The Small things

I didn't get to do much crafting today, but I did manage to get all my laundry done in 4 speedy loads. Wooo Hooo, think of all the time I will have this week! I worked on corset themed ATCs today-- not at all satisfied with the results.. grrr. It was not what I had in mind-- so I switched to making something for a friend. I really want to get my clay out and play, I have some work to do with it- I know what I want, but I have to have sufficeint time to get it out and get it done.

I did get to take my "Little man" to scouts for the first time in about 6 weeks. There was a lot of illness and school being out so we were not going. This was his picture from the first time he wore his uniform. He loves it and even said so on the way home! Today, he got in the car with a coonskin cap on and the poor coon lost its tail to a ferocious kitten we had a while back. It was so funny! He has always enjoyed dressing up to entertain people. We call him our little clown. ( We have alot of cute names for our kids) His den didn't show up, so after playing on the playground with the older boys-- we went to McDonald's for a sundae. We ran across our Pastor, his daughter and grand-daughter. It was a pleasant evening and fun to spend some one on one time with Nathaniel.

I hope to get more stuff DONE tomorrow before I take the older child to his scout meeting. Thanks Phyllis for the correction-- I put a little patch on it! God bless you all-- more goodies (I hope) tomorrow.

OH, Scrappy Day

Here are the photos of my prayer tag book that I finished at the "Scrapper's Cafe" at church yesterday. Top one is the close up of the cover page. Next is the over-all picture. I added numbers to the page tabs at the bottom with the Caribean Sea color from a Technique Tuesday's ink set after I photographed it.It added a great element to those tabs and pulled them into the body of the piece.


Then there is a view of the pretty pages fanned out with one as a center-piece. Finally and on the last page, is my favorite one: Titled "Great Joy"! I love the way the paper melts into the background and it has a green sorta hue that doesn't turn out so well in the photo. The ring is red to match the beads on the cover, and I used some beads to make a dangle on the back to put one of the "handmade" charms on it (I found them in my drawer! Thanks again Pat, This was the perfect project to use one on!) I also used wine colored pearls and pink and turquoise Swarovsky crystals. I don't know why I didn't photograph that part! Silly me!

Thanks for visiting me, I would love to hear from you and check out your blogs too. I am off to visit with my hubby- we are celebrating the closeness of those concrete trucks!!

The Hope

The one thing that has kept me going today was the hope that tomorrow brings. Tomorrow my oldest son will be baptized. He has been a stinker the past few days. He was off his diet and his meds.... it has its woes that will one day be overcome. I can be thankful that he has not injured himself, (or anyone else) except for the bruise on his arm where he tripped. He has been tripping alot. This photo is of him doing his school work at the kitchen table, I don't think he wanted to actually work that day. He is eager to work but gets so upset when I make him go back and DO what the directions say to. He doesn't always "get" what the directions mean even if I explain it to him. It is an association disability. He doesn't relate the directions to the actual actions. In time he will overcome this too.

I finished a project that I have been working on for several weeks today. For 12 weeks, I have been attending Prayer 101 at the Life University that my church provides. Our assignment was to craft a prayer from each one of the 13 Epistles of Paul. I had several prayers done, but I had to push to get the remaining ones finished. It was a blessed time, Leaning on Him. I learned alot and will have 13 scriptural prayers to speak into the lives of my family and others. They are all quite encouraging.--- did you know that it is scriptural for us to live a quiet life, mind our own business, and support ourselves? I knew these were good ideas to live by, but I had never seen them printed in the Bible before. All I can say is WOW. Anyway, I created a tag album on a ring to keep them handy. I will photograph and post it before I turn my assignment in to the teachers. The tags are very pretty and I hope that I will add to it or make another one with other prayers in it. Have a blessed day.

Wednesday's woes.

Yesterday was a tough day. I had water puddle at my feet when I went to run the water to wash my husband's overalls for work. (That is standard country boy work attire @ my house!) Boy was I unhappy... I told my husband, dreading the the "what now" comment that I usually get. He was so cool about it! He even bought a new dryer to match, since it was kinda going south too. He even apologized that they are not the ones we had hoped to put into our house we are building. They would have been 2x what we paid for these. Those dollars need to go into the building right now. We are building our house DEBT FREE. No loans or financing. We have been BLESSED, I tell you, just BLESSED. I have to say the woes are worth the reward. My new washer washes larger loads faster, and the dryer too. No more waiting for half an hour for the drum to fill on the rinse cycle-- or listening to the dryer squeek everytime it makes a revolution. I am just so thankful to be able to go and get the new stuff without worrying if the car will make it and if we can afford it or having to track down somebody with one we can afford and wondering how long it will work. When My husband was putting in the units, I noticed that we were even working well together. That was a huge blessing too. My family doesn't "often work well with others".
Here is the photo of my latest altered art exploration. It was a stainless fork. Now it is a pendant or key chain. It sports beads from Pat around the face and some swarovskies and even some turquoise (stabalized I think) The "window frame" discreetly shows the most profound biblical truth that I know. John 3:16 ( for those of you who are interested)
On that note , I am one proud mamma to be telling you that my oldest son will be baptized on Sunday morning. We have been through some tough ones with this kid and it is just proof that you must "train them in the way that they should go".

And Chris-- that project was a hoot- if you still have photos of that --BURN them! Just kidding. Look at how far we've come since then. I know the woes and rewards of homeschooling and letting those men lead. Fortunately for me my hubby is learning the 'we are one ' thing and is begining to partner with me more and more. It is nice to see you around town.

