Hearts!

My heart to you is given:

Oh, do give yours to me;

We'll lock them up together,

And throw away the key.
               ~Frederick Saunders 

Self Portrait

Second post today, but I've had a nerve wracking day!!

The first prompt for my new class Picture Inspiration is to take a self portrait. This is tough!! How do you take a photo of yourself that looks natural??

Here's my final choice. It's a mirror shot. I tried a tripod, but couldn't get any good shots. At least in the mirror you can see what you look like!

I had to eat a handful of M&M's to just push the button to upload the photo in my gallery. I am too shy for this!!  But, since I took about 50 pictures and you are all my friends, I'll share a few with you. But only if you don't laugh.

 First, I have to tell you this story and you can laugh about this. I don't have a mirror that doesn't have a lot of clutter in the background. I had to crop in close to get rid of the shelves and the shower stall in the picture above. I also had to edit out a little part of a shelf. I'm saying that to say this. I have gotten into the habit of carrying my camera in my purse. Today, at the library, I went into the rest room and guess what...no clutter on their walls that will show in the picture. So I grab my camera and there I was taking self portraits in the mirror at the library. I wonder if anyone noticed how long I was in there? I took several when I heard the door open, stashed the camera in my purse and left. When I got home and looked at the photos, sadly none of them were any good. I guess I was a little tense about someone catching me!!

Back to the portraits, this one might have been OK, but the shower stall is right beside my face. and when you cropped in, you get a lot of wrinkles!!

Oooh, do you see me?

 Look at the camera!!

What's the deal with the raised eyebrows?

 Surprise! You're on candid camera!

Don't talk to yourself and my what a wrinkled hand!!

Look at that grey side burn!!

I'm calm now, chocolate worked!!
Picture is posted.
I'm done for this week!

I sure hope next week's prompt is easier!!

Treasures On Thursday

February is almost over.

 So, I have a couple of days to post a few more hearts!

These hearts are on needle rolls from my collection.

I stitched them several years ago.

A friend and I both stitched quite a few of

Shepherd's Bush needle rolls.

Needle rolls are just elongated pin cushions.

She placed hers in a milk glass dish

 and I placed mine in this beautiful dish

that I picked up at a flea market.

It's called Iris and Herringbone.

 The dish and needle rolls sit on a

vintage handkerchief.  I also like to

pick up handkerchiefs at flea markets.

Yet, another collection I have!

Since it's February I place the needle rolls that have hearts on them with my Valentine pretties. 

The needle rolls are done wih 

 fancy stitches,

little bits of lace,

 beads, charms, and ribbon.

So fun to stitch and beautiful to look at.

The one on the right is done in "white work"

 even though it is ecru.

White work is when you stitch in a color of thread

that matches the background fabric, usually white,

but sometimes ecru.

As you can see in the bowl

I have several more needle rolls.

I'll show  you those up close in future

Treasures On Thursday.

Hope your Thursday is a great one!!



I've Been Scrapbooking!!

I just realized it has been a long time since I posted any scrapbook pages. I have been a little caught up in photography, but I've still been scrapbooking! So, get comfortable, put your feet up and grab some hot chocolate or a soda pop, because this may take a while!

I'll start with the ones I just finished yesterday. I finally, finally got completely finished with the pages from my Jefferson, Texas trip with my sister.  I am well pleased with the way these pages turned out. It was a wonderful trip and it deserved some extra treatment!

First, the intro page. We had someone take our picture outside my very favorite home in Jefferson. I'm so glad we did, since I needed it for this page.

My journaling pages are next. I told about our trip on the left page and then told the history of Jefferson on the right. It took me three pages for the history. I stapled them at the top so they could be read if you pulled out the page. I really didn't figure anyone would really read them, I just wanted the history recorded with the album. Now all I need is the album I ordered to put them in. I can't believe I'm finished!

At a recent crop I went to, I worked on Jake's 8th birthday party. Jake had a Super Mario party and his Aunt Aimee brought her punch fountain that was filled with Kool-Aid. It was a fun party!

