Hold Dear

cute - pronounced kyoot, adjective

If you were to look up the word "cute" in the dictionary, this is what you would see...

 

Our sweet friend, Grace, brought her little pup, Angus, by for a visit.

 

 

Angus is a Cardigan Welsh Corgi and in addition to his unbelievable ability to stop traffic with his cuteness, he is working a very quiet miracle in Gracie's life. Grace recently lost her beloved dogs. She had three big dogs that were all old and each were seriously suffering with health issues. As God would have it, Gracie had to make some heartwrenching, devastating decisions all within the span of three weeks. Could you even imagine??? Oh...my heart.

So outwardly, it would seem that all this little guy knows is how to be sweet and cute, but he's helping Grace get through a very rough time in her life. Bless his widdle heart!

Here's Glen telling Angus, "You are such a good little boy...and cute too!"

 

Grace told us that she recently took Angus with her to the nursery to buy some plants. She said she had to leave because people were following her and taking pictures of Angus! Can't sez I blame 'em! He's a squirmy little fellow but when you get a shot, it's pure happiness!

 

Angus quite enjoyed chomping on our lawn.

 

Could he possbily get any cuter? I don't know...

  

You tell me! :-)

still spring, right?

Hi there! Awhile ago I was invited to participate in a Spring Ornament swap that the lovely Stacy and Natalie hosted. These girls are both so talented and when I saw the names of the other participants, I was so happy to be a part of this group! And the icing on the cake? I believe most (or maybe all?) of these girls will be attending Silver Bella! Oh yes. Life is good. :-)

The only requirement for this ornament swap was that you had to include felt in your piece. Um...I have been on such a fabric and felt kick lately so this was SO up my alley! Here are the amazing ornaments that each artist created all together...

 

Clockwise starting on the left side of the top row...Natalie, Stacy, Julie, mine, Hope, Marlis, Amanda, Cherie, and Lonnie. Stacy has some really good pix of all the ornaments up on her blog here and here. I took this group shot and then got excited and jumped right to taking pictures of the beautiful detail of each ornament!

Natalie's ornament with some of her amazing hand-stitching...

Sweet Stacy's lovely prize ribbon...

 

Julie's red dreamy heart ornament...

 

I showed pix of my ornament in a post I made here.

Hope's spectacular egg ornament...

Marlis' beautiful spring bell...

Amanda's sweet, sweet bird...

Picture lifted from Amanda's blog

Cherie's love life banner ornament...

Lonnie's exquisite heart...

This has got to be one of my favorite swaps! Thank you so much to Natalie and Stacy for hosting this lovely swap and to all the wonderful girls for sharing their talents with us!!!

Oh and one of these lovely girls, Amanda, had a blog giveaway on her blog and I was one of the winners! And the prize was one of her AMAZING charms! I about popped a button when I received this! The packaging was SO clever...

 

...and then the front and back of the charm. Is this not the cutest thing???!

 

 

Thank you so much Amanda!

Okay that's it for now. I gots to go do the whole "house" thing. You know, laundry, vacuuming, grocery shopping...but alas...there's a light at the end of the tunnel. Glen asked if we can go to Goodwill tomorrow! Don't be too jealous, girls! :-) He needs some "western" attire for a fundraiser we're going to next weekend and he thought Goodwill would be a good place to start.

I just responded with a "YEEE-haw!"

happy sunshine...

Hi there...just wanted to share a few sunshiney happy pics from this past weekend.

Glen and I out for a walk on Saturday...

 

As you may have guessed, I am a fan of the self-portrait shadow picture. I'm acquiring quite a collection of them...I think I may start an art journal solely dedicated to shadow pictures!

There's a little park and a creek right near our house. It's lovely having this so close to our house primarily because it encourages so many animals. It's often visited by several types of ducks, egrets, nutria and we've even seen coyotes! This time of year it's marvelous because the grass blooms with these sweet little daisies. FIrst chance I get, I'm gonna go plop down and make myself a daisy crown!

Our little Atti-pants man joined us on our walk.

 

And he even checked out the neighbor's dog!

 

We were shocked because when Atticus was a young teenage cat, he kinda got mauled by a couple of dogs. Guess our little boy is growing up. In all fairness, this is a special dog. It's the sweetest and calmest of our neighbor's four whippets and his name is "Buddha." :-)

Flowers in our neighbor's yard...

 

In our yard...

 

That's all. Just some fun stuff. Hope you're having a happy day!