The sun is shining and my kids are almost ready for more instuctions. have a blessed day, and recieve those blessings he has ALREADY prepared for you!

Oh Happy Day!

I have several photos to share with you.

My Easter Sunday was spent creating altered art with our contractor's wife. She is such a sweet lady, and a fast learner too. We created altered domino art. The geisha was the example I showed her and the frog and keyhole is the one I made after she left. She has two that she took home with her. One of them was for her son and it was made into a keyring.

I also want to share some special things that came in the mail over that past few days. The first thing to come in the mail was an RAK from Vicki B on the ATC connection group( Thanks to you again, Vicki)

Here is a photo of the vellum envelope stickers and the metal stickers, oh and the mini- clear stamps.

The second thing came in this morning's mail and it was some Great beads from Pat. -- Those beads are perfect for a project I am working on and I didn't have any of them already. (Boy are you good Pat! I bet you knew that I would use them on Willow, HUH?) I used some of them on a small project that I will post photos of later. My absolute favorite ones were the little bitty leaves. She sent me some little hand charms to but I seem to have hid them from myself at present. I am sure I will come across them soon-- Life has been kinda messy around here.

If you don't know Pat, you can visit her blog by using the link in my "links" section here. She also hosts the Comfort Doll project- which is how we met.

Not a great picture but it will have to do. I just wish I had those hand charms in there too---My photos are lacking a little light, my youngest son KO-ed one of my lights and I have yet to replace it. It has put a damper on the evening beading that I sooo love to do until beadtime. Maybe I will set that as a goal to take care of after school tomorrow.

Blessings to you and thanks for visiting my blog.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter to all of those who have decided in your hearts to follow Jesus Christ as thier Lord and Saviour. For those of you who haven't you are not here by mistake. He is calling you today to follow Him on the very day that He rose from the dead, defeating even the grave and the power death has in your life. I have chose to live a life that is more abundant with a peace that passes all understanding. If you want this life too, then just ask. He will give it to you. I have a sister who died tragically, that never made that decision. I lost her...I don't want to loose another person. I love you and God Bless you.

She is Back!

I am so excited to have her back. I created a doll for the Land of Odds "Celestial Reflections" Beaded Art Doll Competition, her name is Azure. I sent them my precious doll and they sent her back a winner! She took 2nd place and I am so pleased to place amongst some other fantastic doll artists.
You can see her here-- http://www.landofodds.com/store/alldolledup2007contest.htm
Be sure to look at all the other artists dolls too, many of them have become my newest cyber friends, and if you are a beader look up the next competition too. I would love to see your work.

Now to show you my latest doll. She was created as part of the BAD Arsenic and Old Lace challenge. Her name is Hermana Del Sol and she doubles as the next peice for the Son of Man "series". She resembles the fire that rested on the disciples when they were filled with the Holy Spirit.


I am growing more and more attached to the color orange as these peices grow. I would love for you to feel her hair, it has such a neat texture! I will share more of my smaller beaded peices with you in my future posts. I have had a great time being able to share these little snippits of my life with you through my blog.

"My peace I give you."

Header picture

The picture on the header of my blog is a view from the sliding glass door if you were sitting across from me at my desk. A great view for my guests. My desk is in the middle of my house so that I can monitor the kids coming and going and even playing outside in the yard. I have a perfect perch to keep up with all the happenings at our family computer and the tv in the living room. My kids do not get a way with much when I am at my station!
I live on family land that stretches over 300 acres. My grandfather was a dairyman in his younger days and bought this land over 50 years ago. It has been the foundation of everything good in my life and I hope to pass down those roots to my kids. Almost all of my grandparent's decendents live here and even decendents of my grandfather's brother live on adjacent land. We all live here, aunts, uncles, cousins even down to great grandchildren (my grandparent's great grand children.) We are a community that happens to be related. We work for the same companies and go to the same churches. We even build each others houses!
My cousin's husband had been here everyday to help my husband build our house- even brought some of the materials! My great uncle's son and grandson and great grandson even built another one of my cousin's house. My son goes and helps his great aunt and uncle with their landscaping for a homefront they are building here tooo. Another cousin is planting rows of vegetable's along side our 85 year old grandma's veggies. We truly work together as a family here.
I hope you are encouraged to get connected with your family and take care of each other.
I will post a pic of the progress of our house so that you can follow the "barn-raising" too.

Brand new Blog

This is my first blog entry and it has been a whirlwind of a day. I spent the day eating out with my boys teaching them public table manners, and grocery shopping. I went to the post office to mail out the last 6 of 12 beads for a beaded doll swap from a Delphi forum swap. Now my husband is sitting bed-side with his stepdad who just suffered a heart attack this afternoon. I am not sure if he is concious yet or not but I know he is in good hands- The Lord's! And thank you for you faithful BAD sisters for your prayers, I know that they are being heard.

I can thank Noel from BAD for kicking me in the shin to get busy on creating this blog-- Thanks Noel. It is your turn to get that esty shop going now!!!

I hope to share my faith and my life with new and old friends alike, maybe even some family will pop in from time to time. I hope you all will enjoy my company and my art.

This picture is of a painting that I am going to bead as a part of an idea I have to allow the blind to feel artwork by using beads to accent the lines and features which will also add visual appeal to the sighted. It is intitled "Son of Man" and he has a sister doll named "Hermana Del Sol" who was created as a challenge from the BAD group. I think this painting will inspire more peices as orange has become a new favorite color of mine.

More to come later, as I am still figuring out this whole blogging thing.

May you recieve the blessings that He has already given to you this day. They are there, just believe Him.