WOYWW #430

Good Wednesday all my crafty friends.....and it's WOYWW with Julia over on Stampin Ground! Time to snoop around and see how much more productive folks are being than me!!! LOL It's not hard to do these days! My art desk asks for my I.D. any more when I come around! LOL

I have been arting when I can these days. For those that have visited here at all, you know I have been dealing with the parents as of late!! I don't say that in a harsh way! Both of my parents are elderly, my dearest Papa more than my mother. My dad landed in hospital AGAIN and has been there for two weeks, which was why you guys didn't see me last week! We finally were able to break him out of that place yesterday and transfer him to a Rehabilitation Center so that he can get back to his good old self! We are in high hopes! My father is 90, very independent, and determined to get back home, so we shall see! Keep us in your prayers.

As I have been in and out as of late, I have worked on bits here and there and if I could ever manage to sit for more than a few, then I might get a full project done! LOLOL As it were, I have had these ATC's on my desk working on them a minute here and there. Like tags, I love working on ATC's. I wish I were as creative as some of the fantastic ATC artists out there, but I just piddle and have fun!

This go around, I decided to do a sixlet. I just taped them all
together, gesso'd them and then just pulled out a hodge podge of paint and just started swiping. After I was happy with my color choices, I just pulled out some background stamps and with no real thought just stamped here and there with Archival Ink in black.

I have a file with lots of different vintage photos in them (I love vintage, but I'm not too clever with them) so I just went through and pulled out a few and had fun. I haven't finished all six, as I said, I've been in and out, but I have three finished to show you today!

Ok my crafty friends, let it be said that I am NOT "techi" AT ALL!! So I have a situation that I want to throw out there that I KNOW somebody HAS TO KNOW how to solve!! Since I use "Blogger" for my blog and since we NO LONGER can use Picasa for our picture upload/edit, I do it straight from my computer, but HOW ON EARTH do you rotate a picture in Blogger? It is rotated on my computer, but when I upload it to Blogger (hence the above picture on the right) it turns it upright! Now, all I can say to that, after a WHOLE LOT of trying EVERYTHING, is what they say in the cartoons...."&%#$^&^%$%$%()*&*" LOLOL

Now, if any of you can solve that little ditty for me, I'm willing to send you a little love from my home to yours! Just comment below and I will make it so! :)

Well, I'm off to snoop around on fellow crafter blog posts and I am SURE I will find some wonderful goodies! I love getting to know so many of you talented people and thanks in advance for stopping in and always leaving such encouraging words! 

Blessings to you today!!!

WOYWW #428

Good morning all my crafty friends! It's Wednesday and most of you that would come here, know what that means! It's WOYWW!  And if you are here and don't know what that means, then go on over to Julia's blog, "Stamping Ground," and you can find out all about it and maybe join in! :)

Like Julia, I haven't done much at my desk lately due to all the mayhem that has been going on in my life! I did manage to get a little free time in the other day and just piddle around and that's what's still on my desk. Because of my "crazy life" lately, I haven't been able to really participate in all my wonderful challenges because I can't seem to meet the deadlines for some occurrence cropping up and putting a wrench in it! LOLOL But just as well, sometimes I like to just go to my art desk and pull out stuff with nothing in mind and just go to it and have fun!

One of my all time fave things to do are tags. I could do them all day long (time permitting...hee hee) so I just decided to pull a few out just do some backgrounds. I wanted to try to do both tags with two different tools just to see how they would turn out. So I grabbed this art sponge I had to do one tag and then grabbed the brayer to do another. I just wanted to see how the two differed in the end. I had fun because I wasn't worried about the colors I used, the theme, or anything! I just grabbed some of my favorite paints and went to town!

End results were great! I really love how both applications look. Using the sponge and just "smooshing" here and there as I layered the colors was a really cool effect to me. I finished the edges off with my fave Tim Holtz distress colors and then the brayer also has great effects when you just layer and layer colors as well. I did add some stenciling at the finish of the brayered tag along with distress colors on the edges. Just good ole "assling" around, as my father-in-law says....excuse the french! LOLOL

Don't know if I will use them for anything or not, but I just enjoyed playing! Another thing I wanted to show you that was on my desk was this FABULOUS WIN where I had entered and won from guest designer "Kreative Kymona" and her StencilGirl craft and giveaway! I NEVER win anything, so I was so stoked to win on her blog!

When you get the chance, go on over to her blog and check her amazing "kreativity" out! Kymona is the sweetest girl and she is a very talented crafter. Her first love is cards but she just creative all the way around! Kymona did a guest spot on StencilGirl Talk using their fabulous stencils for a few projects and as a part of her guest spot she gave away the projects she created! I was one of the winners and got to choose the project I wanted and I wanted her fabulous journal creation! Woop, woop!

