Spontaneous Hearts

The Farmboy says I'm not spontaneous like I used to be.

He might be right.



Around midnight last night I woke up and noticed it had begun to snow.

My exclamation of "OH!" woke the Farmboy.

We both ended up with our noses pressed to the window watching the big, white flakes come down.

It was very nice to see after three days of hard, cold ice everywhere.

When we woke up this morning it was still snowing and everything was blanketed in soft, fluffy white.

The Farmboy doesn't think I'm spontaneous anymore.

But he might be wrong.

Because I spontaneously decided we needed to have a family photo shoot today in the snow.

 

Then I decided it needed to be a Valentine photo shoot.

And you can't have a Valentine photo shoot without hearts.

So I quickly whipped some up.

And now that they are done being used as props,

 they are hanging in the dining room windows.

Where they used to hang...

when they were curtains.

I hope you have a beautiful {and warm} weekend!

Kisses & Hugs

Happy Monday!

I hope you had a nice weekend.

Mine was full of cooking and art.

It was good.

Last time, I shared the Valentine Tag Swap I took part in and today I have the second swap.

Kandeland's Valentine Ornament Swap

I wanted this ornament to be simple and elegant, so here is what I came up with.

osnaburg fabric and white lace

vintage millinery and a bit of pink velvet



and a message

kisses & hugs

Until next time....

A Little Sample of Love

Back in November I told myself I was going to take a break from swaps.

No more joining any swaps for awhile...

maybe even for the whole year of 2011.

So what did I do?

You got it...

I didn't even hesitate and signed up for,

not one swap,

but two swaps

before 2011 even started.

Today I'll share the first one.

Kandeland's Valentine Tag Swap.

I had been wanting to do an all fabric and stitched tag for awhile

and even considered holding a fabric tag swap last year, but couldn't find the time to.

And I thought a little "love" sampler would make a cute tag.

On the back I made a little lace pocket to slip my card into, since it would have taken forever to have hand stitched all of my info.

I love, love, love the fabric I used for the back!

So much so, I considered making a skirt with it, but the Farmboy thought it would be way too over the top.  So much for that idea.

So maybe instead, I'll just pin a big swatch to the wall so I can gaze at it whenever I like.

I'm really pleased with how they turned out.

Have a beautiful Thursday!

PS. I'm a little slow to the punch and just yesterday realized Blogger had an updated editor.

So what do you think of my new look?

Heart Sessions: No.2

Happy Valentine's Day!

Back In the Saddle Again

The last two days have been BEAUTIFUL here! Yesterday, I had the windows thrown wide open, all day. And Sunday, the Farmboy and I took a 2 1/2 hour hike. I can't tell you how much I needed that! I know that we are only into mid-January and realistically this is not normal weather. Our cold, icy season is usually late Jan. into February, but this winter has already been a very odd one, as is. Regardless, I'm going to take what I can get, when I can get it!

In the last post... and thank you for all of your "hang in there" comments!... I mentioned how my melancholy snuck it's way into my art. First let me say, that I was so surprised when I noticed it. I am always reading about how artists put their feelings and emotions into their art. I totally get that and have tried so hard at that, but have usually been unsure, as to whether or not I'm doing it. However now, I've come to the conclusion that I probably have been. I just haven't realized it because, I'm usually just happy, go-lucky all the time. Let me show you...

Here are the Valentine Tags I created for Natalea's swap.

I had such a hard time getting started on these, because I wasn't feeling all sweet and sugary. Every day I would go through my images and try to pick one for these tags and every night I would lay in bed and think about this lady. (For the life of me, I can't remember which blog or site I got her from... if it's yours let me know, so I can link it!) She looks to me as if she is pining for her true love and then the poetry of E.E. Cummings would come to me... "I carry your heart with me(I carry it in my heart)...." I thought it beautiful and gave into it.... no cupids were going to happen this time.

I can see and feel the melancholy in them, but I do like them and feel they are romantic enough to get by.... hope Natalea agrees too and doesn't ban me from any of her future swaps!

