Toe Art! :-)

I haven't posted in ages - thanks, Life! - and then I didn't post because I've been laid up due to foot surgery (I'll spare you the gory details). So between the surgery, meds making me stupid, and a back that's been aching from sitting/walking crooked, my poor 'puter hasn't gotten the workout as I'd hoped!

Anyway...

Due to sheer boredom one day, I broke out the nail polish and decided to paint my toes (or, nails, to be specific). Couldn't decide on blue or purple, so went with both! Then that looked too boring, so decided the big toes needed some additional decoration and painted flowers on each!

To spare you the vision of my feet/toes, I cropped the pics to show just the "Toe Art." The following pic is a page out of my "365 Project" in which I'm taking a pic a day for a year.
The toes are no longer blue and purple though...through wear and tear and wonderously soothing tub soaks, they have been repainted red and pink - flowers to come! :-)

OWOH

Looky at what I won! :-)

A beautiful Purple Fairy from Judy Keefe of JMK Originals. She was part of the OWOH (One World, One Heart) event by offering this exceptionally beautiful art doll on her blog for a prize simply by commenting on her blog. I am so happy that I choose to click on her link and reply! She's simply beautiful! And she came on a day when I happened to be wearing purple anyway, so we match quite beautifully! :-)

Thanks again, Judy! I will smile whenever I look at her. :-)

And yeah...I just noticed that my hand is covering up her beautiful base on which she stands! Sheesh! LOL!

Hangin' Out

A fun page with pics we took when we went to the Children's Museum of Minnesota, in St. Paul, over Valentine's weekend. Ava seemed to have a good time, even though she wasn't feeling 100%. Found the images/background from....well, carp, can't remember where I got them from now! But they were a "collection" from somewhere!! LOL!

*edit*
AHA! I found it! Backgrounds, and images came from http://www.scrapgirls.com/. Like to give credit where credit is due! :-)

Hope

Playing around with a new technique - making a grid template. Had I known how darn easy it was, I'd have done this eons ago!

I created this in Creative Memories Storybook Creator, simply by using a collage page already in the program (I cheated, though you could make your own grid, with pretty much any shapes you wish), then highlighted the squares (and in this case, the stitches holding the little squares together), flattened the images as a whole, then filled in the selected image with my picture! And voila'! I have Ava in a grid! :-) I also overlaid a background over the photo and adjusted the opacity to give it soft effect.

Yup! I can see I'm going to use this again!! :-)

Accidental Photograph

All I was trying to do was to take a pic of President Barack Obama to document the day for my "365 Project" (one pic a day for a year). No altering, no enhancements, no "photoshopping." I just happened to take it as they were transitioning from one scene to the other and got the COOLEST shot!!! I love Happy Accidents! :-)

And how appropriate...our newest, 44th President, looking out over his people....

Cherish

Going backwards in time here, but I never quite got around to posting this before Christmas!

"Cherish" - In the mood to create something I could actually "touch" and get my fingers sticky from glue! So I made this, not with digital, but actual StuFf!! The background is the napkins we used for Thanksgiving dinner at my Mother's (we host at her house because my house could not accommodate all my family), and the leaves which were scattered on the table, including the shiny confetti, in lieu of a centerpiece.

The frame is from Creative Memories, one with which you switch out layouts and add extra little embellishments with the included, cute little clothespins! (a gift from a good friend - you know who you are! ;)

The Last of the Decorations

And as long as I've posted pics of my mantel-less mantel and my miniature house, I figure I may as well post pics of the rest of my Christmas display.

Starting with the dividers between the living/dining rooms, with my Santas on one side, and my version of an Ava Shrine! LOL! The snowglobe is new. I figure this will work as long as I have just "one" grandchild!

The stockings were hung on the divider with care, with the three "kids" on one side, and Ava's on the other.




The red and white table scarf was hand-crocheted by my mother as a present to me from last year. The little button tree on the sewing machine was made by me and Lindsey when she was a little girl.

The front door is home for the toy-stuffed stockings, though the mini Golden Book is getting somewhat faded. And the snowglobes - on a shelf my father made - is only a part of my collection. They have long since outgrown the shelf!


Just a couple of shelves hanging in the dining and living rooms. The "Believe" picture is what the front of our Christmas cards looked like.


And last but not least, Ava Bunny (from Build-A-Bear), who lives with Grammie, in her new Christmas duds, and our "official" new ornament of the year. Bet you can't guess who the little one in the ornament is supposed to be!! :-)

And that's the last of Christmas! Till next year....:-)

In the Land of Gilliput

In the back corner of the entryway at Gilligan Haus (a household with an Irish/German blend) lives the Land of Gilliput, where a mother and father live with their three children and one set of grandparents.

Even though the Christmas decorations are never far away (in some rooms, never put away!), the house hadn't been fully decorated in a couple or three years, so the family decided that this year was certainly a year for celebration. Lights were once again strung along the front porch and the big evergreen tree in the yard. The sleigh and Santa were brought out of storage to sit on the front lawn. And the Christmas wreath was hung on the door.

Packages were wrapped and stacked under the tree (with those needing wrapping yet awaiting their fate up in the master bedroom on the second floor), and the favorite storybook, "The Night Before Christmas" lie waiting on couch for Grandpa to read to the little ones before they went to bed. And, of course, the milk and cookies for Santa have already been set out, waiting for that magic hour when the Jolly Ol' Elf slips down the fireplace with his bag of toys!

The family gathered in the kitchen for a nighttime snack of cookies and treats, with a bit of Christmas bubbly for the adults, while the dog hung close, hoping for dropped crumbs.

Upstairs the children's rooms waited, ready for their owners to plop into their beds to wait for Santa's visit in the middle of the night. From the top of third floor in the little boy's room (and the sewing room, where it looks like someone was sewing a Christmas surprise), to the second floor bedroom of the little girl and, of course, the nursery.

Throughout the house, from the nativity set on the bureau, and Santas on the piano, to the Christmas plate on the desk on the second floor landing, and the golden angel on Grandma's favorite tabletop, Christmas cheer greeted the family wherever they roamed.

The only rooms lacking Christmas decor was the bathroom on the third floor, and the messy, messy attic (is there any other kind??), and that was only because the decorations were normally stored 'in' the attic and are now, obviously, in other parts of the house!

So the occupants of Gilliput wish to wish you all...

a very Merry Christmas to All...:-)