Oh a PS...sorry about the smudges on the pictures. While I was taking the pix, I thought those spots were from the sun but then later I realized it was from where Atticus was trying to bite the camera when I was taking his picture!!! :-)

mermaid tea party...

Howdy...what a glorious Saturday! The sun is out and I'm ready to play!!!

I am joining in the fabulous Lisa Kettell's Mermaid Tea Party today! She has several lovely Mermaid/Pixie/Cutie Pie/Eye Candy postings up and it is in full swing! Be sure to check out all the participants listed on her blog! How fun!!!

I thought I'd join in because when I saw the announcement for her party on her blog, I had just returned from Artfest where I had just happened to have received my Mermaid-themed Circle Journal! This journal turned out SO amazing and is SO full of Mermaid perfection that I thought I'd save it to share on this special day.

Before I dive into the Circle Journal, I do want to share a few other Mermaid inspired links with you. I hosted a Mermaid and Sea Inspired Swap a couple of years ago. The exchanges were glorious and amazing! Here's the link to the post I made about the swap I did with Gina Smith (as a pre-swap warm-up!) and then for the swap, here's a link of when I posted the stuff that Michele Witchell sent to me and the stuff that I sent to her. It was SUCH a great swap!!!

Okay, so here's the Circle Journal. Click on any picture to make it bigger.

The cover...

  

 

Then my pages...

 

 

Each participant signed in on a "mermaid tail." :-)

Then I passed the journal on to Andrea. How lucky am I that she lives about one mile from me?? I met her when we were both doing Shimelle's online Journal Your Christmas class. Andrea is a fabulous find!!! :-)

Left side is my last page and then Andrea's page is on the right...

 

 

Next up was Kristie...

 

 

Then Dianne's page...

 

LOVE this detailing...

 

Then Cordelia's pages...

 

 

The iridescence of these pages makes them difficult to photograph but in person they are magnificent!

Then Celeste's pages...

 

 

 

Then dear Gwen's pages...

 

 

And then one last shot of the completed book in all it's glory! Thank you so much ladies for making this such a very special work of art that I will forever treasure!

 

Bye bye all you sweet friends and thanks for stopping by. Thank you to Lisa for hosting a great excuse to get in touch with my inner Mermaid!!!

 

Silver Bella...

Monday was registration for SILVER BELLA!!!!

The event isn't until November so I'm gonna have to be a super patient Bella and wait for seven long months....Eeeeeee!  What torture!!!

A little side note...I had actually made up my mind that I wouldn't be going to Silver Bella this year. Times are tough here in Gellerville as I'm sure they are elsewhere. However, after seeing the list of amazing instructors and workshops for this year's event and hearing from all the very special people that will be attending this year just, I just couldn't resist and decided this was a "must do" for me! This will be my third year going to Silver Bella and every year I come home so very full of love, inspiration, and GRATITUDE, not to mention the fulfillment I experience from the friendship and comraderie with the gorgeous, like-minded souls. It's just magical! 

I'm sure I'll be yacking more about this along the way. If you're going to this event, be sure to give me a holler! 

one last artfest post...

Okay...so one last Artfest post, I promise. There's lots of other things going on and I need to move on. One such thing is registration for Silver Bella tonight! Egads!

The first pic I want to share is of my me and my sweet roommates. What a very special group of gals! Before the last evening's festivities got underway, me and my roomies had a little toast.

L to R: me, Nikki, Alex and Cheryl.

So the last night was Show and Tell. This is where all the artists in attendance are invited to display the pieces that they created during the last three days. LOTS of people participate in this which makes it so enjoyable and so memorable. I just adore seeing everything that people created over the course of the week. 

There was some amazing art but I have to say that my heart was captured by a few pieces that came out of Nina's classes.

I met a very lovely soul named Lynn Davis who made a book for her Mom whose sister just passed away. I was overwhelmed by this piece. And Lynn, bless her heart, was kind enough to hang out near her book so that if someone came along and showed interest, she would be there to invite them to get a closer look. The love that Lynn poured into this book was obvious. Thank you, Lynn, for sharing this with me. 

 

Lynn has LOTS more pictures of this gorgeous work of art on her blog here.

My roommate, Alex, also created two exquisite pieces in Nina's classes that I couldn't get enough of...one was a cigar box memory box and a memory book which were both for her mother. Here are a few pix...

 

After Show and Tell, I spent most of the evening waiting my turn to have my caricature done by the amazingly talented Cathy McMillan. I have to say, it was WELL worth the wait! I cannot get over this picture of me. I just love it. I'm not a vain person at all but I just love this picture because it's what I look like now, but 20 years younger, if that makes sense! First, here's my reaction when I saw the pic...

