It's Not About What I Made

I love making these paper wreaths.

Music paper makes them so special!

I have made NOTHING but some candy type treats this year.

But that's okay........... 

It's not about what I made, although it helps with a photo.

Merry Christmas!

I hope you are well and your loved ones as well.

Enjoy this blessed season.

Remember God loves you!

Jesus is the reason for the season.

Summer 2016

Thought I'd put some pictures up from the last few months.

This buck was one of four that we came upon one afternoon when we took

the kids riding in the golf cart.  He posed for us while the others ran to the woods!

We celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary at Brennan's in Houston with the kids.

Only the newest grandchild got to come along!!!

Below is just the Dirt Divas........... we've been together a long time....... this was for my birthday in May I think.

July 4th

 Ash at the zoo....

Below is a trip to the Dallas area to see my husband's brother's family.

That's their sister and her husband in our backseat.  It was HOT in Dallas in August.

We were on our way to dinner.

Below is a shot out the front of my car as I was driving to a spiritual retreat spot. I was on staff and had never been to this facility.  Looked ominous. It was great though!

I've taken a few classes this summer....

below is just a small peek...

you may recognize some Misty Mawn and Juliette Crane leanings.

Also did a few ICADs

and just some journal work...

Summer isn't over......

More to come......

I'm a bad blogger....

Series of 25

I took another Misty Mawn class a few months ago....  Make/Do Art.

One of the assignments was to make a series of 25.

I cut watercolor paper into 5 x 5 pieces and started.

I used the same paint colors as Misty did.

The theme of mine is Amazing Grace.

Most of the pieces do not stand alone, but work with the group for a message.

God's amazing grace has been so evident in my life I wanted to celebrate it 

with this art process.

I ended up hanging them in an art niche in my house that was empty.

I had to do a lot of measurements and use actual math,

but I got the nails hung so that I can later take

these pieces of paper down and hang 5 x 5 canvases up.

These pieces have Tim Holtz hangers on them that are taped to the back.

Canvases will be hung just on the inside of the stretcher bars.

  I know that picture is blurry.  

It's really hard to take a picture in that spot.

If you've been reading my blog since the beginning, you may recognize some of the art work as

some of it was simply taken from existing pieces already.  And some of the women I use repeatedly

in art.  I realized one day that most successful artists reuse things, they don't reinvent the wheel every time they create.

Just letting you know I really am still here.

And I'm still playing with paper and paint and glue.

Between the storms ....

Between the storms I've posted about recently came a sweet blessing.

Our 4th grandchild....

  

He is such a sweet blessing....... wanted to be sure you knew.

He was born mid-May.

That's my son (his dad) and his big brother in the top picture.

The Bigger Flood

It was Memorial Day Weekend here in the USA and it was flooding in Houston..... again.

I've lived in my area since 1979........ in Houston since 1972...... and we certainly have some floods in Houston.  1994 was the worst I've seen in my neighborhood. This was not as bad as that.  But it was bad enough.  We had a river flowing down the golf course behind us. No land to be seen on Sunday

My "yard guys" did show up on Saturday!  

Since you couldn't play golf............

  The next picture was on Saturday night before all the land disappeared.....

I was close to putting up a sign on the back fence warning of the presence of water moccasins, 

but after one was in my yard I wouldn't go back in the yard!  Let those people in the water learn the hard way!

 Yesterday land appeared! (I feel like Noah!) And today we see the sand trap!!!!

I hope you had a great weekend!

Rained in Houston

  I've gotten so I use the Blogger app on my phone to upload my pictures to my blog.  

Then I forget that I did that.  

So these are a little late getting published.

This is a picture of my knock-out roses a few weeks ago.  I cut them all the way back and they came back great!  The golf course looks good, too.

And then ......... it rained in Houston......   A LOT!!!!

And where I live didn't get the worst of it.

But...... that rain has to go somewhere and one of the places it ends up is in the San Jacinto River, which flows into Lake Houston and then to the Gulf of Mexico.  I live close to the river and the lake.

If you can't play golf, you can fish! DH and neighbor caught some catfish!

  City of Houston......... lifted that image off the internet somewhere....

 

The deer finally showed back up.  

   

And it finally started to recede.  It was all gone by Friday. But it left a mess in a lot of places.

People that live on the river were flooded.   Lives were lost.  Water is a powerful force.

Nature is a powerful force!

I am so thankful we are okay.  Our children and their families were safe as well.

We were never worried about our house as we sit up from the course...... about 5 feet up... the pictures look like it's closer than it is.  And then our house is up a hill and higher up.

So thankful!

More storms headed our way tonight and tomorrow in south Texas.

Praying for dissipation.

Easter 2016

This is my daughter and her family with Frank and I on Easter morning at our church.

Our church has had a flower cross for over 30 years and I have pictures from almost all of them.

The children are encouraged to bring a flower to put on it 

and they do that in their Sunday School classes.  

My granddaughter is very into her "babies" these days.

She calls them her daughters. One of them was "throwing up" and she

had to leave it at the house that morning!!!!!

On Saturday there was an egg hunt at the church....

There were also bounce houses, slides, etc.

Confetti Eggs!

This is Ben and me .... he got to go take a much needed nap in the church nursery.

My son and his family stayed at their house and attended

their church on Easter....... this is my other

grandson at that cross.

I hope you had a wonderful Easter!

He is Risen!!!

Checking in from Gruene

Spent a few days in the Texas "hill country" in early March. 

Shopped and dined in Gruene, TX  (pronounced Green) a couple of days. 

 This is a photo of DH and I in front of Gruene Hall. 

I think I may have taken a picture of two inside on my phone. 

I'll look and add if I did. (I didn't want to look like a tourist.)

Gruene Hall was built in 1878 and is the oldest continually run dance hall in Texas!  

So it's kinda special around here. 

I like the picture in b&w best. We look like original honkey tonkers.

Below is the view of Canyon Lake from the rental house....

A little unproductive fishing happened....

Three generations.  The "thumbs up" is the Texas A&M signal for "gig em".

We train them early.

Below is my son, his son and wife.

New baby due in May.

Magnolia Weekend

My daughter and I drove to Waco, TX for the weekend! Wanted to visit Magnolia Market. 

If you watch HGTV's Fixer Upper, you know what I'm talking about!

It was great! They now have a 4,000 sq ft store with loads of stuff in it.

A lot of the items Joanna uses in the houses she decorates are there.

I suggest you go during the week if you can.

We went on a Friday afternoon and it wasn't too crowded.

We went back over on Saturday to take more pictures to share and it was a ZOO!

There is going to be a bakery in the white building on the corner.  They've thought of everything.

My daughter is holding a sign we loved. We didn't buy it though.

I have no place to hang it.

They have a huge astro turf area outside the store. On Saturday there were a bunch of Food Trucks parked inside the fence.  Tables and benches, balls for the kids, etc.  Bathrooms.  Everything you need!

Below is the garden area.........

This shot below was just inside the front door......  lighting wasn't great.... it's a mailbox with little books flying out of it. Very "Anthropologie"ish!

And those are real wood slices glued in the mantle opening!!!

We think you should go!!!!