Back To Blogging... I Hope!

I have finally regained some of my stamina from the trip out of town last week. It was a wonderful, if grueling, appointment! He and his staff are some of the most compassionate people I have met, especially as regards this illness, ME/CFS/FM. (I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, caused by the ME/CFS - that was news to me, and now I know why I have such pain some days!) It was so tremendous to be in a place where there were no doubts cast or rude/questioning comments made. I have some work to do as I begin to learn to manage this illness and see what good things await me as I lead a completely different life than I lived the first 60 years. And I have no doubt that there will be good things, because God has shown me His love and held me up, so I know He will have blessings for me. I've already experienced many in the past 4 years of this illness!

Before I left, I wanted to do at least a little bit of art, even though I had to be careful not to tire myself out. I pulled this postcard out of my reject pile. I had started it a good while back, and did not like where it was going, so I put it away.

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I did a little bit of altering before I went to Charlotte, and after I returned, I finished it. It's pretty simple, but I was happy to be doing something! It has now been mailed to my sister, who loves purple (and the flower is more purple than pink!)

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A little paint, some strips of tissue, some alcohol ink, a big flower, 3 shiny hearts, rubber stampng and a bit of Stickles and Gold Leaf Pen and there it is! I hope she likes it! (And she should have gotten it by now!)

Come see my latest postcards I've received on Postcards Buffet!

Altered Postcard and a Story - Purple Haze

HI EVERYBODY! I'M BAAAACK!!!

Well, I hope so, it's been a long relapse and I am still having trouble sleeping, but ... there is hope!!! There is always hope!

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An altered, mixed media postcard; the reasons I like to make these are several fold: I use up bits and bobs of scraps, they are small enough to do in a shorter amount of time, and I can send them to people! (who hopefully like to receive them!)

This one includes scraps of patterned tissue, a flower cutout, a scrap from a German newspaper, inks and paint, textural pieces for interest.

PURPLE HAZE

35th in the Tuesday Story series

During the time John was the CEO of the water utility of Charleston and we were homeschooling our daughter Tabitha, we would accompany him on several of the trips he was required to take in connection with his work. One of our favorite places to go, and we went there several times, was Colorado.

On one of the last trips we made there, Tabitha was old enough to go horse back riding and we signed up to go on one with an outfit near the Rocky Mountains National Park. The three of us ate lunch at a lovely lodge near one of the gates to the park, and then Tabitha and I left for our adventure. The place was not far from where we were and we arrived with plenty of time to spare. It was a gorgeous summer day in Colorado, no humidity, sunny, no clouds and an inviting temperature. As we stood around the stable yard waiting for the others to arrive we watched the horses.

They were quite attractive, and everything was as clean as a stable area could be, and the cowboys/guides/whatever you called them were friendly and chatted with people. The horses waited calmly, reins wrapped around a long pole horizontal to the ground. When the group for our particular ride were all checked in, the lead boss gave us a few words to help our ride go more smoothly."Lean back when the horse is going downhill and lean forward when it is climbing uphill - you'll help the horse and won't fall off." Good words to remember! Then the horses were untethered and lined up, our names were called and one by one we were assisted onto our horse, and given the name of the one we were on. Then the next words from our leader were "You can just relax for the ride, these horse know exactly where to go and will follow one another. You really don't have to do anything other than what I explained earlier." And with that, he clicked his tongue, his horse turned around and we were off!

Immediately all of the horses shuffled together, nose to tail, and I mean nose to tail, as if they were invisibly pulled together as tight as possible! Before we passed through the high timbered gate, the leader turned around for one last bit of information. He told us to be aware of certain horses who had personalty quirks, such as one wanting to veer off (just give little tug back, he'll come along), one who liked to grab a bit of grass here and there (just give a gentle tug to his reins, he'll stop) and so forth, including one who had digestive problems and may or may not have gas issues. Well, um okay. I hoped I was not on any of those he mentioned. It turns out that my horse did like to snatch a mouthful of grass, but he was very cooperative when I tugged on the reins.

