KATE'S CORNER

BOOKS

2009-07-11T14:29:00.005-04:00

I love books and lately I have been hitting the jackpot everytime I walk into a bookstore. I find this a strange phenomenon; either I am out of books to read and can't find a single new one that suits me, or I am reading something I like and stumble across several more that I want to pick up for future reading. I wonder why that is? Is it my attitude when I am looking or are books of a certain category more plentiful at given times? I'm not usually much for reading mushy, gushy romance novels. Mim posted recently on her blog that she likes this kind of book; the kind that sweeps you off your feet and carries you away to an historic, romantic, or magical place in time.

I like contemporary fiction, usually books about women facing a new begining or finding new footing in life, such as "The Last Beach Bungalow" or "Between the Tides" and "Mourning Ruby". I like books that reveal women that are strong willed and determined to overcome obstacles.

I like to read about people dealing with real life. In "The Windless Summer" the story is about a father struggling to hold on to his failing motel while trying to deal with his autistic pre-teen daughter. "Without a Backward Glance" is a story about a family struggling to make sense out of their mother's sudden disappearance on Christmas Eve in 1967.

And I also like to read books just for fun. "The Queen of Broken Hearts" is set in Savannah, Georgia and is a story of friendship, love, betrayal and romance. I loved being sucked into Southern Society charm with these warm and wonderful women. "Thea's Parrot" is similar but takes place in Devon, England; another of my favorite settings.

And, of course, I love beach books. Anything about women gathering at a beach house for the summer has me throwing everything else down, plopping into a cozy corner and vicariously becoming one of the characters until the book is finished. Don't expect dinner, don't expect laundry getting done. The only thing that drags me away is my job.

So what's on your summer reading list? Do you have that same "connection" when entering a bookstore that I spoke of earlier? Why not lie down in the garden with me and we can have a picnic and we'll waste the afternoon?

SKYWATCH FRIDAY

2009-07-10T06:52:00.003-04:00

This is my sky this morning. Looks like a rainy weekend ahead. May be a good time to work on some art projects. I don't really have anything going on at the moment. I've been tossing around some ideas for the sketchbooks but nothing really solid yet.

I hope you all have a great weekend, whatever you may be doing.

LITTLE GARDENS EVERYWHERE

2009-07-08T14:47:00.012-04:00

I had to stop today and photograph another little pocket garden. I have passed by this garden every day for many years, never realizing it was there until I noticed this sculpture a few days ago. It is cultivated off an alley that goes between a parking lot and this building. The sculpture was done by a local Cincinnati artist by the name of Daryl Johns and he calls this the "Keeper of the Garden".
For more information about this and many other bronze and stone sculptures that I have posted recently click HERE.

This is the first of many such sculptures that he plans on making. I love how this city has turned so many otherwise vacant areas into little pocket gardens.

While visiting a local garden center last weekend I discovered this inviting pathway displaying cute and whimsical stone statues and benches. I love visiting garden centers that display their merchandise in a creative way. It just makes you want to buy everything. I only came home with plants that day, but I will go back again soon. I'm really considering the cats in the lower right corner.

At least someone is working hard in my garden.

I love the delicate Nigella.

I suppose this is my "Keeper of the Garden". He's been with me for a good fifteen years now and I couldn't part with him for any amount of money.

An interesting stone nestled in the Hen and Chicks and Lamb's Ears.

Happy Gardening, Everyone. Remember to stop and enjoy the world around you. Sometimes you can stumble across the best things that you've overlooked a million times before.

AUSTRALIAN SKETCHBOOKS

2009-07-06T16:11:00.003-04:00

I've gotten my page finished for Anita Murphy's book in the Australian sketchbook exchange (aka OUR NINE SKETCHBOOKS) in which I am participating.

This is her first page of her book. Anita wants us to continue her theme of "Postcards". She has requested that we create a "postcard" of where we live. Anitia travels much, so her postcard could be anywhere. I love this sketch she has done of "Spring in Pakistan".

This is Carol Cantrell's page. Carol lives in a coastal area of Australia, so fish are definately a part of her life. You can't really see it well in this photograph, but the fish is very shimmery and shiny. Looks a lot like a real fish.

