Found this and wanted to share it with you!

So many times when travelling from one blog to another, you may come across a writing that sums up how you feel about certain things and just don't know how to put it in words. It is like an Ahah! moment and you think how is this possible for someone to have come to these conclusions that you also have come to. this is said so well, so here it is:






"I no longer place much importance on an exalted love for everyone and everything. It isn't likely or even practical that each of us will be able to truly love everyone else. There are simply too many human failings of the heart to allow it. I do believe kindness and compassion are always possible, even when love isn't, and that they spring from courage and are not quite, though almost, the same thing. Kindness refers to the little things, small everyday gestures - being good, and a help to those near to us, in our varied circles, even extending that to those we may not know personally, but to whom we reach out when they need a hand to steady, or a word to comfort. Compassion is larger than kindness. One can be kind, lacking understanding. Compassion is a way of understanding, of putting oneself in the position of another, of walking the mile in their shoes. Compassion evokes generosity of spirit and encourages universality while recognizing individuality. It allows true forgiveness of terrible human failings and outrages that would seem unforgivable almost as easily as smaller transgressions of a moral code."
Thanks to Sara Fishburn, which I did not ask permission but hope that she is not offended by my placement of her words on my blog.

Sharing from another blog!

I found this so lovely and true I had to share it with you:


"After a while you learn the subtle difference between holding a hand and chaining a soul, and you learn that love doesn't mean leaning and company doesn't mean security, and you begin to learn that kisses aren't contracts and presents aren't promises, and you begin to accept your defeats with your head up and your eyes open, with the grace of an adult, not the grief of a child, and you learn to build all your roads on today because tomorrow's ground is too uncertain for plans. After a while you learn that even sunshine burns if you get too much. So plant your own garden and decorate your own soul, instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers. And you learn that you really can endure, that you really are strong, and you really do have worth." - Veronica A. Shoffstall

Thankyou ,Veronica for this bit of wisdom.

Jerry built the birdhouse!!

I painted it and added the door and window and the grapevine and the finial. It is very large. Like 20 x 30.

New altered bottle!!Matchbox doll!

This bottle is for my family room which is beach oriented.It is about 15 inches high.
Another matchbox doll,"Fly Away"

wrapped collage

This is a werapped canvas 5 x 7 piece. French collage.

Matchbox doll!

Paper whimsy image, plus embellishments and small matchbox.

AB June Challenge-White on White

This is an 8 x 10 one page spread. White on White is the subject.

Want to make a flower press???

Such a beautiful time of year to gather and press some of your lovely flowers and ferns to use at a later date for cards, ATC's. collages. It is fairly simple with this little flower press that you can make in a short time with few supplies. It is about 6 x 6 and easier tucked into your tote or handbag. Every 2 weeks you can take out the ones you have done and add some new ones if you like, thick flowers do not do well, so stick to pansies, violas, violets, allysum, thinner flowers and leaves and ferns.I have not finished the pictures of the process but will put up what I have so far.
Supplies-2 pieces of luan 8 x 7 sanded and 1/4 inch hole drilled in corners of both, measure so they line up, 4 carriage bolts # 10 3.5-4 washers and 4 wing nuts, 4 pieces of corrugated cardboard 6 1/2 x 6 1/2- 8 pieces of 140 # watercolor paper same size.
Depending on the amount of the flowers you intend on drying tells you how many sheets of paper and the cardboard you will need, the blots are 3.5 so it allows for quite a few layers. I did 4 just to show you.
The design and the writing are tissue paper transfers. Hope you like this tutorial, if you have any questions feel free.
You can also close this with velcro straps and not drill the holes. I have one of each and they both work equally well.

Tissue paper transfer

This is an 8 x 10 tissue transfer, the center was a black and white drawing on the cover of J. Peterman catalogue which I watercolored and the flowers another picture that I put on tissue, the board is crackled and the edges are painted with black and distressed with sepia toned ink, the poem is "I wandered lonely as a cloud" by William Wordsworth.

"Marianne" Train to Paris

My second doll, on her way by train to visit her niece.Her name is "Marianne"

combination of printing on tissue and napkin decoupage!!

This is a crackled 3.5 x 10 inch plywood substate- crackled , and added a tissue paper transfer of the woman's face and other ehpemera, the napkin flowers are decoupaged on to the surface, remove layers(2) and just lay down with decoupage under and over.Napkins can be used to cover cigar boxes or other wooden items. A really nice look and dries to a nice hard finish.

Printing on tissue paper!!

This is a 3.5 x 8 piece of plywood that I crackled and added a tree and a poem printed on tissue paper. I then laid a coat of decoupage on the surface where the tree and poem would go, gently laid the images on the decoupage and stippled with a small brush dipped in decoupage. My decoupage solution is half and half elmers glue and water. Added distressing with inks and a picture of french children. Glue the tissue to a piece of cardstock with a good glue stick , leave a 1 inch margin around the tissue. Make sure the tissue is stuck otherwise the printer will grab it instead of the cardstock. Let me know if you try it. Very nice see thru image.
You can also press it on freezer paper with an iron and run it thru, but you have to be very careful when you remove it from the FP, easy to rip. Just another option.