Isn't it the cutest??? I love it and I was lucky enough to get one of her beautiful cards to boot! She wrote the sweetest note inside and I feel like a kid in a candy store! Thank you so much Kymona for your fabulous journal, I can't wait to do some of my own creations inside!

On another note......look who I got a "selfie" with!!!! Aren't they the CUTEST?????????

Yep, that's two of my favorite folks in the world, my parents!! LOLOL I go to the facility that they are both at every weekend and spend all day with them, playing games and get them out in the fresh air taking walks. We were going around the block in this selfie shot! Doesn't my dad look fabulous!!! He still has a little black and blue left (you may remember in an earlier post where I told you guys that he fell face first), but he is healing so nicely! He got the stitches out of his nose last week and it's doing good! Remain to keep him in your prayers as we are dealing NOW with pneumonia. Bless his heart, he just can't catch a break! I sure do love my parents!

Well guys, that's it for me today. I am going to try to post another day this week. It's killing me that I'm not posting as much as I'd like to, but in time.....all in time....

Have an AWESOME Wednesday and blessings to you!

WOYWW #426

Good Wednesday all my crafty friends!!! Today is WOYWW! I love this day because I go over and see everyone's blog and what they are up to.  I like to do that because usually during "normal" days, I don't typically go over to others' blogs save a few here and there. So this really forces (not in a bad way) me to visit on other blogs. I love learning about others' lives and their special gifted art form of creativity! Sometimes I rob (in a good way) ideas to try out to get me out of my old habits of doing things and it usually turns out to be fun! So thank YOU all you wonderful art pals for great ideas and sharing your creativity, gifts and talents. If you want to join along, go on over to Julia's blog, Stamping Ground, and play along! :)

So many that visit me know of my deep love for my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and my daily visits and conversations with Him. Not sure (well, I really do) where I'd be without my daily coffee conversations with Him. He is so patient and kind with me and listens with an intent ear to all that I have to say. And continues to instruct me in His way that I don't make a complete daboggle of my life! LOLOL My usual place of conversation is on my love seat (usually with my feline friends arguing over whose going to sit with me) looking straight across to my bay window and out into His beautiful creation! I'm so thankful that He gives me breath daily to witness His rising every morning! He never ceases to disappoint!

This morning, the scripture He brought me to as I beheld His wonder was "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God" (1Jhn 3:1) What LOVE indeed!! How more fitting could that scripture have been for me this morning as I gazed out my bay window to see His love in FULL display! Now, I could see the tinges of what was about to be His glory from my love seat, but you can't tell from this picture, so I rose up and went outside to see Him in all His splendor for you to see as well! I was moved to compassion....what manner of love that THIS ONE GOD chose to call me His own and show Himself to me not only in the spiritual (through the pages of His glorious Word) but also in the physical with a display that said, "Here Am I!" Be still  my heart! Well, it just plain doesn't get any better than this! What a privilege to be a part of such a display to KNOW Him and to be KNOWN by Him! What manner of love indeed!

So what's on my work desk today??? Well yesterday I told you that I had discovered a "new art form" (for me anyway) that I just had to try out. I actually came across it while surfing the internet for pictures of mandalas and their history! I'm in love! Now as we mixed media artists always are, when we see something, we just have to try it and can't sleep or sit still until we get the supply and give it a go ourselves! You know what I'm talking about.......don't even try to deny it! It's in our DNA, it's almost a sickness!! LOLOL Some of those little ditty's didn't stick, but most of the new forms I wanted to try did and I end up loving them!! This is going to be one of them!!

Paint dot mandalas!! Who new???? I didn't! You may have!! LOLOL So I found this awesome artist Elspeth McLean who does paint dot mandalas who is just amazing. She started, I think, doing them on rocks and it exploded to canvas. I also have found another artist who also saw Elspeth and starting doing them herself as well and she is also quite good. I found her on YouTube and I love watching her videos as well as Elspeth's. This lady's name is Kristin Uhrig  and I have actually had some email conversation with her about her style. She has such a lovely nature and I really enjoy watching her instructional videos because they helped me get started!

First Go!

So guess what's on my work desk???? A little archaic at best, but a work in progress! I'm learning and as in all things, the more you practice, the better you get! We shall see! LOLOL This little ditty was my very first one!
Don't be hating on me.....it was my first go! LOLOL So after I did this small one (5x7 to be exact) and loved doing it, I felt comfortable going a little bigger (8x10).
I'm clearly not done yet, but wanted you to see what I was doing and how I got started. What do you think???

