BONNE ANNEE-HAPPY NEW YEAR!

A blessed, safe, and prosperous New Year to you all!

Joyeux Noel

May you all have a warm, safe, and peaceful Holiday!

GOTHIC ARCHES-"Snowflakes"

Oh my goodness--after a week-long trip to see my family in Idaho (and to meet the WONDERFUL Lynn from "Trash to Treasure Art"-more on that later), I have been crazy-busy trying to get ready for Christmas! I am so far behind, but I had a few minutes to create an arch for the Gothic Arches current theme of "Snowflakes" and I PROMISE to get around soon to visiting and thanking all the lovely people who have left comments on my blog this past month!

Addendum--I forgot to mention that the sweet vintage image that I used was generously provided by The Graphics Fairy!

GOTHIC ARCHES-"Harvest"

The theme at Gothic Arches the past couple of weeks has been "Harvest"--here's my arch--I've finally been able to purchase a couple of bottles of Tattered Angels' Glimmer Mist, and I love it! I hope to get more one day, but it's a start! I sprayed my arch with a gold glimmer mist, but I don't think it really shows in the photo. It's been nice to be able to play with my art supplies today!

Teacup Tuesday

Here's one of my small teacups--I think I purchased it at an antique shop years ago--there was no saucer, and there isn't a stamp on the bottom of the cup, so I don't know anything about it, except that it's pretty, and the handpainting on it is beautiful. The pearlized finish and the gold leafing seem to lend a "fairy-like" air to it, don't you think? I am not a "teacup connoisseur" but I do have a collection of sweet cups that I love. Hop on over to Artful Affirmations to see links to all the beautiful teacups this week!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

May you all have a safe, peaceful, loving and warm Thanksgiving Holiday!

Another Embellished Frame

This was another plain, unfinished, wooden frame that I painted, sanded, and then embellished with Prima and Doodlebug flowers, rub-on words, paper doilies, and a bit of antique lace, an antique button, and word from an old children's book. The background paper is from the Madeline line by K & Company, and the sweet image is by Paper Whimsy.

Embellished wooden frame & PW image

I had decorated an unfinished wooden frame for a weekly challenge earlier this year; I didn't like the image that was in it, so I took that out, changed the frame a little, and added a Paper Whimsy image that I've had for awhile, along with some embellishments. A lot of fun to work on!

ATC Canvas

I decorated a little ATC-sized canvas with an image I purchased from Paper Whimsy a few years ago. I've always loved this little girl-she's just so sweet and adorable!

Tag

Here's a little tag I made using a sweet Paper Whimsy image. Hope everyone's having a good week!

GOTHIC ARCHES-"Text"

The challenge over at Gothic Arches is to create an arch and use text on it--my background paper has text printed on it, but it's too small to read-even with magnifying glasses, so I don't know what it says, but it's Halloween paper, so I thought it would work today! I had fun with several Halloween-themed stamps this time, too.
Happy Howl-O-Ween, everyone!!!!!

TMTA-"Halloween"

This week the theme over at TMTA is HALLOWEEN! Always a fun subject for me! And it's been so much fun to finally make an ATC, which I love to do and haven't had the chance in a long time . . . my daughter was in the hospital Monday and Tuesday, and I've been helping out with the grandchildren . . . it's been wonderful for me to have some of them here staying with us, and exhausting at the same time, with all that's been going on. I really enjoyed this challenge--the little girl and her witch hat on my ATC are from Paper Whimsy, and the wording and little skull are from Digital Collage Sheets. I used Stickles around the border, and the little sparkles on the hat, web, and spider, and the skull's eyes are from Stampendous. Finally, my spider web stamp is from from PSX (can be found at many scrapbooking stores and on the Internet); the spider stamp is from A Muse Artstamps. (Can't remember where the background papers are from--they were scraps I had in my scrap box. Have a great weekend, everyone!!!!!

Tag Tuesday Challenge-"Orange and Black"

My tag for this week's challenge--hop on over to see all the wonderful tags at Kard Krazy!

Tag Tuesday Challenge-"Moon"

Squeaking by the deadline on this one--I keep thinking life will slow down some, but it keeps moving busily and quickly in my world right now--there will be a new challenge tomorrow, but, for now, Kard Krazy's challenge is to create a tag featuring the moon-one of my favorite subjects! My 2 images are from Paper Whimsy.

GOTHIC ARCHES-"Jester"

It feels so good to have found some time for creating-finally!!! The current theme over at Gothic Arches is "Jester"~the sweet image of the little children is from a collection I have on my Vintage Images, Volume 3 CD from Tuscan Rose. Wish the glitter showed up better in the photo--the arch is very sparkly in real life! You can get a better look if you click twice on the arch. The little caption is from an old children's book.

