These are small friendship pillows for a swap! They are 3x3 inches and INSIDE the pillow is a positive wish that I have included on a paper! They are sewn inside and meant to be a special secretive message for the receiver to be something to encourage them when they are feeling down and remind them that someone is sending them a good wish! This was a very fun project and I love the idea of little bunch of these sitting in a basket. :0)

This is some flower pounding on watercolor paper! Lyn Avedikian told me about it.....she had remembered an article in Somerset from 2002! :0) Lyn made a gorgeous postcard from her pounding and sent me one! Wheee! Anyways, basically, you take the flowers and place them on a wooden board with paper towel over them, on a stack of magazines and your pound the flowers with a hammer! Some petals are extremely juicy and some are not! I found it fun and interesting!
The watecolor paper can take the liquid and it the prints come out neat! You can overstamp and collage on this paper.....used as a background! Just great! I got lots of the flowers from my Dad's and my neice Elizabeth helped me pick them! Thanks for that Dad and Elizabeth and also for the inspiration LYN! <3

Here is my contribution to a swap Belinda is hostessing! She sent us a template and we were to create a fabric page using the shape....and some sort of art doll on it! Here is my art dollie.......there is an acetate pocket and a tag which reads..."In search of my Mother's garden, I found my own."

I have done some stamping on the background, a bit of chalk around the head and hands, lots of stitching and fowers and leaf embellishments! Feel free to click on the image to see a bigger picture! There are some beautiful crystals on the lace that I added for a little pretty sparkle. Each heart has the first initial of one of the girls participating. Even though the design I created is the same, each looks a bit different with the fabric colors and stitching of course! I fell in love with her and thought instead of making them all different, to go with the same! Enjoy!

Two 4x4s for different occasions! One is for a breast cancer survivor donation,where your piece goes to a survivor as a congrats and encouragement! The other is for a Daughter/Father LFB (little fat book). They were fun to make and hopefully the receiver feels some meaning from them! :0)

Earl and I went to a MAKE A WISH foundation tree carving fundraiser today! It was most interesting and the carvers carved all these beautiful pieces since the start yesterday morning! It was a 24 hour carving session! You can the carvers in the background of the one photo! Most popular carvings (lend themselves to the size of a tree trunk) are bears, eagles and such! Sometimes tree spirits! You will also see one WI BADGER there and they also did a local tv station....channel 6 to all be auctioned with 100% of the proceeds going to the Make a Wish Foundation! Very neat!

We got a new bird feeder and it is guaranteed to be squirrel proof, following the instructions and all! It makes me laugh out loud, because we have 2 squirrels here that are very at home and THEY are UNABLE to get to this feeder! It is marvelous! It is meant for small birds UP to the size of a cardinal and we have all these sweet birds coming to eat here and the squirrel is stuck cleaning up the ground! The curved posts are weight sensitive and collapse at anything heavier than a cardinal AND the length is calculated for the reach of the red/brown/gray squirrels and it works!!!!!!! Heeeheh! Very funny! See his dismay!!!!!!! :0)

You know, I believe that many things I see I consider to be ART! Not just the normal items, paint, canvas, mixed media, drawings, etc.....but I see so much ART in nature, in things other than the norm! In talents exhibited by others that stand out as special! To me that is ART!

Well, I am going to link you to an AMAZING bit of art performed by a wonderful lady and her dog Rookie! They do a FREEFORM ART that is such a fun example of the love and trust between a lady and her pet! This dog is just so talented as is the gal, because they work together as a team and it shows their bond together! It is done to music , so make sure your volume is up! It is a fun thing to watch and really makes my heart tickled to see it! I hope you enjoy it too!
Presenting Freeform Person and Dog ART! Heheheeh!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqbVbPvlDoM

My tree spirit is just about done! Yesterday we primed her face and today I painted and stained her! Her hair is stained with a buttery pecan and the rest I painted and tried to do some highlighting too.....and by the end of today I plan to coat it with a special outdoor polyurethane stuff we got! Her eyes are drilled in and they are those nice round plastic eyes for dolls! Pretty cool! Anyways, you can see her here and page down to see her near completion. :0) I am loving her and I can see her right through the window of our family room! If you click on a picture to see her closer, you will see I scribed my name in the lower left! Hehehe! Gotta sign your artwork ya know?

A bit more detail today! This has turned into a fun project! We do plan to add color and some neat three dimensional eyes when I find just what I want! :0) I am really glad we saved this huge trunk as the wood is just beautiful and having this tree spirit here is just plain fun! Thanks for looking! Happy Labor Day!

Onto our next adventure! Now, no one judge our carving skills please! We had a sickly tree cut down and the trunk was so beautiful that I asked the guys to leave it, so I could carve something into it! Have I done this before, had a class, know someone who does this.......NO No and no. So...this is just one of those ideas that I think is neat and I was looking forward to trying! Of course, already we know what we would do differently on a second attempt....but we are enjoying the process and will have a unique piece of "artwork"" to view from our family room! She is a wood spirit, like Mother Nature, or a wood nymph and I love her! She is not done yet! AND she does not look as MEAN as these pictures seem to show! I am thinking on marbles or something for her eyes and adding some color to her too in time! The wood grain of this tree is so pretty, and there is a bit more we have to do, but we were tired and so we stopped! We used a chainsaw and a wood grinder and a dremel and have been having a whole day of wood chips everywhere! This is ONE HARD tree.

Nothing like taking the tree by the horns and going with it! :0) Enjoy the pictures! Earl stayed with me all day, as he was afraid I cut my limbs off! I did fine.....and had fun! Everyone might not enjoy our little work in progress, but we like her and that is good enough for us! Wheeeeeee!

This set of 4x4s are for a swap that the theme is a color of cinnamon and sugar! I used transparencies over text paper, some handmade papers and flowers! :)
These two arch pages are for a round robin I am in with SHAPES as the main theme! These are arch shaped and very fun to work with!

Lastly, this is a deco page where the image is to be used...she is a sweetie this little one! The front she is sporting feather wings and holding birdie friend. On the back, her image is mounted onto a wooden disk and she has a crown! The stamping is done and partially colored in too...those swirls, fun stamp! (Thanks Laura)!The word SHARING is a rub-on.