Category Archives: collage

May5

A new collection

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Right before our anniversary last month, I was in a gift shop browsing around. They happen to have a 25% off sale on Vera Bradley quilted items. I know they’ve been around a number of years, but lately I’ve been eyeing up their smaller bags as I just can’t handle a big purse anymore. Sometimes I’ll take two purses on trips, the big one with all the cosmetics, etc and the little one to use for shopping. So I saw the chartreuse, black, gray and white one and decided to get it. I love it and it’s little compartments for my phone and wallet…well I didn’t have the wallet until I found it on eBay! I also got the other ones-they all have names-I know the red one has Scarlett in there.  I’m waiting on an eyeglass case for eBay.

They were a fraction of the price of the ones in the store and they were new with tags! The little one in the front has my MP3 player in it and I’ve had it a few years.

That’s my back massage chair. And they are all machine washable. I have enough right now, but I like the backpacks, but they are up there in price.

Made this ATC for a ‘feather’ challenge. I happen to have an old rip off calendar and Elizabeth Denison was intriguing to me. She had to ‘make do’ with accessories, and she used feathers! Another swap bot lady sent me the sweet little feathers as she saw on Swap-bot I was in that challenge and she was sending me a ATC also.

I got two ‘gadgets’ in the mail yesterday. First an ‘extender’ so our WiFi could get to the bedroom part of the house. It took a bit to set up as the software wouldn’t work right. I had to get my laptop to find the device and it did. I can use my iPad in the bedroom-look at movies in bed, i.e.. The second was the Magellan eXplorer device. I had to become a premium member of Geocaching.com and I think my phone app is easier to read. Plus I had to go download local caches from the website. The phone app finds them for you! I think I’ll have to try it to get use to it, but I’ll need my glasses on as the screen is a bit tiny. If my pal Carole can find around 150 with hers, I hope to find at least 10 to begin with.

And some of my gardens are shaping up nicely. So many weeds to contend with!  I did a lot of work on Friday and did a bit more today, but I was very achy. I moved some ferns from the fairy garden and dug up Lily of the Valley slips. They are taking over! They bloomed so early, I didn’t get to enjoy their scent that long.

Check out this gorgeous petunia hanging basket. It has Pink Lemonade and Picasso petunias in it  and  is close to 3 feet wide. It was $22-around here-easily $35.

Below there is a Mt St. Helen’s Azalea which is new. Brian cut down the one hedge and I think we’ll gradually cut out the rest as they are old and are more brown than green.

I really am not going to garden on Sunday, but we will have something on the grill. I cooked last night, but couldn’t tonight.

Apr9

Some more paper goodness

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 I really do try and tidy up my collage stuff, and then creativity gets in the way. I start seeing  paper connections and before you know it, I have the scissors and glue out again! It really is good therapy for me lately anyway.

The background for this card was made from snippets of scraps as I was sorting.  I love that little girl and  in my mind’s eye, I can see her skipping around in her butterfly wings.

Another little flower girl for the series.

Sadly, this is the last challenge I made for a Flickr group called ‘Art n’ Soul’. We were to take a torso and decorate it. I made like a fairy dress influenced by the unusual photos of ferns I have. I used a real fern frond too! By the way, that’s light switch is my souvenir from the Van Gogh exhibit, now in the dining room.

We had a bit of a scare this morning. We live in a ranch house and don’t have phones in the bedrooms (we do again now-we put it in the kitchen 6 yrs ago and never had a problem). Didn’t Brian’s dad get a bad nosebleed at 2 am this morning and tried to call us for several hours from 3:30  am on! We didn’t hear it ringing. After the second call, his dad should have called 911. I had several very bad nosebleeds when I was little and was told to sit quietly. He kept leaning forward as he didn’t like the blood doing down his throat. Anyway,  the woman police officer finally woke us up out of our slumber at 6:30! Brian got his act together and headed to the hospital as his dad finally wised up and called 911 around 4:30 or so. The doctor may have chemically treated it (like they did me-not sure, but one of the worst pains I’ve ever had) and Brian took him home. Bri had to clean a few areas that got a little messy. I suggested he stay over a few nights a week, but he isn’t going for that, but should consider it until he gets a job. Since Sean is living here and is an adult, it may not be a bad idea. Old people living alone is not good.

Mar12

Crafty weekend

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I signed up for some more Swap-bot swaps and pulled out my papers and things to work on 3 Artist trading cards for that. Then I decided to play around with some ideas and use a few items I purchased at Tinsel Trading Company up in New York. This is a sampling of what I did and I’ll show you many of them up close:

The daylight savings had us a bit off yesterday…a 11:15 am breakfast (let’s call it brunch) and then the other meals were more on time. We had delicious Trader Joe’s organic tomato soup and Kaukauna cheese on crackers for lunch. Best ever. Also had Trader Joe’s Mandarin Orange Chicken, rice and sauteed spinach, and a Blue Moon beer. ; )

More later….

