Book Review: Pastors' Wives by Lisa Takeuchi Cullen

I received a copy of this book from the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.  I enjoyed it, a lot more than I thought I would.  The story is told from 3 points of view and this is an effective way to move the story along.  I feel there is something to be admired in each woman without watering her personality down too much.
Ruthie is the wife of a man called to be a pastor at a time when her own faith in God is failing.  The two move from New Jersey down to Atlanta for him to become the Associate Pastor at a "megachurch."  She is an honest and complex character, one I felt would be overlooked in an average "chick lit" or "beach read" type book.  She is a born and raised Catholic, and while she attends her husband's new church each week and doesn't hesitate to work there without pay, she also never feels fully embraced by it either.
Candace is the wife of the Pastor of the megachurch, one who is not paid but nonetheless spends every minute just as immersed in the life of the church as her husband.  She was my favorite character--I love female characters who know how to get things done while maintaining a ladylike demeanor.  (I'm from the South, and to me, Candace is a classic Southern Lady.)  But I also love her relationship with God, how much time she spends in prayer herself, and how she is brave enough to go where the Holy Spirit guides. 
Ginger is the 3rd woman in the story, and she is married to Candace's son.  With 2 children under the age of 5 and an absentee husband who is off saving the world, she 's left alone to make it through the day as best she can.  Candace is an overbearing presence to her, as many mother-in-laws are, and Ginger has reason to fear: her past is not what everyone believes, it's much dirtier, and living the lie each day is the real challenge she is facing.  While I found the choices she makes to be hard to believe, they're also valid, well-thought-out and add a surprise twist to the story I didn't see coming.
I highly recommend this book to readers who love women's fiction but need something new to make them excited about the genre again.  I also think fans of Christian lit will enjoy the book; as I said, Candace's faith is a shining example of what we can all aspire to have as our own. 4 stars out of 5

Musings on Spring

Lots of things about my life have changed.  If there is one thing I've learned, it's that the only thing that never changes in Life is that nothing ever stops changing.  Change is a good thing, especially as the freezing cold mornings give way to cooler, foggy mornings that smell like roses and freshly-planted gardens.  We "Spring Clean" to clear out all the old, unused stuff we own and brighten up our homes as we put away the winter clothes.  I've realized just the past week how much I love Spring.  All the bright and happy flowers, the warm sun and the longer evenings make me smile.

I've neglected this blog, but that's actually a good thing.  Life is keeping me busy and I have little time to sit in front of my computer and write about the crafts I've been up to.  My son and I have moved to a small town and we're currently in an in-between home.  I know there is a permanent home for us here; I just pray I find it soon!  Our current place is larger than we need and while it is a beautiful home, it's not our home--and all our things are in storage.  Or the trunk of my car, or at our old home.....

Be patient with me, I have been up to art and have pictures to share.  I've been concentrating first on a Project Life album for 2013, secondly on art, with some sketchbook work thrown in in the past few days.  Good things are on their way!

I hope you too are enjoying the beginnings of Spring.  I'm a Christian, and Easter has always been a favorite holiday.  It feels triumphant, in a different way than Christmas does.  Christ overcame death so that we may have ever-lasting life--how amazing and humbling that is!  Plus Cadbury Mini-Eggs are the best candy ever!! ;D

Oh. My. Gosh!

So, the awesome giveaway I wrote about in the previous post...I WON!!!!  In fact, I won the top prize, a $100 shopping spree!!  You have no idea how thankful I am, and how happy I was to write to my brother that his gift has once again changed my outlook on life.

My son and I have enjoyed looking at every item in Michelle Allen's Close to my Art store today, but I am still in such shock that I didn't commit to anything.  I do love this Sweet Cupcake clock:

We also love this clock, a cat with a mouse pendulum, because our cat Mina is an accomplished mouser!  (We live in a rural area, with a huge field for a backyard, so mice are a constant problem.)

My favorite thing is how fun her art is.  As an untrained Art Journaler, there are many areas of art I am still too scared to try.  A cube?  No way!  A face?  Nope, unless it is in the cute, smiley-face style of my mom's when I was in elementary school.  I shouldn't take it so seriously....  That's my insight of the day :)

Actually, this is my deeper thought for today:
You never know how something can change another person's life.  My brother was just buying his sad sister a gift, hoping to make her smile.  There's also another story behind my pink girl bank too, about God and my son James and prayers being answered, but it's rather "round-about," so I'm not going into details.  But that girl has really made her presence known around here!  So she deserves two more pictures in the limelight:

Sitting next to my unfinished jewelry box

Sitting next to my treasure box, also by Michelle Allen

While Our Son's Away...We Work!