This is my offering for Anita's book. I asked my hubby what I should paint that would look like our area and he said, "Orange road construction barrels!" So, putting that aside, I decided to give Anita a little sampling of my garden. I used more pressed flowers and tissue paper, a little Perfect Pearls powder for some sparkle, and a few rubber stamps. Hope she likes it.

ROAD TRIP

2009-07-05T14:24:00.004-04:00

I think the older my hubby and I get the harder we are to impress. Needing a little R&R this weekend, we decided to visit one of the new gambling boat casinos near where we live. This place has had rave reviews and I guess I was expecting something this side of Las Vegas when we chose this as our destination. The weather forecast predicted light showers for Saturday and for Sunday morning. "OK", I thought, "this will be the perfect weekend retreat. Spend some time gambling a few dollars, eat well, go swimming! Sounds great!"

We tuned the radio to Jimmy Buffet's "Margaritaville", one of our favorite XM staitions, and off we went. We drove the hour or so through the beautiful Kentucky and Indiana hillsides. Everything is so green from all the rain we've been having, so the foliage looks so lush.

I was very impressed with the hotel as we pulled up in front of the lobby doors. A parking host was waiting to help us unload and park our car. The main lobby area had some small shops. A Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream Shop, Starbucks Coffee Shop, a couple of clothing stores, a gift shop and several bars. It almost looked like a tiny town under one roof with a lovely piazza under a glass dome in the center.

The room was nice enough, although I was surprised that we had no mini-bar. The two chairs in the room were NOT comfortable. The beds were okay but there were no towel bars in the bathroom which I found odd, only a built-in shelving area. Hmm..

We explored the hotel, visited the casino for a bit but returned to our room where we wasted a couple of hours napping and reading magazines and watching “Deadliest Catch”, the show about crab fishing in the Bering Sea, while waiting for time to eat dinner. Originally I had visions of swimming in the afternoon however, their only pool was outside and the temperature climbed to a chilly 70 degrees yesterday plus the drizzling rain, so I opted out on that.

We ate lunch in the casino - ham club sandwich and fries - and after looking at the menu (and exorbitant prices) for the main dining room, decided to eat dinner at the buffet. I sampled a plate of those delicious crab legs that the men on TV worked so hard to harvest earilier, and while breaking one of the legs open water spurted out all over my face, my glasses and my shirt! My hubby had a similar problem when he accidentally tipped his cup of drawn butter over and it spilled all over the table and his shirt. No one appeared to help us clean up the mess or offer more napkins. After one trip to the buffet line we returned to the table only to discover that a newly seated nearby table had rudely taken his chair!

We did have fun at a casino game called “Ebay”. Six people sit in a row and play their individual slot machines, but all six machines are connected somehow into the big screen overhead. Randomly, the big screen would light up and make music and "bonus-spin" and you get extra points! After dinner, we went back in to play this again. There were four women around our age who had obviously been drinking beer long before we got there already seated and playing. We got the last chair on the end, next to one of the women who constantly rubbed her screen with her hand or her beer bottle, shouting, “Ebay, Ebay, Ebay!!!!”, as she pecked away at her buttons to get her multiplier up higher. It must have worked, because she often had her multiplier in the double digits when the bonus spins came around. I kept thinking of Mimi from the Drew Carey show and all her little good luck Troll Dolls and trinkets lined up across her bingo cards. I chuckled to myself.

The fireworks show was postponed because of the weather.

Not anxious to repeat last night's distasters at breakfast this morning, we ventured out into the Indiana countryside and discovered this quaint and tiny town where we had a home cooked breakfast with all the trimmin's for only $5 a plate. We arrived too early for the shops to be open, but it certainly looked like somewhere I'd like to visit again. Perhaps, some day when I have some time to kill I'll come back. Maybe the older we get the less it takes to impress us. All I know is that all of life's a gamble. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. It's all in how you look at it, but usually it's an adventure and it always makes a memory.

HAPPY JULY 4TH EVERYONE!

2009-07-02T15:02:00.001-04:00

JUNGLE JIM'S

2009-06-30T15:56:00.013-04:00

As I'm sort of resting in between sketchbook projects and creating any new art of my own, I thought I would take you on a most unusual shopping experience at JUNGLE JIM'S. There is a man in our neighboring town that is sort of exentric and has a bit of money. Many years ago he started a small grocery business. Over the years he has expanded this small business into a nationally known International Market and banquet facility. He has purchased very unusual items from theme parks including King's Island, to sprinkle around his parking lot.

