oh, January... you are so dreary!

Nothing goes better with you than: a warm kitten (or 4), a pot of hot apple cider and a stack of books.

Why then is it that I always find myself FLYING in January? The worst month of the entire year? and to warmer climes? Meaning travelers must carry a wide ranging wardrobe in order to be prepared for all activities?

Merry Christmas from the Farm-folk

Nothing sweeter than little burros!

Well-- except for little girls & boys!!

Vintage postcard layered with all kinds of digital findings.

Burning Desires...

“If you're bored with life, if you don't get up every morning with a burning desire to do things, you don't have enough goals.”

― Lou Holtz

I thought of this quote when seeing this scene the other morning.

Oh!! What a glorious site! And, no-- the barn wasn't on fire!

Every Day is Thanksgiving

with the approach of our national day of Thanksgiving- I realize that every day I'm thankful.

• For a Loving Father who provided in the past a Savior.
• For the Savior who was willing to make the sacrifice on my unworthy behalf.
• For the Holy Spirit who convicted me to take Him at His word and Believe that His work was enough to forgive mine.
• For a family that Believes and teaches that to others.
• For friends that Believe.
• For a Country that was founded on those principles of Belief.
• For my birthplace and home in that same country- the Land of the Free & the Brave, the land of plenty, and the land where I am free to worship Him.

I have grown to realize that where God put me is exactly where I need to be in spite of my yearnings to see and be other places. I call it being content with His provision... and Oh! What a marvelous place it is. It's not necessarily a geographic location but rather a spiritual one.

Praising God for His Blessings this morning and all month... this year... this life.

zombies? vampires? witches?

oh, little children...

why do you want to be of this world?

October Morn

Oh blessed October.

The leaves are slowly drifting onto the surface of the pond and the geese are our frequent visitors.

This crape myrtle is next to my art house and while I'm not sure if it was Mr Byron's great-grandmother that planted it- I like to imagine that it was she. During the summer it's blooms are that old fashioned lavenderish color- not my most favorite but I wouldn't trade it for the world. But when October and the season change arrives the foliage glows in the morning light.

Ah.... I do love life on the farm with partial sunrise and full sunsets.

Thank you, Lord.

October Surprise... lilly.

I love October.

Cooler mornings, pleasant afternoons.

And, surprise lilies.

According to wikipedia: Lycoris is of flowering plants in the family Amaryllidaceae and are bulb-producing perennial plants. Native to eastern and southern Asia, they were imported into North Carolina and now grow wild in North America. In English they are also called hurricane lilies or cluster amaryllis.

I used one of Kimi Klassen's textures to really make my lilly pop. and lots and lots of layers in photoshop.

Because some folks are purists... here is the original image straight out of the camera. Not so stellar since the wind was fierce- but the lilly was vibrant.

And a few of my favorites from the weekend.

Polishing off the Housework?

Today is an exceptional day.

The sun is shining.

The birds are singing.

The baby kittens are fed so they aren't singing anymore.

This morning I talked to THE TWO MOST IMPORTANT MEN in my life! My hubby and my Marine.

And, our Marine is coming home! Tonight! For a very brief stay; but HOME, nonetheless!

So... I should be cleaning and getting this house in spit-shine order.

But.. I'm not. Nope. I'm indulging for the moment.

And before you get any outlandish ideas.... no, I've not been drinking.

I've been polishing. Polishing images thank you very much!

Did a product placement photo shoot last week for a new Etsy shop to debut next month and haven't had the opportunity to go over all those images... but, they came out migh-tee-fine if you please!

and... why... Yes!! Yes, we did sample the wine while we were shooting. That day!

May have to find some more to polish off tonight when Marine One lands. Oh? And did I tell you about my Marine? Yeah... well... I'm very proud of him! But I can't spoil his surprise news and will have to post about it after he makes the official reveal himself!!

Suffice it to say.... I have lots to celebrate and am very thankful today!!

Back to polishing. Or not.

Somedays are like this....

day of yardwork

nice view out the window

out of order

Social Networking Scorecard

changes in fb have brought about such confusion and mayhem.

I'm still pinning!!

Zip me a request for an invite!

Creative Juices Flowing....

while researching for a design project and I found these words (rules) of creativity from:

John C Jay,

Executive Creative Director of Wieden + Kennedy.

He hits the nail right on the head. But... if'n one is a digital designer- then how do you step away from the computer??

But- these words needed to be on a piece somehow.

So... they are now.

And since I've gotten that outta my system- I will leave my iMac and run next door to the Art Haus with Miss Elsie and make something non-digital and messy.

got a virus? take vitamin c.

