Giddy Up CowGirls.....Journaling

Well, this Saturday, yes, I did get to create. I worked on the San Antonio visual journaling and got those pages done. Have to get ready for my Indy pages. I had fun with the pages and went back and added rub-ons. I like to use the fancypantsdesigns. On San Antonio I used the "aged florals." They are great rub-ons to work with since they transfer so well.

I enjoyed working on the "Cowgirl" page. I had started this earlier and added the "scrabble" letters to spell out my quote. Added a floral rub-on around my cowgirl just to "pretty her up." I know, the gal didn't need it but whats a gal gonna do some days when you have a bad hair day and hat you select is just a little manly. The flower in the right hand corner is a Prima "Artful Collage" flower. Love this collection since I usually don't use the prima flowers.

My friends, Korie and Jenny, are addicted to them. Really. I mean seriously addicted to them. I have never in my life seen such a collection. Yes, I do believe an intervention is in the works for the next time we get together to crop. Hopefully, there might just be a Prima Flower Anonymous Group somewhere in the area.

On the inside of the Cowgirl page, I added a transparency of the River Walk in San Antonio. We had New Year's Eve dinner at Casa Rio. Too die for.... The food was so tasty.

As I searched for the restroom I came upon an incredible room with stuffed animals and old photos. I whipped out the camera and started clicking away. One jewel was the German "Prosit Neujahr!" tag. Of course translated is Happy New Year. Many Germans helped settle San Antonio so I used the image on the page with the Menger Hotel.

That image of the room would almost make a vegetarian out of you for sure. You certainly wouldn't want to eat the wild boar I saw -- he looks really mad. Think his meat would be tough?

The last page of the San Antonio journal are photos. While walking the River Walk I happen to come upon the statue of Saint Anthony. I had one "gold" dollar coin left from my Christmas bonus and left it at his feet under some quarters but I see it sticking out.... Lynn and I had our photo taken in front of the Alamo on the day of the All American Bowl. I really liked the bowl game more than I ever imagined. I do believe that was my first time in a pro football arena. I've gotta lose 5 pounds, folks.

Speaking of pounds, off to have dinner and read instructions for hooking up my Wii. I may (and I said may) still work on another project -- the awesome "Neglected Murderesses" calendar. Remember - I have to decorate February. Oh boy! However, I am nursing a cold and am kind of tired right now.

Enjoy your evening! Like I said, I am trying to take care of a cold I brought back from Indy. It is now in its ugly stage. I won't go into the story. I am being kind to you.

Miss Me?

WOW! I certainly missed you all and I missed my Honeysuckle Breeze. I really did miss everyone and my routine. Seems I have been on the go since Thanksgiving and really have had no time to stop and smell the honeysuckles. But times they are a changin' - yes they are. No trips planned in the near future - my calendar right now says October for a Michelle Ward workshop.

In my last post I told you about a gift I was making for our dear friend Korie - but I would not show you since she reads this blog. Well the shower took place, I missed it, and so here is what I made her..... yes, a little baby bib. I also put other stuff in the box which I know she liked. I just know my Korie. She is due now in about two weeks.

I have not made a baby bib since the 90s. I believe the last one I made was for a great nephew in 99. I have also made cross stitch baby blankets over the years which are always fun. So bottom line - Korie got the last baby bib in the home. Lucky I had one left because when I went to check out some "different" colors - there were literally no cross stitch bibs in the stores to be found. None! Yes, Korie, I washed it before I crossed stitched it. It was packed away in a drawer literally forgotten until the roaming spirits in the universe had me find it and so it was definitely meant for little baby A. I know, not pink, but, hey, yellow is cool.

On my trip out of town I did take a small cross stitch with me to work on the plane. It is the Tower of London I bought at the Tower of London in 2005. Cross stitching is relaxing for me, especially on the plane.

While travelling this time, I gathered my visual journal items. That was fun and can't wait to work with them - soon. This "not creating" is making me a little tense. I am missing it.

If you remember, I travelled to Indy on business and then stayed a few days over to visit my family. I had not seen my niece since 1988. I have only seen photos of her wonderful son. He is like so cool and special. My brother and nephew, Aaron, were also there. It was a lovely time. I gave her the book you all have seen called "Where I'm From" - and explained the photos to her. I think she loved it. Nope, I know she did.

The one thing I also gave her was something very very dear to me. It was time to move it to her. Right before my Mom died she purchased a necklace thru a catalogue and gave it to my Dad. She told him it was the key to her heart and he put it on. She died three months later. He never took it off until he died 16 months later. When he took his last breath my aunt took the necklace off of him and gave it to me. I have had it since March 2000. I did always chuckle when I put it on because I told Mom and Dad they were coming with me to wherever I was headed.