Feb5

Challenges on Flickr

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There’s a fun group on Flickr called ‘Crowabout’. You have to ask to join and I wish I participated more in the weekly challenges, but I have about 6 ‘collages’ I’ve made over the last year or so. I actually use the elements a bunch in other personal projects, but the challenge is to use at least 3-4 of them in your collage. The collage can be digital, cut out, printed, (which I prefer) and then made into an ATC or whatever.
This is the one for last week. I like how Cupid is peeking over the top of the ATC.
I’ve been busy over the weekend with little projects as I am sick with what feels like a cold now-non-stop nose blowing today. Love those Kleenex cool touch tissues. Brian tossed some spaghetti and meatballs together for dinner.
Collage a Day No More
I used the girl, the border and words from a collage sheet.
Watching the Superbowl (but not ‘watching’ it like I’m really interested). Madonna is something for 53. She’s 15 months ‘older’ than me. I heard she has a young 24/25 yr old boyfriend and that disgusts me. If you are old enough to be someone’s mom, you are too old to date them. It probably won’t last. Look at Demi and Ashton.

Feb4

‘Collage Artist’ Book review

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I decided to share some books from my own personal library with you! I have 100s of books in all genres, so it may take a while to pick and chose and to review them again, so I will probably surprise you in the process.

So….yesterday was a good mail day as I got Good Mail Day by Jennie Hinchcliff and Carolee Gilligan Wheeler in the mail.

I tend to really enjoy the big books of craft or the ones like this that are more specific to certain art. I have also participated in and have received some awesome mail art. I will have to locate them to share.

My dear friend Greta  from CA. has made most of these including the clever squirrel on a broomstick. : )

One from Finland

And a few more from Kelley out of CA

The authors first remarks are basically about how getting mail is a dying art. They state that no one gets mail as no one sends it anymore. It’s true isn’t it? This is one reason why I did the challenges with pals and strangers a like over the last five years as I have always loved to get mail! I can think of another friend who is the same way, correct Ms. Carole?

As a collage artist, I think this is a super fun book to browse and get ideas from. The authors share tons of ideas. They make cool rubbings from items like mail slots and find discarded business cards in a park to use. One suggestion is to make an envelope out of candy wrappers. I have a big box of ‘scraps’ and I will surely start making more art envelopes. I remember one year I did a neat fold for a Christmas newsletter, like an Origami piece. I couldn’t decorate 30+ envelopes for the Christmas cards, but I can decorate them with a few stickers. I guess you could make a master envelope cover and copy it too! (Did I tell you again how much I like having a copy machine)? : )

The authors give you templates for envelopes and some really cute postage related stickers.

And don’t forget postcards and doing some cool calligraphy or block printing (even with rubber stamp letters).

I don’t want letters to go by the boards. Letters are cool. My maternal cousin Ann is the best letter writer (thinking about her now, I need to give her a call if I can find her phone number-two years have gone by now). She wrote long handed and also would include things she cut out like intricate snowflakes, photocopied art work and handmade ornaments. A now deceased pal Sandy would write personal letters to me with her Christmas cards and most times I would send her a letter back.

Let’s all sit down and write a note to someone, maybe even use a postcard or better yet, make your own postal art!

Jan22

Better start living up to my blog name

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I worked on three projects last night, one of which was:

The little love bird is new and a Martha S. piece. I have the copy machine with the printer and the edging is some copied music I accordian pleated.

Today I remembered that there was that fab book sale a few miles away down in Hockessin, DE. I called the library and sure enough, it was running a few more hours. I high tailed it down there and if they were going to close at 3, they would have been crazy-the place was jam packed! I hesitated buying a bag for $6 and finally did. Well, you know I can’t just buy one book. I had such a heavy bag, I had to leave it near the door and go get the car first. I got a few for my mom.

Of course we were saddened (and I shed a few tears) over the passing of former Penn State football coach Joe ‘JoePa’ Paterno at the age of 85. The scandal from a few months ago hastened the poor man’s bout with lung cancer. He is survived by his wife Sue (who gave communion to Sean a few times at church), his 5 children and 17  grandchildren. There is quite a memorial now outside of Beaver Stadium near his bronze statue.

Off to my mom’s to take her to the doctor tomorrow. I know she is nervous about her reoccurring issue over the last 50 odd years.  Keep her in your thoughts.

Nov29

Good move

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I went to a new doctor today who was young with a MS and DO after her name which means she has a bit more training than an MD. She sat and talked with me over 30 minutes. I can’t remember the last time a doctor did that with me. I felt like she was really interested in my well being. As usual, my blood pressure was high the first time the nurse took it. At the end of our chat, she made me lay down and took my blood pressure again and it was 12 points lower. I had to get blood work, so went ahead and got that done in the next building. This was the same doctor who said Brian had pneumonia last week. I told her he still had a terrible cough and she said he could call and talk to her about getting a chest x-ray. Call her without an office visit? Wow, that is nice. I’d never hear that from the other office. And at the other office I put my foot down when the last doctor left me waiting in the exam room for 20-25 minutes or more, like my time isn’t important-this happened many times. So I am to continue the medication I’ve been taking a while now. I was happy to weigh my lowest on a doctor’s scale in a while, about 12 pounds since the last time.