It's Spring Break around here, and our son is spending the entire week on my mother's farm.  This is the longest "alone" time my husband and I have had since...before Parenthood, hmm, maybe since early 2005!  My how time flies.......

And since we're boring grown-ups, we've spent the week cleaning.  Spring Break and Spring Cleaning are two very different experiences.  But we have to take this opportunity to clean--it's the only way we can honestly says "This room is done!" and expect it to stay that way until the next day.

Jewelry Box and Necklace Organizer
I did get some crafting done over this past weekend--a lot, really.  I've had an unfinished-wood jewelry box for a long time now--bought from Hobby Lobby on a whim with a 40% off coupon back in 2010 I think.  I haven't been able to decide what to do with it.  It has this strange recessed lid, which I now realize is perfect to throw your jewelry on at the end of the day and it doesn't go rolling off.  But I've been thinking it needed a picture or a frame attached to it, and couldn't figure it out.  The strange thing is that this wasn't even in my Top 10 Projects To Complete--but I'm extremely glad it's done now.  My jewelry has been stuffed into a tiny silver box for 2 years now, and necklaces are my favorite jewelry to make.

I have no clue where this inspiration came from, but my favorite colors right now are gray and turquoise, and I have some beautiful fabric in those colors.  I also had some gray-ish mixed paint that was begging to be used or thrown away.  So I painted and painted and painted, then Mod Podged the fabric down into the lid.  I painted the inside of the box turquoise, with more fabric in the bottom of the 2 pull-out trays that sit on the inside.

Then I remembered this sad little project from Christmas, a necklace organizer to hang on the wall, that had not turned out well.  I have no pictures of it all, which surprises me since I take pictures as I work along.  It was originally a long thin mirror in a plastic frame with great details.  I'd painted it silver-ish per the glitter paint instructions, then with silver glitter paint, and clothespins for hooks, but, well, it was hiding actually, cowering in fear of a 15th coat of glitter, lol.  It was Christmas, so the very season itself brings to mind all that glitters and sparkles.  That's my excuse, anyway :p

Some advice: if you know you don't like glitter, don't force it on yourself--you won't like it, and the very sight of the project will make you cringe every time you see it.  (Which might be how it ended up hidden....)  And this goes for metallic finishes, pastels, whatever--stick to what you like!  There's a difference from "being in a rut" and just knowing you don't like a certain paint treatment.

Anyway, I tore the clothespins out of the frame and set about painting it to match my jewelry box.  For hangers, I used small nails pushed into the fabric-wrapped foamcore; they're in the center of each flower, so 7 nails total.  And it is beautiful, if I do say so myself, and they're beautiful together.  Now I just have to figure out where in the world to hang it....

Family Motto Sign
I've had this sign for a loooong time now.  It was one of those generic "H-O-M-E" signs and did not match our personalities at all.  (It was free, so awesome!)  I painted it "Love one another."  Then a different quote.  Then "Be nice or leave," which is rather the opposite of "Love one another," lol.  But it never lasted more than one day up on the wall--I was never happy.  I'm a quote-collector, and I've been going over and over my huge list, thinking that I have the perfect quote, somewhere.  And, I did, sort of....

"Love is being stupid together." – Paul Valery 

This quote I've had for a long time, and while it's appropriate, "stupid" is not a word I want our son to start using, much less to describe his family.  Although, we are rather insane at times, lol.  Goofy a LOT of the time ;P  Inspiration struck again, and I decided to use "silly" instead of "stupid."  Perfect!

The font posed the 2nd major hurtle for this project--then I remembered the handy-dandy glue lid craft paint secret, and my handwriting worked well in the end.  There were a few bad hours there though...but in the end I've got the perfect sign for our entry:

{Inspiration hit a lot this past weekend...wonder why?}

Twilight Book Covers and the Fabric Poster
And finished on Wednesday, between cleaning sessions:

So let's talk Twilight....  Hopefully for the last time for a while...even I'm tired of it!

