Monday, November 30, 2009

Equal Time for the Devil Kitty 
Okay, it wouldn't do to post pictures of angel kitties without putting up a picture of the actual devil kitty that I live with.
He believes in helping himself. Why wait around for someone to raise the blinds when you can just look through them?
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Sunday, November 29, 2009

Weekly Challenge ~ 
A Challenge of a Different Kind

As John Lennon said,  
Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans. 

The Monday before Thanksgiving, I had planned to work on the weekly challenge for Inspiration Avenue, and I've even been eying some of the challenges on other blogs that look like fun. I planned to cook Thanksgiving dinner at home, and had last minute preparations to do for that.

None of it was to be however; my Mother-in-Law passed away on Tuesday, and we had an entirely different kind of week. I think I will leave the angel kitties up as my blog header for a few more days in her honor, because if anyone deserves instant angel status, it is she.  She suffered with Leukemia for the past 13 years, and had far fewer good days than bad. I hope that she is having a big celebration wherever the angels congregate to commemorate being free of her earthly trials.

I cooked my Thanksgiving dinner today, since we all decided to spend Thanksgiving at my brother-in-law's house instead of the plans everyone had made.  I have to say, I enjoyed having a second Thanksgiving dinner!

To update on my own mom, who was going to have surgery to replace a heart valve:  The day of the surgery, she had an angiogram in the morning, which I guess is common procedure before heart surgery. The surgeon studied it and consulted with his colleagues, and came to the conclusion that he did not want to do the surgery, thinking the outcome would not be good, primarily because of her age and the condition of her heart. Another doctor has had a different opinion, but she has decided to just put off worrying about it until after the holidays, which is probably exactly what I would do!  Call us Scarlett O'Hara, but hey, it runs in the family, what can I say!

So, I guess this is the time in life when we worry about our parents, as they are getting on in years. I wish I had a wonderful photo to go along with this post, but I'm just coming up short. Nothing in the old magic picture vault . . .

I'm looking forward to getting back to routine things and posting about happier topics! Stay tuned!
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Monday, November 23, 2009

The Angel Kitties

In keeping with my post the other day about taking a break from Santa, I am following through with my campaign to put off all the Christmas hulabaloo as long as I can. I've always adored this header by Itkupilli of Raphael's angels with kitty faces, so it is the perfect time to use it ~ it's not quite Thanksgiving, and certainly not Christmas yet!  I think the reason I have found it necessary to do this is that I have naturally been making Christmas collage sheets since July, so enough already!

I have 2 other angel kitties that I love. I won't even go into how they remind me of the sweet kitties I have known who are now "angels", it will bring a tear to my eye!  So I will post the pictures, but no comment!



By Thanksgiving weekend, I'll probably be ready for a Christmas blog and will go all red and green and sparkly, and who knows what. Can't think about that now! I'm enjoying the darling kitties from Itkupilli!  She has to-die-for blog headers and backgrounds that she offers for free on her blog. You may already know about her, but if not, visit her  here.

Hope your week is shaping up well, and those of you who celebrate the upcoming holiday have a wonderful one!
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Sunday, November 22, 2009

Inspiration Avenue Weekly Challenge
Romance

This vintage photo of the boy and girl just looked so romantic to me, I knew I had to use it for the weekly challenge at Inspiration Avenue. They appear to be dreaming about their future together, and who knows if they will end up together or if cruel circumstances will force them apart? They could be like Romeo and Juliet, or maybe they grew old together and had many children and grandchildren! The story could go in so many directions!  The swan seems romantic to me, maybe because his neck is half a heart.

If it is too small to read, the heart says . . ..

Your voice is sweetest music
I never can forget,
Someday I hope to hear it
Say something sweeter yet

. . . and came from an old valentine.

Visit Inspiration Avenue Sunday afternoon to see all of the romantic entries  for this week. If you are feeling creative, join in next week (theme to be announced on Monday) with an entry of your own. The medium is up to you ~ there is photography, jewelry, paintings, and more. If you work in another medium, we'd be excited to add something new to the mix!
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Saturday, November 21, 2009

Taking a Break from Santa
I decided to take a break from all the red-and-green ho-ho-ho of crafting Christmas collage sheets. 



Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas sheets and my ideas have not run dry yet... But it's kind of the equivalent of hearing Christmas carols from October to December 25 ~ I love those too, but sometimes you want to tear your hair out (or cut off an ear like Van Gogh) when you walk into a retail establishment and hear 'I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus' for the 900th time! My favorite Christmas carol is 'O Holy Night', so I'm kind of not on that page anyway.

So here is a sheet I have been working on to take a break ~ they are 1 x 3 inch rectangles, and I tried to give them a frosty blue-and-green wintry look; after all, 'tis the season' and all that! It's a little slow going though and I'm not finished. These are three of 21 rectangles. I hope to be finished soon!

Hope you are having an excellent holiday season!  Are you tired of Christmas carols yet, or are you just beginning to get into the spirit of things? 
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Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Freebie Images to Use as Backgrounds
Here are some grungy images of a room interior to use as backgrounds.  Feel free to download and use in your own artwork!  If you use them, post your creation on your blog, leave me a link in the comment section and I will post your images here.

 
Do something creative everyday!
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Monday, November 16, 2009

The Coming Week's Challenge at Inspiration Avenue:
Romance


This week Inspiration Avenue has an extra-fun theme,
and one which presents lots of possibilities: Romance!

Read all about it over on Inspiration Avenue!