I did better at work. It’s rainy and wasn’t crowded.  I was also on a register by myself. The only thing I had an issue with was when a lady wanted to pay her store bill with a debit card (sent her to another register after trying a few times). I did a return and several coupon orders. I think it’s sinking in! I got to leave 45 minutes early as it was so slow and I closed the register. The manager helped with the last few steps.

I may go see my mom, but my brother who lives with her has been sick and I hope the germ isn’t in the house. She’s been a bit depressed as her car needs repairing and she can’t drive. I should take her shopping a bit.

Here’s a gift tag I made for the Bookmark in the other post:
Christmas tag

Update-I added a few more Cross stitch items to the tab above. You will go directly to Paypal and check out and I will mail the item off to you the next day.

Nov27

Reading is ‘fun’damental

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Bookmark for Art n’ Soul, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

I was itchy to dig into my paper stuff and that’s what I did in the late afternoon yesterday. I needed a few hours of vegetating as I was achy all over. Not use to standing over 20 hours and so many days in a row. Some may call me a wimp, but I do have issues with my knees, etc.. I’m going to a new doctor on Tuesday to get a check up for the medication I take. That and to ask her if she thinks I have widespread arthritis or something. I blame Lyme Disease on that. When I am able to go to Longwood Gardens, it usually is a day I feel strong and able to walk. I thought for sure walking for up to a mile a few times a week for a month or so may help me be able to stand on my feet. I guess I was wrong. So now I’m looking for a child care position and did contact a lady I had a few weeks ago. I know I can surely do that as I would be ‘sitting’ and helping the kids with homework, etc. Crossing fingers.

So back to the bookmark! My group on Flickr is having a bookmark swap. It had to be shabby chic with a touch of lace. I found the little girl and she’s about to read a book, so perfect! The key is suppose to be her’s that she tied to her bookmark not to lose. : ) The background paper and ‘read’ stickers are Tim Holtz designs and I even shared them the bookmark with him on Facebook.

I may go to ‘the store’ to do some shopping as I have that discount and a 30% off coupon. Since they didn’t plan to keep me past the beginning of the year, I may just do some power shopping. : ) Please be good knees.

Oct30

Gimme Candy!

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I had some fun finishing up some 4″ x 4″ collage cards and ATCs this evening. I love this little guy and knew he was good for a Halloween piece.
Friday the 13th 4" x 4 Collage card
Brian’s dad gave me an old 1992 rip off desk calendar and I have been having fun doing collages with it like the above bird background.
The Black Widow Collage Coaster
I bring home coasters from restaurants and ‘The Black Widow’ was the first collage I made. I was trying to make her greenish, but she still looks pale. I will probably put a ribbon for hanging her up.

Today was a rather tense day. Brian hadn’t talked to his day since late yesterday afternoon. We found the phone number of an old ‘original’ neighbor, but she was at work. The next thing we had to do was call the police. They sent a patrol car and he was fine, but his phones weren’t working. All day we tried to call, so 8 pm tonight, Brian went over. He looked at the cell, took the battery out and put it back in and it started working. This seems to happen all the time lately.

PHOTO HUNT-Broken

Broken Heart ATC

(made this ATC back in 2008)
I have a sticker book of the works of Michelangelo and this is Jeremiah who was the prophet with the ‘broken heart’. Thank goodness for google as that info made my card what it is!

Aug7

Crepe Myrtle and other things

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Crepe Myrtle in full bloom, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

I always enjoy seeing the Crepe Myrtle bloom this time of year. It covers up my garden window in the kitchen and Brian cuts it way back after it blooms. I did that with the butterfly bush last fall and it’s big as ever again, but not very healthy looking.
Here is the Moonflower about to open…it’s kinda foggy and mysterious looking:
Moonflower bud with fogged lens
I did take a photo when it was opened up pretty much, but didn’t upload it yet.
I potted up some baby coleus today and was in a dripping sweat after only 20 minutes!
Baby Coleus plants
I did this card a few days back. I have a book on France and wanted to use a map for the background:
Kick up your heels 4" x 4" Collage Card
I did a couple more collages today after dinner as I had some new stampers I wanted to try.

A former high school alumni opened a page on Facebook called ‘You grew up in Media, Pa if…’ and within a day there were over 200 of us reminsicing about the old days. You should start a page like that too!
Bloodwork tomorrow…I am protesting some of it as I never took the diruetic and he wanted to check to see if things were effected because of it. My poor mom was not allowed to have any more pain pills (she ran out) that she has been taking for over 8 years and she was going through withdrawal on Friday! I haven’t heard her that miserable since she had Shingles! I didn’t know what to do. Finally my brother called the emergency number in the evening and he went and got some for her the next morning. He gave me an earful for not going down, but I know that medicine is the only kind that will help. She’s had shots, physical therapy, etc. I mean come on, she’s almost 81, so let her be comfortable. And my brother making her clean the basement (lifting and leaning over too much), caused her to have to take more pills. The doctor said no more physical ‘labor’ like that.