I got the Breaking Dawn part 1 DVD from Wal-Mart that came with a "fabric poster."  I hung it up when it arrived, but it's been sort waiting around for a more permanent spot.  I have several of those art posters still with their cardboard backing, one was the perfect size!  And so I moved Bella and Edward to the Library.  But then they looked a little lonely, and I've been wanting to try crafting with dust jackets, and I remembered that all 4 dust jackets have been laying in the same spot for years now--yay!  Fabric-covered foamcore, red paper and careful positioning resulted in this awesome Twi-Hard display ;P  Woot!

Although it does feel strange to have wedding pictures on display larger than our own.....

I've also printed a ton of quotes, signs, phrases, plans and coloring pages, so that's my next project: getting my printables organized, framed or sorted out.

I hope your week has been as productive!  The good thing about knocking old craft projects is being able to photograph them and share them.  I can't bring myself to take a picture of the sparkling clean bathroom, lol, so this round-up is done!

Disappointed In Mommy--With An Update!

My 5-year-old son loves rainbows.  He's always asking me what order the colors go in, and I say "Roy G. Biv."  I bet you do too.  :)  This is one of those you learn in school that you couldn't forget if you tried.  Just in case, though, the order of the colors is:
Red
Orange
Yellow
Green
Blue
Indigo
Violet
and by taking the first letter of each color, you get "Roy G. Biv." 

So I've been working on creating yet another art journal.  I started to say that I have no idea why I'm doing this when I have one huge art journal that is swelling at the binding but holding tight for now, a separate "Rage" journal, and 2 others that didn't work out.  But I do know why I'm doing this:

REDUCE

It is my goal for this year.  So, I'm down-sizing my library of books.  I started the project a couple of weeks ago, and I'm still at it.  The easiest place for me to start was my children's books section.  While James is an avid reader, there are quite a few books that we he has no interest in, and some books I've had for a really long time that are just "too nice." We've never read them, and there are people who want them, so out the door they go.

I found this Peter Pan book, and the illustrations inside are just beautiful.  There's one of mermaids that is so amazing it inspires a color scheme for an entire room!  The problem is that I find Peter Pan to be a little creepy.  Ironic, right, that I love Twilight so much and yet a children's book about a boy who can fly showing up in my kid's bedroom freaks me out.  LOL

So I picked a random page and began to create art.  And it promptly rubbed off the super-shiny page.  Markers, gel pens, even pencils were no match for the shiny cream-colored pages.  Gesso was a good idea, but I don't have any of that.  I do, however, have a lot of craft paints which will dry to a matte finish that has the perfect "teeth" for other mediums.  So I began to simply start at the beginning and paint my way through the book: backgrounds for now, and if I'm inspired to do more, it's all good.

Super-Shiny Cream vs. Blue Paint

I showed James the first several pages, and he asked if he could paint a few.  It was bedtime, so instead I let him decide what the first picture in the book should be: he chose a rainbow.

This was his reaction: I'm apparently NOT a good rainbow-maker.  Even with Roy G. Biv, I failed.  I'm still clueless why exactly, but as I finished he said "Mo-om!" in this tone of "Lord give me the strength to deal with this woman" and I looked up in time to see the disgusted shaking of his head.

As I go to bed tonight, I am a sad Mommy, not to mention being a very criticized "artist."

UPDATE:

In spite of seeing this "official" and "scientific" rainbow, James says a rainbow has both pink and purple in it.  So I was indeed wrong: the colors go in order from left to right, which makes good old Roy G. Biv make even more sense.

REDUCE: Missing Out on Moments Like These

I am annoyed at Blogger at this particular moment, but I'll get over it.  Because you know, there's no way it could be MY fault that the post I was editing somehow got deleted, and I easily forgive technology for its shortcomings.

So, from what I can recover: 

...Missing Out on Moments Like These:

James, Christmas Morning, literally seconds before tearing into his gifts

Do you remember this feeling?  On Christmas morning, just the very idea that some stranger brought you the perfect gifts?  And everything looks different, and it's like the perfect dream come to life.  These are the days I hope to remember as he graduates high school, gets married--those days when you think back to when life was simple (even though it isn't) and it was so easy to make your child happy (even though it isn't.)  I'm so very, very happy with my memories of the holidays this year.  We were "unplugged," no laptops, no phones full of texts or drama.

