Happy Mother's Day/Score!

We all met at Joe T Garcia's for lunch this morning. Addison is almost 6 mothes old and she has discovered her tongue as you can see.
See the line of people? That is what happens when you a)want to sit outside & b)get there after 11am... needless to say, this was the line when we were leaving.
Gary and I went to the cattle barn after lunch. I got a box full of fabric scraps-wedding dress/evening gown scraps and buttons. Vintage buttons, glass buttons, shiny rhinestone buttons. Now it's time to do some fabric collage again.

Big People Birthday Party

went to a birthday party tonight for my friend April
She turned 50 and decided we needed to celebrate. (i agree) the first picture is the "card" i made for her. Had a fun time visiting with friends. Tomorrow is mother's day and the family is going out to brunch-sure i'll post some pictures tomorrow. gary and i are going to the cattle barn too-junk shopping-yea!

They are Back!

Rag & Bone bindery stopped making their journals this yr. I was saddened since they are my
favorite. I can make my own, but love their books-the sumptious colors & fabrics of the covers and the wonderful paper. They just recently said they are bringing them back-yea! time to stock up

Fruit Trays and Oklahoma City

What? you ask. Sat I had to go into work for several hrs to help get things ready for a reception on sun. These are pictures of what i got done. The big tray eventually had two 1/2 circles of fruit added to it on the sides, a second lg tray and a small one were done before i could leave. (nelly helped too) :)
Then i met gary for lunch and headed to Oklahoma City.
Why you ask-for an art festival of course! I heard about "Festival of the Arts"
last yr through Carla Sonheim's blog. I knew she would be there again this year and kept thinking all week about going. "yes, no, yes" So at 1:15 i was on my way. Checked into my hotel a bit before 4 and headed downtown. Found great parking across from the festival and wandered into the grounds. I really enjoyed the art here-all different artists than what we see here at Main St. Alot of vibrant colors. I did buy a print and original from Carla Sonheim.
I love her art-it just makes me smile. The festival takes place near a park-like area (forget the name) but it's pretty-they have a stage down by the water for some of the musical entertainment and another one near all the food vendors. I highly recommend this one to others. A few of the artists that i enjoyed were: Janet O'Neal
really like the vibrant colors she used in her work. Gianna Marino also had interesting art. She did her main body of collage with torn papers then drew on them (much cooler in person than in my description) Flinn Designs fun mixed media work and she runs an animal shelter.
Scot Schmidt has some interesting sculpture work done in limestone-at least that is the easiest way to describe (says he)
I decided to go see the Oklahoma Memorial while there. I had been there once before with my sister, but wanted to see it again. It is worth the time if you are ever in the area. By this time i was ready to head back to my hotel. I was too tired to even go find food, so i just ordered pizza and watched tv. Woke up to cold temps, packed up, ate and headed home to reality.

Caught UP

I think i've finally caught up on posting from the trip. The bluebonnets have been out for awhile so i'll post a picture-you know it's spring in TX when you see these!
I recently picked up the magazine that cloth paper scissors put out on studios. Between reading that and the fire that Joan had in her artroom before artfest made me think i need to get into my room and CLEAN and PURGE! I want to re-think my space-paint the walls and even re-arrange. I'll post progress as that happens.

Day 7: Seattle and Home

Got ready, ate in the hotel-got the car packed up and went to UPS to mail my box-much heavier than it was before! Took my rent car back-was dumped at airport on the lower level, so had to lug everything up-get checked in-really nice guy from dallas was working there. Went through security, THEN had to take a train to my gate-farthest gate from the train. Was concerned w/making it, but they had not started boarding yet. Another full flight. Smooth, uneventful-i would fly Alaska again. Got home around 5, gary picked me up and we went to Babe's for dinner. Very disappointed. No pot roast, no pecan pie (only making it at thanksgiving now) how stupid is that? Got home-exhausted. went to bed early since i have to go back to work tomorrow for 6 days. i'll unpack tomorrow...

Day 6: Fort Worden, Poulsbo and Seattle

April 6, 2008
Got packed up, loaded car and went to eat. The photo above is a lonely one! empty rooms...
I drove around town and took some pictures.
Went to check on Joan's progress-Went to take pictures of the armory. Joan came up for pix too. We went to the beach for "findings" and photo's. Got some great one's of the other armory area. Cool rust and peeling paint. Found rusted ship metal-even a hinge on the beach.
We headed out of town to meet up with carol, april and peggy in Poulsbo.
will finish later-tornado sirens are going off here...
OK-we missed the worst of the storm-just got the rain.
In Poulsbo, we went to the bead store, stamp store, antique store then had lunch at Magnolia Cafe. I had a wonderful cheese pizza. We hit the bakery-good thing they don't have one like this at home-i would weigh a ton! Joan and i missed the 3 pm ferry and took the 4-whatever one. Stopped at paper zone for bigger box, then met joan at daniel smith
for a bit of last minute shopping. We got to the hotel and got checked in-Holiday Inn Express is quite nice. Went to have dinner at Newport Bay again. My last taste of Halibut for awhile.
Went to bed fairly early for us-

