October~

This little guy was our project at the October art mtg. Traci of Art-T-Dolls generously shared this pattern with us so we could each have our own batty character. (you can find them for sale on her site-among other creatures) they were great fun and each ended up with it's own little personality.
These are the spiders i made for my art meeting on sunday~they don't photograph very well though. They started out as styrofoam balls, then morphed into these. If it's october, that means i've broken out the halloween socks. This is my newest pair.

These are 2 swaps i received at the meeting-now adorning my house. Love them. One on left is from Traci and the right is from Donna



And finally, a peek at the last piece of art i finished. Will post more pictures soon. I'm working on several pieces that will be headed to missouri for sale in a cool antique store...

Catching Up~

First, if you go here you can enter for a chance to win these wonderful earrings! Wish i could say I had made them, but that's not the case. love the resin paper!
My aunt Norma and her friend Jan were here last wk. I took some time from working to spend
time with them and my mom on their shopping treks. With Norma, that's the only way to say it-she hits every store known to man. (of course, i tend to do the same when i travel too)
We spent fri hitting estate and garage sales. I got a pr of gloves and an old book on ettiquette. They will both be finding their way into my art pretty soon. I also got stung by a wasp again on mon-same hand, lower spot on my wrist and 2 days of swollen monster hand.
Sun we all met up at Joe T Garcia's for brunch. Gary and i had tea and visited as they chose to eat outside. NOT a fan of outside dining when flies/birds and birdshit become part of the experience and all of the above did. I met up w/them later and went to the stockyards. Saw a fabulous skirt and shirt that would have been really cute, but for over $300.00 they both stayed in the store. Spent tues with them in Grapevine before taking them to the airport that afternoon. This is their 3rd visit together and it was nice that i had no bodily injury this time that kept me at home~

Help "A Place to Bark"

If you go here to watch this video, you can rate it to help Bernie's animal rescue. She is a one
woman operation for the most part doing all she can to save dogs and cats from being put down.
In the past 5 yrs she has rescued 2500 animals-and if she gets enough votes can win 25,000 to $250,000 towards her rescue mission!

Donna VS. Wasp(s)

The wasp(s) won. Not sure if there was more than one-just felt a sudden sting, said a bad word as i brushed it off of me-never saw it. Nice results though..
last night

today

There's Something About Saturdays...

For some reason, it just seems that sat night is my creative night. I seem to get more done and be more in the art mood then. While in there the other day i was looking at stuff i had started but not finished. I normally like to work on one thing in particular, but sometimes get started on a project but not know where i want to go with it. I didn't think i had that many "going on" until this past week when i noticed a pretty tall pile of "stuff." I took a look and sure enough, quite a few things that i never did complete. Either didn't like how they looked or couldn't decide what to do to finish them. Here are some pictures of most of these projects:

Then of course came a bit of goofing off. I came across the hair that came off of "creepy girl" and couldn't pass up the opportunity to let the dogs model it-2 of them anyway... can you see the sheer joy on Nala's face? :)
Riley was a bit more cooperative-but not much.

She's Done

Here is creepy girl in all her glory. She started out as a broken doll a friend gave to me to "do something with." So i did.
She's ready for her close-up:


Our houseguest enjoying some fresh air-Maverick (with his tiger stripes)

Finished a piece of art this week. Call her "Barefoot and Butterflies." Still need to put her in a shadow box-


I'm also taking Alisa Burke's online class, Color My World and here is my
color "wheel."

Temporary House Guest

We have a house guest. Rumor was that he would stay 2-3 nights then leave.
Discovered today that's not the case. "Someone" changed the plan. New plan is for him
to stay here while WE (i) house train him then he can go back home, NOT to the friend's
house he was going to go to. (at least that is the story we were told.) yea right.

Just look at that paw-it is huge for a few month old puppy. His name is Maverick. He was found wandering in an industrial area-with another puppy. Nathan and Ashley rescued him. He didn't come instantly housetrained-imagine that! So he is happy here while he is in training. Nala doesn't mind him but the others do-so we have to keep him sequestered from the others. What fun that is. He seems to be picking up on "house rules" pretty quickly. He seems to be very smart: loves to fetch a ball or toy and bring it to you to chase again. He likes to cuddle up with you too-a real sweetie.

We Remember...

I don't think that anyone who was old enough that day to know what was going on will ever forget where they were when they heard the news or saw the images.
I had turned on the tv that morning which i rarely did. Took Nathan to school and heard on the radio a plane hit the tower. First thought: small private plane. Got home and saw the image on tv of smoke-and immediately knew that was no small plane. I sat there watching Good Morning America-as the commentators spoke-when suddenly a plane comes into view and Diane Sawyer says something about it. I'm thinking "that's not right, planes aren't allowed in that air space." It was totally surreal. Then it hit-and i think "Oh my God, what is happening?" As many others did that day, i sat glued to the television-watching as the horrors unfolded. Thinking of all those people trapped in there-can they get out? We went to lunch that day. It was eerie. Even driving, the streets seemed quiet. The burger place had a tv on-other than placing an order, it was silent, everyone watching. Living near a major airport made it odd to see no planes anywhere. Too quiet. The FAA did an unbelievable job that day of bringing in all those planes safely. Our world changed that day. I don't think anyone foresaw the ripple effect-businesses closed for good, economy that shifted-jobs that were lost. Security. These things don't happen on American soil. until now. We look at people differently-we want our borders closed-and safe.
Some think we are. I've heard stories from those in military-higher ups. Some on the radio, some friends of family. Many things have been stopped, but too many things that need to change haven't-I hope it doesn't take another 9-11 for that to happen. I hope we never see another day like that again-once in a lifetime is enough.

