An Artful Gathering

Happy Birthday Sister of Mine!

It's October 15th and back home the NC state fair is in full swing!  It's also a day of celebration in our family.  Today I'm wishing my sister, Diann, a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!  I can remember when she was born.  What I remember is daddy bending over me and telling me I had a new baby sister - I told him to take her back.  So funny how our memory works - all my life I've had this memory but I was laying on a pallet in the floor when daddy woke me.  Of course I wasn't on a pallet and also daddy and mama didn't take Diann back - I'm glad!!! 

Diann and I have shared a few ups and downs, but for the most part we have shared a very special bond.  There is just something about sisters, those secrets we've shared, childhood memories - memories that today no one else in the world knows about, much less cares about.  There are even certain looks that we can communicate with, certain words that cause us to remember so many things. 

Both of us are passing along our childhood memories to our children & grandchildren through journals and written stories.  And to coin a phrase, "that's a good thing!"

So if you have time, stop by Diann's blog, http://diannsartspot.blogspot.com and wish her a big old whopping HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Shady Ladies Altered Art Workshops

I've been hard at work for the past three months creating Shady Ladies Altered Art Workshops - an art retreat that will be held in Salado, Texas, April 24-25, 2010.  This project is near and dear to my heart, something I actually began plans for two years ago and put aside.  I finally decided early this summer that there was no time like the present to begin - JUST DO IT - SO I DID!  I found a hotel, found some wonderfully qualified teachers, found a blog person to help set up the posts, and here it is!  If you are interested in attending next spring's art retreat, the link is listed on the left side (bottom) of my blog OR here is the link - do check it out. Shady Ladies   

Home Again, Home Again

Since my last post, I've been on the most fabulous art retreat - this was our 9th year of getting together and sharing our art and friendship - what fun we had.  I keep saying it's probably the most fun retreat of the nine!  Let me tell you a bit about it - We "retreated" to the wilds of Crouch, Idaho - I'm talking about a narrow mountain road, followed by an even more winding road with the Payette River running beside it.  Then the town of Crouch with it's Ranchhouse Restuarant that sports the address of "Middle of the Road, Crouch, Idaho - and yes, it does sit in the middle to the road!  From Crouch we took an even more narrow winding road and then on to our lovely log cabin.  Most mornings around 4am I would awake and look out my bedroom window which was set high in the wall to look upon the most wonderful view - a dark but paling deep blue sky with wonderful tall pines and the biggest, brightest stars I've ever seen.  It was extremely chilly at night and those stars looked like beautiful illuminated chunks of ice!!  On those early mornings that I did not awake, I was all but angry to have missed that wonderful earliest morning view!!

It was 9 days of surprises - two of us sneaked up to the cabin a day early to prepare a Cabin Fever Christmas Dinner for the others.  We decorated a Christmas tree and hung stockings with care - filled to the brim and over flowing with goodies.  When the rest of the group arrived, it was amid the most wonderful turkey & dressing kitchen smells.  Everyone was dutifully shocked and surprised.  After our dinner we all exchanged Christmas presents (what the rest of the group thought were secrete sister gifts!).  On Sunday we began our projects and worked until the following Saturday night.  We had a movie night and also went out to eat one night, took nature walks, read, arted, laughed - FUN to to max. 

I will begin uploading some pictures soon of our most excellent retreat!

More Halloween Art

I've created a Halloween banner for my friend Pauline - it is not tied together so that I can mail it easier - Pauline when you receive this you will have a tiny bit of ribbon tying and then you can hang it.

Three banner pieces that read Trick Or Treat with orange cat masks hanging between them - very very simple and quick.  I've laid the cat mask over the banner piece but it will actually go inbetween the banner pieces.  I also think I'm going to give the mask a bit of stippling and throw on a bit of a crackle stamping so take away the "blahs"!

 

I've finally finished mailing out a fat book swap (38!).  The theme was Under Lock and Key.  I'm so glad to get that job finished with and will try to share a couple of pics of the book within the next couple of weeks.

Later ~

A Blog Award From My Sister!

I've received a sweet blog award from my sister, Diann -  Thank you girl, even though I"m over a week late in picking it up ~

 

I'm supposed to name 5 things that I love.  If you know me at all, you know this will be hard for me - I could make a LONG list so this is only the tip of the iceberg!

1.  Having tea parties with my girlie girls!

2.  Being in North Carolina during the fall season!

3.  Herb gardens.

4.  Moravian Cookies (these are baked in Salem, NC)

5.  All Things Christmas and especially my family gathering together!

Here is a list of five friends I'm passing this on to:

Autumn

Susan 

Jackie 

Angie 

Kari 

Ladies, have fun with this one - it's quick and easy. 

Bicycle Riding!

I'm currently in a physical therapy program trying to get some relief from sciatica pain.  Today I rode the bicycle for ELEVEN 11, yes I said eleven minutes - that was a shocker, let me tell you.  But I hung in there a kept pedeling.  I was re-evaluated during the session and told that I had really gained a lot of strength in my lower legs and feet - woo hoo!

I'll share more of my Halloween cabinet cards with you ~

 

 

 

That's it for this evening - more later.

Good Morning

I've been so very busy for the past week working on a Halloween Cabinet Card Swap with the "Diva's" group.  I've been in a rush to finish this swap as I'll be going out of town in two weeks and want to get them mailed out asap.  I also noticed that my sister Diann has presented me with an award that I will pick up either this afternoon or tomorrow.  Here are a couple of the Halloween cabinet cards:

 

 

Later ~

Hello!

I am planning to ramble a bit - don't even have any pictures to share with any of you.  I've been so very busy planning for two major retreats.  I'm off to Idaho in mid September - this will be our 9th year of fun and art - it's so great to be able to say that the original 2 are still attending each year.  I'm all but finished with my Book of Days book kits - I've put together 7 kits and plan to pack them up tomorrow and mail them to Idaho.  My suitcase will only hold so much!!    Once the book kits are in the mail then I'll complete the Christmas apothacary shelf kits - I have to mail 30 smallish glass bottles - yikes, but again I don't think my suitcase will hold them and the embellishments.  I hope to post some pictures of these two projects soon.

In late October I will be in Maggie Valley, NC, holding the Smoky Mountain Art Retreat - we're making a book, titled Gypsy Lore.  There will be 12 attendees for this retreat.  I'm so looking forward to seeing NC in the autumn - those mountains have the most beautiful colors I've ever seen!!

And once those two retreats are finished Thanksgiving and Christmas will be upon us - not much art for me during the holidays!

OK, enough rambling - I'll be back tomorrow~

Black Hat Society

I created some art for a swap, Black Hat Society - once I finished and really began thinking about what I'd created, I got all kinds of ideas.  So I think this evening, I'll create a couple more of these.

 

Later ~

Is it Halloween yet?

This past weekend I held an art retreat - everyone that attended brought their own things to work on.  I did share with everyone how to create a wooden ATC and also how to alter a cabinet card.  I was really surprised but everyone seemed to really enjoy it.

I worked on Halloween tags while there - I love fall - the colors, the smells, the crisp evenings, the crunch of leaves underfoot.  Well I don't get much of that at all in central Texas but back in North Carolina, oh my - it's a beautiful time of the year.

Here are the tags I created:

 

The first tag is blurred a bit - the huge plastic spider caused the scan to not come out clear.

 

 

Later ~