And now, my Mom's only granddaughter has it - and it is the way it was meant to be. She now can take them around with her when she puts it on. Does the photo of the three look like the leaning tower of pizza? (Yes, I'm hungry)...

My great nephew and I ended up playing Wii Sports on Saturday. I love the tennis on it and did go out and buy me one today. I think it might have helped my game on Thursday night. Today I need to get it hooked up. I need to order Wii Fit. I need to lose 5 pounds...... and on and on. It is chilly here and I have a beef stew cooking in the crock pot. I also want to create in my visual journal .... and watch the women's final at the Australia Open. Yes, I know Serena won but I have to see how she took the first set (6 games) in 20 minutes. She rocks!

In closing -- is this photo of Caden not the best. Just a bundle of energy! He was not realllll happy when I got a higher score on one of the "training" tennis games than him. Oh well, baby, sometimes old women rock!

Honeysuckle Breeze today - snow flurries

Well, I finally got my baby shower gift done! Worked on it all last night till 11 pm. Started on it again this morning at 8:30 am and finished at 1 pm (with a half hour for lunch!). So then we wash it, dry it, and put it in its box. Korie - sorry I will miss you baby shower tea - I really really am!

Next on my plate was to come up with a tag. No this gift did not deserve a store bought tag but I was running out of time to make something else. Well, as luck would have it - and left over from my time when I made many greeting cards -- I found the perfect one made several years ago.

It is a "sketch" stamp for Stampin Up which I stamped onto watercolor paper. Watercolored it. Put vellum on top and glued it to a card. SO, I got rid of the card, got into my fabricl stash and started sewing away. I will credit this part with an inspiration from Magpie's Nest on January 18 called "Cherry Red." Nope, my tag does not look anything like hers but it was the inspiration to get into my scrap bag! Bless you, Patti.

Now, I need to wrap my mind around leaving town. I leave on Thursday morning to fly to Indy and will return next Monday. Part is work and the other part fun. I am visiting my niece and her family and then my brother will drive up from St. Louis (or is that over?)..... So I am looking forward to having a lot of fun!

Need to finish some cleaning stuff - putting clean sheets on the bed -- then getting ready for tennis. The few snow flurries today were real pretty and are starting to melt now. Nice day.

CheckOff - Pillow done!

Just finished pillow. Now getting ready to go back to a cross-stitch. Laundry done. Roast cooking. Garlic bread mellowing. Life is good.

Slowly getting stuff done!

Oliver did come over yesterday and stayed longer than a grocery store visit. His mom and dad went to a movie, so little Oliver and I did chores together. We cleaned the kitchen, straightened up the living room, cooked stew, went for a walk, helped find things Auntie forgot she had, search closets. Oliver was one busy little boy yesterday to say the least. By the time his Mommy and Daddy got home and then all came back for dinner and he stuffed his little belly - he literally started trying to fall asleep while chewing on a little chew-bone. Yes, just like a little toddler.

I did get the two iron on transfers on the black t-shirts. The Queen one worked great, the "white" as you can see transferred beautifully. I'm not really crazy about the Project Runway iron on - BUT it works - white did not transfer as well as the "Queen" did. These Ts are fitted and so are smaller than the usual t-shirt sizes. I don't believe the Project Runway will work as a birthday gift so I will keep it. But it was fun and I managed it while Oliver was trying to eat the pine cones as fiber. I forgot I even had them. So between sewing and ironing the transfer I chased Oliver all over the place trying to get them out of his mouth (after I took the photo, of course). All I got out of him was, "Got fiber?" "Oops, found fiber in the closet!" "Run, baby, Run - she can't catch me!"

Got the pillow sewn using Asian fabric for the back of it. Now just to get the fiber-fill out to stuff the pillow. No way was I doing that with Oliver hanging out.

He managed to find the "severed arm" of the dog toy he and his daddy mutilated the last time they were here. Yes, I chased the little bugger around and around the dining room table before tackling him and getting the arm out of his mouth. After that, I managed to get the arm sewn back on just in time for he and daddy to take the poor toy on again. But, I am happy to report, no damage done to toy and it held up under the Oliver/Daddy tests for durability.