Coming Right Along

well, the creep show girl is coming along-thinking i'll probably do a gray wash over all this to finish her off.


This moth was at the window the other night-it was really big compared to other moths-can't really tell that here, but it was.
We have a temporary house guest right now-will get a picture of him up soon~

Silliness Giveaway

Maybe not actual silliness, but a class in silliness and drawing. If you click on here you can see
how to get a chance to win Carla Sonheim's next drawing class.

Creepshow Doll

Saw some things online recently that inspired me to start this creepy little doll. My friend Carol
gave me this doll because she knew i could do "something" with it. She came with a pretty little
yellow dress-it's gone (to my niece) she was broken-so now she is officially headless.
i think when i'm done, the body will be holding the head. This is her in the first stage of altering.
More to come as she progresses...

Halloween Mood

It's only 90 outside so i'm getting in that halloween mood already...
have my new music ready to add here next month~

25 Years Ago...

This one was born...

my how time flies!

Sad Day for our Family

(andrew, nicole and nathan circa 1989)
Found out this morning that my 25 yr old cousin was found dead in his bed.
I can't begin to imagine what my aunt went through finding him-and all the events
following that discovery. I'm glad we have lots of family in St Louis to be there for
the family-i'll be heading north for a funeral next week.
We miss you already Andrew-RIP
How do you say goodbye to one so young? what do you say to family that sounds adequate?
words can't convey what you feel for the loss of one so young. Death is a part of life, but it seems so much harder to understand when someone leaves us this early-didn't get to fulfill a lifetime.
nathan and andrew 1989

Aug 8th

My mother in law turned 89 this wk-we all met up at Razoo's on sunday for dinner~
randy, marian, mary, randy & gary
randy, randy, marian, gary and me~

Road Trip

OK, so we only went to Weatherford to eat pizza, but it was a bit of a drive. They have good pizza, reminds me of Italian Inn that finally closed in the 90's due to the crime in the area.
We also ended up here. We went to Gibsons alot when i was growing up. (at least when we lived in Texas) got many a school supply and stationery pad there. The last time I was in one was when we lived in Alice. in Jr High. remember looking at the stationery so i could write friends back in Hurst-and at the crafty stuff. Brought back alot of memories!

And here's Gary-checking out the toys-

Art Day

Monday i watched this little one~and she wanted to do "arts and crafts" so we did. I got out the paper, ink pads, rubber stamps, scissors, glue stick and paints. Guess what the favorite was?
She made 2 books, 1 realllly big book for her mom. A BIG card for Nathan and just played.
We made handprints in paint-even footprints-(mom doesn't know about those yet) but it washes off so it's ok~ :)
i think i finally have everything put away again-waiting for next time...

Homemade Goodness...

Saw this on Alisa Burk's blog and since i had just made up a batch of choc. chip cookie dough
the night before, thought-why not? so i had a homemade ice cream sandwich-yum!

Collage Playground book Giveaway

Go to this link to see the info for the giveaway of this book: Collage Playground

F+W Media has gifted the Marketplace with a copy of Collage Playground for someone to win. the above link will tell you what you need to do to enter! good luck!

Chaos and the Cattle Barn...

How can these two have anything in common? Moreso than you think. I've been *trying* to go through my art room and purge. I've got the giveaway pile, the trash and the sell piles. It's verrrry slow going. Sometimes i walk in and turn around and leave. Other times i get inspired to start a project or work on an ongoing one. Needless to say-it's a slow process. I want to narrow down some of my art stash, but it's hard to do when you are into mixed media.
THIS is what my room looks like right now-
There are piles of stuff EVERYWHERE in the room-stuff in boxes...need more bookshelves now that dresser is out. haven't found any so may just build what i want. Spent hours in here last night going through things and rearranging others. The naked eye can't tell, but i can!
Today i needed a break so decided to head to the Cattle Barn Flea Market in ft worth. I thought it *might* be a bit cooler today w/the clouds (no air, just fans all over) it IS a cattle barn after all.
It was cooler, but humidity set in-i didn't go there to look pretty or impress, so that was fine and since i was dripping wet by the time i left, a good philosophy.
I dug. I dug through boxes, bins and shelves. 2 1/2 hrs later and $20. poorer, here is what i came home with-can you see today's theme? Like i need to add anything else to "the room?"
no, but hey, i have plans for this stuff....

And finally-Happy Birthday to Nala! She turned 7 on fri so got to celebrate with a few treats from Three Dog Bakery-of course, she was a good girl and shared with Jack and Riley!