Baby it's cold Outside!

Happy New Year Everyone!

Well, if you live anywhere in the U.S. Chances are

You are COLD a right now!

Just WOW!

Keep warm and snugly if you can!

I am hoping to be more present on the blog here this year,

Last year was pretty rough for me and I had to take a break.

No matter how many times I tried to re start, 

More things just seemed to keep happening...

I have been pretty sick and I a, still dealing with issues

Hopefully in February things will start to return to normal! 

So - what have Ibeen working on?!

A little Instagram here and there...

Some crafting...

Took a much needed trip to see friends and my favorite band....

And have just been trying to get through every day as best I can....

Here is to a better Year 2015....

    Let me know how you have been!

    Happy Thursday everyone!

Oh November!

   Well it feels like Fall is here to stay!

Finally cool on a regualr basis.

 Summer is so humid here, 

usually I cant wait for Fall!

 Wanted to share the makeup I did for Halloween this year.

I have been working on several Sugar Skulls for friends.

So I decided to wear Day of the Dead makeup for Halloween!

I have some professional makeup from when I worked for a facepainting company

Back in college. For this makeup however I used some kits that I purchased at Michaels Arts and Crafts. Was pretty impressed with how well they worked. Closest to professional out theree for minimal cost in comparison. The Halloween kits that show up in store are usually NOT worth the money, they are horrible and dont spread well at all.

So what do you think? 

 Hope you all had a great Halloween and are cooking up some great projects for Fall! 

Feeling the Fall....

We have been

Busy ,Busy, little  Bees

 at our home lately...

New school for the kiddo,

Cub Scouts for the first time,

Planning a big trip for mommy,

and Art classes!

Finally in the last week though,

We have slowed down a bit and

Fall seems to have finally arrived!

Probably my favorite time of the year!

Wnated to share some images from two great Tumblr blogs

AutumnCozy

and

AquaBeach

Just makes me feel even more 

Excited about Fall and a few of my Favorite things!

Sitting in our chairs out in the yard....

Getting out the sweaters!

Pulling out some of the transferware in Fall colors...

Get togethers,

Usually with an evening fire or marshmallows involved.

Pumpkin flavored anything!

Warm coffee....

Slowing down...for some reason I read more in the Fall and Winter...

Blankets!

Colors....

Just having fun outdoors now that it is no longer HUMID!

APPLES, APPLES, APPLES!

Just yesterday we got four pounds of beautiful apples!

We eat them every day, but this time of year they taste so much better

and are more plentiful and inexpensive!

Hope you are all having a great October!

What inspires you about Fall?

Until we meet again....

Now where have you been????

Hello everyone! 

Where the heck have I been right?!

This past year has been a true roller coaster ride for me.
Unfortunately...
The blog had to suffer. 

We had a few major family crisis

and then I got sick back in April,

REALLY sick.

Totally unexpected and threw me for a loop sick.

I'm doing better, but still have some issues that have to be resolved

in the future.

All that being said,
I finally feel like I am able to spend some time here again on the blog
with all of you!

I'm easing into things,
I won't be necessarily posting daily.

I just thought I'd say today how much I appreciate you all and hope you
return with me!

Here's a few recent pics I've taken...

 We bought a Passion flower this year and have really enjoyed it!

 I took this photo one evening out the window of my hospital room,

it was just so beautiful at a time when I was feeling very down.

I hope everyone has had a wonderful summer

And I am Greatful to be back!

BeFunky!

I have had a lot of fun lately

using an easy  little online photo editor 

called 

BeFunky

I love it because it is so user friendly!

Takes me less than a few minutes a lot of the time

 unless I am really looking for just the right effects.

Here are a two I made just this week 

with sort of a before and after -so you can see the amazing difference!

 This was a photo from last weeks 

artsy gal gathering I attended - we have a Facebook page

and I thought we could use a header for it.

This is what I created for the page

using BeFunky!

 This is is a photo of a band

I was featuring in a music page that I co-administrate.

Kind of blah right?

Well - Viola!

A nice funky version that I think grabs your attention

much better.

