Dec20

Some art shares

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I actually worked on 4 of these Sunday as a prelude to baking cookies. I got one batch of cookies done-a ‘crackle’ sugar cookie that baked too rapidly. They aren’t that pretty, but nice and crisp and probably good with a cuppa tea. I have the batter mixed up for some others that I will make later.
This is a ‘Steampunk’ card and it looks crooked on the top, but it really isn’t. Steampunk is based on the Jules Verne era, but the twist is you make it a bit more modern.
Winter Beauty 4" x 4" Collage Card
Then I was looking through some Christmas things and ran across a few of the same Christmas cards-the main design was a floral collage! That made a nice background for the next collage-I added the lady and some embellishments.
Screen Stars (Lana Turner) 4" x 4" Collage Card

I bought a few things at A.C.*Moore Saturday night and one item as a felt filmstrip piece. I remembered I scanned an old movie magazine of my mom’s that featured actress Lana Turner. I think it was from the early 1950s. My mom, grandmom (I forget who else) had seen Lana Turner at a taping of ‘The Mike Douglas Show’ in the 1970s. She was a bit flaky on the show for some reason saying that Clark Gable (if I recall) had bad breath. Hmmm. That show was out of Philadelphia.
I finished stitching an ornament and will try to assembly her tomorrow. I started it last year. So now I will pick out something else. I have enough Christmas ornament charts to fill 3 trees. : )

Dec19

A peek of Christmas

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Brian did some outdoor shots last night-some with a tripod, some not. I like this one of the front bay window and the tree showing.
Star lights line the walkway
These are the new ‘moving’ (inside) stars along the sidewalk.
Wreath sparkles in the spotlight
This is a wreath I got at Big*Lots that was about $7, but originally close to $30 if I remember. The gold bow was added on. I never pay full retail if I can help it. : )
Snowflakes
These snowflakes are pretty!
White, blue and aqua lights grace the hedges
Extreme long shot of the house.
Fallen tree covered with snow
Brian thought this was interesting as the snow is mainly on this dead tree out back.
And last but not least-chocolate chip cookies!
First batch of cookies-chocolate chips
These were the last batch, so not as many chocolate chips.
Crinkle Sugar Cookies were made tonight and Sour Cream Drops with the burnt butter icing tomorrow!

Dec18

Photo Hunt-Male

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The young-uns, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

I come from a family with lots of males…I have three brothers-the oldest has two sons, I have one son and the youngest has a son…and a daughter…we are the only girls for 40 years!
Here is a shot of most of the guys and that sweet girl there (her mama is down the table more) at a pizza party we had for Sean for his Penn State graduation last year. All the kids in this generation have the sparkling blue eyes.
And right in his house it’s 3 guys and a gal-even the cat is a boy!

Dec17

Just had to get the shopping out of the way

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I dragged Brian to the grocery store and kind of knew this one place would be fairly quiet-I think I saw maybe 5 or so other shoppers. There are a few things I have to pick up at the closer store, but I got our meat for Christmas-prime rib! Yum! And tomorrow I think I’ll make some French onion soup as the first course (or I may do some cookies and then the soup). We had some of the above soup at Brian’s reunion and I forgot how yummy it is. I’ll do some kind of pasta dish for the night before. We’ll be seeing my mom that night and I’ll bring the pot down to share with her and whoever is there to eat it! We’ll drop by my brother’s house too. We have been going to midnight mass at a church nearby. Our own church doesn’t do it-I don’t know why, but to me it welcomes Christmas and it is indeed a special time.
I was cleaning more today and fighting with my sinuses too. I’m not allowed to take Sudafed with the HBP med I am on. That’s not good as now I have to do more than I use to have to do.
I found a photo of Sean, my nephew and Uncle Don taken about 6 years ago. Half the family had gone over to give gifts and to visit Uncle Don and Aunt M as she was still living there at the time. Speaking of Aunt M., she will be 95 tomorrow (in a nursing home). Uncle didn’t look so hot in at old photo. Mom said she misses talking to him on a daily basis. That’s exactly what I missed when my Grandmom got too feeble to answer the phone.
Hope everyone has a nice weekend. I’ll get outside one of these nights for some house shots. It’s just to dang cold!

