Two Inchies

The theme for this week was presents over at
Inchybyinch.

I ended up making two inchies for a change.
Mainly because the first one with the embossing
powder seemed too simple. With the static electricity we have right now I couldn't keep the particles from flying all over the piece either which I could see once it was enlarged.

So I made a second one. This one is a little bit
3-D with the tissue paper sticking out of the box. It was hard finding something small enough to put in this tiny package!

As an aside, I just signed up for the 2010 Bead Journal Project. If anyone loves to do bead embroidery and would like to join us in doing one piece (or page) a month for a year go to Bead Journal Project and check it out. The deadline to sign up is rapidly approaching - December 14th is the last day so hurry!

May BJP Page

Helloooo? Anyone still out here besides me? I got another
page done! May is finally finished. I'm not so far behind because I don't like my beads or the BJP anymore. I just can't see where the needle tip is when it's going into the fabric. It's driving me crazy. I think I have to not use dark fabrics anymore for one thing. I even have trouble under the magnifying lamp.

Well I have this one done at any rate and only three more to finish off this past year. I know, it's well past by now. Ok, I'll quit whining. If you read my blog you know I haven't been sitting doing nothing but worrying over my beading.

May is the month for the Mother's Day holiday so that is my theme. I took a broken earring of my mother's and glued her picture to it. I coated it with a good layer of Delta's Air-Dry PermEnamel Clear Gloss Glaze. It's wonderful stuff, more like a resin to give a nice shiny hard coat over something. Then I glued that to my fabric.

I took a heart bead (remember I am using gifted beads somewhere in my page) my sister gave me to symbolize me and added a banana for my son and a rabbit for my daughter. The banana was given to me by my grandchildren. I would have loved to have used a surfboard but didn't have one and did have the banana. My son eats a case of them a week so it fits. My daughter loves rabbits so that's why I picked it. If I'd had a baby bead I could have used it as she loves babies more than rabbits.

Then I took a mexican bead gifted to me by my daughter to symbolize her and added four little hearts for her children. Three generations represented here.

I started beading around my mother with blue since this is the month for blue on my color wheel - my other theme going through the year. All in all, I'm happy with how this turned out even though it took so long.

New Inchy

The theme for this week's inchy over at Inchybyinch is texture. The guest designer who suggested this and made samples for it is Jaine who has the blog Confessions of a Craftaholic here. This is my textured inchy. I figure burlap is a very textured material. (When I was little my mother made all five of us girls gathered skirts in colored panels of burlap. They were fun to wear).

Go ahead make a wish!

Looking in the Mirror

I thought I'd share a new page I've made in my journal with you. This one shows my grandson as he made faces for the camera this summer while swimming in his new pool. This page is from a class I am taking from Kelly Kilmer. The prompt was about looking in the mirror and this is my take on it. Hope you enjoy it.

Turkey Meme

I saw this meme on Janet's blog Just Me and My Art and realized the holidays are really approaching! So I've decided to do this meme also. So here goes:

