Porter County fair...here I come!

My friend Lelia stopped by the other day and talked to me about entering a project(s) in the fair. I had previously thought about it for a moment but not too seriously. I thought it would be fun because I was 12 when I entered my last item in the fair. I remember my wildlife poster, tube painted pillowcases, brownies, skirt (was a disaster),etc from 4-H days.

So....I am off to enter some things this morning.It's all about a childhood memory of fun times from years past.
So, if you are at the Porter County fair...look for some CQ goodies! I will be in great company because Lelia will be entering goodies as well as other members from NANI(Needle Artisans of Northwest Indiana)

I'm off to the fair!!!!!

Thanks for the nudge Lelia!!!!

Changes

You will find I have removed all blog links from my sidebar. I recently discovered the following written from IT specialists .....

I've finally uncovered the culprit to the immense traffic on your new site, as well as the potential perpetrator to the spamming issue you had. There is a blog http://gatherings100.blogspot.com/ that is causing MASSIVE traffic issues, and not in a good way. Sure, visitors and hits are a good thing, but the sheer volume of bots (robots or automated attacks) is astounding. I've talked with a few guys in the IT department here, and they were amazed that no one is doing anything about it.

So, my question for you is, do you know this person who has this blog? She has a link to you in her sidebar on the left hand side. If you know her, I don't want to jeopardize anything, but wondering if you would mind asking her to remove the link to your site? The hits are in the 10's of THOUSANDS generated from that site, almost entirely from bots using it as a gateway."

...thanks to a blogging friend so I removed all links so you do not have the same problem. I have your links listed for my personal use.

However, in it's place I added publications sharing my work. I hope it helps those of you who enjoy the magazines.
Have a great weekend...................

I love St. Joe Michigan,tag sales.... photos...kinda long.

Yesterday I took a ride with mom to St Joe MI, our favorite spot for a quick getaway. It was a beautiful day and we hit some yard sales on the way. I found some fun items I didn't need. I found this beautiful serving plate for $1.00 that would be great for cookies. For those of you being the only female in your family, you know how important it is to slip in a bit of pretty accents to satisfy your femininity when you can. My guys will eat cookies off of anything,LOL.

I love Capodimonte porcelain items because of the visible fingerprints,and lucked out when I found this large candle holder for $1.00.
At another sale I found these sweet tiny bisque children which came in a big bag of miniatures for 50 cents.I love the little fella with the blue sailboat. I wonder what the purpose of such small figures were for?

I had to have this beautiful salt shaker fo $1.00. I will use it for hatpins.

This Shabby looking small dish and cute book were too sweet to leave behind.


We ate lunch at the Chinese restaurant in St. Joe and I had to get a box of green tea. I could have sat and drank tea all day.

As I browsed an antique shop across the street, mom ran in the malt shop next door for a drink and came out with a piece of turtle fudge for me (see the little white bag beside her). Oh gosh how I didn't want to eat it.....but I did. Yum!
The town was preparing for Venetian night so the street along the lake was blocked off to traffic and we didn't get to swing. Just as well, it was getting quite warm out so we headed toward home. A few more sales and a quick stop at the store then home we went.

When I dropped mom off she made me wait a minute and came out with this beautiful plant for me. She said it was for the "Shabby" dining room.
When I arrived home,DH was starting the grill and saw I was hot and needed a swim so he scooted me out the door. I floated a bit and big dark clouds rolled in. I hopped out and ran in for the keys to unlock the barn so I could start mowing and possibly beat the rain. Not 10 minutes into mowing, the sun popped out again. Oh well, I was still in my swim suit and cool so I finished the job. After two hours I was ready for another dip. DH didn't even know I had mowed so that was a nice surprise for him.
Feeling refreshed again, I trimmed the garden and watered the flowers then clouds began to roll in...... again. A strange weather day for certain. We did eventually get a slight bit of rain but not enough to help the plants so I'm glad I watered.

I cleaned up...walked into my studio...and found this mess........lesson learned...
Never use a rubber band to secure a container full of sequins or beads. Oh my! I picked up as much as I could and the rest went into the vacuum with the dust bunnies. I have a friend who would have picked every sequin up, but I no longer have patience for that. It was my mixed class pack anyway, no big loss.

Speaking of stash and yard sales, the glass holder from a sale last month made a great caddy for my tubes of small embellishments.


Today I had plans to play with Jilly however I must run an errand with mom and then catch up with the small projects. I thought we could stop at the beach before or after errands however there are two escaped prisoners in the area. They were spotted yesterday at the Beverly Shores train station(my beach area), so NO lake today!!! Darn prisoners! I wish they would close down the Michigan City prison and move it to Indianapolis.