Day 6: Fort Worden (April 5, 2008)

I was soooo tired today! Did the McD's thing-today's class was Karen O'Brien:Creative Characters. This was a fun day-we learned her techniques, her colors and a simple drawing lesson. I was very quiet today-hard to stay awake. Ate lunch with Amy today-nice to visit with her. Had to run to town for pr of scissors. (left mine at home-dummy) Enjoyed class today-really liked what we did-and her fast techniques. I had to take a bit of a nap after class. Met up with April and Joan for dinner. Ate mexican food at El Sarape. It was actually much like home-tex mex. We were stuffed. Got back to the fort for the show and tell. Always a bittersweet time. Such cool art to see-yet knowing it's almost time to go home.
The S & T wrapped up fairly quick-we headed over to Dorm 202 again for the "after party." Didn't stay as late as last night-went back to shower and pack up for tomorrow.

Day 5: Fort Worden (April 4, 2008)

Did my morning McD's. (funny i never eat there when i am at home) The guy working there recognized me already-guess when you're in a small town...-drove around again-as many times as i've been here, i've never looked at some areas of town. Pretty little place. Went back to the fort for my supplies and headed to the schoolhouse. Today's class was with Tiphoni: Color Theory.
I loved this class. We took 6 colors of paint and white and learned to mix all colors. We practiced just mixing, used a mag page to find a color to copy. How cool it was to look at a color and finally "get it" when it comes to cool, warm, red, blue or yellow. You learn to identify the color you see most. Usual lunch fare in the commons. I think i had bread and stew gravy today :)
After lunch we did a little painting w/2 colors and mixing them to get many shades-really got alot out of this class-as much as i love playing with paint, it was a good thing.
April and I ate dinner at Waterfront pizza. Love their pizza-it's a tradition. We got back in time to get in line for vendor night. I bought a few things-print from Kelly Rae Roberts, findings from Bird (scavanged from dead bodies of course) tie dye socks too. Got a little piece from Karen OBrien and Urban Bird Girl. (my buddies girlfriend) We hung out in dorm 202 tonight-green wristbands and all. Had alot of fun-stayed up late-showered and bed.

Day 4: Fort Worden (April 3)

I went to town for breakfast-McD's sausage biscuit and tea~Drove around a bit, then back to the fort. Found my classroom. Today was Ultimate Journal with Thomas Ashman. We got to cut, torch, hammer, patina, bolt and hole punch our metal covers. My table mate was a "first timer" who was not one that did art-his girlfriend was coming to artfest and asked him if he wanted to so he agreed. I thought that was cool-and commendable that he would be open to it. Lunch was at the fort-too froo-froo for me. My journal was almost done in class except for some wire cutting which i plan to finish at home. (and i did)
Met up with Joan and went into town. Had to go to the bead store-Winwoods-love their charms.
Ran into Carol, Peggy and April. April came to dinner with Joan and i-Bayview. Halibut and yummy pecan pie. We went to the fort and got our journal stuff and headed to the beach/bonfire/journal party-a tradition for me. We went for a walk on the beach after securing a table. I found "walter" the starfish-biggest starfish i have ever seen. (i'll post a better picture later of the whole thing) We hung out at the party until it was over-went back to my room to chill and shower and journal. Got stuff ready for tomorrow's class.

Day 3: Seattle and Port Townsend (April 2, 2008)

Got packed up after eating, loaded the cars and headed to the ferry-with plenty of time. Beautiful day! We met a few artfesters on the ferry-amy lee, heather and candy-all new to artfest-they will love it! We stopped in Winslow to go to Esther's fabrics (i got some buttons) then headed on to PT~Parked and hit the ground running. Did a bit of shopping before a late lunch and into the Fort to check in and get moved into our rooms. I just love the atmosphere at the fort when we are all gathered there~comraderie amongst strangers-all with a like
mind of creativity-too bad we all can't just live there and create forever! Tonight was the Opening Night Get-Together. We all meet up in the hanger and meet the teachers after a talk from Teesha~this year they all got to answer a question-"what do you do to help w/creative block" "what would you do if you weren't creating art" etc... it was interesting. We headed to the Art Asylum after that-picked up a few things-went back to my room to unwind, shower and get my supplies ready for class in the morning.