This is the entrance to the store as seen from the parking lot. The dome in the background is the greenhouse where you can purchase garden plants and flowers and pots and dirt and garden statues and more. This place also has a real and working monorail that goes around the parking lot!

We are getting closer to the door.

This is the cheese and deli department just inside the door.

Elvis is alive and living inside Jungle Jim's. This fellow sings Elvis songs and play the guitar on a timely basis. He lives in the candy department.

Here we are leaving the bakery, (umm delicious bakery foods), and entering the meat department. The meat department features the likes of alligator steaks, rattlesnake, buffalo, wild boar meat, rabbit, calve's heads, pig's feet, brains, and other specialty items guaranteed to make your stomach turn.

Now we have left the fresh vegetable section with an enormous assortment of vegetable flown in from around the world, and we are entering the fish and seafood section. Did I mention that this place is six acres large?

More of the seafood department. This is a live fish tank next to these people. I did purchase a Rainbow Trout, but had to remove myself while they butchered it. I heard the thunk of the hatchet, though. Ugh, but he sure did tast good at dinner that night.

How could anyone eat such ugly/pretty fish as these blue parrot fish? I had mixed emotions about these. I hate to actually see the fish/animal that I am about to consume. I'm funny that way. I could never live on a farm.

And now we are in the Aisian aisle. You have never seen such an array of international foods in each of these aisles. There is an aisle for practically every major nation. This market also has cooking classes and a cooking school. This man really loves food!

This is the area designated to hot sauces and chilies alone. I was astounded at the variety.

Something every grocery store needs, I've always thought. A working stop light in the aisles.

Along the side wall are these tiny specialty markets for Kosher, Greek, Bavarian, Irish and other nationalities. Each one has a unique store front. Like walking down an International Boulevard.

This section is English, of course, see Robin Hood. Maid Marion is in the back, behind the tree riding her white stallion, with Sir Lancelot nearby. Along the back wall are more teas than in all of China! I love tea, so I spent a long time reading labels. There are some tins of biscuits and lots of other specialty items as well.

They also have a huge wine and cigar section, as well as a package (liquor) store. There is also an American grocery section where you can buy all the everyday things that we are accustomed to having. I could have taken lots more photos, but this post is already crazy long. I encourage you to click on the highlighted name at the begining of this post if you would like to see more photos and read more about this wild and wacky place.

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME

2009-06-28T09:34:00.002-04:00

I got Mim's book from Karen about a week ago and I had to think a while about what I wanted to add. Her theme is "Home", and in my mind home has always been a little cottage nestled into a lush and colorful garden, like the little cottages you always see in the childhood storybooks. Then I got to thinking about our favorite childhood stories and "The Wizzard of Oz" immediately came to my mind. I watched that show every year for probably ten for fifteen years, growing up. In fact, I remember my dad groaning when I said, "The Wizzard of Oz" is on tonight! Since we only had one TV, that meant it was monopolized for hours with another re-run of this show.
So here is my tribute to "Home". There's no place like it!

SKYWATCH FRIDAY IS LOOKING DOWN

2009-06-26T15:22:00.004-04:00

My Skywatch photo this week is after the fact. We had a terrific electrical storm pass through our area last night. I was awakened in the night to lightening flashes so frequent that I might have thought I had fallen asleep at a disco with strobe lights. The hail scratching the bedroom widows sounded like a montster trying desperately to get in. Alas, we only lost this one small branch this time, and our power was out for only a few hours somewhere in the middle of the night. Thank you, Mother Nature, for sparing us this time.

Not so good at the post office, however. This is the room in which I work and I am shooting from the side of the room where my mail case is. We had no air conditioning and no lights save for the little bit of daylight coming in through these blocked windows. I had to keep holding each piece of mail up to this weak light to read it before finding where to sort it. I think tomorrow I will take a small battery lantern to help out. The elevator couldn't work without power either so we carried all our mail upstairs to load and go.

At least I was not one of the many police officers I saw at the various intersections directing traffic, as most of the traffic lights were also out today. The temperature has reached 91 degrees and the humidity is unbearable. Many thanks to these men and women who dedicate their time each day to making sure the city runs safely.

But the bees don't seem to mind the heat or the humidity. This one has much more work to do before the end of his day. As for me, I'm sitting down with my ice tea and a book. I'm beat.

