Inchies

This weeks Inchie theme was "wire" so I made an inchie I call Embedded. I used ulra thick embossing powder to imbed a piece of wire mesh over a tissue paper covered piece of card. I added some Beadazzles before the resin hardened. Then I attached a dragonfly with thin brass wire before gluing a backing card to the back to hide and hold all the wire. I am quite happy with it.

Pay It Forward

Look what I got from Sue in western WA! This is for joining in her Pay It Forward on her blog. It is a postcard she made for me.

I love the colors and look at the sequins and beads that make it sparkle. She even included a bird since I am Freebird. And notice the little heart. This makes me feel like I am in a steamy, colorful rainforest with it's heart thump, thump, thumping to the tune of all the life in it.

Thankyou so much Sue! I treasure it.

Now, I haven't had any takers on my second Pay It Forward. Who knows you might get something like this if you sign up. Then again, it might be something really different. You won't know unless you sign up here .

Baby Quilts

I thought I would share pictures of the quilts I
made for my grandchildren when they were born. The green one is the first one. It was made for my grandson. This picture was taken last summer when the quilt was 13 years old and I can say the quilt has been in constant use all these years.


Next comes the big-star quilt. It was made 11 years ago for my first granddaughter.

The small-star quilt was made next but the squares were made by hand as a portable project I had started a couple of years before. I pieced the blocks together by machine though.


And last comes the 7 year old quilt for the baby of the family. Good ol' Attic Windows. The kids are all pretty attached to these quilts.


My daughter, thank goodness, didn't relegate these to the awful status of "family heirloom" meaning no touching, no attaching to, but instead felt the kids should use them even if they wear them out. I sooo agreed with her on this but we lucked out and the quilts have held up very well.

Another of Those Blog Things

You Are Teal Green

You are a one of a kind, original person. There's no one even close to being like you. Expressive and creative, you have a knack for making the impossible possible. While you are a bit offbeat, you don't scare people away with your quirks. Your warm personality nicely counteracts and strange habits you may have.

What Color Green Are You?

Pay It Forward #2

I signed up for another Pay It Forward a few weeks ago. I waited to post it so there would be a little time between the last one and this one to see if some newcomers to my blog would like to jump in and play (and then I kept forgetting to post). I hope I can find three people willing to leave a comment saying they will join in on the paying it forward.


Pay it forward rules: I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a Comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange, and who make the same pledge on their own blogs . I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward meaning you will do the same for three people who comment on your posting on your blog.


Anyone???

Easter

Happy Easter everyone. We have a tree in leaf and a couple of wild flowers blooming. Living in the desert with a well means no lawn so we enjoy the wild flowers while they are here. When they turn into stickers I don't find them so attractive but for now, so early in spring we are happy to see as much green as we are.

The other picture is my Pandora sitting in an open window. It's only the second chance so far this year for her to enjoy the fresh air and she is enjoying it.

Anyhow, we are having a wonderful spring day to celebrate this holiest of holidays. New life is in evidence in nature to remind us of our spiritual possibilities. Isn't is wonderful?

Inchies

Well, this is my inchie for this week. The theme was "words". I wish I had punchers to cut smaller circles so it would have come out better.

For anyone too young to know, the BeeGees were a fabulous group way back in the late 60's and early 70's (hope I've got my facts right, I just liked them way back then).

I have bought better pens to write with but they haven't arrived yet. At least, I hope it's the pens and not my writing that's atrocious!

Mr. Roger's Neighborhood

Did you know tomorrow, the 20th would have been Mr. Roger's 80th birthday? 1000 Faces of Mother Henna is having a sortof celebration and you can be in on it. Although it's very late to do this it doesn't take much. Just make some sort of art involving a sweater and post the link over at Mother Henna's. Then we can see what everyone has done to celebrate. I am posting this now and then I will go do my something. Hmmm, what will it be?

The 20th is also my mother's birthday. She would have been 84 years old. I know she is with me in spirit and has a new birthday into heaven but I still think of her on the one I knew. Happy Birthday Mom! She taught me Handmade Is Good. I thank her for that although I gave her a bad time about wanting perfection. I don't do perfect but she was good at it.

Well, I got my pieces done. The first is a picture of knitting needles on a red sweater I made. Anyone for pik-up stiks!!
The second is a composition I came up with and it really is a sweater (albeit a partially made one) in a jar. These took me about 2 hours to think of, photograph, and finish up. Go ahead, you can do one!

Inchie

I hadn't done an inchie this week after trying to start doing one a week with the Inching Artists because I didn't get to it by Friday. Now, what gave me the idea I had to have it done by Friday, I certainly don't know but when I went to the blog to see what this week's theme was I found out it is posted on Tuesdays. That means if I got it done tonight I'd be in under the wire! All this time constraint business is probably my own silliness anyway.

