Monday, January 28, 2008

Valentines and River Walks


Here are a couple of darling Valentines that Janene and Barbara gave me at our Northern California Mixed Media Artists meeting yesterday! The round Valentine was my "altered CD" which was our challenge for the meeting. The base is scrapbook paper with antique looking text, added a paper doily, antique lace and finally an image that I printed. A bigger doily on the back, a ribbon, some glitter dots and an enameled heart finished it off. The heart isn't really as yellow as it appears. I promise. Aren't Valentines fun?

Our local meeting yesterday afternoon was interesting! We had several new people, Valentines were traded, we had a lesson from Lois on drawing a human figure with only one line....I failed the class I fear. It was interesting seeing everyone's results....very obvious who were "real" artists! Barbara brought pumpkin bread and Sally brought brownies .... a nice treat to be sure. Janene is heading up a project to bring awareness to the homeless plight. I have an idea forming in my head.....not sure how it will play out.

My dear brother, Tim, from Boonville, Missouri, is visiting me and my other brother, John, here in California. Fun to hang out with them....we walked along the American River this morning and I got my 6,400 steps. Whew! I'm tuckered out.

Friday, January 25, 2008


Here's a little birdie I made for my brother who lives in Boonville, Missouri. It's tummy is a funny little oval frame that looks like metal but I think it might just be plastic looking like metal....a serendipity dollar store find. His wings are thin copper which I cut with a scissors. His head is just a paper bird's head out of a magazine. I rusted the tummy & wings with a rusting kit from Michaels. So Tim, who has his own cedar trees in abundance, cut their Christmas tree, took it in the house,and never got around to decorating it except for this bird! They had a lot of out of town commitments and decorating the tree seemed to be at the bottom of their priority list! My inspiration came from Somerset Studio Nov/Dec 2007.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

3rd Post

Hmmm....I'm on a roll! I did type a long paragraph and then I lost it somehow. Blogging ain't what it's cracked up to be!
Weather in northern California is rotten, though I dare not complain to those in the north and east. We're just sissies here, I suppose, but it feels cold and has been raining most of the day. Because I need to walk 10,000 steps a day, I put on my pedometer and walked the length of the mall 4 times..... only to reach 2679 steps! What's up with that? Is it the pedometer or what? I went off my Boniva (osteoporosis preventative) because I've been hearing about osteoneurosis and I didn't want to be a victim. In order to go off the drug, you need to really beef up your exercise (woe is me) and do some powerful walking. If anyone knows anything about osteoneurosis, (just corrected this to osteonecrosis!) I'd sure like to pick your brain. Evidently it causes some jaw changes which in turn can cause your teeth to crack.
Not much to blog about today....stay tuned.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

2nd Post


Thought I'd publish a couple of pictures to see how it works. The first picture is of the boys when they were from about 3 to 9 years. We had just returned from Germany with the US Air Force. We lived on the 3rd floor of base housing in Bitburg. Hauling groceries and laundry up and down 3 flights of stairs (4 flights to the basement) for 3 years was a real challenge, but boy, was I svelte in those days! Tired, but svelte! The next picture shows our grown up sons including an additional one who wasn't born in time to be in the other picture. They are all delightful people and have given us the blessing of a lot of wonderful grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

First Post


Thanks to some dear friends in my Yahoo mixed media art group, Altered StART, here is my very first post. I wonder if I will be able to find the discipline to make entries often enough? I have a bad habit of starting journals and diaries and letting it all fall by the wayside after a time. Maybe at this stage of my life, I need to learn some stick-to-it-ivness and "get my blog on". I have been sitting here all afternoon trying to figure out how this thing works. I must have lost a bunch of brain cells in my elder years because it doesn't look that easy, and yet there are thousands of people blogging every day. So hang with me and see if I can figure out how to put some pictures on here. I'll be begging for help, I'm sure of it!