how charming....

so my art group is doing charms now. i know what a charm bracelet is, have had several, but just like with the atc's, i had no idea how artistic this could be. google it and be amazed.

so i've tried a few. trial and error is fun!! i'll show you the two finalist when i decide...

peace.

motley crew

(the photographer grabbed one shot and we were obviously not quite ready!)

ok, so it's just jim's family. well, some of them at least. Boise was an interesting trip. there was much sadness, much fun, lots of family and a decent dose of drama. i'm glad we went, connecting with the kinfolk from Texas was terrific and seeing the Boise family again was special. the funeral home was standing room only for this man I didn't know very well, but who had obviously touched many lives. I wish I could have known the man they were all talking about. rest in peace ken.

peace.

ok, time for 2 more

so do you remember the ancient chinese secret commercial? always cracked me up...
so here is my own...the fortune says Learn Chinese:Very Important because you see, the ancient chinese secret above it is in chinese!!! i know simple things amuse simple minds. (still cracked me up!)

the second pic is just for perspective. the card is tiny!! and I made the envelope out of a chinese take out menu, fun huh?




this one is for today...with everything that is going on...funeral, pending trip to boise, daughter moving, walmart with dad and work stuff....I just needed the reminder that nothing is worth more than this day and to stop and smell the flowers.



peace.

what if?

this is my last atc for this go around. i'm kind of digging these works of art in miniature. i may have to do more....this one is called what if?

peace.

life invades

so i've discovered that the saying "The best laid plans of mice and men..." is once again very accurate. regardless of what we plan and prepare for, life invades sometimes. we have such a sense of control and yet, truth be told, we are small fish riding the tides of life. the strange thing is, it's ok. it's what we're used to. we don't even recognize it until something bigger steps in our water and changes our direction. and the waves continue.

all that to say, our water was stepped in at about 4 am this morning. the phone rang, a distant voice said hello and this isn't the call you wanted to receive, dad's gone.

we knew it was coming. 4 weeks ago they told us he had 24-48 hours to live. they were riding the waves too obviously!

so long Ken, we'll see you again.

peace.

try number 2

here's my next ATC, it's a few of my favorite things...red geraniums, a fairy and a little rhyme. makes me smile, hope you enjoy....

by the way, this one is on a playing card, the queen of clubs to be exact...

peace.

ATC...for the first time

I've joined a group of artists who do all kinds of creative, amazing projects. One of the current projects is an Artist Trading Card. I have to admit, this is a first for me. But after some research and some trial and error, here it is. It's called diamonds and is a play off of the song and the card. I even did the wire work on my own. It was fun and after researching ATC's I had no idea. Google it sometime, it's amazing...

peace.

the 3 j's

In celebration of the National Day of the Cowboy, the 100th birthday of John Wayne and the State of Oklahoma, the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum recenly unveiled a larger than life size sculpture of the Duke. It's a terrific bronze done by artist Edward J. Fraughton. The most exciting part of the day was I got to take my dad and hubby to see it all happen. So I spent the day with John, Jim and Jim.

My dad even got his pic made with John Wayne's granddaughter. If you're ever in the neighborhood, this is a great place to make a stop, see some great art and eat some lunch.


Yeehaw!!