New Week

Today starts a new week for me, and I hope it will be a little calmer than last week. Tomorrow should be very similar to last Monday. We have a good many cases for the OR and I am sure I will be there until 6-7. The rest of the week should be a lot lighter though. We had a surprise birthday party for my aunt last night. She will be 75 on Tuesday. It is really hard to pull these things off with my family because there are so many people involved, somebody usually slips up and says something, but it worked good this time. She was so surprised and we even got her 95 year old mother there. Lots of good family time together, there is nothing better. I was so tired this morning and it was raining and I slept in. I got up and my sunday school teacher had put a devotional on her facebook site, so I went over this and then went to play farmtown (yes, I am a farmtown addict) and low and behold she was on farmtown also. Her mother has been very sick this week and in an out of town hospital so she was worn out also. We had a great time discussing God and His love. I think He will forgive us for worshipping in our pj's today. I would like to ask all my blog buddies to pray for this family. They go back to the doctor tomorrow to get the test results and decide if they are going to have the surgery. If she is able to have the surgery, I ask ya'll to pray for our Heavenly Father to wrap His loving arms around her and her family and carry them through this with good results. We had a sad note today. I have lived in this neighborhood all my life. My children live here and my father lives here (my mom passed away 21 years ago). Most of the people living here are older and have been neighbors for many years. We lost one of those this morning. My dad called me about 9 and told me. This man had been a victim of Alzheimers for the past 2-3 years. He had been in a nursing home for about 6 months since he fell and broke his hip. His wife is one of the sweetest people I have ever known. Please pray for this family also. It is a blessing that he has gone to Heaven, but his family will need love and support.


The bag tag above is one I did for a friend as a RAK (Random Act of Kindness). She was an on line friend and really loved my art and crafts. She commented a lot about my stuff, so I sent this one day. It is made out of cardstock and designer paper. The ribbons are from my stash. The eyelets are from Close to My Heart and the baubles are from Stampin Bella. I paper pieced the clothes on the stamped image, and colored in the other areas with CTMH markers. I hope to have pics of some of the new stuff I am doing for the baby. I have made some bibs and burp clothes and I am smocking a few outfilts. Hopefully they will be finished soon and I can post a pic.


Time for me to close my rambling for today. I hope ya'll have a great week with many memories and blessings. Be safe, happy, healthy. Hug those you love. Remember to smile and laugh, and God bless ya'll!!

Long Week!!

I have had such a busy week that this is my first time to post. I knew last week this week would be tough, but I did not know quite how tough it would be. We worked Monday night until 11:30 and I am still not over it. Tuesday was a 11 hour day, Wednesday was a 10 hour day, and today (my day off) was a 3 1/2 hour day. Tomorrow does not look much better, I am expecting at least 10 hours. Oh well, as I say, it makes for a good nights sleep.

The above pic is an apron I made for myself last year. The colors are pink and brown. The pattern is called "My Granny's Apron", or something similar to that. I made some of these last year and gave as wedding presents and birthday gifts to friends. I have at least 10 cut out in my sexing box and I plan on finishing them soon. I really think I will give them as Christmas gifts this year to my aunts. I love mine. I also may put some on my Etsy shop. Aprons to me are a classic, that people rarely think of anymore. I am so glad to see such sites as Apronista out there. I hope people will start back using them as our parents did. My mom and grans always had an apron on.

Today's bible scripture is :

"Therefore encourage one another and build each other up as you already are doing"-----

1 Thessalonians 5:11

In this world today there is much more criticism than encouragment. Whether it be at home, at school, or at work, we find fault instead of good. I hope that each of you will think this verse through and repeat it several times. Make it your goal to tell the ones around you the good things they do and not harp on the bad. In the end you will be happier and the person you commended might pass it on and hey--your little good deed could lead to a chain of events that could go all around the world. Wouldn't that be neat??? That is our "Time Out" for this Thursday. I hope to hear good things in the future from this!! Gotta go, little buddie should be in from school soon, and we gotta get homework done, rested and hydrated for football practice late this afternoon. Take care. Be healthy, happy, safe. Hug those you love, and may GOD bless ya'll!!!!!