Teacup Tuesday

I apologize for the poor quality of the photos . . . the lighting inside my house is awful. Our home was a model, and the paint inside is rather dark, and as this is an "energy" home, all the lightbulbs (sockets, too, darn!) are those energy saving ones. I am all for saving energy and I am respectful of our planet, but, darn, I hate those things! They just aren't bright enough for anything! Anyway, I digress . . . I bought this little demitasse cup in an antique shop several years ago. It didn't come with a saucer, but I thought it was so pretty. It's Royal Doulton bone china, made in England, and that's basically all I know. I want to thank all the sweet ladies who commented on my teacup last week; hopefully I will get around to all of you to thank you personally--the past couple of months have just been crazy-busy around my house!

Tea Cup Tuesday!

This is the very first teacup I ever owned~I received it as a gift in 1971, and am quite fond of it~it's very small and delicate, and I love that it's hand painted. My first paying job was working in the snack bar of a Ralph's grocery store; my boss was this no-nonsense Irish lady with a thick accent and a stern demeanor, and I was rather afraid of her at first. Three years later, when the snack bar had been remodeled into a deli, and I had moved on to become a checker at the market, Lena, my old boss, was leaving for another store, and she surprised me by giving me this gift. I don't remember the backstory of this cup; I thought she said it was one of hers in a collection she had and that she'd brought it from Ireland. I truly can't remember now. I do remember that my mother had her over to dinner one time at our house. As you can see, the bottoms of the cup and saucer are stamped with "Ucagco China-Made in Occupied Japan." Interesting to see the words, "China, Made in Japan," isn't it?

GOTHIC ARCHES-"Daisies"

The bi-weekly Gothic Arches Challenge theme is DAISIES. I thought this sweet image from Paper Whimsy fit the bill, as did this pretty scrapbook paper from My Mind's Eye. The caption "The poet's darling" is one of the lines in which William Wordsworth defined this lovely flower in his poem, To The Daisy. This was definitely a challenge for me, as at first, I didn't know what to do with the theme. It just sort of came together after I looked through my "image stash" and thought about it a little. Takes me awhile, that's for sure!!!!!

Tea Cup Tuesday!

I've been admiring all of the beautiful teacups that Terri of Artful Affirmations posts each week, and thought since I have a small collection that's been slowly growing for years, I'd join in! This teacup and saucer belonged to my paternal grandmother. It's one of my more unusual cups, being painted a very dark green and having the raised gold-leaf edging around the flowers, and slightly scalloped edges around the rim. My grandma's sister, my great aunt, was a nurse in the military during WWII and was stationed in Japan; she brought home several teacups when she came back to the States. You can see the stamps on the bottoms of the cup and saucer stating that they were hand painted in "Occupied Japan"~at the end of WWII, Japan was occupied by several foreign powers, hence the name. I don't know much about Fleur de Lis teacups, but I do think that they are beautiful.

Kard Krazy Tag Challenge-"Butterflies"

The theme this week at Kard Krazy's Tag Tuesday Challenge is BUTTERFLIES! My favorites!!! I have been fond of using butterflies in so many of my little projects for years--I just love them! The image I used on my tag is one from the Graphics Fairy. I thought it was perfect for this!

Kard Krazy's Tuesday Challenge-Scrapbook Tag

It took me forever to figure out what I wanted to do with this Tag Tuesday challenge-I am not a scrapbooker and envy those who are-but I finally came up with something the day before a new challenge comes out-late, as usual! Anyway, these little photos are computer copies of my paternal grandparents, who were very much in love for the entire time they were together. Sadly, my grandfather passed away only 4 years after their 25th wedding anniversary, in 1955. My grandma lived a full life, but remained devoted to her sweetheart, never marrying again, even though she was a widow at the age of only 54, and lived until 1979. They were wonderful, wonderful people. My dad is now gone, too, but his brothers are still with us, one turning 80 and the other turning 69 this year. This wonderful theme over at Kard Krazy has inspired me to look into learning how to scrapbook so that I can try and preserve the precious memories of my family. Thanks, Louise for a great theme! (Click on tag twice to see pictures up close!)

Tag Tuesday Challenge-"Not on Paper"

This was a fun Kard Krazy challenge-to make a tag from anything except paper! I had a package of very small wooden tags that had been sitting in a drawer forever, and so I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to use one of them! I painted this one with acrylics and used a Paper Whimsy image, rounding out the tag with a word from a vintage book and an antique button. Very fun! You can see all the beautiful entries here!

GOTHIC ARCHES-"Back to School"

Here's my arch for the new bi-weekly challenge of "Back to School" over at Gothic Arches. I used a Paper Whimsy image of a darling schoolgirl on my arch, and a computer printout of the cover of an old reader, as well as vintage words from a very old, tattered, children's book, some ribbon and lace, paper flowers, and antique buttons to finish. Click on this link to see all the wonderful arches created for this theme!

