Filed under Clay Art
Last night Amber decided she wanted to sit in my husband’s lap in the recliner.
My husband started to laugh as she put her front paws in the chair. She took that as definite encouragement for her idea and started to ooze up farther. My husband really started to laugh at that point because Amber, at 95 lbs, is NOT the typical size of a lap dog. Don’t tell HER that, though.
At that point, she just walked right up into his lap and made herself comfortable. My husband was extremely busy trying to protect what was on his tray table in front of his chair, plus his personal ‘parts’, while laughing helplessly.
I, being the helpful wife, went to get my camera. :0)
I got my payback this morning. Amber came and greeted me at the computer, hitting her tail against the file cabinet while smiling at me and licking my hands. I said, “Hi,” and the next thing I knew her front half was in the roll-around chair with me and the second half was trying to climb up.
My husband didn’t get the camera, but laughed his head off while I was trying not to get completely squashed or upended.
Filed under Family
“My Wish for you in 2024”
“May peace break into your house and may thieves come to steal your debts.
May the pockets of your jeans become a magnet of $100 bills.
May love stick to your face like Vaseline and may laughter assault your lips!
May your clothes smell of success like smoking tires.
May happiness slap you across the face and may your tears be that of joy.
May the problems you had forget your home address! In simple words …….
May 2024 be the best year of your life!!!”” ~ Author Unknown
Filed under holidays
Emmie creates pet portraits via paper collage. She starts out with a picture you have sent her. She sketches the pet, then gathers bits of magazines. She creates the background first, then creates the pet’s body, finishing up with eyes and nose, capturing the personality of your pet. She includes words in the background of the portrait that mean something particularly to you, such a a pet’s nickname, other pet’s names, the pet’s favorite toy, etc. Also, somewhere in each portrait is a hidden butterfly.
I can’t say enough about this artist. I could look at her work for hours. You’ll see as I share some of it with you –
Ooh and ahh over the portrait itself, then find the special words, and then see if you can find the butterfly. :0)
Remember, these are created with cut up magazine pieces!
I’ve often been impressed by the talent of people. This rates an open mouth, as far as I’m concerned. I’ll share more another time.
Emmie Brown Heilman – Custom Collage Pet Portraits
Filed under ethereal, paintings I love
My day is almost gone already! As you can see, I got my hair cut this morning. My husband went with me because he wanted to go to Walmart after. By the time we got home it was almost 1pm.
We ate lunch and took naps (have I told you how much I love having a humongous heat pad in my recliner and being able to sandwich myself between that and my throw or my new quilt and just let myself go?)
It’s a beautiful day today – sunny and 55 degrees right now, although it was really chilly when we left for errands. Our driveway detectors kept going off, but only one of them, over and over, indicating probably an animal, rather than a vehicle. I went out to check and it was several deer! One turned, looked at me for several seconds, then flashed his white tail at me and leaped to the other side of the driveway into the woods. Beautiful!
And now the afternoon is half gone and I’m writing my first blog post of the day!
This is my wood-working set up. I have the Dremel on one side and the wood-burning tool (which basically looks like a soldering iron with some fancy tips) on the other and the experiment scrap board in-between.
I FINALLY got up there yesterday and played with the wood-burning tool a bit. I used some stencils so I would have something to work on. I’m going to find some YouTube videos to watch that I hope will give me a good idea of which tips do what. Meanwhile, I quickly decided that I needed a ‘holder’ for the hot tool. You put it down for various reasons, and I want to be as safe as possible. I came downstairs to see what I could order from Amazon and my husband gave me an extra soldering iron he wasn’t using that will be perfect for my needs. Here it is –
I’m going to see what I can get done otherwise so I can experiment some more in my art room. I’m getting over being intimidated, since I’ve soldered for a long time and didn’t realize how similar the tools are. Making ‘designs’ with it is totally different than soldering, but the feelings of total inadequacy are gone now and I can concentrate on seeing what I can do with it.
I finished getting my Etsy offerings labeled and back on clean shelves. I added the rest of my memory boxes to the site. It’s interesting that this is a work in progress. I’m trying to improve the site, add new things, improve the traffic to the site, and more. It’s a lot of work, but worth it. A customer left a nice review recently and I’m still walking a bit above the ground. :0)
I hope that you’ve either been more productive than I have today or that you’re enjoying yourself immensely.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
I’ve finished reorganizing and labeling everything on my “Etsy shelves” in my office now. I found a couple of things I THOUGHT were listed, but weren’t, so I took care of that.
Now I’m going up to my art room to gather a few more things I want to add to the site.
When I’ve gathered them, I’m going to allow myself the time and space to start experimenting with my new wood burning tool. REALLY. I AM. :0)
We went to Lunch Bunch and Kay and Bud were there. We had a good time catching up.
About an hour ago, FEDEX came and delivered the MIG wire welder my husband ordered. He took it out to our shop and brought back the manual to read. He says it looks good.
I hope you’re having at least HALF a good a day as we are enjoying.
Filed under Challenges, Changes, Organizing/DeCluttering
Brenda Bogart-BluePrintStore.com
I’m hoping that someone will show up for Lunch Bunch today. No one has called or texted, saying they won’t be there, so we’ll go and hope for the best. Getting older is sometimes the pits. It’s harder to keep on top of things, remember what day it is and what that means for your plans for the day, remember details, remember to check or use your phone, set timers so you don’t lose track of time doing something else, feeling creaky some mornings, and more.
Lunch Bunch as been celebrated for over 25 years now. The challenges above brought into question whether we would continue trying to meet once a week. We agreed we wanted to try to continue. Here’s hoping someone will be there today.