Today, I am working on a baby shower gift. Found a beautiful box for the gifts to go in.... I am making one of the gifts so I then had to find some coordinating items to go with it. Vague, yes, but the mommy reads this blog. I can say -- I don't do gift registries..... no fun. I like to theme a gift and when I am in the middle of the "themeing," I have to see and touch the items, especially if I am making one of the gifts. I guess my visual journal and image transfer on fabric will have to wait until tomorrow. HOLIDAY! So we will start early in the morning ...... transferring or not! *wink* *wink*

Oh yes, I found this adorable berry heart at Targets. Not sure what I'm going to do with it just yet..... Will figure it out. Sorry, girlfriends, they only had one and I bought it! So if you go to the Target in Sterling, it is gone, gone, gone. Sorry, again. (No, I'm not.... just happy I found it after most of the world did since they had only one left.) Listening to the radio while driving and doing chores -- the festivities of the inauguration in downtown DC have begun. I saw more planes headed for Dulles airport than ever before at this time of the day. Could have been the private jets since they are using one of the runways as a parking lot out there. Let's all have fun and enjoy the action. I don't believe I have looked this forward to an inauguration since John F. Kennedy's and I was only in junior high then.

Sewing Saturday

I was going to start this post out about the projects I have planned today and also my dinner plans with my nephew pup and his parents. However, before starting this post I happened to check my email and low and behold L sends me one that begins with something like this:

" Mic…Cee Ya Real Soon…key…Y? Because We Like You...MOUSE."

At this point, I do not realize there are photos attached. Get my drift? Once viewed, I told her Oliver needed Auntie time for therapy and to bring him over while they go to the grocery store. Oh my... I don't see him smiling!

OK back to post. Today I plan to get the sewing machine out and finish the Asian pillow that was a Christmas gift. Yes, I took it over to her when I gave her a gift certificate for a massage... so she was happy to get the pillow in time for Chinese New Years! Life is good.

Next item of business is to TRANSFER (oh oh) these two images using the iron (YEA) onto two black T-shirts. I'm sure this will not be as scary as an image transfer using gel - saving that one for tomorrow. I found these transfers at Michael's. They also have some others for "white" Ts - one I was really drawn to: "Make it Work" - love it - you go Tim! If you don't watch Project Runway don't worry about figuring that one out!

And finally, a suggestion to my Crafty Chix friends with little ones (or not): Hansel & Gretel will be playing at the Industrial Strength Theater January 31-February 15. Check out their web site. The Elden Street Players Theatre for Young Audiences is so much fun for kids (and adults). I have mentioned this before.... Yes, Loren, Patricia, and I plan to attend on February 14 at the early performance. We plan breakfast out prior to the 11:00 performance. Maybe I'll see some of you there. I know Loren will be ready to get her autographs to put in her Stage Door Album!

and finally # 2 (I can never seem to just say "goodbye" -- sounds like a country song comin' on here), we got "snow" this week - if you can call it that. Nope, I am not asking for a big snow fall. My little bugger can't drive through it like my Forester could. My Forester could drive through anything but Z Buggy is only a few inches off the ground and you can imagine what happens when I try to drive thru any snow "drifts" 6 inches or higher..... Yes, I'm whining. Happy Saturday!

San Antonio Visual Journaling

Been really busy at work and my brain is tired, however, I did work on a page in my visual journal when I got home tonight. Almost time for dinner. I also plan to print some photos of the Alamo I took and will probably do so on a transparency for the next page. Will work on that soon.

Tonight I didn't feel like printing photos. I did pull out the "lady" out of my clip art transparency stash. I also need to make this page look more San Antonio and not sure how to do that tonight. So you sense a little bit of low energy here? I think it's the weather.

I also worked on the cover for my fabric book and like the way it is shaping up. I haven't had time this week to work on my "image" transfer and will experiment again on Saturday and, hopefully, the advice from Korie the other day will help me out. I am going to master this if it drives me batty. OH yeah, I'm already batty!



I used a piece of Grandma's crochet on the cover. I always admired her handiwork. She tried to teach me how to crochet but I never got into it like I did the cross-stitch or quilting. I also like the fact that it has a few discolored spots that have appeared over the years. It gives it character. I also, once again, loved the material that I received at Korie's workshop this past summer.



I plan to finish the book up this weekend. It is a three-day weekend and I'm ready for it. I would really like to put an image transfer on the cover and that may or may not happen. We will see. I thought I would share a photo of Grandma from the 1980s. Many times she did not smile when her photo was taken but here it is almost there! She was a very very special lady. You have seen the younger photo of her in previous posts on the fabric book.

Need to get supper. It is suppose to be really cold tonight. Everyone -- bundle up!

Christmas Past

My dear neighbors, Joe & Jenny, taped a photo to my door from Christmas Day. I shared the day with them and we all lunched out in splendor and filled ourselves with ham, garlic mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, hot buns with melting butter, dessert - oh no, I just put on 5 pounds thinking about our feast.

