I thought this came out so well for a ‘skinny’ card swap, that I am keeping it and making another one to trade. I started with the camera and some neat black, white, silver and gray paper. He looks like my nephew Pat a little when he as a baby.
Not having the best 12 hours-I was sitting here around 10:45 last night and a huge piece of my tooth on the top right broke off. I think it started breaking off at dinner, as I felt something sharp in my mouth. It doesn’t hurt as it had a root canal done on it, but it’s a bit annoying and I have to eat all on the left side. I called and left a message at the office last night, hoping I’d have first dibs on the Monday appointments. Crossing fingers.
My ‘I recommend’ is to try home remedies for simple cures. Yesterday my eyes were puffy and I remembered reading about teabags helping reduce that. I got my used teabag out of the kitchen and kept changing it from eye to eye for about 15 minutes. Lo and behold, it helped! I use zinc oxide on the slight eczema caused by the nose piece on my glasses. Vaseline is good for taking off make-up. A tiny dab up each nostril helps in the wintertime (I use to get terrible nosebleeds when I was little). If my tummy is off, I chew an acidolphilus tablet or eat the Activa yogurt to build up the good bacteria there.
Dr. Phil’s wife Robin was on Rachael Ray and puts eggs whites on her face to tighten it up-eek-but if it works!
Do you have any you swear by?
Could you keep my mom in your thoughts as she sounds like she is getting a doozie of a cold. She just got up to make herself breakfast and her friend is coming over, but her being by herself makes me nervous.
We didn’t get any snow, just some sleet. It’s warming up a bit to the higher 30s today. According to my Farmer’s Almanac calendar, last night was the Full Wolf Moon, it was too overcast here to see.
Here’s an ATC I made yesterday:
Want to play along? Kelli over at ‘There is no place like home’ is hosting a meme. You take your first blog sentence for each month of 2008 and add a favorite photo from that month too. Be aware that most of my ‘first’ sentences have nothing to do with the photos. :O)
January-
That’s my life for the last few days.(I had been sick and so had Brian)
February-
Let’s start off February with a fun event thanks to Lisa/Oceandreamer’s 2nd time around hosting it.(One World, One Heart blog giveaways)
March-
This is my mom’s birthday last year and my youngest brother is giving her the cupcakes that I made to blow out the candles.(for a Photo Hunt)
April-
It’s 70 degrees outside!!! I’m inside and wearing a sweater though.
May-
Thanks to Scrappy Jessi for hosting this fun event.(showing our childhood toys)
June-
Like I did last night!
July-
I really did see a camel! (a place on our road had several exotic pets or boarders)
Strasberg, PA 7-30-08, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.
August-
Today I’m sharing my baby book.
September-
I can’t believe it’s September already!
October-
….the cataracts are gone! Well, that may be so for my mom in a few hours.(My mom had both her eyes done, and one got an infection, so she had to have a third operation!)
Celebrating after 28 yrs!, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.
November-
This is from the Philadelphia Flower Show 2006.(We try to go every year since I am so snap happy)
Grant Park and a new beginning!, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.
December-
I just realized that I was pretty much on the go for over a week, since my birthday on the 19th.
I just realized that I was pretty much on the go for over a week, since my birthday on the 19th. Our house is much quieter now since Sean is back in State College again. We figure he has 5 more trips up and back before he graduates. That’s if he doesn’t stay up there and work-he had to lease his place for a year-which is until next August. We do miss him like crazy-what can I say, I lucked out and enjoy being around him.
We tried to eat chicken fingers for dinner, too much like turkey! We had turkey Reubens for lunch-the sammie you usually make with corned beef-Swiss cheese, cole slaw and Thousand Island. Friday I had made ‘Bobbies’ like a local hoagie place is famous for-turkey, stuffing, whole cranberry sauce and mayo. Both very good, but I am all turkey-ed out.
Many blogger pals, and even cousins at the wedding last night have decorated their homes already. I still think it’s a little early for me, plus I need to take Autumn stuff down. I may start with a festive wreath to replace Mister Turkey wreath who is still hanging up! It was really too lousy of a day here to do anything outside.
I’ve been having fun trading ‘skinny cards’, which are 3″ x 5″ with artists on a Flickr group. I have had American lady swappers, but I’ve also traded with two Finnish ladies. Almost everyone sends me papers, stickers or ribbons too and I learned to send some to them too. I’ve always loved getting mail, so this is great. What’s also neat is someone who looks at my skinnies or ATCs in my photos and asks if they can trade with me just because they like what I’ve made.
