One Eye Candy!

This morning I was in "paper heaven"! I went to Hobby Lobby which has a huge decorative paper selection and as my luck had it, all of the paper was 50% off today! Yippie! Four 12 X 12 sheets for one thin dollar. Then I cruised down the road just a short jaunt to Cord Camera and Scrapbooking and "oh my" talk about your "eye candy" paper! I bought 2 sheets of paper from the company called Basic Grey. They are simply lucious! One is from the Pheobe collection and the other is from the Gypsy collection. They are so pretty I don't want to cut into them!!!! If you visit the Basic Grey website check out the gallery there. The other sheet I got is the one that looks like a quilt with 1.5 inch squares (perfect for jewelry making). I have lots of ideas ruminating in my noggin' about what to whip up with these little pretties! Oh yah!

It's pretty appropriate that I titled this "one eye candy" because I'm typing it with just one good eye! I was out trimming back the English Daisy plants and they have turned to seed which are like fuzzy little devils that fly all around. Long story, longer.......I had an allergic reaction and it's so itchy I would like to take a Brillo pad to it!!!! Well, I have to go before the Benadryl kicks in and my head hits the keyboard and I'm out cold! he,he,he

Smiles-

Toots

And the winner is.......

I just drew the name for the penant collage and the winner is.........................

Melissa (good name, it's mine too!) I'll be giving her an email to get her address and send the penant out. Thanks to everybody for your kind words and for entering. Check back frequently because there will be another give away in a few weeks! (I'm thinking something made with paperclay this time!)

Smiles-

Tootie

It's a Give Away!!!

Today was the last day of school! Yippie! I won't have to return until late August. This means days of doing whatever I want to do! I love this sense of freedom and although I really like my job as a speech-language pathologist I still feel like celebrating. So, in doing so I created this soldered glass penant which measures 8 inches across and 6 inches long. I made 2 collages, one on the front and one on the back which means you get a two-fer! It's made with a copy of vintage photo, stamps, decorative paper and wall paper all sandwiched between 2 sheets of glass and soldered. The hanger is made with glass beads and pearls and has a little "dangler" on the bottom of it consisting of glass beads, a tiny silver key and a blue glass leaf. Just leave a comment with your name and I'll draw a name on Friday!

Smiles-
Tootie

The colors are much more vibrant in real life! This pic is sort of faded out, sorry about that!

It wasn't just my imagination........

Seeing is believing, right? To my friends.....the pontoon boat really does exist! My husband got me this pontoon boat for my 40th birthday (I know, what I guy!) and I have been talking about it since January (b-day is in Dec.). My poor friends have had to hear me talk about it every day (yes, I feel bad for them but they will feel good when they are out on the boat with me this summer) and lately I think that they think it has just been a figment of my imagination. Well, yesterday my husband stopped into the dealership and there it was still in the shrink wrap just freshly delivered! Yahoo! Yippie!!! So this morning I went to the dealership with my camera and took pictures of it. Bob was getting the motor on it and probably thought "this chick has lost her marbles!". It will go to the "Tarp Guy" who will make the custom tarp and I should get it back by next Monday (I hope). A tarp is very important as there are a lot of gulls that like to drop bombs all over the boats at the dock (not good for white/light beige seats!)

So SEE, it's true, it's true!!!!! Yes Virginia, there is a pontoon boat!

Tootie's Pontoonie

Flower Child!

How much do you love your flower garden? I absolutely love mine as I consider myself a "flower child". I love to plant, weed, rearrange, trim and sit right in the middle of my garden. It started out as a tiny triangle at the side of my back porch and in 3 years has grown into a large triangle complete with flat river rock pathways through it. I add a major element to it every year. I like to just sit and watch all of the bumble bees cruising around the flowers, being busy bees and the humming birds darting in and out! It amazes me how those perrenials pop up and how quickly they grow. I hope you enjoy looking at my garden pics.

Purse Shoppers

How about that rush you get when you find a cute purse!?!?!?.......on sale!

Purse

The Lake

Remember going to "The Lake" for vacations? The smell of the pine trees and earth, the sounds of birds and loons, crickets and frogs....the gentle lapping of the water on the rocks and of course the wonderous sunsets that you thought God created just for you? Oh, how could I forget the boat? A vintage Chris Craft or a new pontoon, either way....it's ALL good! And.....FISHING! I'm not particularly fond of it but my husband has taken fishing to the next new Zen level! I love the lake and as I recently read in a posting on the Dudadaze blog (by the way check her out, she is extremely talented and her art has a fresh perspective), she prefers "the Lake" vacation to "the Beach" vacation. I like the lake too because of the trees...... you know when you are feeling your flesh burning and you just have to escape from the beating sun but where? where? where is there to go when you are on beach? A million hot foot steps to either the water or the car....either way honey your tooties are toast! But THE LAKE.....you have the cabin, the trees, the boat and the water to escape to! Anywho..... all of this thought about THE LAKE got me in the collage making spirit and this is what I came up with........ a penant! I will be cutting glass tonight and soldering around the edges of it and I'll probably hook on a little fishing bobber or glass bead fish to the hanger. I'll post that picture soon................

This is the back of the penant. It is 8 inches wide at the top and 6 inches long.

