No Earthquake Today, Frida and the Borg

No earthquake today for us.  It is not to  unusual that we have any here in Texas but last week we had a 4.4 one last Sunday.  In fact we had three total but  two were baby ones about 77 miles from our home.  It just shook Eldon's chair and rattled the globes of the chandelier we have in the bedroom.  I actually thought Eldon was playing a trick on me.    We found out though that our area with Oklahoma and New Mexico have had more than a dozen earthquakes in the past two years.  In 1931 we did have a 5.8 shaker and no I wasn't around then.  Just a little excitement around here, Mother Nature just clearing her throat.   She is giving us a beautiful fall so far and as you know it is my favorite time of year. 

I have a sweet friend that surprised me with a pendant.  In the mail was a little package, you know good things come in little packages.  It was a pendant of Frida Kahlo.  I wore it a few times but I try to surround myself in the bathroom while getting ready with things that I enjoy looking at.  So I had this sweet little frame and Frida is now hanging in a place of honor along with my photo of Eldon and I with space guns on a Borg spaceship and us with the race cars.  Good memories to view for me.  On the back, which you can't see is the saying of Art Heals .  Love that saying.  If you don't know Frida, she is a 20th centruy Mexican artist who was a great artist and a had a strong will.  Please google her if you want.  There was a movie about her also that was interesting. 

Here she is proudly hanging on my wall.  The frame I did have to overhaul but it cooperated quite nicely and I thought the butterfly on it went well with Frida. 

 Eldon and I with the Borg.  Just in case you don't know about them, they are nasty things on Star Trek.  Their ships are large cube looking contraptions.  I have a small one if you ever care to see it.  Once a friend who owned a Hallmark store called and said "Annette, the ornament this year is a cube thing and my mother collects the Star Trek ornaments.  Would she want one of these" ?  I promptly said you bet and save me one while you are at it.  I cannot get enough of the sci fi world.  I know it doesn't go with some of the frilly things I create but there are different sides of all of us-possibly.

There you go a quick peek at what is going on in my world today.  Thanks for stopping by and see you next time.    xoxo

From the mid 70's to an Altoid Mint Tin

The 70's, my that was an interesting era.  Don't think I want to go back to it with bell bottom pants and some pretty wild colors.  So much going on during that time in our life and certainly the world.   WHEW !!!  

 Now when you do a short lived, you noticed I said short lived, hobby back then and saved it with all of it's doings I certainly think you need to make a special display out of it.  Now what was this hobby you ask?  It was TATTING !!!!   You have this special little shuttle, holder of a bobbin with fine thread and spend hours and hours to make 1/2 of an inch of it.  Not only was it slow but very hard on your nerves.   I made about 18 inches to one yard of it.  Closer to 18 inches though.  this has got to be a lost art that our little great grandmothers did and some grandmothers made.  You used a tiny crochet hook with these little torture instruments.  It is pretty on clothing and hankies but I would have to have naked hankies if I carried one.   Naw, Kleenex is a good thing to have around.   I just hated to give up on it and declaring that a little piece of thread won but it was the winner over me. 

Cristina Zinnia Galliher of Roses on my Table is teaching some great techniques on her site and one is Shrines.  I didn't have a clue what a shrine was in our art world but if something is calling to have a shrine made of it tatting is.   So after some extensive digging, I hate to throw anything away, I found the pretty doings and the instruments you used.

Meet the Altoid Tin,  I did forget to say they are some curiously strong mints made in England and they come in little tins.   On the outside of the tin is a little hint of tatting.  I slightly altered the look of the tin, warning they do not come decorated like this. 

The inside of the little tin.  Of course you can see the shuttle, holder of the little round bobbin with some of the tatting spread around both sides of it.   So now the tatting and its torture parafanilia have a little resting spot and trust me I will not ever use the shuttle or any of it again. I did think the lace is pretty and now certainly appreciate it.   Inside I wrote tatting is patience and it is if you do any of it at all.