GOTHIC ARCHES-"Crowns"

This past week, the theme at Gothic Arches is CROWNS--got one finished just in the nick of time! The crown image that I printed on my background paper is a lovely one from The Graphics Fairy.
WHOOPS--just hopped on over to Gothic Arches, and can't post, even though it's Saturday afternoon on the west coast--oh well, that's what I get for being late, I guess!

Tag Tuesday Challenge-"Mannequin Template"

Once again, here I am coming in on the tail end of a challenge, but at least I was able to get SOMETHING done this past week besides grand-babysitting and housework and yardwork, etc.!!! Kard Krazy had a guest hostess for this wonderful challenge, Sarah of Vintage Figments. What a fun idea to use a mannequin-themed tag in the challenge! You can see all the wonderful entries here.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LILY!

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY to my darling granddaughter Lily!

TMTA-"Lovers"

Here's a little ATC for the TMTA challenge this week; the theme is LOVERS. My background was taken from an antique French book and colored with Colorbox ink pads. The lace and buttons are also vintage. Have fun looking at all the entries here!

GOTHIC ARCHES-"Marie Antoinette"

All of the lovely arches for this week's theme of "Marie Antoinette" can be seen here at Gothic Arches!

Tag Tuesday #60-"Faces"

This week the theme over at Kard Krazy is "FACES"--The beautiful girl is on an image sheet I purchased from Land of Enchantment on Etsy--the images are just gorgeous there, and reasonably priced. Hop on over to Louise's blog to see all the entries. Have a great weekend, everyone!

"Something Blue"

This past week the challenge theme at Mixed Media Monday was "Something Blue" and, technically, I'm sort of still on time--it's Sunday evening here, although a new challenge has already been posted for tomorrow, (Monday), which is "today" in other parts of the world! Anyway, here's a little ATC.

Tag Tuesday Challenge-"Hearts"

Here's my tag for the weekly challenge--you can see all the lovely entries at Kard Krazy!

Kard Krazy's Tuesday Challenge #58!

I thought I was coming in on the tail end of this challenge, too, but then discovered that this challenge lasts for 2 weeks--yay, I'm not late! The Kard Krazy challenge is to make a tag with your interpretation of the theme of "Summer" -- summer for me always brings back happy memories of going to the beach every week when I was growing up. My mom and her friends would all get together on Tuesdays, make big lunches, pack up the beach towels, umbrellas, blankets and air mattresses (yes, we rode the waves on THOSE old floppy things, believe it or not!) and they'd head for Santa Monica beach in southern California, (with all of us kids in tow, of course!) Those were fun, fun times. I also love summer because my roses are blooming then, and roses are among my most favorite flowers; I sort of combined both of those ideas in my tag. You can see all of the lovely tags for this challenge here!

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

What a wonderful gift our forefathers gave to us! And how courageous they and the people who fought for our freedom were! I love my country!!! (Photo courtesy of The Graphics Fairy)

TMTA-"Diamond Pattern"

I honestly don't know how everyone gets such beautiful art pieces created on the day the challenges are posted, but I just have so little time to work on things, and I'm always behind in the art department, it seems! This week the theme was to use a diamond pattern when creating your ATC--I started this last Monday and just finished it this afternoon. So, rather than put it away, I thought I'd post it and keep it out for a few days, even though a new TMTA challenge will be upon us very soon! The lovely image of the little girl is from Paper Whimsy and the diamond background paper is from Foofala.

Green is the Theme!

Last week, Theme Thursday's challenge was to make something featuring the color green. I guess they are way ahead of me, as the new challenge is already posted, and it's still Wednesday where I live! Anyway, I painted a canvas with acrylics, then decoupaged part of a pretty napkin I'd saved from a Paper Whimsy order onto the front. I then added the little girl, which came from Lisa's Altered Art. I finished with a few antique buttons, some glitter, some old lace, a green crystal, and there you have it!

GOTHIC ARCHES-"Open Theme"

The past 2 weeks Gothic Arches has had an open theme, and I am coming in on the tail end of this one, but finished an arch that I'd been too late for when the theme was the Mona Lisa. I scanned this one, so the red crystal on her mouth doesn't show up well, but, for better or worse, here is my humble offering this week . . .

Tag Tuesday Challenge #56-"Men"

Finally, finally got something done besides housework, yard work, mom-work, grandma-work, etc. I found this old tintype photo in a box and a page from an old book, and thought those would fit the bill for this week's tag challenge. Please hop on over to Louise's Kard Krazy blog to see this week's wonderful tags!

Lily and Layla

I shamelessly pilfered these photos from my daughter-in-law's Facebook post; the last time I saw these little ones was four months ago--I miss them so much! Grandchildren are such a gift!!!!!