w/hat, Eye Circle and fish- mizjadeadams
Swin suit beauty body- takabreak
Checkered floor-Not Your Average Sock Monkey
View Master Reel: Calsidyrose
Racoon- Stockpile Free Images

In case you can't see the journaling well enough to read it, I tell a story about my husband bringing me home some Hollytone Fertilizer. He knew that I would be using it the next day, so he just left it out on the deck for me. The next morning, we saw that some animal had torn into it and it was all over the deck. We hoped that it didn't eat any of it....but no telling! I told my sister Molly about it, and she said "Well, it's either dead or REALLY big!!!" I could just visualize walking outside one day and meeting up with a giant rabbit, raccoon or squirrel! You know that if I had been out there trying to open the bag, I would have had to drop what I was doing, come in and get a knife or pair of scissors to open it! Story of my life! Have a nice day, and thanks for stopping by!

Me, Myself & I

2011-06-16T13:43:00.002-04:00

Credits:
Glasses and dress- Norma Frances
Cat face and circles- Becky F
Black and white floral border- neefer
Fairy is from the one in my yard
all the rest of the images were from magazines and my stash

New ART finally!! I had so much fun with this one last night! Couldn't watch TV anyhow, because it was storming too bad. Perfect collaging weather! The background was a combo of acrylic purple and pinks with white sponged on paint. I didn't like it at first, but added some circles with hi lite pens and Copics, and ended up liking it after I added all the doodles. I love opaque pens! Need some new ones though....and just new markers in general! The fairy in the collage is from a picture I took of her in my yard. There was an accident of some sort, not long after I got her, probably from high winds or an animal, and somehow she was knocked over, and sadly she lost her wing....I still have it....may try to repair her one day, but that is why on the left side of the picture it's cut off. Poor sweet girl.....I drew her a transparent wing, do you see it?
Hope you all have a good weekend and have fun celebrating Father's Day! We are going to a party in honor of a dear neighbor who is moving for his job, on Saturday. Looking forward to seeing all the neighbors and hanging out. Friday, we will take Dad and Carolyn out to dinner for Fathers Day, Sunday the girls and families are coming over to see Daddy! Gonna be a busy but fun weekend. See y'all later!

Hello!

2011-06-14T14:05:00.006-04:00

I spent the morning out on the back porch, drinking my coffee and taking pictures! This little guy happened to be on the table, just waiting for me to take his picture!

Hello!

I'm still mad at them for climbing my feeder pole, but how can I be mad at them long, look how cute! Time to grease the pole!!Loved, loved, loved this pretty boy...chirping away...

We've had lots of rabbits visiting this year.

Butterfly weed is blooming now, soon the pink bee balm will be involved!

We've been watching a couple of foxes down in the backyard. I hadn't seen them in a few days, since we mowed. Was excited when I saw them down there this morning sitting in the sun.

The red carpet roses and my purple aster in full bloom, hope you all enjoyed them and hope you all have a perfect day too!

2011-05-17T21:10:00.002-04:00

Well it's been so long since I have made any ART, I'm afraid I may have forgotten how! I did make this bracelet last night though! I had forgotten I had bought the blue beads at a bead show Kathryn and I went to a few months ago. I was trying to figure out a way to take a picture of it where you could see the light shining through it. The blue beads are semi opaque, and they just glow. It was fun playing with all my beads again, but I DO miss collaging and hope that I can work on some things next week.

Been working in the yard when I can, working in Kathryn's new yard...oh! Yea! They got a house! Really nice first home for them, and in a really nice neighborhood, close to where we used to live. We all went over on Saturday and trimmed bushes, put pine straw out, and did whatever we needed to do to it. Looked so good, like someone lived there! I was going to go out today and do a few things but it was too cold!! I want y'all to know that it was 47 when I woke up this morning, stayed cold and cloudy all day and I have the heat on! Never would have dreamed it would be too cold to work out in the yard in the middle of May! Oh well, it will be back up to almost 90 by the weekend! Hope you all are doing good and creating something amazing! Enjoy your night :D

Fair Warning

2011-04-27T14:09:00.003-04:00

Credits:

Ladies body- Cirus Faire
Woman/Swan glasses- DALAIWMN
Flower faces- Becky F
Oil Pastel Background- t42goller
Butterfly- tomeki28
3 Women facing away/license plates- takeabreak
Pointy hat, crow circle, Edgar circle- Digital Collage Images
Cowboy Border- jackandcatcurio
Border- The Glass Behive
Black border in right with white words- Nancy Baumiller

Oh this weeks challenge was so much fun! Loved the images you found for us Nancy. I've been busy around here, and this was the first piece I have had time to make lately. Hope you all had a beautiful Easter! We sure did, our daughter Kathryn is engaged! She found her ring in an Easter Egg hunt frenzy! She found the golden egg, and inside was a box with her ring inside! We are so happy for them, and now we have two daughters engaged! Our daughter Cindy recently married too! Lots to be excited about around here, and we are so proud of them all!

This month has been a horrid month for bad weather hear in north GA. It seems like every few days we have to worry about high winds and tornado threats! This morning we had a bad storm come though, wasn't as bad here as some areas. Many people are without power. Another round is on the way though....guess I need to batten down the hatches! Take care!

Nursery Rhymes and Pics

2011-04-12T12:32:00.016-04:00

CREDITS:

Happy Baby Photo- sassyarts
Background- cparmelee1
Pink border- ltl blonde
Quilt dog- Buglady1104
Humpty On Wall- gr8plunder
Toy blocks- neefer
Nursery Rhymes- "T"eresa
Nursery Rhyme trading card- gr8plunder
Star- cleome1
Sheep- BeckyF
Stork Face- mimi1993
House border, city border, scalloped border- Nancy Baumiller

Just finished this yesterday for Crowabout. Loved using the "Hey diddle diddle" images...thought they were so cute! It was a favorite nursery rhyme of mine growing up, and still is! Creating this collage made me think of our Granddaughter Jessie. She is expecting another baby girl in September! Now we will be blessed with two great-granddaughters!

Here are a few garden pics I took the other day, hope you enjoy them!

This pretty girl is blooming right now in my yard. A native azalea, that I don't know the name of, but it smells wonderful!!!I'm so proud! I ordered these "Shooting Stars" a couple of years ago, and this is the first year they have bloomed! Aren't they cool!? So delicate too. I read they are native to Georgia. Well, let me just tell you, if I ever saw one blooming in the woods, I would get weak in the knees, my heart would start racing, and then I don't know what else would happen! I hope I get to find out one day!"Georgia Blue" one of my favorite perennials in the garden. Blooms early, and I love the pretty purple/blue color. Looks really pretty once it has spread in the garden, I will probably buy more!

Helleborus, Lenten Rose....they are coming up so pretty in the bed where I have them, soon they will fill up the entire bed, then I will take another picture of that to share :D

A wee bit blurry, but I'm surprised I captured a shot at all, this pretty butterfly was all over the place! I was so happy when I downloaded my pictures to see that I did get one!I got this pretty iridescent dragon fly at Home Depot! There were other colors too, and some other butterflies, a hummingbird, and other yard arty things there too!

I wanted to show y'all the sun I bought at the Southeaster Flower Show in Atlanta! I've been wanting a sun for the side of the house, and never really found the right one. When I saw this one my friend Susan told me I had to get this one, and I agreed!

Thanks for stopping by! Have yourselves a perfect day!

Dream Big

2011-04-07T12:59:00.003-04:00

Credits:
Top border, side word border, hand, eye, Dream- Nancy Baumiller, Borders & Bits kit, Crowabout Studio B @ deviantscraps.com,
Asian children- clotho
colorful border under eye- Becky F
Bird (red)- paperscraps Bird (blue)- Suzee Que
Numbered border- angellea, checkered border (legs)- vampirecolette
Chinese Kazak x 2 corners- neefer
other borders & bits- mizjadeadams
Dress/body- Norma Frances, heart- cleome, blue crown- scavengerart

Created for Collage Play with Crowabout, lots of pretty images to work with this week. Thanks everyone for the images.
We've had some bad weather this past weekend here in Georgia. Many people lost power and some just got it back on yesterday! Lots of trees down. We were really lucky, although I did spend a scary hour or two in the basement. We did lose power, but only for a few hours. Today is a beautiful day on the mountain. I think it is time to head out into the sun!

Some Of My Favorite Things

2011-03-31T13:47:00.005-04:00

Credits:
Right flower border & cat-Pringle Hill Studios
Sunflower, left border behind man- Becky F
Fan- Roads Untraveled
Half zetti circle at top-Fidgetrainbowtree
Man with hat- plaisanter
"E"- clotho
In Your Life-enigmachck1
Woman dancing-Norma Frances
House border, Play, And, Be, Woman border on right, face, cat ears,
and large background flower- Nancy Baumiller
The rest of the images came from my stash

Wheww! Vertigo alert! I think I got it creating this one, but y'all know me...more is more! I wish I could restrain myself sometimes, but it never seems to happen! The first background was already done, how easy....but then I decided I didn't like the plain green background, so I painted and stamped with napkin patterns and bubble wrap......wasn't happy with that, so I painted over it again. Wiped off paint layers....I am amazed I didn't tear a hole in it. Painted over it again and ended up being happier with it, but now I covered up most of it, so you can't see it anyway! I have much to learn. I always admire layering that I see in our friends work. Practice, practice practice LOL! Enjoy your afternoon, can't believe it's that time already. I have seen the sun peak out a few times today. I feel better already!

Thinking Back

2011-03-29T11:34:00.002-04:00

Credits: Top border- Mon1ca
The rest were from magazines

Finished this one yesterday. Now I know why I don't paint. Getting the tone right is the hardest thing for me. I first used Copic markers, and the tone was better, but then it ran with the pencil/marker out line and had little spots from the marker on it.....so....tried to paint over it, and covered the spots, but now the tone is too light and too pink! Oh well. Still had fun creating it and remembering playing in that meadow when we were young. Back to the real world, LOL!
Hope that you all have a perfect spring day!!