TRAVELING AUSTRALIAN SKETCHBOOK

2009-06-23T19:34:00.009-04:00

As most of you know, I am also involved in a round robin sketchbook exchange with a group of Australian and English and American gals. In fact, they are the ones who got me hooked on this sketchbook exchange in the first place. Since most of them do live in Australia and most don't have access to internet I thought I would post Allison French's sketchbook pages so far. This is Allison's first page in her accordion fold book. This book measures 8.5 inches x 6 inches, as all our books do in this particular round. Each new page is attached to the previous page. I believe this page is watercolor and colored pencil.

This page belongs to Sylvia Vermaat. She is also from Australia. She calls this "Figure in the Landscape". This appears to be oil pastel.

This page is from Diane Patmore, another Aussie. I love all her little pen and ink and watercolor sketches. So dainty.

This lovely seascape is from Vivien Blackburn who lives in the United Kingdom. Vivien is best known for her rolling seas and beautiful landscapes. She calls this "Stormy Morning". This was done in acrylic.

This is Anita Murphy's watercolor page. Anita lives here in the USA, but travels throughout the world. Be sure to stop by her blog and find out were she is today.

This exotic fish pen and ink belongs to Carol Cantrell, also from Australia. Carol does bookbinding and apparently wonderful artwork. Love this, Carol!

And then we have my page. This is just a simple watercolor of my beloved beach. If I can't live there in actuality, I can live there in my mind.

This book has two more stops to make in Australia, before heading back home to Allison. Whew, I'll bet this little book is tired, but has so many stories to tell of all her worldly travels. Goodbye, little book. Have a safe voyage.

ANOTHER SMALL ART SHOW

2009-06-20T16:54:00.012-04:00

Not much going on in my neck of the woods. I haven't been doing much art lately, except for the occasional sketchbook to come my way. Yesterday's temps reached 96 degrees with high humidity, so no one is moving much. A big storm came through last night and broke a large limb off the tree in our front yard, narrowly missing my car parked in the drive. So this afternoon we cut it up and hauled it away. The storm brought the heat down to about 86 degrees with a slight breeze, so after work I headed to a nearby village for a small art show. This show was in collaboration with ART ON SYMMES, an upscale art gallery where I used to sell my stained glass. It was held in the Village Green, a place I love to visit for its beauty and interesting attractions.

I didn't take a lot of photos of the booths as they were few and scattered and most of the artists were nearby. I had seen this artist at another show and had purchased some of her work so I snapped this shot so you can see her lovely quilted work.

It was still awfully hot and the booth attendants were running inside nearby buildings for frequent air conditioning breaks.

This is outside the Community Center, where art children's art classes are held. There are also party rooms available for rent for meetings and other occasions.

This is the water feature in the Green. There are park benches throughout and it is a very nice place to come to read a book, especially since the library is just to the left out of the photo frame. They were having a book sale at the library today and I found three books that I liked for only a dollar each. I love when this happens.

The water hoses are on a timer and you never know when you might get wet if you go down to the water's edge.

Every Thursday night they have free live entertainment in their ampitheater. It is usually well attended. You just need to bring a lawn chair and pick up a bag of free popcorn and enjoy the show. This was a Zydeco band that played last week. The nearby ice cream truck offers a delicious treat to the evening's entertainment.

I hope you are enjoying your weekend, however you decide to spend it.

TWO NEW PAGES DONE

2009-06-17T15:34:00.002-04:00

I've been working this week on completing my two additions to both Karen C's (I always have to say Karen C because we also have a Karen M in the group) and Suki's books that arrived at my house last week.

This is my addition to Karen's book. Being a stitcher, I wanted to make her a sewing cabinet and stock it with everything she might need. I constructed a 3-D type frame out of corrugated cardboard and "veneered" it with collage paper. Then I thought about what she might need.

This is my page in Suki's book. Again, I worked in collage, using some of that pre-printed scrapbook paper I found. (cheat, cheat) The collage elements were found in various books and, of course, my tissue paper and magic thread. I'm hoping to help Suki find her home.

To see these and other new pages, click HERE.

Catching Up

2009-06-15T18:34:00.005-04:00

I have gotten a little behind in my "Thank You's" for all these wonderful ATC's that have been pouring in from everywhere. I want to take a moment to share with you the many tokens of friendship that I have recently received.
These two lovely watercolor ATC's arrived from Lynn last week, along with her handmade cards of her roses and oh, so interesting fabric art. Thank you Lynn!