New Crosses

Just a quick post. On my way to finish getting stuff for babies nursery with daughter. I will be back later with whether the trip was successful or not. Particularly looking for fabric for curtains and a rug. These are a new style of painting I did this week. I need some feed back as to whether it is a like or dislike. Found the camera on the floor board of my car. Simon went and crawled around for me and there it was. Thank goodness, I was really not in the mood to buy a new camera. Ya'll have a great day!! Be safe, happy, healthy. Hug your loved ones. Pray for our soldiers and their families. God bless ya'll!!

Two for One

These are two pieces I made that can be used as one or each individually. At home, the platter sits on my dining room table with candles in it and the bowl is on a side table, but I have used just the platter before for sandwiches at parties or both for a chip and dip. The walls in my living/dining room and kitchen are mustard colored and this pottery has a slight bronze tone in it with a plash of light yellow/mustard mixed over the brown.


Just had a quick rain shower here and I had to go out and put our dogs in the shed. They are the biggest babies. They were crying at the back door, but I got out there too late to keep them from being muddy, so I opened my workshed and they all jumped in. I have been painting a little this morning. I have a few new cross patterns I am doing. I will post later when I FIND my camera!! I took it to the shower the other day and have not seen it since. I really don't think I ever got out of the house with it. I have looked through all the bags I took and I hope it did not fall out when moving things to and from the car. Carre and Andrew's wedding pics are up and they are great. We are ordering this weekend and I hope to have some to post soon.


Thursday Time Out:
This is the time to sit back, relax and smile. Deep breath in and blow out slowly. Now, roll your neck, lift your arms up, stretch, and bring down slowly. Don't forget that breathing!! Stress will KILL you!! Please, take time everyday to think about this and find something that will help you relax. Today's scripture is a one for times of upheaval....


" Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
This I declare on the Lord: He is alone my refuge, my place of safety; He is my God
and I am trusting of Him."------------Psalm 91:1-2


It's time for me to go. Be safe, healthy, happy. Hug those you love, they are precious. See ya later!! May God bless ya'll!!!!

Onsies

Good Morning! Hope all is well, and that you are having a blessed week!! I have almost finished cleaning out the extra bedroom. Need to get in the closet. I have decided to paint the room, but that will be in a few weeks. I already have to many plans for the next few weekends. Dawn (my best friend for life) is going to help me, but her schedule is as crazy as mine. Today is hump day and that means it is down hill for me. Tomorrow is my day off, then a quick Friday work day and WEEKEND!!!!! I am going to Jackson ( abouth 1 1/2 hours from here) with my daughter Saturday to pick up some final things for the babies nursery. I am particularly looking for some material to make some curtains. The bedding came in and it is so cute. It is custom made and the colors are black, white, fuschia, medium pink and green. Really good looking. I am making the curtains in black and white polka dot if I can find the right material. When she finishes it, I will post a pic. I wish I had a camera right now--my youngest cat, Eustus, just came in here fussing and he would not be quiet. This cat usually is the quiet one. I followed him all over the house to see what was wrong and found nothing. When I sat back down at computer, he came back and started all over again. Finally he crawled up in my lap, layed down across my arms and started purring louder than I have ever heard him. You should see me typing and the cat over my arms!!

The onsies above are something I made for grandbaby. I was just playing the other day, and started painting them. I think they turned out cute. I had planned to put ruffles and ribbon on them originally, but it was too much trouble for a 0-3 month size. I will do that on larger sizes. I am going to finish some burp pads and bibs tomorrow. I will post when I am done. I have done the machine work and turned them. I just need to finish the handwork and embellishments. Gotta go get ready for work. Take care of yourself. Be happy, healthy, safe. Hug your loved ones. Don't forget to laugh and smile!! Pray for our soldiers, and most importantly GOD bless ya'll!!!!!!!!!!