The countryside was beautiful, and we went on a well worn track, up small hills and down. I was really enjoying it when.......... "what in the world was that smell? A skunk? Oh my! Well now it's gone thankfully! Look at this country! I love the colors and the fresh air!" ......cough ........cough

"What WAS the odor?!"

Then, I realized I was BEHIND the horse which was contributing more than his fair share to the Greenhouse Gas Problem! And oh my, why hadn't I worn a bandana like a real cowboy? Better yet, why hadn't they given me one! So I tugged my shirt up over my nose, it was that bad, and I never knew when it was coming again. As we were going around a small bend at the bottom of a hill, the leader glanced back at us and saw me and started laughing. "Well, I see ole Bessie is up to her tricks today!" So then of course everyone had to turn and look! I just laughed and waved at them all, what else could I do!

All in all, it was a lovely ride, even though I wish we hadn't had to stay so close together in line. And I think they should make it a standard practice that "ole Bessie" be the last horse on the ride!!

Come see my latest postcards I've received on Postcards Buffet!

Tattered Romance Tag; and A Story -A Home For Jennie Mae

Today's tag was Tattered Romance 

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For details on how I made this, or to join in on the challenge, please go to 

Blog Challenge Garden. 

A Home For Jennie Mae 

34th in the Tuesday Story Series

When John would travel in his former job, I would usually accompany him. As I owned an antiques business at the time, I would often haunt the local antique and junk stores to find hidden treasures. Many times I would find photos of people, priced relatively inexpensively, and I would pick up some that looked interesting. Sometimes the names of the people are on the front or back, and I often tried to locate their families when I could by posting on different genealogy websites. But the majority of the time, there wasn't enough information on the picture to make finding a family possible. In fact, usually there was nothing. And each picture was a snapshot of a person who existed, who was important to someone, and it sadden me to see them all just tossed out at an auction. I guess no one in the family cared about them, once they were dead and gone. And that is sad. Many of them now show up in mixed media art work, I've done it myself, and it at least gives them another chance to be seen by the world as important.

This story involves one such photo, which had a happier ending. While rooting through things in an antiques store in small town in Oklahoma, I came across a lovely photo of a young woman, dressed in a World War ll era Navy uniform. It read "Loads of love always, Jennie Mae ______ (last name omitted for privacy). It also said "To Mom on Mother's Day" and her initials, and the place and date where it was taken. I belong to the genealogy website, ancestry.com and when I returned home, I logged in and began making a search for this woman. I found the name in a family tree and contacted the tree's author. I described the picture and asked for her address to send it to her. She was thankful and asked me how much postage would be, but I told her all that I asked was that if she found other photos from time to time, she would try to find their rightful owners.

Once she received the picture, she contacted me and told me that Jennie Mae's mother had passed away in 1934, and Jennie Mae had then started calling this lady's great grandmother "Mom" and the picture was for her. The new owner of the picture lived in California, and asked me if I knew how the picture came to be in South Carolina, since her great grandma and Jennie Mae lived in Oklahoma. I told her about my visit to Oklahoma, and we both felt that someone evidently sold the household goods at auction once great grandma died. 

It was a good feeling to be able to connect a special photo with family, and the recipient was thrilled to find a photo of a relative. Of course it's just a drop in the bucket, and most of these old photos will never find a home. 

Here's just two of my collection of old photos, and I would love to see them returned to their descendants:

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What a beautiful wedding party! And the only information I have is that this large photo was taken at a studio in Indiana.

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This is a gorgeous family! At the bottom of the photo is written the 1st names of the individuals beneath their places in the photo, but the man and woman are only know as Daddy and Mother - no last names. Nine beautiful healthy children and all I know other than their first names is the name of the studio is located in Hampstead N.W., not even the name of  state.

If you have old photos, label them! Your grandchildren will thank you!

Be sure and see my latest postcards I've received on Postcards Buffet!

Late night Postcard

Last night was another one of those nights when I had difficulty getting to sleep. So I came up to my studio and put together this scrap postcard. I finished it off this afternoon.

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I'm not sure if it would go through the US mail; I've received, and sent, small coins attached to the backs for postcards without any problem, so I don't know how this would do. If I took it in to the Post Office I'm sure the little old, rather grim, woman behind the counter would tell me that it had to go in an envelope. And that would kind of cancel the idea of it being a postcard in the first place. The buttons are both glued and sewn on, with the card stock backing hiding the threads. Hmmm, I'll have to think about it!

