I AM STILL ALIVE

I am still alive down here in Alabama.  This hasn't been a very good month for me and neither was March.  I have been having trouble with my back off and on and yesterday was the very worse ever. I ended up going to the doctor and getting a shot in my lower back and can now sit up.  Yesterday it hurt awfully just to stand up. The reason I waited to go to the dr is because usually if I just rest my back ( lay around and NO heavy lifting  like gallon jugs etc) it will clear up ~ but not this time. 
Anyway, so much for my problems the shot helped and now there is only a twinge of pain and I can hopefully get back in the groove.  Housecleaning and crafting. I have been trying my hand at some art journaling and will pretty soon have some pics on my NEW blog ~ Southern Gothic Whimsy~ I decided to have a separate blog for my drawing and artsy stuff since this one is more shabby chic and family stuff. I have really been cruising the artsy blogs and have found some with great tutorials on painting techniques etc.  Once upon a time I did a series of oil paintings and sketches etc and could actually draw people and animals that looked real.  When I was in school I loved drawing (even as a little child) and would have gone in that direction in college if I hadn't been pushed into the music (piano and viola) direction. Oddly enough I ended up using my artistic abilities painting brims on ladies and childrens hats for craft shows. But even that I haven't done in more that 12 - 13 years.  Life just gets in the way.  The thing that has gotten my back into drawing is carving my own stamps.  I can't afford the fancy Tim Holtz stamps and bunch of other beautiful ones I have seen and I got to thinking ( after carving up some erasers) that I could make some of my own to use out of cheaper stuff.  An art supply store has opened up in Montevallo (there should have always been one there since it is a college town with a huge art dept.) and they have reasonable prices on their lino blocks and tools so I am going to give it a try.  I have found lots of foam stickers that I have set up to do background images (flowers etc that I bought years ago do use I no longer have ANY IDEA WHAT FOR).
I guess we will see how it comes out.  Today I have to stay close to the weather radio because they are expecting some 'super cell tornadoes' to form ahead to the cold front pushing thru Mississippi right now. Looks like we could be in for a rough ride weatherwise today.
I am getting some stuff to photograph to show you some of stuff I am up to right now. If we survive today.
May God's blessings be on all of you and keep you safe.
Mary

LUCKY OR UNLUCKY ??? Anything But A Card Challenge

Over at the challenge on the Anything But A Card challenge the subject this week was Luck or Superstition.  Now I have an Aunt Mary that considered black cats crossing in front of her moving car as VERY BAD LUCK.  In fact, she has been known to make a u-turn in the middle of a city block to keep from crossing the path of a black cat. Of course, the fact that twice in a short period of weeks she had flat tires after crossing the path of a black cat crossing the street she was driving on pretty much had something to do with it !! LOL So when I came across this challenge (just a few hours before it closed) I had to do a tag (a very simple one ) in honor of her superstition about black cats. So here is my entry at ANYTHING BUT A CARD CHALLENGE 

The black cat came from the The Graphics Fairy , the wishbone from my kitchen window (where I put them to dry out after I clean them when I can get a whole one out of chicken I am boning), the tag is hand painted with Duncan acrylic paints, and I have no idea what brand the ribbon is. Lettering by my hand.
I put the wishbone on the tag to cover my good luck, so there you have it with a few hours to spare.
It was fun.

Mary

SO MANY EGGS AND COLLAGE OBSESSION

In my wanderings among all the beautiful blogs and looking at entries to lots of challenges (most I will probably never enter) I came across Collage Obsession It is a weekly challenge, starts on Sunday and usually gives you several photos as prompts. This week's was EGGS ! So the first thing I did was hit my clipart folders and look for eggs I already had photos of. Of course Easter popped right up front and center. Now, when my brothers and I were in the under 15 age bracket my mother made sure we got an Easter basket every Easter. She didn't get the ready made ones, no siree, she bought bags on candy and goodies and designed her own. Oh yes and my FATHER always got one too!!! Two holidays he loved were Easter and Halloween ~ just for the candy.  We didn't have a lot of candy around the house all the time. I had an aunt that kept fancy glass candy jars (filled) in every room except the bathroom. But not us and my father did have a sweet tooth. We (my mother and I) gave my father an Easter basket up until his death at 85.
Anyway (I tend to get sidetracked ) back to the collage challenge. In the spirit of kids and father's that loved the Easter bunny ~ here is my entry:

