Wine warning!!!

Deb warned me against buying wine with cute animal labels.
But I couldn't resist this whole stack of creatures.
And to make it worse, there's a screw cap on the bottle.

I'll give a taste test report later.

Inspiration . . .

. . . for this week:

Hmmm. . . . I'm not sure of my rythm.  Syncopated, maybe.  Anyway, this week, I'm determined to get SOMETHING creative done.

space for Inspiration!

Here's the art inspiration for this week:

Deb (my daughter) is always telling me we need space & a bit of order to create - she's right!  When re-arranging a few things I found space for my sewing machine & supplies.  Amazing, it's so much easier to stitch artsy things!So now - to carve out a bit of space for other endeavors.

What's wrong . . .

. . . . with this picture?  Shoes!  On my feet at the beach!!

But it was a beautiful day yesterday:

Has Spring Sprung?

The "official" groundhog in PA may have seen his shadow - but Gen. Lee, the southern groundhod did not - so it must be spring.

Our normally colorful bouganvilla looks quite bare, but on closer inspection new leaves and blossoms can be seen.

COME ON SPRING!!

Inspiration for the week

So what if the weather is cloudy and cold?  So what if the groundhog saw his shadow?  This is my inspiration card for the week.

                                                   

So - off I went on a walk around the neighborhood.  Not only did that exercise mind & spirit, i found a really good piece of 'lawn debris" to use in my art work.  So - watch for upcoming picture!

SOCKS!!

I guess the unusually cold & long winter got to me!  I knit another pair of socks.  Of course they don't match!!  My biggest problem is turning the heel - so my DIL, Patty, gave me a very simple pattern & encouraged me to try again.  Not perfect, but I like them.

This weeks "Inspiration"

This week's card for Art Inspiration:
The idea is to de-clutter!  Both your physical workspace & your mental one.,  As most of ypou know, that's pretty hard for me.  I'm both a pack-rat and a procrastinator!  So I'm trying to get rid of one box of "stuff" a week.  And since my life is not too complex now, I'm trying to energize both mind and body by exerecising a bit.  We'll see how this works!

You can help!

My daughter, Deb Taylor, recently suffered serious flood damage to her home and business.  She and Matt returned to Texas after a few days here in Florida to find broken water pipes and a flooded house.

So many of you have expressed concern and a desire to help.  Here is what you can do:

 Friends in her local community have set up a bank account to accept donations.  Although the building and contents were insured, there is no provision for temporary living quarters and loss of revenue.  If you wish to donate the address is:

Hamilton - Deb Taylor account
Carmine State Bank,
235 Centennial St
Carmine,Tx  78932-5206

for more info you may contact the  bank at  979-278-3244 or  Linda Hamilton at 423-502-1374

Also, any cards or messages of encouragement may be mailed to:

Deb Taylor and Matt Hager
PO Box 284
Carmine TX 78932

Art Lottery

Just for fun I participated in an Art Lottery Post card Swap on the Fiber Art Traders Yahoo Group.
The instructions I received were:

Set A: Start with a base fabric that has shapes on it (some easily recognizable shape like hearts, bells, hands, stars, etc), Add a skinny line, Add a fat line, Piece something, Add curvy lines

Set B: Piece your base fabric, Applique something on, Do a fancy embroidery stitch, Add a sketch, Add a fat line

Set C: Gather or corrugate your base fabric, Pleat or origami fold something, Add an ethnic element, Add a different type of fabric/paper, Add single thread stitching

Here are the bases:

And works in progress:

And finished!

ASPIRATIONS

Here's my "inspiration"card for this week. Not sure how to apply it. I'm pretty content with my life. And maybe at my age I'm realistic about becoming something or someone else. I've grow accustomed to ME.

But I can aspire to:

Be more patient,

Be a better Artist,

Become more healthy,

And just BE - and take life one step at a time!

Nurturing - -

This is my creativity inspiration for the week. But the real nurturing must be done by phone. My daughter, Deb, and her wonderful life partner, Matt, went home to find burst pipes and a flooded house.

I wish I could be there to help and comfort. But from this distance all I can do is wring my hands & repeat "POOR DEB. POOR MATT". See her blog - link at the right to see more.