I did line the inside of the shuttle section with gimp.  If you look very close you can see a section of it.   This is gimp.  When I went to a local store and said something about gimp the lady looked at me in discust.  I don't think she knew what this was called.    The goldie gimp and the pretty lace I used in this was from some of my Gilded Girls Stash Society.  The treasures you get are to pretty to use but trying to use them, some of them. 

There you go this is what is going on in my world for the moment.  Well, this is over and onward and upward to another project.  I still do believe ART HEALS and it does.    Thanks for stopping by.  See ya later.  xoxox

Hog Heaven

Hello and welcome to September.  I can feel it in the air, well after today when it gets to the 80's.  It should be the last of the 100 plus days.  The weatherman says it.  So that should be gospel in TV land.

I remember when fall came  while our daughters were growing up.  Fall  meant kids starting back to school and a schedule of sorts. Fall sports of Volleyball and Football and the ending of the baseball series. Of course the grass slowing down in it's growing and less mowing for us and we get to put up our fall decorations of the colors of oranges, reds and yellows.   I may have been the only mother in the world that enjoyed the freedom of the summer and no set schedule, but I bet not.

I have discovered this group called---get this-Gilded Girls Stash Society.   Isn't that a great name for us Stashers ?   I need to take pics of the goodies you get once a month. Everyone needs more stash to play with don't we ?  So it was to die for and I hope they aren't like some of my other wonderful treasures, to pretty to use but I am going to try.  The beautiful laces, that I am a sucker for, and fabric and just findings in general.  It is a tad pricey but you know trying to find them on the Internet or even shock upon shock actually going in the automobile and hunting for them in the stores.   I do remember one day our beautiful daughter Debra came to see me one day, she lived in another town and was a second grade teacher.  She had this big sack of lace for me.  I don't know where she got it but there were yards of it and she wanted me to have it to play with.  So of course I had to use it and create.  I just found the box that it was stored in and was in hog heaven.  Guess it doesn't take much to make me feel like I am in hog heaven.

This month I was sent in a pretty glass vile some beads and findings for making jewelry.  I have never in my whole life made jewelry like this.  I did use to do beading in the 70's, it was fun and I gave away a bunch of it.  No one seemed to mind to receive it.  I even made toe rings for our daughters.  They had toe rings on when they went bare footed.  Pretty cute.

So Annette you say, quit teasing us and let us see what you did.   Well, you asked.  It is not perfect as it is the first piece I have created but certainly not the last.  It has  the beautiful fall colors that redheads can wear with ease but the rest of us wear it also.


Be sure and remember to double click on the pics and then you can really see them. 

A close up of the beautiful vintage glass flower that I put together.  I was so excited that I didn't break it. 

A side view of the glass tulip and the other pretty crystal bead.

Another view but with some of the pretty greenish beads.  There were little chains that I took apart and everything.  I felt like I worked at Tiffany's jewelry . Well not really but did feel pretty good about it.  I put it together while watching the Texas Rangers play ball.

The completed necklace.  Now I didn't design this beauty.  Shea did one of the owners of the Gilded Girls, she and her mother.  A couple of talented ladies.   I feel like jewelry design and making is certainly an art.  So many types of art out there isn't there?

There you go my fun little project and what is going on in my world.   Thanks for stopping by and seeing what is going on in my world.

Live in the Moment

Here I am with another one of those little sayings.   LIVE IN THE MOMENT.  I am thinking what does this mean to me?  Eldon and I agree that it means live for today, not to worry about tomorrow or yesterday.  Kind of like the present?  The little gift you give yourself.  Today is your present.  He says I live more in the moment more than he does.  I do wonder about if I could have changed anything and I think not, what it is -is what it is.  I just try to live day by day, even when I was growing up and a teenager I never really thought, but once, what was I going to be when I grew up.  I figured I would do what I was suppose to do.   Now you are asking what in the world brought this little subject up to Annette?

Well, remember the Artful Gathering class I am finishing up with?  The bottles and textures ?   I thought alright lets do a cute bottle for grandaughter, she loved the one I did first, not her colors but the whole concept of it.  So I created this bottle , showed it to her and she loves it.  I feel like pleasing a busy little 19 year old was like hitting the jackpot at Vegas.  To me anyway, probably cost me a lot less dollars also that going to Vegas. 