2011-03-23T21:03:00.005-04:00

Credits:
Flower border-magazine
Top left border- From a Microsoft Paint drawing I did.
Girls face on right- ArtBy Chrysti
Fairy Girl with wings- ladyinblack1964
Fish, border & butterflies- Neefer
Top & bottom border- Nancy Baumiller
Casino de Paris- Emilynnn
Really & Delightful- fidgetrainbowtree
Background- Terri Kahrs (Pringle Hill Studios)
Woman in red hat- Mrs. Inman
Alphabet- Neefer

I have coveted this pretty background I got from Terri at Pringle Hill Studios a while back. Waiting for the perfect opportunity to use it and this collage was it! I need to stock up on some of these amazing backgrounds I come across, from the kind and talented friends that share them, I could never create one this cool!! Thank you Terri!

Happy Spring! I will be taking some pictures of my yard and various things as I can, for a future post. Have a good night!

House Of Fun

2011-03-17T11:49:00.003-04:00

Credits:
"Welcome To The House Of Fun" words, left dark border, face, eyes from Nancy Baumiller from Crowabout Studio B
Proctor and Gamble left top border- DALAIWMN
Checkered border- Norma Frances
Cats- Becky F
The rest of the images are from my stash and magazines

This time I used acrylic paint and also some word stamping, that you can't see for the background. The cats were the inspiration for this one. They have really been up to no good lately! Even now Sophia is practically laying on the keyboard, purring her head off, amused by the lady bug crawling on the mouse pad, yes, they are STILL here... and a few minutes ago, I saw her licking her paw after she dipped it in my coffee! Glad I caught that! Seems like there is always a cat up on the desk when I am trying to work....but I love them soooo much! I hope you all have a HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY loves, and always remember to never iron a four leaf clover, or you will press your luck!! I saw that quote from a friend yesterday, and thought it was so funny! See ya later!

Look Inside

2011-03-15T22:01:00.002-04:00

Credits:
Background (used as top left border)- DoubleM2
"Guide To"- ArtbyChrysti
Silly Men border- DeadFred.com
Nurse face and Monkey- DALAIWMN
"Originality"- scavengerart
"I Certainly Can"- emilynnn
"Look Inside" & "For Your"- Crankydragon
Hat- Nancy Baumiller
Dress & Flowers- magazine
Steps- Rubyblossom

Created for the Collage Play with Crowabout group. I used Neo II crayons in the background. I colored in several colors and then smeared with a baby wipe. All images were hand cut and glued on, then copic markers used here and the along with colored pencil (black) for shading.

I have some happy news! Our daughter Cindy is getting married this Saturday! We are so happy for them and welcome Bill to the family! Looking forward to being with them and the family this weekend! Hope you all have a great week. Thanks for coming by :D

Just Journaling

2011-03-11T11:19:00.002-05:00

Credits:
Butterfly- tomeki28
Legs- Norma Frances
Fan- Roads Untraveled
Dress- Me
Eyes, face and flowers- magazine

Sometimes, I just wanna sit down and draw and color. I don't want to have a theme or think about a theme....or have to worry about things......so sometimes I just do that. It was great fun! Already had the background done, made it even funner! The lines are really a pinker color, but it didn't scan that way. Thanks for looking! Have a fun day!

Under The Willow Tree

2011-03-10T13:24:00.005-05:00

Credits:
House- Rubyblossom
Background- takabreak
Kissing couple- Stampingmad
Pink rose- pheobe (Fee Bee Dee)
Love ribbon- Norma Frances
Scalloped border- Norma Frances
Rose border (top corners)- sassyarts

The background image from takeabreak was of a music sheet. I used MS Paint to block out a little of it, then colored the sky and grass with Neo II crayons. I decided a tree was needed, and I have noticed some of the willow trees starting to bud out...I always think they are so pretty. Guess that is how this one came about. Hope you all enjoy your day!!

Florascope

2011-02-21T10:48:00.002-05:00

Crowabout- Week 112
Thanks to Nancy Baumiller for the great images this week!
Center garden image came from a magazine, I always admire them and decided to use one in this piece.

I used Neo II Watersoluble crayons to smear over the background piece, and came back with some dark blue metallic paint, and some turquoise and purple acrylic paint to hide some of the busyness.....still looks busy, but I did want some of the background to show through. Hope you all have a good Monday!

Thinking Out Loud

2011-02-16T23:04:00.015-05:00

Credits to Nancy Baumiller for most of the borders, Artsy Fartsy Queen for the blue corner borders, wish I could remember where I got her clothes and shoes! I am thinking Norma Frances or Rubyblossom......I hate when that happens, I really do. Many of the images came from magazines.

I made this crazy little collage today thinking about some things that I want to do outside in my yard! It has been so nice here, in the mid 60's today and yesterday! I know we are not done with our cold weather yet, but I will enjoy it in the meantime. Here are a few random pictures I thought I would share...I sorta got them out of order, but we won't worry about that will we?

Pearl laying in the sun this morning, sweet girl...

I am very excited about our new asphalt!! Never knew how exciting it could be! Our driveway was gravel, and most of it had washed away and it had become a big muddy mess and so we decided to have it paved. It only took them two days and so here it is! Yay! (Husband in pic on phone)....

..Sophia, lap top kitty! I got up to go do something, and within 5 minutes she was sound asleep!

I just let her stay there for a while, she doesn't like to be "moved"! Hope you all sleep tight :D

Happy Valentines Day!

2011-02-14T19:51:00.002-05:00

Credits to Nancy Baumiller for the crazy cats and rose. Crazy cats came from her "Wild Things collection at Crowabout Studio B at deviantscraps.com

Becky F for the top left corner flower and the sun image in the left border

Created for this weeks Crowabout group. I am dedicating this collage to my husband and love of my life, Raymond. It was his idea for me to appear, so since I am here, I want to wish you all a very special Valentines Day and tell you all how much I appreciate you all!! x0x Hugs x0x

Waiting on Spring!

2011-02-11T11:37:00.005-05:00

Credits to Nancy Baumiller for images in this weeks Crowabout Challenge, for borders also. BeckyF for borders and also Dover Publishing

I used the mottled background Nancy gave us, and used my crayons to recolor it here and there. I tried to be creative and use this pretty tissue paper I had with some Gel medium to create layers...I guess I really don't understand Gel medium..or I didn't use enough. The paper didn't stick to the cardstock like I wanted it to, so it was loose underneath, and I couldn't have that.......when I tried to pull it back up and redo, it of course tore and tore and tore, leaving a grungy mess on the background piece that I actually ended up liking! Gave it some texture after all! Hmm! The girl has been used before, but I love her and so I brought her back with some new surroundings! Hope that you all enjoy a nice weekend, think it is supposed to warm up a little here...how nice!! Hugs!! x0x

2011-02-04T11:56:00.005-05:00

HEART AND SOUL
Credits to Nancy Baumiller for images for this weeks Crowabout challenge, and for the PLAY image, and the pink cut out hearts from Crowabout Studio B. Dover publishing for the bottom right corner image.

Background colors done with Neo II crayons...oh how I love those.... I cut out and recolored the lady in red. Recolored the fans on top border to give them a pinker hue to go with the background color. I journaled about the trip to the SPA I am going to tomorrow to celebrate my friend Donna's 50th birthday! I am really looking forward to THAT, seeing her and being with my girlfriends!

GLAMOUR GIRL
Credits to clotho98 for Winx Mascara ad which included the top left corner border and the blonde lady's face, to Nancy Baumiller for some of the borders and the brown dress, to Fidgetrainbowtree for the beautysheet in the free images collage group and to Mon1ca for Glamour Girl image. The lady in the black and white dress on right, I got from an old magazine.

I made this collage for my friend Diane for her 50th birthday. It wasn't hard to decide the theme for this collage.. she works for Estee Lauder....it's good to have a friend in that profession! The funniest thing is.......I was looking for a head for the dress and came upon the Winx mascara add and I couldn't believe how much the face reminded me of a character picture of her! How perfect!! She is one of my oldest and best friends ever. She and I were pregnant with our 2nd child when we met. Her son Michael was born one week before my daughter Kathryn was born. She was my neighbor, and when the kids got to preschool age, we would carpool to school. Then when they rode the bus, we would meet in our vans at the bus stop, in our robes, with our coffee and talk for an hour after the bus left! Our children were close friends all through high school and still are to this day. Great friends and fun memories, now I gotta snap out of it and get back to the real world and go to the grocery store! Have a great weekend!

France

2011-01-24T14:55:00.004-05:00

Credits to Nancy Baumiller for the images she gave us to us in the Crowabout Group this week! Also, I want to thank my sister Molly, for the Eiffel Tower image. It is from an actual photo she took while visiting Paris with her family. I wish you would visit her photostream to see the actual picture. It was so beautiful, and there you will also see other photos from the trip and her beautiful flowers! Visit here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27278057@N02/

I decided the background image I used needed to be more muted, so I used the spray feature in MS Paint, and sprayed white and lavender paint onto the background.....the blue was from my Neo II crayon and then I used this marker I had for some of the other blue. I also tinted it some with colored pencils. I tinted the skin on the ladies and the man with a Copic marker, and colored her dress with the same. I drew the topiaries and colored, cut and pasted them in for some greenery! The composition for the collage came together quicker than they usually do for me, once I decided the curtains needed to be the border....they were red but decided to recolor them to fit into the color scheme I was using. I have always wanted to go to France, and I hope we will one day! Enjoy your day!

Dress Extravagantly!

2011-01-22T22:24:00.003-05:00

Credits to Nancy Baumiller for the images to use in the Crowabout group. Also, for all the borders except the top left yellow one, that was from Dover Publishing, and the top rose border that was a doodle I did oneday while on the phone. Thanks to Nancy also for the funny person with the quitar and the face on the lady with the black dress! Wow Nancy thanks for everything!

Felt so good to make some art! I loved all the images this week for the challenge. I had already painted this background and decided to use it this week. The background image included in the mix Nancy gave us was beautiful, but it was hard for me to use it and make it different than everyones, so I used this one I had instead. The other one will show up one day in another collage I'm sure!

We are enjoying a cold but snow free weekend. It has been so nice to see the sun! Might get some more snow within the next few days, we will see I guess! I've been making a few bracelets and another collage I can't show yall yet....but I will! Have an arty weekend, and thank you all so much for visiting and for all your sweet comments. You all always make me smile! :D

Home Sweet Home!

