some more art therapy

The prompt at Creative Therapy last week was to
tell about a painful memory. You would think that in the
midst of mourning a death, that THAT would be it.

But you know, people die. We're all going to. It's what's
supposed to happen. It's when we do things we are NOT
supposed to do that things get ugly.

There's a folk tale, and it goes something like this:
There was a young woman traveling through
the woods, and as she was wading into the
river to swim across, a snake approached
her and asked to ride upon her shoulders
to the other side.

"No way! I know what you are--you will
bite me and I will die!"

"Now why would I do such a thing to you?
You've done me no harm, and if you give
me a ride across the river, you will have
done me a great service, and I will be a
friend to you and your family forever!"

So, despite her initial fears, and the
chittered warnings of the forest animals
around, her, the woman gave the snake a
ride across the river upon her shoulders.

As she reached the other side, the snake
bit her, and as she was dying, she asked
it "Why??"

The snake answered,
"You knew what I was. You knew my nature.
Don't act all surprised now."

The gem in the corner stands for all the good that
came from the bad--like, now I listen when that
little voice inside says "something isn't right,"
when my husband says, "something isn't right, and
when other people say, "something isn't right!"

Also, after you've been through something really
nasty, it should make you truly appreciate
every kindness, no matter how small--every smile,
every nice comment, even basic common courtesy--
wow, I honestly feel them all the way down to the
bottom of my toes! :)

just for fun . . . some silly Halloween atcs

Look, I'll just say it, it's been a really rotten
month. We all deal with things if different ways,
but
when I'm mad, I clean (and pray),
when I'm sad for someone else, I cook for them
(and pray), and
when I'm sad for me, I spend time in the art room
alone (and pray).

The other night I was home alone, albeit briefly,
and just started making silly things. I'd used
all three of these collage images before, but
put them in a different context, and they
make me laugh! They aren't fancy, just funny.



It's okay--YOU don't have to think they're
funny! But in case you do, they actually made
it into a kit at altered pages. The two collage
sheets aren't showing up below the sample
pic yet, but they're Cutie Pies
and Adorable.

Does that little girl not look like she's about
to lose her treats????

blog candy! Trick or Treat all over the web . . . (updated!)

Hey, and it's not just mine (you know, that
Spread the Love thing? Leave me a comment
any time during a month, within that month's
posts, and you're in for whatever is going
that month. This month is the sparkly.)

ANYWAY, oh my gosh, there are about a zillion
blog giveaways going on. I'm not even TRYING
to find them, they're just everywhere!

My favorite is with the birthday girl, the one
and only Collage Contessa.
She's having a party, and we're all invited!

Over at Stardust, Gems, and Ribbon, you'll find:
The prize includes…
A brand new ( still in sealed packet) Magnolia Tilda in
cherry dress stamp, 6×6 Papermania Naughty and Nice paper
pack, Papermania sparkly trims, brads, StarDust glitter,
paper tags and two sheets of bazzill cardstock.

My Little Card Blog has some goodies, too, as does Rosa, but
there's a challenge involved. Nothing
painful. But the deadline is Saturday.

And of course there is always the lovely
Inka--she's got some Gold this week. Now,
don't say you have nothing to do. Run along
and play . . . have a good time . . . make
good choices . . .

Okay, fine, I found another one, and it's for one
of my favorite books ever. Already own it, so
that will be one less person trying for it! ;)
Check it out at Sanna's art.

AND Rockin Robin!

conversations in my home & Halloween cat atcs

"Ugh. I really hate all the campaign commercials."

"You know, Mom, you really should just learn to enjoy them.
After all, they only come around every four years."

------------------------------------------

"Why are these dirty socks all over the hall?"

"Well, you know, it's our little code. I throw them off
the landing, and that's the sign I want you to wash them."

------------------------------------------



Cats in costumes atcs for swap.
My favorite is Mr. Bones.

vintage image atcs

Two of them went to Sarah in the UK, and the other
two to De in Australia. Now, if I had realized these
were going to travel, I probably wouldn't have
chosen the baseball card images, but maybe that's
a little exchange of my cultural heritage?



This Homerun baseball card atc uses a T-206 Ty Cobb image
from Altered Pages, and a 1916 Sporting News image, too.
(Neither are actual size, both are reduced.)



Imagine is an Altered Pages image with purple micro beads
and a little lace,




Spunky is another AP image, and you can't tell, but the
purple background is with twinkling H2Os, so it's all
iridescent and shiny. And, obviously, gold embossed
around the edges, using UTEE.