1. Which do you like better: Cooking at your house, or going elsewhere? I like going to my daughter's house but we wait till Christmas usually. Some years they and our son come here but not this year. Our son is working overtime at San Onofre Nuke Plant and our daughter is with the in-laws. Boo hoo!
2. Do you buy a fresh or frozen bird? We buy the frozen birds that are on sale for $5-$7 at the grocery store. We usually buy three and keep two for later in the year.
3. What kind of stuffing? I would love to make stuffing with onions, celery and sliced almonds like when I grew up but my husband only likes the seasoned bread cubes. I use lots of jellied cranberry sauce with it.
4. Sweet potato or pumpkin pie? Pumpkin pie with lots of real home-whipped heavy cream! Yes it's overload on fat and cholesterol but once a year I enjoy it. If my son-in-law comes, I make apple pie also since he doesn't like pumpkin pie. I will make two pies even if it is just my husband and I as I'll eat it for breakfast, snacks and dessert. It's my favorite pie.
5. Do you believe that turkey leftovers are a curse, or the point of the whole thing? Leftovers are part of the whole scene. Pot pies, soup, hot turkey sandwiches, cold turkey sandwiches and even tacos for myself.
6. Which side dish would provoke a riot if you left it off the menu? Mashed potatoes and gravy for most of the family. My husband likes southern style candied sweet potatoes (sliced taters simmered in butter and sugar with a TBS. of water - very rich).
7. Do you save the carcass to make soup or stock? Absolutely! Actually I save the wings, drumsticks and leftover parts of the thighs. I freeze them for later and the back takes up too much room. With all the meat on the drumsticks we get plenty of flavor.
8. What do you wish you had that would make preparing Thanksgiving dinner easier? A maid!!
9. Do you get up at the crack of dawn to have dinner ready in the early afternoon, or do you eat at your normal dinner hour? We get up at the normal time. Dinner is usually around 4-5 p.m. on Thanksgiving which is very early for my husband and just right for me. I make the pies the day before so I can start with pie for breakfast.
10. If you go to somebody else's house, what's your favorite dish to bring? I make rolls. They are easy to carry and easy to warm up. No one else wants to make them anyhow.
11. What do you wish one of your guests wouldn't bring to your house? Crabbiness! This is a happy time or should be, so everyone is expected to be joyful. Sometimes the men in the family get a bit crabby. I don't know why except we have a small house and when you fill it with too many people it can be loud with nowhere to go for a private moment. I think they get overwhelmed.
12. Does your usual mix of guests result in drama, or is it a group you're happy to see? Oh, see this fits last question! Usually it all works out. I stress over it but try to keep that to myself.
13. What's your absolute favorite thing on the menu? Pumpkin pie! Hands down!
14. What are you thankful for this year? My son has a new job he's doing pretty well in. My daughter is finally homeschooling which she's wanted to do for a long time. My grandson has won a medal in his cross country running which he is enjoying this year after having to sit out most of last year with injurys, our Sarah dog survived her rattlesnake bite and everyone is doing well at the moment. I am thankful for all my internet friends. You make a rural woman happy!

If you would like to do this meme feel free to take it. Let me know if you do it so I can come read your answers!

And now it's time to start thinking about what I am going to do for Christmas cards! What about you? Do you make them or buy them? Design one and print out a bunch or make every single one totally by hand?

Teesha Moore Style

I've made a new page in my journal to fit a prompt over
at Blissfully Art Journaling a yahoo group I am in. I'd started a page to emulate Teesha Moore's style which I saw just recently. She has videos on her blog to show how she makes her pages and it sounded like so much fun I just had to try one! You can find her videos here and here. Look around as there are lots of videos taking you through the whole page.

My page follows a prompt as to whether we like to wear hats or not. I've had a few but the wind takes them away from me. I had one taken by the wind when I was in a gondola at the San Diego City Zoo. There was no way I was going to jump out in midair to try and catch it! Another time, I wore one to Sea World and away it went again! Now if I need a hat to block our extreme Arizona sun I wear a baseball style hat which doesn't look nice but I can make it small enough to stay on!

The "hat" on this page is a sculpture by Jennifer Maestre that I cut from a magazine. It looked perfect for a hat. I added a little make-up with Pan Pastels and some jewelry with a Sharpie Poster Paint Pen. This was lots of fun and I'll have to try Teesha's techniques again. Maybe in a different journal where the spiral binding won't interfere!

Photo Thursday

The theme for this week at Photo Thursday is "YOUTH" (Young, Energetic, Optimistic, Children, Baby, Education,...). I couldn't just upload one. Energetic describes both of these grandkids. These photos were taken a few years ago. My grandson is now on his high school cross country team where running 6 miles a day up hills and down is his norm. My granddaughter still sparkles as you could tell in her recent picture of a few weeks ago here. Why don't you join us and tell a story in a picture?

Bread

The theme for Photo Thursday is ""FOOD" (Fruit, Vegetables, Cookies, Candy, Meals, Food for Animals, Feast, Hungry,...)". I am posting a picture of bread I made with my granddaughter. This is just before we removed it from the oven. Yum!