2011-01-13T10:26:00.003-05:00

Credits to Nancy Baumiller at Crowabout Studio B @ deviantscraps.com for left border, bottom border, house, clothes and faces! Some of the other borders came from magazines from my stash
cat face- Becky F

Hello!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! We had a great fun over the holidays being with family and friends. We are for the most part, now snowed in on the mountain. It started snowing Monday night while we were at the hospital. My husband had been having some bad indigestion and his blood pressure had shot up. We didn't know what to do. We didn't want him to get worse, and not be able to get down the mountain to the hospital. We decided to go down before the storm came and let them check him just to be sure everything was okay. Well they did EKG, chest X-ray and blood work. Everything looked good, but the decided to admit him and keep him overnight to test his blood every 6 hours, to rule out a heart attack. So, we spent the night, and finally found out the next day that he was fine. YAY!!!!! They gave him some sort of gastro cocktail and his blood pressure got under control. We were exhausted......but he was released. Only problem was.....all the SNOW!! I was afraid for us to drive in it, but my husband informed me that "we're goin home" sooooo...off we went! The roads were bad, but we crept along and did okay. We tried to come up the mountain but got to the first steep part and the car veered to the left and almost hit a small tree! Visualize the scenerio......coming up a mountain, drop off on left of road...now we are sitting close to the left edge. I was freaking out....I just wanted to walk away and deal with it later! So he kept working at it and now we are sitting cross ways in the road facing the drop off! He finally got us turned around...and we inched down to the bottom and left the car where his truck already was, at a neighbors vacation home. Then we had to walk up the mountain (it's about a mile and a half) in the snow....and it was still snowing......whewwwww.....quite an adventure. By the time we got to the top, our faces were numb and my lungs were hurting from breathing in the artic cold air. Can you even imagine how happy we were to be walking in the door of our little warm cabin with our three kitties greeting us at the door meowing and swirling around us? We were HOME!!!!! I will keep you all posted! Stay warm and have a great day!!

White Christmas!!

2010-12-26T21:30:00.003-05:00

Hope you all have had a beautiful Christmas! We have gotten around 10 inches of snow! It is still snowing lightly. I think this has been one if the prettiest snows I have seen! My husband went out and took some pictures yesterday, so wanted to share this one with you all. This picture is our road, looks like it may be a few days before it's safe to drive down the mountain.

We are doing great though, and at least my husband is getting some rest time from work! Have a great night!!

2010-12-13T16:42:00.004-05:00

Credits: Nancy Bumiller for borders, the boy, and the dress, from her borders collection at Crowabout Studio B @ deviantscraps.com
Kitty and butterfly came from Terri Kahrs I believe...thanks so much ladies!

I drew in the girl, then colored and smeared around her with Neo II crayons and colored pencil to shade and give some variation in color. The flowers in her hair were a pink color, but I forgot that the pink paint pen does not scan true to color for some reason....even the word "Decorate" didn't show up the true pink that it REALLY is....sigh....I then went over the flowers with a purple pen so they would at least show up! I used Copic marker to outline stuff.

Been snowed in all day so it was a perfect day to make some art! Psssst....still in my pajamas! Yea it's been one of those days haa haa! I should be wrapping presents or cleaning but I'll think about that tomorrow! Ya'll have a nice night! See ya later! xoxox

Good Advice

2010-12-08T18:42:00.005-05:00

Credits:
Right side border, pink circle borders, rose border, and number border- Nancy Baumiller from Crowabout Studio B at DeviantScraps.com
Girls dress- Rubyblossom
Cats and brown border- Becky F
Victorian images, flowers, and top scalloped border- Norma Frances
Quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson

Background was created with Neo II water soluble crayons and colored pencils for shading and copic markers. I drew girlie's face, arms and legs....that's about all that was mine!!! Don't know what I would do without all my amazing and generous images sources!! I've been paralyzed in the chair working on this practically all day! Time to walk away from the collage and tidy up!

This collage was inspired from the quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson, that my daugher Alyssa had as her status on Facebook yesterday. It says..."To laugh often, and love much, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to give one's self... this is to have succeeded." I commented on how I really loved the quote, I hadn't heard it before, but it's pretty much the way I feel! When my sister Molly read her my comment she said "I feel a collage coming on Shelly" and then Alyssa said "You know it Molly, it will be in her next one! Ohhhh....they think they know me so well.... how could I not use it after that!???

Just wanna thank you all for visiting me and for all your sweeeet comments, that really touch my heart and encourage me everyday! Hope you all enjoy the night, I'll see ya soon! x0x

Sunday Doodles

2010-12-05T16:29:00.005-05:00

Credits to Nancy Baumiller at Crowabout Studio B@Deviantscrap.com for Sunday border and dress
Dover Publishing for left flower border and bottom corner borders
Pink border- Becky F

I drew the girl last night, this morning I was trying to decide how I was going to use her in a collage. I had already pre-made the green background. I was looking through my images and came across the flower doodle I had done a longggg time ago. I cut it out and colored it in with Copic's, decided to put them in her hair. The rest just came together, really because it was SUNDAY, and I found the flower doodle LOL! I never thought I was going to get through it though....I had about 8 half empty dot glue runner containers....I would glue down a couple of things and one would run out, then I'd use up the rest of another one....then finally all of them were gone and I had to resort to a half dried out glue stick!!! Story of my life! SANTA!!! Please bring me an unlimited supply of dot glue runner refills!!!!!! LOL doesn't take much to make me happy :D Hope you are enjoying your Sunday, and hope you got to doodle too! Doodle lou!!

Look What I Got!

2010-12-03T16:45:00.003-05:00

I received a canvas of one of my earlier collages in the mail! I loved the way it turned out and highly recommend photo-canvas.com for anyone that is interested!! Patricia was so nice and helpful, and the entire transaction went beautifully! The hardest part was trying to find a place in this cabin to hang it! Still not sure about that, but you know how that is! Just thought I would share it with you all, hope you all are having an ARTY kind of day in some way! See yall soon!

Wild and Wise

2010-12-01T16:22:00.005-05:00

Credits to Nancy Baumiller at Crowabout Studio B@Deviantscrap.com for borders
Astrid Maclean for briefcase man, hand and disco ball
Door from Paperscraps
the rest of the images from magazines or stash
I decided that I wish I could draw and paint. I need to practice lots more doing both. Here I did a little sketchy....not like I'm really happy with it, but I'm learning and having fun! I drew her first on plain paper and colored her in with Copic markers, cut and pasted her in. Yesterday was the perfect ART day, windy and rainy all day long. Today is pretty and cold LOL! Nice to see the sun though. Ya'll have a great night, I'll see ya later!

Blessings

2010-11-23T10:25:00.004-05:00

Credits:
mightee*mouse- grapes and turkey
rubyblossom- background
melissamh-Thanksgiving greeting
Norma Frances-scalloped border
Astrid MacLean-borders

Created for Week 104 with Collage Play with Crowabout. Rubyblossom provided such a nice scenic background, there was no painting on this one! I hope that you and yours have a beautiful Thanksgiving! I am so thankful for you all!! See you soon!

A Few New Pics!

2010-11-20T15:12:00.009-05:00

I got a new camera, and yesterday I went to a couple of parks near me and took some pictures. This one was taken at Vogel State Park, and Meeks Park in Blairsville, GA. As you can see, it was a gorgeous day, and I had alot of fun walking and taking pictures. Here's a few more....

And last but not least.....here is Pearl!

I hope you all are having a great day! I will see you again soon!

Peace & Harmony

2010-11-11T16:56:00.005-05:00

Hellewwww!!! Sorry I've been away so long. I got a new printer/scanner, so hopefully now I will be back in business, and life is really, really good now!!! Now I can print images and play on CROWABOUT soon!! This collage is barely that, the only thing glued on is the ball she is holding and the bird from Nancy Baumiller. The butterflies were from a sticker book I have. The background was created with acrylic paint and my Neo II crayons, along with H2O's to add a shimmer. I used copic markers and glitter pens too!

Been busy around here, last weekend we spent the weekend up in Cherokee, NC. The company my husband works for is painting a new hotel at Harrah's Casino, and Larry The Cable Guy was going to be performing there. Our friend got us tickets, so we all went, laughed till we cried! Lord, I apologise for him, LOL!. We ate good food and made new friends! The new hotel is gettiing close to being completed, and everyone has worked so hard, 7 days a week I might add! I got a tour and was not happy with having to wear a hard hat and goggles, but wowwww it's top notch beautiful and there is also going to be a Paula Deen restaurant there as well!

Went down and spent a night with my sister Molly too! We went to lunch and shopped at our favorite stores! Bought lots of pretty beads and will be buying more this Sunday, when my daugher Kathryn and I go to the Intergalactic BEAD Show!! She has gotten addicted to beads, guess I finally corrupted her.... YAY! One of these days I am going to post some of my jewelry in here. Well better go for now, have a nice night friends!

I Won!!

2010-10-19T12:50:00.010-04:00

I won this beautiful Tree of Life necklace in a blog giveaway from Leila at Artsy Creations by Leila!!! It is even more beautiful in person, the leaves are made with bicone crystal beads and the wire is copper. It just gleams and it's really a beautiful piece of art, that I can't wait to wear!! Please stop by her blog to see all her amazing art and creations! Thanks so very much Leila, I love it! Here is another picture of it, so you can see the pretty cord and ribbon it hangs from.

Made some art yesterday!

Credits to Nancy Baumiller for many of the borders
Peacock-kirabella
wings-astrid maclean
The rest are from my stash and magazines

My kitty Pearl :D For some reason every time I unload the dishwasher she tears upstairs and starts freaking out...meowing like a mountain lion......oh it's so funny!!! Then since the kitchen is below the loft where she is, I call her and she sticks her head through the bannister with this wild look in her eyes, and you just know that when she runs downstairs you better look out! In this picture you don't see the wildness, but thought I would share it with you. There is never a dull moment here with 3 cats!! I hope that you all enjoy this lovely fall day! I think I am going to take a long walk today! See you soon!!

