Small towns in Texas and other stuff

Today I got a lovely envie from Nathalie. She knows I love library cards. Do you know what she said to me? "I'm surprised you wanted more of these. What have you made with them?" As if I have to make something! Does she not understand that I just want to possess all of the library cards I can? We went to my BFF Melinda's mother's funeral in Waco this week.

We made a few stops on the way home.

We stopped in College Station, Texas for lunch yesterday.... at Rudy's barbecue... a place we like to frequent when in CS.

Normally when we are there the place is packed because it's football weekend or at least a Saturday. This was around 2 p.m. on Thursday.

The Aggies have a little song they sing that refers to sawed-off horns.

This a barn we passed somewhere between Waco and College Station... this is also an Aggie reference.

We stopped in Calvert to antique shop (because I didn't make DH take me back into Waco to go to Bloom and Bee Swanky).

Unfortunately most of the shops are closed during the week. There were a couple open and I did contribute to their economy.

We also stopped in Bremond, TX to check on things.... my mother-in-law is buried here. I love old cemeteries... I took a lot of pictures.

P.S. I removed the word verification on comments... that should help with problems leaving comments! I didn't know I could remove them until I visited HELP!

All About Me!

Here are the rules:

1. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.

2. Using only the first page, pick an image.

3. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into FD's Mosaic Maker.

The Questions:

1. What is your first name?

2. What is your favourite food?

3. What high school did you go to?

4. What is your favourite colour?

5. Who is your celebrity crush?

6. Favorite drink?

7. Dream vacation?

8. Favorite dessert?

9. What you want to be when you grow up?

10. What do you love most in life?

11. One Word to describe you.

12. Your Flickr name.

Here are the photo credits for my mosaic .. which also helps you know my answers. And...I really was named after Linda Darnell (actress) and that IS a picture of my high school. Number 12 was hard for me.... so I looked for pretty. ha And...Number 11...doesn't fit for a couple more months.

1. Linda Darnell in a P-38, 2. coffee and chocolate mousse cake, 3. murphy panorama, 4. Robin Blue, 5. David Cook, 6. 2006 Malbec just hangin out, 7. can't come to the phone right now, 8. Italian Creme Cake, 9. Seeker, 10. For the love of God, 11. Chocolate 60th Cake, 12. Who's your pretty friend?

Beeswax

Here's that photo of my mother-in-law that I use all the time. This time I printed it out on muslin again...but I stitched it to a small canvas by hand. But before I sewed her down, I used a few inks on the gessoed canvas and then stamped a bird in a tree with black ink. The phrase at the bottom was snipped out of a paperback book. I keep a cigar box full of phrases I clip out of books. I also sewed a button on her dress. Then I heated up the beeswax in the old crockpot and put a little of that on. That stuff really makes a difference. I need to start remembering to take before wax and after wax pictures. Below is a little something I sent to Christine for her birthday...which was yesterday. I had some ledger pages from a kit I got at Silver Bella that I hadn't used and I couldn't believe that the date on the top of one of them was February 21!!! The thing is that the beeswax made the date somewhat hard to read...which was a disappointment to me. I used the cover of an old hardback copy of a child's book. I need to start gathering more of those. I wrote Christine's name on the ledger pages in pencil to indicate she had purchased some pink fabric!

I have more pictures from Virginia's to show you.... later this week! And she and I both made something....direct copy of Pam Garrison .... I need to finish mine first and then I'll share those.

I also took photos of her art room..... is it okay if I share those, Virginia? I'll crop them artistically, I promise!

Virginia Stitches

My BFF Virginia... she is pictured in previous posts with me at Silver Bella and at International Quilt Festival.... well, she's been inspired lately by the likes of Pam Garrison and Rebecca Sower and Charlotte Lyons. (all links on the side to your left) And I thought I'd show you what she recently whipped up....

The mustard seed heart is one her mother gave her many years ago.

Remember you can click on the pictures and make them larger.

Virginia doesn't have a blog..you can leave her comments here if you'd like!!!

My Daughter is 30!

Happy Birthday, Debbie!!

I love you!

V-Day Countdown!

If you are still preparing for Valentine's Day ... or even if you are finished ...like me ... go check out Martha Stewart's site for their Ten Years of Valentines at Martha' Moments.

Oh.... I changed my settings so that when you leave a comment, instead of a popup, you still have the current post in the window. I like that on blogs and I found how to switch to that. It's in your dashboard somewhere. Just making your life better one post at a time! rofl

Valentines keep pouring in...

Above is my Valentine Banner from the swap I did with InThisHouseandGarden Yahoo Group! I love it!!! From left to right.... one unsigned...lovely with pink wings around a heart,Terri Nickelson-Williams, Sharon DuBois, Cynthia Weed, mine...or a rendition of what I sent ...I didn't keep one of mine so I ran upstairs and made one similar to it, and Connie Freedman.

Here is one of those cupcake liner flowers. Hard to take a decent photo of this. The instructions are on Martha Stewart. I've seen them on another blog but can't remember where...will let you know when I find it.

