Button Fairies

I had a lot of fun making button fairies this Christmas. Here are just some of them:

Three favorite cats: Lovey, who went to the Rainbow Bridge this year; Little Bit, who used to live with me, and now lives with my sister-in-law in Florida; and Earnest, a co-workers very important feline.
These are my cats: Left is Grady, who is waiting at the Rainbow Bridge, Right is Tooky, who has a loooooooooooong expressive tail, and in the middle, Fanny, the Queen of the House.

Some of my co-workers.

Some of my grandchildren. That's ME as a child on the left, Katie in the middle, and Lily on the right. Mason is below.

Reindeer Love

OK purists, I guess female reindeer don't have antlers like this, do they? But hey - it's my blog! lol

Asian Inchies in Frame

I won a recent inchie lottery with an Asian theme at the Addicted to Inchies Yahoo group. The inchies entered in this lottery were so beautiful that I decided to put them all in a frame. Please click on the photo for a closer look and to see the names of the talented people who created them.

A Winter Day

For a trade

Christmas Cookie Recipe Exchange!

Here's the recipe I 'm sharing:

Butter Pecan Cookies

3/4 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup sugar, plus more for coating
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour


Preheat oven to 350°. On a baking sheet, toast pecans until fragrant, about 6 minutes. Let cool completely; finely chop. With an electric mixer, cream butter for about a minute. Add 1/3 cup sugar and cream until light, about 1 minute more. Beat in vanilla, salt, and flour, scraping down sides of bowl, just until dough comes together. Fold in pecans. Separate dough into 12 pieces; squeeze dough to shape into balls. Roll in sugar. Place, 3 inches apart, on a baking sheet.
Gently flatten with the bottom of a glass (reshape sides if necessary). Sprinkle with sugar. Bake until golden brown, rotating sheet halfway through, about 15 minutes. Sprinkle with more sugar. Cool cookies on a wire rack.

Distress Ink Background Inchies

Made from several different colors of distress ink, edged in copper and gold ink, then embossed with a snowflake. I decided to leave these inchies rather simple to display the background.

Snowman Inchies

A Significant Anniversary

November 18, 2009 marks my daughter, Suzanne's, fifth year in remission from Hodgkins Lymphoma. Suzanne had a stem cell transplant in 2002, and then a bone marrow transplant from a donor registry donor in November of 2004. The transplant from the anonymous male donor changed Suzanne's blood type from A+ to B+.

Suzanne and daughter, Lily, after her stem cell transplant in 2002

The fifth year is a significant milestone. But last year, Suzanne experienced a miracle of her own. Against all odds, she became pregnant and in February of 2008, daughter, Katelyn Jean was born.

Suzanne and Katelyn Jean

Cards for a Trade

Talking Leaves
Bernice

Two Geico Gecko Cards - for a trade

Thanksgiving Cards for a Trade

Hybiscus

This is a 5" x 7" painting

Cards for an Overseas Swap

No Keyhole


Keys to Success
Keys to Liberty
Keys to the Past

ATC Version of "Lighthouse" Painting

This was made for a trade.

Lighthouse

This painting is about 11" X 16".

New 5 X 7 Paintings

Mountain Lake

Impatiens in front of the Village Tavern

Iris

This is a 5 x 7 inch painting.

Autumn Tree

Dogwood

This painting is about 5" by 8". Dogwood was my Mother's favorite flower.

Pansies

This painting is about 11" by 16". The background of the painting was made by applying a very light wash and then sprinkling with table salt. When the salt dried, it was brushed off to leave a very interesting effect to the background.

New Watercolor Cards

Summer Shutters - watercolor
Pumpkin, Gourd, Pomegranate - watercolor

Autumn Leaf - watercolor, pen

Three Jonquils - 4" x 6" watercolor

The background of the picture is painted with gold colored paint. The jonquils are watercolors highlighted with pearlized watercolor.

Two New Watercolor ATCs

The pansy ATC was painted with watercolor on 140 lb. paper. The pansies were highlighted with pearlized watercolor.
The iris watercolor started with a rubber stamp. It was then watercolored and highlighted with pearlized watercolor.

Remembrance

One Leaf

Punkin

I made this for practice a while ago. Didn't know that still lifes should always have the items in it to be touching. But anyway, it was fun to make. I especially like to paint pumpkins.

Bowl of Flowers

This is a 3-1/2 x 2-1/2 inch watercolor ATC painted on 140 lb. paper.

Practice Tree ATC

This is a 3-1/2 X 2-1/2 ATC trading card created on 140 lb. paper and painted in watercolors.

Silent Movie Card

This is a card I made in June for a silent movie swap. The swap has yet to end and I'm not sure if it will. Anyway, here is the card I created. It's hard to see in the photo, but the red pieces are 3-D and are supposed to look like a movie curtain. Look closely at that photo. Yes, that is ME with the gorgeous Tommy Lee Jones. This is a scene from a movie made in the 70's about Howard Hughes. He looked a lot younger in those days, but then so did I! My husband, Frank, photoshopped me into this picture. I LOVE this picture! hee hee. Please notice on the back of the card that I give MYSELF top billing over Mr. Jones in the film, "The Diva and Mr. Jones."

Here's the original photo. The reason it's not so clear is that the original 'photo' was a video capture from a bad vhs copy of the film. But doesn't that give it an antiquey look?

That's the dress I wore on the day I married Frank, February 7, 1998. I bought that dress in a store that was close to the Big Chicken in Marietta, Georgia - but that's another story...

Mystery picture.....Face of the Statue of Liberty!

This is the casting used to create the Statue of Liberty's face!

The Statue of Liberty was created by the citizens of France as a gift to the United States. It was not shipped to the United States in one piece, but in several. The first piece to arrive was the arm holding the torch. The piece was put on display at a park in New York, and visitors flocked to see the curiosity. The building seen beside the arm no doubt sold souvenirs and postcards!
Here is a photo of the massive foot of the statue, with part of the torch in the background.

Financing of the statue was obtained by individual donations from the people of France. Here, the top of the statue is displayed in a park in France before being shipped to the United States.

The Library of Congress website is an excellent source of royalty free public domain photos. Though not all photos shown on this site are in the public domain, it is easy to determine this. It's a wealth of interesting photos.