Newest Swap~

Well I joined another swap~ This one is called "I love Paris in the Spring"

Here is a little tid-bit about the swap I've joined....

Description: You will send your partner a swap package including one handmade item, one thrifted item, one sweet treat and one craft supply. Feel free to send more but not less! Anything goes as long as it sticks to the following rules:Colors: Pale blue/teal/aqua, white and black

Theme: Must include at least one item that is French-inspired. Examples, something must say France or Paris, or include an Eiffel tower or the fleur de lis. Be creative!

Sounds like fun~

Well I've been busy working on a large pirate ship in my backyard :-) It is slow going... I really like to be able to complete things in a day lol. I've also been working on flags, table cloths and the like....all for my grandson's first birthday. We have decided that the BIG party will be held in June. This way Grandma (me) doesn't lose her marbles trying to get everything done in time... a couple of more months should work out nicely if I get my butt off the computer and back to work lol

Mixed Media Monday~

This weeks theme: using the word "Believe" I've been working on this piece all week off and on. As soon as I read what the theme was going to be I immediately pictured this in my mind... the typewriter, the bird in the nest made from pages from a book-- and of course the word "Believe"~ I completely covered the typewriter with pages from a book called "Prudy Keeping House" The book was printed in 1873. The typewriter is still fully functional... and I will continue to use it whenever I am needing "type-text" :-) Here is a close up of the nest- which can be lifted up to create a useable typewriter~I have used the word believe in several art pieces I've made in the past... here is another piece I made a few months ago. The little baby with wings is sitting in a bed of green moss~ I used vintage silver wire jewelry pieces for the accents of flowers & leaves.

4 x 4 Friday

This Fridays theme was: King or QueenI used one of my old photos that I had sent to Walmart to have made into a "newer" photo...which I then cut out and glued to the background. This one is titled "Time to Dream" :-P
You can find more 4x4's at this site: 4x4 Fridays~

Daisy Loom~

Thanks to the Feedjit live traffic feed I've installed, I see a lot of people visit my blog looking for information about the "daisy loom" Well, for those of you looking for information on how to use the loom, or for patterns...here is a really great website I found that you should check out. http://www.knitting-and.com/small-looms/index.html

(if you googled "daisy loom blanket and thats how you found me.... if you want any of my instructions on how to use the daisy loom, just e-mail and ask me. I'd be happy to share my vintage pattern book instructions with anyone who wants them)

Spring has sprung...

and has held me hostage outside! Here are some flowers that have sprung up from last years flower seeds....

Here is one of my peach trees blooming~

One of the neighborhood squirrels eating a moldy old orange. I guess they taste better than the ripe ones because he went to an awful lot of trouble to pick this one up and haul it up to the top of the fence lol. My grandson with a flower for his Mommy~ (he fell asleep in the car~)

Another one of my grandson playing with one of his cars on my sectional couch...lol. I am hopeful that I've gotten enough fresh air & sunshine because I've joined a new swap :-) and also, I'm wanting to work on an assembledged piece for next Monday's Mixed media Monday with the theme of "using the word "believe" one of my FaVoRiTe words~ Ohhhhhhh and I bought a new product that creates the look of sepia tones on papers etc. So I'm really jazzed about playing around with that as well. I guess I'll go poke around in my studio now :-)

4 x 4 Friday

This weeks theme is: Fairies~ I've used one of my favorite photos...one of my hubbies great-grandmother. I adore her pouty little face. She sits in a nest of flowers-- which she can be "plucked" from since she is not attached in any way. It didn't scan all that well... I might take a photo and post that later~ Her wings are transparent and she wears a silver halo (a flatened metal ring)and I hand tinted her dress pink.

Elizabeth~

I received this beautifully made (lizard) doll named Elizabeth from Lucy. Which is absolutely perfect seeing how my 11 month old grandson loves the lizard commericals on the television...(he laughs his head off when he sees the little lizard)
The workmanship put into this little love-bug is over the top. If your looking to purchase something of quality... you should check out her handmade items that she has for sale on her blog: My Byrd House I tell ya ladies... you won't be disappointed!

Theme Thursday~

This weeks theme is: Torso/MannequinThis torso jewelry stand I purchased for a few bucks many years ago. It was in my daughter's room for years covered in leopard fabric, now it sits in my studio... I covered it with vintage sheet music~

Spring decorating/Mixed Media Monday~

Here is a little something that I'm going to have displayed for Spring... I made this piece for Mixed Media Monday using this weeks theme of: Purple & gold~ I used a snap shot of my grandson when he was 5 months old... (he is a big boy now at the tender age of 11 months) I love how he had his lips in this photo, I thought it looked like a little baby chick. Soooooo I made him into a golden baby chick sitting in a chocolate eggshell surrounded by grass & purple grapes~ I used yellow tissue paper and the blunt end of a thin paint brush to create each little feather cluster. I completely covered the body form (illustration board) front & back.
You can find more Spring decorating ideas at Kelli's place.