 

I was giddy!!! Here's the caricature...

And then here's sweet Cathy and I...

 

Thank you so much!!! Best.Trade.Ever!

The morning before I headed home, I went to the beach known as "sea glass" beach with some of my favorite fellow Artfesters. This was just a magical trip...here's my favorite picture...

 

When we first arrived, we all got out of the cars and took our positions! HA-larious!

A few more...

 

 

 

What a treat to spend time with these lovely ladies. L to R: Stephanie, Cheryl, Julie, Amy, Nikki, Jill and me.

As I've mentioned before, I got to spend a lot of time beachcombing on this trip. Here are my collections from these special times...

 

 

 

And then here are a few collections I received from some dear friends along the way...

 

From Lorraine...some fabulous pods from her neighborhood.

From sweet Kristie...a perfect sand dollar she found on the beach!

 

From Jill...she created a GORGEOUS journal in Pam Garrison's class. She let me make a page using her loot, which I have to tell you, was EXACTLY all the things I love and adore! Well, as I was oohing and aahing over all her treasures, working on a page, she was putting together a special collection for me! OHMY! Thank you so much Jill!!!

So that brings me to the trades...this was the mother lode, I have to tell you. Here is a collection of assorted trades...

 

Here is a piece by Michele Sullivan that is incredible...

 

 

Then there were some ATC's and cards...

Several collections of ephemera and party packs of goodies...

A fabulous assortment of gorgeous Moo cards for my collection...

Assorted art to either wear or incorporate into something spectacular!

Sweet charms...

And then here, my friends, are the charms from the charm swap that beautiful Ilene hosted. So gorgeous!

Okay so ONE LAST THING TO SHARE...on vendor night, I got to meet Gwen! I was so happy to meet this bright light of a girl! I do wish I hadn't lost her in the crowd because I would have LOVED to have spent more time with her!

We met up so that she could give me my Circle Journal. After last year's Artfest, Celeste hosted a Circle Journal. My theme was "Mermaids" and so it was so fitting that I should receive it back at this year's Artfest because the theme of Artfest was Sea Monsters!

I'll show you a couple of peeks but no more because I'm joining Lisa's Mermaid Tea Party on Saturday, April 18 and will show you all the glorious detail then. How fun!!!!

 

Check out that gorgeous brass clamshell box that Gwen gave me. I LOVE it!!!! Thank you so much, Gwen!!!

 

This is a lovely little detail that some sweet circle journaler added. Yum!

 

Side view of the pages. This is what it's all about for me. Colorful and chunky!

Take care, my sweetlies...see you later!

happy day...

I hope wherever you are, you are safe, happy and enjoying this beautiful Easter.

I was sitting by the window this morning, listening to the wind, and it reminded me of waves crashing. It made me miss my sweet time at Artfest. Sigh. I love the beach so much. It is such a comfort to me to walk on sand, soil, grass, dirt...the Earth. I've decided that whenever possible, I am going to try to avoid walking on cement. That's my Easter resolution. :-)

I have one last monster Artfest post to share with you but I will save that for tomorrow. For today, I wish you blessings and the hope that you know you are loved and being looked after, whether you know it or not.

Pictures from around our yard...

 

 

 

Peace,

Michelle

more festness...

Whoa...I was so good about sharing some Artfest love with you right when I got back but then I totally dropped the ball! This week has been a blur. Between getting back to work, our friend's funeral on Tuesday in Salem, Passover, school and work, it's been a very busy week! Last night after work, Glen and I went to the Spring Brew Fest. We got home by 7:30, watched a bit of Wild Hogs on tv and then I went to bed at 9:30 pm! I was wiped out!

So here it is Saturday afternoon and I'm starting to feel like a normal human being and ready to resume my life again! :-)

Okay...back to the Artfest love...in the last exciting chapter, I got up to the first class and the art journal party. The next day (Friday), was Nina Bagley's class. I didn't get to create a finished piece (so no pictures) because Nina spent most of the day filling our heads and imaginations with techniques and her stories!!! I just adore this woman...so fun and so full of life.

 

The light in our classroom was so lovely...

Another marvelous benefit of this class was that there were some of the most brilliant women in it! I got to meet Heather,, Carol (my kind table mate!), and Kim. I got to see Renee whom I had met the year before. Also in this class were Linda and Carol, a couple of sweet gal pals whom I get to see every year at Artfest. Oh and sweet Amy and Julie were in this class too! What fun! Also, while I was in this class, super cool Lisa came by and we got this fun picture!

