How Hot Was It!?!

It was so hot that................

The cat begged to be shaved!

Would love for all of you to come up with an alternative caption of Cheddar's pose

Really was a scorcher today. It was 98, but the heat index was 107 degrees. We definitely kept inside to beat the heat!

Thought you might enjoy a cooler scene for this heat. Don't you just love the vintage bathing beauties? Night Owl has lots of wonderful freebies for you to check out.

The Best Things Are Free!!!

The best things in life are free..... Free to explore, free to do and free as in a...... give away!

I was contacted and won the free earring give away! YIPPIE! They are so lovely too and hand made! Check out Patricia Wood and her Etsy store! Awesome! I seldom win anything, so I was so thrilled beyond belief! Aren't these just the coolest!

I am also making today a free day. A what ever I want to do day. I spent the morning painting and getting some pieces off in the mail for swaps and ran into town to bring hubby's lunch.

This was an ATC swap with the theme peacocks. I made her interactive

Bringing out the side pieces, she is in full bloom showing off her feathers.

But when you turn her upside down with her head facing her feathers, you can pull more pieces out to reveal the rest of her joints and she becomes a queen dressed in lovely feathers.

I believe she can actually fly! LOL I am facinated by things that fold up and can be transformed.

I also made flat ATC's. This one I entitled "Strange Bird". She was a strange bird who really knew how to kick up her heels.

Then I couldn't resist making a colorful sea creature. Can you see I am digging these colors lately?

Then decided to work with some faces.

I cut out some magazine features and had fun with a whimsical borderline scarry ugly cat! I even have it up for adoption! lol

I am also working on some folk art looking pieces. Not sure if it will be a journal cover or something else. 6 of these will be traded out, so I shall look forward to seeing what I get back. These are in the style of Teesha Moore!

Here is what I just finished up this evening. These are 2 inch by 3 inch pieces that will compile a postage stamp book that will be bound after they are all swapped. There are 6, so you are viewing front and back sides.

And lastly, I whipped this up this morning. A caddy for an emery board. I am always misplacing mine along with the clippers. Thought that these would make nice little quick gifts.

It has been a fun productive week. I guess I need to break down and regroup and clean! Not every thing is free....... My house is far from being spot free!

A Happy 25th!

Twenty Five years ago today, I was standing at Roosevelt Park in Minot, North Dakota and saying "I DO". It was a beautiful day, the flowers in bloom, a gentle breeze and love was in the air. I was wearing an off white dress while my husband was dressed in a Navy blue cordory suit jacket. We had two of our friends witness the event (along with my son aged 9 and daughter aged 7.) We were married by the JP, so nothing really elaborate. We did have a reception for family a week later while we juggled schedules with work and the military. If I would have had it my way, we wouldn't have gotten married in July, but as it turned out, we were able to get into military housing that month if we did. We had dated for 6 years, so what was the rush? lol

I have no regrets as he has been my love and soul mate. We have endured good times and bad, but to think 25 is a milestone, makes you wonder where all of those years went. Our minds feel the same, however we have gained wisdom, experience and have changed physically. Here's to us, dear hubby! May we still be together for another 25! (photo provided by weddings are fun.)

World Wide Web

This morning we had to get ready to take my granddaughter to the airport. While taking out the luggage, we saw this huge gorgeous spider web, so I had to go back into the house for my camera so I could capture it.It was wonderful to see it all tethered and blowing so slightly in a gentle breeze. I don't know what kind of spider is in the center, but it's pretty small compared to the structure! It amazes me by even judging by the spider's size that it's still several body lengths before it gets to the first cross piece in the center!

I love this angle shot! It's funny that you don't see part of the web tether on the right. It looks as though it is suspended in air.

In the photo below, you can see just how big it really is!

It was attached to the trees and the car. In this shot, it looks as though it is part of a sci-fi movie. The way the sun light is hitting it, it looks as though the spider is casting a lazer beam!

When we drove away, we broke part of the tether. It was a shame when the poor little spider worked so hard on it!

We stopped at the post office en route to the air port and witnessed some more awesome webs there, connected to the top of the telephone poles. Maybe they were trying to keep in touch with family as there were several "on line". It looked like the world wide web! lol I guess I should have brought my camera along, but then again, we may have never gotten to the airport!