Since my "One Word, One Goal, One Year" is REDUCE, I can see how I'm missing out on my son's life.  I take pictures--but then they have to be uploaded, edited, emailed around.  I talk to my husband and son every evening, except that at least 50% of my attention is focused on my computer, simply strolling Pinterest for Eye Candy.  My husband is usually doing Facebook games or playing World of Warcraft with his Dad online--but he's better at the whole "divided attention" thing.  I have 600+ pictures of projects I will never get around to doing or furniture I'll never be able to afford, and I have a sneaking suspicion that the day will NEVER come when I refinish and paint my own "accent pieces."

So I sit, and I stare, and I'm not actually happy being so lazy and disconnected.

But.... I have no clue at all what ADVENTURES my son is conquering with his toys just 5 feet away from me.  If the choice is between getting more and more depressed as I see more and more of what I cannot do, obviously playing with James is much more fun and satisfying.

Quick back story: My brothers are 10 and 7 years older than me.  They have joined forces to make every Christmas and birthday "miserable" for me by buying the loudest, most annoying and, to be honest, usually the most fun toys possible for my child.  (Was I really that bratty as a kid?)  James was 2 when he got a toy drum set and a RC car that made the most horrible noises ever (I will admit here that the car "stopped working" due to having the batteries removed ;P)  Similar toys followed, and it's been fun to see them top the obnoxiousness of last year's gifts.  We got a very cool 2 loop inversion-type car track last year--but 2011 brought this awesome toy into our lives:

I wonder if the creator of this set grew up in Atlanta?  Or does every major city have a point where at least 2 major interstate highways intersect?  Anyway, it's fun, but loud, which doesn't matter because it makes James laugh so much.  He LOVES this thing.  It's supposed to have several cars going at once, which takes more dexterity than we have at this moment--but just one car is still fun.  Oh, a fair warning though: the cars also tend to go flying off the track and into your walls, so that's why it's on our large coffee table in the middle of the room.

Hot Wheels Criss Cross Crash Track Set

Last night though, I knew the track was on and cars were flying, but I didn't really pay attention until I heard the roar of a dragon.

Yes, that is a dragon (Christmas 2009) eating a "whale" (a plush dolphin purchased for $1 at a school fundraiser.)  (I especially love this dragon because I think he sounds just like my husband waking up in the morning....)

So where does the race track join the show?  Apparently the dragon had been at sea to catch a whale, and was bringing his "take-out" home to eat. Along the way he found traffic was especially bad, so of course it was a good time for a good game of Dragon Stomp:

Total annihilation is awesome stress-relief ;p

All this destruction was accompanied by my son's maniacal "evil laugh," which is most likely the source of my amusement.  I didn’t play with him, but it was enough for him to have an adoring crowd.

What I've learned so far : 

As adults, we think about "what goes together."  We think and focus on the full scene that's in front of us: these dishes go with those glasses but a different tablecloth; this old side table is too small to use as a nightstand but looks terrible in the living room; the comforter in the guest room looks terrible with this paint. 

Kids see everything as equal and useful--it does not matter that Superman and Thomas the Tank Engine could never join forces to destroy The Joker's evil lair which is comprised of wooden building blocks, Lego's and the pizza box from last night's dinner.

**I wonder how much more we could accomplish if we tried these ideas ourselves: what’s fun about this table setting for Valentine’s—oh, those cute scrapbook stickers can dress up the plain napkin holders and I can use the red Mardi-Gras beads around the chandelier to make the dining room look special.**

**This small table can go in the library so we have a place for a lamp in there.  We can move that extra rocking chair in there too and make it a fun place to read as well as store books.**  
**Since we never have company and have yet to have an actual “guest” use the “guest room,” let’s move that old sofa and the “pre-flatscreen”TV in there and have a mini Family Theater room.**
**Or, I can check the thrift stores for a comforter cover that matches the room.**

Kids play and use whatever they've got close-by to contribute to the action.  What do I have close-by to use in my art journal or to make a very cool bracelet or how can I use my craft stash to come up with something completely awesome....  Let's play!