Pottery

Changed my craft pics today. Thought I would have a few days of my pottery. This is a platter I made myself quite sometime ago. If you look hard you will see a chip on the bottom right corner. Child, husband, or animal??? Never could get anyone to own up to that!!! I roll my clay out with a rolling pin or use the slab roller at the co-op. I hand mold, occasionally I drape over something, but mostly I create the size and shape myself. I do not throw on the wheel because I never had enough time to clean it up afterwards. I love this platter and have given many as gifts and sold lots also. I have not done as much pottery lately, but since job changed, I have made 4 pieces. I just need to go and fire them.


Quiet day here. We are running short days this week because my doctor is a farmer also and it is harvest time for some of his crops. We are running 3/4 days instead of full days, but today was like a half day. I got off, came home and started cleaning. The weekend was so busy, my house shows that it was neglected. I have set up the old computer in Simon's room, but having trouble with the internet connection. Andrew coming later to see what I did wrong. Working on the spare bedroom now, but had to take a break. This room is full of toys and I am throwing away broken ones, packing up ones I want to keep for grandbabies and putting in attic, and anthing else is going to this mission that my friend Dawn's mom helps with. I was talking about the old toys and getting rid of them and Gran (Dawn's mom) said let me have them, the missions needs toys right now, so that is todays project. When I get the toys out, I am putting my sewing stuff in there so I will not have to be moving things around. Time to go back to work on the room. Ya'll take care---be safe, happy, healthy--Hug your loved ones--smile til your face hurts and laugh hard--God bless ya'll!!!

Busy Sunday

Today was not a day of rest at all. Got up early this a.m. and made the icing for the cupcakes I made yesterday and homemade pimento and cheese for additional sandwiches for the shower. Got dressed and went to Sunday School. Came home and started icing the cupcakes, made lunch, and started painting a cross. While cross drying, I made the pimento and cheese sandwiches and cut them into thirds. Then decided I did not have a tray for the sandwiches, so I went to Walmart. Back home and heated up the poboys I made yesterday. Andrew called ( son-in-law) and his parents were coming down to help him paint the nursery and we needed to get the desk out and move it here. Ok, after that it was get back dressed for the shower, load the car with the trays of food and all the plates, napkins,etc.--real strange, but when I came out to load the car, there was not a soul at my house. Everyone had disappeared, so add an additional 15 minutes to my already tight schedule for me to load the car. Carre-daughter- calls and says I am off work early, we can ride together. Great. When I get to her house she says I told 2 friends we would pick them up. Ok again, add 15 minutes to already tight schedule. All's well that ends well--got to shower 30 minutes later than I expected, but 30 minutes ahead of the first guest. The event was wonderful. The little girl got a lot of nice gifts, and the girls and us moms, had a lot of wonderful conversation and laughter. This was a kitchen shower we gave for Carre's friend who is getting married next month.

The card above is all Close to my Heart--paper, cardstock, stamps, brads--the only thing not CTMH are the flower brads. These came from Picture Perfect Scrapbook Co. I love the color combinations in this card, and the saying is one of my favorites. I used layering and faux stitching techniques.

Simon and his friends have found them a little fishing hole. It is down the street from one of his buddies house, so they all ride their bikes and head to the lake. It is a little cutoff area that has been dug out and it feeds off the river. They are fishing with dog food. It is really cute seeing them with poles, tackle boxes, backpacks, water jugs heading down the street on their bikes. We live pretty far away, so we have to take his bike to the buddies house and he starts from there. If he has a buddie to ride with, we let them ride from our house, but if by himself we take him and the bike to meet the crew. They caught 2 brim and 2 catfish yesterday and 5 brim today. The cute thing today is that they saw some big catfish come up to feed and if one of those little boys gets a hold of one of those, I hope I am near to watch. It's gonna be great!! After all was done today, I took some of the pimento and cheese to my best friend (it is one of her favorites) and visited with her. It was restful and quiet until her 10 month old twin grandbabies came home from visiting some friends with their mom. Quiet changed to wild in a hurry. They are so cute. One is crawlilng and the other is rocking but not moving and he fusses. I told him today that he was going to have to get with the program. Enjoyed visiting with ya'll today, but my bed is calling my name. Take care. Be safe, healthy, happy. Smile lots, laugh often. Please hug the ones you love every chance you get. Our community lost 2 young men last evening--one to diabetes, very unexpected and sudden, and the other to inner demons--he took his own life. One was 25 and the other 19. Pray for these famiies--the Jones and Aldridge families--I know you don't know them, but please ask God to lift these families up in His arms, comfort them and ease their pain. Pray for our soldiers and in closing GOD bless ya'll. Good nite!!!