Work in Progress!

Espeth's colorful art comes from her own spirituality, I believe, whereby you can see her passion for her beliefs. Although different from my own beliefs, still so beautiful and something I can glean from and turn into my own style out of my own beliefs! We don't all have to think and believe the same to enjoy one another's gifts and talents! I encourage you to go over and check her website out as well as checking out Kristin's YouTube page!

Well, this novel, must end! LOLOL I hope you all have an AWESOME Wednesday and visit as many of these talented folks as you can and give them a little love! 

Be blessed!

Grateful!

Good Tuesday all my crafty friends! I am steady trying to get back up and running! LOL I tried like anything to get some of the July challenges that I love being a part of done so that I could post, but alas, it did not happen! My saga continues!! Did you ever feel like you can't catch a break? LOL

Me and my dear, sweet, Papa BEFORE the fall!

Last week for me was mayhem, to say the least. I think most of you, who visit me here, know that I have been taking care of elderly parents and most recently, my father has had many health issues. He has been in a rehab unit after having major health issues trying to get back to par. Well the other weekend, against doctor's request, he tried to get up out of his wheelchair (on his own, which is the key) and ended up falling face first through a wooden table and then face first to the floor! It was like a war zone in his room! I've never seen so much blood in my life! It was so very scary for my sisters and I! Thank goodness we were there when it happened! Did I mention he is soon to be 90 years old? That man!!!! He is as stubborn as the day is long!

Well after a trip to the hospital, we found that all of his facial structure is broken in and after a little bit of surgery we found out that no damage to the spine or skull fractures occurred as a result. In addition they were worried about brain and spinal fluid leakage, but thank the good Lord above, there was none! So as it goes, it will have to be natural healing for the poor old fellow as they did all they could surgically! His face looks like he'd been taken out back and whipped! LOL It's not funny, but we can laugh about it now. After all, sometimes, you laugh just not to cry! I'm so thankful to the Lord for keeping my earthly father in the midst of all this! What a blessing!

So needless to say, I did hardly any crafting last week due to most of the week at the hospital. By the end of the week, I needed a little "art time" however. As I knew I would probably NOT make any of the July challenge deadlines, I just decided to spend crafting time with my oldest daughter. That was a huge feat considering she doesn't want to spend time with Mommy anymore!! She's 17 and spending time with me isn't "cool" anymore! LOLOL But as usual, there was an ulterior motive! LOL

My oldest dolly crafting! :)

Stringing Along!

Many moons ago, I used to make jewelry and made great side money at it. But then.....I found mixed media and threw the jewelry making to the side. LOL I still do a few things every now and again, but my first love involves getting messy! LOLOL Right now, in the U.S. anyway, the rage is bracelets, bracelets, bracelets and MORE bracelets! Not a problem for me because I LOVE bracelets! BUT where the problem comes in for me is actually "paying" for them when I KNOW I can make them! And I have the stash to do it! So, pretty much a "no brainer!" Even though I like sowing into others, some things I just won't relent on and making something, when I know I can, as opposed to paying for it is one of them!

A finished few!

So my little chickadee wanted to spend quality time with good old mom making bracelets! a Yay for me and for her! We had lots of fun and enjoyed spending time with one another. I made quite a few for myself (OF COURSE!) and she made some great ones for herself as well! They always wear better when you know you put your own creativity and hard work into it! Side bar......if you don't want others to see what you've done and exclaim..."I WANT ONE!" then don't go down that road or if you do, don't show anyone! LOLOL But I love making for others, so my next step is doing just that! I already  have a list from friends and family! Thank you Lord for my gift of creativity! LOL

I do have some projects still on my art desk this week and so I do want to finish them and will post even though they will be "after the fact" as far as July challenges are concerned! It's about the fun anyway! :) I have a "new" art style I found online that I am trying out as well and I will share tomorrow what I have been learning and trying to make! Lot's of fun!

Well, as promised, I wanted to share a picture of "Fat Kitty" this week. Last week I shared pictures of Sox and Tigger but didn't have one of Fat Kitty......literally her name! LOL She is temperamental to say the least, but she is my 17 year old's cat, so there you go! LOL This picture shows her at her best and one day I will show the "real" skinny.....er ummm, not really....on her! She's so large (how large is she!!) that her tummy drags the floor! LOLOL Bless her little heart! But, I guess she's happy! That's all that matters!  This one's for you Zsuzsa!

Well crafters, have a B-E-A-utiful day!!! Check you tomorrow on WOYWW!!

Blessings