Be sure and see my latest postcards I've received on Postcards Buffet!

Tag Tuesday - Recycle the Trash; and a Story: Small Things

Today we raided the wastebaskets to make some art out of what was thrown away.

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For details on how I made this, or to join in on the challenge, please go to 

Blog Challenge Garden. 

The Small Things
33rd in the Tuesday Story Series

During the early months as I struggled with the chronic illness of ME/CFS, one of the issues before me was how much my life was being reduced, as I saw it. I was losing the ability to participate in life as I had up until that time. It was a difficult struggle for me, because I had no control over the changes which were taking place and I mourned what  parts of my life I had lost. But God does not take away and leave you empty, No, He replaces with plans of His own for your life and that was a lesson I learned slowly over many month's time. I would not be an artist today, I do not think, because I never gave it any time or thought. My relationship with Christ has deepened because I had time to read and reflect. I felt free to pour out my sorrow, as David did in the words of the Psalms and God heard me, and then began to show me, slowly, His small things, His treasures for my life.

I wrote this poem after studying Zechariah 4:10 and the verse that tells us not to despise the day of small things. I did not realize it then, but God was teaching me, and starting from the inside out, in a sense remaking me, as He continues to do. Now I see the small things as gifts, and the days I am involved with my illness, bring me deep into the journey of change. So, I have learned that small can be good and satisfying.

Zechariah 4:10

Define small, Could it be
Perhaps insignificant, or useless,

Something easily overlooked, or looked down upon.
Yet if judging a disease, it is the small that
Is the biggest danger.


Or is it the block, the stone,
Placed one upon another deliberately,
And requiring time as the engineer.
The small proceeds to greatness that will
Be remarked upon as large.


Perhaps it is the slivers of life,
A bird song, a floating cloud
A bud huddled amongst the leaves.
There the small becomes the priceless
Worth more than grasping dreams.


In a whisper, small itself, yet louder
Than the clamor of frustration and mortality,
I heard “despise not the day of small things”.
Small things take root from the heart of God
And will transform beyond imagination.

I did not want to be small
Or spend my days in hidden things.
Reduced to something I interpreted
As shrunkenness, of no value, empty.
I struggled against the invisible prison.

But my days are not mine,
Nor is the sum of them my understanding.
I am small in the Hand of God, this promise,
This transformation, hidden from my eyes
But leading to an immense eternity.

© Rebecca Cook 2009
(written as I struggle with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome)

May your Tuesday be blessed!

Tag Tuesday - Flower Pot; and a Story: Song of The Air Conditioner

Tag Tuesday theme is a Flower Pot.

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For details on how I made this, or to join in on the challenge, please go to 

Blog Challenge Garden. 

AND we are trying to start a Facebook Page, so go check it out and "like" us and tell your artist friends so that they can join the tag making fun!

Song Of The Air Conditioner

32nd in the Tuesday Story Series

The last few mornings it has been cool enough to have the windows open first thing because the evening temperatures have been down into the low 60's. My studio is on the third floor of our home, actually, it's the only room at that level, so I don't really know if it qualifies as a whole floor! It has one window and I love to be able to open it because I can create art with birdsong and breezes as my accompaniment. On the ground below, the air conditioning units sit directly beneath my window, so when the units start singing, that's my cue to shut the window for the day. 

This morning as it started "singing", I reflected on how different life has been for many because of the invention of a way to cool air. Actually, that idea has been around since at least Roman times, when certain wealthy individuals would have water from an aqueduct circulating through the walls of their homes to cool them. The big difference with modern day air conditioning is that it takes the humidity out of the air and in my part of the country, that is a huge difference!

Growing up in the 50's and 60's, we had no air conditioning in our house, nor in most of the houses of people I knew. At night in the hot and humid air of summer, we used box fans in the windows to give us relief and to be able to sleep. Attic fans were in many homes, which, when turned on, would pull air through the house and create some comfort in the stifling heat. They were often loud and noisy as well! When I was in high school, many stores would attract customers by installing A/C and then putting a sign on their doors much like this one:

Automobiles didn't come equipped with air conditioning until the late 50's and it was not until 1968 that all cars produced in the US had A/C as an option. People sat on their porches in the south because in the early evening it was usually cooler outside than inside. 