I drag out the paints and all the goodies to create this beautiful bottle, paint, glue and things go to flying like a mad scientist building their whatever they build.  I have a wonderful 2 foot by 3 foot matt, they call it a misting matt by Tattered Angels.  It is pink, which is a good color almost as good as red or yellow, right up there anyway.  It is a silicone matt that our glue doesn't stick to or the paint but remember it is not a cutting board.  I keep the newly discovered error at the back of my work table now. 

Here you go, the bottle.   The sunflower is from a painting I did earlier here on the blog, the jewelry goodies is from a bracelet I cut apart and the little medalion at the bottom is stating to  LIVE IN THE MOMENT.   Now you know where my saying came from I put other words around on it also.  This was fun and Zinnia might have created a monster here, making these pretty little things. 

 

This is the next bottle I created.  Lace, ribbons, flowers, charms,metal dragon flies and words.  I also added a painting I had done of grandaughter during her Senior year of high school.   It was an antique bottle we picked up earlier.  The saying on this one is in the garden of life you are the rarest of flowers.

There you go and now you know what I have been up to the last few days.   Thanks for stopping by and seeing what is going on in my world.  xo

The Three Lighting Effects

Hello, been out of pocket for a while but I am back.  Funny saying isn't it ? Out of Pocket.   Not sure where that saying comes from, we have so many sayings now days.  Some of them do mean differently today than they did years ago.  OK, enough of reminiscing.

I took an online class, ---it is a wonderful way to take classes I do believe.  You can sit in your jammies and be on the computer anytime of the day or night and be in class and not be tardy or have to walk a long way or sit by someone that you don't care to sit by.   I am loving all of these classes that I am taking nowdays.  They give you new wrinkles in your brain and keeps it functioning well I do think. 

OK, back to the class.  It was with Karen Bonaker and a digi painting class about lighting.   The effects it has on a subject. So I took a photograph of the same subject at three different times of the day.  Very interesting and was fun doing these little sketches of it.  the softness of the lighing, the harhness of day lighting and the coolness of the evening.  Well the colors weren't to cool at the evening painting but it sure was while taking the photo. 

This painting is in the early morning.  Yes early morning.  It is not my nature to get up early but for Karen and a class assignment I did it.   I really like the lighting on this and how soft the colors were.

Can you tell when this one was taken ?  Pretty much in the heat and I mean heat of the day.  Like in the 100's, sort of toasty warm.  The warmth of the colors were really pretty here and the shawdows of course were stronger and more pronounced in the bright daylight .

  

This was a night- who would have thought it ?   I lit it with just the outside light on the patio.  Certainly did change it totally the colors and the mood and just the whole nine yards of the painting.    I thought it was an interesting assignment.   I did do a painting of a village in Italy our daughter took while she was there and turned it into night and added a little creature that isn't alive any more, I think.   Whew, that was a excitement there about the next painting.   Enjoy.

OK, my imagination did go a little wild here but it could have looked like this years ago.  

There you go, just wanted to share these with you and thanks for stopping by and seeing what is going on in my world. 

The Wind Does Blow

The wind does blow here.  A healthy blow it is and even to the point that one of the decorations on the walls of the freeway  is a beautiful statue thingie of the Blowing Wind.   I forget what he is called but you know the man blowing the wind.  Some people objected because it might be Pagan.  In fact they had to put a new statue up and higher up on the wall someone destroyed the last one.  Pagan?  I don't think so.  Give me a break it is Mr. Wind.  Now we are talking 20-60 miles per hour here, not a gentle breeze.  Some days more and very very few days less plus 100 degrees of nice warmth.  But that is West Texas and we have great people here so we just have grown to take it and go on about our business.

I know you are asking what kind of flowers grow here?  I did forget to add that our water, we have a well, is a tad salty here also.   If the wonderful cool and most needed H2O hits the leaves you might as well say grace over whatever it hits.   BUT-- Eldon has devised a watering system for our patio plants where they get plenty of water and none of it hits the leaves or blooms and the plants and the water go hand in hand.   The plants bloom their little hearts out.  

