Pink Roses

Mom-come find me...

It used to drive me crazy.  Ten times I day I would hear Christopher say..."Mom...come find me".  Half the time I would find him.  The other half I would beg Elizabeth...please go find your brother.  Some times I would say I'm busy right now...  A few days ago I was in the kitchen and Christopher had gone outside, when I got a text on my cell phone...

Mom-come find me.

In an instant, a million memories came flooding back, and I was no longer annoyed at this request.  In fact I was smiling ear to ear, happy to stop what I was doing and go find my 18 year old son.  He still wanted to play with me! Of course I knew right where he was...in a tree.  I grabbed my camera and headed outside to find him...

Am I high?

yes you're high...

Are you scared?

Yes, I'm scared...now get down, but wait, let me get your picture first...

He is a notorious tree climber...he used to climb to the top of the Magnolia tree when he was only 4...we finally had to cut off all the lower branches so he couldn't reach them.  He still makes me nervous when he gets too high up...

All of this is to say...If you are lucky enough to have someone at home with you today that says "come find me"...stop what you are doing, and go do it.

You won't regret it.

hidden treasure?

My daughter spotted this box at a flea market and called out to me..."MOM"...and then gave me the get over here look.  Even from a distance I got a little excited...pink and green (it does not get any better than that for me), roses (ditto), worn and shabby...perfection!

As I got closer she picked it up, and I heard the most perfect and familiar noise...not a rattle, not a jingle, but the sound of buttons.  I got so excited thinking about what could be in the box.  I just knew, in my heart of hearts that some sweet old lady had filled this with a lifetime of buttons...

But not any buttons mind you, a box this pretty would have been filled with the best.  All her special buttons, mother of pearl, floral ones, pink ones...and some rhinestone ones too...and dressmakers pins with pearl tops...that's what you would keep in a box this pretty.  All these thoughts flashed through my head in the 40 seconds it took me to get to my daughter and open the box...what was inside?

Poker Chips.

What a buzz kill. 

Seriously.

False advertising.

Actually, if I had read the other side of the box...

it would have been obvious.  Oh well, my quest for hidden treasure continues...Of course I bought the whole box for $1.00, and I still keep the poker chips inside it...makes me laugh at how hopeful I am...

and who knows...The large chips are made of some kind of cardboard and they are embossed with four leaf clovers...maybe this was a lucky find after all!

inchies...

Today was the first meeting of the Atlanta Mixed Media Artists group (AMMA).  It consisted of four of us sitting around my kitchen table making inchies.  Then shopping.  Then lunch.  Good times. This is how it came about...luck, chance, fate...and talking to strangers...

I went to the flea market in January, and was talking to  JoAnn who owns the ribbon booth, and I was taking pictures of her ribbon to put on my blog.  I smiled at a woman who was shopping for ribbon and a few hours later, as I  was leaving the flea market, I saw this woman again.  She introduced herself and said that she was looking for a group of artists who might be interested in getting together once in a while and making art.  Sure, I said, and we exchanged emails.  After 2 months of corresponding we had our first get together this morning.  Her name is Denise Moore, and she made me this GORGEOUS soldered art piece  as a thank you gift for hosting the meeting! (she has an Etsy store:HERE)...

Denise invited her friend Sandra, and I invited my friend Sarah.   We decided to make inchies because they were quick and easy (or not when you obsess) and a local rubber stamping store was having an "inchie swap"...so we made the inchies and took them by the store to swap, shopped a little and then had lunch.  A really fun day with some new friends.  Denise is going to teach us how to solder in a few weeks, and we talked about making ATC's and altered Rolodex cards at future meetings.  We may take a whole day and go thrifting...(If you live in the Atlanta area and want to come to the next get together, please send me an email!)

I can't say that inchies are going to be my new "thing" but it was fun to just create something, and share conversation with other creative souls.  Hope you had a great day too!

Australia...

I am going to Australia.  Well, not me physically, but a little piece of me...

I made this for a friend who lives in Victoria, Australia.  She and I have never met...we are friends through Flickr and our blogs...

