Yea My Sister is Here!

My sister Pam came into town on Friday and will be staying here for 10 days!  We have so many things we want to do so we will see how much we actually get done.  On Friday Chris & I headed to the Savannah airport to pick her up at 11:06pm.  From there we went to our house so she could drop off her luggage and see the house, then we got back into the car and headed to Tybee Island to take a walk along the beach.  After we finished our walk we headed back home, since it was a very long day for her since she had to get up at 3:30am just to get to the Minneapolis airport, we ended our day sitting on the couch and teaching her how to knit.  Here is our day in pics.

Savannah Airport

I was so glad to see her!

I was telling myself that I wasn't going to cry but I couldn't help it.

This was a beautiful fountain outside of the airport.

I just loved the angel at the top holding the world with the planes circling and the flag in the background. It was such a beautiful sunny day.

When we got to Tybee Island Pam had to immediately take of her shoes and put on her flip flops, as you can see I didn't.

I was so glad that Chris had Friday off so we all got to enjoy our day all together.  I love this picture of us all.

I am reading from a 1958 Stitchery book on how to knit.  Pam wanted to learn how to knit the Continental way.  I knit the English way so we had to look it up, my sister Cindy knits this way and she wanted to learn that since it is a faster way to knit. Also, if you are wondering what is that spot on my shirt it was from eating a snickers bar, I tried to whip it off but it just made it worse.

All in all we had a wonderful first day and still can't believe she is here!  Tomorrow we are heading downtown Savannah to check out City Market.

xo

barb

Art Journal Challenge: Week Three

I have been doing a lot of art pages just to get caught up to date.  Since I have had to do two covers and 6 pages I think I am finally where I need to be.  This week's prompt was "What I Want to Accomplish in 2011".  Of course these are only a fraction of things I would love to accomplish, so I mainly focused on my art for this page.

Week Three:  What I Want to Accomplish in 2011, Jan. 22nd

I loved making this page because of all the colors.  I really didn't think a whole lot on where I wanted things I just started placing the collage items and it just seemed to come together.

  I usually do not make any kind of new years resolutions because of not fulfilling them but I guess you sometimes do need some kind of goals and I am happy with these.  Also, I won't be including the materials made since most of them are made with the same items as the previous weeks. 

Until next week remember:

Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.

Author:  Pablo Picasso

xo

barb

Cold Windy Day

As I was cleaning our bathroom and thinking how cold and windy it is today, I was looking at  this little snowman and thought you would love to see it since I posted my winter decor earlier in the month.  I put him next to the soap dispenser on the sink so I can enjoy him while I brush my teeth.   I found him up in the attic while rearranging the cmas boxes, isn't he just cute?  I bought him when I worked at Northwestern Bookstore in the gift dept.  I think even though I live in a area that really doesn't get snow I will always decorate for it in January. 

Until next time:

There's one good thing about snow, it makes your lawn look as nice as your neighbors.

author:  Clyde Moore

xo

barb

Art Journal Challenge: Week Two

This week's challenge was based on our surroundings so I did my page with two places in mind, Georgia and Minnesota.  I know Georgia is my new home but because I was born and raised in Minnesota I just had to add that place too.

Week Two:  Surroundings, Jan. 15th

I have split my page in two and did scenes of what the weather is like in both places and some things I like about each.  Usually if I do magazine photos of women I associate them with me. I love using them because I feel that it captures what I may not be able to draw or paint, so you will see a lot of them.

Supplies used:  Scrapbooking paper, acrylic paint, rubber stamps, magazine collage images, and colored pencils.

Until next week's:

In art there are no mistakes, only opportunities for creativity.

Author - Denise (art teacher)

xo

barb

Photo Challenge: Week Two

My hubby an I take lots of walks on the beach so when I saw this pile of shells I knew I had to take a picture of some kind.  Then as we both were looking at them it came to me that our shadow was on them and that became the picture for this week's page.