Good Sandwiches!!

Good morning!! It is a beautiful day here, but already 91 degrees. Jack and Simon have gone to a scrimmage football game for the older boys on the pee wee team. I finished Doss painted camo cross ( or as camo as it is gonna be) It is like the real abstract one I have already posted, but 16 x 20. He is working on his farm this morning. Carre woke me up this morning with a frantic phone call to see if I had an extra set of keys to her car. She is taking her ACLS certification this weekend, and could not find her keys. I did and sent Simon over there with them, but by the time he got there Andrew had found them. I had a wonderful conversation this morning with 2 of my best friends. Just discussing life in general and sipping coffee. We may cook out tonight with one of our friend couples, but it depends on if I get through with all I have to do. Carre and I are giving a kitchen shower tomorrow for her friend that is getting married in September. I need to go to the grocery in a little while and start cooking for it. I make these great sandwiches and all her buddies love them, so that is some of what I am making. I will post the recipe at the end of this post.

The card above is one I made a while back. The cardstock is Bazzill, and the background paper is from K & Co. The image is "Sweetybellas" and the saying is from Studio G. The eyelets are Garden Green from Close to My Heart. I used the technique of paper piecing for most of the card and some layering. The only coloring that was done was with CTMH markers--garden green, cranberry, and flesh. The buttons are from SEI--Winnie's Wall collection. The fibers are scraps I had in my fiber drawer.

The sandwiches are po-boy sandwiches. You can use ham, turkey, roast beef or whatever you want. You need a loaf of garlic bread. I use Pepperidge Farm. Cook according to directions on the package. Then put your condiments on while bread is still warm. This will soak in the bread and make it moister. I put a pound of shredded meat on each sandwich. After I finish putting the sandwich together, I slice it into small sandwiches, about 3/4 to 1 inch thick. Place the small sandwiches back like a loaf and wrap in foil. Place in oven on 200 degrees and heat throughly. These can be made ahead of time and heated up when needed. They are really good.

Gotta get off this computer and get started on my days activity. Take care. Be healthy, happy, safe and smile!! Hug those you love, and God bless ya'll!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bag Tag

This was our first full day of school and all went well. I have had a baby sitter with Simon since he was 5 1/2 weeks old but this year he is soloing. We kinda of gave it a trial run last year at the end of school, but she was always on standby if needed. This year he wants to do it on is own and I think he can. He turned 11 in June, and his brother, sister, and grandad all live within 2 blocks of us. He is a great kid and very mature, so I know he will be ok. So with school starting, comes backpacks and how better to keep up with yours than to have your very own personalized bag tag. This one was done for a friend of mine who's little girl is starting kindergarten. Didn't it turn out cute? Easily done---get a badge holder from Wally World (aka Walmart), cardstock, scrapbook background paper, ribbon, brads or eyelets (optional), little girl rubber stamp, and a hole punch. Now cut the cardstock to fit in the slide pocket. Take out and decorate. I stamped the little girl. Then I paper pieced the clothes on and colored the hair and skin tones. Next I used eyelets to put the little girl on the background paper. Next I did the same thing on the other side, but put her initials I cut out with my Sizzix. I stuck the two cardstock pieces together. You need to make sure this is not to thick and will fit snuggly, but not bulky in the badge holder. Punch holes in the side of the holder and drape and tie ribbon. Last thing to do is attach the plastic things that come with the badge holders and if it to bulky, use a long piece of ribbon instead to attach to her backpack. The first one of these I made was for my daughter's back pack when she went to college. She still has it.