Soulbrush sent me a delightful sampling of ATC's, Inchies, and a heart and they all arrived in this cute little giraffe card. Thank you, Soulbrush!

These are the cuties from Soulbrush. My favorite is the metallic ATC on the left.

And lastly, this exquisite ATC arrived from Cathie today. I cannot believe how much stitching one can get onto a little 2.5 x 3.5 inch card! Thanks, Cathie.

I haven't had time to put them into my ATC book yet, but I will soon. I have to give thought to each page and how I want to spotlight the art.

Now I have to go do my daily duty on the treadmill, UGH!

2009-06-14T06:53:00.013-04:00

Where I live there are many small villages scattered throughout the countryside and yesterday I drove a few miles to one that was advertising a "Strawberry Festival". The village is old and quaint with several beautiful buildings housing a few small businesses. This little antique store was just one small room with a lovely old general store feel. There was an old fashioned counter with all sorts of items such as bottle openers, campaign buttons, gasoline service station signs, and antique farm tools and mason jars.

The best part, I thought, was this very well tended garden that ran the length of yard between the store and a fenceline. There were so many tiny pockets of surprises, such as this old water pump and swan. I love the old rusty bucket hanging from a tree branch.

The gravel path led you along the fence where small garden ornaments and stone animals were hiding among the ivy and hostas and shrubs.

This beautiful old building houses a bed and breakfast where I was told that the proprietor is Welsh. Sadly, it was not open to the public on this day. Most disappointing, as I was anxious to see the imported Welsh goodies I was told were inside.

If you can believe it, this is the post office! I peeked through the windows, (you know I couldn't resist) and there is just one small postal window and a small wall of PO boxes. Not much business, I can only guess.

This grand old beauty is a book store! I went inside and room after room was filled with shelves of old books. Even the hallways were lined with shelves of books. I browsed a little, but I will certainly go back and spend more time looking, as there seemed to be a wonderful bounty of vintage books.
Most of these small shops don't keep regular hours. Many years ago I delivered mail through this hamlet and I remember that the stores are only open when the owner feels like being open.

I walked around a block and found this very old cemetary behind the church. Some of the markers date back to 1725!

I thought this was amusing. How many gravestones boast that the deceased was a consort? But she lived to a ripe old age of 71 years, 10 months and 12 days, so it must have been a good life.

Next to the church I found another lovey garden. For the brief time that I spent in this tiny village I felt like I had been carried back in time to when I lived in New England. The lush gardens, the stone fences, and old architecture are so reminescent of the few years we lived there. I followed the path around to the back and discovered that it was actually the front of another gift shop.

Inside this shop were the most beautiful and colorful handmade sweaters a girl could ever want. They were so soft, and could possibly have been casmere. The wools were dyed in soft colors of purples, and browns and reds and blues. The tags said that the sweaters came from Taos, New Mexico and the prices were heafty. The shop was pretty crowded with visitors and the rooms were not very large, so photos were not in order. The sweaters had been paired with very lovely chunky glass and bead necklaces that were also from out west, I think Arizona. The combination of sweater and jewelry dazzled my eyes. The shop also sold candles, beautiful stationery, and other bits of early Americana.

This is a private residence next to the Periwinkle House.

And of course I had strawberries! I had expected to see more strawberry related things at this festival, but this was the main event. And delicious, it was. The church was selling the food, so just before leaving I bought a bowl of strawberry shortcake and ice cream.

I'll be back again to root through that bookstore, for sure!

BELATED SKYWATCH FRIDAY

2009-06-12T14:27:00.004-04:00

A storm moved through our area last night creating these angry but majestic skies.Isn't it interesting how the sky can be blue and black and pink and orange all at the same time?
At times it looked like there was a fire beyond the trees in our back yard.

I loved the way it looked at this moment. Everything was changing so fast that as soon as I could snap one photo the sky was instantly different.

The storm has dropped our temperatures from a very sticky near ninety degrees to a much more bearable mid seventies. I hope you all have a great weekend. Any plans?

IS THIS CHEATING?