Week Two: Snow Impostor,  Jan. 15th

Caption says: 

This is Chris and mines shadow against a pile of tiny shells that were on the beach while we were taking a walk.  It was low tide so sometimes you will see these piles up and down the shoreline and even floating in masses in the water.  Plus, the sound of the crushing shells when you walk over them sounds a lot like walking in the snow in winter.  What a wonderful reminder of home.

The sound of the shells being like snow was why I titled this week's page Snow Impostor.  The half picture on the top page is an up close shot of the shells they were all so little and perfect.

 Supplies: scrapbooking paper, acrylic paints, rubber stamps, computer generated saying.

Until next week: 

Dance like nobody's watching; love like you've never been hurt; sing like nobody's listening; live like its heaven on earth. - Mark Twain

xo

barb

Photo/Scrapbooking Challenge: My Cover & Week One

I am doing two challenges this year and this one is a photography one consisting of 52 photos and 52 scrapbooking/art journal pages.  I am not originally a scrapbooker but I do love the whole idea of it so I decided to try to make a mini one.  I will take one photo a week, whatever inspires me, and scrapbook that one.  Again I love to use old books so I have picked a daily date book for this challenge because it already has the dividers for each month, how cool is that.  I new just what I wanted on the cover and it turned out like I planned. Yea.  The girl with the camera is not me though I would love that camera.  I am not done with all the pages working up to the first week but I will show you anyways.

This is what the cover looked like before well not exactly I forgot to take a picture of the cover but luckily it had the exact one on a different month.

After:  I save all kinds of pictures from magazines and these ones seemed vintage looking to me and black and white like I wanted.  I have included some scrapbooking paper on the edges and computer generated words. 

This is what the book looks like on the inside before I create.

You know I have to include my favorite stamp so here she is, I will use her more than once!   The first page with the text on left is basically explaining the challenge and why I started one.   I am thinking on putting the words "contents" here because it does tell you whats on the inside.  The words "Live Boldly" is actually from the person who has done this book so I may leave it in.  I will show you the pages when I complete them.

The page on the left has a wonderful pocket that I will use for my pictures or collage items I want to add. I love the lady so vintage.  On the right side I have included part of my photo receipt when I got the picture for my first page developed, i may include some of these as I go through the year.

Week One:  Dinner With Friends, Jan. 8th

Dinner with Friends

Since I started this in the second week I had to think of a picture I had taken for the first week and of course the dinner at the Shrimp Factory when Tom and Tania came to visit.  I had used part of the take home menu for some of my collage items.  Tania's dish was one of my favorites and luckily it had this in the menu. They also had just the title of my dish so I included that too.   It turned out so cute.   I used scrapbooking paper, stamps, and acrylic paints.  I am so excited for this challenge because it is something I feel I can accomplish.  

Until next week's.

Live, Love, and enjoy Life Always. 

xo

barb

Morning Walk

I headed out for a early walk on the beach this morning even though it was rainy and cold.  I was hoping to find some sand dollars because it was low tide and I was thinking no one would go out today.  Well, I didn't find any but I took pictures anyways.

The foam looked like someone put soap in the water.

I was seeing red rose petals as I walked, pretty against the sand.

This was a neat house it was called the Artists Cottage but I couldn't take a picture of the front of it because the owners were right there in the kitchen.  It was neat looking so I will have to capture it later but here are two of the birdhouses painted up.

Hope your day is wonderful thanks for stopping by.

xo

barb

A Lovely Starfish

On Sunday Chris and I went for a walk on the beach when we came across a starfish.  You see it was low tide and it was in a little pocket of water just for us to see.  At first we thought it was dead but when we picked it up and turned it over you could see all the little legs moving.  Of course, I make sure now to bring my camera wherever we go because you just never know what you will see even if it is just for a walk.  So yea I got it on camera before we let it go,  poor little guy stuck in that pond.