Here are some of the tough guy.  Forgive me but there are several of them here. 

The Geranium always a good heat soldier.  Tough guys but no water on the leaves please.

Our little oasis here, the Bougainvillea love the heat and we keep these in the fur babies tropical hideaway in the winter.   In the background you can see some new Desert Willows we planted, but that is another story.

Close up of the Bougainvilleas, they come in all colors to white and peachy orange and purple. 

Another view of the tough warriors.

Crepe Myrtles, oh what beautiful plants. From bushes to tall  guys.  Now they also come in several colors and we planted a giant one in the backyard this year.  Had to get one tall enough so the water won't hit the leaves.  I tell you it will kill them dead.

The Gerber Daisey.  Such happy little things and wonderful bright colors they come it.  I love them but they do die out in the winter.  A good little Annual for us here.

Roses love the heat here but not the water on the leaves.  This is a climber where it doesn't get hit by the sprinklers so it just laughs at them, the sprinklers, and says ha ha I am safe from you. 

The day lilies, we have several colors of them and such cheerful and blooming plants. They named them perfectly thought.  The flower only lasts for one day, but they do bloom well.

There are some of our beautiful flowers that we have that can with stand the sun here.  Now I use to have beautiful plants like fox gloves and bleeding hearts but that was at a shadier home.  What you say?  Nothing for the humming birds?  Yes we do but that is another post.  I don't want to wear your eyes out.  We had a shade garden but even the 3 hours of sun it got was to much for the delicate plants.  We will try again next year and see what happens.

Thanks so much for stopping by and seeing what is going on in my world today.

Summer, Art and the Internet

 August is here and to me that means Fall, my favorite season is nearly here. When all the flowers are still pretty and the grass is green, well not this year with the terrible dry spell for here but usually it is green.   Some how the Internet reminds me of the season changes.  It has  lots of changes here and there  and so many beautiful things going on with it, well in my part of the cyber world at least.  

I have discovered new friends, lots of art of all kinds out there and now getting to know some of my family across the pond.    Only thru the Internet would this have happened.  It just makes so many things happen in your world.

With the help of Ancestery.com  we have discovered new family members that we have been looking for a long time. It is just so exciting to find out who they are and what they are doing and to know you have kin across the waters that have been lost to you.  I know this will be good for the heart as well.  

I am also taking online art classes, stretching my mind and keeping my art muse on the ball and maybe panting along the way.  She is probably saying "OK Annette, enough is enough, slow down some".  She doesn't know that I have a lot of catching up to do in the art world.   I guess like the busy little ants gathering their food for the winter, I am gathering up all the knowledge I can. 

I am taking a class from Zinnia on the Artful Gathering.  What a collection of talented artists, sharing their knowledge with different classes of all kinds to interest so many different people.   It is winding down now but bet next year will be just as good.  Zinnia also has the Roses on My Table site and so much to share there also.   She is teaching textures right now on the Artful Gathering.  Well textures I am learning. 

               Be sure and double click on the images to see all the texture. 


Now this little bottle has a story, we needed a bottle to make pretty with textures and whatever you could think of.   I loved doing this project all the way from the photo on it to the tippy top of the bottle with the bead.  My friend Bev suggested some silver or gold on the cork so I have to go back and do that.  I needed a bottle  and thought I don't want to go buy a bottle.  Well in our cabinet was this little thing holdimg Peppermint Schnapps  that I used for the yummy chocolate cake last year.  So I just poured the remaining part into a water bottle and labled it  and taa daa I have a bottle.  Sort of free of charge.   Sort of.  Well in Annette logic anyway. 

We also made this cute little book and learned lots of tecniques with the inside pages.   Here is the cover of it.  I did get carried away but gave me lots of food for thought with it.   Hummm maybe I am like the little ants getting ready for winter ?   If we have a bad one here this year I can play to my hearts content.  

There you go this is what is going on in my part of the world .  I do thank you for stopping by and seeing what is going on here.   xox