Funky Art Queen

Craig and I picked up some little outfits for the grandson (Caden) today to send him for Easter.  Not Easter clothes just some Easter presents.  We also got him a cute little stuffed bunny.  I wanted to make him an Easter card so I got out the cards, glue stamp, bunny stamp and glitter.  This is what I came up with.  We are going to send Cody and Patsy a treat too!  Since we can't be together these are the things we do until we are together again!

OMG! Can you believe it is only 5 more days until the big guy in red shoots down our chimney (or up the drier vent..... for those of us that don't have a fireplace)? Today we are finishing up our packing for our trip to see the son and new daughter-in-law in Biloxi, MS for the holidays. I know we will have so much fun together. I just want to say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all my blog friends and just a general Happy Holidays Greeting! I am very thankful for my blog friends. I wish you all Peace, Safety and Love for this and all seasons throughout the new year. Can't wait to see you after the new year and hear all about your holidays. Big Hugs Lesley

H ere it is just a few days until Christmas.....(211 days to be exact). So, to celebrate, I created these two little elf stuffies. LOL....now you surely think I am going crazy especially after the last post. No, I just decided to participate in the Cloth Paper Scissors reader challenge for "winter holiday critter stuffies". I'm telling you, this CPS for May/June 2009 was one of the best ever for me. I was so inspired and challenged by several things. I was first inspired by the article by Pam Carriker on page 51 and thus moved to create this piece of art. Then, because of all that inspiration, I got out the Jan/Feb issue and found inspiration in the article by Sharon Tomlinson about incorporating images from paper napkins in your mixed media and came up with this: Anyway, I sent in my email about my stuffies and I hope they get accepted. But, even if they don't, I was moved to create and that makes me happy! THANKS CPS!!!

I don't have much to say today. My brain feels a bit like the bobidiboo song that is on my playlist here. (Oh come on, turn up the volume and enjoy the music-the playlist is at the bottom of the blog...i updated it to reflect my mood today) I'm back from the trip to see Cody in Biloxi ( I can spell it correctly now). I spent the entire day yesterday trying to get things back in order at our house. I got a new camera for Christmas. I think it will take close ups better....much better. I've been thinking a lot about the New Year and where I really want to be going with my art. Do I want to continue with Etsy? Do I want to pursue other means for selling which would be what? Just what do I hope to achieve with all this? Anyway, I'm certainly not down about all this. I'm just always excited by the New Year and all the possibilities. It is funny to go back and look at my new years posts from the last years. 2006 in anticipation of 2007 2008-Jan Anyway, I would like to tak...

Happy Holidays! From Bilouxi Mississippi This is Craig and I on the beach in Bilouxi, Mississippi. Who would have ever thought we would spend over 13 hours driving to come here for the holidays? Oh the things we do for our children and to be with our children. At least this way, we know where everyone is! We spent some time on the beach yesterday and took lots of pics. We don't have much experience on beachs being from West Texas! We spent some time drawing pictures in the sand. Some of us wrote love messages..hmmm wonder who that was? Today, we plan to do some sight seeing, shopping, and yes, some geocaching. So, more later. Have a lovely day.

click on the article above to enlarge. I wrote this several years ago for our local paper. Forgive all the typos- hey, this is Big Spring, TX! It made the front page! I know it was a while back because there is an add for the Jurasic Park movie-the first one. I'm adding it here as an entry in Ambers Great Christmas Giveaway. I also hope my sisters enjoy this memory. Merry Christmas sisters! I love you Ronetta and Rhea. We are blessed to have each other and these good memories. Hugs. Lesley

OM gosh, only 7 days. The panic is setting in. I think I must work better under pressure because I'm suddenly making lists...checking them twice....etc. Anyhoo, just a few things to share this morning..... Debbie over at Suburb Sanity featured me in her blog! Well, I say "featured" as it seems a little more special then saying "mentioned". Anyway, if you don't visit her blog, you are missing out on lots of laughs. She is very good at capturing the day in the life of women, mothers, etc....to me, she is a lot like Erma Bombeck. I hope she will write a book someday. She has over 99 followers, maybe you can add to her numbers. Oilcloth: Yesterday, I was listening to Martha Stewart 112 on serius radio and she was talking about making oilcloth placemats. I have been interested in making oilcloth somethings for some time but could never find oilcloth. Here is the link she suggests for purchasing oilcloth But she also gave some tips about sewing oilcloth. She sa...

I have an inexpensive Christmas gift idea for an interesting and personal piece of art. Here is a picture of the one I just created. The photo probably does not do it justice. Here are the instructions: 1. Go to your word processor-like Word or Works and type in words that are meaningful to the person for whom the gift is being made....I typed in our family names, dogs names, hobbies, etc-and then copy the text to the clipboard 2. Go to Worlde this link here 3. Click in the "paste in a bunch of text" box and paste your text from your clipboard 4. click the "Go" underneath the box 5. Look at what you made! Then, you can change it up using the buttons.....just play around until you get what you like. 6. Print it out on photo paper 7. Use that print out for your art 8. Or, go to copy shop and get a larger copy 9. Buy a frame-I got mine at Michaels and used my 40% off coupon 10. Wrap it up- Wala- Beautiful and thoughtful art gift....Yay for you

Meditation JuJu Doll If you are like me, you are so busy about this time. The holiday panic is landing on you about right now...oh my gosh....I still have some shopping, baking, and wrapping to do! So, I thought this JuJu would be a good reminder to us all to stop and take time for ourselves. Happy Sunday. Have a nice relaxing day! Oh and I wanted to show you the girls. I have dusted off a shelf and displayed them in another area of the house. They were a little crowded in their last home. So, they are all together again. I did not make the catrina or the fabric doll in the back...but the rest are my little creations. Happy Holidays From All Of Us!