It matches the sand so perfectly that you would almost miss him.

It was funny that when you turn him over how much the color change there was.  Also, the little feet felt rough on your hand.  At first when you pick it up it feels weird because it is kinda flimsy not like the ones you buy in the souvenir shops all dried and pretty.

And if anyone knows me I just had to take my shoes off and get in the water with him and take foot pictures, I mean really how cool does that look my little buddy.

This was what he looked like when we put him back in the deeper water by the jetties he looks so happy in his new home.  Then BAAM he's pulled out of his new home and tossed into someones plastic bag!!!  I just new it was going to happen since the couple was a little ways behind us I just didn't think they were watching.  I was just a little upset by this since you know the mother hen in me just wants to let him live.  I told Chris we should have given him a flying leap in the air and sent him out to sea and he said oh sure hurt the poor guy.  I told him well it would have been better than dead!  Well, I can tell you next time we find any starfish I am tossing them out to sea and that will be a sign of love. 

xo 

barb

Sand Angels, Cotton, and Antiques, Oh My

On Saturday we made a day of it by starting out going to the beach but it was so cold we didn't stay long. So we decided to hit some antique shops in Statesboro, and  along the way we got a bonus when we saw a cotton bale in a field! Now that was cool, here is our day in pics.

We tried to get the snow falling in the background but you can't see it  but cute anyway.

If you look close you can see that it was snowing!

This was cool to see as we approached the beach two ships passing each other and because it was very high tide they looked so close.

Doesn't the sand behind me look like snow?  So cool.  If you look close at my jacket and pants you can see the snow falling.

Because it was very high tide there really wasn't much beach and because it was cold there was no one to watch this scene. I just had to do it since all they talk about on the news is all the snow people are getting in the north and since it was snowing here too I thought it would be fitting to make an angel.   Doesn't look the same as snow but o well  it was fun. Also, I thought it would be neat to be barefoot in the pic just because you wouldn't do this in the north.

This is my hubby holding my purse as he is taking pics of me doing the angel and every time I see this it reminds me of the time with Tom and Tania, and it makes me laugh. At the time I don't even think about it, I just don't want to put my purse on the sand,  but I happened to take notice and had to get a pic.  Although you will never notice him carrying it on his shoulder a guy has standards you know.  

Statesboro is about 45min. from Savannah and this was our first stop to visit, this antique shop looks small but very big on the inside.  This is a good one to visit clean and organized and lots of stuff but does not measure up to the ones by Tania.

This was the second one called Vinny's and was not worth it.  It was like a trash can on the inside not very clean more like a dirty garage sale will not visit again.

As we are driving to the antique shops we spot this on the way and came back to take a look.  It was so cool to see a cotton bale, Chris sees them all the time during the harvest season when he is working so to have this one be still around very rare this time of year.  Chris talked to a guy while he was working on his car and the guy said that each one of the bales cost around $10,000 when sold!  Wow

When you get up close the bale is very tight and compact you could hardly push your fingers in it. I have seen the cotton fields as they are maturing but never a bale so this was so exciting for me to see. Don't you just love the texture of it?  The funny thing is that the cotton left on the ground looks and feels just like the cotton balls you buy in a bag in the store, so cool.  The day started out cloudy and cold but it ended up being sunny and warm what a wonderful day.

xo

barb

Art Journal Challenge: Cover of Journal & Week One

     I have decided to start a 52 week art journal challenge for this year and am basing it from a challenge done last year by two women on the web and from some of my art books I have bought.   It is 52 art journal pages (one per week) with word prompts as a guide. I am excited for the journey and hope you will enjoy it as well as I will post them when I finish each weeks.  This truly will be a challenge for me since I never seem to finish ideas that have to last a whole year so we will see how I do. 
 As you know I am a vintage nut and enjoy collecting books, especially old ones, to use as my art journals.   I have prepared this old exercise book by gluing three pages together to make it stiff enought to work on. I usually don't finish the front and back covers of the book until later but I decided I needed to do this first, so after a lot of layers this is the result.