... and this is all I got. virtual & digital. but the colors alone make me happy!

Pinstripe Ode to Pinterest

Pinterest.... it has transformed my collection habits and fuels the creative spirit like nothing else I've discovered.

Amazing.

Thus... a pinstripe ode to the new site.

Now....Friends let me tell you about this cat that I once met.

Smooth talker...with an export cigarette.

I don't believe I ever saw him without a cocktail in his hand,

And no one swings as hard to the big bad voodoo band.

Now he strolls through the city like a big ol' alley cat

With his pinstripe suit and a big bad voodoo hat.

I don't believe I ever saw him without a kitten on his hand,

And no one swings as hard to the big bad voodoo band.

Hey Mr. Pinstripe Suit.

Hey Mr. Hi De Hi De Ho.

Well I know you got the answers that we all wanna know.

~Scotty Morris

Labor Unrest Day

Charles C Ebbets-

was the famed photographer that captured this famous image: "Lunchtime Atop A Skyscraper" in 1932 of several not-so-average-joes. According to wikipedia he didn't even receive credit for his work until 2003.

The photographer as a working stiff.

While most folks don't think of it as a strenuous or athletic form of employment- think about it. Those images you see in National Geographic were taken by folks willing to: leave the comfort of their homeland; brave extremes in weather and temperatures, many times climbing up precarious heights or down caves (or walking miles of extreme terrain) all the while lugging heavy equipment; dodging carnivorous beasts and braving infectious diseases. Once they finally reached the potential location of the targeted subject then their work begins. And it's not just shoot and snap and that's it. Oh no. They took gazillions of rolls of film along (that's another topic of how they protected that precious investment and makes me really appreciate digital) all the while measuring light and focusing, focusing, focusing. THEN.... get it all back to the darkroom and process it. Theirs is a lotta work. Style shoots for wedding or fashion photographers aren't quite as dangerous- but still represent a lot of work.

The working man is honored today on National Labor Day. In typical fun-sense I honor my favorite Lego-loving Marine with this.

Byron and I celebrated by preserving some homemade muscadine/scuppernong jelly. Yum.

Popping pins is addictive~

or... am I just

having Pinterest Repining.?.

uh.... yeah. I wrote yesterday about discovering Pinterest.

And... now... I'm addicted.

Ohmimercifulheavens. I may never get anything done again. Evah.

But the more I keep pinning the more I feel like some kind of dirty-sleazy pill-popping pin pusher.

I invited a couple of friends (non-pinners) to join in the fun. Now, I'm posting, they're pinning, I'm tagging, they're commenting, we're all sharing the love and then out-of-the-blue some person I never even heard of is re-pinning off my posts. Who ARE these people anyway? How did they ever find MY pins?

Is it contagious? Is it viral? Is this treatable? Where will it all end?

ohnooooo.... feeling like Alice down the hole... pushing pins into a voodoo dolly.

Yup. That's Saturday. Join me? Wontcha? Follow me on Pinterest.

$avings $avvy?

ok. so I got smart. well, or so I thought...

Realized I didn't have the wherewithal to afford purchasing all my art-glam mags (Somerset series) and began to collect the images as I perused the blogs and put them in my "idea gallery" file here on the iMac.

Now... I'm gonna have to purchase a new external hard-drive to store them. Think it would have been cheaper to have just bought the mags. All 196 of them. Then I wouldn't have to store them and print them.

Thank goodness for pinterest. It's like having an iCloud for an inspiration bank and now I need to purchase more hours in the day just so I can peruse everyone else's boards. ARGH.

in the meantime.... I've found this site for C/F vintage printables.

ahhh..... must quit saving money, saving images and start saving my time by not surfing so successfully.

B is for Bogart

B is for Bogart.

And b is for black. A fun color to work with. So many shades.

.... and I like the quote!

oh, Audrey.

I believe that happy girls

are the prettiest girls.

I believe in manicures.

I believe in overdressing.

I believe in primping

at leisure and wearing lipstick.

I believe in pink.

I believe that laughing

is the best calorie burner.

I believe in kissing--

kissing a lot.

I believe in being strong when

everything seems to be going wrong.

I believe that tomorrow is

another day and

I believe in miracles.

Audrey Hepburn

Seeking beauty....

Though we travel

the world over

to find the beautiful,

we must carry it with us

or we find it not.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Celebrate Salmagundi!

salmagundi |ˌsalməˈgəndē|

noun ( pl. -dis )

• a general mixture; a miscellaneous collection.

ORIGIN from French salmigondis, of unknown origin.