As this marvel became more and more common in construction and industry, the entire United States showed a population shift from the 1950's through today. Las Vegas was nothing more than a crossroads and a few buildings, Florida had no sports teams and a dwindling population. Census records show that since the 1970's the American South and West made huge population increases and large gains in economic growth. 

I don't know if my grandparents would consider us "soft" now, but it has been proven that it's actually healthier for an older person to be in out of the heat with air conditioned, cooler air. My parents did not have A/C installed in their home until they were in their late 60's. Until then, staying overnight at my parent's home when we came to visit was not something we looked forward to in the summer! My father's health was failing and they began to see that it may be a good thing after all. All of their children and their children's families were very grateful and it made for a more pleasant visit with small children in tow.

So I lift a toast to Willis Carrier, who invented the air conditioner in 1902, in Buffalo New York of all places! I am doubly grateful for the blessing of air conditioning since I have had this chronic illness the past three years. So, while I prefer to hear birdsong while doing art, in the summer I am grateful for the song of the air conditioner!

More Postcards

I've been having fun ripping up tissue paper and making postcards. I showed one earlier this week, and here are two more. I really love using gift wrap tissue paper, it has such colorful patterns and a heavier body.

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The weather has been cool enough to leave the windows open during the day. We had lots of rain on Monday which was a relief for our parched yard. I know that the weather is supposed to warm up into the 80's in the next few days, but we sure are enjoying this nice break!

Hope everyone's week is going well!

Tag Tuesday - Moon; and a Story: A Day Trimmed In Black

For my Moon tag, I went in a Steampunk direction!

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For details on how I made this, or to join in on the challenge, please go to 

Blog Challenge Garden. 

AND we are trying to start a Facebook Page, so go check it out and "like" us and tell your artist friends so that they can join the tag making fun!

A Day Trimmed In Black

31st in the Tuesday Story Series

My maternal grandmother was born on September 11, 1897, so while growing up that was the important fact to me about that date. After she died in October 1991, I sent flowers to my mother on what would have been my grandmother's birthday the following year. After 2001, however, I unfortunately had a different reason to remember the 11th of September.

As the tenth year comes up next week marking that tragic time, all of us who are American citizens, (and many who aren't) remember where we were when the events unfolded. It was a difficult day for all of us. Personally, for several hours that day, fear camped out beside me on the sofa because my husband had been in New York and was flying out that morning.

When a friend called me about 9:30 to tell me to turn on the news, I sat there in shock, and all that was being said at the time was that a plane had flown into the World Trade Center. What plane? From where? No one knew. I quickly called my husband's assistant and asked her what time John's flight was supposed to leave New York and she told me that it had just left and that some of the men in the group who had been scheduled for an upcoming flight had told her that they were just informed that there would be no more planes out. Knowing that I could not get a hold of John while he was in flight, I was very afraid that the plane was his which had hit the building and then when it came out that the flight was from Boston, I had a such sense of relief which almost made me feel guilty.

John had been in the Financial District, right in the area of the World Trade Center, for a business meeting all day on Monday, September 10th, with several other businessmen from Charleston. He told me later that when his plane took off, it circled back around to fly over New York City on its way south. They passed the tower from a short distance away, and could see the black smoke billowing out. The pilot spoke to the passengers and told them that a small plane had accidentally flown into the building, but John and several others realized that no small plane would have caused the amount of smoke and flames they saw. There was no other word from the pilots until about a half hour later, when it was announced that the plane would be landing at Norfolk VA because of an emergency. No one on the plane knew what had happened until they came into the airport terminal.

He called me right away, knowing I'd be very concerned about his whereabouts. I don't think I was ever so relived to hear his voice! He sounded somewhat in shock, and there was so much confusion and noise in the terminal I could hardly hear him. He said that the pilot had told them they were the last plane out of the New York airport. We also realized later that the second plane to hit the towers had been in the same air space his plane was in, several miles behind. That gave us both chills.