Day 2 in Seattle (April 1, 2008)

Joan and i got a bit more sleep than originally planned, but it was much needed!
We got ready and went to IHOP (french toast and hash browns for me) Buckwheat pancakes for her-then we hit the road and went up to Snohomish for antiquing. We only made it to one mall and about 5 shops (and a small lunch) before the shops closed up for the day-that town closes down at 5! If we do it again, we'll know to start on the main road and start earlier. We did discover that the mall was the one place we could have skipped as their prices are higher than the shops. (i did however, score w/a box full of jello molds for 9.95 (34 in all)) my other purchases were pretty much photo's. We headed back to seattle and stopped at paper zone for a quick spree and back to target. Had a quick meal at Burger King-then back to the hotel to get packed for tomorrow and sleep! the only pictures i got today were one of some lovely flowers and a quick shot of town as we were leaving-had to have *some* pratice with the camera.

A Few Pictures and a bit more on Artfest

Yes, it's taking me forever-for the first time in all the yrs of going to artfest, i had to come home and work the next day-so 6 days of work, artfest and 6 more days of work left me worn out!
I plan to get the rest of this up by end of week.
this is a bit out of order-but this is joan and i on the ferry on wed. It was a fabulous day as you can see. Tomorrow i will write about what we did on tues-then our drive/arrival in port townsend~

Home From Artfest (day one in seattle)

After a close call making my flight (squeaked on-barely) i got into seattle around 9:15 mon morning march 31-partly cloudy and nicely cooler! Got my rent car settled, grabbed the luggage, hit the shuttle and finally got to our hotel in my stylin' hundai elantra. Dragged my luggage to the room with joan's help then we hit our usual day one lunch haunt-Dave's Diner before our shopping.
We went to Uwajimaya groc store and the book store-i wanted japanese pens and joan wanted some japanese packaging. From there, we headed to Daiso-the japanese 1.50 store. it was nothing more than a $ store but we got a few things-had a snack in the food court of the mall-then on to Archie McPhee-while we were inside the mall-it had rained and hailed from what we heard later. Guess we brought some texas weather up there. Both found things at archie-then headed paper zone and daniel smith-we needed a few things for classes-closed both stores. Had to stop at Target for fort munchies and a new camera-mine had "disappeared" at home (probably sitting in some pawn shop) and i couldn't be w/out one on this trip. Finally got that done and we ate late dinner at Newport seafood-halibut of course. On to the hotel to get some much needed sleep after a bit of visiting...installment 2 and photo's tomorrow.

Countdown to ArTfEsT

Can't believe i leave a wk from this coming mon! Had this week off so i've been working on trades (as well as things around the house that had to be done) The excitement is building~This is Dorm 225 where i have stayed everytime i've gone-love it there. Love the people, the area, the atmosphere. It's something you can't begin to describe to those who haven't been. It's magic. Can't wait to see old friends and meet new ones. 10 days and counting!

Catching Up

Last sat i went to the Cattle Barn in Ft Worth w/my friends April & Carol. We spent a few hrs perusing the booths and finding treasures. I came home with mostly bling-yea! just what i'd been hoping for.
Here is one final picture of gary in the snow-it didn't last long but it sure was pretty.

REAL Texas Snow

ok, so here is the real thing-first we had the 'tease' on mon night then this afternoon got the real thing...the puppies loved it-their first snow.

Texas Snow

OK-anyone up north reading this-don't laugh. We had 75 degree weather this wkend, then snow mon night. This snow. Today is clear and pleasant out, while snow is predicted again thurs night. They did get more out west of here, but hey, snow is snow.

Picture finally

Here is one of the wooden hearts i made for our last art meeting. I drew it, cut it out of wood, sanded it down and painted/added paper

Life In Joyland

Had intentions of putting photos up-but can't til gary shows me the "new" way. My dad called me sun and said my grandmother fell down the deck stairs sat. She hit her skull by her good eye. Bled of course and she couldn't see. bruised too-gramp took her to springfield to the hospital-they said it might be a skull fracture, but since she was a "walk-in" they wouldn't keep her for observation (something to do w/medicare in Missouri or something) what a crock of shit. He drove her back to their city, she's in their nursing home until MON when the Dr will actually be there. Still waiting to hear what is going on.
NOTE: heard that she can't see because she is bandaged up-dad left that part out. nursing home because she was still a bit out of it-better on mon-)
I'm going to get something to eat-now that the numbness has worn off from today's dental visit. (be glad i don't post pictures of that!) then it's time to work on ATC's for artfest~

A Blog to Check Out

You know how you get on the computer, decide to check out a blog (or two) then you start perusing their links, then THOSE links and so on and next thing you know it's the next day?
I think that is how i found this one...
Fabric Bliss
Be sure to check it out if you like/love fabric and all that goes with it. What timing since i've
started my fabric book cover this week.