Birdcage Lady

2010-09-28T13:54:00.003-04:00

Hat-Rubyblossom
Legs-Autumnsensation
Birdcage-lavandarfields
Eyes-Angellea
Bird-Digital Collage Images
Cat Face-BeckyF

Can't scan, so not great clarity here. It's so funny how things come together. I created this background using Neo II water soluble crayons first. I had no idea what I was going to do, but remembered I had printed the birdcage and bird image for the Crowabout collage group previously. I was looking at quotes and came upon this one and then I realized I knew what I was going to do with the birdcage!
We finally got some rain! Now the hydrangeas have perked back up. The best thing about it though, is that the temperatures have finally dropped and I have the windows open!! Just last week I got singed just walking to the car, and last night I had to shut the windows because it was too cold! Hope you all enjoy your day, I know I'm going too! See ya soon xoxox

Happy 50th Birthday Sis!

2010-09-20T08:52:00.009-04:00

Front of Card

In honor of my sister Molly's 50th Birthday, I made her a pocket card. Made just like the one in my previous post, by cutting a business envelope in half, and collaging on top of it. Inside I tucked a couple of little gifts inside. Just thought I would share it with you all. I hope she is having a great time celebrating her birthday today! She is the best sister anyone could ask for, and the funniest person I know! Here is the back of the card:

Credits: Birthday Cake picture: Staunch Throwback
peacock: Kirabella
Cake lady on back: down_93437
Borders: Nancy Baumiller and Dover Publishing
Red Flower Border is Mary Engelbreit ribbon
To My Sister image: Kristina Images on Flickr

Hope you all have a great week! I will see you all again soon!!

Don't See Me

2010-09-08T11:43:00.015-04:00

Credits:
Nancy Baumiller- Fairy body and wings and borders
Becky F- borders
The Glass Beehive- legs

I had to take a picture of all of these with my camera, scanner still giving me fits....but you get the idea!

Did you all have a great Labor Day Weekend? We sure did! My sister Molly and niece Megan came up to see us on Saturday. We went tubing down the Toccoa River that day. Had such a blast with them....it was a little challenging for us at times, because due to lack of rain, the river was lowwww....and occasionally we got hung up on the rocks! We saw 3 snakes too!!! Another reason why tubing on the river is more fun when the water is high!! It was high enough to take us the entire 6 miles, we did it in 3 1/2 hours. Then we came home and made stuffed shells with salad and garlic rolls. We went into Blue Ridge the next day for some shopping. I have never seen so many people in town! I think everyone came to the mountains for the last holiday of the season. It is still hot, but you can see signs of Fall in the air! I am certainly ready!

Here is another little creation I made the other day.....

(Front of card)

(back of card)

Credits to Nancy Baumiller and Becky F for borders. Sun came
from a Collage Play With Crowabout sheet from Nancy Baumiller

Had so much fun creating this little pocket card. I was so inspired after visiting Terri over at Pringle Hill Studios for a little tutorial on how to create these and also there you will find some fun collage videos that she and Roc at what's up roc created. I enjoyed watching them and when those two get together you're sure to be entertained! I painted over a page out of a book for the background with acrylics and H2O's to give it some shimmer, then glued it on the envelope and added the borders and the rest of the images, along with glitter of course! Terri says you can also just paint directly on the envelope, but we thought that adding the background image made it sturdier to work on. I think you could also gesso the envelope first to achieve the same thing.

A few yard pics......

Here is a picture I took of this Cardinal Vine I planted from seed, the flower opens and closes and guess I missed the open phase for the picture, but at that late afternoon hour, I was more impressed with the way the sun bounced off the leaves!

Just had to share this sweet little bird house my friend Linda gave me!! Her husband Billy makes them! I got together with Linda and my sister Molly one day for lunch and a little shopping, and Linda says "oh, when you get out of the car there is something for you in that bag" and there is was! Thought it was so cute and sweet of them to give me one! I hope that you all have a beautiful day. I will be seeing you!

For The Love of Green

2010-08-25T21:57:00.004-04:00

I neglected to credit Norma Frances for the striped shirt image, thank you Norma!

I guess the color Green is my favorite color. I found some cool images in a magazine I just had to use, so I got out a green watercolor paint and smeared it on, not worrying how it covered, or if it did here and there. I then added some yellow to the green paint to give it variation on the page. Then I got a babywipe and lightly made swirls in places to lift off some of the paint. Then I began gluing down the images and journaled about nothing really! Just what we were doing that day....and I have the FUNNIEST story to tell ya'll!! I'm still laughing about it...I hope I won't make my friend mad for telling it, but it must be told. I will leave her name out even though she probably wouldn't read this anyhow......the day after I finished this collage, she was responding in an email back to me about how things were going with her, etc. She told me that on a whim and to save a buck she decided to color her hair. How hard could it be right? So she gets the color and evidently mixed it wrong...put it on for the time she was supposed to.. and then when she rinsed it out, she noticed it didn't lather like it should have. She got it rinsed out and she said it was YELLOWWWW.....she was LIVID..and you know how that is, the only one you can be mad at is Y.O.U. and now you are so mad at YOU, and now you can't just be done......nope, this situation must be dealt with immediately! Something else to deal with...so she had more developer from somewhere and remixed it correctly.....put it on again......this time, it came out (quoting her sister, after seeing a picture of her), a nice Autumn Green!!!!!!! ROFL!!!!! I told her at least she is ready for FALL! I know I'm laughing, but it was so funny, and she KNEW I would think it was....her husband told her he would take her out to eat, and that he would be proud to have a brown-eyed, green haired lady on his arm! Isn't that sweet? Well I don't know if they went to dinner or not, but she told me the next day she was going to the hairdresser ...after all...to get it corrected. So much for saving a buck huh?!! I told her that she wasn't alone! I thought I would be thrifty one time and tried to hi-lite mine one time....after spending half the day pulling it through the cap and getting a stiff neck, I put the color on there.....later, went back to check it and freaked out, thinking it was too light....washed it out...NOPE.. not light enough! It ended up this peachy, reddish color. Looked like Woody Woodpecker! Had to go get it fixed...anyhow, after reading about her dilemma, I looked down and there was this collage that I had made, and here were the words "Discover the Beauty of Green"!!!! Can you believe? I promptly sent it to her and told her that I guess I must have really been thinking about her lately!! She sent back a reply saying that the lady in the collage looks better than her!!! LOL!!!! I have kept ya'll long enough....night night...and like my daughter used to say when she was little, Don't Let the Angels Bite!!

THE PICNIC

2010-08-23T18:22:00.004-04:00

Created for Crowabout. Had scanner issues again, but think I may have it figured out! Created with images from Nancy B, also thanks so Rublyblossom for the house, Nancy B, for the girl, and border, Nayski for the arrow, birdhouse, swan and border. Thanks to Becky F for the flower I used as a sun! Have been collaging and working on some new pieces! Sure hope you all are having a good Monday and I will see you soon!

Secret Garden

2010-08-11T16:15:00.002-04:00

It was so much fun creating this new collage for CROWABOUT! I couldn't resist using the pretty courtyard image that Nancy gave us this week. I decided to add the trees, hoping to add something different. I always thought it would be amazing to have a real courtyard like this, don't you? I am out of my element in the last couple of collages, not using borders..but they just wouldn't work here ya know?

I have been so busy lately! Alyssa, Kathryn and Alex came up to see us last weekend, and you know what we did on Friday? We went tubing down the Toccoa River! I hadn't done it in years. Things got a little scary when it started thundering and raining on us, but we luckily found a couple of places to hide out until the weather got better. We only got to go half way, but we will go back again to finish the whole thing. What a blast!! We had so much fun hanging out together.

Guess I will go conjure up something for dinner, where did the day go? Hope you all have a great night! See ya soon!

Fairy Home

2010-07-28T13:34:00.003-04:00

YAY!!!!! My scanner was nice today and let me scan my latest collage for Crowabout. I couldn't believe it!! The green Fairy is from a photo I took of the one I have in my yard. The Fairy house is from another photo I took from a trip to a place in Young Harris, GA that sells them!! Great little store! So things are looking up around here, I'm feeling lots better! Hope yall are doing good! Thanks for coming to see me, I love it! xox

Scanner Issues

2010-07-23T09:56:00.003-04:00

What in the world is going on! I've noticed the past couple of times I have tried to scan something it wouldn't work. I have an HP Photosmart C6180 All in One Printer/Scanner. Usually I just use the Scanner Wizard and it only takes a few minutes. Now all of a sudden, I get an error box saying the printer does not recognize the camera or scanner, make sure all connections are hooked up properly. I have been in an online chat for 2-3 days with HP and we tried uninstalling and reinstalling. Nothing is working. I can print on the printer....so someone is supposed to call this morning from "pay support"...not sure if the problem is with the Usb cord/ports or my computer or what! Sooo.....I can't post my new collage..and I'm frustrated not knowing what is wrong. Has anything similar happened to any of you?

Stay cool out there! It has been in the mid nineties here! Hope you all have a great weekend!! Talk to you soon!!

Times fun when you have flies!

2010-07-18T14:10:00.003-04:00

Time for some new art! Special thanks to Shady Lane Studio, Becky F & Nancy Baumiller for borders, Norma Frances- "Learn Something New Everyday", Deluux- Dragonfly, Nayski, for the crown. Kitties, from Becky F. Kitty's little dress came from a Fairy sticker book my sister Molly gave me, frogs from a magazine, the Heron I took a picture of in Moms backyard. You may remember it from a previous post. Oops almost forgot to tell you where I got the quote. It is from Kermit the Frog naturally!!

Hope that you all are enjoying your weekend! See ya soon!!

It Goes on and on....