OK, I digressed a little. The photo is one I just LOVE. Shows our Irish Leprechaun in all his splendor with a lovely photo of Oliver and yellow ducks! A year ago when Oliver was but a 10-12 week pup, Joe went over to Larcy and Phil's everyday and walked the little bugger introducing him to all the neighbors and school kids. Joe comes to the states several times a year when he is not working his tour bus. We all absolutely love Joe and are happy that Jenny lets him come back. Every once in a while when Joe is not minding his diet or getting in trouble, Jenny tells me she is sending him to my place. He also has a key to Larcy and Phil's place so he won't get cold sleeping on a park bench.

Joe's photo of Oliver is different than the one I received for Christmas. I love both photos. My photo is now in a place of honor next to my dearly departed Cricket. I really will probably never post about Cricket - his death was way too hard on me although it was 4 years ago. Since his passing, I made up my mind that there will never be a beloved pet living permanently in my home. However, Oliver can come over and stay for periods of time when his mom and dad are out of town. . . well, kind of, I told them I don't walk dogs in the middle of winter. However, I will feed, love, and let Oliver sleep in my bed as long as they find someone to walk him. When Joe is in town, that will work out perfectly!

You will see in the photo above of Joe and me, I have the infamous Lizzie Borden apron on. Although Larcy gave me a beautiful royal red crown apron (along with other stuff including cool cigar stickers!), I didn't want it to get dirty when cooking. I know that will pass but it was like still new on Christmas Day and I have cooked in it since that time. Interesting note here, last week Oliver went on a day trip to West Virginia with Jenny and Joe. That dog really has a hard life doesn't he?

Image Transfer Challenged

Yes, I admit defeat today. I hang my head in shame. I cannot for the life of me get a good image (black & white) transferred onto fabric. The one image I thought I really messed up at my Korie workshop this summer (Summer in Paris) was really good compared to my experiments today.

Keep this in mind -- here is the image I transferred this summer:


First things first -- I finished the last two page layout in my fabric book. Yes, I can do that and am not "challenged."


I even got so carried away as to iron the lace before putting down on the material. Oh my!





I used two photos printed on canvas: one is of mother's confirmation class, and the second is of her photo as a student studying to be an RN. That is one of my all time favorite photos of her. I think I told you that back in the 40s the nursing students could not be married and so she had to drop out to marry dad once he came back from WWII.

Back to my failure today. I gathered all the materials and Korie's instructions along with instructions in another book I have. How could I go wrong?


I spread the gel medium matte onto the cloth. I applied the photos and the finished products were nightmares.



I am saving them and have to idea how I will use them. However, if my dear grandmother, Momo, saw this transfer of her looking like she had one big hairy liver spot on her face and neck, she would haunt me forever and forever, I have no doubt about it. That one will go in the trash. Ain't taking any chances. I prefer to watch my ghost hunting on TV. So, I think the first one I did I either had too much matte medium in spots and not enough in others and then I put it under the water because the paper was staying on and gluing down.


Oh well, that has been my Sunday so far sandwiched in between grocery shopping and lunch. I think I will now move on to work on the cover of my fabric book. I finally found my packing tape which in Korie's instruction I have to "cover the spin" with our books closed. When we started we cut the spine of the board books so it would allow our creativity in between the covers! *wink* Wonder if it has anything to do with the movie playing on Sci-Fi in the background, Mulberry Street, a wonderful little ditty about mutant rats turning humans into rat-like looking zombies and biting people who then turn into human zombies. Oh well, NYC gets it again.

Back to work..... Gel-medium transfers give me the hives. hiss, boo, hiss, hiss.

Honeysuckle Breeze is rainy & cloudy

What a great day! I really do love cloudy rainy days it means I have "no guilt" about staying inside and doing stuff like laundry, creating, talking to my brother on the phone, just being! Since I missed "last weekend" because I was working, this Saturday has been double the fun.

First off, before showing you what I created today (yes, something pretty for Korie), my brother sent me an email yesterday about my nephew (and Godson) Aaron. Aaron is one of the featured stories in the January 9 issue of e-speaks, the electronic newsletter of Autism Speaks. My brother (and, of course, me) is so proud of Aaron, his accomplishments, his courage, and especially the release of his new book "Finding Kansas." You can purchase Aaron's book at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, tatepublishing.com, or FindingKansas.com. In the article, Jim tells how Aaron, who was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome at the age of 20, became the flagman for one of the largest kart races in the world (this is what Aaron was doing before he came here for Thanksgiving) and penned a book. You can click here to read the story. *APPLAUSE* *APPLAUSE* for Aaron and Jim.

