Winner of my 200th post give away

Is Karen S at A Creative Kick blog.  Congratulations Karen, I will get this book off to you as soon as possible.

I will leave you with this photo of a prayer flag my 7 year old friend made for me.  Thanks, Lauren.

Be Well.

200th Post! Time for a give away

Hello there, my blogging friends!  It took me awhile but I have finally reached my 200th post in this one.  I thought I had better have a give away to celebrate.  Details below.  

For now I am showing you some paper "buttons" I made after reading a tutorial on Kelli Nina Perkins blog.  They looked so pretty and I had everything I needed so why not?  If you click on Kelli's name above, it will take you to the tutorial on her blog.

They were fun and easy to make.

 I used a few on this journal page.  See them in the flowers towards the bottom?

Here is the double page spread.

When I saw these bangle bracelets on the Art Bead Scene blog, I wanted to make some.  So I did.  Click on the blog name and you will see the tutorial.  I had saved some plastic rings from lids off of mayonnaise jars and that is what I used as the bangle part of these bracelets.  Upcyclers Unite!!

Finally, in honor of all my loyal blogging friends I thought I'd give away this fantastic book by Judy Wise and Stephanie Lee.  Plaster Studio.  Mixed media techniques for painting, casting and sculpting.  I love the book but have decided that I'm not going to be making good use of it so would like to pass it on to one of you.  Please leave a comment on this post telling me you want your name in the drawing for it.  I'll draw a name on May 19th.

I found evidence of more upcycling in the natural world when I was cleaning out behind some books on a shelf in my studio.  Beautiful mouse nest!  Luckily I must have caught the mouse before they actually used this nest, it is a constant battle to keep up with the little furry critters.  There are bits of fabric, tissue paper and of course the peacock feathers.

So that is what I have been up to when I'm not outside working in the garden.  Hope you all are having a fine spring.  Don't forget to leave a comment if you want to be in the drawing for the Plaster Studio book.  I'll announce the winner next Sunday.  Till then,
Be well.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

My Dad, Bill Brattain, is turning 85 on May 6th.  Hard to believe that young boy with the violin is 85 now.  Dad played in the Youth Philharmonic when he was a kid.  I remember him playing his violin when we were kids, he'd play a piece of classical music to send us to dream land.

He grew into a handsome young red haired man.

This picture might have been taken yesterday, tall lean young man in jeans and T-shirt, baseball cap.

Soon he was a father.  I love this shot of Dad with two of my brothers and me, Christmas about 1957 or '58.

Dad was born and raised in Oregon with his Dad, Mom, one sister and two brothers.  Here he is with my grandfather and Uncle Creed and Uncle Laird.

I like this picture of him, still a handsome man.  Yep, that's my dad!

My family, doing what we like best, talking, laughing, eating and drinking fine wine.

He has an irreverent sense of humor.  Put a camera in his face and he is just as likely to make a silly face as smile.  Notice him above, making a face.

Here he is with his sister, my Aunt Peg.  He's getting older but he still isn't grown up;-)

This picture of my step mom Dottie, Chainsaw man and Dad was taken up at the family cabin when we had a work party. 

Sorry for the quality of the pictures, I really should get a scanner.

This final photo, of me and my Dad, taken at a previous birthday party.  I don't have enough pictures of me and Dad.  We are having a get together on Sunday to celebrate, maybe I'll get one of my brothers to snap one.

Happy Birthday Dad.  I love you!! 

Adding this on May 7th.  Had a great time with my family and thought I'd share this photo from yesterday with you all.

Tom, Bill, Jan, Rick 

When my sister in law Renee asked Dad how it feels to be 85, he replied, "Smooth.  Life just keeps getting better and better."

Sounds like a good thought to leave you with.

Be well.

Painting backgrounds

I've been working in my journals and I am liking what I am creating more all the time.

I imagine I am getting better at it.  Practice does help.

Finding the right pens to be able to write over painted pages helps too.

When the friends in my creativity group noticed my work improving they began to ask me if I could show them how to paint the backgrounds.  We did a little workshop this week and here are some of their results.

Mary tried some water soluble crayons.

I believe above shows some of Karen's work with the water soluble crayons too.

Pinky included some stamping with her work.  I love that stamp and borrowed it, made several copies on other papers to use later.

Karen included some cut outs over her painted page. This page shows the technique of painting designs first with some gesso, then painting over it and wiping off.

April prefers less abstraction.  She had some gellato colors that she was trying out for the first time. She liked them a lot.  They are water soluble too.

More of Karen's work.  When in doubt, put a bird on it!

April is taking a lettering class from Joanne Sharpe and gave us all cards and she hand lettered the envelopes.

Two weeks ago we colored eggs. Mine is the skully egg.

The next week we took April out shopping for her birthday.  We had to shop a little ourselves so she wouldn't feel lonely.

Sadie news-It's good!