I have used it for so much the last few months!

I think it is very easy to use if you are tech. challenged

and just want to work on something a bit faster than photoshop allows time for!

I really wanted to share that little tidbit with you for today!

If you are stuck indoors
and want something to play around with-

head on over to 

BeFunky

Let me know what you think!

Happy Sunday everyone!

Quote of the Week!

This is a painting I did a few years ago-

I added a favorite quote yesterday and wanted to share!

Happy Thursday everyone!!!

SO I thought I was back............

Last time I posted

I was all gung ho to get back in here.

THEN - December fell apart.

Two deaths in the family and an aging grandparent that

needed some outside care...

Very overwhelming month including the holidays.

So I am going to take it day by day for now.

Doing the little things 

that bring me some joy 
as I can 

and not on a time table!

 What does that involve?

Why Coffee of course!

I am still working on editing the 1,300

photos I took of Pearl Jam in Charlotte back in October!

(Isn't Ed adorable?!)

 Trying to keep up with new and old friends.....

I was asked to be admin on a music page....

(I edited the above photos into that logo strip!)

Remembering that laughter is the BEST medicine!

Laughing and having fun with photoshops of some of my gals!

Having fun with this crazy kid and teaching

him about music....

"Blackbird" sung by Eddie Vedder - give it a try

you will be TOTALLY surprised...

and the audience interaction is priceless....

So what have you all been up to?!

Here is to 2014 being an awesome year!

Thanks for being patient with me through this tough time!

Beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

Finally in the mood 

to get everything out and start

decorating!

Here are some  cheerful scenes we set up

from Christmas past...

 Just a sampling of the collection from over the years!

Who knows what we will do this year?!

Hope you have a wonderful Friday

and find some inspiration out there!

I'm BACK!

Hello Everyone!

I took an extended leave of absence

here to focus on my project

to help my friend with

Brain Cancer to meet his idol.

It worked!

Boy was it a busy last two months!

I was on the road for about 

a week and a half.

Some great surprises that

have happened since then and I was interviewed

on Sirius XM Radio about

the project as well!

If you want to see the results

of the project

you can visit here at

SeekingStoneGossard 

In a nutshell

here is what happened

We did get to meet Stone!

Eddie Vedder stopped by

Mike McCready as well!

We had a fun roadtrip and it was like a family

reunion!

Here are just a couple of photos I took...

   

Nothing like a little advertising during the trip.....

I learned a lot about photographing

in an ever changing environment.

The lighting constantly changes from the set up.

I took all of these from up in the stands -

we had GREAT seats -  I was not down beside the stage

like the hired photographers.

I think I did a pretty good job considering.

I used NO flash

and everything was on the fly!

  

See what I mean about lighting?

Purple, red, blue, green, white to a yellow  ...

 I have had to watermark all of the shots

to keep them from being copied / stolen

- so please forgive their placement.

It was an amazing experience.

Not only did it re-enforce why my friends

and I all love this band...

the morals they stand behind - encouragement to

be yourself - to help one another -

to let art help you through or to help others

through self expression- 

but  

it was wonderful to feel all

the support Clinton and I got

to achieve our goal!

The people who stepped up to the plate

who did not have to do a thing!

Some of my readers from here even participated! 

THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart!

I'm slowly getting back into

the swing of things

and some other

amazing opportunities have

popped up for me now

because of this experience.

I will share them with you

and December will be back to normal here

fun projects -

some simple photos -

and JUNKING!

Glad to be back everyone!

Let me know how you have been!

Happy Thursday! 

Update on the Seeking Stone Gossard project.....

We are headed out today 

to do a little pumpkin shopping

and enjoy the amazing Fall weather

that has finally descended upon us...

I thought I would update you on

the project I am sponsoring at the blog

I mentioned in my last post...

We are eight days in at this point

and so far I have had all the photos submitted

by people eager to help...

I am going out today to take a few myself

This one is one of the ones that gets the most hits

and of course it is because it was well taken 

and the kid is 

ADORABLE

Hail Hail is a line

referencing a Pearl Jam song...

of course.

