Saturday, December 30, 2006

Family Fun...

My Sweet Darlings...I love you!
"Whaddaya Mean -No More Christmas Cookies!.......OOOOHHHH Lollipops Instead Wa Ha Ha!"

It's All Over Already!?? Are You Kidding Me??


That's my crazy hub on the right, my big bro on the left, and his wife in the middle.
Thanks for visiting you guys! We love you!








Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Out of the Mouths of Babes.....

So- we're getting ready to visit a friend over the holidays and I begin prepping my four year old son, who is busy rolling his Hot Wheels along the couch. Here's how our conversation went.
Me: "Okay we're going to Debbie's house and I need you to be really good. Don't touch anything, don't run through the house, and remember Please and Thank You. You need to be on your best behavior."
Angelic looking son turns to me and says, "So I shouldn't say Bullshit?"
Me (trying hard to stifle a giggle): "Exactly! No Bullshit."
Hmph, and I thought he wsn't paying attention.
You gotta love kids.

Saturday, December 23, 2006

SSSHHHH.....Here Comes Santa!

HAPPY HOLIDAY HUGS TO ALL & MANY BLESSINGS TO YOU AND YOUR FAMILY!!

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Holiday Q Fun!

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot Chocolate with Peppermint Schnapps!
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? It's all wrappped up purty.
3. Colored lights or white on tree/house ? White on the tree and house changes yearly.
4. Do you hang mistletoe? When I remember. We do lots of smoochie smoochie anyway!
5. When do you put your decorations up? Two weeks before the big day.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish? If I had my way, it would be sushi!
7. Favorite holiday memory as a child?
Ice Skating at night with my brother at our country house upstate.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I still believe in the magic of it all!
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? My kids get a special Eve Gift.
10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree?
White lights and the most fantastic, colorful ornaments packed with memories. Everything from handblown beauties from Germany to pre-school ghosts go on our tree!
11. Snow… love it or dread it? Love it!
12. Do you know how to ice skate? Yes, tho please don't ask me to twirl or skate circles!
13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
This is very tough. As hokey as it sounds, my faves are the gifts my kids give me that come from their little creative hands and hearts!
14. What’s the most important thing about the holidays for you? Making it magical for my kids and spending time with my brother and his wife, and friends.
15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? Don't do dessert.
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Decorating the tree and having magic tree time with my kids.
17. What tops your tree? A handmade star from brown paper bags. You can see more about this on the post below.
18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? Both!
19. Favorite Christmas Song? Chestnuts Roasting by Nat King Cole (tho I don't know if thats the correct name and Let It Snow.
20. Favorite Flavor of Candy Canes? Don't do candy- but I love the colorful ones!

Blog Update....

I have met so many great creative people this year, and I am so behind in linking them up to my blog. Sooooo, I wanted to let you all know, that I will be updating my links after the holiday is over. If you need your link to be updated, or are new here and want to be included on the list, just leave your blog addy in the comments section. Hope everyone is having a merry week!

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Digi Camera Inspiration...

Well, it looks like I might be able to get a new digi camera after all. BUT I have to stay around $150.00. Anyone have any reccomendations? I could definately use input!
And I am very psyched about this as I have loved fooling around with photograghy on and off for years. BUT my true inspiration lately comes from this young lady at
http://www.lavenderfunk.blogspot.com/
Please take a look at her blog as I think she has a lot of potential! And don't forget to leave a comment as she is a new blogger!
Ho Ho Ho....it's almost here! Hope everyone is having a great holiday week!

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

All I want for Christmas.....