2010-07-14T12:06:00.002-04:00

Just wanted to thank you all for the get well wishes!!! They really helped lift my spirits!! I was really beginning to feel better from the pneumonia, but got a diverticulis flare up to deal with now! Had to go back down and see the doctor. He gave me two more antibiotics to take in addition the the one I am taking for the pneumonia. He suggested I have a CT scan, to make sure there wasn't more going on in there....so.....thats what I did yesterday. The worst part was drinking the disgusting stuff you have to drink for the scan! I never could finish all of it, but luckily it was enough to do the scan. When I went back to get dressed, I noticed a red blotch on my stomach, and one on my chest..HIVES!!!!!!!! They told me I was having a reaction to the contrasting dye they put in my IV. It wasn't severe, I just had a couple flare up, but had to go see another doctor, and he gave me a shot of benedryl. I was never so glad to see my bed, and got some really good rest last night! I'm getting better everyday, and look forward to making some new art, and catching up with all of you! Thank you all again for thinking about me, and visiting! See ya soon!! xox

Under the Weather

2010-07-06T19:13:00.002-04:00

I just found out yesterday that I have pneumonia...and ya'll won't believe what happened to me driving back from the doctor. I was told to take the first antibiotic while I was still there at the doctor. So I did, then started home. I hadn't eaten much at all all day, and I began to feel dizzy and pulled into a QT store. Was trying to go to the restroom, I walked in, and the man said "hello"! Next thing I knew, I was laying in the floor! They called 911, and I was able to talk to them and didn't seem to be hurt from the fall, this kind man called my husband and told him that I passed out, scared him to death! I decided I was fine to go home. Raymond came and got me and we had to leave my car there. I was never so happy to find my bed! The Pickens County (Jasper, GA) police and EMT's were so sweet and caring, and stayed with me, they were wonderful. But guess what? I woke up this morning with a sore knee and elbow to add to the mix! Well, it sure could have been worse....I'm not going anywhere for a while I think. Hope you all are doing good, I'll see ya soon!

By The Sea

2010-07-01T10:18:00.002-04:00

This weeks theme for Crowabout was a Sea theme! All I could think about when I was creating it, was how cold the water was at the beach the day we went. 74 degrees!!! Took me a while to take the plunge, and after I got used to it, it felt good!! Hope you all have a great 4th! We usually watch the fireworks from our deck, sometimes we see some pretty good ones, without having to drive anywhere! See yall soon!

Hello!!

2010-06-28T09:55:00.011-04:00

I know it's been a while since I have posted. Been down visiting my Mom in Florida. Had such a great time! Anxious to make some ART! I thought I would post a few pictures I took down there while visiting. This picture was taken out on the St. Johns River, on an airboat ride we took!

This was a heron on my Moms deck that I snuck up on and snapped a picture of.

My Mom and Stepdad's dog Pepper!

Another river picture.

Daytona Beach Lighthouse at Ponce Inlet

View of the river from Moms backyard

We went on an airboat ride! We saw quite a few gators, and a couple of bald eagles. I tried to take a picture of them but they got scared off by the noise of the boat.
We all loved it! That is Kathryn and Alex with us, they were supposed to come down there on the Mon after Fathers Day, and they surprised us and showed up a couple of days early!!!

This is the new birdbath we bought at the coolest little store close to where my Mom lives! She bought one of a sunflower. It was hard to pick just one! So far the I haven't seen any birds in it yet. Hope they find it soon. Hope that you all are doing well and staying cool!! See yall soon!!

New Pages and Garden Pics!

2010-06-10T14:39:00.007-04:00

Created for Crowabout Group. Images this week were provided by Rubyblossom! I had some pen issues, because I used colored pencils to enhance the background, and then the pen didn't want to write over it, but I managed to get it done! Hope you all will enjoy the Garden pictures! It's been raining almost daily here, but right now it is sunny and pretty!!

This weekend we are helping Alyssa finally move into her apartment! I love helping her decorate and organize! Wish us a nice rain free day! Gonna be a hot one....
hope you all have a nice weekend, I'll see yall soon! Thanks for coming by :)

No Place Like Home

2010-06-04T08:02:00.003-04:00

Thanks to Nancy Baumiller for the images in this weeks collage. The stained glass corners are from Dover Publishing.
Been busy around here, spending time with the family, working in the yard, and I've been making pearl earrings for bridesmaids in a wedding! I had so much fun playing with the beads! I could never understand when someone says their "bored". How does one get bored? Isn't there always something to do? There is around here!! Hope you all enjoy the day!

Why??

2010-05-21T10:11:00.002-04:00

Why would any furniture manufacturer make a dresser that the drawers could not be removed? I wake up this morning and realize I need to refill my pill box. I have all the medicines I take in a ziplock bag that I keep in the drawer in the bedroom by the kitchen. I go to get the bag and it's gone. I opened every drawer 10 times thinking that it will magically appear...it appeared all right....I caught a glimpse of what looked like the bag sitting in the back of the dresser. So it had fallen back there. I try to simply take the drawer out and there is no way.....I couldn't believe it! I jiggled it back and forth and up and down and finally it gives way and I'm thinking oh this is great! Nope...the track holding it in for dear life had become unscrewed so the draw stillll wouldn't come out and now it's broke and still can't get to the medicine...by now my blood pressure is shooting up to I don't know what, and if I could just get the medicine I could take my blood pressure pills! I go get this long strainer/spoon I have, and get some double stick tape and wrap around it- that'll do it. Nope....couldn't reach it with that, so I got a wire hanger and stuck that back there. It dislodges the bag and it falls to the bottom of the dresser. Finally, I was able to stick my back scratcher in there and pull it forward and I was able to pull it back up through the opening!!!! So now I got a broken drawer, that will haunt me every time I walk into the room until I get it fixed, then I take the sticky tape off the spoon, it leaves a film of tape all the way around it where I had the tape, that will NEVER come off, had to throw it in the trash......I guess I could have just ordered new medicine, but it would have been to soon to order some of them.....so...either way I will have to get the drawer fixed and who do you call to do that, and how much is that going to cost?!!!!!! Finally I was able to make my coffee, is it 5:00 yet????? I'm thinking by now I may need to slip a little something stronger in that coffee!!! How is your day going??

Be YOU

2010-05-17T09:29:00.005-04:00

This weeks Crowabout challenge was hard for me! Thanks to Nancy Baumiller for some of the borders. Thanks to Constancet2009 for the images this week. I know I spelled "Unique" wrong...I did it on purpose, I meant it to be like YOU nique....all about YOU...You You You LOL! Come to think of it, I don't know why it isn't spelled like Younique in the first place...anyhow it was probably a bad idea to do that because everyone will just think I spelled it wrong, and when I read misspelled words it bothers me!

We have been busy around here. We helped Alyssa move on Saturday, but yesterday we didn't do anything, and it was so nice!! I worked on my collage as it was pouring outside, and had such fun! Since the girls are moving out of their apartment, and it's going to be 3 weeks before Alyssa can move into her new apartment, we inherited Kathryn's cat SOPHIA! She is scared to death of Pearl and Little One, and they won't come downstairs...until today........Pearl ventured down, and we had a little stand off today complete with hissing and guttural growling...it's gonna be a long 3 weeks I think! Poor Sophia, once she gets back to the apartment, she will be away from my cats but will be back with Alyssa's puppy Yorkie, Lily....who drives Sophia INSANE! Hope you all have a good Monday! I'll be seeing you soon!

Funny Cat Pics!

2010-05-07T11:35:00.007-04:00

Just thought ya'll might enjoy these! Have a great day!

Money Tree

2010-05-06T11:01:00.007-04:00

This one was a little toughie for me!! I already had the background, created with Neo II crayons. Images this week for Crowabout were provided from Briedah! Also, want to thank my friend Terri over at Pringle Hill Studios for the lovely freebie page she posted on her blog. That is where I got the lady, the rose, top border, and Mr. Moon images! I had no idea where this collage was going, for some reason when I was cutting out the pennies, it made me think of the time when I was little, digging in the dirt....finding all sorts of pennies, quarters, dimes....I went running in the house to tell my Mom and Dad what I had found! I thought I had really found a treasure, and I was the richest little girl in the world at that very moment! Now I realize that Dad had to have put them there just for me to find! He never told me he did, but I just know.... so funny how a penny can bring back those fond memories!

Today is my birthday! Yesterday the UPS man brought me the nicest gift!! It was from my daughter Kathryn and her boyfriend Alex! It was the new Trisha Yearwood cookbook, and also a Vera Bradley key ring!! I was so excited to get them and last night I looked through the cookbook, and my mouth was watering looking at the recipes! If you don't have it already, check it out...it's so beautifully written, with lots of pictures too!

It's such a pretty day today! I have been busy over the past couple of days, planting flowers and doing anything to be outside...it was funny, yesterday I was sitting out on the porch at dusk... looking at the golden glowing setting sun, wishing that it would always be daytime so I could stay outside and play longer!
Hope that you all have a beautiful day too, and I will see ya'll soon!!

Passions

2010-04-27T12:16:00.001-04:00

Just finished this one! I love COLLAGE! I made this huge mistake of using this image I thought I liked, where the flowers are....I had already glued it down and outlined it..then I hated it, so I tore it off, and then I had a big ugly area I had to cover up...so, here come the flowers! There is always a way for us to cover up mistakes in collage. I don't know what the deal was with my black pen today, it wouldn't write on the background very well....but it all worked out. Ya'll won't believe where I got the quote at the bottom. I was having a cup of YOGI (Detox) Tea, yesterday, and on each tea bag there is a YOGI quote on the tag! How enlightening LOL! Yall have a good day, I gotta get back to the GARDEN!!

Happy 25th Anniversary to Us!

2010-04-26T13:56:00.003-04:00

This collage was created for WEEK 76 of Crowabout. Thought I was going to have a really hard time coming up with something this week...generally I just think about what is going on with me at the time and for this collage, it was our 25th Wedding Anniversary which was yesterday! We had a great weekend going to a couple of our favorite restaurants and relaxing! I hope you all had a good weekend!

Tribute To A Friend

2010-04-23T09:44:00.003-04:00

This collage was created for Crowabout as a tribute to one of my Flickr and Crowabout friends Susan. She will surely be missed. Many of the images for this collage were from Susan, aka Susee Que. The angel border is from Frannie60. Have a good day!

Share a Plant

2010-04-19T10:00:00.004-04:00

Had so much fun creating this collage with my daughter Kathryn. She is beginning to love collaging! I must thank Nancy Baumiller and Becky F for borders and Becky F again for the smiling cat image.

When I was making this collage I was thinking about how special I think it is to share plants. I had these huge Soloman Seal plants at my other house and I had given some to Molly. Molly gave some to Linda, I gave some to Christy and Cindy, my stepdaughters, and I brought some up here to the cabin when we moved up, and just the other day, I bring back plants from Molly and Linda's yard, to plant in my yard. Molly and my brother in law Mark, have a rose bush in their yard that came from his Grandmothers garden. She gave me a cutting from it and now I have it too! When you stop and really think, it's kind of like passing a part of us along to people we love and care about, or even a total stranger!