I had a quiet day off. Carre's doctor's appointment went good. We then went down town and registered her everyday and china patterns. We ate lunch at the bookstore, bought a shower gift for this weekend, and had a great day!! Simon had a good day at school. He had pee wee football practice today and got sick while practicing. He has not felt well the past 2-3 days. He said he sat out for 20 minutes and then went back in and did ok. The coaches said they thought he was not going to come back in and play, but he put his pads back on and went in. I think with some rest this weekend he will be ok. No more football for this week. All the rest of family are fine. Time for me to go. Hope to talk back soon. As always--be safe, happy, healthy. Smile. Hug your loved ones. Pray for our soldiers and God bless ya'll!!!

Great Blogpost

Just a quick post this morning. While sipping my coffee this morning and blog hopping I found this great blog http://somedaycrafts.blogspot.com/ She finds wonderful DIY projects that people have posted on their blog and highlights them on hers. Really neat!! Go see . It is well worth the visit!! Have a blessed day and I will see ya'll later this evening.


Thursday Time Out
Stop, take a deep breath, blow out slowly. Life is to hectic and fast. Slow down, stop and smell the roses. Laugh. Sing. Thank God everyday that He has given you another day to love.
"Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you".......James 4:8

Birth Annoucement

Ok, last painting for a while. Tomorrow will be a new project. This is a birth annoucement I did for a friend at work. The nursery is done is purple and green. The only thing missing is the name, but I do not letter good, so I had her write the name. It really is a lot cuter than this pictue makes it look. The large canvas is 11x14 and the drop downs are 8x10 with a 5x7 on top of it. These are fun to do . I am setting up an Etsy shop and you can get one from there is you would like to have one. I really need a couple of weeks notice to make, receive payment, and ship. Any of my paints are for sale. If you are interested, just email me directly at

turn0536@bellsouth.net I can do custom orders with the colors you like. I will put a link to the Etsy shop when it is up and going.

Pep rally this morning was just as I suspected--traffic was terrible, parking was worse, dew on the bleachers and I wore white pants, dew on the fresh cut grass, and we were in the room 15 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We did get the teacher we wanted though and I guess it was all worth it. Simon thought it was great!! Spending the majority of tomorrow with daughter, Carre. Doctor appointment in morning and then downtown to register her everyday and china patterns. Next stop, the printer to pick out annoucements and thank you cards . Need to drop off some green pottery pieces to be fired and have to go to a little gift shop and register some items. I hope I get home in time to play in my craft room. Really got some neat projects in my head. Hubby left this morning for a few days work in New Orleans, so it is only my and little buddie here. He has already gone to bed and I really should be heading that way myself. Ya'll take care, be happy, be safe, be healthy. Always hug the ones you love. Don't forget that smile!! God bless ya'll!!!

This is my second cross I painted for myself. I am working on another and will place them on either side of the big one I posted last night. This one is 11x14 and is also hunter green and chocolate brwon with cream and tan throughout. I think I like this one the best. Love all the abstract in it. My oldest son asked me to do one for his house for his birthday and he wanted it done in camoflauge. I told him I did not think that was possible, but I believe he will get one like this but 16 x 20.

We have our meet and greet your new teacher tomorrow morning at 7:30. Wow, I really wish they would have done this tonight. We will only be there about 1 hour. I don't know who's idea this was, but I believe they had a memory lapse when they thought up this one. Anyway, we will be there with bells on!!! I am looking forward to this year. Simon will be in 5th grade and this will be his first year to have a homeroom teacher and to switch classes throughout the day. I remember when I first did this. Man, I thought I was so big!! We also had our first summer reading this past summer. That went good, so I hope it is an omen to what kind of year we will have. School has never been a problem with any of my children, and I am very blessed that it has been this way. Simon won the Math award for the 4th grade last year, and he is wanting to keep up the tradition this year. He is a very good student--doesn't write to well, but what man does--but he sure can add!!