Well I didn't do anything quite as fabulous as this spider, but you might say that I did a little web construction when I finished this pin cushion a couple of days ago.

I had seen one on a site, (I don't remember where now) and had it in the back of my mind that I wanted to make it. I looked, but never did find a pattern, so with trial and error, I came up with one I figured looked pretty close to it. It is given away already, so it never became tethered to my studio. Hmmm.... Perhaps the next one will, and just maybe, I need to use a little more thread, since I had a little more inspiration.

Catty Wampus!

I had some of our cats posing this week in ridiculous positions and expressions, so had to share their photos. Can anyone else come up with other captions? It is kind of fun at that!

"Of course I like Neopolitan ice cream, why do you ask?"

(Miss Bisky)

"I just had my nails done and waiting for them to dry."

(Cheddar)

"Hey mom, I'm out of toilet paper!"

(Caine)

"What do you mean Tom and Jerry is ice cream?"

(Boa)

"Nope, your eggs aren't all in one basket (anymores)."

(Gray C.)

"Of course I am a Catmedian!"

(Herky)

"What do you get when you cross a lemon with a cat?"

"A sour puss"

"That always cracks me up!"

hahahahha

...........May your day be filled with laughter.

Picture This!

Just where do all of the years go? I sware things just seem like yesterday than it has been several years later. I remember reading an article the other day about Ilian Gonzales and I think OMG, he's 16? Wasn't it just last year he was a little boy?

I am reminded too that my youngest granddaughter is a teen ager! How did that happen? Wasn't it just last year that I took her riding on her first pony ride?

Then she got her hair cut to be more manageable

Then she let it grow long again and would curl her hair.

Remember last year when her hair was blue?

Now here she is almost 14! Now her hair is black and now she uses a flat iron to straighten it! Such an ever changing world!

They grow up too fast and even want to grow up faster. She was once my blonde haired baby whom I loved to dress in little girl dresses and hoped would like to learn to sew and do artful things with grandma, but it was never meant to be. I had hoped she would like to wear camisoles, but she would rather wear camophlage! She wants to go deer hunting, loves 4 wheeling, loves thrill rides and doesn't mind getting dirty. Very much a tom boy. She loves country and western music and everything that grandma is not! lol But I love her anyway. She is here for the week yet and then flies out to live in Oregon with her mom. I am so going to miss her, but I am glad we have pictures, our memories and facebook to keep in touch.

I also did a wall quilt for a wedding gift for friend's son who is getting married next week.

I was to use photographs of the couple when they were growing up. It was fun to be able to put it together and a great memory piece for them. I shall no doubt do the same with the grand daughters when they marry too. The couple eventually want to build a log cabin home, so the woodsy colors are what they picked out for the bed quilt and wall hanging.

Today is the day that many families get together to celebrate. May you all have a wonderful and safe 4th of July!

What Makes A Man Tick?

In one of my art groups, I had to come up with a man paperdoll for the month of June (quite appropriate for Father's Day). I kept thinking of legendary men like the Lone Ranger, or perhaps Cyrano or even an artist like Cezane or Van Gogh. Instead I focused with what I had on hand and decided that I really wanted to do something steam punk! I love this style and I had fun looking to see just actually what I had to work with. I was thinking clocks, gears and things that move. I found the steam punk clothing online and his head came from another site. I gathered up my hardware and went to work. I distressed his outfit a bit on the edges with chalk ink. When I had finished, I still hadn't any gears! I also wasn't anywhere near to look at any of Tim Holtz's line of things that would work. Instead when I went to sleep last night, the gears were running in my head (so to speak) and the idea hit me! I thought gee, this might just work!!!! So This morning, I went to get my prewound bobbins that I have been saving the empties for projects, painted the paper casings metallic and took a paper punch to take bites out of it and WALLA!!!! Perfect! You may even remember in an earlier post where I saved the middles and painted to string for bead work:)

It always tickles me with the process of discovery. Perhaps I was even thinking like a man? Naw, not MY man! He would have been thinking duct tape! LOL More than likely, I was thinking more like my dad.

Anyway, I have named him Vincent the Magnificent! He looks like an inspector gadget type person of the steam punk era.