Gone to Art & Soul

I ironed this on a black apron I am taking to wear in Hampton. I think it turned out really nice.

I will miss you my friends and especially you Melanie. But, we will be together when I return (in one week); and for that I am so very thankful. I love you~

new cards

"There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm."~ Willa Cather

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I would much rather work in the calm, but lately I have been in a storm. Of my own doing I must admit; but Lord help me thru, as you are my rock. If you are for me, who can be against me?

Have a great week. God willing, I will too.

Odd Shots on Monday

Go see Katney for more Odd Shots.
I must say.....I love having an *Odd Perspective*.

It makes me who I am.
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"A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval."

~Mark Twain

yesterday and today

i am busy preparing to go to Art & Soul. i will be looking but not posting. printing pictures and gathering ephmera to use in my classes.

here is one more family picture with no name. i love this photo. the iron carriage, and the little blonde-haired baby on an old wooden floor. look closely at the wonderful iron bed covered with a thick cotton matelasse coverlet. yesterday has come to my rescue today. funny how that happens.

family photos

Before my uncle Eldie died, he and I went thru the box of family photos that had been left in my grandparent's house. He was able to identify some, but not all. I put yellow stickies on the back of the pictures with possible names. These are a few I scanned to take to Hampton to use in my projects. They are priceless to me. So often I step into an antique store and see boxes and boxes of old photos for sale. I saw hundreds in Warrenton as well. Many look just like these. I pick them up and wonder who's are these? Who are these mothers, fathers, sisters, and brothers? No one will ever know. I wish I could have gotten better names on mine before Eldie had gone into the nursing home. By this time his memory was not as sharp as it had been for so many years. He was the family historian. He knew and remembered way more than my Dad. This due mainly to the fact that my Dad was born 13 years after my uncle Eldie.

The only picture I can definately identify in the mosaic, is the top left, because it is my dad's sister and brothers: Aunt Lorena, Uncle Eldie and Uncle Edmund. The handsome fellow in the bottom picture is my dad, Cleo. He has the clearest blue eyes you have ever seen.

Odd Shots on Monday

See Katney for details on:

Odd Shots on Monday!

"Scout" misses his friend who recently relocated to NYC!

soldering for dummies

today i tried my hand at soldering, as i will soon be doing alot of it in sally jean's class in hampton. however, even before sally jean, i had pre-ordered stephanie lee's semiprecious salvage [creating found-art jewelry]. it is a how to book packed full of neat projects. i really like the rustic look of her jewelry designs. i decided to start small, so i began by soldering two sizes of copper jump rings. i used 20 gauge wire, wrapping the wire around a glue stick (as a guide) to make the larger ones. the smaller ones were wrapped around a beadalon jump ring maker. at first the solder was like working with mercury (out of a broken thermometer).

so far was so good; on to my next project ~ make a sea shell pendant. i wrapped the top of one of my stashed sea shells, burnished it with 1/2 " copper tape, and soldered it onto the top of the shell. i then attached one of the small copper jump rings on top. i was actually surprised at myself for being so patient. even though my jump ring fell off many times, i finally got it to stay and i like the way it turned out.

my final project was my most challenging. i soldered a bezel using a narrow piece of copper pipe i had the friendly guy down at the hardware store cut for me. (this way i didn't have to use a hacksaw or pipe cutter~thanks Chris for the warning). i cut a piece of copper sheet for the base; then put the copper pipe on top. i then soldered them together, making sure to always use my flux so the metals would stick together. it was an interesting time, to say the least! thanks to natalie at wired designs, in san antonio, for giving me hints on how to use large paper clamps as holders for my work while i soldered.

now, all i have to do it blacken my pieces tomorrow with liver of sulfur, sand and seal. then i plan on adding a great picture of audrey hepburn into the bezel, using resin as the well filler. i have never worked with resin. i will let you see how it all turns out tomorrow.

Jesus is Free

a couple of weeks ago i actually took some time to check out a local estate sale. after just getting back from warrenton antique festival, and seeing the prices vendors were charging there; i decided i needed to start going direct instead of thru the middle man for getting some pieces to use in my art. so, here is what i found~2 great very old stamps. click on pic to see the gunk way down deep in the crevices. i love to see old, oily, dusty gunk like this. (this really makes allen laugh).

and, then the lady had a whole box of old patterns that were her and his mother's. i dug and dug, & pulled out just this one. i liked it best~an old butterick pattern. can you believe 35 cents? funnier yet, is i paid $1 for it!

but~the most coolest part of the conversation between the family and i went like this:

(first, you must know i collect manger scenes).

"so how much is the little wooden manger scene?" the dad said, " one dollar". I said, "one dollar?" hummm, "Jesus is a dollar?", so i put it back; and then gently laid all of my items down to pay. naturally I said, "so what kind of deal can you make for this?" the mother added it all up, and said, "well, it looks like $13 (because I also had 2 very old, sorta rusted wire cooling racks). i turned and said, "well, can I have Jesus; yes, can I have Jesus; because you know Jesus is Free!" they looked at each other, shook their heads, and said, "yes, yes, you can have Jesus ~ for Free!" we laughed for at least 10 minutes.

so, I still have the little manger scene sitting on the dresser in my spare bedroom. it should go up in the attic in my christmas decorations box.
but, i was thinking; you know, Jesus doesn't belong up there either. He needs to be right here with me.