I was SO happy to meet her!!! Her roommate, Kim, was also a super sweety!

Friday evening was the Vendor Fair. I bought two things...a Theo Ellsworth zine and a Tiphoni original! Here's my Tiphoni sweetness..

I spent the next and last day in Theo Ellsworth's "Mystery Play Inside" class. What a perfect way to spend the last day.

 

And here's all my Theo souvenir's including his zine "Always Somewhere Nearby."

The class was basically just a great excuse to get up your head for hours at a time doodling. I loved it! And I enjoyed another day sharing a table with Dianne! :-)

Here are my pages...

  

Here are few pix of my favorite sweet spots...

 

This was also the day I got to be in the same room with Teesha's and Tracy's art journals. Can you say AMAZING!??!

 

Saturday evening was lots of fun...the big Show and Tell event. I got to catch up with some sweet people including the oh so kind Ilene...

 

In looking through my pics, I see I didn't get a picture of me with my dear friend, Lore! We even had lunch one day but got so caught up is some fun conversation. Next year, Lore! :-)

I still have trades, swaps, sea glass and friend pictures to share but I need to get. Tonight we're going to a birthday party for a good friend and I'm bringing balloons and the cake! 

See you lovelies soon!

an artfest post...

I think I have a lot of pix to share with you...here are a few to get us started...

 

This first pic says it all...ArtFest = Love

I arrived on Wednesday SOOO excited to start my "sophomore" year at ArtFest. Links to pics from my "freshman" year are here and here.

Here's the dorm I stayed in...

 

My roommates were Cheryl, Nikki, and Alexandra. Boy I sure enjoyed these sweet and FUN girls! I met Cheryl and Nikki last year at ArtFest and thought I would be meeting Alex for the first time. Turns out that she and I were in a class together at Art and Soul in Portland last year! What a small world!!!

Sweet Nikki made signs for each of us!

 

My first class was with the amazingly talented Tiphoni. The class was Self-Portrait Watercolor done by blind conture. I LOVED this class!

The top pic is effort number one and then below it is effort number two...

 

Tiphoni and I...she is SO talented!

 

In class I got to sit next to Dianne...a very talented artist and fellow Circle Journaler...(have to link her...can't find it!!)

 

Thursday evening was an Artist's Panel which was marvelous and then there was Art Journaling at the Beach. So fun and cozy...

 

Before all this fun; however, I went for a nice long walk on the beach. I found I needed a lot of "me" time on this trip. On Wednesday, Glen called me to let me know that a good friend of his had been killed while flying his airplane that morning. So very sad and so very heartbreaking. It definitely knocked the wind out of me and that was why (just in case anyone noticed) I found I needed to steal away to have quiet and recooperative time.

Here are some pix from that walk...

 

 

 

 

And then looked who I found having a walk on the beach too...Amy, Stephanie, Jill and Julie (did you get a blog yet?)

Oh I'm so glad I know these girls!

Gonna leave this here for now. It's pushing 10:00 and I gots to get to bed! Hugs to you!

home from the fest...

Got home late this afternoon from my fabulous adventure in Port Townsend attending ArtFest. So wonderful, so many gorgeous people and so much fun.

Here's what I did when I got home...and in this order...

• Greeted and hugged hugged hugged my beloved family.

• Greeted kitty cats.

• Showed Miranda the sea glass I collected at the beach this morning.

• Brought all my stuff in from the car.

• Admired our beautiful magnolia tree that bloomed while I was gone!

• Admired how clean the house was (thank you family!!!)

• Went on and on about how wonderful Artfest was and all the amazing beautiful people I got to meet and hang out with.

• Gave Glen the pate that one of my roommates, Alex, sent home with me. I have to find her card to add her blog! (Thanks again, Alex!)

• Showed Glen and Miranda the art I created and the caricature that Cathy drew of me. (You will see this pic very soon...SO COOL!!)

• Plopped on the couch for a bit to visit Glen.

• Made a snack...wild rice pilaf with greens that Miranda made in the rice cooker...perfect!

• Plopped on the couch some more.

• Turned on computer and uploaded pictures.

That pretty much brings me to right now. It's 8:00 and I'm about to go put on my pj's. I started a book (The Perks of Being a Wallflower) while I was at ArtFest so I think I'll go make myself some tea and spend my Sunday evening reading and settling back into reality. Sigh. This part is always tough.

Take care and I'll be back soon to visit some more with you...

 

ArtFest 2009. I was there. :-)