Another altered book.....

This is the cover for my altered book this year...It revolves around recipes that you build your theme around. I had fun doing the cover for it and have done the two inside pages as well, but they are drying yet......I started by scrunching up all kinds of papers and using diluted glue to make a base. then I gesso'd it and painted the chef lady over it...well, trial by error once again. I used some paper that had a waxy finish......it does not work at all....I would paint and pieces kept popping off the page, darn it. the good news is you can scrape it all off and start over. It is a good thing I enjoy crumpling and gluing.....I am looking forward to doing a Marie Antoinette themed layout with a cake recipe for "let them eat cake"....It is just such a great line even though the poor girl never really said it. Now on to better things....Project runway is on tonight...Yipeee! I hope Chris March gets to the finale over Rami and all his draping nonsense.....I got over draping and polyester a long time ago.....sheesh.....I better go take more cold medicine so I am up for the show!..cough cough

Long time no see!

I think about posting, really and then I just don't. My computer has been acting a little crazy, so I haven't been on it much which I guess is as good as an excuse as any! I need to go get a new one I guess....sigh.... I hate setting them up and getting everything on it that I want. I definitely have got my moneys worth out of this guy though. Life is crazy here but what is new? Where to start? Olivia's mom took off with her to Portland against my wishes and dumped her down there for a week while I worked with every agency in both Oregon and Washington to get her back. The laws in both states suck as far as protecting children go. Children are considered their parents property and the law is for the parents rights until the child is GRAVELY harmed and there is proof...Is this screwed up or what? I do have her back and I am going through the court system to make sure it doesn't happen again but what the heck is wrong with this picture? I don't really want to go in too much detail but I was ready to lose my mind with anxiety over this one, I tell you. She is doing great and aside from being shuffled around, she wasn't hurt or anything....she is happy to be home. Daniel was in a play so we were involved in that, two birthdays, and company last weekend and now sore throats and earaches for everyone! I tell myself that this is all part of life, but I need to have a couple of really boring days to recoop......

I have been sewing and doing some art type things though not as much as I want to. The two year old no longer plays quietly at my side in the basement when I create....He rips and tears and turns into a whirling dervish. {the proof is in the state of the basement. it's ugly!} I finished my sisters quilt and made it a label from an old photograph of us....I took a picture of the picture than printed it on fabric.....I call the quilt, "Cynthia's May Garden"....Her middle name is May and the flowers in the fabrics are Lilies of the Valley which is Mays flowers....I also made giant tags using my cricut machine to put on the bags that I sent...I love this little machine...The kids love it too and make a lot of cards and stuff for school. I have been also working on my altered book and a spread in Caryl's pink and orange book....Mine isn't done yet, but hers is so I will include a picture...lastly, I have been working quite a bit on a Western Washington shop hop quilt and it is turning out really nice....I have a lot to do yet, but it is shaping up...I may post pictures of a few of the blocks tomorrow.....

little pieces of art......

I actually got four little pieces done today.....Andrews Auntie, bless her heart, came and got him today for an overnight stay so I could have a little time to myself. Liv was in school most of the day so it was a really great break from my normal routine...Or what has become normal anyway. I actually slept this afternoon.....by myself! What a treat! Then I read for a while, I just started a book called " the rise of Venus", and went for a walk with the dog...Tonight I went down to the dungeon to await "Project Runway" and made two postcards, a bottle cap pincushion and a fabric atc with a paper image....It doesnt get much cooler than this folks....The little pincushions rock! I think it' s so sweet looking, just like a little cupcake and it really is made using a soda bottle cap...Amazing what people think of...I normally will handsew NOTHING, but this is just plain fun. I am going to get some little tiny cupcake papers and put them in the papers....Why? Cause it would be cute, I think....The postcards are for a swap...They are "something with L" cards.....Lemon lime florals are what I am calling them...I just doodled with neocolor crayons and my sewing machine and they evolved....I like em, nothing fancy....Now off to bed! Again, by myself, oh bliss!

Ok, I am not SUPERMOM!

I am going to be honest. The kids are driving me nuts tonight and I mean nuts....Andrew has a cough and a runny nose again and is crabby and whiny and Liv, is just being an annoying six year old. Sometimes I want to go make something so bad and it is just down right impossible! There they are whining and wanting to help and just being kids..So is it that I have no patience today or is it them? It is me...I am on overload and not getting out of the house enough. My oldest daughter is going to school and working so she hasnt been around to help out and I guess I got used to it. I called her and begged her to take the little troll tomorrow for a couple of hours...Even just to take a walk is a big event here lately....So now that I have shattered the image of the perfect grandmother....I did make an altered book spread for Barb .b. Her theme is vintage with dolls....I layered this one up big time. She also wanted sepia so I tried to really keep it in that color spectrum...[It took me all day because of the aforementioned kid issue...] I also am showing a picture of a 3x3 made for Sanna that has grown on me...I usually dont work in blues, but I like the softness of this piece. So I guess now, with Andrew on my heels, I will go clean up the paint, paper, brushes and assorted rips and tears from the kids helping...Bless their little hearts...I love them so much!

One Block Wonder Quilts.....

I was in the store tonight where we are having a showing of the "one Block wonder" quilts...Beth teaches the class and it is jam packed every time. I know I have talked and talked about this quilt, and I finally remembered a camera to take pictures....The centers of the quilts are from one fabric and then they are put together in hexagons making them look like a kaliedescope...You never really know how they are going to look when you pick the fabric. That is half the fun of the quilt...The first one is mine....I really played with the borders and it actually is hung on its side...it will either speak to you or it won't. I have had people who adore it and then I have had traditional quilters who dont like the mismatched borders...The second is my friend Laura's...She used an asian print on a black background...I love the ORANGE! It has grown on her. For a while she wasnt feeling it at all..The third is Nancy's...I love this quilt...The colors are so me, I hinted I would trade but she didnt take the offer...hehe....and the last one is Beth's...she is who teaches this class...You would never believe what the whole piece of fabric that this was made from looks like...It actually is from what I consider to be a homely piece of tropical stuff and it made a ROCKIN' quilt! Just thought I would share!!!!

Cool Clock and a few hearts.......

It is hard to believe it is February already! That means it is almost spring! I am so not a winter person. Usually by January I am about tired of it for sure....I keep looking at the weed festival in my front yard and wishing for nice weather so I can go get rid of them..Why does the pretty stuff all die and the weeds do just fine? It has been fairly quiet around here...We are all still recovering from our bout of viral pneumonia. I forgot how when you have kids, the germs just get recycled and passed around. I went to a consignment store the other day that sells all kinds of good junk and I got this really cool clock...It is a signed oil painting that some guy made and then someone made a clock out of it...It is framed with some kind of rusted metal...not the "faux kind, the real stuff...It fits right in with the hodgepodge style in my bedroom. I just thought it had a lot of character and it was cheap too! woohoo.....I also made a couple valentine ATC's...One is painted batting which I am really liking the looks of...it is all fuzzy looking. The other is a off a fabric collage sheet that looked really washed out when I got it so I painted and dyed over the top of it then thread painted the bird..Gotta have some vibrant color, or I dont like it. That's about it..just finished a huge project for a lady that I was paid for, and now I am looking forward to doing some of my own stuff again....