Apple Festival offerings, a little art therapy, and a surprise for somebody . . .

The Missouri Baptist Children's Home (who now also
operate the Special Care Homes, which is a group
living facility for adults with special needs) is
getting ready for its annual fund raiser, The Apple
Festival. The main draw/money maker is the quilt
auction, and there are always many AMAZING quilts,
but there's also an auction of craft items.

My offerings fall under the "unusual" category, which
my children find highly amusing.



First is the little handbag with a bit of rescued vintage
feedsack quilt, embellished with beading and text.

Here's the little quiltie pendant, complete with the carved vintage button
(as decided in an earlier post, thank you to all who voted).

And finally the faith bamboo tile
pendant, which was made a while back, but only
the one on the right, as the other was claimed by DD.


Creative Therapy's prompt this week was what inspires you.
I don't know about inspiring, but what gets me going is
a deadline. A little pressure. A little urgency. I'm not
a procrastinator, but there's something about that little
jolt of added adreneline that really gets things jumping.

Here is the surprise. If you recognize this
as YOUR dear Granny, please send me an e-mail with
your address, because, although it was somewhere in
this house at one time, it has gone into hiding . . .

emergency atcs

Well, not exactly an emergency, but I did
NOT read the swap rules well for the collage atcs,
and shorted my partners by one. So, made them
each two more in about 45 minutes (okay, yes, the
backgrounds were already finished), and these I
like way better than poor Jimmy and Pepper and Sue.

Maybe this means I work better under pressure?

Then there was a thunderstorm and the electricity
went out, and our lan line phone died so we went
to Target and bought another one for $5.00 (can you
believe you can get a phone for $5.00??), then
came home and spent the rest of the evening trying
to sneak up on one another for the sole purpose of
scaring the jibblies out of each other. It was
hilarious, we were just a giggly mess--but the
teenage boys probably wouldn't like me saying THAT.

vintage children's book atcs

Supposed to be making six of these; here are the first
two. I feel okay about them, which usually means they'll
end up in the trash, or revamped somehow. I really like
the backgrounds, at least. That's my favorite art thing
to do right now--make backgrounds!

Jimmy and Pepper and Sue just aren't doing it for me,
though. Maybe I need good ol' Dick, Spot, and Jane!

atcs and a quiltie question??

Here are some atcs (using Altered Pages images) for a swap:


these are for a collage atc swap,


and these are for a sparkly atc swap. They're embossed with that
iridescent powder, so they're very glittery in person. Which means
I was very glittery in person yesterday, after making them.

This little quiltie is going to be a pendant, but I can't
decide which button to use up top for the necklace hook
part thing. (You know, the necklace hook part thing. That
makes perfect sense!)



So that explains the poll. I love these things!---------->
They very much amuse me--c'mon, don't be a spoiler,
play along. You can pick the button you think is the
ugliest, if it will give you a cheap thrill for the
day. Go ahead, click the little circle . . . you
don't have to leave a comment . . . just a little
clickety click, no one is watching . . .

This piece was inspired by fancy picnic, whose things are
just gorgeous.

Really, really gorgeous. Mine is kind of cute and fun,
but hers are luxuriously richly gorgeous. Okay, the
heart is felted cashmere--does that count for luxurious??

our trip to Africa

The weather was so incredible Monday morning that
we took a little trip to Africa (the kind that doesn't
require passports, shots, or jet lag). The girl child
took possession of the camera, and shot these
photos--

the elephants were having a snack
(they each had just received a big
chunka hay),


the gorilla was enjoying a nap in the shade,


the tortoise was giving us a "go away" look
(he really was looking at us, which was weird,
because we're used to being pretty much
ignored by the animals),


the zebra was playing with her colt,


and the warthog, well, ain't he a cutie?

how do you spell "cancelled?" canceled???

Actually, either is considered correct. I've
decided I prefer the two l spelling when
printing, and the single l when writing. It
just looks better, to my eye--but that's just
me. Wish I'd figured that out BEFORE stamping
the "canceled" on these postcards, but done
was done, and they were mailed for a swap.



This wonderful Seussian snub-nosed monkey came
my way, thanks to Kitty--



and this beauty of a twinchie thanks to Sue--



and this one I'm sending out for a butterfly
ATC swap.

1916 Sporting News Baseball Cards

What did you do today?
I scanned and uploaded
about twenty three million
baseball cards, specifically
1916 Sporting News. So, at
least they were fun baseball
cards. (Anything after about
1975 does NOT hold my attention.)
Most of these little guys have
advertisements on the back, too,
for different places. Did you
know there were Famous Barrs in
1916??

sparkly things

Here's the sparkly thing--it's to hang from the rear
view mirror, inspired by Jan's charmers. I didn't
have mica, like she used, but the glass slides work.
I was pleased with the way the multicolored mulberry
paper looks like stained glass when the light shines
through it.

The other thing just makes me feel sparkly inside--the moo
kit I made for the design team challenge is now offered at
Altered Pages! Isn't that fun?