I tried two new things on this spread. I hand-stitched between the green and orange paper on the left side and then across the orange on the right page. I also used a distressing ink to "dirty" the edges of the papers.

I also did pages of the fun times we had while the boys were here for Jake's birthday. Jake enjoyed playing ball sometimes kickball, sometimes volley ball.

Drew loves to play with anything that has wheels.

And Josh plays with anything with wheels also. And yes, there is a "Watching Aaron Play" page that is in my next to-do pages.

I also worked on a Fourth Of July page for Aaron. We went to his house and celebrated the 4th. Aaron had on the cutest overalls with an American flag on the back.

I tried a new technique on the title. I ran the letters through my Cuttlebug and then rubbed distressing inks across them. The ink only colored the raised parts of the letters.

The next pages I worked on are of Drew and Josh when they were playing in the rain dripping off the porch roof. This was day of Aaron's first birthday party. Drew just couldn't stay on the porch. If you look at the series of photos on the right page, you will see he eventually stepped into the ran.

Josh was more careful, he tried to stay on the porch, although he couldn't resist tasting the water.

 

Being in the holiday mood, I worked on Christmas 2010 for all four boys.

You probably can't see on the photo, but I used brads in the center of the circles and also on for the pom-pom on Santa's hat. I don't know why, but I really like brads. You'll find them on a lot of my pages.

Drew's pages have white star brads that match the white stars in the border on top of the right page. The stars are between the reindeer that really look like bunnies in this photo. But, there is a row of reindeer and white stars.

Josh's has white star brads, also.

And lastly, Aaron's page for Christmas. I used white circle brads for the pom-poms on Santa's hat and also white star brads on the Christmas trees.

Whew, we're done now. These pictures don't show the pages very well. I started to take a shot of each page also, but that would have been 26 more photos to look at!! I figured you'd really grow tired by then.

Thanks for looking. I hope you enjoyed them. I definitely enjoyed making them!

Make some memories each day!!

Picture This 2011

A few more photos I've posted this week on the FB group I joined. I don't post everyday, nor do I feel obligated to run out and take a photo for the prompt. I have enjoyed being able to sometimes go back to older pics I've taken and use some of them. Sometimes it's really hard to come up with a shot that fits. For several of these I had to get creative.

Between The Lines

I really wanted to go take a picture of the train rails, but it has been so overcast and glummy that I knew I'd not get a good shot. So I found this one in my archives. I was playing with taking shadows that day. I'm standing between the shadow lines of the trees.

I did take this one just for this prompt. When I opened this package of cookies, the first thing I saw was the icing between the lines.

I posted the top two. When I was searching for a photo these also fit the prompt. The trail between the tree line

and snow between the lines of the fence.

Might As Well Jump

Dug in my photos again for this one. I took this picture this summer when we were at Patty's. Mr. H had spotted the frog and we all had to go see him. I thought he fit this prompt perfectly. I beefed up the greens in Picasa, he wasn't really quite this green!!

Somewhere Over The Rainbow

As I mentioned last post I found lots of rainbow inspiration at my grandson, Aaron's house. We built a rainbow with his stacking toy. Does anyone notice that I stacked the colors wrong. It should have been red, orange and then yellow!! I guess I should have done the ROY G BIV thing...red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.  Ah well, they are rainbow colors, just not in the right order! the squares are in the right order though!

Enjoy your day!

A Rainbow Of Colors

The prompt in our FB photo group was "somewhere over the rainbow". I couldn't come up with anything until yesterday, when I was playing at Aaron's house. I saw rainbow colors everywhere...red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. Just look at all these rainbow colors I found.

We played cars and look at the rainbow of colors in the cars. There's always someone who doesn't want to cooperate in pictures. Look at our garbage man (green truck) he's driving the wrong way!! But Aaron didn't care!

Then he played in his ball pit. Plenty of rainbow colors there.  And plenty of giggles. I had a hard time getting a good shot. Aaron was too fast for my camera!