Today was a nice day. We had a long hard day at work, but that just leads to a good night sleep. I brought home Chinese take out and we are all stuffed. All big kids are doing fine. All animals are doing fine--I believe I have failed to mention them: 3 dogs--Rambo, Sweetie, and Gracie, lab, mix and beagle order corresponds to name; 2 cats--Black/white stray we have had for 17 years named Buckwheat (Bucky for short) and long haired grey, black, white, and some orange stray we have had for about 6 years named Eustus. Both of these were brought home by my daughter from spend the night parties over the years. They are great cats and get along well. Time for me to close my eyes. We have about 80 patients to see tomorrow. Be safe, healthy, happy and sweet. Don't forget to smile! Hug the ones you love, and most of all GOD bless our nation and GOD bless ya'll!!!!!!

New Blog!!

Hey ya'll!! I am not new to blogging, but I am new to this sight. I have been trying to run 2-3 blogs with different crafts for quite some time, and I have not been very successful. I finally got so tired of flopping back and forth, that I quit blogging for a long time. I really have missed connecting with friends, so I combined all my blogs into one and here I am. This will be a craft blog with life happenings and life moments along the way. I appreciate all who have followed me before and I want ya'll to know I am back!! I will have different projects I am working on shown along the way, as well as family happenings and photos.

The picture above is a painting I finished this weekend. It is for my dining room. I plan on making a collage of paintings with crosses and angels. This is on a 16x20 stretch canvas. The colors are hunter green and chocolate brown. I painted all weekend. Stayed in my pj's all day Saturday. I finished wedding gifts and baby gifts I had been working on. I made my first cross painting some time ago, and I cannot keep them--someone either buys them or gets them as a gift. Today I got 2 orders for these. One in burgundy and gold for a church and the other in chocolate and blue for a co-worker. I hope to have them finished by next week. I love crosses in any shape or form. You will see a lot of these in my postings.

Family is great!! My first grandbaby is due to arrive in October and I am exstatic! It is a baby girl according to the U/S's. Mom and little one seem to be doing fine. I got a new son in law this weekend. My daughter and the love of her life finally tied the knot. Ran off to Gatlinburg and called us when it was over. I kind of suspected that was what they were doing even though they looked me straight in the face and said they were not before they left. She called me on the phone Friday afternoon and said, "Mom, we got married, but don't worry. We hired a photographer and a real preacher. We had pictures and prayers just for you!!" They had planned this out to the tee. I will post pics when I get them. Oldest son is having a birthday today. He is 24! He got a large dorm refrig and a microwave from me. He has is own house down the street but would not buy himself a refigerator--been waiting on a friend who works at the Sears store here to hook im up with a "deal". I told him eating out everyday is not healthy and he could use this until he found what he was looking for. He has the sweetest girfriend and she gave him a grill, so he should be fixed up. I figure this will make him get that refrig soon. He has been in his house about 2 months. Little brother is wonderful. Started pee wee football and this may be his calling. He has really turned into a jock!! He starts school on Thursday and his first real game is September 1st. He got measured for his suit today. I cannot wait until he gets in to see how things went at practice.

I am very fortunate in life. My father is still living and lives 2 streets over from us. I have 3 great kids-one at home and the older two have good jobs and live on their own--all in the same neighborhood as I. I have been married for 12 years to a good man. God has given me many blessings and I see many more to come. He has given me a wonderful talent that I have suppressed all these years due to working fulltime, but that is changing. I have slowed down considerably with my work. I am a nurse and have been one for 30 years-22 of those being an operating room nurse. I have recently changed jobs and have gone to work for an orthopedic surgeon I have known and worked with over the last 8 years at the hospital. I go to surgery 2 days a week with him and work the clinic 2 days a week. NO MORE CALL!!! It is great. I am off one day a week and that is my crafting time usually. I plan to keep this blog loaded with crafts and projects. I hope ya'll forgive me for rambling tonight. I feel like I have renewed old friendships. I wish for all a safe, healthy, happy tomorrow. Please pray for our soldiers. Take care and God bless ya'll!!!