A hurricane and a junk journal entry...

Hello friends. It has been awhile since I posted. Since my last post we managed to get a few days up at the Wren's Nest, but didn't get to do much since Hubby had picked up a nasty stomach bug and we cut our trip short. We hope to go back soon.

Hurricane Irma is on her way up to Florida and ready to soon hit the southwest portion of the state as a Category 3, right where my entire family lives...my two children and their spouses, my four grandchildren and my aging dad. My daughter picked up my dad this morning so that he can tough out the storm with them. I am praying for them and everyone else that has already been, and will be, impacted by this storm. And I am also still throwing in a some prayers for those in Texas who were devastated by Harvey.

I actually had the following photos ready to post before we went on our trip, but didn't have the time to do it, so in an effort to get my mind off the stressful stuff mentioned above, I am going to share them now.

I have been following a few YouTube channels done by junk journal artists, and one of them, The Innkeeper's Journal, is hosting a giveaway of one of her journals. I intended to post about it here earlier, but didn't have the time getting ready for our trip. Sue is an amazing artist. You can see her blog here, and on it you can watch her post to her YouTube channel.

Here I will share the photos of the four pages that I submitted. I'm sure that anything I do will not compare to what the "pros" have sent in, but I still had fun doing it. I don't have time to write much more today, so lucky for you this will be photos only!

First page...

...which had this tag insert on the side...

Center two pages...

Tags that were inside right page...

...and reverse side of the tags...

Embellishments...

Fourth page with a booklet in pocket at top...

The booklet...

...and some of its pages...

The back page without the booklet inserted...

Thanks for joining me!

Have a great evening.

Back from Florida, and some photos of my children and grandchildren...

Hello sweet friends! We are back from Florida and had a great time camping. Though I am in the midst of doing laundry and such, I thought I'd take a few moments to share a some photos with you.

Below is my son Chris on the left,

daughter Kym on the right,

holding Avery

(my granddaughter from Chris)...

I am on the right below...

Below Jordyn is on the right

(my granddaughter from Kym)

with her friend Colby on the left...

I love this photo taken under one of the

water features.

That's Tanner in front

(my grandson from Kym),

with his sister and Colby in back...

It was so cute. 

After the boys went in the pool for awhile,

Jason, (my grandson from Chris)

pointed to Tanner and said 

"he is my best friend"...

We camped there with my daughter's family,

and my son and his family came down for the day.

There was plenty for the kids to do,

and the older ones loved the very large

water slide.

The name of the campground is

Sun N Fun, in Sarasota,

if you're ever down that way. 

I did not include the other adults in this post,

(spouses and my dad)

as I didn't think they'd appreciate my putting their

photos "out there",

but unfortunately my own kids will have to live with it!

Have a great evening!

Going on a camping trip!

Heading to Florida to do some camping

with my family over the long weekend,

and then some!

Hope you like this old photo. 

(That's me on the right

showin' them how to toast 

marshmallows.)

Have a great holiday weekend,

and by all means use this photo in your art if you would like.

I have the original!

Fabric Collage: Our Brothers and Sisters

Hello there! I recently purchased this beautiful old photo of a sister and her two brothers in their adorable sailor suits, so of course I couldn't wait to create something with it. 

"Our Brothers and Sisters are There with Us"

For this one I used satins and velvet

in beautiful shades of aqua...

...along with vintage laces

and old buttons...

...and a wonderful quote

accented by beautiful old vintage velvet ribbon

and a worn mother of pearl belt buckle...

The collage is completely hand stitched,

and sewn to linen burlap.

This piece is now listed in my Etsy shop.

Many thanks for coming by!

Fabric Collages: Remembering Childhood and Family Faces

Hello dear friends! I have created two more fabric collage pieces. My creative spurt is running rampant. I wonder how long this trend will last! Ha!

"What we Remember from our Childhood"

You may remember this lovely old photo from my

having used it my art book that was published in 

"Sew Somerset" last winter.

My post about it can be seen here.

I absolutely adore this little girl and her dog,

so I just had to use it again... 

This one was done in all neutrals,

and, of course, old lace and mother of pearl buttons...

...with a beautiful quote that rests on

a thick piece of vintage brown velvet...

***********************************

"Family Faces are Magic Mirrors"

You may also remember my post, seen here,

about the beautiful girls in this photo,

so I knew I just had to use it again...

Lately I have been enjoying playing with color,

but, of course, I will always love my neutrals...

The two pieces are both sewn onto linen burlap, 

and are now for sale in my Etsy shop.

Have a wonderful day!

Fabric Collages: Family and Home

Hello everyone. I hope that you are having a great day! The sun is actually shining here in NC, so what could be wrong with that?

I have created two more fabric collage pieces.

"Family is God's Gift to You"

The inspiration for this piece came from this lovely old

photo that I have had for awhile. 

It depicts a group of people lakeside,

and makes me want to believe that it was taken

during a large family reunion.

It seems like those are rare anymore in today's world.

For this one I again used silky fabrics,

and since I imagined this was a nice summer day,

I used shades of teal and turquoise,

with a touch of

burgundy and deep pink...

I couldn't resist the flower trim

and this quote...

...along with this vintage lace that makes me think of leaves...

***********************************

"Home is Where One Starts From"

The center point of  this one is a 

beautiful piece of an old cutter ruffled log cabin quilt,

done in silks and velvets.

I built the collage around it by

adding a photo...

...of a group of people sitting on the steps 

of a front porch.

I thought that the photo complimented

the pattern of the quilt.

I also added fabrics that matched the 

piece of quilt,

along with some floral trim   

edged in gold...

I finished it off by adding these beautiful

vintage carved mother of pearl buttons, 

which I thought added to the summer 

day's theme...

And, of course, how could I not use this perfect quote!...

Both collages were completely hand stitched,

and sewn onto 18-count linen.

I have just listed these in my Etsy shop.

Thanks for coming by today!

A Sweet Day

Good morning! I'm sorry I haven't been around lately, but last week I was blessed with a visit from my son and his family (they live in Florida), and getting ready for that left me little time for blogging. 

For Christmas, one of the things that I sent them were some cute clothes for our sweet grand children to wear for a nice photo shoot. Imagine how great it was for me when they decided to bring the photo shoot here! Needless to say, out came "real camera" and away we went, being thrilled that Mr. Weather cooperated by giving us one nice warm day. Avery will be one later this month, and Jason will be three in May.

Naturally, I couldn't resist a little photo play! Here you go.

Wishing you all your own sweet day!

Mixed Media Collage: "Hope"

Last weekend I decided to do a mixed media canvas for my sister-in-law, who is fighting cancer and undergoing chemotherapy. Though she has had a pretty positive outlook this past year, I wanted to make her something that she could look at any time that she didn't feel well. I also gave her a plate holder to sit it on so that she could look at it whenever she needed to.

Here is the whole piece. 

Parden the photos,

but the sunlight was not great when

I took them...

Her favorite color is red, 

so I wanted to work some into this piece...

The piece of music is from a sweet little children's

book from the 1800's that I recently purchased,

and of course, resisting lace is so difficult

for me...

I backed this one with a piece of coordinating

scrapbook paper

and put one of my favorite quotes on the back.

I took this photo at a slant,

but it was actually straight on the canvas...

It's so much more rewarding creating a piece for someone else

than it is creating it just for the sake of creating something.

I hope that you have a day filled with hope!

Many thanks for stopping by.