The theme for this week was numbers. 852 is a number that has cropped up for my husband so many times in his life that he feels it must have a special significance for him. He just can't figure out what that significance is! When he first joined the navy it was given to him as part of his service number. Then he was stationed aboard a ship with that number twice. Since then he has seen it on addresses, mail and many other things besides just happening to look at the clock so many times to see it at 8:52.

So I decided to do my numbered inchie with that number. I used both roman numerals and our regular numerals to make it. I like how it turned out and if anyone knows any significance to 852 I'd sure like to hear what it is. He's thinking it means May 2, 2008 (military dates use year, month, day).

Second Healing Card

I have finished my second card for the Healing Cards Deck at 1,000 Faces of Mother Henna blog. This is, I think, totally different than my other card. When I talked about this with my daughter she said she thought she'd be able to pick my work out from a group of art even if I think mine don't have a common style. That made me feel good as who doesn't want to have some sense of a style- I don't want to be so chaotic there is no sameness at all in my work.

On the other side of the coin, she thinks I need to work on my printing (on the other card below) as mine is legible but has no pizzaz. I agreed with her and even saw a message about the same thing while I was reading blogs that day.

This card is pen and ink on bristol board. I used Derwent's Inktense colored pencils to color it in. These pencils after being brushed over with water turn a bright, permanent color letting you work over them again and again after they dry. I really like the pencils although I only have a set of 24 which did not include anything like a caucasian skin tone! That meant trying to add several colors very lightly and then blending them with water. It sure made me nervous!

I drew this card as a cup of tea seems to be universally comforting. I feel like a cup of tea after a long trip, a stressful day or when I'm feeling out of sorts brings a good feeling to me. The world must be okay if I can sit back and enjoy that nice, hot cup of tea! What if the whole world stopped everything at one and the same moment every day to share their common need for peace, comfort and care by having a cup around the world? Could such a small thing make a change in the world?

Now my cards go off to Mother Henna to join all the others. I sure am finding it hard to wait to see what they will all look like.

Got Snow?

We had snow today. Haven't had any locally all winter but now, just before spring we got some. As you can see it doesn't even stick to the ground but it sure was pretty watching it come down. See the tree on the right? It's been warm enough to have our trees breaking out in leaf (although this tree is the most advanced) and now a snow storm. We can enjoy it since it won't need plowing or shoveling!

I know some of you are sick of snow. I've lived in Minnesota, Illinois and Wyoming so I know what heavy snow is like. That's why I enjoyed this snow - just the pretty part and no ugly mess to deal with.

Healing Card

I signed up to do a couple of cards for a deck of healing and wellness cards on Mother Henna's blog One Thousand Faces of Mother Henna . The posting about it is here . This is my first card. I was going to wait until I had done a few and then let people vote on them but I really liked this one and when my more conservative sister did too (she found a lot of spiritual meanings in it for herself) I decided I would just go for it. Now, if Mother Henna were to not care for it, I would gladly change it but I would still keep it for myself (gotta send a print to my sister for helping me decide). Guess I was afraid to do what my card says! That's me, a little chicken stuck on the ground when I want to fly!

I saw a quote in Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion Feb/Mar issue. The quote by Marcel Duchamp said: "I don't believe in art. I believe in artists." Well, I thank Mother Henna for taking a chance on me. I will try my best not to have her regret it.

The background for this card came from some journal preparation I talked about in a previous post . I kept the odd pieces just in case and when I thought about this project I knew I wanted to use one of these pieces for it. It just had so much more going for it than a plain background. It seems to be full of life and energy which we all need for really soaring to our best selves. I added a bird I cut out of a folded piece of paper and my words written on tissue. All I have to do now is sign and date the back of it.

In The Pink

Jo Anne of Paper Cat's Page had a call out for pink somethings as pages for a book she wants to make. She is still open for sign ups until March 31st if anyone is interested in playing with the

color pink.

These are the pages I made. She's only asking for one but when I sat down to make one I decided if I made two and didn't like one I would still have one to send. Once I got out the papers, glues and everything I didn't want to find out a page didn't turn out and have to get everything out all over again. Anyhow, I liked both pages so I sent them both on to her. It's up to her if she

wants to use one or both.

I think of pink as a soft color but I guess I just don't do soft! Bright is what I know and feel. My daughter loves soft pastels and boy do I find it tough when I want to make her a gift.

Spirit Doll Update

It's done at last! The spirit doll I was making for my sister which you can see the beginnings here is now done. I am so happy with how she turned out. I think my sister will like her. She loves flowers and though I didn't intend to make flowered fringe and hanging loop that's the way they turned out.

I finished a rosary for her daughter-in-law today also. There is a bit of a story to it. Almost two years ago my nephew and his family (living in Japan) had to flee their house in the middle of the night due to a fire. They barely got out with their children; they couldn't even save the dog or gather any belongings at all. When they were finally able to get back in they found two items unburned - a rosary of her father's and a crucifix over a door. That's it!