Remember about a year and a half ago I posted how I took in this old Golden Retriever that seemed lost?  I put up ads and contacted various animal shelters to report her but I never did find her owner and never had a clue about where she came from.  My cat Charlie had trouble adjusting to her even though the new dog was very quiet and gentle.

As you can see from the photo, Charlie adjusted to Sadie and we all settled in happily.

On Saturday, a stranger came to the house looking for chainsaw man, he needed work done on his saw and heard that Steve is the man to see.  He came in the yard and all the dogs were clustered around to greet him and he said, "That dog looks just like a dog I lost awhile back!"  How long ago? I asked and he said about a year and a half ago.  Well Sadie is his dog.  He just lives a mile down the road but he and his wife keep very much to themselves and I've never met them.  He said they had put up posters and put an ad at the animal shelter.   We discussed the merits of his telling his wife as Sadie was really her dog.  I said please don't take her back, I love her, she fits in so well here.  But I also said I hope he does tell his wife so she can ease her mind about what happened to Sadie. He took a photo of Sadie with his camera.  I said they could have her back if they wanted, but I hoped I could keep her.

Kobos

I lost a dog once, she just disappeared and I never knew what happened to her.  I never really got over the loss so I can relate to what they went through losing Sadie/Gypsy.  I'd have loved to have found out that my lost dog was taken in by some other loving family.  Instead I've imagined many other scenarios, none of them good.  Above is a painting of her that a friend did for me.

On Sunday the man, his wife and their 8 year old daughter came here.  I was nervous, wondering what would happen.  The woman came in and tearfully greeted her long lost dog and Sadie seemed to remember her.  The woman, her name is Jenn, right away told me that they decided I should keep Sadie, that set my mind at ease.  Jenn said that she was so happy to find out that Sadie is still alive and found such a good home.  She said Sadie looks so good, her allergy problems have cleared up and she obviously is happy here, so she should stay.  They still have two other dogs to love.

Above is a small piece I made of me and my lost dog, Kobos.

So now the mystery of Sadie is solved.  I'm sorry those people had to go through the pain of losing Sadie but at least now they know she has a happy ending.  The other good thing is that we all hit it off so well with these people, I believe they will become good friends.  The little daughter was such a sweetheart, she brought us a card she made and a little bag of goodies that she selected to give.  There were some chocolates, two books from her collection, a small tin of mints that when I later opened it I found it contained pretty rocks, and a cloth book cover. They all stayed for a couple of hours and we talked and I showed them around the studio and the garden and we ate some snacks.  It was quite wonderful.  I'm so happy Sadie is still here.  Oh, and it turns out that Sadie isn't a Golden Retriever at all but instead is part Chow and part Irish Setter!  That explains the spots on her tongue and her red coat!

Be well.

Blogger friend gifts and giveaway

(giveaway details at the end of the post) 

Recently I did a trade with Lorna and this is what she sent me in return for the small art quilt I sent her.  Even the package was cool!

Look at this gorgeous bag she made for me!

Here is the back side."Gems may be precious, Friends are Priceless"

Inside the bag were these things.  A card with her work printed on it, a heart pin and a lacy fiber art pin.  Thanks Lorna!  I love it all and have been keeping my art journaling pens in the zipper bag.  Love these colors!

A couple of weeks ago I won a giveaway over at Maddy's blog, Santa and the Mrs.   She sent me this hoppy cuddle of bunnies that she made with her own hand painted fabric.  Aren't they sweet?  I have them on my table right in front of me where they can keep their eyes on me as I compute.   Thanks Maddy!

Over the past couple of years since I have been blogging I have received all these lovely hearts from blogging friends.  I call this my wall of love.

Here is another gorgeous gift I received from my good friend Anne who blogs at El Milagro Studio.  She knit this for me using silk sari yarn.  I was blown away when I opened the package and saw this beautiful item in it.  I've been wearing it a lot and just can't get over the beautiful colors and the design and the fringe.  Oh man!  Thank you once again Anne!!  You are definitely one of my priceless friends!

My friend Lynn at Cranial Purge sent me this spoon.  I had told her about the spoon theory and it made so much sense to her, she wanted to thank me for the link and sent me this spoon.  Now she is on an art journey of making spoon related art.  Thank you Lynn, it means a lot to me that you shared this piece of your inspired work.

This little needlefelted/hand stitched fiber art piece arrived from my friend Martha.  I love those dangly bits!  So fresh and fun, I have it on the wall before me where it helps cheer me on a gloomy rainy day such as today.

Martha also sent this little zipper felt bag.  I've got some bead work inside it to carry around.  Sweet bag, thanks Martha!

I have found my fellow bloggers to be the most generous people around.  I try to return the giving, and in this spirit I want to tell you all about a giveaway that just started on the group blog I am involved in.  Fox On the Run is the name of the blog.  click on the link to get there.  We are giving away 5 weeks worth of stuff.  I hope you will pop on over and take a look and sign up for the giveaways.  No strings attached, just leave a comment and good luck.  Maybe you will consider paying it forward one day.  Until next time,

Be well.