Psalm 37:4

This was written several months ago and I never got around to publishing it.  But with the holidays come all kinds of memories, and not all of them are good.  I'm nervous about my upcoming extended-family get-together.  My heart has been broken many ways this year, by many people in many ways.  A small part of me wants to skip all the hoopla, that part that likes to hide and pretend that there's nothing "out there" worth it.  I know better, I have no intention in hiding from anything.  But for now...this is me.


Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires.  Psalm 37:4   


My entire 36 years of existence has been both based on and haunted by this Scripture. 

"Based on" because in 1974 my strictly devout Baptist parents sat their 9 and 6 year old boys down and said that they felt a little girl was needed to complete the family.  And so they prayed, and because this was before ultrasound, they did not know until I was born that God had answered their prayers.  I was dedicated to the Lord a few weeks later, and this Scripture was my blessing.

"Haunted by" because by the time I was 8, my oldest brother who I fought with constantly was away at college, my middle brother was 15 and while he loved me greatly, he was a teenager, so...well, you understand.  And my parents got divorced.  Not a friendly divorce either--it was a full-out battle from 1984 until right before Christmas 1993 when I had to go to court testify against my father for not paying child support--during my Christmas break from college.

"Delight thyself?"  There was no delight.  My brothers went off and lived their own lives, and I was raised pretty much as an only child.  My father knew that my mother's biggest fears centered around me, so he did everything he could to torture her--not paying child support, late drop-offs from forced visitation weekends, threats galore, all breaking my heart every single time.

My mother loves me to this day, and reminds me that it's HER delight she was praying for.  But I was still bitter--WHY would they spend all that time praying for me, only to leave me to fend for myself?  My total anger at my father and my brothers has become a real problem at several times in my life, and since I believe in counseling, I always ended up being able to move on...until the next time.

At Easter this year, there was what can only be described as an explosion between all of us--and my husband and I withdrew from my side of the family completely.  Once again, I was all alone.

Let me backtrack a little, and say that my mother was an amazing single mother.  No longer strictly devout, she was still a child of Christ, and taught me both by example and education about God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.  She would also rant and rave at God, shaking her fists towards the sky in complete anger at God--something I considered to be a sign of strength, such bravery she showed me!  (She is embarrassed by that, and would hate me writing it, but I'm doing it anyway.)

She also showed me by example that there are times in Life when you are so hopeless, so scared, feeling so worthless, that not even kneeling before God is enough--lying prostrate on the floor is the only way to ask God for His intervention to guide your way.

So, back to this year--I had a day come where I was like that--so heartbroken, so hopeless and helpless that I literally l found myself down on the floor, begging for answers and guidance and light--and I was given comfort through Grace:

For the first time in my 36 years, I realized that it was not just my 2 brothers and parents at that table praying for me, but that JESUS was there too, praying right along beside them for my existence.  That even though my human father had done such damage to my soul, that even though my brothers lived their own lives and left me to face it alone, and that even though the explosion had happened that shattered what relationships we all had--none of it mattered.

JESUS had been beside me all along.  He'd never abandoned me.  He'd never gotten mad at me and not called for months on end.  JESUS wanted me, had prayed for me and continued to do so--and that blew my mind.

I sincerely pray that Jesus does join my family for the celebration of His birth.  And also yours.  He is also called "Wonderful Counselor," you know :)

This is still my favorite time of the year, and I've made the conscious decision to make sure our home has a merry state-of-mind. 

Holiday Hangover

Since the school had their Halloween event this past Friday, I've been "over" Halloween ever since.  (By the way, the school's event was a "book character parade," and it never fails to amuse me the many ways they can celebrate Halloween without ever calling it "Halloween....")  My sister-in-law is currently out with my son trick-or-treating in our lil town's "shop downtown" Halloween event.  I'm so thankful for her, you have no idea!

My head has moved on from Halloween straight to Christmas.  "It's the most won-der-ful tiiiime of the year!" has been running through my head all day.  I actually love Thanksgiving, but we haven't really been "into" it the past several years.  Currently, I blame the lack of songs ;P  If there was an annoying Thanksgiving song, then it'd be running through my head, I'd probably be feeling more Thanksgiving-y....

Oh well...let's pull out the lights and wreaths and all those fun ornaments!!  (Not really, I will wait a day or two...maybe.)  One of the best things about having a fake tree is the ability to put it up whenever you want to, and leave it up for as long as you like.