His group was trying to find a rental car for the trip home, while the other part of the traveling contingency was now stuck in New York and would not arrive home for several more days. About midday, John's group finally found a minivan and started the long drive home. Traffic on I-95 was almost bumper to bumper the entire way, and they spent the trip listening to the radio and getting calls from their family members with updates as the day progressed. When I finally heard the van pull up about 10 pm, I rushed out the door and threw my arms around him. Even though I knew he was all right, watching the news programs all day made his absence much more acute and being with him was the only thing I really wanted!

Next week on September 11, there will be many speeches and events marking the decade since this tragedy happened. We will remember and pray for those families whose lives were directly impacted by the fall of the Towers. Life in this world has no certainty, but life in the next does and that understanding gives us the grace to go forward each day. Love the people in your life and let them know it with hugs and smiles. And let them love you and tell you how important you are to them!

Art Playing

Yesterday I had lunch with a dear friend, and she had given me several items she thought would be interesting to me as art. It was one of my better days and I was hoping that the wellness feeling would carry over to today so that I could attend church, but alas, I had one of my can't-go-to-sleep nights, so I awoke very fatigued. As the morning wore on, I began to feel a bit better, so I went into my studio and made this postcard for her.

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It was actually started last night when I couldn't sleep.  I finished it then scanned it and so the color is not quite true, it has more lavender in it than what is showing. It's made from torn, stamped tissue as the background, then I stamped the sentiment on vellum and added a small dried orchid she had given me.The orchid has several coats of clear medium over it, so I hope it survives the trip through the Post Office. 

We are supposed to begin getting rain today and on through the next several days, from the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee. Although I know it spoils Labor Day plans for a lot of people, I am so thankful to get any rain, we need it so badly. The lakes are down again, and the farmers are struggling. 

Enjoy your Labor Day weekend!

Still Playing With Tissue Paper

Just a little fun postcard made with strips of patterned tissue paper!

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Also, praying for those in the path of Irene. Our friends on the coast are getting some rain from it today. I don't wish the destruction on anyone, but if there has to be a storm, I was hoping we would get some rain too, but alas, it's not to be. Our forecasts for this area of the upstate are for the same old hot and dry!

Tag Tuesday - Letter A; and a Story: The Image In The Mirror

For the challenge today, it was the letter A and an image of something starting with it.

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For details on how I made this, or to join in on the challenge, please go to 

Blog Challenge Garden. 

AND we are trying to start a Facebook Page, so go check it out and "like" us and tell your artist friends so that they can join the tag making fun!

The Image in The Mirror

29th in the Tuesday Story Series

My parents had grown up during the Great Depression and the motto of those times stretched far into my childhood in the 1950's. Many people of the Depression era embraced that saying: "Use it up, wear it out. Make it do or do without." I think probably many people today are putting those same words to use.

Mom and Dad applied that principle to just about everything. I don't remember seeing a repairman come around to our house very often, my father could make parts of things fit altogether different appliances, something I just took for granted. Another area where the costs were kept down were in haircuts.

Mom trimmed my sisters' and my hair - very short bangs and the length ended between the ears and the shoulder, sort of a Buster Brown look. I don't think any of us went to a professional until we were in our teens. When I was young, it didn't bother me, but as I became older I was tired of the same old style. I wanted a "real" haircut, and I began to ask my parents for one. Of course they promptly told me that it cost money and it would have been money unnecessarily spent.

Then when I was about ten or eleven, I'm not sure exactly, I suddenly found out I was going to the Beauty Parlor! One of our neighbors, a couple of houses down from us, had a "Beauty Parlor" in her home and many of the women on our street were her clients, including my Mom. I cannot remember the occasion for this sudden exciting event, perhaps I was having a picture made or it was for a school event, I don't know. But I do remember how excited I was!

I felt so grown up when I climbed into the chair and had my hair washed by someone entirely outside of my family. She combed out my hair and starting trimming it, all the time talking with me as if I were important person. My mother sat in the chair smiling, and the other ladies there smiled with her. The stylist put rollers in my hair, and told me that it was time to sit under the hair dryer. Leading me to a chair and pulling down the large silver dome, she flipped a switch and I could feel warm air swirling around my ears. My, this was exciting! I caught my mother's eye and started talking to her. "Mom! I have curlers in my hair - does that mean I will have naturally curly hair??"