We are getting noticed - I just hope we are

being SHARED...

Twitter, FaceBook, Pinterest, 

and I did notice yesterday we are getting

hits from Tumblr!

Twitter is great because you can actually Tweet directly

to people you really want to see it!

Hope you would like to take a peek over

and see a few of the submitted images...

you can visit here

SeekingStoneGossard.blogspot.com 

and the very first post is Clinton's Story...

I hope if he does get to meet Stone that

I get to be there to take the photo!

But if I can't

 I'm glad I got to help him make a dream come true.

It's not about me-

it's about him!

If you'd like to help and submit a photo let me know!

have a great weekend everyone!

Seeking Stone Gossard is LIVE

Hi there everyone!

I just wanted to let you know

that the site I mentioned the other day is up

and running!

It is called Seeking Stone Gossard...

This is who the project is all about

Clinton ...

He has a rare type of brain tumor

and I am trying to help him fulfill a wish...

You can view the site

HERE 

 

My posts her may be very sporadic for 

the next month or so because

that project requires a LOT of attention...

I'm even venturing into the land of Twitter

and I have never  "tweeted" before.

Please take a moment and visit to

read my "condensed" version of Clinton's

story.

Honestly it could be a novel - but you know

you  have to be concise on a page like that.

Starting tomorrow I will be posting a photo every day

of friends, family, anyone who wants to help

or just creative shots.

To help get some attention.

I hope you will stop in every day!

Thanks for your understanding and support!

 

 

One project down...a million more to go!

Hello everyone!

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend!

I sit here drinking my morning coffee

riding high on the fumes of Mod Podge!

I am updating Little Keeper's room..

yesterday we took a bedroom table 

and custom made our own

pre-historic collage on the shelves in it!

I'll give you a peek at that when it finishes drying!

here are a few inspiration pics for the

change from baby to Little Man

 Already have the Globes

and I found a locker/filing cabinet a few months ago

at a tag sale that is waiting to be painted!

 We have one of the Coca Cola crates

in the garage...

Loving these Vintage Cubs graphics

our family are huge Cubs fans...

he had one of his first photos taken in Cubs gear!

Great idea for spelling out his name using

cardboard and comics!

I already have a wall size map I purchased at

and estate sale last summer

and just finally figured out a great way to hang it!

Love the colors here...

Another great vintage graphic to go over the bookshelves?

I have a ton of these vintage Fisher price Weebles...

but you could use matchbox cars or plastic dinosaurs...

action figures...

any of those small things adults can step on 

in the middle of the night

and kill themselves with!

We are having fun and he is enjoying being involved for a change!
You can view the links and more fun for kiddos
on my Pinterest page
here
on the board titled
Kiddos 

Iwould also like to share that

I have become should we say

"curator"

of a VERY LARGE project for a friend...

He has a rare type of cancer.

It causes brain tumors that basically -

can be removed but will continue to return.

In the last 3 years he has undergone surgery twice.

He was about 36/37 years old when the

first symptoms began.

He had requested to meet his favorite musician

through the Make A Wish foundation...

however they were turned away from the bands fan club

simply saying the band does not do that sort of thing.

Unfortunately there are always gate keepers.

So a group of friends started an e-mail chain to convince them

to forward his request anyway...

Then I got the bright idea to start a blog with a photo

a day in support of getting this persons attention...

We know he would do it in a minute if he actually heard about

the request...

SO - I may be a bit sporadic in my posting here.

I have almost exactly a month to get this to work...

It has to happen by October 30th!

I am requesting friends, family,

even the kindness of strangers to help us out!

I will post links to the site as soon as I have it running

which should be in the next day or so.

In the meantime if you are interested in helping us out...

leave me a comment here.

All I simply need is a picture of yourself or friends,etc

with a sign.

Here is one of the first we are going to use...

Of course this was manipulated!

The words are lyrics to one of his favorite songs

and are very fitting for what we are doing.

The artist is Stone Gossard guitarist for Pearl Jam...

Thanks for stopping by....