While I'm debating whether the tree should go up tomorrow or wait til the weekend (ha ha) here's some pictures of Christmas past to tide me over:

2007, and yes that's a bow on my son's head, he seemed to think it appropriate and we've gone with it--every year on purpose now.  Don't you love family traditions like that?  I do :)

2008--I put fake things under the tree as place-holders for presents, like stuffed animals

Our first mantle in our home--Christmas 2008

2009--opening presents with Daddy I <3 this sooo much!

Let's get some red and green flowing through this house!!!

Choices...and Shame

I've mentioned I read a life-changing book this past summer by Brene Brown called I Thought It Was Just Me (but it isn't): Telling the Truth About Perfectionism, Inadequacy, and Power.  I love her website, and she published this article the other day.  I was honestly on there this evening trying to remember if I had left a comment, when I saw another person's comment that broke my heart.  So, this is my response to another person over at Ordinary Courage.  I'm re-posting it here for this reason alone: it's strange that I feel I can comfort a stranger when I refuse to comfort myself....  I think this is an area I need to look at in myself.  My "self-talk" has gotten a little too hateful lately, so I need to think of myself in this manner:

Ms. Brown, I'd like to address "ashamed" from above who left this message.  Please feel free to delete my response if this isn't appropriate....  I am just another woman, and my advice is definitely more "streetwise" than educational.  I clicked on her name but it was unable to email her back.

She said: "I love the advice that you offer. When can we discuss the fear and shame involved in the decision to not become a parent? How do I face that without judging myself or having others judge me?
10.17.2011 | ashamed"

Dear heart, I have no clue who you are or what challenges you face, but I'd give you a hug if I could.

The decision to have or not have children is such a personal choice, yet it is considered an integral part of our PUBLIC identity.  The reasons for both choices are infinite, yet they don't really matter--know that on BOTH sides of this "coin" of parenthood, judgement is constantly being faced. 

There are always going to be those who disagree with our decisions, so if your choice is to not have children, I don't think it's shameful at all.  Embrace your identity!  I sincerely say that to you--embrace it.  Make peace with yourself knowing that you are doing the right thing. 

We are all criticized constantly, for what kind of car we drive and how well we maintain it to what we wear to the grocery store to how we decorate our homes for the holidays to whether we contribute money to buy a birthday cake for some co-worker when we don't know him and we're on a diet to even being on a diet (or not!) or being on a tight budget....  It is endless!!!!! 

One of my favorite books is "I Don't Know How She Does It," and in spite of the fact that I read it once, about 8 years ago and well over at least 350 books ago, I remember this so vividly: She's a working mom of 2.  She orders PLAIN cupcakes from the grocery store and ICES them herself, so she is not criticized by the other mothers at her child's school for "not loving them enough" to bake for the bake sale.  She also buys a pie and whacks it (like, with a rolling pin, and I think she throws some flour on it too) so it doesn't look purchased either.  Talk about being afraid of judgement!!

What I learned from Ms. Brown's book this past summer is that the SHAME separates us, when in fact, it's a UNIVERSAL emotion.  I'm so ashamed of the selfish reasons I had for being a parent, I really am.  There have been many times when I've wondered what on earth made me think I was qualified to reproduce, much less raise a child.....  The fact that I even worry about whether I'm a good-enough parent is (I've been told) a good sign--so wouldn't the opposite be true?  It's the SHAME we need to try to heal from, not our decisions!

I'm still working on letting go of my SHAME.  (I'm a little afraid I'll be doing the same on my deathbed after living a long and fulfilled life 65+ years from now.)  So for tonight, you let go of yours and I'll let go of mine, and we can both go to sleep tonight knowing we're not the only ones, ok?

Mistakes Are Bound To Happen (or, Why Red Is Evil)

Ahhh, Fall, I do so love you!  But you do bring some stress along: husband's birthday, school "costume parade" (eye roll), Halloween, wedding anniversary, Thanksgiving and Christmas...all in the next 11 weeks!

So I'm trying to get a head start on a few things: for my husband, I'm making a "subway" inspired art piece for him, kind of like this:

source

only without all the different fonts and sideways writing.  I practiced a little bit last weekend, with the canvas I knew I'd be using for my "Make Something" paper collage.  I was able to try all different kinds of painting techniques:

 I learned quite a bit, actually.  For example, gel medium will slightly lighten the color of acrylic paint (artist paint, from a tube) but will drastically change the color of craft paint.  See the kind of pinky color--gel medium and craft paints don't mix well.  You get nice dimension but unreliable color.