You'll feel sparkly, too, if you are fortunate
enough to get this gorgeous collage (not made
by me, you'll have to go see!) It's beautiful.

And Suzy Q Sparkle is having a giveaway, too, so go
see what you think. :)

banned from the Olympics

Normally, I am a very NONcompetitive,
it's-just-a-game, it's-the process-and-
not-the-product, kind of person.

The Olympics, despite the whole "bringing
the world together" business, apparently
brings out the worst in me.

"EAT THAT, Netherland!"

"Mom, what do you have against the Netherlands?"

"Nothing in particular, it's just who we're
against right now. IN YOUR FACE!"

"You're scaring me."

"Whatever. If you can't stand the heat, get
off the field. YES! USA!"

"That's it. (click of TV turning off)
You're banned from the Olympics."

From this, I have learned two important things:
1. I will never be an Olympics good will ambassador.

2. Always keep possession of the remote control.

outside things

This is the trumpet vine the hummingbirds like.
(It's also called cow's itch, because it makes
some people itch. Why "cow's," I know not.)


This is Jimmy. He is on a hazelnut. I don't know what
exactly he is, but he did NOT want his picture taken.



This is ironweed. I think it's pretty, so
we let it grow, despite it's questionable name.

And here's one of the
gorgeous green guys who love our blackberries.
Guess what it is? I didn't know until today,
but it's a June bug! I always thought June bugs were only
that brown/copper color. Live and learn.

If anyone knows Jimmy's real name, please enlighten me.

happy things, big and small

So, the art frenzy (borrowed that phrase from Angie) paid off,
and I was chosen to be on the Altered Pages design team. I'm
truly excited about this turn of events. It just so happens
that I had been making a few twinchies, or twochies, or
2 inch deco squares (whatever makes you happy!), just because
it felt really good to be making something and NOT keeping
track of every product and step and such. I'm not really a
planner when it comes to art--more of a grab whatever and make
something. (Sometimes this works well, sometimes it, ehem,
well, is something akin to a small disaster, but there you
have it.) These were scanned--someone absconded with my
camera--so poor baby Jesus kind of looks like he has smallpox,
and the little sweetie has a nice glare coming off his embossing,
but other than that, the pic isn't too bad. ;)



The point is, here are four twinchies (yes, each made with an
Altered Pages image), and it would be fun to swap with YOU!
So, the first four bloggits to comment, dibs
one, and e-mail me an address will get said square. I'll
e-mail you my snailmail, and you can send me a happy little
surprise swap, because I want to see what you made, too!
PS--it doesn't have to be a twinchie, just anything!

Found a beautiful new blog--Art By Chrysti--and she
suggested making a love list. She says,
"I am challenging you to notice the things you usually pass by;
the things you typically take for granted. We have so many gifts
in this life — we could all stand to appreciate them a bit more."
This is her blog contest challenge, and it's a good one, yes?

So here is a short list some happy things in my life, in no
particular order, because the order changes with every breath,
anyway:
the way the light comes in the artroom window in the afternoon

in the morning when my husband gives me a big hug while he's
still all warm and damp and smelling like aftershave

when the cat jumps in my lap

the way my children have the (mistaken) idea that I can
do anything

when my husband says, "Look at that sunset!"

when one of my children says, "Mom, come see . . .,"
or, "Did you know . . .?" or "Remember the time . . .?"

when someone says something nice, just because they can.

the hummingbirds in the trumpet vines

the treefrog who lives on our deck (we turn the light
on for him at night, so he has happy hunting)

Okay, I'll stop here for now, but thankfully, there are
many, many more.

moo cards and holder

for the last AP challenge, I made moos,

and that is a silly name.

what did you do?

i made some moos.

how about you?

(yes, yes, i really should go to bed now . . .)

spreading the love for July--see what's for August!

Look, the guys took the camera to the shop today, so all I have
are these kind of iffy scans. (Let's face it--my adding-pictures
to-blog skills are pretty deficient to begin with.)

And yet, as this little chow doggy tile charm thing can be yours
for the price of a comment, are you really going to give me hard
time about the quality of my photos?

No, I think not.

Totally stole Tipper's Spreading the Love picture, and will
keep it until she tells me to give it back. Here's the deal--
which was also blatantly taken from Tipper, thank you,--anyone
leaving a comment any time this month will be in the hat for
the bamboo tile. Yes, it's another tile. Once you start
making them, it's hard to stop, so guess what next month's
will be?? Can you guess?? (I'll bet Angie knows!)

Thank you to all who stopped by to say hi, and other encouraging
things--Tipper, Rhonda, Christie, Beth, Gill(sounds like Jill), Lola, bunnykissd, Suzy Q, Angie (who is the starter of this tile obsession), Judy, bumblebeebags, Elizabeth, Jan, Contessa Kris, Benga, Terisa, Michi(rhymes with peachy), and Saffron.

Thank you all, again! (And Suzy Q, I almost forgot to tell you, you
get the Puppy Love tile, so please e-mail me your address.)