Front of Cover

This is the cover of my art journal challenge.   I  collage it with scrapbooking paper then added acrylic paints, colored pencils, stamps, and computer generated title words.  I am pleased with  the outcome and I really love the lady stamp in the corner as I associate her with me, so you will see a lot of her.

WEEK ONE:  USED DRYER SHEET

I had originally started this art journal/old book with another thought in mind  so the ladies picture was already there and it just screamed the journal prompt from the ladies on the web cheese cloth. I didn't have any cheese cloth so the next best thing was a

used dryer sheet and that was a sticky mess but turn out just as I had hoped.  The dryer sheet is wrapped around her face love the texture.

I love a new year and that means a new beginning, fresh start, etc. I will look back on last year only as a road already taken and this year a start of a new one.  May your new beginning be creative and

blessed by God.

xo 

barb

A Devotional

Sometimes if a devotional touches me I will post it and this one comes from "Streams in the Desert".  A lot of things that God is putting in my path lately is about prayer and I found this one just by opening up the devotional without care of which day it was, isn't it funny how God works. Sorry it is so long but worth it.

We do not know what we ought to pray for. (Romans 8:26)

     Often it is simply the answers to our prayers that cause many of the difficulties in the Christian life.  We pray for patience, and our Father sends demanding people our way who test us to the limit, "because...suffering produces perseverance" (Rom. 5:3).  We pray for a submissive spirit, and God sends suffering again, for we learn to be obedient in the same way Christ "learned obedience from what he suffered" (Heb. 5:8).

     We pray to be unselfish, and God gives us opportunities to sacrifice by placing other people's needs first and by laying down our lives for other believers.  We pray for strength and humility, and  "a messenger of Satan" (2 Cor. 12:7) comes to torment us until we lie on the ground pleading for it to be withdrawn.

     We pray to the Lord, as His apostles did, saying, "Increase our faith!" (Luke 17:5).  Then our money seems to take wings and fly away:  our children become critically ill; an employee becomes careless, slow and wasteful; or some other new trial becomes careless, slow and wasteful; or some other new trial comes upon us, requiring more faith than we have ever before experienced.

     We pray for a Christlike life that exhibits the humility of a lamb.  Then we are asked to perform some lowly task, or we are unjustly accused and given no opportunity to explain, for "he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and ...did not open his mouth" (Isa. 53:7).

     We pray for gentleness and quickly face a storm of temptation to be harsh and irritable.  We pray for quietness, and suddenly every nerve is stressed to its limit with tremendous tension so that we may learn that when He sends His peace, no none can disturb it.

     We pray for love for others, and God sends unique suffering by sending people our way who are difficult to love and who say things that get on our nerves and tear at our heart.  He does this because "love is patient, love is kind...It is not rude,...it is not easily angered.... It always protects, always trust, always hopes, always perseveres.  Love never fails." (1Cor. 13:4-5, 7-8).

     Yes, we pray to be like Jesus, and  God's answer is: "I have tested you in the furnace of affliction" (Isa. 48:10); Will your courage endure or your hands be strong?" (Ezek. 22:14); "Can you drink the cup?" (Matt. 20:22).
    
     The way to peace and victory is to accept every circumstance and every trial as being straight from the hand of our loving Father; to live "with him in the heavenly realms" (Eph. 2:6), above the clouds, in the very presence of His throne; and to look down from glory on our circumstances as being lovingly and divinely appointed. selected poem

I prayed for strength, and then I lost awhile

all sense of nearness, human and divine;

The love I leaned on failed and pierced my heart,

The hands I clung to loosed themselves from mine;

But while I swayed, weak, trembling, and alone,

the everlasting arms upheld my own.