It looks as if today will be beautiful again, so I'm off to open windows and get some more fresh air.
I hope you have a beautiful day too!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I know, I'm a day late. That's because yesterday, I was suffering from an art party hangover.

Let me backtrack.

Just after the New Year, three of my good friends and I spent the day shopping on the square. At lunch that day, we decided to have an ATC swap between the four of us. Now this was kind of a "big" step for my friends, as they were just entering into the beautiful world of mixed media art. We chose a theme for our cards... February (our own interpretation) and decided that it would be fun to have an art party and we would swap cards then.

Well, needless to say, the first thing that popped into my head was this book. With this being the first "art party" I've ever hosted for a group over the age of 5 and with choosing a February date, I thought I would baby step it and based our party around the one in Postmark: LA.

It was great!



Unfortunatly, this was the only picture I took all night.

So, after a delicious Italian pot luck dinner, we sat down to create. I had filled everyone's boxes with lots of pretty goodies and gave them each a wooden heart. Each box contained an old bottle, like the project in the book, but it turned out that none of us ended up attaching our bottles to our collages. Here is my finished heart.





The postcard image I used is from Ranjini of Scrapologie.

After time spent laughing and creating, we sat down to swap our ATC's. Here are the three I made.

I absolutely fell in love with Cerri's tutorial over at Joli Paquet and knew immediately that this was the technique I wanted to use on my cards. It fit my interpretation of February perfectly.... romance.


This one is Donna's. Love this image. She added just a touch of color to it and edged it in real gold leaf.


This one is Nina's. Seriously, how darling is this!



The front and back of Cheryl's. Cheryl went ALL out and made the box to house the ATC and included a photo clip...

and filled the pocket with tons of little images!


Like I said, the whole night was great!

Hope your Valentine's Day was wonderful too!

More Valentine Treats

The second, recent box of goodness to land on my doorstep, was stuffed to the gills with ornaments. Natalea of Kandeland had asked me to participate in her Valentine Ornament Swap. The swap is over and now, here are the sweets.


Lee Weber of Weber's World


Heather of Speckled Egg


Sandy of Sandy's Creations


Viv of Viv's Whimsy
(eek... sorry for the blurry photo... I just noticed it.)

Tammy of The Other Side of Me


Cindy of Junque Art


Kathy Jacobson of A Bit of Serendipity


Jeanne of Collage Art Studio


Natalea of Kandeland


And Sarah of Vintage Lily didn't get a chance to make one, however, she did send this fabulous beeswax covered tag and all these goodies.


And this was my contribution that got sent to all of the girls.




I also made Natalea a little shadow box "thank you", kind of like the one I made for Joanna, but unfortunately, I didn't get any photos of it before I sent everything off.

Thanks for taking a peek and I hope you have a beautiful day!

Valentine Treats

Back in December, I was asked to join two different Valentine Swaps. I had such a good time working on both of them.

The first completed swap that landed on my doorstep was the Sweet Finds Vintage Valentine ATC Swap, hosted by Joanna of Sweet Finds. The final product is such a "Sweet" treat!

Joanna took all of the ATC's and created a fat book with them, for each of us. This is Joanna's cover.


Cindy Gilstrap of Junque Art.


Maija Lepore of Maigirlz Madness.


Gina Grable of Embrace Your Bliss.


Heather Ales of My Everyday Life.


Jenny Morgan. She needs a blog... no, I need her to have a blog!


Ali Gripp of Inspiration Ali.


Mine. The little girl image is from From the Craft Room.


Joanna's ATC.


Jana Perenchio of These are the Days.


Cindy Mayfield of Yapping Cat Studio.


Valita Baxley of Vintage V's.


Joanna even created a back cover with a "thank you" to all of us girls.


And all of these goodies were tucked in with our books!

These are just some fun pics I took before I sent my cards off.


And this is a little thank you I made for Joanna for inviting me to the swap.




I've run out of time, so I'll have to show you the second swap I was in, in my next post.
Have a beautiful day!

*********

I almost forgot. I listed a couple of new things in the shop.