I made her a banner that spells out the name of her home...Fairy Cake Pond...how magical is that?

She likes to make art out of "unwanted things" as she calls them.  I knew she would appreciate the fact that I made this out of cardboard I recycled from a box I found...

That's what the glittered letters were for...

I'll show you the full project and how I made it, after she receives her package...in about 2 weeks...

For now, just a few details...now I must wrap this up, and send it off...I've never mailed anything to Australia, and I'm actually nerdy enough to be excited about that!

a quicker way...

I found a quicker way to make glittered letters.  Pam Garrison draws the letters on with a pencil, and paints in the shape with glue and a paintbrush, and then glitters. This is great for BIG letters, like the one she did above on a banner. 

I rubber stamped the letters for this small banner, and then used the paintbrush/glue method to fill them in...  I've been working on a project that required lots of letters (about 2" tall), and I thought there must be a quicker way, so I tried this...I took a foam stamp...

put the glue directly on the stamp...

stamped it onto my project...

poured on the glitter...

shook it off...

a (fairly) perfect glitter letter!  10 seconds!

  I did this on the kitchen counter, so I had a mixing bowl filled with warm soapy water in the sink, and I just tossed the stamps in the water after stamping.  Clean up was simple.  This saved me a TON of time...I hope I'm not the last one to know this!  I'll show you my project tomorrow...

tagged...

My friend Tammy Gilley tagged me to tell you 7 things about myself, so you can blame her for what you are about to read.  You can also thank her for what you are seeing, because all of these pictures are of a beautiful piece of collage art I recently purchased from her new website. 

1. I was born in Atlanta, and am the oldest of 3 children.  I was the first girl born on either side of my family...I had 6 boy cousins when I was born.  I was a little spoiled, but not for long...6 girls came after me!            

2. All I ever really for sure wanted to be was a mom.  Having kids was the best thing I've ever done.  Being their mom is awesome. (And horrible, depending on the day). I always wanted 4 kids.  My husband wanted none.  I'm glad I got 2.

3. By the time I graduated from college, I had attended 12 schools.  My father was very successful in his career, and we moved a few times...Atlanta-Pennsylvania-New York-California...

4. Towards the end of my senior year in High School, (we lived in New York), my father was transferred to San Francisco.  I made a deal with my parents...they let me graduate from High School in NY, but I had to go with them to California and attend college there (instead of the East Coast where I was planning).  I graduated from the University of California with a degree in Design. 

5. I am actually kind of shy...I HATE going into a room of people I don't know...my hands are sweating just typing that.  (I have been a member of an Atlanta Photography group for 2 months now, but I can't go to a meeting, because I am too afraid to go alone) My daughter recently wanted to learn how to ice skate, so she just went by herself to an ice rink and started.  By herself.  I wish I could be that brave.

6.  I love clothes, have a lot of them, have them obsessively organized in my closet, but I wear the same type thing every day.  Like a uniform.  Winter: jeans, solid color turtleneck sweater, cowboy boots.  Summer: floral print skirt, t-shirt, cute sandals.  It's all about comfort.  My daughter can be in charge of making the fashion statements in this house.

7. I AM NOT spontaneous.  I like to think things out and have a plan.  Logical, practical, sensible...(boring?).  Collage art challenges me, and takes me FOREVER.  I move things around a million times, looking for the right color, pattern, texture, symmetry...I am really working on letting that go. 

OK...I thought that would be hard, but I have so much I could still tell you, but I fear I have just painted a picture of myself as a crazy person!  I prefer to think I am just an emotional-creative-passionate-complicated-regular-girl...

Happy Easter...

I made a nest out of vintage baby rick rack and put it inside this tiny demitasse cup.  Then I picked all the pale pink eggs out of a bag of Cadbury chocolate Easter eggs, and filled the nest.  Just so I could take this picture...

Wishing  you and your family a Happy Easter!

(Oh, and I've been tagged by Tammy...I'll think of 7 things for Monday:)

Eagle Scout...

I have a new blog.  It's called "All About Chris". Just kidding.  I realize this is the third time I've written about him this week, but lately it's been all about him.  I am not expecting him to do anything blog-worthy in the next few months so you will be spared until he graduates in May.  But last night was another one of those moments.  Christopher became an Eagle Scout. 