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2 fabric stamps ~ $5 each

2 semi-rusty cooling racks ~ $2

1 vintage butterick pattern ~ $1

and

1 baby Jesus ~ FREE!

stack of rugs

this is evidence that jake, my daughter's chocolate lab, had come to visit. yes, a stack of india rugs left at my back door. i know they should be washed and put away for next time. but, for some reason they haven't. maybe tomorrow. i miss jake.and, i miss mel.

ya-ya & tj

did i tell you about the two sisters we met in warrenton? these were two of the sweetiest girls melanie & i met the friday we braved the north wind & rain at the antique festival. we didn't get to look much thru their tent because of the rain, but they had some of the most coolest & unusual stuff. ya-ya (on the right) had just received a bale of hay to help soak up the mud, when my days of living on the ranch kicked in. i helped her spread it like i knew what i was doing. guess all those times i watched dad throw it off the back of the truck for the cattle; and all the times we spread it in our 4-H lamb pens, did not get lost in the wide space between my ears.

so, back to their store. their motto is, "Get Gypsy Fryed With Kool Funk & Junk". They have "Unusual Finds Everytime". i must say, it was the first time i had seen a curtain valance made out of at least 4 pairs of cowboy boots! it was so cool.

so, if you get close to vidor, texas, stop by and see the sisters (and their mother). you can find them at:

vidor flea market, building #5

i-h10 vidor, texas

409.656.5940

Odd Shots on Monday

too much sun?

We have so many of these little critters running around in our yard. This one "bit the dust", so to speak.

If you would like to join us, feel free to check out Katney. The guidelines are there.

just one day

Lovely for only one day, and, oh, so beautiful. This gorgeous crimson daylily, with the lemon yellow throat, came from my aunt Honey. She is the youngest girl in my mother's family. I thought they had been disgarded in the clean-up. It almost made me cry. But, I was so happy when I saw the green stalks appear earlier in the year. Daylilies bloom only once (a year), so I have to enjoy these while they are here.

So, what is a Hemerocallis, or daylily?

The word Hemerocallis is derived from two Greek words meaning "beauty" and "day," referring to the fact that each flower lasts only one day. To make up for this, there are many flower buds on each daylily flower stalk, and many stalks in each clump of plants, so, the flowering period of a clump is usually several weeks long.

The really neat thing is that they multiply. One day, hopefully, I will have a full bed of them.

its just things

*more things i gathered from the

warrenton antiques festival*

* the bottom book looks like an old picture album, but actually is called the golden book-full of golden bits of poetry. how nice of a surprise, as i actually bought it for the binding, and of course the substantial pages inside. it came from a couple that traveled all the way from Nebraska~and have done so for the past 10 years.

* the two books on top are actually from a fellow that lives in New Ulm, the little town I grew up in. these were from family, and he had come to sell things he cleaned out of the old homestead. they are both written in German. i love that. some of the pages are crumbling. i will use them with him in mind.

* the vintage keys came from a husband and wife from Arkansas. their booth was packed full of antique hardware. i wish i would have taken a picture of their tent. he sat at a long table in his booth, patiently sifting thru a box of various pieces of metal. methodically grouping like kinds. this man loved his little pieces of handles, knobs, and such. i did too.

* the buttons were from a bead house close to the highway. these vintage buttons were chosen because of their beautiful earthy color of browns, grays, and cream. i visited this shop last October. a little high in price, but i needed some freshwater pearls, and they had a good selection. you know i can sniff out a bead shop a mile away.
* the antique silver spoon & knife came via a gentlemen from Louisiana. Melanie and i landed in his tent, right before a major downpour last Friday & a fresh (very) cold front blew in~let's just say we didn't totally prepare!

* and, last but not least, the tarnished silver cream and sugar set was a great steal for $6. this lady came from Fort Worth. she was so excited & oh so sweet. she had made over $1,500 selling her goods so far. that is small change to most there, but it was alot to her.

so, now you have a few more reasons why i love to go to Warrenton. it is not only for the things, but it is for the people. and that makes me happy.

a few of my favorite things

* vintage buttons *
these came from Georgia. i found them at a booth across the road in warrenton. i usually don't go on the other side. not because i don't like it, but because i usually run out of steam way before i get there. but, allen was with me this time; and with his prompting, i jumped the fence (as you would say). this booth had so many buttons, i almost popped mine. it was hard to choose just a few, which i did. but, a budget is a budget & these came home with me. they will be in my bag on the way to art & soul at the end of the month.

*more finds to follow tomorrow*

thought you had a bad hair day?

I just couldn't resist this Odd Shot at the Antique Festival.
Believe this can give us a whole new meaning to bad hair. Almost scary!

If you would like to join us on Odd Shot Monday, go see Katney. The guidelines are here!

I pray your day is much better than hers! God Bless!

you gotta start somewhere

sometimes it is so hard for me to actually begin a new idea. take that first step on a path i have never tread before. i am so good at preparing, and then when it comes time to begin, i hold back until the very last moment. well, i am going there. i took that step. i cannot & will not look back, but only ahead.

i finally finished my very first pair of hammered earrings!

(copper, sterling silver and african turquoise)

thanks to my newest blog buddie, Chris ~ thank you my sweet new friend. you are the best, and your jewelry is beautiful! i also have Stacie and Deryn to thank ~ check out their blogs to see their absolutely stunning jewelry! all of them have answered my questions, each & every time i asked.

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Lord, you know my heart. you knew me, even before i knew myself. keep me in your will, and then and only then, i know i will suceed.

warrenton 2008