Can It!

Do you ever get to the point in your studio when you have been happily creating for days or even months and all of sudden you notice the cluttered mess you've made? It's like the mess suddenly appeared, however, it was building up all along and you just kind of put off straightening it up. It got so bad in my studio that it caused a "creativity block" in the old noggin'. I don't know about you in your studio, but I need a certain amount of tidiness in order to have a good creative flow. I found that I was spending more time searching for things than I was making things! Not an efficient use of time! So I started to clean, put away, sort and throw away when discovered that I needed containers to keep my pencils, markers and other little tools in. I had a few metal cans and thought they'd make good containers. I also had just bought a bunch of sugarloaf rubber stamps and had a few old wall paper books given to me soooooooooo I put them all together and this is what I came up with ............... I think I'll be making a few more in the future!

Funny + Cool Things To Make + Unique Things To Buy

Just a little humor from Hoops and Yoyo. This one is on the right and wrong way to be a good listener. So funny! Their little voices crack me up!
http://www.hallmark.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ArticleView?pageName=%2FHallmarkSite%2Fhoops%26yoyohome%2FCC_HYY_MANNERS_SWF10&storeId=10001&mailID=BAE_E_GCC_051507H_V1_GoodListenerCard_NA&campaign=BAE_E_GCC_051507H_V1_GoodListenerCard_NA&catalogId=10051


Sunshyne is making really cute super duper garden clogs from cheapies! She gives you the pattern and "how to" particulars on her blog.

J Caroline has a nifty site with all kinds of "how to" step by step instructions from ribbon belts to placemat purses!

Also I ran across this interesting site tonight....... it's fashion with attitude, less talk and more pictures. Check it out!

Little Shops.....

I got the idea for these little shops and houses one day while wandering though the gardening section at Lowe's. As I was walking about dazed confused by all of the flower and plants I almost ran into a pile of what looked like concrete loaves of bread. Well, the concrete loaves of bread turned out to be retaining wall stones. It was like an "Ah-hah" moment when I saw them. I immediately bought one, tore home (no I did not exceed the speed limit!) and started to paint. I painted on them with acrylic paint and sealed them with clear acrylic spray. I've found the cheaper the spray, the better....get the 98 cent stuff from Wal-Mart. I painted a few for my mom and friends last year and they held up very well over the summer and look just like they were painted yesterday! The little house with the candles in the windows is made out of a red paver brick that I had cut into a point at the store to make a house shape. It survived a Pennsylvania winter outside in the elements and the paint is still perfect, which is no easy feat! I place these little houses throughout my flower beds.

Who are these babies?????

Who are are these babies? Well, the little girl is me at about 10 months old and the little boy is my husband, Gary at a year old. Isn't he a cute baby?!?!?!? Oh my goodness, those dimples! If this was a color photo you would see his beautiful green eyes. I made these 5 by 7 collages for our moms for Mother's Day. I have to be honest, I'm a mama's girl and Gary is a mama's boy! When I gave my mom the collage, she was so enthralled with it.......she just kept looking at it with such a loving smile on her face! And, Gary said his mom got a little misty eyed! Ah, aren't mom's great?!?! Both my husband and myself are very fortunate to have wonderful mothers who were always there for us, sacrificed for us, encouraged us and most importantly gave us unconditional love!

Tootie circa 1967

Gary circa 1959

How Green Is Thy Valley?

Inspirational Green Crocs!

Still on my colour journey, I've chosen green to focus on today. Again, I was inspired by a pair of my Crocs. I never was much of a"green" person until I met my wonderful husband. Green is his favorite color and I've grown to embrace it in all of it's hues! I took a personal day and had the day off from work. Did a little shopping in the AM and then spent the glorious sunny and 78 degree afternoon on my back porch cutting, pasting and creating ATCs. I didn't even fire up the iPod but rather enjoyed the song of the birds around me and every now and then the song of the neighbor's lawn mower! Creating is such great therapy!!! Keeps you grounded and living in the moment which is something I'm consciously trying to do. So back to "green".......what thoughts does that word evoke for you? For me it's: fresh, summer, cool, lush..... sounds like I'm describing a salad or a patch of grass! I tried to get further inspiration by walking around the yard and taking snaps of plants. I hope you enjoy my collection of "green".......

sweet potato vine.....isn't it a great color?back porch studio

Here is the end result.............Two Peas In A Pod ATC......

Nothing Rhymes With Orange!

Who out there owns an orange outfit?

I'm still on my color journey, becoming inspired by everyday objects of great color around me. Today's inspiration comes from my new Crocs! A deep blazing orange that makes you smile when you look at them. I never really thought about orange as one of my favorite colors but as of late, I'm makin' friends with the orange! Did you know that there are no words in the English language that rhyme with orange.....go ahead try it.....impossible!....just like it's impossible to lick your elbow! (how many of you just tried to lick your elbow?....go ahead admit it, you know you tried it!) Anywho, getting back to the color orange, my challenge to you is to create something orange this week and please show me! Come on! You know you want to create something orange, just like you want to try to lick your elbow now!

The Inspirational Crocs

Orange can be liberating...........it makes me feel like a kid again.....these are my prirate shoes!


Don't you just love the orange spats he's wearing?!?!?!