Dec16

Wishes

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Wishes 4" x 4" Collage Card, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

I made three of these collages last night. Not in the mood tonight as I am bushed! I think it’s more eyestrain from working on a cross stitch ornament. I will have to get my darn bi-focals checked.
I’m looking at this wishing I used wet glue instead of a glue stick as the dog it’s not really flat. The little Yorkie is the only thing I clipped from a magazine. I ran across a pile of them and started to clip them and said to myself that I must be crazy to clip anything this time of year. There’s lots of sparkle on here too.
Then I found a folder in the stack of catalogs (now those I did go through and recycled a ton of them). I like the black and white clipart I’m not sure if this is completed, I may add a little something else.
Knit one, Purl one 4" x 4 " Collage card
I made another collage for Michele the book winner, but since I just mailed it off today, I’ll wait until she receives her package to share. Michele ‘friended’ me on Facebook and we have met before on Swap-bot!
I also feel a bit grumpy. I really can’t stand not having a car to hop into and go see my mom or get something I need or just whatever. I am really trying to be patient for the New Year. I took Brian’s car to the post office while he was home for lunch and it had started to snow a little and of course I skidded a bit. Brian went out and he skidded right in a half circle! That startled him a bit (he was in Delaware where the roads were worse). He decided to not go back to the office which pleased me too.
We need food like you wouldn’t believe-can’t go during the day and I like a helper at night.
Maybe a batch of cookies will make me happy. : )

Dec15

Congrats to book winner

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I wrote the numbers 1-5 on little pieces of paper and shook them in an Altoid tin and #5-Michele won the Nancy Noel angel book. I have emailed her and I hope she gets back to me shortly. This is a beautiful book and I’m sorry more people didn’t try to win it, but I’m glad I had 5 enter.

Still decorating! I couldn’t find the stockings and kept seeing things I wanted to use in the living room and family room. I mainly just do those two spaces as my house isn’t that large. I need to find my musical ornament with the skating scene inside. I decided to put batteries in lots of things, so there are interactive things too. : )
I got my cards ‘almost’ all finished and mailed off. I kinda play a waiting game with some people who seem to never send cards and it’s not the cheapest thing to do anymore. I was really sad to see that a bag of my saved cards had fallen on the floor near where we had flooding and they got wet and were growing mold-ugh! I was weary about looking around that area because it’s so crowded with stuff and was sorry to see this and who knows what else may be ruined I’m not seeing. : (
I will take some photos all around one of these days. I do major cleaning at this time of year and want things to look spiffy for photos.
I go back to the doctor next week for a check-up. Couldn’t see the first doctor, but will see the doctor’s PA. He’s been there forever and I trust he can read a blood pressure and blood test results. My bp seems to be down, like in the 130s on the top and around 77 on the bottom. It’s been up to 150 and down in the 140s. I am taking a pill a day. I read it takes 6 weeks to see if it truly helps you and this seems to be. A lady from Facebook had a mini-stroke, but she lives in a tropical area and was in the states for a visit-happened to her in PA. She’s telling me to go to the doctor and I had already! Sometimes people forget to pull down the rest of the comments.
Update-Michele just got back to me-the book will be on it’s way soon!

Dec14

Frigid!

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First off, I don’t know why people are spamming my comment section! I just deleted 37 that the WordPress spam caught. So you are leaving those strange comments in vain-give it up!
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It’s been in the 20s for the last few days-BUT-the wind chill make it feel much colder. I was fine all snuggled on the sofa making an cross stitch ornament and Sean had a day off and was itching to go somewhere. I mentioned Chili*s and he was on it! We got the 2 for $20 meal special-shrimp and fries with the chips and salsa appetizer. I wanted to go to K*Mart and I was not disappointed. I noticed Ms. Stewart isn’t affiliated with them anymore-is she with Wally World now? I know her crafts are there. I got a few things I know from the Jackie Smith collection, but my main venture there was for Brian. I feel bad as his tire started to get flat late this afternoon and he had to put the spare tire on in this weather. Ugh.
So I’m behind again in my collages-maybe I will do a few tomorrow. I did a little more decorating yesterday and am trying to locate the stockings. I only need to buy stocking stuffers now. : )
Hope to bake a few batches of cookies in a few days. I have to plan our holiday meals too, but may do what I’ve done in the past-pasta for Christmas Eve and roast beef for Christmas dinner.

Dec12

Remember and other catch up cards

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Remember 4" x 4" Collage card, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

I decided I needed to do some cards after dinner. This was going to be a Christmas card and I saw the stamped rocking chair laying on my art table that someone had sent me-so it’s a rememberance card for my uncle. He use to sit all day in a recliner, so this is second best-and it’s empty.
We went to Brian’s 35th high school reunion last night which was nice. Only 15 out of about 53 (private prep school) came, but it made it more of an intimate occasion. We thought a few guys would talk to us more than they did as they were involved in our lives in the past, but they didn’t say much. Here’s Brian with a few old classmates:
Larry ,Emer and Brian
And here are my other collages: A reindeer Christmas card from a set I decided not to send this year and a little girl dressed like Rudolph:
Magical Moments 4" x 4" Collage Card
An Asian one with pink and purple using a piece of handmade paper:
Solitude 4" x 4" Collage Card
And one for Mexico as I found a map of it and went from there:
Oh Mexico! 4" x 4" Collage Card
Here’s a pretty shot of the decorations at Brian’s old school Devon:
Festive decor at Devon doors
And the top part of the fireplace there:
Mantel in Main Building