2009-06-11T15:52:00.003-04:00

Today I stopped at Michael's Crafts to pick up some other items when I passed an end cap with discounted merchandise. This 12" x 12" pad of exciting scrapbook paper was among the merchandise they were "giving" away. I couldn't resist. Is it cheating at art if you use manufactured art paper? These pages are so bold and so colorful that they made my mouth water. Some of the pages have texture and some have glitter. I just know I'll be able to use them for something. Besides, they are double sided with different art on the reverse side!! What a bonus. If nothing else, maybe they will inspire me to create something amazing of my own. I guess I'm still resting, because I haven't felt very creative this week. Maybe these papers will spark something in me and get my creative juices flowing again.

NEW ATC's and SUMMER'S HERE

2009-06-09T16:46:00.003-04:00

I must confess, I have felt so lazy this week. Summer is here in the Midwest. With temperatures hovering near 90 degrees and humidity making it feel like a locker room at the gymnasium I have come home hot and tired and not much in the mood for anything but a big glass of iced tea and the air conditioner. I did get a couple new pages done in the ATC Journal, though.

This is Lynn's page (well, her first of two). She's sending me some new ATC's, so she will have another page later. The photography on her cards is so professional that she could make a coffee table book of them. And I love the fabric ATC of the sunflower. I used double stick tape to moung this. The small green one is the California Ocean she sent to me. She also adorned her envelope with this very original handmade stamp!

This page is from Teri's Painted Daisies. I got a lovely hand painted card and, double bonus, another daisey on the envelope! The ATC is just so pretty and makes me smile. I always wanted daisies in my garden and now I have some!

I have been working on a few sketchbook pages for the Girlfriends Sketchbooks. Only a couple, since I sneak peeked at their blogs and know what size Mim and Karen are doing. Other than that, I am mostly trying to stay cool.

I'M STILL RESTING

2009-06-07T17:39:00.007-04:00

I guess I'm still in low gear, as I couldn't seem to make myself do much of anything this weekend. I just felt lazy and spent lots of time on my porch.

I bought a few more flowers for this garden (yes, I can squeeze in some more) and I planted them early Sunday morning.

My lillies are looking pretty good this year, so I snapped a couple of photos of them. I cleaned house (a little) and pruned some shrubs (a little) and that was all I could handle.

Mostly I just relaxed. I hope you had a relaxing weekend too.

RESTING

2009-06-05T15:02:00.002-04:00

The city where I work took this alley between buildings and turned it into a lovely little park with a sculptire garden and shaded tables for resting.

I hope you are all resting this weekend, too. However you spend it, I hope it's a good one. Happy Weekend!

A FEW MORE ATC's

2009-06-04T15:09:00.009-04:00

While we are on the subject of ATC's, here are a few more that I made recently. Although they are all, technically, 2.5 x 3.5 inches, some extend their edges so I left the photo larger so you could see where they spread out.

"Staying"

"Surprise Package"

"Purple Heart"

"My Heart is Like a Rainbow"

"Pink"

"A Leaf is Like a Poem"

"Ajuga Leaf"

So here they are for your enjoyment. If anyone wants me to send you one, just let me know.

ATC KEEPSAKE

2009-06-02T16:17:00.012-04:00

As you all may remember, back in January Cathie of Clevelandgirlie sent me this wonderful stitched and embellished journal cover and notebook. Well, I have spent the last five months trying to decide how best to use this lovely book. At first I thought it might be just another personal journal of writings and colored pages. But it is smallish and doing collage and painted pages would be sort of difficult. Then I thought I might use it for a garden journal. But my garden is composed mostly of perennials, so I don't do much gardening through the hot, humid months.

Then, one day last week several ATC's arrived to join the growing number I have already accumulated from many of you. I had been trying to think of a good way to store these so that I could view them and show them to my friends. At once I remembered Cathie's book, and in that instant a new project was formed. I replaced Cathie's book with a spiral book from the drug store so it could lie flat making it easier to work in. Then I got started.......

This is M Heart's page. M was the first person to send me an ATC, so she graces the first page. On the left is a photo from her blog, taken last winter, of her porch reflected in her kitchen door. I loved this photo and secretly kept it for myself. Now it has a place of honor, here with her ATC.

This is Suki's page. I placed her ATC's on top of some painted tissue paper that she wrapped a lovely wall collage in. The card on the left is one of several she sent me. It is from her collection of collaged handmade cards.