We sure had a fun weekend, had all the girls up for a cookout! Had such fun and what a beautiful day! I have a whole row of plants I need to get in the ground, so I will be outside all day today! Hope you all had a good weekend, and I'll see ya soon!

Sun Seeker

2010-04-12T10:50:00.004-04:00

Kathryn came up for the weekend and we collaged together! I just finished Sun Seeker last night. We had so much fun, and she is addicted to collaging now! Here are a few flower pictures I snapped yesterday afternoon, hope you enjoy them!

Plant The Seed

2010-04-08T16:53:00.002-04:00

Had so much fun creating this one last night. Borders are from Nayski, Nancy Baumiller, and Dover Publishing. The rest of the images are from magazines. I decided I was going to try and work more quickly and carefree in this collage....I tend to try and be way too perfect and refined...it is still refined...but when I got to the writing part, instead of freezing up...I just started writing.....I thought.. "how will I ever be able to fill up the whole page"?? I forgot for a minute who was writing it!!! In no time it was filled in!

Just took this "After the Rain" picture a few minutes ago! Had to share it with ya'll! We had some strong storms come through a couple of times today. I have this pretty new pink carpet under my Cherry Trees now! The sun is out now and the air is pollen free for the time being...I will try and take more pics as things bloom and perk up to share! Enjoy your afternoon!

Just A Girl

2010-04-07T09:58:00.006-04:00

I hope you all had a beautiful Easter! I know we did! Here are a few pictures I took. We went over to my daughters boyfriends parents house. These pictures were taken at their beautiful home. We had such a great time with them as always, and all the food was delicious! What a fun day! That is our daughter Kathryn and my husband Raymond. Loved that picture of them....the cool looking plant is called Euphorbia wulfendii. I gave that plant to Joan two years ago when we went to their house for Easter, and look at it now! It came from another plant I have just like it at my mailbox, but mine doesn't look like this! The pretty centerpiece was on one of the tables and the other pictures were taken in the pink outdoor room. I just love how Joanie decorates and I just had to share them with you all!

I just finished "Just A Girl" last night. It has been a few days since I have worked on any ART, and I was ready to play around again. Credits to my friends Nancy Baumiller, Artsy Fartsy Queen, and Becky F, for the borders, dress from Land of Nod, crown from The Glass Beehive. Quote from Coco Chanel. The quote reminded me of me as a girl trying to be classy wearing my Moms perfume and jewelry to school! I was only in elementary school!! She had no idea I did that, until years later, and we still laugh about it. She had these dangly gray rhinestone earrings and this really cool paisley shaped broach, that she still has today....and I wore the earrings one day...I imagine my teachers wondered where I got such fancy jewelry since I was probably like 7 or 8 years old LOL!! It's a wonder we didn't lose everything. Damn lucky for me I didn't! Now there is no telling what those costume jewelry pieces are worth now.

The Cherry trees are in full bloom in the yard, and I have stuff popping up new everyday! Just yesterday I was leaving to go run some errands and I have this pot by the driveway with a Hosta in it. I noticed just the tip of it trying to pop up, and when I got home there were two points popping up! What the heck? I guess if I had sat there long enough watching, I mighta seen it break through the dirt! Hope you all have a sunny day!

Bloom Too!

2010-03-29T12:04:00.004-04:00

Created for Crowabout...some of the borders and flowers from Dover Publishing, some from magazines. I realized after completing it, that I used another rose just like I did in "BLOOM"...should have been more creative to make it different. I had a hard time for some reason this week, coming up with any ideas. So that is why this one is called "BLOOM TOO" The words are from another weeks images from Nancy Baumiller. Enjoyed creating it as always though!

We (well, my husband)got alot done in the yard on Saturday, still more to do of course...we ran out of time. It rained all day yesterday and today is gloomy. I'm thinking we will see the sun either by the end of the day or tomorrow. If it's pretty, you know where I'll be!

Bobdaddy

2010-03-26T09:41:00.013-04:00

Wanted to share the story about my Grandfather I told you about in the previous post. It was written by his neighbor, Alan Nordstrom, in Sept. of 1994. He read it at Bobdaddy's funeral service.

Robert C. Crenshaw
1912-1994

GOOD NEIGHBOR BOB, GOODNIGHT

The porch light's out tonight by Bob's backdoor. I've never seen it look so dark before or feel so dark and empty looking from our yard across the garden to his house, and yet the moon is nearly full. Two herons glide beneath the evening star, one honking to the other from ahead. These thirteen years I've never seen two herons flying so, mates I suppose, one anxious that the other follow close. They disappear behind a distant line of oaks. Bob's spade stands upright where he jabbed it near the second row he'd readied for tomatoes. One row's already in, their frail stems braced with fronds and rusty staves to stand against the rain. I'd helped that day, plucking the little topsoil weeds, the last day I saw him, but mostly stood and talked while Bob knelt to his task and packed firmly in with his rough knuckles, the small roots. I ask about tomatoes and once more he told me how he'd start with seeds in pots under an ordinary light, since grow lights were too costly, then transplant to his nursery tent till they were large enough to stake up in the ground. I doubt if I can do that yet. I never learned the whole of what Bob told me. I kept the spirit of his teaching, not the letter. Nor did I learn the punch lines of his jokes so I could laugh again when one came around again. He could tell again about Maude Alice and the girls, about his temper as a boy, about those high school letters in athletics, every sport there was, about his fishing trips, Jack Daniels, hunting hounds, the Depression days at the Shell station across from Rollins, padding the students home-bound lubrication bills to lend them ready cash, about his wartime air base welding job that ended with knocking his bastard boss in the nose, into a water vat, about breaking his own back as a young man, thrown from a truck, about escaping the hospital, about soaking off the body cast in a hot and whiskyed bathtub, about working thirty years in citrus groves, knowing insect sprays and fertilizers inside and out, reading roots and leaves for miladies being a trusted steward, riding those rows and rows of acres, counties round.
What else? So much. So many cups of coffee in his kitchen and in ours. So many Sentinel bags stuffed with navel oranges, peppers, green and red, vidalia onions, pole beans, snap peas, cukes, kohlrabi, yellow squash, and, of course, tomatoes too good for Florida, a miracle of cultivation from his sandy soil made rich with canny love. Not liking vegetables himself, he grew for others, grew to give away, the bounty of his art, because Barbara liked this and Linda that, Alicia and Gail some other crops, and always there were neighbors to supply. Farmer Bob. Good neighbor Bob.
And also stubborn Bob, who took just so much grief from seed-scavenging squirrels, from looting coons and possums, and one gutter-battering woodpecker, before taking fateful action. His aim was true so nothing suffered long that preyed upon his garden or sapped what little sleep he got in recent years. A family man without a wife, without a son, with doting daughters sometimes too fretful for his nerves, he coveted his privacy, his self sufficiency, hating to be beholden of in debt. Yet even he cracked his shell for us, grandfathered Kim- cutting and carrying over gardenia blossoms, courtly roses, camillias, flaming birds of paradise-and fathered me in ways my long-dead father hadn't done. I wouldn't be the son he would have wished for, except in humor and respect, except in admiration of his fierce pride and dignity, except in reverence for the care he lavished on the earth and on his friends. World weary and deliberately alone, he seemed to be weaning himself from life of late, pasting his past in place by telling it over, piece by piece, a few more times. But he had seen enough of change, the better days were gone, not much to hope for now, leave that to younger hearts- leave that to me.
Bob bore his load, he lived a rich and honest life, kept up his courage and his cheer, and sufferered manfully more than a man should have to. He leaves us wealthier in spirit for knowing what we know of him- his love of birds and dogs and growing things, his generosity, the keenness of his humor, his art of telling stories, but mostly his devotion to his wife and daughters.
Were I a Seminole Indian spotting those rare herons gliding in the moonlight overhead, beneath that evening star, I'd think two spirits were heading heavenward together, honking joyfully.

I don't know why those damn marks are on his picture! It almost didn't let me post the entire thing, so I didn't try to fool around with it too much, sorry bout that!

An Award

2010-03-25T18:34:00.012-04:00

I got this awesome award from my friend Linda. Thank you Linda! Stop by and visit her blog here to see these cool stampscape cards she makes, really beautiful!!

I must tell you 7 things about me you may not know:

1. I am terrified of spiders, snakes, locust and big fat palmetto bugs.

2. I love to go to flea markets and antique stores and browse through everything. You never know what you are going to find! I wish I could do it all day, everyday. Just the other day I found a pretty Fostoria-ish looking votive jar, a foot stool for $5.00, that all I have to do is recover, this cool diamond shaped iron scrolly sconce, to hang somewhere....some peacock feathers, of course, but the prize item was a wooden cart with 6 drawers and wheels on it! So now when I am collaging in the living room and have to do a quick clean up, into the cart everything goes and rolls away!

3. I was born in Orlando, FL, where I lived until I was about 11 or 12. My Dad was transferred to Tampa, we lived there for 5 years. Then he was transferred again to Atlanta, and I have lived in Georgia ever since.

4. I love to play games with my family. My husband isn't much of a gamer, but he is entertained by us when we play! We have game nights from time to time. We have some classic memories of our game night escapades.... my daughters Alyssa and Kathryn would probably love to describe the time I fell onto the floor playing Guesstures, while I was trying to get them to guess the word "Slide"....looks like I did a pretty good job of telling it NOW. Some of the escapades I won't go into right now, but they involve laughing really really hard, and that's all I have to say about that! Some of our favorites games seem to be Dominos, Taboo, Scattergories, and Guesstures.

5. I have always had this desire for my husband and I to pack a suitcase, get in the car, and just drive.... drive across the country. Taking our time to stop and see different towns and cities. Staying as long as we want, eating good food, taking lots of pictures...just enjoying ourselves. Then, when we finally do decide to come home, we will come home a completely different way, to see new places again!