Another tidbit I learned: my Faber-Castell Pitt Big Brush Artist Pens (my "art markers") work on canvas.   I have no idea why I didn't know that, but they do--beautifully!  And I was trying the different colors on the red paint to see which one to use, and the blue, purple, dark gray and black all looked black--until I took a picture, and the flash showed just how different the colors are!

So tonight, I painted the canvas pink and drew 1" guidelines in pencil.  Using a similar color, still hopefully easily covered with paint, I practiced writing out the words onto the canvas. 

And then again, in a darker marker color, because I realized the entire song lyrics were not going to fit at all, unless I scrunched my handwriting together, but making it smaller and unreadable defeats its purpose, so I made some adjustments.  I left the 1" marks along the side of the canvas, so I can hopefully use them again without having them be noticeable on the final piece.

And now, I've painted the 4th and final (I hope) coat of red paint on the actual canvas for his gift.  Red paint is a cruel and unforgiving color, by the way, and I see why spray paint was invented, if only to keep the same coverage of red over a large surface.....  At worse, I'll have to either go buy red paint or decoupage red paper onto the canvas.  He's not picky, he won't care :)

Also tonight I took a rather generic "Dream" sign from the stash of goodies from my mom's move and made it..."us."  It took several coats of paint to cover the pattern, and then I used my black art marker and wrote "You Are Loved."  Unfortunately, I messed it up.  But then I remembered that most of the fonts I love right now are more "natural," handwriting-style fonts, so I simply went back over all the letters several times to look "artfully messy."  I love the result!  But I think it needs a rolled flower on a corner....

 

 This wall art is actually hanging on the wall now, lol!   I STILL have not hung up the 7 other pieces I've made in the last 10 days! 

Featured!!

We have a normal schedule every day when my son gets home from school.  He gets the mail, I go through his backpack, we talk, etc etc, then I log online to check my email while he watches Phineas and Ferb.  (OK, we're both watching, I love this show--so I'm being "authentic" here.  The episodes never get old!  And the songs are fun to have running through my head, much more than Thomas and Friends.  "Gitchee, Gitchee Goo means I love you!" and "Those boys are evil--E-V-I-L-B-O-Y-S!"  Love it!)

Anyway...I logged onto my homepage and saw this:

What the...?  Is that MY NAME?? 

It is my name!!  And my Halloween Pinterest board!  I'm so excited to be featured--it's kind of crazy how excited I am, lol.  Now, off to email everyone I know and show off share on Facebook.....

Cats.....

I love my cat.  In fact, I'm a "cat person," as opposed to being a dog person.  I can name all my cats I've had since high school, and they all had different personalities, habits, etc.  Just like people, right?

But why, oh why, do they ALL do this?  See my mouse in the first picture?  She wanted to lay down ON my mouse and I pushed her aside. 

And that's my pen, which suddenly attacked her, apparently, as you can tell from her "What?  I got it, everything's good now, thanks to me--AGAIN" attitude in the 2nd picture.  She's not even supposed to be in this room, she should be on the bed asleep.  But no, she had to come visit me and then save me from my pen.

Aren't you glad to know I was saved from the human-eating pen?  Because if you don't admire her prowess and rub her head, something far, far worse will attack my feet once I go to bed.....

What's That I See Outside My Door???

Hmmm, what's that I see, it's too dark in here.....

Eeek!  Are those...GHOSTS???

Why yes, indeed, we do seem to have spectral visitors!

We are having a blast decorating for Fall and Halloween this year.  My lil Scarecrow "Welcome" man has been on the front porch for at least a week now.  I used tracing paper to cut some simple ghost shapes and James and I gave them eyes and punched holes to hang them from yarn stretched across the room.  He also has another line of "ghosts" over his bed (that he deemed are a "spooky" dark red color, lol) and some turquoise ghosts with pointy heads, where Mr Man got into my "good" paper stash to make some ghosts in my favorite color.  They are my favorites indeed. :)  They're stuck to the walls as opposed to the flying ghosts in my picture there.

