Give a boy an ax....

Well if the way to a man's heart is through his stomach...the way to get a boy to do rubbish disposal without complaining, is to offer him an ax...and the chance to whack down trees!! Michael was more than willing to carry all the rubbish I had ripped out of the flower beds when I offered him the opportunity to weild an ax and whack down the small trees I couldn't either pull out of the flower beds or cut with the loppers...I do believe the boy was in heaven and it took him no time at all to be done the job!!! Well done kiddo!!!

***It's Finished!!!***

WOO HOO the room is done!!

I've finally finished the sewing room clean-up, rearranging, sorting, trashing, decorating, etc. WHEW!! Spunky the cat supervised all goings on in the sewing room and even checked out what was going into the garbage. His job was finished when the vacuum cleaner came out and hit the high road outta there! Most probably finding a spot upstairs under the bed and away from the puppies. The fan is not in the most optimal place but with as little space as there is in the room, there aren't a great deal of choices. The pile of scout shirts will be gone just as soon as Doug sews on his patches then it will be outta there too!

Sewing Room Update

The sewing room arrangement is coming along albeit slowly. The cutting table has at last been cleaned off and I am no longer moving around the same containers trying to find the perfect spot for them. Hopefully once done I will be able to let the creative side loose with no restraints! Let it be so...lol..

Transfered Images

I was working on transfering images onto fabric using transparencies and Golden matte medium onto differnt fabrics. The images printed onto the watercolored cottons were images printed on a regular setting on the copier and came out better in my opinion. the images printed on the peach fabric and the images on silk of the scouts and my mother-in-laws graduation picture were printed using the transparency setting on the copier. All three images came out rather dark and in the future I won't use the transparency setting but the normal copy setting instead. The kitty images were a downsized christmas card printed onto paper. I'm using the matte medium on them and will rub off the paper backing after getting 5 or so coats of the medium on them. Okay, most everyone can understand the oriole images being my mil came from the Baltimore, Maryland area, but they were completely confused about the 'guy in the underwear'. Well for those of you who are/were fans of the Baltimore Orioles, Jim Palmer was the HOT player in the 70's and if I'm not mistaken , the first player to do an 'almost obscene' underwear advertisement. Anyway, Pat was a real fan and even had in her possession (which my sil, Donna now has in her possession) a life sized poster of Jim. Donna doesn't know exactly what this project I'm working on for her for Christmas entails but she had expressed that she wished I could somehow incorporate the poster into the project. Well, not wanting to disappoint anyone, I came across the image and downsized it to put into the fabric book. Hopefully it will get a laugh from Donna when she sees it..!

Oooppppsss!!

Well, I have truly gone and done it...I forgot my anniversary...yes, my wedding anniversary...fortunately for me my husband didn't forget our anniversary and was really thoughtful to have brought me home a dozen roses already arranged in a pretty vase (although I really like the bag he brought them in too). He also bought me 3 more of my Charming Tale mice in the autumn theme of squash and scarecrow. They are really cute and a great addition to the others I have collected over t-he years. The cat in the pictures is of course, Spunky, who is showing his true interest in the whole present thing...he's a cat...he just wants to sleep on the paper and help me type....Just so you don't think I'm a complete creep and he's perfect, he's on his way to a boy scout meeting in another 30 minutes....so much for the romantic married life...lol...

General Ramblings

I've added some more links to my page...these are links that I have found to be very inspirational and most are from art-e-zine website...also included are a couple of fiber sites that I have been pleased to order from...I'll add more later but wanted to let you know about these for now...

I don't have any pictures to upload because I haven't finished the sewing room clean-up yet. I had errands to run...you know that stuff that your family expects to have done and thinks the magic fairy instantly does for you...oops I forgot...I'm a mom so I MUST be the magic fairy...unfortunately no one seems to understand that the magic fairy has to schedule to get these little miracles done...they don't just happen...

Had to have a nail pulled out of my tire and plugged today...no biggy just inconvenient...however I also had to take the sons laundry to be cleaned and and asked that they be sure to put the military creases in his shirt...I supposed this is a very big deal because said son and husband had a major meltdown when I brought the clothes home last time and there were no creases in it...NO I do not iron...my husband was the marine and he irons...I do not iron well enough to be given the job...waaaah...NOT!!!

Oh well, I have procrastinated the better part of the day so I really should get to work in the sewing room ...oooh I forgot, I have the quilt guild newsletter to get out....there's laundry in the dryer and washer and a pile still in the floor...should be able to put this project off for awhile longer yet...ahhh my favorite day...Tomorrow!!!

Project Linus

Saturday was spent at Gloria's preparing for the next Project Linus meeting in September. Sue Ellen was ripping fabric into 2" strips to make log cabin quilts that will be auctioned off to raise money for the Project Linus group. Donations go towards buying batting, labels and other supplies to make blankets for hospitalized children from birth to 17 years old.

