Happy Halloween!

 

I sold a few "beauties" a while back in my shop, so

 have a ready supply of creepy doll images free of charge.

Here I just glued a photo down, collaged it with strips of Tim Holtz tissue tape
 (a gift from Magpie's Nest Patty- thank you!),
doodled a mask and collar with a Sharpie marker and voila!
Halloween greetings!

My treat for you...
You can take these images to use yourself.
Just click on each image to get the larger image and
 "save picture as" to your computer.

 

Happy Halloween!

 

 

 

Can I Buy a Vowel?

 

Yes, you can, at Jana's Stuff, and I did!
I didn't need the letters, but I wanted to get something, anything,
because Jana's shop is so fun and her spokes model KK (Karol Kitsch) is a riot!!!!
So now, not only do I have my shop spelled out in Scrabble tiles,
I also have an autographed photo of KK presenting my letters on a Scrabble board.
Priceless!
Karol Kitsch is one versatile gal...

 I mean, for goodness' sake, here she's milking a cow trivet...

...And here she's dressed in full Octoberfest costume to sell a beer stein!

And you will never believe the lengths Jana goes to to market a silver bread basket!

Go visit Jana's Stuff and tell her Ruby Floy sent you!

The most hilarious time in a shop you will ever have!

(I hurt from laughing, just thinking about it!)

 

 

City Mouse, Country Mouse

 

While visiting family up in Michigan, this past July, we took a field trip to the Detroit Institute of Art Museum (DIA).  I took lots of photos on my handy cell phone so I could relive the day later.  I hadn't been to a really good art museum in YEARS, so was in heaven for the day.  Later, when I reviewed my pictures, all of them on my phone, I noticed a pattern.  The pictures I took at the museum, in The City, had similar compositions to other photos on my phone that I had taken in and around where I live, namely The Country.  And so I bring you my personal Smart Phone Retrospective of Art as seen through a former city dweller, now imbedded in the country.  Art is what you make it, not where.

 

Above is a room in the modern wing of the DIA with art by various artists.

And below, unassuming yard art as found next to a barn in Levasy, Missouri.

 

 

Below, a mural by Diego Rivera.  It's been one of my favorite installments since first seeing it as a kid on a class trip.

I highly recommend the on-line virtual tour of the mural.

 

 

And apparently I am still fascinated by "industrial art", because here's my view of a grain elevator in  Kansas City, Kansas.

 

 

Now a collage assemblage piece by Raymond Johnson (American 1927-'95).

 

Which has its country inspiration, photographed in Levasy, Missouri.

(You will be wanting to visit Levasy- it's chock full of "art" in a bucolic setting!)

 

 

Finally, an abstract print by Fernand Leger.

I love his color and design sense.

 

 

And here's my daughter, Victoria, playing with collage self portraiture.

I love her design sense too.

 

This is not Photoshopped.  She is holding a magazine clipping up to her face.

Neat, huh?

My china cabinet in the background adds an architectural element a la America Gothic by Grant Wood.  (Internet photo below)

 

 

But now I digress, because American Gothic is housed in Chicago, which is another trip. ha!

Thank you for visiting my exhibit.

Please be sure to sign my guest book and leave a comment on your way out. ;)

 

 



Cereal and Tea (It's Tuesday!)

Were it not for Tea Tuesday, you might not hear from me at all.

 

Every morning, as soon as my kids get on the school bus, I boot up my computer and start my work day. My office is in the kitchen. At the breakfast bar.

I have decided to treat my etsy shop like a part time job instead of a hobby and the sales show it. First it was to reduce clutter

(we plan to move in the next month or so and I don't want to take it ALL with me),

but now it's just the joy of running my dream shop.

I am adding new items daily during the week, when I have the house to myself and no demands on my time; and on weekends I answer emails and track sales.

 

But today, as I eat my mad scientist mixture of Raisin Bran and Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereals (trying to finish off the dregs in opened boxes), I am reminded of my breakfast a few days ago when there wasn't milk handy for cereal.

   I had already poured the cereal in a bowl, before I remembered that we were missing the key ingredient. *groan* I hate when that happens! But no matter. I had hot tea made. Plain, black tea. I poured some over my cereal and voila! A hot breakfast! I didn't miss the milk too much and the raisins in the Raisin Bran plumped up from the hot liquid.

I wouldn't want to eat cereal with tea exclusively now, but in a pinch, it works.
I've read that "Inspiration is the mother of invention".
I say it's that, and the occasional lack of milk in the house.

For more Tea Tuesday posts, visit Magpie's Nest and Ooglebloops.

 

 

 



Sugar for Breakfast (It's Tea Tuesday)

This morning I'm drinking my usual black tea with milk,

so I won't bore you with a photo of that,

but instead I want to share what the kids and I made over the weekend.

The weather has cooled and so baking is a cozy way to heat up the kitchen

and bring the family together.

 

 

Pumpkins and leaves and hearts (Rebecca's choice on the hearts,

because they are always in season, right?).

We also turned the large oak leaf cookie around and made ragged looking ghosts,

but you will just have to use your imagination because the ghosts were the first eaten. ha!

The small maple leaf could be a bat if it were turned upside down, but that's for next time.

29 more baking days left until Halloween!

Mwoooohahahahaha!

 

For more Tea Tuesday posts, visit Magpie's Nest and Oooglebloops.

Tiny Bubbles in My Tea (Tuesday)

 

I am so glad the weather has cooled here in my part of Missouri.

I can drink up to 3 pots of black-tea-with-milk a day, without breaking a sweat.

Fall is my favorite time of year (I say that every year around this time- ha!)
**************

It's overcast this morning and looking decidedly gloomy,
after a violent sounding thunderstorm came through last night.

It's put me in a contemplative mood.

So I Googled the Farmer's Almanac to see what this winter will be like.
Missouri had a hellaciously hot summer, but according to the Almanac, we will have enough precipitation this winter to offset the summer drought.
Some of it might even be snow (although below normal amounts).
I am feeling better already.
More snow would be good, but I will take any.
I think I'll make another pot of tea (#2 today) to celebrate.
What are you contemplating in your tea this morning?



The Accidental Fashion Designer

 

The other day I was cleaning with a bleach based household cleaner

and did two stupid things.

1.  I wore black.

Dumb!!!!

2. I hugged the bottle to me when I was done (to carry it into another room).

AaaaarrGGGGgggh!

 

Before I realized what I had done, a purplish mark had already appeared on my once black top.

The top was getting overwashed and dingy, but it was comfy and I liked it!

What to do to keep it out of the trash and sort of presentable still?

I had no RIT dye on hand, so I opted for the opposite remedy.

Further bleaching.

Acting quickly, I changed into some other shirt, grabbed a rubber doily from my china cabinet drawer, and headed outside to the glass topped table on our deck.

I arranged the doily on the front of the shirt and spritzed, spritzed, spritzed.

Didn't even rinse the top, but just threw it into the wash with a load of whites that needed a little bleach anyway, and voila!

 

 

A Nathalie original I would be proud to wear with artsy jewelry.

And when I am done with the shirt, I can salvage the prettiest part of the lace pattern and repurpose it.

 

 

Here is a detail.

Be fearless.

Go bleach something!