Nice getaway

Well I'm back, although reluctantly. It was so nice being in Hill Country for the weekend. I saw so many deer throughout the neighborhood too. It's like they are living in harmony with humans. Who knew?? When my son told me that they freely roam around them it just didn't set in until I saw it for myself. Also we visited Inner Space Caverns, which is an underground cave/cavern type place, with strange growing limestone and bones of animals fround from the Ice Age, no foolin!

The Teddy Bear Show in Austin was nice, although smaller than the ones I'd previously been to in Grapevine. Here is a little photo to show and the "cute little girl" is modeling an awesome silver charm bracelet that I purchased from Claralie Hall from Gaunchywhomperd Bears, also a fellow Texan and friend. Remember if you'll click on them they'll open up to a larger, clearer size!
And one more nice view to show you is how beautiful some of the pastures and fields looked from the Interstate. Just massive bunches of sunflowers everywhere! I can just see all of the hunters come September in droves for Dove season. Oh well....until next time.................CYA!

I'm off to Austin

Leaving today for the Doll Show and Bear Shows in Austin this weekend. Not entirely sure if I'll make both, but the Bear Show for sure. Hopefully they won't mind me taking a few photos and I'll share them when I return. Mostly just looking forward to getting out of town and the same ol' same ol' around here. Plus, the best part is I'm getting to see my son and daughter-in-law's new home they've just moved into nearby. It sounds wonderful, so I can't wait to see it all.

Fixed!

HAH, I've re added my friends' links for their blogs and websites at the bottom of this page. Take that you Blogger gremlins!!! Naw, I was able to locate them and post them again, so I feel better. Do take a peak at some amazing talent if you have the time. Most of these folks I talk to on a daily or weekly basis and they are just wonderful people. That's all for now. Going for a short walk if the mosquitoes don't devour us!
Later...

UHOH

I've lost all of my friend's linkage at the bottom of the page!
Now how did this happen? I can't believe it.....all I did was
try a little tweaking and them BOOM, things changed, other
things disappeared completely. GRRRRRRR! Well, I'll
have to start over on the links at another time. Live and learn?
LOL, I doubt it ;o)

Ruby is finished!

Here is a sneak peak of Miss Ruby Petals which will be offered for sale on The Humble Arts website this Monday, June 18th, 2007. She decided to show you her little friend...Oh, and do please click on the thumbnail photo for a nice larger view. Thanks for looking if you do!
**sigh of relief**

Monday Evening

Well we had a scorcher of a day today and I can't remember if our air conditioner ever did stop. In fact I'm sure the electric meter was spinning off the charts. UGH :o( I'm grateful for the A/C but definitely do NOT look forward to next month's bill at all.
Ruby has shoes! They turned out better than I'd hoped for, so I'm pleased about that. Somehow through pure accident I achieved an old worn papery leather look with wool felt and watered down acrylics. I plan on doing some shots of her tomorrow and already have her description ready to go on HARTS.

Ruby has a dress

Who is Ruby you might ask? She is the doll that is 98% finished as of tonight, whew! What a chore she has been to get this far. I've only had small increments of time to work on her and every few minutes is a major milestone for me and her both. I think the last time I spent this much time on a doll she ended up sitting under a peg rack undressed and still no face. Not this time! I pushed and pushed and all she lacks now are shoes and an accessory or two. Ruby's name is for several reasons. I had a Great Aunt Ruby who meant a great deal to me and it's still hard to believe that she's not with us anymore :( But I've given 1 of my daughters a middle name in remembrance of her. This particular doll has the color of rubies in her and when I finally decide to unveil her, you'll see what I mean. I suppose that's all for now. Going to bed. Good night!

Rain

Today we're supposed to get more rain. I'm not wanting to complain, but these mosquitoes and humidity are really wearing me down. Here's a nice photo of yesterday and the rainbow we could see from our backyard view. I suppose that is a nice enough trade for a break in the weather :)
DOLL UPDATE! She has a complete face and is ready to have her legs attached. I'd say more about her, but that would give away the type of doll she is and I prefer to surprise certain people. She's really nothing all that special as far as dolls go, BUT she is a first for me. No paper mache or paint and pencils either. Totally made by stitching of one sort or another. I did use a new technique given to me by a very nice lady who makes bears. Her name is Claralie Hall. She goes under the name of Gaunchywhomperd Bears at shows. How's that for a name?
Once this doll has her legs, she can sit and wait for me to make a nice dress. I'll say this...it will be various shades of green.
to be continued...

Birthdays are Fun!

A little lady had
her first birthday
today. (outdoors)


Lots of fun and
sticky fingers!

The weather
decided to
cooperate too,
so we couldn't
ask for more :)

Ragdolls

I finally have a doll in progress! No idea when it will be finished, but it was started in hopes of having "her" ready for the June 1st update of The Humble Arts. We shall see, and I'll post a photo of her when she is up for sale. In the meantime, I made a little animation of another ragdoll that I had saved. I have no idea how old this is or what, but it really catches my eye and there's a slight chance that I may even make a repro of this or at least use it for inspiration on another doll. We finally have a break from the rain and I really have yardwork on my mind, but came home and had a nice surprise that someone had done it for me. I actually enjoy doing it for the exercise and fresh air, but the humidity makes it kinda miserable.
UPDATE:
My doll in progress has a torso, arms and legs, and half of a face. Hopefully she'll be able to see soon and we'll get her dressed as well. Gosh some things just don't go along as you'd hoped do they?