This page is for Karen of Beelieve. The signature bird in the painting on the left is from a post she gave me permission to copy from her blog. I have a larger version hanging on my bulliten board to remind me to have Peace. The ATC is so dynamic and is a replica of the paint spattered letters that she used to spell "Peace".

This is Cathie's page. Recently she sent me this wonderful colored paper for use in my collages. I thought using some of it to represent her bright and colorful outlook on life was the perfect background for her handmade card and ATC.

Next we have Cris and her darling "Swiss Chalet" ATC. She included a card with a photo of one of her oil paintings. Both are marvelous, and I gave her page some extra stamps of flowers, as we all know how much Cris loves flowers!

This page is Mim's from Auntie Mim's. She sent me the world renowned Miss Em, wondering how in the heck she's going to fit into last year's swimsuit, I subject I ponder every Spring. Miss Em arrived in her own personal envelope which I mounted on top of some of Cathie's painted dryer sheets! (Boy do these smell good.) Then I mounted Mim's ATC's onto some tie-dyed fabric that I had. In case you're wondering, I mounted all the ATC's with clear corner picture mounts so that I can still remove the ATC when I want. Most are signed on the reverse side.

And last (at this point) is Bab's page. She sent me two bright, sunny, Summery ATC's that I wanted to showcase in the same manner. The page on the right is some cardstock I had from a previous tissue-dying project and the lacy paper on the left is mounted over a colorful party napkin. Whenever possible, I tried to use the cancelled stamp and postmark from the recepient's envelope. I forgot to save the one from Bab's envelope, so I used one from a letter from someone we both know and respect.

I do have a few more ATC's to make pages for but I missed deadline for this post. As I recieve more ATC's I will post more pages.

Somewhere in all this busy-ness I have to find some time to keep up with my own ATC's. My supply is getting low, and you can't get if you don't give. So now I am off to make more art!

INDUSTRIAL ART

2009-06-02T06:03:00.002-04:00

I had a doctor's appointment last week which is located in the Healthplex of the Mercy Hospital annex. I love the way they've done the lobby and I thought I'd share it with you.
I'm working on a new ongoing project and I have the start of it ready to show you. Tune in tomorrow to see the first chapter.

SUMMERFAIR 2009

2009-05-31T19:38:00.012-04:00

Today was a simply wonderful day for the 42nd annual Summerfair! The weather was beautiful; warm, but with a breeze and the fair was packed with hundreds of the most exciting and unusual artists. This was the best collection of artists that I've seen in a very long time.

Here I am with a tree of the most unusual bunch of birdhouses I've ever seen, and you all know how I like birdhouses. This gal took old silverplate and brass and copper teapots, kettles and urns, sealed them up, drilled a hole for the bird, added a perch, and there you have a birdhouse! I especially liked this black one, but I didn't buy it.

There was a nice variety of glass artists,

and copper artists,

and this gal had such cute and colorful cards and T-shirts...

that I just had to buy one.

There were booths with very nice watercolors and oils,

and some artists were actually working. This woman was working in pastels. The river was flowing peacefull beyond her and I think she was capturing the trees and the water very well.

The owner of this booth had the most marvelous and labor-intensive quilts. I'm sure each quilt had thousands of pieces of fabric. Such patience.

This was a collection of some mighty strange chairs! The backs of these chairs must have been eight feet high and I know the seats were over two feet wide. Talk about "THRONES"!

This artist had lots of huge and rusty garden art.

And I remember this artist from a couple of years ago when I bought a seahorse from them. They make whimsical and colorful clay art of deep sea creatures and many other items. This booth was so much fun.

There was so much eye candy to behold that it was simply sensory overload. We walked for three hours but we saw it all. There was good entertainment and lots of fun food. It was just a marvelous day for an art fair.

HAPPY SUNDAY

2009-05-31T06:28:00.003-04:00

Happy Sunday everyone! I caught this photo on my way to work earlier this week.

I'm off to the Summerfair art show later today.

NEW ATC's

2009-05-28T17:26:00.004-04:00

Here are a few more ATC's for trade. Other than working on a few of these at a time I am currently stalled artistically. The Rose

The Sand And The Surf

Today Is My Best Day

Life's A Beach!

If the weather is not too hot and muggy (and rainy) I plan to go to the big annual Summerfair Art show this weekend downtown on the river. I'll let you know if I see anything GREAT!