I prayed for light; the sun went down in clouds,

The moon was darkened by a misty doubt,

The stars of heaven were dimmed by earthly fears,

And all my little candle flames burned out;

But while I sat in shadow, wrapped in night,

The face of Christ made all the darkness bright,

I prayed for peace, and dreamed of restful ease,

A slumber free from pain, a hushed repose;

Above my head the skies were black with storm,

And fiercer grew the onslaught of my foes;

But while the battle raged, and wild winds, blew,

I heard His voice and perfect peace I knew.

I thank you, Lord, You were too wise to heed

My feeble prayers, and answer as I sought,

Since these rich gifts Your bounty has bestowed

Have brought me more than all I asked or thought;

Giver of good, so answer each request

With Your own giving, better than my best.

Annie Johnson Flint

I think after reading this I am going to keep a prayer journal so that I can look back on it and remember what I prayed for, and also to be very conscious of what I pray for because I will have to ask myself am I ready for His answer.  This doesn't mean that I will not pray for fear of trials but that it shows that God is answering my prayers and I am changing.  I have to say that I have been struggling with where I am in life right now but I guess I will have to ask "am I living today in answered prayer?"  Something to ponder I guess.

xo

barb

    

Now Thats Dedication

Ryan showed up at our house around 11:15am yesterday and said that he needed a ride to work it puzzled me since he would have already been on the bus that would have taken him to work.  He was completely exhausted and when he finally told me why I had to laugh.

You see he takes two buses to get to work and the first one brings him downtown Savannah on Broughton Street to wait for the next but since it was Martin Luther King day there happened to be a parade just starting.  He new that he wouldn't make it to work on time if he waited for the bus because of the parade (and since a holiday buses run slower already)  that he decided to skateboard to our house, it took him about 1/2 hour.  The funny thing was that since all the sidewalks were packed with people waiting for the parade that he decided to get on the street just ahead of the parade and he said that people were waving at him and taking pictures!  How funny is that, though he didn't think so at the time but he did state that there were some hot chicks out there. Well, he did make it to work on time and I say that is some dedication!

xo

barb

Winter Decor

After putting the last bit of Christmas decor away I always put up my winter items for January so I thought you would enjoy the tour. 

 I love having a fireplace to change for the seasons.

That is Jess (daughter) and her snowman she made when she was little

isn't she cute, she got creative and used pine branches for the hair.

Also the snowman in the picture frame is a

punch needle kit I did.  The snowman mitten is made

with buttons and beads.  Tania said she loves this item.

I used glass crystals for the ice, these came from a

votive candle holder I took apart I just love the look of them.

This is my favorite crystal tree bought at an estate sale in Minnesota.

That is Ryan (son) who made his snowman

when he was little, and that is one of

my favorite snow babies figurine.

This is our kitchen window looking out to the back yard.

My new snowflake towels from target. The towels are

a pretty coco brown color and

I did put the red cmas tree cookie jar away.

I take out all the red balls from this basket and enjoy

the silver color with the snowflakes.

This is a snowman quilted wall hanging my sister Pam made me which

I absolutely adore.

I love the combination of this white ball and clear/gold snowflake

hangs on the fireplace.

This is a silver serving tray that I put my vintage cards in along with

a silver friendship ball.

The round base that this church sits on is a real cheese container

bought at Patricks with Tania during the Atlanta Quilt Shop Hop in 2009.

This is in our bathroom on the toilet cover.

Love the rose lady, we bought it from a shop at the Mall of America.

These are my favorite items bought at Antiques in Old Town

while shopping with Tania.  Love that shop!

This is a snow glob with evergreen, pine cones and snow

not a very good pic to enjoy the beauty of it.

Tania had me pick out a vintage cmas card (the one with the two girls) and her

husband finished it with glass and antique edge. Love it!

I have my sleigh out year round and that is an angel sitting on top.

Favorite winter tins

I hope you enjoyed the tour and no matter where you are have a blessed day.

xo

barb