Cool Widget I found

Get this widget!

One of my favorite eBay searches in fact!!

The carnival came to town

I took my kids to a local parking lot carnival last night. They seemed to be amused. Gosh I remember when I was a kid how exciting these seemed to be. They showed about half as much enthusiasm as I thought they might. Oh well, it was still fun and sort of an end of school treat. Let me say that before I let them do anything I took a walk through the whole area and decided whether or not it even looked safe. I can't help but worry about the "carny" culture. The fun house was the first stop. Then a thing called The Cliff Hanger, not to be confused with the same named ride at Six Flags over Texas. It was like a hang glider ride where you are on your belly and flying around. The next thing was to try and win a stuffed animal. Try is an understatement if ya kow what I mean! I didn't see too many parents walking around with stuffed animals, but plenty shelling out the bucks instead, haha. Cotton candy break was next. Then we spotted friends from school and people watched a bit. For the finale, the ferris wheel and the old fashioned carousel was in order. This didn't do too much for me mind ya, but seeing the smiles on my kids faces did! Here's a few photos, it was starting to get dark, so keep that in mind :)

100 Year Photo Blog - Must See!

I've discovered the most interesting photo blog ever. It is about what life a hundred years ago was like: How people looked and what they did for a living, back when not having a job usually meant not eating. If you love vintage and old photos of people and how they lived, etc then do check it out here: Shorpy

I hate laundry!

Is there anyone that actually loves to do laundry? I suppose that someone does like doing it, but I've never found any pleasure doing it myself. My dryer died today. This is an emergency for me. This is a large household and if you get behind even the slightest, you'll be doing laundry round the clock for days til you catch up. It could actually become a nightmare, I'm not kidding!!!
So.....in taking advantage of a hot sunny day, I went to the store and bought some old fashioned wooden clothes pins to hang out all of the towels and jeans. The kid's old swing set is also covered with assorted socks and t-shirts too. In fact, the scene is quite humorous except for the fact that I got attacked by swarms of mosquitos while hanging up all of this stuff. We've had torrential rains for so many weeks now that they're gunna be hard to deal with for awhile. Not to mention fleas and ticks. Of course all of this means I'll have to make another trip to the store to get some kind of granules to put in the yard to control them. No biggie, we're used to that this time of year. Wanna read something that I thought was funny? This is what was printed on the package of clothes pins:

there's something rather magical about ironing. you take your rumpled-up life, spritz a little water on it, run an iron over it, and presto. everything's new again. the wrinkles of yesterday have vanished right before your very eyes. and there you are. looking fresh. feeling sharp. ready to take on the world.

Are you kidding me? If this is true, then they are implying that this process in doing laundry is somewhat of a rejuvenating experience or let's say.... something that could even be addictive it seems. Wow, how did I miss this? I guess they'll say anything to sell a product these days, huh?
*snicker*

Palmer Cox and his Brownies!

I've collected about a half of dozen or so of Palmer Cox's books. They have pages that are yellowed and cracked with age. Here is a scan of the back cover of one of my favorites called The Brownies Kind Deed, which was printed in 1903. This particular one does not have any of those "little folks" in it, but it still has a charming appeal to it!

	PALMER COX (1840-1924), CREATOR OF THE BROWNIES
	Matthew Farfan Brownies, like fairies and goblins, are imaginary little spirits, who are supposed to delight in harmless pranks and helpful deeds. They work and sport while weary households sleep, and never allow themselves to be seen by mortal eyes. Palmer Cox

Spring Concert

My son had his Beginning Band Spring Concert tonight. They sounded quite good for only playing some 8 or so months. Music was from Harry Potter selections and a few from Pirates of the Carribean. He plays the trumpet. I've had 3 other sons in Band so far. Only 2 of them stayed all the way through High School graduation. I'm hoping this one will hang in there too. We have an award winning State Champion Marching Band, so that is an incentive for him to keep on trying.
More rain again today and there is rain in the forcast for quite a few days. Guess we're in for a sauna when it does stop :(
Yet another day has gone by and I've had no time to even consider a project. I've pulled out my drawn patterns and some fabric and keep looking at it, but that's as far as it gets. I'm still hopeful!

Bluebonnets in Texas

Of course the little lady is quite fetching wouldn't you say?

Middle of the Week Wanderings

This is an actual photo of the iris of my eye up close. If you click on it, you'll see a larger detailed size, but I was bored and wondered how it really looked. Well now I know. This was my accomplishment for Wednesday. Wow, I need to get another project started, I really do! Goodness, it's hard to keep from using "I" so often. "I" just now noticed how often "I" do use it. Wonder how to keep from doing it?

Inspiration

I'd like to call myself a dollmaker. Let's just say that I've been known to make a few dolls. Not to mention bears, rabbits and other assorted creatures, but I prefer to call them critters. Lately, I've had very little time for any of these and I feel a sense of loss because of it. Creating these things are an outlet for me. Not everyone understands this and those that do understand are there to talk to, but ones closest to me are not. This can be hard. I'm searching and pouring over inspirational things to get me started back into doing more of what I love. Time is a major factor however and once I see an open window for it, I'll jump through it if I'm quick enough. More on this later I hope...