I have an overflowing set of shelves devoted to things I have listed for sale in my Etsy shop, HandmadeHavenByLinda. This afternoon I’m going to try to reorganize the shelves so that I can find things more quickly. I also want to consolidate space so that I can add some things to the site.
I received the latest paperback J.D. Robb In Death series book two days ago. I finished reading it last night. I’ll have to wait 6 months to a year before the new one, Random in Death – which comes out in hard back in January, will be offered in paperback. I may experience withdrawal. :0)
I received the two sizes of thin rectangular wooden pieces I ordered to use with my wood burning tool, so I have officially run out of excuses not to go up to my art room and get started. I’m still fighting feelings of intimidation, but am finally getting to the point I feel ridiculous. When I start laughing at myself, it’s time to go try to learn something new.
I hope that this is a good day for you, that you stay warm and dry, and that you inject some fun into your day.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
I have no idea how these are done. They are so light, airy, delicate they literally take my breath away.
Filed under ethereal, paintings I love
My hopes have been dashed once again because I didn’t win the lottery last night. I could have figured out a lot of good things to do with whatever would be left of the $700 million prize after taxes….
We’re leaving to go for my husband’s haircut and to get the mail in a minute. That’s the excitement for the day. Be still, my beating heart. :0)
Actually, I AM thinking seriously of trying to overcome my intimidation over experimenting with wood-burning. All is set up upstairs. My drafting table is cleaned off. My protection gear is right there. Some wood scrap is ready, plus some blank plaques we made a long time ago. I’m supposed to get some thin wood rectangles in two sizes today, I think. I’m out of excuses, so….
I received the latest paperback in the J.D. Robb In Death series yesterday and dove right in. It’s like coming home. I finished re-reading all 56 books in the series just recently in preparation for the new addition. Then, when I finish, I’ll probably have to wait 6 months to a year for the newest – that is released in hard back in January – to be released in paperback. Did I tell you that I love this series? :0)
We did NOT get ‘rain and snow showers’ over the past two days, and for that I’m very grateful. I would be happy with ONE pretty snow that leaves immediately and call that a great winter.
Enjoy your day.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
Filed under paintings I love
Filed under 3D-On-Edge-Paper-Art
We are home from running errands, since we did NOT get the rain and snow showers that were forecast. We used the opportunity to get the mail, drag our trash can back up where it lives, buy $10 worth of lottery tickets (:0) and replenish our groceries. We’re about to eat some lunch.
We have discovered a wonderful thing at the grocery deli. They call them ‘bowls.’ There’s a mashed potato bowl and a mac and cheese bowl. Both are topped with chicken tenders and cheese. My husband prefers the mashed potatoes and I prefer the mac and cheese. We brought those home to enjoy.
The sun is shining right now, though there is still an impressive bank of clouds. I don’t who will be correct in the weather forecasting wars. I really hope my computer, which didn’t mention any precipitation at all, is the one who’s right.
I hope you’re having a wonderful day. I’ll write more later.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
Filed under Chainsaw Art, When Wood Comes Alive, wood carving
Filed under Seasons, snow people
I’m having a hard time getting my act together this morning. I have no excuse. I sat down at my computer with a cup of coffee and POOF! the morning is almost completely gone and I haven’t written a thing on the blog yet!
I’m trying to remember that our trash day has been delayed one day due to the holiday and that we’re supposed to gather trash TODAY and put it at the bottom of our driveway for pickup tomorrow.
I’m delighted that the weather forecast changed. We did NOT get the snow showers predicted for last night. Now they are predicted for TONIGHT. The sun is shining brightly and it looks beautiful outside. I’m hoping it will get warm enough in the afternoons today and tomorrow that any snow showers will melt away and be a fond memory almost immediately.
I hope you had a nice Christmas. Some compassionate people wrote beautiful thoughts remembering that there are lots of people who have a hard time during holidays. I hope they made it through and that the coming year is a better one for them. We’re all in this together.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
Filed under Blog Repost - Wonderful Posts, holidays, Mother Nature, Seasons, snow people, video
Filed under Calvin Nichols, paper art
Merry Christmas!
We just finished a ‘conference call’ on a secure program our son found so we can talk real time and see each other, like Face Time. This is special because there is either 12 or 13 hours difference where he is (it’s Christmas NIGHT where he is now).
We received some wonderful presents this year – time with our friends at Lunch Bunch and my friendships elsewhere (Carla and Nora) being at the forefront, but I have to say being able to talk to our son across the world and see him laugh and smile is the absolute best gift. Knowing that he is in a relatively safe part of the world, aware, and NOT traveling 24 hours one way going through dangerous parts of the world to see us gives my heart great ease. We will make plans to see each other when the world calms down.
I hope you are feeling well, and have a safe and happy day.
Filed under holidays
Filed under 3-D Paintings
It’s rainy here today. I’m glad to say that because the temperature is a balmy 61, so it’s JUST rain. Starting tomorrow our highs will be in the 40s or maybe to 50, but the lows will be below freezing. I’m really trying to get ready, but I DON’T want it.
I’m trying to avoid or ignore a lot these days. Thankfully, I have a lot to help me –
This should be my new photo now. I avoid what I can, stick my head in the sand or ignore things, all in a probably impossible attempt to retain what is left of my sanity. “The world is too much with us…” ~ William Wordsworth.
May today and tomorrow remind us how much we have and how important it is to cherish those we love and do what we can to make things better.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
A good friend sent me this and I love this idea! Do you think we should start a new tradition?
Filed under holidays
creativeartworksblog 