6. When the weather is nice, I would rather be outside in the yard. I know most of ya'll already know this about me... I think I got my love of gardening from my Grandfather, Bobdaddy. Bobdaddy worked for a fertilizer company, Howard Fertilizer Company in Orlando, Fl. (I am distantly kind of related to Traylor Howard- the actress on Monk?) I will have to explain this one later, and not sure I understand it completely either)...his job was to drive the orange groves and inspect the trees for disease or insect problems. He always had such a beautiful yard and such a way with plants. I will always remember the row of gardenias he had in front of the house, that smelled so wonderful on those summer days coming through the windows. I will always remember the Jasmine bush he had in the middle of the yard, that was pruned into a cone shape with ivy growing around it in a perfect circle. I will always remember the roses he had by the entrance way into to house, and the sunflowers he had on the side yard that towered over him. The way he always went out into the yard and picked oranges and made ambrosia....and the absolute best tomatoes I have ever had in my life. He died when he was 82. Still worked in his yard, accepting no help from anyone, until right before he died. I will post a story his neighbor wrote about him and read at his funeral another time. That story will tell you all about Bobdaddy.

7. I can't sleep in the bed if the sheets are all messed up, and coming out from under the mattress at the bottom, ask my husband!!

And I thought I wouldn't have much to say! Hope you all have a good night!

Beauty Within

2010-03-24T10:03:00.002-04:00

Hope I don't give ya'll vertigo with this one! Created for Crowabout using images from Constance. Was hard this week to come up with something that hadn't already been done. The circle images were actually part of a pretty map image. Not too happy with the lettering, but loved the quote by Sarah McLachlan.

Want to tell ya'll something funny that happened to me yesterday, some of you that are my facebook friends may already know! I was at the car wash, putting coins in for the vacuum. The computer voice lady was saying 25 cents. 50 cents, etc. everytime I put a coin in. Then, all of a sudden, she says "OUCH! DON'T HIT ME! VANDALISM IS A CRIME" What in the world?? All I was doing was putting money in! Scared me to death!!! My friends thought I was being punked, or on candid camera, I really hope I wasn't!!! Well, at least I didn't get my skirt sucked up into it, like one of my blog sistas did!!! LOL Susan, I'm still laughing about it!

Going out to the garden today! It is going to be close to 70 here today! Gotta plant some perennials, trim the roses and fertilize (AGAIN)....sigh...the other day I had gone to buy more mulch...I come home..I see my sweet husband out there with the blower......blowing all the leaves and debris from around the shrubs and flowers! There goes the fertilizer I had already put out! Thanks sweetie!! Now the weeds can be fertilized TOOOOO!! Yay!! Hope you all enjoy the day too!

In the Land of Toblerone and a Journal Page

2010-03-19T08:57:00.005-04:00

Finished these the other night and wanted to get them up before I went outside today. This time I drew her face first, then colored in the background. Drawing faces is hard. In the original, her face is darker. I can't get it to scan that way. A few of the borders are from Nancy Baumiller, but most all the images came from a magazine I had sitting right in front of me...that worked out well, love when that happens :D

I can't wait to spend the whole day in my yard! Later in the day I may feel differently! First I must tell you about what a fun time I had meeting my daughters, sister and niece and going to see "Alice in Wonderland" in 3D IMAX!! Wow what an experience that was! It was the most bizarre movie I have ever seen. It was so cool...different, but cool! It was fun being with them and wearing our crazy 3D glasses! If they send me the pictures I will post them here...LOL! Hope you all have a pretty day too!

Princess & the Frog and an Art Journal Page

2010-03-15T12:45:00.003-04:00

Created for Crowabout, stained glass window from Dover Publications and an Art Journal page...might be a little hard to read. I was talking about how I was trying out some Golden Gel Medium that I went all over town trying to find one day. I have watched several videos of artist using it, I think I need to go back and watch them again, I don't really understand it all. I get using it for gluing down images..but that's all I really do understand about it. How do you all use it in your work?
I saw one video where she used it on an image and then pulled them image up and the image was transferred to the paper. That's kinda what I wanted to do but it didn't work...don't know if I didn't let it dry long enough or what. Oh so, I was writing about that and then how I was so engrossed in the journal page that I forgot to put my pork roast in the crockpot. I did it anyway...I rubbed fresh garlic all over it and cut up onion and put it in the crockpot with some sauerkraut over the top of it, and seasoned it with onion powder, salt and pepper. We ended up eating something else last night and tonight we are having it!! We will also have collard greens and black-eyed peas. This is usually our New Year's Eve meal, but it's a favorite of ours and I was in the mood for it again! I thought the SUN was supposed to come out today...NOT!! I'm thinking I probably need to boost up on the vitamin D supplements or something....well, maybe tomorrow! Enjoy your day!

A Garden

2010-03-12T10:29:00.002-05:00

Hope I get this post done before it starts storming really bad! I think North Georgia is finally getting the storms Atlanta has had for the past couple of days. The sky is really dark and it's thundering!!! Yikes! Gotta type fast.... I had a friend of mine ask me what paints I was using lately on my pictures. It's not paint at all, it's the Neo Crayons again! I tell ya, they are so fast and easy to use, I have become spoiled by them. Not saying I won't play with my paints again, of course I will. I had already created this background and finished the borders. Once you decide like I did to draw on top of the background color, it alters of course the color. Like when I drew in the sun, I naturally colored it in with yellow copic and then even yellow hi-lighter, I wanted it yelloWWW! But then ended up using an orange hilighter- I mean the sun can surely be orange toooo can't it? Some of my copics, not all of them, are rather sheer, so that's kind of good because then you can see the other layers of colors through it to achieve the look of this piece. Yikes, better scram, time to walk AWAY from the computer! Ya'll have a good day, see ya later!

Rescue Me!

2010-03-10T09:17:00.003-05:00

Crowabout- Week 69~~~ thanks to Briedah for the images this week! The gardening image came from Grandma's Attic. The inspiration for this collage came from my sister Molly. Thank you MOLLY! I really was having a hard time with these images...what to do...what to do??? Then we were having one of our plant conversations and talking about a future collage idea and then the next thing I know, I was able to create that very collage and combine it with the Crowabout images! What do ya know!! I used my crayons to create the background, and then I looked and looked for an image of the Ladyslipper flowers and just couldn't find the right one. I got tired of looking and remembered I had taken a picture in my garden of some of my Ladyslippers. I went and found it and enlarged it, printed it, recolored it with colored pencils and copic markers, then hand cut them out. The quote was discussed in that same conversation with Molly, it is a favorite of our friend Linda, I hope she will enjoy what I did with it!! Supposed to rain and rain for the next few days....I did get out and work outside a couple of days this week...loved it! Looks like a good day for ART to me! Enjoy yours xox

Snow Queen

2010-03-02T22:38:00.003-05:00

I had been working on this background for several days...I used my crayons wiping them down with baby wipes to create the background. The top corner pieces were just scrap papers that just basically had lines on them...way too boring, so I doodled on them to the extreme, the dress is from Angellea, I can't for the life of me remember where I got the eyes, I may remember later, and then I may not! I hate when that happens...the bottom left border from Nancy Baumiller, altered with doodles. I had no idea what the central image was going to be. I really stuggled with it all. I found the lower face in a magazine, and I had had the eyes for along time. I always liked them because they were so bizarre....so I decided to use them together, then all of a sudden Snow Queen came to be!

It was a snowy day here all day for sure! Very pretty coming down in big huge fat flakes....the trees looked so pretty with the snow covering the branches. I told my husband it looked like the Grinch's neighborhood! He had to stay down in Atlanta tonight, I don't think there is any way he could have made it up this road with all the snow we got. I think we got about 5 inches or so. So I'm snowed in AGAIN!! So I thought about cleaning since we are having company this weekend, but then I decided that I could do that tomorrow! Working on my collages are much more fun!

My girls and the boyfriends are coming up, we are going to a play at the Blue Ridge Community Theater! Should be a fun time going to that and hanging out together, and celebrating my husbands birthday! Good times, good times!!

Stoneface

2010-03-01T10:46:00.003-05:00

Hansel and Gretel were so excited when they came upon this big fine home...they were so hoping they could live there...and then they saw HIM.......
Well I almost didn't play Crowabout this week... I couldn't imagine what I could come up with. I had already made this background some time ago, with my Neo II crayons. I cut out all the images and just sat there....my imagination completely lost. I still think it is lost comparing this to some of the other players this week! I started looking at the building image and for some fool reason, wondering if I used it, if I could continue it on beyond the picture. I do this sort of thing all the time, it's like a game I play with myself. Torturing myself to pull it off, because I always tell myself, if it doesn't work I will start over! Well, I know one thing, I'm no architect, but you get the idea! Have a good day!!

BLOOM

2010-02-25T23:44:00.003-05:00

I used Neo II Watersoluable crayons for the background, and then used a distressed ink pad to add some texture, then stamped the words over with distressed ink. Borders from Nancy Baumiller, kaleidoscope corner from my kaleidoscope collection, hat from Becky F, Boots from Suzee Que, girl was from an old magazine, colored in, roses from magazine. Have a nice evening!

Spring In The Country

2010-02-23T20:48:00.003-05:00

Created for Collage Play With Crowabout on Flickr. Thanks to Nancy Baumiller for some really great images this week!!

Not much going on around here, just working on art and jewelry! Two of my favorite things to do! They say we may get more snow tomorrow....no, no no!!! I have been reading garden magazines and making out wish lists for plants I want. Looking at container combinations for all my pots...I do this every year and have the most wonderful ideas in mind, then I go to the nursery and they don't have the plants I need to do the container I envisioned, so then it turns out not to be the container I thought it was going to be after all. But I always come up with something. One shrub I want this year is a "Quickfire" Hydrangea...Molly, my sister has one, and I remember seeing it blooming its head off in her yard last year. It was just beautiful. She has it planted in a corner against her house. It really stands out against the color of the house. Her yard is absolutely beautiful and I swear one of these days I am going to post some pictures of her yard! I believe that the Quickfire is a Paniculata Hydrangea, which are my favorites. I love the shape of the bloom and the fact that they can take more sun than the other types of Hydrangea's. One of my favorite shrubs I have is the Viburnum "Judii". If you don't have one of these, I think you should go right out and get one! They bloom early in the spring and have the most beautiful scent!! The list goes on and on ....I will save the rest for another time! Enjoy your evening, stay warm and I'll see you all soon!!

