Painted Ladies, etc.

 I've been grabbing time in the art room when I can lately.... and I worked on some of these girls from Junelle as taught in Christy Tomlinson's 12 Artsy Ornaments of Christmas class last December.

the girl at the top left below is more influenced by Teesha Moore!!! ha!

and I recently took Theresa McFayden's Letter Whimsey class....
 I still need LOTS of practice with my lettering..
but I did the page below for a Challenge I've set up in Christian Paper Artists Yahoo Group...
 each week we will have a new scripture
 and the challenge is to do something artistic with it,
 either a journal page, an ATC, a canvas, stitching, etc....
and
hopefully share it with that group.

Below is mine for this week...... and I added a light effect to it from Pixlr!

Where Mulch Comes From

 This is something I've been meaning to blog about for weeks....

so today..... when I'm driving alone in the car .... I decide to do something about it and take some photos...

I took all photos while stopped at lights and stop signs... I promise.

The picture at the top was taken in the rear view mirror... I was trying to take a picture of something I had already passed...... didn't work....

Remember I told you last September how Texas was in an Extreme Drought...parts of the state at least (we are kinda big)....  Well, we have lost thousands and thousands of trees.... and every day they are cutting them down around here...before they fall on us...

 So everywhere you go... there are logs stacked waiting to be picked up...  click on these to see closeups...

 ...and here were some men cutting a tall pine down today as I drove home from the gym

(yeah...had to say that in case my kids are reading.... I did go to the gym today...)

 These were all taken with my phone ....so not best quality....
(of course, if I had a new iphone they would be better...)
 see below is the guy at the top of the tree...

cropped from the above shot.

 ....and then.....

look what they do with those trees.......  they chop em up and spread em out....

and that's where mulch comes from....

HaPpy ValEntiNes Day!!!!

Grandma's Photos Zine

 The QB5 (sidebar) is working on a new swap.

We take some time to get going... but then we fly!

This is my zine...

we will each do a different zine/different topic and mail to one another...

we will each add to the others' zines...

 It will be months before this is finished.

I made the pages with lots printed on them for backgrounds...

the others will embellish and even glue in their own stuff...

And, yes, it was fun and it was all I could do to stop working in my own zine so they could add to it.

(that's one of my aunt's high school pictures)

And I'm trying to purge my house right now

so I can put it on the market!!!

But sometimes I have to stop and glue things down....

Do you  have to stop and glue something...ever?

Life is like riding a bicycle....

“Life is like riding a bicycle - in order to keep your balance, you must keep moving.” ― Albert Einstein

Do you think this is the "moving" Einstein meant?

Well... it is why I've been a bad blogger lately....

building our retirement home has kept me busy.

It's only 10 minutes from where I presently live...

so that has helped.

  And I don't have to change doctors,

 churches, grocery stores....

AND....

 my art/sewing room will be on the first floor!

(bear with me)