By submitting an entry in the weekly challenge, you are automatically entered in the November giveaway! The prize is a wonderful Christmas blog header from our lovely and talented team member, LuLu of Coastal Sisters! Have fun!
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Sunday, November 15, 2009

Odd Weather
We cooked chicken on the grill tonight, and tried to imagine that it is not 10 days before Thanksgiving. We have had the most spectacular run of warm weather ~ it's going to be a huge shock when the weather starts acting like it should and we get blasted with our first real taste of winter. The temperature has been in the mid-sixties all day and it is still relatively balmy at night. So we had grilled chicken, potato salad, sliced tomatoes . . . you could almost imagine it was two months earlier.

I don't know what you call this weather. It's not Indian Summer; "Autumn" doesn't seem right ~ the leaves are all off the trees already; it's just Odd.


We are somewhere between this:


and this:
Probably a whole lot closer to this. Ugh.
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Inspiration Avenue Weekly Challenge
Cinnamon/Rust
For this week's challenge, I went with "rust" because "cinnamon" kept making my sweet tooth act up! Too many trips to the kitchen, and I wasn't getting anything done! Something about cinnamon toast is very comforting . . .  Anyway, here is my entry for the challenge ~ I do love these colors. Perfect for this time of year!

Pop on over to Inspiration Avenue and view all of the amazing entries. Join in next week  ~ you don't have to be a member of Inspiration Avenue to enter; just post your entry on your blog and we will add it to the entries on Sunday.  I'll let the cat out of the bag: next week's theme is "Romance". Check inspiration Avenue's blog on Monday for details!
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Saturday, November 14, 2009

Victorian Angels
Here are some freebie Victorian angel pics to download and use in your Christmas art. They are .png files, so should print without any background. Place them on any background of your choosing!



If you have trouble downloading, or any questions, feel free to ask me! Enjoy!
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Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Quintessa

I adore setting up photo shoots. So my latest acquisition gave me the perfect excuse to play around with "stuff" and make a pretty picture. The item front and well, not quite center is "Quintessa", a  gorgeous dress form creation by LuLu of Coastal Sisters.  I love the warm coppery color and the sparkly accessories she is wearing!  I think she looks great with some of my other "stuff"!




Speaking of coppery, here is an item I have had for must be 20 years and frankly, hardly even notice it hanging on my wall anymore. It was a thrift store find and I was amazed to pick it up for less than 10 bucks. But today as I was admiring the coppery hue of Quintessa, I took another look at my copper bull.  I don't know who the artist is; it was hammered out of a big sheet of copper, and I love it partly because Taurus is my zodiac sign!
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Sunday, November 8, 2009

Weekly Challenge at Inspiration Avenue
"Frosty"
Every week I get so excited about trying something different for the challenge ~ I have been doing digital collages since I began submitting an entry. I have all of my art supplies handy and an idea in the back of my head, and a plan to do a painting or something I've never tried before. And before I know it, it's Saturday and the time to be adventurous is past! So here you have it: another digital collage!

I do love the word "frosty"; it makes me shiver! The background photo of the trees was taken by my son last year with his camera phone on his way to school . We had just had one of those icy storms overnight. I've always liked this photo. The other photos are vintage ones, even the summery one; it is from an old postcard.

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Saturday, November 7, 2009

Kreativ Blogger

I am so late with this post, it's inexcusable, really...

About a week ago I was nominated by my lovely teammate and talented artist, Angie, of Artangel for the kreativ blogger award! Angie's art is beautiful, whimsical and serene ~ please check out her Etsy shop and blog; she has some newly listed, really cool Christmas ornaments that I have my eye on!

The rules are:
1. Thank the person who gave this to you.
2. Copy the logo and place it in your blog.
3. Link the person who nominated you.
4. Name 7 things about yourself that no one would really know.
5. Nominate seven 'Kreativ Bloggers'
6. Post links to the seven blogs you nominate
7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know you nominated them


So, it seems I must list 7 things about myself that people don't know, or else I can break the rules and list 7 of my favorite things. Hmmm.... which shall it be? I'm not feeling that interesting today, so I'll go the Favorite Things route....

1. I love to pull weeds! There's something relaxing about the repetitiveness, it's just mindless really and your thoughts can wander while you are doing it.
2. I love squirrels! They are the funniest creatures and they are smarter than people give them credit for.
3. I love color, especially red.
4. I love my first cup of coffee in the morning. This should have been listed first, lol.
5. I love watching snow fall. But that's about it ~ after that, it can just go away! After nearly 10 years in Pennsylvania, that's the only thing I like about it!
6. This is a little like the weed thing, but I love gardening. It's another creative outlet, and seeing the fruits of your labors is very satisfying!
7. I love reading a good book. I MUST have a book at all times! I've been known to get up off my sickbed to go to the library!

So there you have it. It just occurred to me that this list could also be 7 things you don't know about me. How efficient is that, two for one!

On to my "7 Kreativ Bloggers" list. I would normally think first of my wonderful teammates at Inspiration Avenue who are some of the most kreativ bloggers around, but I'm pretty sure they have all been tagged for this award at least once so I won't ask them do it again so soon.

I have selected 7 creative bloggers who are new to me and don't have hundreds of followers, so maybe they will be new to you also. All are super creative! Hope you enjoy!

1. artgirlx
2. dancing-girl's studio
3. dottie angel
4. kimbuktu
5. Maria Allen
6. My Brainchild
7. Soartful Challenges

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Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Doing a Happy Dance!
I'm so excited because not only did I win something, but I won the most fabulously yummy-looking faux cupcake paperweight from Coastal Sisters blog. I only won it yesterday so I have to show you the pic from LuLu's blog, but I will post again when I receive it showing it off in its new home!

Doesn't it look good enough to eat?  You have to visit Coastal Sisters blog and website to see all of her yummy faux confections and other works of art!
I promise, it's a treat!

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