On the way to the mail box this morning I took my camera to get a picture of the unusual annual.. but stumbled upon this treat by the sidewalk. Spider webs never cease to amaze me. I walked down by the woods to check on a flower I saw the other day. It was gone so I turned and took a pic of my home from a distance. Can you see Angell? She gave up following me because her feet were wet from dew. She hates wet feet,LOL.

Back to the porch, I snapped a picture of bird nests mom had given me earlier this Spring. That enticed me to go on a bird nest hunt through my house...a few of my nest treasures...

I have two weeks off from painting and intend on taking full advantage of the time. I purchased some new download image sheets and am itching to play with them, and I added some things for sale on my website. Something I haven't done before. I do want to fill my artfire and etsy shops with some new kits and such too. If only I could twitch my nose like Samantha in Bewitched!

Ok,ok...the boss said it's time to get off here. See ya later.

MOO card info

Apparently you do not have to order the mini MOO cards, you can order anything however I love the little MOO mini cards and thought many of you would as well. So.....if you do order, just type in the code TYDAEW where it asks for it and you will get free shipping. When you use my code, I get a point and when I get three points, I get free cards. If you order, I would love to exchange cards with you.

NOTE~When you are designing your cards, it is quite simple. They allow you to upload up to 100 of your pictures, which I do. Once I uploaded 50 so I got 2 of each photo on the front of my cards since you get 100 cards. Now....after you upload the photos you want, you get to preview them and make sure they are the sections of your photo that you want printed. You just move your photo around within the specified area. They center it pretty well and I rarely have to move it around unless I had a different area in mind.
Go to moo.com and play around with it. They said free regular rate shipping, so I assume that means US and Canada both. You don't have to actually order until you are happy with the results. No strings attached. They are quick and courteous and from France I believe. The quality is as good as your own photo, remember that. If it is grainy, your card will be grainy, if it is washed out, your card will be too. I know you will love the quality of these little cards. They have a matte laminate and are almost waterproof. They fit in a little case you can order, or make one from a mint/gum tin like I did. Put your art on your art card case!!!!!!

Enjoy!

MOO mini cards

For those of you who wanted to try putting your work on the mini MOO cards like I slip in my packages, just email me and I will give you a code when you buy them and you get free shipping if you order before August 31st!!!!!!!!!! If I get 3 friends to order, I receive a pack free.

You can put any info on the back that you wish. I put a picture of my work on one side and name, addy, website,etc, on the back and use as a business card. They are fun to make too. You get 100 mini cards for $20 .They ship fast too. Just wanted to pass this on to fellow bloggers/artists. :-)

World of white walls are getting to me............music to the rescue!

As some of you know, my Summer is booked with painting rentals for my MIL. One down, three to go. I started the second duplex on Sunday and spent half of yesterday painting the dreadful white walls. I don't think I complain a lot,I hope I don't anyway, but this has got to be the most boring job in the world.
Today I am taking my mp3 with me. DS loaded all of my favorite songs from my i Pod on it a few weeks ago and it has been my best friend. Yesterday before heading off to paint, I decided to take a swim first and floated for a short while. During that time I was listening to my favorite songs and thinking of a dear friend who I am sharing turning 50 with this year. Yes, my mind is constantly wandering to strange thoughts....what can I say? I'm a crazy quilter!

After deciding I was up for the "50" challenge, "bring it on!", I imagined I was attending an outdoor concert with my bud Terri T. Although we've never met, our online correspondence has grown into a genuine friendship that I treasure.
In my daydream we were in Connecticut and Terri brought an Amish quilt for us to sit on during the concert and I brought a picnic. It was terribly crowded but we found a grassy knoll close enough to see the band yet far enough so we could have a pleasant conversation. As we sipped wine and enjoyed fresh cucumber sandwiches, chicken pecan salad and cream puffs with fresh fruit to nibble, we soaked in the beautiful sunshine listening to Keane play one of our favorite songs....."Somewhere only we know".
~~~~*Oh, simple thing, where have you gone?~~~
~~~~I'm getting old and I need something to rely on~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~And if you have a minute why don't we go~~~~~~~~~Somewhere only we know?

Although I am a homebody and flying isn't my favorite way of transportation, I realize I must do something special this year.

I plan on celebrating by treating myself to a trip to Florida with Jill, another friend who turned 50 last month.She invited and I accepted. We plan on vegging out on the beach.......... and stash shopping at bead and fabric shops that Jill knows of. I turn 50 in Sept and will be sitting on a beach in Oct wondering what the fuss is all about.
Life is good...even if you must paint white walls over...and over...and over....

So here's to kindred spirits and turning the big 50 , which really isn't that big.
Have a good one!