My mother looked startled and put her finger to her lips. I didn't understand, but she quickly came over and told me I was shouting. Of course, with the dryer noise I didn't realize how loud I was speaking! And she leaned over and said "No, your hair won't stay curly."

Well, that was disappointing.

After a few minutes, though, I focused on the finale to come - when my hair was dry and styled. After fidgeting around under the dryer for a while, the time finally arrived, and I was back in the stylist's chair. One by one, the rollers came out, and then she began combing. My back was to the mirror and I began imagining how beautiful I would look. It seemed like forever before she finished and said "There! You look so pretty!"  And she swung my chair around to face the mirror.

I blinked.

I stared.

I didn't know what to say. Then, I burst into tears!

To this day, I cannot remember exactly why I was so shocked. I'm sure it looked just like any little girl's haircut, but all I could think of was it wasn't me! The poor stylist was upset and my mother was embarrassed, but I couldn't stop crying. I eventually calmed down and we left. I don't think my mother ever really understood what happened, and I certainly couldn't explain it to her. I was very disappointed and my mother was exasperated. After that, it was long while before I went to a "Beauty Parlor" again!

Tag Tuesday - The Deep; And a Story: TO BE OR NOT

For today's Tag Tuesday, the theme is The Deep, as in deep in the ocean or the deep blue sea. I actually had started this tag sometime back for something else, but didn't like how it was turning out so I put is aside and did another one. I found it again a few days ago, and had new insight in what I wanted to do with it and this is the result. I remember reading not too long ago about how having to straighten up your studio could be a blessing in disguise because you may uncover something that brings a creative spark and that's just what happened! Sometimes I'm happy that I find it difficult to throw away things. :)

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For information on how I made it, and to join in the Tag Challenge, click here. We always love to have new people join the challenge!

To Be Or Not

Eighteenth in the Tuesday Story Series

My husband John and I met when he moved in next door to my roommate and me on the Isle of Palms. I liked him from the beginning (wasn't that convenient!) and after knowing each other for a couple of months, he asked me out to dinner several times and each time was a delightful evening. I gleaned from our conversations that I was older than he and that bothered me a bit. Not because he was five years younger, but because I thought once he knew I was older, the age difference might bother him. So the subject never really came up, but I knew sooner or later, it would.

One particularly lovely Autumn evening, we were driving back to the islands after a fresh seafood dinner and the conversation turned to theatre. John mentioned that he had often participated in such activities during his high school years, and that he had memorized several passages from Shakespeare. John is an engineer and it is not a common thing for an engineer to like theater, art and classical music, all of which were part of John's life. I expressed surprise about the Shakespeare and asked him if he remembered anything. He immediately launched into Hamlet's soliloquy from act three, scene one, speaking with no hesitation as we crossed the connecting bridges to the sea islands.

After he had finished, I was very impressed and I told him so. He smiled at me and there was a comfortable silence for a few minutes. Then, he said "You know, I know you are a bit older than me, do you mind if I ask how old you are?" 

"Oh no!" I thought, "here it comes." And saying a quick prayer, I simply said "I'm thirty-two."

"No, no," he replied, not believing me, "it's ok, how old are you really?"

"I'm thirty-two."

"Oh, c'mon, it's ok- just tell me."

"I'M THIRTY-TWO!!!!!"

Dead silence. We crossed the last bridge connecting the islands and he turned down our street. "Well, that's it." I thought, "It's obvious that he is bothered by the age difference." And we said goodnight and I went through the front door, into my room and starting crying. My roommate came in and was saddened to hear my tale of woe, and she started crying too.

The next day there was a knock at the door, and there stood John. I was happily surprised and invited him in, telling him that after the night before, I thought he wasn't interested in seeing me again. It was then that he told me that his fear was that I would think he was too young for me and he had to come back and make sure! 

And the rest, as they say, is history!!