Here’s the latest one I am sending to Tarja in Finland:
Another paper artist friend shared this little girl image and many others with us on Flickr.
I need to work on my Christmas card this week. I have a great idea in mind and hope it turns out. I then will get color copies made into cards so I don’t use all my printer’s ink. I did this last year, but didn’t make a stand-up card-I will try to this year.
Have a great cyber Monday. I may browse around a bit on Amazon for Sean’s gifts.
Update-About 15 minutes after I wrote this I picked the cat up to put him down the basement and aggravated a muscle pull that I somehow had gotten, I think on Friday. Well I tried to go to sleep and it was bugging me as it was in the chest area. I had Bri awake too. Finally I put my bra on under my nightie and stuffed it with tissue where it was aching (stop laughing) and it helped! I was thinking the worst for myself. Having Lyme Disease means it’s so easy to get aches and pains. Now I have an ache on the left side, so I guess it moved. I guess so much being on my feet lately did me in. I did toss some laundry in though. I want to decorate!
I plan to save some of the campaign literature (but not the one I showed earlier) to commemorate this historic event. Being a collage artist who recycles, here’s what I came up with from one that was left on our door :
I had all that patriotic ribbon that I got from good ol’ Big Lots, so there you go!
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Hoping to get a flu shot tomorrow. A local high school is hosting the county’s drive-so it’s free. You know what happens when people read ‘free’. I have a feeling it will be really crowded. Plus Bri needs to take his dad to the doctor again-maybe the last time. Bri’s aunt has been going over there for the last month, a few times a week and actually got him to let her get rid of some of Bri’s mom’s old clothes. His mom passed away 8/96! He did take newer clothes to a resale shop back then, but there were so many left to go through. I always figured he wanted to make sure the pockets were empty, if you get my drift. My mom had a hard time parting with my grandmom’s things, so I do understand it’s a letting go process. I would have done the clothes if he wasn’t there. He tends to stand and watch while you work, etc. I can’t stand people doing that. Next Bri will have to get a dumpster and do the moldy/musty garage-ugh!
Welcome to an Autumnal gathering hosted by Artsymama!
(Enjoy the links I added too)
No need to ring or knock, I’m expecting you!!
Isn’t this a silly tin bucket?
The coleus is just starting to fade and wither, but looks pretty on the step next to the faux pumpkin. I love to carve pumpkins, but haven’t done one in years. Maybe I will this year!
If you look through my front bay window, you’ll see a tower of pumpkins and Casper the Friendly ghost!
I have an antique hutch with some cute figurines on it to the right of the front door. The one holding the pumpkin cookie cutter is an Annalee.
I wrapped some leaves around my Nancy Noel painting to give it a special look for the season.
I saw this sign at Michael’s and had to get it since I live on the west end of my road-the ‘Wicked Witch of the West’
I have this sign on the other side of the bay window
Under the Treats sign sits a Scarecrow I made 14 yrs ago and little Valentino the Webkinz frog dressed in a Boo Sweater
This is actually a demitasse cup holder, but I added faux pumpkins and coppery ribbon I found at the Dollar Store
This is the fireplace mantel. I have three mosaic urns on display for autumn, two on the mantel.
I cross stitched the middle of this wreath back in 2001
I saw this idea in Michael’s so I added some glitter to a faux white pumpkin
I’ve had this little Anne Geddes pumpkin baby for years. My son was born a week before Halloween, so I keep this on display all year long. That’s Sean in the background. My mom gave me the glass pumpkin.
I purchased this awesome Halloween Book from Tootie over at Honey Girl Studios (the link is to her site All Hallow’s Eve). and love it with my orange and black glass mushrooms. I have a small collection of mushrooms since I live near ‘The Mushroom Capital of the World’
This a Halloween tree on table next to my special book. I have many Art Trading Cards that I made stuck in its branches. The tags are by Tootie.
Here’s what it looks like lit up showcasing a tag I bought from Tootie (from a set)
I have a small collection of owls. I know I have an owl cookie jar somewhere too! I cross stitched the box lid.
Casper looks spooky and cute all lit up!
Here’s my bay window. I have glass pumpkins that I added orange lights to. I have a few crystal pieces that made the window glow.
A little trick or treater in my Halloween tree
More orange glow
Thanks for visiting. Happy Autumn and Happy Halloween!