Back to my creating efforts today, I worked on another page in my fabric book about the Women Who Went Before...... The page I finished used two confirmation photos of my Aunt Mary and my Mother. I really love these photos and enjoyed working on this page. I played with several layouts and finally settled on one -- yes, eventually!



I ripped out two pages from my Mother's German song book. (I know of two lovely ladies whom are rolling in their graves because of this one action I did today.) Well, Mommy, I really needed to -- don't tell Grandma, OK? I grabbed some matching material used earlier in the book and glued the pages onto it. I then mounted the photos on top of that and added the words, "Aunt" and "Mother." Well, at least one thing Grandma would be proud of -- I sewed the pages to the canvas photos. Imagine me shyly grinning here.

The lace alone was not doing it for me so I decided to add some vining leaves which I really like. (Throughout this book I have been using my grandmother's and mother's lace I found after mother passed away.) I have a friend who liked this "leafy ribbon" so much she bought a whole roll for about $30. Yes, I am also considering ordering a roll from Angela at Angela's Happy Stamper.



Now, these leaves (for me at least) are a little tricky applying to lace since they "twist" on you. So the first thing you need to make sure is that you have it laid out correctly. And, at times, I have taken some straight pens to hold everything down while I use Tacky Glue on the green leaf area. I have never tried to sew this to ribbon and don't think it would really work. Tacky Glue is great for this.

I like the finished page a lot. The material I'm using was provided in Korie's class this past July. These are my colors and I find them enjoyable to work with. I have been having fun putting the patterns together -- I feel like a designer, oh no. But that might really be what art is all about! *wink*

I do have to admit that after I finished the "Aunt" and "Mother" page I was able to start the layout for the last page of the book. After I finish that, it will be time to work on the cover. WOW, almost there. Almost done. And most likely it will go to my niece when all is said and done. I feel good today. It is now getting time to go downstairs and cook dinner. It is still rainy outside - but you know, we don't have it as bad as some folks around the country. Take care!

San Antonio Visual Journaling

Here is the "Before" page done at home prior to traveling to San Antonio last week........ (just a little editorializing here since you are now prepared to see the "after" page)...



TA DUM.................Just got my first page almost done for my visual journal and stuff from San Antonio. It was hard working on this journal either on the plane going, there, or on the plane coming home. It is completely different when traveling alone versus with your colleagues from work. BUT, I gathered items to use in the journal as the days went by. (As a side note - I took some DVDs - watched (1) The Mist - excellent Stephen King - and (2) Cloverfield (you see part of its packaging on this page) which I have not watched - but I like so love the look of the "sticker" that was on the Cloverfield case that you see below in the almost-finished page under the chipboard letter "t.")






The project on this page that I worked on was the accordion tags which I ended up using eyelets to close some of the pages and so it really isn't an accordion anymore.... I had a goody bag which was source of fun images. This "box" was compliments of Sportslink which sponsored the U.S. Army All-American Bowl. The purpose of my trip to San Antonio was to work our board meeting at this event. We (the office) is a sponsor of the U.S. Army All-American Marching Band which performed at the Bowl in the Alamo Dome on Saturday.




On the "accordion" tags I used images from the box that held chips, salsa, sweets, and water. I need to add stuff/journaling to these tags and jazz it up but as we know this is a work in progress!



As you might have just guessed when spying the photo below -- I love this next photo - this dandy squash is my new Potato Head! I know, I know it might spook some of you out there(Korie)...... but is it not a beautiful little veggie?

Tonight I cooked my infamous "Old People Lips" squash and folks I am proud to say -- it was really good. When I was cutting the squash up, I tasted it and there was a little reminder of a raw turnip but softer in texture with a bit of sweetness - pear - not sure - but good. I did not use the recipe I found online which called for it being cooked in a skillet with olive oil. I went on and put it in my roasted veggie mix and baked it in the oven. My recipe calls for green peppers, red peppers, zucchini squash, onions, olive oil, bake for 20 minutes in oven at 350 degrees stirring occasionally. I added the Chayote Squash and some minced garlic to the mix and it was great.

I love the little Perdue "right portion" chicken breasts - (especially the Italian spice ones) - cooked that and put on top of veggies, added a little soy sauce - deeelish.....if I say so myself without sounding like I'm bragging. So now with a cup of coffee I am ready to wind down from a busy but good day.

Take care friends, family, and strangers! The Honeysuckle Breeze is gently blowing the rain around and temps are dropping a little. But no snow or ice! Thank you, thank you, thank you.......

I really can do without the nuisance "stuff" where it spits and gets slick. I so hope all those in the Northwest and especially the state of Washington are taking care with all of the snows, rains, and now the anticipated floods that are getting ready to hit. God be with you as you battle the elements.