We also have 5 orange jack o' lanterns on the walls--mine with happy faces and James's all have very scary faces indeed.  I really hoped for one more "happy" Halloween as opposed to "scary," but it looks like I'm out of luck.  And more decorations are on the way!

Still no idea what James is going to choose to be for Halloween this year.  He was a cowboy last year, and this is one of my top 5 favorite all time pictures of him. They were playing "hot potato" in his preschool class, and I love how happy he looks in this picture.  He was just giggling away! 
(As a side note, they were using a Rocky Horror Picture Show record for the music, and I remember thinking at the time that maybe that wasn't the wisest choice of songs, but it was only on for a few seconds each time, so the kids weren't really listening.  Plus, it was a RECORD.  Who has records anymore?  We don't even have CDs around!)

The Life of a Crafter

My mom thinks I'm weird.  Well, "creative," she calls it, but I know what she means, lol.  I managed to be gifted with these babies while at her farm last weekend:

That's about 6 or 7 extremely high-quality leather belts, which I'm going to use to make bracelets out of, inspired by:

source

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Between giving me broken jewelry for my birthday and leather belts no one wears, I believe she has just decided to give in to my eccentricities.  Christmas will be sparkly and fashionable this year!

Flowers for Aunt Mae

I've never been good at being a regular blogger.  I have times where I'm really into it, and others where I go weeks or even MONTHS between posts.  Anyway, in addition to getting used to James going to school, then him beginning to ride the bus, we've also had car woes and my Aunt died.  She called me "Kimby," she was the only one to ever do that.  I liked her calling me a special name........

She died at home, free of pain thanks to medications, and with her family surrounding her.  Towards the end she kept saying "It's so beautiful" and kept talking to loved ones who had previously passed away as if they were in the room.  And this is kinda...unexplainable: she said "Well hi, I didn't know you were up here" to a man in her church that she didn't know had died.  Seriously, no one had told her because while it's a small town, our family had its own death drama to survive.  So, it's wonderful to think of Aunt Mae at the "pearly gates" with my grandparents and cousins and so forth. 

So, with relatives on my mind, I made this today:

Inspired by a post on another blog, I used the lace from my mother's wedding dress, a pink t-shirt that no longer fits, and a black frame I had lying around.  The flowers look sort of pink in white glue in this picture, but they're actually more t-shirt and lace mixes.  Now don't think I'm being sentimental, my mother's wedding dress was from 1961, badly damaged and worn for a wedding that was laid to rest back in 1984.  But--it was lace, and I've really been wanting to make crafts for me lately, as opposed to things the whole family would like.  I love the femininity of this, it's something I could see having in my closet or over my tub for the next 50 years (in my "boudoir," in particular, lol.)

Also, well, it's the flowers that started the whole project.  I've been collecting examples of "fake flowers" for quite some time.  I have an entire Pinterest board dedicated just to flowers.  I have at least 20 tutorials, but I've only made a couple (and yes, pom-poms were one of them, I'll be trying that project again because they're "so fluffy I wanna die!")  So I've been collecting "burning" fabric for a while now, and I happened to find enough the other day for a simple pin:

(bad picture, sorry, glam is hard to photograph without effort)

Only 8 petals and a glam button from my stash, but it was my gateway drug :)  I don't recommend starting, because it IS addicting!  Flowers just look so happy, sitting there waiting to liven up a boring craft. 

Oh, and I was also enabled by The Headband Challenge and Link Party at Little Miss Mama by way of Amie at Kitty Cats and Airplanes.  I especially loved Amie's headbands all week long, and after much thought I just had to try one.  I was so thrilled by it that I took about 50 pictures (seriously, it was sad) and kept on crafting.  So here's a couple of pictures of my first headband (my other pictures weren't good at all, but I made a headband with a cream ribbon and stacked bow and then a plain denim one.)  And at the end is a picture of the collected flowers from today. 

see the awesomeness of my flower?

posed on my lace and flowers frame

and this doesn't include the ones on my headbands or from my craft the other day.  Oh, I never posted that!  Look:

I was on my way to bed when an empty box of soda cans somehow inspired me to stay up until 4am making tissue flowers and a felt sun and happy clouds.  It makes me smile just looking at it :)

It's been a good day.  Aunt Mae would have enjoyed my flowers.