My sweet daughter walked into the kitchen early this morning while I was enjoying my coffee. She had this big gift bag with tissue paper and a birthday card. She begged me to open it today because she could not stand it any longer. I told her that I wanted to wait so I would have a surprise tomorrow (on my actual birthday for any of you who don't know that...)but she looked so anxious for me to open it. So, I did what any mother would do and I opened her precious and thoughtful gift. She got me these warm and comfy slippers from Avon. They even have some kind of smell good stuff in them. The foam on the bottom is so thick so you feel like you are walking on a cloud. My baby girl knows that I have perpetually cold feet and that I needed some slippers. She is my precious angel and I wanted to share her sweet gift with you. This is me enjoying my new slippers. I wonder if they would mind if I wear them to work......hmmmmm-

Most of my gifts this year will be homemade. I guess I took the ETSY homemade challenge out of necessity. But, I think that personal and homemade gifts are great! And, just for the record, I really don't want anything for Christmas. I just want the family to be healthy, happy and grateful for all we have. I would like us to remember what Christmas is about and engage in the spirit of giving. Giving does not necessarily mean buying or giving things of material nature. We can give extra time, do favors, make homemade personal gifts, and many other things. So in that spirit....I have some ideas to share for your spirit of giving this holiday season. Cocoa Cones -I got this idea from my friends Renea and Lisa-here is a great link for instructions on this idea A special letter -write a letter to someone you love and say all the things you have meant to say but havn't...tell them you love them Personalized photo gifts -like a fabric transfer pillow Cookies in a Jar -There are tons of...

A new JuJu! This one is the JuJu of Peace and Serenity. I wanted to make a doll for a contest on EBSQ. So this is what I came up with. With all this time off, I have had lots of creativity time. But, I'm getting a little cabin fever! It won't quit snowing! Hellooooooo, this is West Texas. It's not supposed to do this. Oh well, at least I got the time to put up my Christmas tree yesterday. I still have a few final touches to add but here is the (heehee)"upside down tree". Well, no one else in the family really liked my idea for the upside down tree. My husband and son are such traditionalists that I felt like it would be a bit disorienting for them. Plus, I could not find one for a reasonable price. So, a traditional tree it is but I did use a lot of hot pink and lime green ornaments. I still want to get a few more on there.

I wanted to show you these bottles. The little ones on front are actually vintage bottles. I cleaned the bottles as they were full of dirt. I dried them good and then set out to recycle them. I poured some watered down Mod Podge into the bottles and poured out the excess. Then I poured some snow/glitter inside and shook it up and poured out any glitter that did not adhere to inside of bottle. I stamped the outside of the bottles with snowflake stamp and embossed with gold/silver and a glittery white. I cut out some vintage looking pictures to add to the fronts of the little bottles and tied a little sparkly tie. I printed out the words "Spirit of Christmas" and adhered them to the bottle with gel medium. THEN....shew...I made some little lids for the tops with polymer clay. I just rolled up balls and used a pencil eraser to sculpt out the inside of the lid. I baked as per instructions on package of clay-oh, I used some of that Pearl Ex Pigments on the lids before I baked th...

I wanted to share this little scarf and mitten set that I created this weekend. The scarf is just a double crochet with fringe on both ends of the scarf. The mittens are just a plain set of black mittens I bought at Wally World and embellished with yarn stiching and some beads as you can see here: I mean, really, you can't just wear plain old mittens. You gotta fru-fru them up a bit Sister! It was really very simple and I had this bucket of beads that just beg for attention all the time. I know, I know...it does not really get that cold here. But, there are days that are cold enough for a scarf and mittens. In fact, I use my mittens a lot in the winter because I am very cold natured. Now, I need a red set, a blue set, and oh yes, a pink set (oh with pearl beads, and a winter white set. Hmmm.....gotta get more yarn.

A few weeks ago, I saw a little handout from Hobby Lobby demonstrating a beautiful photo of an "Umbrella Christmas Tree". Basically, it is an upside down Christmas tree. Oh, I have seen Christmas trees hanging upside down from some kind of hook and I always thought those were cool...but not practical for me. But this tree was different, it actually sits in the tree stand upside down! WOW! I Wanted it!!!! I had to have it. I have been obsessing about it since. I looked at the Midland, TX Hobby Lobby but they did not have this particular tree. Renea called me yesterday to tell me that they have the "umbrella tree" at the Odessa Hobby Lobby. So, off to Hobby Lobby in Odessa I must go.... soon. I told my sister I wanted this type of tree and she joked that this was totally against all Christmas Tradition. I don't think it has any kind of evil connotations. She joked that it was sacrilege ...I just like it because it is different and funky. How is the Christmas T...

The other day I found a recipe for "Cowboy Cookies in a Jar". One of those gifts in a jar ideas. I have always wanted to try one of those for gifts. I made six of these last night and wanted to share them with you. It was relatively easy-I just made quite the mess with the flour and stuff-but quickly cleaned up when I was done. Now I have 6-very nice homemade gifts for my family. I got the "wide mouth" jars with lids at Hobby Lobby. I had all the other cowboy kind of things to add with the ribbon. The recipe was computer generated on an antique looking paper. The "cowgirl" charm was created by me some time ago and it finally found it's perfect home. I have multiple unfinished projects that must get done in time for Christmas! Gifts that I am making, gifts that I am buying, wrapping, cleaning house to prepare for Sunday night-Family Christmas. I have some commission work that has to be done today! OK! I CAN DO IT!!! Now, I will continuously remind mysel...