Next we stacked shapes. Bright rainbow of colors. I think his two favorite colors of shapes are green and yellow. When I changed his diaper he had to hold the green and yellow circles so he could be still for Gramma.

After his nap he wanted to watch Cookie Monster on TV. I couldn't figure out how to watch a video, so I called Randy. He was able to guide me through and YEAH we got Cookie Monster. Here's Aaron's reaction. He was so excited. He giggled, danced and ran around.

He was so cute this morning. He got caught playing in the fireplace ashes, cold ashes of course!! Anyway, Aimee put up this note to stop him. It works!! He walks over reads the note and says" No touch!" How about that!! He is just too smart!! In case you're wondering what he's watching, it's still Cookie Monster. I think we watched it three times!!

We had a great day, lots of playing, hugging and a little sugar!  When I left he said "I wuv you, Gramma."  There's nothing sweeter than grandsons saying they love you!!!

Treasures On Thursday

I'm still in the Valentine's mood. I enjoy holidays so I tend to celebrate all month long. Hearts are such a big part of February and I have lots of them. I made this heart out of felted wool.

It was an easy project and something I could do at night while I watched TV with Mr. H. The kit came with everything I needed including the pretty beads at the bottom. I put these old skeleton keys next to it, so you'd have the key to my heart.

SPREAD A LITTLE LOVE AROUND TODAY!!

Time Is Slipping By

I try to keep my blog upbeat and fun, because that's the way I am, but sometimes I just have the need to write about my feelings. My Dad has Alzheimer's disease. It breaks my heart. Right now he's in the middle stages. He still knows us and still functions pretty well. We can tell parts of his brain have died, parts that make him conscious of what he says and does. For instance, if I'm at his house when it's getting time to eat, he will sometimes, not so politely, say it's time for me to go home so MeMaw can fix his dinner. He just says exactly what he thinks. He constantly follows my Mom around, similar to a small child. He needs the security of knowing she's right there beside him. He wants to know where she is all the time and wants to be part of everything she's doing.  Sometimes, that makes me smile. Like today when I was at their house, he was so proud that he had worked a 100 piece puzzle all by himself. He has it propped on poster board on their piano. My Mom works large puzzles all the time and he feels left out, so she bought him a small one and when she rested or was fixing dinner or such, she would tell him to put at least two or three pieces in. It gives her some peace and him something to do! Of course, he will do it to please her, once again just like a small child! Sometimes it is the simplest things that make me realize he is getting worse every day. It's a slow process, which is good, but still a heartbreaking process. Yesterday, I went on an outing with my Mom and Dad. Just a few weeks past Dad would drive you crazy if he was in the car with you. He worried every 5 minutes that we didn't know where we were going and would get lost. He worried even when we were in familiar places. He also would talk your ears off about every thing he saw. "Look at those birds, isn't that something?" "Look at this and look at that." It was a constant running commentary. To be honest, I wasn't looking forward to being in the car several hours with him. I try to patient but, sometimes, it just seems like I'm going to go crazy if he asks me one more time if I know where I'm going! But, yesterday, I was wrong, so very wrong. He barely said anything! Every once in a while he would mention something he saw...ducks, a pretty house, horses or jet trails in the sky. He was so quiet my Mom even asked if he'd fallen asleep! My heart broke a little more. He is slipping further away from us. I know, I know, I should never have dreaded the drive and I feel so bad about that. It's so important that we cherish each moment, the good ones and the bad ones. My heart is breaking as we lose a little of him each day!

MY VALENTINE

It's here, the Day of Love, Sweetheart's Day, Valentine's Day, whatever you want to call this day of celebrating love and affection. The day is named after early Christian martyrs named Valentine and was established by Pope Gelasius I in 500 AD.