My nephew asked me to make a new rosary for his wife from the broken one that survived the fire. It was old and a man's style so I asked each of his sisters and his mother for 10 - 6mm beads of their own choosing and asked my nephew to send 6 - 8mm beads. I supplied the centerpiece (a fish pendant of the Hill Tribes Silver that Fire Mountain Gems sells) and silver wire. The crucifix was cleaned and reused from the old rosary. My husband drilled two holes in the bottom of the fish pendant and I blended the beads everyone sent. I'm glad my sister sent a packet of mixed colors as that helped in the blending. Now I just need to make a bag or paint a box to hold it. I plan to use my fish stamp I made and showed here to go with the fish centerpiece. I figured it should fit with the way the Japanese seem to love fish in one form and another and another!

ATC Swap

I received these ATCs in the mail a few days ago. They were part of a swap I did with Lisa Volraths Go Make Something group. You can see the ones I made for swapping here.

This was the first swap I have done with CYBER FYBER's being the second I joined although I ended up doing the CYBER FYBER first and mailing these off second. (I'm getting into so many things I am starting to get confused).

Aren't they wonderful. It was a black and white swap which I thought would be difficult. It turned out to be easy and there seems to be many ways to do it up.

I have learned a few things towards making my future ATCs better now that I have actually received some rather than just seeing pictures. Two of these came in sleeves to protect them which is a good idea. I'll have to get some. The artists who made these also labeled them much better than I did. There is so much to see and do and then to learn on the internet. It's wonderful.

ATC for CYBERFYBER

I have finished and mailed off the fiber ATC I made for trade with Susan Lenz of CYBERFYBER. You can see the one she sent me here.

I am still in the process of finishing off several more of these. I'll post a picture when I get them all done. I'm making some inchies out of the same strip of fabric. This is where they are coming from.

Inchies

I saw a blog called Inching Artists and thought I would try the inchie for the week. It was to be silver and green. My first effort (on the left) didn't turn out as well as I would have liked so I made another. I like it better but I think I need to loosen up and expand on it next time. The challenge is to come up with something great on such a small piece. I love "small" however, so I need to keep trying.

Tagged Again!

Arline of Shared Stuff By Arline has tagged me. Now I need to come up with seven random things about myself (seven more things, see here ) and then tag 5 people. I'm not sure who to tag as this one just found it's way back to me so it's gotten around. If you haven't been tagged and don't mind playing along leave me a comment and I will announce you as tagged so people can go see what you have to say and get to know you a little better. It took me a few days to think of things - guess I don't know myself very well!! Okay, here goes:

1. I live in my mind mostly and always have. As a kid I usually played by myself as my game was in my head where others didn't know what was going on. My family think I'm in Lala Land but I'm really right here. I just may not be paying full attention to the world outside of myself when they think that.
2. I am very scatterbrained and unorganized. Today I forgot I had coffee reheating in the microwave, almost burned my husband's sausage, and almost burned my waffle as I had my attention more on my computer than on the task at hand. Organization is a pile here, a pile there, and another over there and heaven help me if I need something that is in one pile when I am working with another. I do find my stuff but it might take a little while!
3. I can't sing. Really. I have even been asked not to sing by my husband who can carry a tune. I know I can't sing as I can hear how awful I sound. If I can hear the difference between what sounds good and what sounds bad, how come I can't get my voice to make the changes? If you can sing then thank God for it as it is a gift we don't all have.
4. I have trouble with poetry too. I can't understand most of the poetry I find in my magazines today. I like Walt Whitman and Shel Silverstein so I guess it's more modern or free verse I have the most trouble with. I am going to get a book to study on it though. Even though I can't change my voice I might be able to figure out the poetry. At least I am going to try.
5. I like bubble baths and hate showers. What's the point of using up all the water unless you are going to spend an hour soaking up the warmth while reading a good book or magazine?
6. I don't like to go into a small shop and walk out without buying something. I feel guilty for not buying. It's a stupid thing as no one can force me to buy but I feel guilty nonetheless.
7. My husband was my first boyfriend. Not my first date, but he was the first guy I wanted and when he first told me he loved me (mind you, I was a 17 year old high schooler and he was a sailor just come back from Viet Nam) I asked him how much so he said "enough to marry me" to which I replied "When?" He asked my dad for my hand the next time he came to see me.

March TIF Announced

Sharon B. of In A Minute Ago blog has announced the challenge for March.

It is:

• Do you ever notice the little things, the small moments, the details in life? This months challenge is to do just that, pay attention to the tiny details. Sometimes the small things become emblematic for something larger. That is it! I am going to keep it brief.
  
  
  I was going to just share these pictures of a hint of spring coming on the dawn but now I am sharing them and also making them (or a detail of them to be more precise) my project for this month's challenge.
  
  
  I am thinking I can work in most if not all of the colors Sharon has chosen for this month also so for the first time I will be going for both sides of the coin! I'm not sure if this will be a beaded work, a floss embroidery, or a collage of some sort. I just now found out what the challenge was and knew immediately what the main idea was. Now I need to work out the details. I find it really helps to sleep on it so that is what I am going to do. Besides, I want to start my February BJP page first.