4 x 4 Friday

This weeks theme for 4 x 4 Friday is: PetsHere is my grandson.... my daughter's little monster lol The background is super busy to represent his personality, his little hand reaching out of his "cage" is always reaching for something-- anything!

Show & Tell Friday

This week I'm sharing my beloved Cats~ I have four! (I hope thats not against the show & tell rules...*fingers crossed* but they are in my home, and I do love them...so I guess it's a go???)

Below is Mr. Zacky-man... my orange tabby who I got at an outdoor antique show in a town about a hour and a half away. I caught him in mid-yawn here...he likes to sleep on this down filled blanket. He thinks he is a "Tom-cat" when he really isn't! I've spent hundreds on his boo-boos the bad-bad kitty! He is my indoor/outdoor kitty...He works the graveyard shift...up allllllll night long, sleeps alllllllll day long. Ohhhh and he is a drooler. He gets so happy he drools... yep, yucky-poo! He is about 9 years old~Below is Mocha... she is called a tortoiseshell cat. My daughter went with her boyfriend (now her husband) to get a kitten. (There was a lady who hadn't been spaying her cats and had loads of kittens that were going to the pound, so we thought we would rescue one of them) Anyway, she told me that she was going to get "thee-most-beautifulist-cat they had" Now...unless your looking at Mocha in very bright light, the fur that is beige disappears and she looks like she has balding patches. lol She does not like to be touched! She sits like this for hours on my nightstand watching me sleep. Mocha is about 4 years old now~This is Baby. My little gray-girl. She was given to me by my daughter for my 40th birthday...so she is now 3 years old. She likes to have her paw/paws dangle.... but watch out, she does this so she can grab you as you pass by her. Clothing, skin-- she doesn't care, she'll just grab you. In a nice way of course lol Ohhhhhhhhhh and she kisses. You'll be laying in bed and she will climb up on your chest and reach over and plant her lips right on yours.... and she'll keep on kissing you until you push her off. (I know some of you are saying GROSS.... but its precious HONEST!)Lastly, below is my little love-bug, my little tabby named Charlie. This is the little ferral kitty that I rescued that was near death. I had seen her and 2 other kittens along with the mother roaming around the house across the street from my daughters new home. One day while visiting my daughter she was feeding them... and this tiny kitten was so starved she couldn't run or walk away from me, it was all she could do to TRY to eat the dry cat food that was on the plate. Needless to say, that little soul got scooped up and tucked into a basket with a towel over the top of it... and I guess you could say I stole her from those neglectful people across the street.
She is still a ferral kitty, she doesn't like to be picked up at all and will claw at you to be put down. Yet she will lay down and sleep in the bed with me...under the covers even. She runs down the hall after me, she waits outside the bathroom door for me... and she loves me. How lucky can a girl get?

Please remember to spay and neuter all your pets :-) Its the right thing to do!! Now tell me dear readers...how many cats do you own???
This show & tell is hosted by Kelli~

Theme Thursday

For the life of me, I cannot make anything flat lol... oh well. This weeks theme is: ParisI created a teeny-tiny mini shadow box of sorts.... Instead of going around the egde with solder...I tried using embossing ink & powder. It worked out pretty good, it does give it the look of being soldered. I used french text with the words "A Cake" glued to the inside of the glass~

Teddy bear doll~

Here is a little teddy-bear doll that I've made for a doll swap I joined. It is made out of vintage fabric. She can stand all on her own because I fit pieces of illustration board in her feet...smart huh~ She looks cute without her fancy skirt & wings...I just didn't want her to arrive naked! She stands just shy of 9 inches~The fabric was once a little girls top-- before I got ahold of it :-) I am going to make myself a little bear as well seeing how I have half of the shirt left lol... I think it turned out kinda cute. I am also sending my swapping partner Lucy a vintage red-gingham-chicken-scratch apron. Its a cute one!

4 x 4 Friday

This weeks theme is: Alice in Wonderland~This is the "Mad Hatter's tea party"
The story of Alice in Wonderland is one I've never read from cover to cover as the first bit of nonsense I started to read put me right off. lol.... yep, I'm difficult~ Anywho, since the story is "odd" I figured anything goes. The teeth represent the Cheshire cat :-P

I painted the background with an old bristled brush and then rubbed some of it off.... then I used some blue iridescent paint over the top of that which I kept brushing until almost dry then I took the pointy end of a paint brush and scraped circles in the paint. Then I dry brushed some black over all of that before adding the twigs, tea cup/saucer & moss to this piece. This 4 x 4 is built up on a foam core board which I cut into so I could slip the plate into the background.