MY VALENTINE is my hubby, I've started calling him Mr. H on my blog. We've been together for so many years I really can't remember life when I didn't know him. That maybe because we met when he was 16 and I was 15. We went to Jr. High together so I knew him a year before that, but we actually didn't meet until my friend's 16th birthday party. Thank you, Carol, for having that party!! I still remember the first time he held my hand and our first kiss. Really and truly we grew up together!

This is the only picture I could find of Valentine's Day. We went out to eat at a restaurant called Almo Plaza in 1970. I remember making my dress. I was so proud of those big blue navy buttons. We were laughing the other day when we looked at this picture, because neither one of us remembers a place called Almo Plaza!! One his friends remembered it and told us where it used to be. Our memories do fade, so let me tell you...take those photos and journal!!

As far as I know this is the only photo we have kissing. He was in basic training and I went to visit him with his Dad, Mom and two sisters!! Don't know how they talked this shy girl into kissing in front of his parents and with a camera pointed at us.  But, I'm glad they did!!

And here we are...married almost 39 years. My, how the time has flown!!

My Valentine, my love, Jerry!

Valentine's Day Poem

The rose is red, the violet's blue

The honey's sweet, and so are you

Thou are my love and I am thine

I drew thee to my Valentine

The lot was cast and then I drew

And Fortune said it shou'd be you.
found in the collection of English nursery rhymes Gammer Gurton's Garland (1784)

Be sure and tell your sweetheart
that you love them!!

Picture This 2011

The gals from Picture Winter have started a Face Book page to continue our photo prompts. It's a lot different, no pressure. You can post each day or just when you want. I like getting the daily prompt, they keep my mind working. And, of course, I get to see all their gorgeous photos. I've done some of them so I decided I would show you my latest prompt pictures.

WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT?

I chose to use a photo I had taken sending the sign of love to my grandsons. I took it one day when I was out shooting photos of shadows on the snow.

I SEE THE LIGHT

I found this dead branch that had fungus growing on the end. I love the way the light makes it almost seem translucent.

YUMMY, YUMMY IN MY TUMMY

My grandsons were coming to visit, so I ran to the store to pick up a few things and to buy them Valentines. I knew I wasn't going to have a lot of time so I snapped a picture of this tin of candy. It's really a metal tin, so pretty. Love has everything to do with it...love for my family and yes my love for chocolate!!

MIRROR, MIRROR ON THE WALL

I got brave on this one and took a self-portrait in a mirror. I hate to have my picture taken, so this was hard for me. I don't know why we shy away from the camera. We love to take photos of others. Someday, someone may want to see what I looked like in 2011. So, here it is!!

BRIDGING THE GAP

This is an old abandoned railroad trestle that bridges the gap made by a small creek. It looks quite different from underneath. I like that old spike sticking out. It's on the right side of the photo close to the bottom.

ME, MYSELF, AND I

Here's another shot of me. I am getting brave. This photo tells who I am. I love to quilt, scrapbook, makes cards, collect children's books and read. I took several shots...hated all of them!!! On the last shot, for some reason I laughed and this I think it captured the real me. I do laugh a lot. I'm a pretty upbeat person! 

SEEING RED

I was all tucked in waiting for the big snow that was coming on Wednesday. Looked around the house of reds. I like red, I just don't have a lot. I'm working on a red and white quilt, but that just wasn't inspiring me. When I opened my pantry there was a red Coke box, a red bag of Hershey Kisses and a red Pringles can. Perfect! Three of my bad habits all dressed in red!!

AIN'T NO MOUNTAIN HIGH ENOUGH

This prompt was extremely hard. You see, I'm snowed in...there are no mountains in sight...I don't have any photos of mountains in my archives on the computer...so what do I do? Get creative. I went out side and took this shot of, guess what, a rock in my shade garden. Well, it is a mountain for a little ant!! Right!! I laughed when Mr. H. said I should have place a small toy person at the bottom so it would look more like a tall mountain!!

Hope you enjoyed my photos!! Right now, I don't want the pressure of taking a photo for a class everyday. For this project we sometimes just dig into our archives. I just want to keep the creative juices flowing!