Gloria bribed (us (just kidding) with food. Actually, she grills a mean chicken and had all sorts of fixings for salad to go with....we ripped fabric, went through donations of yarn, knitting needles and assorted fabrics to be used for blankets. Volunteers who come to the monthly meeting can pick out fabric donated and take home to make a blanket for a child who is in one of the local hospitals. Each month we take in 100+ blankets which are in turn delivered to MCG, University, Doctors Hospital as well as to local shelters in the Augusta and Aiken areas.

We also separated blankets that had been labeled from ones that will be labeled at the next meeting. There is a great deal of satisfaction in making blankets for children and being a part of this organization has rewarded me with many new friends also.

After we were through with the Linus stuff, my hubby Doug and son Michael came over and put up a pen for Gloria's two little hoodlums a.k.a. Gracie and Bopper. Gracie is my Wilbur's little niece (Vegas/BoogieMan pup) and Bopper is a stray that Gloria recently acquired. She is now learning (as I did last summer) that potty training two puppies is not easier than training one. I have a feeling the little monsters will spend a bit of time in the pen..lol..however, they may just get a clue and get this potty thing figured out real quick...I do not envy what she's going through and am glad it's been awhile since we've had any accidents at my house!!

I used Lumiere paints on this as well as a small piece of copper mesh to decorate it...not sure exactly how I will finish it...I may even add onto it and make it bigger...we'll see. Thought about possibly adding more beads in the top of the glass...it just seems to need something...could just be my need for more beads...lol

Used the gel pens on these and pastels for the blush on the girls faces. Margaret and I split a gigantic box of gel pens...

Clay molds

These were made using molds. The Sunset Sculpey is probably my favorite color. I used a little too much flour on it though...have to remember that next time.
The pink flesh clay was rubbed in black and gold metalllic rub ons. I poked extra holes to string beads through for hair.
The antique gold used in the little masks is my favorite of the metallic colors.
The translucent head will probably look best on a very dark fabric to really bring out the image.

Polymer Clay

Brandy and I spent an evening working with Sculpey and Fimo clays. The face images were stamped using black and blue granite Sculpey clay. The pink face was dipped in Distress Ink's Fired Brick which I just love. The little image was stamped in ink onto translucent clay. I really like the way the image turned out.
The wine bottle stamp was made using the same Fired Brick Ink.
These images were made using several different stamps on the clay. Not sure if I will put a rub on the pink clay or not yet. The faces are neat looking the way they are. I'm expecially fond of the gold clay. The turquoise granite is pretty too and the little hand stamps are really fun.

Grandkids

This blue eyed little cutie is my first granddaughter, Sierra and this handsome guy is her big brother, RJ. These guys belong to my kids Jason and Kari. The big guy in the football uniform is Kristopher, my daughter Brandy's son.

And Horses Too!!

This black beauty is Patrick...he doesn't like Jason and bites him and tries to throw him off when he rides him...the pretty girl is Sage...Sage likes to finish her food and then goes to help Patrick finish off his...Apple treats made me their best friend this last week...So big yet quite lovable too.

Rio is on the left and Goliath is on the right. Rio is the Momma dog to the littlest babies.

I guess this is one way to be sure you'll be first to eat!! Chilling out...it's way too busy around here to snooze...

Here's a Rio look-a-like baby. Got that same sweet face of mommadog.

This little guy is the runt andmy very most favorite of Rio's puppies. She had 10 of them and they are 5 weeks old now. Wish I could bring him home too but 2 pups is plenty!!

and more pups

This little guy is going to be a real cutie.
This girl is Storm and is my son Jason's little girl. Her favorite thing is to be squirted with the hose. She loves to bite the water and goes nuts whenever the hose comes out.

More Pups

This little guy is the newest addition to the family. His name is Apollo and he is a real sweetie. Of course one of his favorite things to do is chew on Dancer (who is my Charlotte's Momma dog). His other favorite thing is to play tug-o-war with Dancer who is recovering from a broken back leg.






This darling is Memphis who is famous for giving hugs. She gently (yes pit bulls CAN be gentle) jumps up and puts her arms around your waist and looks up at you with those soft brown eyes. Wish I could have brought her home with me!!

These little hoodlums are 3 of 6 of Dancer's latest litter

the past week

Well, for the past week I've been in Maryland grandpuppy sitting for my son and dil while they went to Lake Tahoe for her mom's wedding...congrats Cathy & Dick!!

This is my Wilbur's big (and i do mean big at 85 lbs) brother...don't they look a lot alike??
Thisis his Momma dog Fellin (for Fell In The Game). This is big sister Vegas...she's also Momma to Taz (standing in pen with daddy, Boogeyman,


Icey, Hollywood & the brindle pup (in back, who also has that Wilbur look about him)...