On a happier note - she and Matt had just been visiting here to celebrate my husband, Jack's, 80th birthday. They prepared a wonderful dinner. Lasagna, meatballs, peppers & sausages. YUMMY. And the topper - angel food cake and vanilla ice cream drizzled with DARK CHOCOLATE BALSAMIC VINEGAR. Delicious.

DO IT WRONG!

That's my New Year's Resolution. It's one I won't break!

Actually - looking for a theme / mantra / inspiration for the year, I came across a card deck called "52 Ways to Nurture Your Creativity". That would work! I'll select one each week and see where it leads. Here's the first one.
This will be easy - I ALWAYS do things "wrong" or at least not exactly correct. Hmmm - maybe a freeform crochet scrumble, a freeform beaded bracelet - or I'll look from something new to to wrong!

Winter in Florida!

Affected by the winter weather - which is lasting way too long for me - I've been playing with some crochet. These curly sarves were fun!

Here they are laying flat.

And every morning I see the dew on all the flowers & plants. Beautiful!

A Florida Christmas

Here are just a few images of my backyard in December. The cotton plant that furnishes nesting materials and food for the birds;

The perpetually blooming bouganvilla;

And some tomatoes - since ripened & will be enjoyed for lunch.

even though it was colder than I like (some days the high was in the mid sixties & nights in the forties) No snow & it only lasts a couple of days at a time.

Where ever your, and whatever the weather - HAPPY NEW YEAR!

OOPS - missing photo

Here's the Instant Art Quilt picture missing from the last post. I highly recommend the on-line class by Ellen Lindner - see link at the right.

Fabric Play

At last - finished and hung! This is an "Instant Art Quilt" started last spring. It is from a class by Ellen Lindner. Great fun to do.

And, inspired by Deb's banners - I made a Christmas "JOY" Banner.

What fun to have such a creative daughter! Here are the banners Deb made for me:

I don't believe it!

Yes - I glued beads, something I said I'd NEVER do! But I am prone to break all the rules, even my own. This first one has pearls and plastics, buttons, beads and a buckle.

Here's one that I used fused glass pieces and painted the grout silver.

And finally - the really ugly one. Pottery dish pieces made the grouting really difficult!

Birds and other critters.

I found this "slowpoke" exploring the materials on my worktable on the back porch.

This is one of my favorite regular visitors. This little froggie and friends are frequent visitors to our front porch.

and here is my "Bird- Day" party. Fun, Funky folk art birds. They are made from recycled wool clothing. Each one carries a message such as "happy Bird day", "for my tweetie", "congratulations love birds"

Beware of Thrift Store Pants!

OK - so I bought this really cool pair of pants at Goodwill. Linen/cotton blend - lots of pockets. As I was getting ready for an Art Show yesterday, I found out why they were so cheap. The elastic was sprung! Every time I put something in my pocket they slipped a bit further down. But they were perfect in every other way, cool, comfy, lots of pockets and matched a nice oversize T-shirt I wanted to wear. So with a dozen safety pins to the rescue, off I went to sell some wares.

Then it rained! Wet fabric is much heavier than dry. Fortunately I managed to get things packed and loaded up before they fell off.

Since I still really like the pants, I guess I'll replace the elastic, install a drawstring & get me pair of suspenders before I wear them again.

BEADING AGAIN

A beading group at our rock & gem club gets together once a week. As a result i'm totally hooked on beads - again! Above are some examples. Freeform remains my favorite technique, but I do occasionally follow a pattern.

mess-oupage

I decided to decoupage an old metal office cabinet. There's certainly emough random papers in my"art room" to do it! Here is the work in progress.

And here is my workspace - the floor.I learned the following:

Tear up your papers first - gluey fingers & torn paper are a real mess.

Fingers make a better brayer than the real thing.

Use good quailty paper napkins - the cheap ones roll into little balls & stick to everything except where you put them.

It takes two-and-a-half times the papers that you estimate.

It's good messy fun! My kind of art. Messy and random.

Recycling

Here's a couple of little clutches I made using old cassette tapes and a skein of yarn each. Each one has a vintage button for the closure.

The idea came from My Recycled Bags, check it out.