I really like the feathers in Bon Jour's hat--they came
from one of my mom's old hats that I used to play dress-up
with, and my daughter did, too. Now, the poor old thing
is pretty beat up (the hat,not my mom!), but the feathers
are still lovely. The corners are punched with the ticket
corner punch from Stampin' Up, which is another one of my
favorite atc touches, and her background is painted with the
twinkling H2Os, as well.

It's too bad the shiny doesn't show--those paints are amazing!

some more atcs

These are the last four for the Vintage Children's Book
atc swap. The images are from the children's primer
On Our Way. Instead of Dick, Jane, and Spot, we have
Jimmy, Sue, and Pepper.



One of my swap partners collects chicken things, so I
had to make her an extra--the feather is compliments
of our own dear Zoltar. Yes, thank you, I am aware that
the label is a little "off." However, if you've ever
met a rooster, you know that they're generally more than
a little off!

a little art therapy for me

Wooeeee, I'm tired of cryin'! Yesterday was the
funeral. I don't know about anybody else, but for
me, it was like every funeral I've ever been to
rolled into one. Today I just slept, did a little
bit of laundry, and played in the art room. And
now dh is rubbing my neck for me and reading over
my shoulder. I love this guy!

It's raining and raining and raining here (which
fits my mood just fine, thank you), so you can
just forget about any of that natural lighting
business for THIS picture.



My Alice In Wonderland atcs for a swap. (Alice is
one of my all time favorites; I have a little bit
of a collection of different Wonderland books.)




These are two Alices I received, the one on the left
from Jill, and the one on the right all the way from
Israel from Michal. I really like Michal's use of
the text from the story.




Finally, for a Door-That-Opens atc, here is one using
an Altered Pages image. The picture was so gorgeous,
I didn't do much to it. (The little doors open up to
some rub-ons, and the word "love" surrounded by gold,
with a little sparkly heart above it.)

Wesley and Tippy

One of the things I found out about my grandpa
is he really liked dogs. He'd never had a dog
ever since I could remember, but here he is on
the farm with Tippy in 1944. This was pretty much
right before my mom was born.

Isn't he a good looking guy?

August love (aka blog giveaway), and announcing the September love . . . and other, more important love . . .

Thank you to everyone who came by for a little visit in
August, and to all these who posted. Every one of these
peoples (except Julie, who could if she wanted to) has a
blog that's worth a visit. Which is why they are linked.

Julie--my Alaska friend!
Tipper
Shelly
Catharinas
Jan
Kathleen
Contessa Kris
Angie
Beth
Sue
Nancy
Danielle (my Florida twin)
Rhonda
Zeborah
Theresa
Suzy Q
Renea
Christina
Susan
Inka
Alina
Janet
Caryl
Jackie
Joan
Cindy
Lola
sabii wabii, who runs with scissors
Linda
Robin
Jersey Girl
michi

If I missed anybody, I'm sorry. If you're lurking, then
post a comment next time, silly!

Danielle my Florida twin gets a little August love,
shown HERE (clicky linky thing).

(If you're out there, Danielle, please e-mail me
your address!)

The September love, contrary to popular belief and despite
a rumor viciously spread by, wait, that was me, is NOT
another tile, but instead the fairy sparkly hanger thing,
shown HERE (another clicky linkety).

I did hang her from the rearview mirror, but alas,
she proved to be too distracting for some of us.
Bad news for me, good news for you.

Now the really not pleasant news for me is that my
grandpa does indeed have cancer, and tomorrow I will
be going with my mom to help make arrangements--
hospice, whatever he wants. This is biting me even
more than with the other times we've gone through
this process, and it is because for as long as I've
known my grandpa, I don't really know that much about
him. Don't get me wrong, I know the important stuff,
like what a great guy he is (my husband is a lot
like him), and that we'll be seeing him again (what a
day of rejoicing that will be! No, wait, that song is
supposed to be about Jesus. But it still fits!), so
it's not a mourning without hope, it's just feeling
sorry for myself, and my mom, and my uncle, and wishing
I knew things like what his favorite color is, and what
he liked to do when he was a kid.

I aim to find some of those things out in these next
few days.

Maybe, just maybe, there's someone you love, that you
need to hang out with, too, and find out a little bit
about them. Because it really is true that you never
know when it may be too late.

Too late for here, anyway.