If you are familiar with Boy Scouts, you know what an accomplishment this is.  If your not familiar, just let me say that only 1 out of 100 boys make it to the rank of Eagle Scout...it's a big deal.  He has been in Scouting for 12 years...since First Grade-age 6...

through summer camps...

and Pinewood Derbys...

Fellers Cake Bake...

to the ultimate...backpacking for 2 weeks in the middle of New Mexico at Philmont Scout Camp... It has been 12 dirt filled, camping, backpacking, sweaty testosterone adventurous years.  He has worked hard, made great friends, and had a ton of fun. 

I thank every one of you out there who has ever been a den mother or troop leader or baked cookies or driven carpool, or had anything to do with Boy Scouting.  It is because of  great Adult leadership, that these boys get to participate in this wonderful organization.  My thanks to all the leaders who have touched his life the past 12 years...mostly his father, who is a leader, and an Eagle Scout himself. 

Congratulations son, I am so proud of you!

recipes...

I come from a long line of amazing cooks.  My mom, both of my grandmother's, all of my Aunt's...seriously amazing cooks...southern cooks.  For most meals my grandmother's would never use a recipe, they didn't use things that said "serves 6".  They cooked huge pots of vegetables, made biscuits, and fried all the chicken they had.  There was always enough, even when company stopped by unexpectedly.  They taught me southern hospitality, and how to cook like this...

My grandmother on biscuits..."mix it all together with your hands until it feels right..."

My other Grandmother on how to make dumplings for chicken and dumplings..."then you add a little Crisco" when I pleaded with her to be more specific, she finally said..."about the size of an egg"

The only time they followed directions was when baking.   This is one of my prized possessions.  My paternal Grandmother's recipe box...

Almost everything has someone's name on it...Sully's Pralines, Ann's Pecan Pie, Lynn's Coconut Cake, Estele's Cake...all in my Grandmother's handwriting....priceless!

Well, I hardly ever use recipes either, and I'm not an amazing cook, I just cook. One recipe I do use is for my green bean casserole, my daughter's all time favorite. I'm cooking this for Easter dinner along with a brown sugar glazed ham and all the usual fare.  It's always a hit every time I cook it for people, so I thought I'd share it with you, with a warning... *This is not low fat or health conscious, but it is delicious...if your concerned about calories, eat less, or take a walk after dinner :).  I personally would skip dessert just to have seconds!

For my family, I use a 9x13 pan...and use...

6 cans green beans

1 large onion

1 pound bacon

10T sugar

10T vinegar

enough almonds to cover top

 

• I ALWAYS make it the day before, and let it marinate overnight...so much better that way.
• I cut my bacon before I cook it...Cut the whole pound into fourths, and cook it all at once. Don't cook the bacon too crisp, because it's going to cook some more in the oven .
• I scoop the bacon straight from the frying pan onto the green beans...no need to blot on paper towels...you'll be adding the drippings back into the dish at the end.
• serve with a slotted spoon  (eliminates calories)!
• It is fabulous left over, that's why I make a bunch...to go with ham sandwiches the next day. 

If you make it, let me know how you like it!

vintage Easter...

I started collecting vintage postcards 25 years ago, when I was just married, 22 years old, and had very little extra money.  There were several antique stores near our home in Pennsylvania, and I loved browsing on the weekends.  There was NOTHING in any of the stores that I could afford, except the postcards.  There were always boxes of postcards, usually 4/$1.00...perfect for my budget.  I would spend hours searching the boxes.  Some cards were more desirable, and more expensive...Valentine's and Christmas.  Halloween cards were really expensive and usually wrapped in plastic.  Easter cards were cheap, as were Happy Birthday, so that's what I started collecting.  Even though I could pay more now, I still have a $1.00 limit on buying postcards...and I hardly ever leave a flea market without one.  Here are a few of my favorite Easter images...

all of these cards are from the early 1900's...

they are all from Germany and have gold embossing...

I just love these old cards...I hope you do too!