Well, here it is...our Christmas Tree full of memories! What fun we had sharing it with the little guy this year. We all have our favorite ornies and I tried to get a close up of just a few of mine.
MY ABSOLUTE FAVES are the felt mittens I made with my two older children some years back. We even used some as gift toppers and they were well received. I also love the moon and my fox dressed in holiday regalia. AND I have a giraffe decked out in a wool coat and carrying a patent leather purse. Okay enuf of the ornies! But I do have to share about our VERY humble tree topper. When we moved to our first house and my children were very small, maybe one and two, we only had one car and my husband worked many hours. Well, that left me decorating our tree, which of course didn't have nearly as many ornaments. After the job was done, I realized we had no tree topper! Soooo....I cut two star
shapes from a brown paper bag, painted them with yellow ochre paint and outlined and swirled with a gold marker and then glued the perimeter together. Voila! And we've kept it ever since. Never once thought about trading it in for something glitzy and glowing.

Now onto the the list for Santy! Tops on my list is....Lavender Therapy Lotion by Crabtree & Evelyn. Ladies, if you have not tried this stuff, by all means do it now! It is the BEST hand lotion you'll ever use and the smell is intoxicating! I use at night before I go to bed and the lavender really is very relaxing. And of course I want new jammies-100% cotton please (just in case Santy happens to be peeking at my blog...lol). OH, and Anne Lamott's latest book, a new copy of Bob Dylan's Blood On the Tracks CD as my old one skips, some art books of course, and most of all...good health, peace and happiness for my friends and family and a better job for the hub.
And if I had one indulgence...I really want a new digi camera, as the old one is getting a little defunkt. But I don't think that will be in the budget. Perhaps there will be a winning lotto ticket in my stocking and I will get it for my birthday at January's end!
So now you must tell me, what is tops on your list for Santy? Ho Ho Ho and Merry Merry all!

Monday, December 11, 2006

BlueJude's Studio





My daughter took these pics of me in my "studio" about a month ago, and I finally had a moment to share. Keep in mind that my studio is actually the dining room table and I'm not usually very good at uploading these things so it looks a little haphazard. (kinda like me!)
And of course at the top is a photo of the photographer herself and her sidekick, her brother!

Thursday, December 07, 2006

The Alphabet Queen

Inspired and challenged by nancy B's alphabet sheets I finally decided to do one of my own. However, after cutting out my ABC's I was feeling a bit laxadaisical about doing a background (unusal as I love doing backgrounds!). BUT I had this odd pic laying around that I wasn't to happy with and seemed beyond repair so I decided to use THAT as my background. So nanc, tho I didn't follow protocol exactly (no surprise there!) here she is! The Alphabet Queen Juggling the Letters of Her Mind. Dedicated to the wonderful and talented and crazy lol Nancy Baumiller! Happy Thursday all!

Monday, December 04, 2006

One Line Drawings and more....
















These are actually One Line Drawings I did a while back from a life drawing class. Once the drawing was done I went over the original with heavy charcoal to define the lines more. I think in class they called it contour drawing, and I love the surprising results you get.
Anyhoo, I got lots of Christmas shopping done this weekend and am almost done. I also gave the little guy a haircut as everywhere we went people kept thinking he was a girl, poor kid. All long curls and big blue eyes, who could blame them! So now he's a new man-tho I didn't cut it that short as we like long hair. We're a bit unconventional.
And while I was in town shopping I stopped by a new gallery that had opened. It was quite an eye opener and very inspiring- tho not in the way you might think. I don't want to sound pompous or judgemental, as anyone who knows me, knows that I am very humble and insecure about my art and skills. BUT what I saw at this gallery....well, it was really nothing to write home about. And I'm not talking about the genre of art, as there was some abstract, some collage, and some charcoal drawings (which were pretty good) but it was ....hmmmm...how do I put this? Not really good art. Even my husband was going on and on about it on the way home, telling me I should get over my shyness and get my stuff out there. AND I decided he was right.
I'm going to contact the owner and see if I can get in there in Spring or Summer. That will give me enough time to work on the two new series I started.
And now I'm off to see what the UPS man has left at my door and maybe make some paper snowflakes with the little guy. Ho Ho Ho I just love playing Santa to my kids! Cheers all!