Time Flies

So it's been 2 wks-guess time got away from me and posting.
Had a fun start to the wk-after working on fatbook pages for artfest, a little puppy decided to
try to eat a few-13 actually. ripped out the eyelet/ribbon on them before i caught him. Got them re-done and mailed and will post a picture this wkend.
Mon i had to go to the dentist for an unexpected root canal. Actually i should have expected it-broke a tooth a while back and since there was no pain, put it off-until pain hit and i found a new dentist on our plan...nothing like penicillin and vicodin to start your wk right!
Went for dinner mon night w/gary's family for he and his brothers' b-days. Lunch w/his mom and son on tues and dinner w/my parents tues night-got in all the bday celebrating for Gary-
happy birthday hon~
will try to get some pictures up this wkend on what i'm working on.

And the Winner Is...

I had 113 comments, so i numbered 1-113 put them all in a bowl and drew a number...
Number 57- "DEELIGHT" is the recipient of my give-a-way, so if you see this, you can email me your address!
and thanks to all who stopped by my blog-come back any time!

Giveaway

Since i'll be leaving the house by 6 am thurs, i'll draw the name when i get home in the afternoon and post the winner here~good luck and thanks for stopping by. I plan to really look at some of the many new blogs i've discovered from this~

The NEst

Just realized i never added the picture of the nest(s) i did for our art swap in january.
Made 5 of them-4 for the swap and one to keep-they were all actually different sizes-i made the others taller so i could "smoosh" them down, but they didn't smoosh too easily. i like this
size/shaped one the best.

Artfest Shoes

I've had some canvas shoes sitting around forever. painted them once and hated them so painted them black and there they sat.
Now they are pink and black and ready for me to wear at least once while at Artfest this yr~

Blogs and life

What fun it's been entering drawings and checking out lots of new blogs-next wk i hope to be able to really peruse these-this week has been too busy.
here is nathan's sprained ankle from soccer-that's what happens when you haven't played in a few yrs AND you smoke...not in shape :) he is going to try to play on it tonight-i'm not going to the game-have to work this wkend and i'm just too tired. At least it's indoor-i'll go next wk. hopefully i'll do some art on mon and have something new to post.

One World ONE Heart Give-a-way Event

What IS ONE World-ONE Heart?

It is a blog-wide giveaway event. The original idea behind this was to bring bloggers together from around the world who may never ordinarily meet. It closes the gap of the blog community and enables us to interact, discover new and wonderful people, and in the process possibly win a prize or many prizes along the way. Last years event had nearly 100 participants and many connections were made because of it......friendships that are still going strong.
Leave a comment to be entered in the drawing-
and check out all the other drawings here.

Drawing for my offering will be on Feb 14th~a random drawing from those who leave a comment.

If you would like to participate and have a giveaway in this event PLEASE click HERE and read all about it! It's NOT too late to come aboard and in the process meet new bloggers from all over the world!! AND there is a full list of all the participants there so even if you don't have a giveaway you can still enter all of them!
LET THE FUN BEGIN AND GO SPREAD THE LOVE AND JOY THROUGH BLOGLANDIA!!!

78 degrees in Feb...must be TX

Can't get the camera to upload again-will have to re-install the program so for now, just a post.
Made some artfest shoes this wkend. Had a pr of canvas tennies that i painted black and never did anything with-so now they are decorated with pink-they say "art fest" in front and " '08" in back.
Went to see Addison fri-she is smiling and holding her head up-will smile and stick her tongue out if you stick yours out. such a cutie.
Went to watch Nathan play indoor soccer sat night-first time he's played in a few yrs. (now he knows what no exercise and smoking will do) He went into the boards w/another player and twisted his ankle pretty bad-
pictures will follow-but that is the latest around here.

Fabric: Before and After

Here is some fabric i bought for my project for our swap on sun.
The bottom is the original, the top is the tea dyed-still wet look.
the next photo shows how it looked once it dried. (along w/riley's foot) Our swap theme is "nest"...here is a sneak at mine. I will post a picture sun of the finished project as i don't want any of the girls to see it before hand.

Sadness

Nathan found out yesterday afternoon that a friend of his died in the morning. He hit a disabled car on the highway-roads were wet yesterday. Unfortunately, he wasn't wearing a seatbelt and was ejected from the truck. WHY won't people wear their seatbelts? He was only 21-

Yikes

Been awhile since i've posted. Been sick with the "crud" going around-then back to work to a busy week-will post pictures of what i have done soon...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Gary & i went to a movie yesterday~can't remember the last one we saw together.
We saw Mr Depp in Sweeney Todd

The cinemetography was fabulous-
I've heard a rumor that they want to make a movie of Dark Shadows with Johnny playing barnabas collins. Guess i better check that out.
I've been trying to work on the artroom-I've gone through 10 yrs! of somerset mags to keep the articles i'm interested in and purge the rest-never thought i would be able to bring myself to do so, but i did. The saved parts are in sheet protectors and will go into notebooks. More later~