The End
I have to get a bit serious here now. Next week I will have my first ‘double’ mammogram since my ‘ordeal’ last year (see the ‘me stuff’ tab above). If you didn’t know, I had a breast biopsy because I had about 5-6 microcalifications in my left side. I have quite the scar now and my left side is smaller, but I’m ok-benign! So I am a bit nervous. I did have the left rechecked in April, but the right one hasn’t been checked for a year. I had about 18 x-rays of the left. I should be glowing! Anyway, I had a nice lady stop by and admire my Artist Trading Cards a few posts ago. I looked at her blog and one of her groups had a pink challenge for this month. I made this Sunday night:
When I think of breast cancer awareness, I think of the sisterhood of friends I have and see that many are doing the right thing and getting a mammogram and checking their ‘girls’ every month. Some are not. Those are the ones we all need to reach.
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Sean is probably coming home Thursday night to Sunday. We were thinking of going up to State College for a change, but he has a full size bed and we have an inflatable mattress. I can’t see me sleeping on the inflatable mattress with my sore back. His birthday is Friday. He had a little extra money (lucky him) and I talked him into buying a flatscreen tv so he could enjoy it and we can hook it up to the HD later on. We will give him some money towards it. I did buy him a few goodies. I think everyone needs a few surprises on their birthday. Not sure what we will do. I was even thinking we should meet him up in Lancaster on Thursday as the restaurants will be packed on Friday. I could even make him something special. It will be up to him.
Foodie figurines on kitchen windowsill, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.
I have a cute collection of figurines on the front ledge of my kitchen garden window. Seeing Kelli’s last week made me want to show you mine (in a way, I didn’t dust the shelf)! Many are Enesco items like Mary Moo Moos, Cherished Teddies and Blushing Bunnies (eBay has tons of these). Zelda’s Wisdom is the dog with the chef hat on with the wooden spoon in her mouth. I always admired the saying wrapped around Zelda’s base-‘If you can’t stand the heat, get out of kitchen’.
I love the cow selling lemonade and the Dairy Queen bovine-all of them!
They make me smile when I see them, hope they make you smile too.
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Also made these ATCs (Art Trading Cards) over the last week. I call them ‘Seasonal Duos’.
Today I want to share a pastel drawing of my son Sean that was done in Paris, France in 1989. My in-laws went to France several times back then as my father-in-law was there for business and my mother-in-law went along. I would too! They happened upon this artist who did a few drawings for them. Having a little artist training, I know a drawing or painting looks more like a person when they aren’t looking straight at the artist, so I picked the one with Sean looking away.
It looks a lot like him. I’m not crazy about the striped shirt. We obviously still have it hanging up-in the living/dining area.
Here’s the photo it was taken from.
My mom likes to draw and she said the artist didn’t quite get his chin and nose correct. I think she was very talented!
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I decided to rearrange my postage stamp collector’s album. I have been collecting mint US stamps since Sean was about the age he is above-3. Not all of them for each year, but quite a few. I had stuck a bunch of canceled postage from the US and around the world in the same book, but took them out. I did leave the uncanceled stamps from France in the book, as my in-laws had bought them for us while they were there.
Of course I wanted to use some of the stamps in my collage art and made these cards:
Here’s what’s cool about the above. I was making an Asia themed card the night before, (check Flickr side bar) and cut out this bamboo ‘deer chaser’ to use, but it didn’t quite fit. I cut it out and used it on a card and starting to go through the stamps and found the perfect Chinese stamp of the little boys with the bucket in a shallow pool of water. The verse says-“Not all those who wonder are lost’ by JRR Tolkien
I have done a few cards using Chinese fortune cookie fortunes. Used another Chinese stamp and the registered piece from an envelope that the first stamp was on. Apparently it came from Brian’s former place of employment.
It’s Tuesday, and it was another rainy day here. We aren’t use to it! I slept like a rock because of the night before, but my eyes were really achy until late this afternoon. I decided to clean the dolls off and wash the clothes they were in (as seen in my last ‘Show & Tell’ post). It’s sad that I have so few clothes for the girls. I know somewhere I have a huge container of fabric as I planned to make one-of-a-kind Barbies to sell. I can still do that along with everything else, correct?
Anyway, after sniffling over Ellen DeGeneres wedding photos and the little Phillipinian singer Charice Pempengco on Oprah, I decided to make some ATCs called skinnies which are 3″ x 5″ (I usually make 2.5″x 3.5″). They were fun to put together and brightened my mood.
My mom’s getting tense about her eye surgery in a few days. I don’t blame her! And Brian is getting an update from his aunt about his dad as I write this.
We think we know what kind of television we purchase, thanks to Courtney who sent me a thorough email about how nice Samsungs are. We may go on Friday or Saturday to buy one.
Collages & Creative Goodness 