What a Wonderful World!

2010-02-18T12:37:00.005-05:00

Credits to: Nancy Baumiller, Arsty Fartsy Queen, Angellea, Nayski, Artchicapoo/Jade Adams

And it IS a WONDERFUL WORLD isn't it??? I have been cooped up in the cabin for far too many days because the snow made our road impassable....today most of the snow is gone, the sky is bright blue, and the sun is shining! Today, going to the grocery store seems enlightening!! I have never looked so forward to buying groceries! Today I was sitting at the computer and saw something out the window that caught my eyes...I looked up and out the window straight ahead is a tree...I have a bird house on it, that I have never seen a bird go in...and there it was... the most beautiful, vibrant Blue Bird!! He looked like he was thinking about going in...maybe I will have to watch for a nest now! Well, Zippidy doo dahhhh, LOL, ya'll have a good day!

Secrets In The Forest

2010-02-15T14:57:00.003-05:00

Crowabout- Week 66- Borders and group images from Nancy Baumiller, borders from Artchicapoo/Jade Adams, fairy wand from Nayski, thanks so much ladies! Little did we know how well cats, dogs and birds got along together!! I guess in the Secret Forest anything can happen :D

We did not get the last batch of snow that thought we were getting, thank goodness!! Things are beginning to thaw out a little around here, and it was a pretty day!

I wanted to tell y'all something funny, well it's funny now, that happened to me yesterday. Visualize this....I'm sitting at the computer and I hear something buzzing. I look up and see a wasp on the blind. I go to get a hand towel to swat him with, come back, he's gone. Then I spot him in my little octagon window along with all the ladybugs....I take the towel and try to get him but instead it hit the little bird house AND my Fenton glass kitty, sitting on the sill. It falls knocks over other things sitting below it.....I move back out of the way, the cats scattered and ran, and then I knocked over the bottled water sitting on the desk..it spills and splashes here and there on stuff on the desk. I put the rest of the bottled water on the floor on the other side of the desk. I turn the keyboard over to get the water that spilled inside it out. I go to grab the hair dryer to use on the keyboard and knock over the bottled water AGAIN.....so that the rest of it can saturate the rug!!! Still haven't killed the wasp....forgot all about it by now......then I see him sitting on the floor next to the cats. This time I grabbed the towel and nabbed him, flushed him down the toilet and then felt guilty and mean for killing it, after it caused such an ordeal for me! Have a great night, I will see you all SOON!!

Inside Looking Out

2010-02-14T14:31:00.006-05:00

This is me right now...snowed in up here on the mountain...perfect inspiration for this piece, and great art weather!! The quote if from Percy Bysshe Shelley, "The Sensitive Plant"...says:
And Spring arose on the garden fair, like the spirit of love felt everywhere; and each flower and herb on Earth's dark breast, rose from the dreams of its wintry mix"

Window and some borders from Nancy Baumiller
Lady in window from Paperscraps
Eye and Zetti face from artchicapoo/Jade
Body of Zetti girl and various other things from magazine
Flowers from MS Clip art and drastically altered
Some borders were my own

We had to cancel our reservations to a new restaurant in town, since we couldn't get there, my husband ended up taking my car down the mountain, spun around in the middle of the road, ended up backing down part of the way, spinning around again, now heading down in the right direction......and finally making it off the mountain. What a wild ride! I thought he would never call me to tell me he was okay, but it just took awhile!! He has to head down the the big ATL to be closer to work tomorrow since another round of snow is heading our way. We will have a delay in celebrating Valentines Day, but at least he is safe, and my car is okay and I have lots of hobbies to keep my busy! I'm snug as a bug in a rug! Happy Valentines Day to alllll of you! See you soon!! xoxox

Life of the Party!

2010-02-11T11:39:00.005-05:00

Created for Crowabout, for some reason, I was inspired by a quote from Coco Chanel, and a song by Madeleine Peyroux, called "Dance Me to the End of Love"...I like much of her music, very Billy Holiday-ish style that is so different and calming. The verse written in the collage is hard to see. It says: Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin, dance me through the panic til I'm gathered safely in, lift me like an Olive branch and be my homeward dove, Dance me to the End of Love.

I wish I could have written more of the song, but of course, ran out of room! Thanks to Briedah and Nancy Baumiller for most of the images, others from magazines, etc.

Also, in case you didn't see my replies in my last post, Emily is home from the hospital and feeling much better! Thank you all so much for your prayers and for thinking about her!

As always this time of year I am looking forward to Spring! I know some of you are buried under way too much snow, so I know you feel the same! Stay warm and enjoy your day....I will see yall soon!!

Been Awhile.....

2010-02-07T15:44:00.003-05:00

Boy this year hasn't started out the best, but hopefully things will be improving! My husband had his prostate surgery, and it went great. He was back at work two days later! He will start his radiation treatments towards the end of the month. Luckily when he had the surgery they found no surprises, so we were very glad to hear that.

We got a call Friday from my step daughter Cindy, telling us that our Granddaughter Emily, (her youngest, 17) was in the hospital because she had had a bad headache since Mon. they admitted her and did a CT scan and believe that the reason for the headache is this:

https://health.google.com/health/ref/Pseudotumor+cerebri

I had never heard of it. They drained some of the fluid, and I think will be doing a culture on it, we have not heard the results yet, maybe tomorrow. I went to see her on Sat. and she was in alot of pain and they were giving her all sorts of pain medication trying to find something to help. Nothing much has helped, and she is still there. Hopefully we will hear some new news tomorrow, please keep our sweet girl in your prayers, I will keep you all posted!! Hope to work on some art soon, just wanted to say hello and tell you all to have a nice weekend!! Hugs to all!

2010-01-27T10:27:00.002-05:00

This crazy little collage was created for Crowabout. This one was quite a challenge! I knew it would be! Still had a good time creating it, and this group forces us to be creative and that is good for all of us.

I got most everything filed into categories for the most part now. I don't know what has gotten into me, but it is amazing how things can snowball. I went to the grocery store yesterday, came home and began putting up the groceries, I look in the pantry and realize I need to make room for more stuff that I just bought, so had to stack and rearrange. Got those items put up. Then I open my drawer in the island in my kitchen and wonder how it all got so out of control, I begin taking everything out and rearranging it and I see something that doesn't belong there (what the heck is this doing here?) and lay it out to put it somewhere else, and before I know it, the entire kitchen is a disaster, the island is covered with things that go in 10 different somewhere else places, and I am sooo tired from being on my feet alll day, my back is throbbing......and I think to myself, so glad that I was trying to organize everything!! Enjoy your day!

Semi-Productive Day...

2010-01-22T16:18:00.002-05:00

Not feeling my best today, I have Diverticulitis, and I have had a flare up. Now I seem to be catching my husbands cold. Got some meds and should be back to normal soon. I have been bothered by allll the unorganization of my workspace downstairs for sometime now. Like every time I go down there to work. I have papers laying around everywhere, markers, little snippets of this and that. Hardly any room to work! It was driving me INSANE. Sometimes when you are collaging, you need a face, or a hat, or a border. I make lots of copies of images and many times there is a variety of things on the sheet. So I will be working and need something and that something is in like 10 different areas or piles. So since I was laying low today I went down and got the piles and brought them upstairs and sat on the couch and organized everything. I got separate files and labeled them like borders, faces, clothes, etc. I cut up pages that had everything on there and put it in the files they belonged in. Still got along way to go, I have a huge box of more prints, etc. But, at least when I am looking for a specific thing I can find it quickly!

I find a lot of things from magazines like I have talked about before. I clip out the things I like and MOST times, not every time, I will copy the images. I do this because I don't really love the shiny texture they have in the magazines, and if I decide to write over them or alter them, the ink will take better to the copy paper. I made a separate folder to keep the clippings in so that if I want to make copies and use them again I can. It's amazing the patterns and objects you can find to use. They may even be kinda blah and boring, but you can doodle on them and make them your own. I continued to cut out letters for my letter box and made up another folder for "words". So, that's what I've been doing today! Hope that you all have a great evening, whatever you are doing!

Heee heee heee!

2010-01-21T16:05:00.001-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vmg--iHzNUQ&feature=related

Love Is

2010-01-20T14:01:00.003-05:00

I had so much fun with this collage, because I just love Valentines Day! It is one of my favorite holidays. Some of the images from Nancy Baumiller for the Crowabout group, Martini girl is from Suzee Que, and many of the images are cut out scraps from magazines. I have been finding lots of good stuff in these magazines, and I started a letter box, to use for lettering in my collages. Boy, that's a tedious task!! I will be somewhere like a doctors office or waiting to get the oil changed in my car, and I will see all these magazines and I find myself not even reading them, just looking at the pictures to see if they would make good collage images, and then what if I think they would? Well, I might just have to ask if I can clip! Then here they come saying my car is ready, and I didn't even get to finish looking at the magazines!!!! Imagine that! Shame on them for being so efficient!

I joined Net Flix and have been watching the HBO Series #1 Ladies Detective Agency! I am LOVING it! It takes place in Africa, so the scenery is awesome, and so are all the characters! I am now waiting on the 3rd part, and for now that is all they have....I sure hope the series will continue, I'm hooked now!

It's been milder here on the mountain for the past couple of days, today the rain is coming. I am getting SPRING fever here, waiting and waiting to see a glimpse of something new coming up! Always hard this time of year waiting on Spring, guess I just need to keep busy making more collages and jewelry! Bye for now....see you again soon!!

Circle Game

2010-01-15T12:20:00.002-05:00

Created for CROWABOUT group on Flickr...just having fun, for some reason the circle images Nancy gave us to use reminded me of the "Circle Game" song by Joni Mitchell, so that is how this theme came about LOL! I think I remember my Aunts, Linda, Alicia and Gail singing this song on a tape recorder onetime. They were huge fans of Joni, and still are! I want to thank Nancy Baumiller for some of the borders I used in this one. What would I do without Nancy's borders???!!! Hope you all are having a fabulous day dahlings! Talk to you all SOON!! XOX

Watch This

2010-01-11T14:39:00.002-05:00

Here is a cool video that my Step mom Carolyn sent me, I think you all will like it!
Hope you are all having a good day!

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=vOhf3OvRXKg