When I found the bunnies painting their Easter eggs I thought of the theme to my collage. I found the bunnies eggs at Vintage Holiday Crafts and the blue eggs at the Graphics Fairy The background is some fabric in my stash that I scanned and printed. I think this is the first piece I have ever done as simply a collage. It was fun (after a lot of agnst by me ) but what would crafting be without a lot of worry hunting stuff)

So here are the challenges I am entering with this collage:
Collage Obsession - Eggs
Crafty Boots Challenge - out of your comfort zone
Challenges 4 Everybody - anything goes
Divas By Design - any paper project /anything goes

Come join the fun !!

Mary

FINALLY JOINING SOME OF THE CHALLENGES

I have finally gathered enough supplies together to actually join several challenges with some original work.  It has really been hard to get my act together for the last 6 months or so.  It seems every thing I have touched lately has quit working (my Printmaster program) or has journeyed to the 'land of the lost' (stamps, punches, ribbon roses, the list is really endless), dried up (stamp pads) or just evaporated (card stock I had already printed, images I had already cut out, and on and on).
After spending several weeks studying my list of on line challenges I finally found some that I could also find most of the supplies I needed to complete the challenge ~ so here we go:

Here is my entry ~

This is either my 2nd or 3rd card I have ever tried to create. It's not perfect (to my standards) but short of tearing my hair out trying to do another one today ~ here it is ~ LOL.  I promise you as soon as I decided I wanted something that something went into 'witness protection' or hiding or simply evaporated never to be seen again.

Here are the statistics on this creation ~
~pink background paper and large butterfly paper ~
     LEAPING FROG DESIGNS (FREEBIE) 
~pink paper doily (I found it while looking for something else ~ WILTON CAKE SUPPLIES (at least 20 years old)
~butterfly punch and stamps ~ STUDIO G @ WALMART
~fancy corner punch (actually a border punch but I wanted fancy corners) ~ The PAPER STUDIO @ Hobby Lobby
~ ribbon roses and bow (I made) from my stash
~the scalloped white paper and hand painted black scalloped circle I hand cut (no fancy paper cutting machines - no siree this old chick has to do it herself)

Here are the challenges ~

TAKE A WORD MONDAYS ~ Wings

FLUTTER BY WEDNESDAY'S 228 ~ Sketch

FUSSY AND FANCY FRIDAY 83 ~ Pink & Black

HECK OF A CHALLENGE (FEBRUARY) ~Love & Flowers

Check out these great challenges ~ In spite of all my problems getting it put together ~ it was satisfying just finishing something creative for a change and I really had fun visiting the design teams and all the other entries. There are some really fantastic artists out in blog land. And ohhh the eye candy.

God's Blessings on each of you~
Mary

PHOTOGRAPHY AND VISCOUTESS HAWARDEN

I don't write about historical persons hardly at all.  Every now and again something pops up (a lot of times on Facebook) that I just can't resist talking about. This lady is such a person.

I love to read romances ~ mostly Regency and early Victorian era stories.  I was visiting author Juliana Gray's Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/JulianaGray  and she had an entry about Lady Clementina, Viscountess Hawarden's photography from the period 1857 to her death in 1865.  This lady was one of only a handful of ladies in this time period that took photographs of other people particularly, in  studio settings. Here is one of her photographs that will be auctioned off on March 19 at Bonhams in London.

This photo was part of a group posted online by http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturepicturegalleries/9854840/Lady-Clementina-Hawarden-one-of-Britains-first-female-photographers.html?frame=2473604#?frame=2473604 .  There are 10 pictures in this group.  Of course, I had to check out Wikipedia to see what they had and they listed more personal history about the lady like she didn't start taking pictures until AFTER she had 10 children.  WOW! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clementina_Maude,_Viscountess_Hawarden


They also listed several books that have been written about this lady.  What really made this astounding is this is Victorian England and ladies just didn't run their own picture studios and take pics outside and such. It just wasn't done.  This lady was truly a pioneer.  I hope the auction of her photos goes really well because she has mostly been forgotten.  I mean she only warranted  a half a page in the Telegraph and Wikipedia while trash like Lady? Gaga get pages on Wikipedia. I know Viscountess Hawarden isn't "current" but she does have a place in womens' history.  Please take the time to Google her pictures and take the Telegraph's link ~ there is a good description on the pics and it is worth the time spent.

