10 things I love...

My daughters, Natalie and Stephanie.
Music.
My Great Dane, Sophia, and her "brothers" of different breeds, Wags and Sammy.
My family.
My friends.
Natures many gifts, especially sunshine, creatures, flora and fauna, mountains and waters, and fresh air.
Art, and the freedom to create it.
Old things, even broken, rusted, stained, and used.
Massage.
And my dear mother, who has sacrificed much in her life, and who has been recently diagnosed as having a meningioma (brain tumor) at 86 years old.

ATCs for "wild romance" trade...

And a mixed up bunch of ATCs they are!  Some romantic in the normal perspective, some quirky with my twisted sense of humor.  Several of these images I have saved for years, some of the old ephemera was just waiting for this opportunity, and some of my techniques, i.e. image transfer, are not the best, but I am very happy with them, anyway. 

And the winners are.....

The randon list generator with the  help of the random number generator spit out these One World, One Heart winners:  Judee wins the praying child, Ragamuffin wins the piece I call "Innocence", and tracey glitterbug wins the necklace!  I will be in touch with each of these ladies today via email.  And I am thrilled to know that I have one, also - a piece of Dawn Gold's art work!  What a wild magic carpet ride!

vintage love!

Sherry turned me on to a great vintage giveaway at Patina Soul (patinasoul.blogspot.com) - as part of the deal I am required to tell you about it, but I really don't want any more competition because I wanna win the jackpot!  Truly, though, if you have a love for vintage, check it out - it's awesome.
Speaking of vintage, I have begun some vintage charms using illustrations from an old miniature grammar instruction book I picked up.  I'm getting excited about how it's coming along, and will be sure to post pictures when done!

Gift of love

My dear friend, Jamie, is leaving soon to move to Virginia Beach.  After a very long struggle, her husband got a great job and has already relocated there.  Jamie has been my cheerleader, my positive when I'm negative, my thrift shop buddy for several years, and I will miss her more than I can say.  I created this piece just for her.  I didn't count the layers of wax, but it's my first full encaustic collage.  Stamps, paper, a hankie, images, old wallpaper, music, a book page- all are  layered in about 10 or so layers of wax.  Suze, my mentor (although she doesn't realize it), guided me through this via her videos and previous class instruction.  It is my hope that Jamie smiles every time she looks at it.

 

 

Inspiration

Today Christy and I are headed to the Fort Myers Art Fest for a little inspiration and companionship.  I thought I'd check on some OWOH blogs before we left, and I am so happy I did!  Sophie has an awesome blog, misskoolaid.blogspot.com, with incredibly inspiring flickr photos linked.  Thanks, Sophie!  

Mutt and Jeff

Actually, it's Sammy and Sophia, our opposite dogs!  Don't they look sweet together on the sofa?  Sammy, the little guy, is usually too selfish with his space to let Sophia, the big girl,  that close.  But we love them both, and Wags, dog #1 who is out of the picture.

 

Sophia and I had spent a couple of hours at Pugfest, and she was exhausted.  She had so much fun and received so much attention!  Here is a picture of a new friend she made.

Now THAT is sweet!