My Melinda doll!! My first of this kind of doll

This is my first doll with sculpted face, her name is Melinda.

"Memories"- FLAT BOARD SHRINE

This is an 8 x 10 plywood substate, painted, distressed, stamped with images and frayed canvas fabric. the hanger is a black chain.

New flat board shrine!! Ophelia

6 x 10 plywood substrate, gold crackle, hand colored Ophelia image,gold cord hanger.

I love Altered art!!!

This is such a wonderful medium to express yourself in so many different ways. Mixed media ,altered art, altered books, Wow! the range is so wide and varied it really gives you so many choices to make your art. I started making fabric postcards in a group about 6 years ago , for about a year I made postcards of every imaginable kind,painted, printed , stamped,sewn. When I decided to try ATC cards, Loved it and did that for quite some time.
The next step for me was altered books, I loved the idea that you could tranform a child's board book or a tiny journal into something beautiful and a treasure that someone may cherish. The blank pages of any kind of book with or without text is an amazing canvas to do stunning backgrounds and add all sorts of beautiful images, distressed and antiqued to your liking.I did dozens of books and sold them on ebay, now, upon reflection , I wonder if I should have sold them or kept them to pass on to the women in my family. But so it goes.....
I love it all, altered bottles, altered dolls, cigar boxes trensformed into tiny worlds, substrates of every description, cardboard, plywood, canvas, photo paper, tiles, coasters,cereal boxes. Flowers made of coffee filters, rusted hardware, beads and wire. Fabric stained with coffee hanging on the line, waiting for me to make something that says This is Me!! I often think how lucky I am to have this way of expressing myself, because I can do something different every day if I choose.Once in a while I take a class for something, for a challenge, new ideas and the comradery of people of like interests. I enjoy that and learn a few things along the way.
So it goes.... I see everything in terms of altering it,throwaways are not to be thrown away, they are to be used and looked at with new eyes. I think my next venture is dolls. If you have anything to add to this ,feel free to comment. After all is said and done,we all love feedback.
The pictures are of an altered cigar box with a school theme, the figures in the right front are my father and my aunt Jane.
The top picture is of a theatre inside a theatre with a Marie theme, the second is a shrine for a paper whimsy door challenge(never turned it in) the third a fairy theatre, the fairies are on strings like marionettes.the bottom is the school shrine.

"The Dance" flat board shrine

Flat board shrine- 6 x 9 plywood base. lots of fun to make.If you have any you have done, send me a picture and I will post it here.The quote says"Dance till the stars come down from the rafters.....Dance, Dance,Dance till you drop."W.H. Auden

Altered Books May challenge -2 page spread

"Tea Time" tea recipe, mom and daughter making tea silhouette, antique frame for Marie and her teacup. napkin flowers and decoupage, lots of gold embossing(can't really see it)

Tutorials!I All feedback appreciated!

On the top of the left column is a list of all the tutorials on my blog. I sincerely hope you can use some or all of these techniques in your own art work. Have a great day and if you are a Mother A Great Mother's Day.

Flat Board shrine-"Pioneer women"& "Tom Sawyer"

This is done on a 6 x 10 piece of plywood, it has a rusted wire hanger, a piece of a vintage quilt. The picture is a favorite of my collection. I have used it printed on fabic to make pillows and other wall pieces.The saying is from KC Willis. I am going to do more of these, a series of western themed women and men, all the same size for the sunroom.Hope you like it.This is also, like my other recent work from a class at "Roses on my Table" This is the 2nd in the series"Tom Sawyer" same size.

Shrine!

" A Spring Poem"

"The seasons are shifting, The winter shades lifting,
The springtime is filling
Earth's children with mirth.
The daffodil yellow, The south wind so mellow,
The gentle rain falling,
Upon the green earth.
The song sparrow singing, New life quickly springing,
All nature is telling
A tale of rebirth:
The deep wells of being, Beyond each day's seeing,
O'er flowing with new Life,
Restoring the earth."
- David Bumbaugh, Spring

'Daisies are the friendliest flower, don't you think?" A line from You Got Mail.

I found this lovely picture of a girl nymph celebrating the coming of Spring. Beautiful!!!

My ATC cards"Pride and Prejudice"

This is for a swap-6 for 6. Roses on My Table group. The front and back are made of book board. Wanted to show all sides.

My first Shrine" A boy's will is the wind's will"

This was a lot of fun to do, I am happy with the outcome. The shrine itself is handmade, I took a class from "Roses on my table" for the basics and added my own embellishments. My husband made another one out of wood, So that is next. Hope you like it.Any feedback is appreciated.

A piece for Mother's Day!!

A piece for Mothers day. This is my Mom. Always wore pretty aprons, she had about 20 and never wore one more than one day, they were always starched. She passed on when I was 16, she was 43.