I am back among the living for a while.  Maybe I will get some inspiration to do some crafting again.  I just have not had any 'get up and go' the last few months.

Love ya'll and Happy Valentines' Day.
Mary

MORE OF LIFE

Well, time flies when you're having fun ~ or so the wise ones say ~

As you can see Google has finally changed something and now I can add pictures from my own collection. The above cherub is from  http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com/ , sweet Karen's huge collection of images. Really, when it come to Karen's collection ~ if she doesn't have it * you probably don't really need it.  I am just really REALLY happy to be able to add pics to my blog again.  Blogger does have some problems like when I go to my dashboard sometimes the list of new postings from all your beautiful blogs comes up and sometimes it doesn't.  It's really like rolling dice. But trust me I don't get nearly as upset over that as I did about the picture thing.  I'm just glad they fixed whatever they did. I don't post a whole lot, but I really did miss not having the option to add pics.

 I hope all of you are doing OK. Don fell a little over a week ago on the deck going out to get the mail even though the lil ole wife that doesn't know anything was telling him there was ice out there on the ramp. He tried to slide down it on his back. He is getting better but still real slow getting up and down out of his recliner. I've had a time with my sinuses sneezing and coughing my head off but I am recovering and guess I will live a while longer. One day it's up in the 70's and then it doesn't get out of the 40's for several days. You did NOT hear me say this because I die in the summer heat ~ but I won't be unhappy when spring peeps around the corner.

The above image came from http://www.vintageimages.org/index.php/ ~ it was in the flower group.  Like I said I am sooooo happy to be able to add pics again. 

Til next time ~ I pray God's blessings on each of you.

Mary

GOOGLE CHROME DIDN'T FIX PROBLEM FOR ME

I am an UNHAPPY camper.  I loaded google chrome (yes I know I should have used caps for google chrome) it didn't work so I guess for the future you won't see any pics on my blog. I am pissed (yes I know it isn't a nice word but it is better than the ones I am thinking).  I am tired of the "know it all 'the collective is ALWAYS right" idiots that think new is better and 'do not argue with the all knowing I am smarter than everyone else' ding a lings. Thank goodness I am getting old. I won't have to put up with this crap much longer. I think (thank goodness) the world has passed me by.  While I have never been on the cutting edge of technology I have tried to keep up at least with the things that affect me. I do not understand (or maybe I do) why 'simple' is not the desired result of improvements. The powers that be don't want anything to be simple because then there would not be any reason for the existence of 'the powers that be'. I recently read an interesting article about how easy it is for 'smart TVs' to be programed to allow for the watching and listening to folks in the room with the 'smart TV'. Take the time to really think about that. Your TV in Your room!!  I read another article about 'cloud storage' and how easy it is for 'non-authorized' persons to access your storage in 'the cloud'.  I think technology has reached the point of decreasing dividends.  There is no privacy any more. There is no 'easy' or 'simple' any more. I realize that my blog is available to anyone one on the internet, therefore I have not put anything on the net that I don't mind sharing with 'anyone'.  Of course there is a significant group of folks that believe there should not be any kind of privacy any more. Which brings me back to my original problem.  I am being forced to allow access to my things by anyone whether I want to or not. I do not; therefore, for the fore seeable future I will not have any more pics on my blog. I am tired of being forced into corners I don't want to enter.  I had fun with my camera. I have taken the batteries out and have no plans to put them back in anytime soon.  I have used Picasa ~ it is a piece of garbage.  I will not be forced to use it again. 
Folks, if you believe in God ~ pray and pray hard.
The world as we used to know it is changing and not for the better.
May God shed is blessings on each of you.
Mary
ps I will post again ~ but ~ not with pics.