Have you seen the garlands that Pam Garrison has been making with cupcake liners and coffee filters? I reallllllllly want to do those. And look here too,!

Nathalie sent me this postcard! The love just keeps on comin!

Ohhhh...and I did go to the store and buy ricotta cheese yesterday. Just so ya know!

First Robin of Season!

Art Dog and I always see the Robins as soon as they arrive here... we find them on our walks... they are foraging in the leaves. Haven't seen them on our walks yet...but did have one arrive today!

He has planted himself next to an empty birdcage in the living room....seems to be considering if he's too fat for it...I think he is.

My daughter gave him to me. Isn't he the cutest thing!!!!!!!!! I made these photo albums for daughter and future DIL. These are loosely based on Ellen's Joli-Paquet entry. I just sewed some ribbon on to tie it. The covers are bingo cards I got at Silver Bella from Jenni Bowlin. These are the clear $1 albums you can find at craft stores and Dollar Stores. I cut scrapbook paper to fit the inserts so they don't have to put an entire photo in. Today I took my daughter lunch. She teaches 4th Grade and they eat at 10:45 a.m. I just watched her eat... a little early for me!!! I took her album to her! Have you seen those flowers made with cupcake liners? I made one...forgot to take a picture. You should make some. See if you can find them online...otherwise I'll upload the info tomorrow afternoon. I will, really! I'm in the middle of making a lasagna type dish to take to a friend that recently lost her dad.... I discovered that I had bought cottage cheese instead of Ricotta cheese. Do you think it will make a difference? I googled it and most people think it does make a difference. I've made this dish a hundred times...how could I have made such a mistake? Let me know if you think cottage cheese is okay...for future reference. So..while waiting for it to stop P O U R I N G rain...I updated my blog. Guess I'll go to the store now..... P.S. It's Wed...and here is what Deb said about her chair: Ha! I like my chair- I stole it when another teacher left. And.... teachers are not to be sitting at their desks!

Paul is still Paul!

In case you missed it..... and I'm still looking for a better copy of this...I want a clear picture of my teen idol. Those of us that were teenage girls during the Beatle Era have the best memories! This performance was last night at the 2009 Grammy Awards. Made me think I was 15 again! OKAY....GRAMMY pulled the first video. The picture is so bad..almost not worth it...but the sound is good. Let's try this one:

Valentine Shots

It's been a crazy week, but it's Friday! That means Mexican food tonight... so I can make it a few more hours. Here are some pics of what I've been doing... I made a few little needlecase/pockets. I like these for when I'm traveling. I started making them when I was cross stitching in the 80's... I could stick my floss in the pocket and my needles on the outside. Anyway, they are quick and I'm sending these to four women that are so good to me all the time.

Below is a valentine I made for a few people on my RAK list on Christian Paper Artists. I glued tissue paper on a card and then I made a heart with the same Victorian looking tissue and some text from a literature book....stuffed the heart with fiberfill. They also got a supposedly vintage valentine cupcake thing...you know...you stick it in the cupcake. What do you call those? Here is another needlecase and a little Valentine I sent to a few girls. Some of the Valentine tags that I made for my RAK list show up in a previous post...below the valentine tree.

Below is a special pennant that Shannon made for me for our banner swap on Christian Paper Artists. It's very 3D...doesn't show well in the photo. Shannon is on CPA Yahoo with me, plus we got to meet at Silver Bella. She is so sweet and she wrote me the nicest note...one of those notes that you keep forever.

Here's some stuff my BFF Nathalie sent when she mailed her Valentine pennants to me. (I was hosting this swap in case you didn't figure that out.) She made the sequined heart into a pin for me. And she stuck it on an old library card because she knows I'm nuts for library ephemera.

Nathalie also sent me the following.....is she good to me, or what?

Here is someone else that is always good to me.... my BFF Anna. She picked this treasure up at Tinsel Trading in NYC... she knows I go crazy over glitter. She had no idea that I also am well aware who Wendy Addison is!

Okay...here is my banner strung with the pennants I received from the CPA Valentine Banner Swap. It was a mini banner swap. I also hosted a regular size banner swap, which I didn't participate in...but Anna sent me one regular size pennant...because she's what?....because she's good to me! I'm in the mini Valentine banner swap on In This House and Garden Yahoo Group, too. So I left extra ribbon to string those on when they arrive!

Are you ready for Valentine's Day?

Handsoap

Look! Foliage on Etsy! It's handsoap.

Valentines tomorrow... I promise....

Embrace Imperfection!

Tracy Porter has a great video tutorial right now on the rescue of a thrift store or antique shop purse. You should go see it. Nathalie, I reallllllllly thought of you when I saw this.

I'll be back later today.... with valentine banners!

90th birthdays

My father-in-law turned 90 last week! He's so active and I just hope that I am in as good of shape as he is when I'm 75! Maybe when I'm 70!!! Time is moving quickly. He's the one smack-dab (that's a word, right?) in the middle. His siblings are on each side. One other is still living in Kansas. Anyway....that's where I've been - celebrating his birthday. More to show you soon in the way of Valentine's! Oh there are some "dates" in the picture...need to photoshop some missing male cousins in there. ha