Rebecca

Changing Purposes

When I started in the online Mixed Media Workshop, one of the earliest projects was to do a mixed media college on Tyvek. My first one was not to my liking at all, and the second was better (here), the third the best (I thought). I don't think I posted the third one, shame on me! If I did, just enjoy it again~ here it is:

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So, back to the first one I did. I decided to cut it up for different projects. The first two cuts I did were made into postcards. I made a 6 x 4 template hole in a piece of cardboard and it works great! After cutting out the selected piece, it's glued to same size card stock for stiffness and writing ability. 

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Postage has gone up one cent here in the US for domestic postcards, but thankfully not for first class mail or international mail. With all the postcards I send, every penny counts!

Hope you enjoyed the art work!

Rebecca

Reverse Collage on Plexiglas

In the Mixed Media Melange class, this lesson was to do another reverse collage, this time on Plexiglas. So once again, you are looking at this through the Plexiglas and I had to do everything in reverse.

Vins Emporter

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The image of the vintage French wine label was put on as a transfer with a gel medium, collage bits added in layers, lace and stenciling also added. Acrylic paint added in transparency colors and also in opaque.

This was time consuming, because at first I had a lot of trouble with the transfer; in fact, this is the fourth one! The first three times was another image which I finally gave up on. Each time I had to scrap off the transfer which didn't adhere properly, so I am really kind of tired now. I'm pretty pleased with this as the first one, and will do others.

ATCDivas March ATCs

The theme for the March ATCs was watercolor. 

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Liquid watercolors were added to a babywipe, which was glued to an ATC card and cut to size. Liquid watercolors are so brilliant! I then stamped on a small tag and colored with watercolor crayons then added water with a brush. A small length of fabric leaves and a colorful fish charm were attached, and Gold Leaf pen used in the corners. Since I have to make 7 of these, they had to be rather simple!

Praying for the people of Japan and the Ivory Coast. I have a brother and his wife who are in the Ivory Coast as missionaries and have served over there for 30 years. The situation has been rather overshadowed by the things happening in Egypt and Libya, but it is a very precarious situation with the refusal of the incumbent president to leave since he lost the election in November. There has been much bloodshed and destruction there. Please remember this country in your prayers!

Theme Thursday - Flourishes

Ahh, yes, I know it's Friday, but with this illness, I have learned when I better lie down and not do much (or it just gets worse), and yesterday was one of those days. Soooo, today I'm doing Theme Thursday  and the subject was flourishes.

ASIAN LADIES

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I haven't done anything Asian in a while, so I chose that for my direction. This is a 4 x 4, and the background is archaic Japanese print on rice paper. The vintage image of the women was aged and put down with torn red texts and a postage stamp with a lantern over it was added. The flourishes are black "gems".

The temperature is nice today but it is exceedingly windy! The bird feeders are swinging and leaves are flying in mini dust devils. The birds here have been making their spring calls, even though it is still February and the Spring Peepers chorus is taking place each night. According to the weather forecast, it looks like it will be that way for a while (except for the wind, hopefully!) so I really hope we do not get an intense cold snap . But, after all it is still February and it's really not supposed to be doing this!

And I wanted to say thanks to all of you who read my stories on Tuesdays. I've been getting some nice comments - it certainly gives me encouragement!

Mixed Media Altered Box (Mixed Media Monday) and 2 ATCs

 I altered this box after viewing this video on Youtube. It is a foiled box which was made as a gift:

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It's the first time I have altered a box and it was great fun. The video was shared by another friend and she made some wonderful altered dominos from it. This is being submitted to Mixed Media Monday for the theme "I've Been Wanting To...". Mixed media includes foil, Lumiere paint, acrylic paint, gold leaf and lacquer.

Life's doings has kept me from posting lately, so I will include several projects today. This ATC and the following ATC are for swaps that I host for a group on Swap-Bot.

History of the Name Of Each Month - September:

September simply comes from the Latin word for seven. Not only did the Romans hold games to honor their gods this month, so did the Greeks - the Olympic Games.

World Tour - San Marino:

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San Marino is a tiny republic in the northern part of Italy. It is one of the smallest countries in the world - 24 square miles,and its population numbers about 30,000. This is an altered art ATC.