WOYWW

Hello everyone, and welcome to another WOYWW.  Click the link to find out what I am talking about.

This will be really short today, I am sick and on antibiotics, while my 2 boys have a bad stomach flu going on.  Not a great time to blog. But I missed last week because of Thanksgiving and I didn't want to miss another.  The way I see it, I will just be lying around resting, as will the boys, so I might as well catch up on some blogging.

My work desk is just piled with stuff.  Too much to even explain.  My badge is on the top of the pile.

Have a great day everyone, and enjoy the party.......

FAT BOOK PAGE FOR ALTERED ARTS MAGAZINE

I have a fat book page to share with you today for Altered Arts Magazine.  I love making these, and I have been trying to make one a month since July.  Unfortunately, this is only my third.  I missed September and October.  Oh, well!  I get to get messy and catch up!!

I used many varieties of ink for this page. Ranger distress stain, distress ink, Dylusions spray ink, Sharpie markers and Archival ink.  I used stencils and stamps and doodling too.  I usually do a lot of collage work with papers and ephemera, but wanted to just get inky with this one.  Then, at the end, I had to put 2 pieces of book paper on it!!  And Tim Holtz Chit Chat stickers to speak for me.

Thanks for looking!!  And please come visit us on Facebook HERE.  Have a great weekend!!

WOYWW 180

Hello all!!  Welcome to another WOYWW!!!  If you want to know what I'm talking about, click the link and visit our hostess, the awesome, Julia. 

I have been saving change since last November for Christmas.  I put it in my Hello Kitty bank.  It makes a fun noise when you put coins in it!!  

I separated all the change on my work desk, and I found a $10 bill in there too!  I didn't put it there, and no one in my family did either, so they say.  I think Hello Kitty needed change and traded me for the bill.  However it got there is fine with me.

I was so excited, I was sure there was a lot of money.  In the end, including the $10, I only have $64.  For a whole year of saving?  UGH.  I understand it's better than nothing, but a whole year of change collecting and there is only $64 (really $54 in change)?

Lucky for the kids, it wasn't the only money I saved for Christmas! LOL!

I hope your saving efforts turn out better than mine!!!

Now go see the other wonderful desks at the party!  

GRATITUDE

Since I've been back online, I have seen a bunch of blogs making Gratitude Books.  From what I hear, November is ''Gratitude'' month.  I know this is the month of Thanksgiving, and on that day we give thanks, but I didn't know it was a whole month of gratitude.  

But it makes sense.  Why only one day of thanks?  Unfortunately, I don't think we spend enough time being grateful.  With jobs, bills, families, responsibilities, who has time to be thankful?  Some of us go to religious services every week, and we give thanks, but it is only one day.  I am guilty of being ungrateful.  I admit it.  After seeing so many people and so many blogs talk of this Gratitude project I knew I had to do this too.  I used to keep a positivity journal, but dropped the habit lately.  Time to get on the thankful, positive train I think!!!!

I've had this little album book for years.  I think I bought it at a convention years ago.

I had to fold and make more pages for it.  As you know, mono-printing has been my new favorite thing.  So, while I did the backs of the pages I made the other day, I added some paint from my credit card to these pages.  And stamps, and everything I could think of!!

These are the pages that came inside the book.  I did the same treatment to these pages, and I then glued the new pages to it.

This is today's page.  My super awesome son's brought me home perfect report cards!  I am very grateful, and very proud!!

This is yesterday's page.  I was grateful that my husband came home really early, and took me to lunch.  He works too much and I miss him!!

I intend to keep going, and even do the first 7 days.  I have written things down that I am thankful for for 5 of the days.  I have to REALLY think about the other 2.  I can't remember what was special on those days!  Of course there are the usual, my family, my life, my faith, but I am trying to go with that one special thing in each day that sets it apart from the "normal".  I will be showing the other pages in this book as I go along.  I hope you will join me in keeping track of your grateful things this month!!!

Last, but not least, I am grateful to Altered Arts Magazine for giving me a chance years ago when I was trying to get published.  They have enjoyed my work for years, and I a truly grateful for that.  Now, I get to work for Altered Arts Magazine!  I am truly grateful for that too!  And I made these 3 ATC's for them.  I used papers and embellishments from Pink Paislee, a Prima flower and pearl embellishment, and game pieces and ephemera bits from my own stash.

Thanks for bearing with me through this long post.  I hope you remember all you are grateful for!!!

WOYWW 179

Hello and welcome to another WOYWW.  The party where we get to peek at other people's work spaces.  I love to peek!!

First, thank you so much again for your lovely messages, emails and comments worrying about us during this hurricane.  It has been a difficult time, and many are still suffering, but we are getting back to ''normal''.

While we had no power, I had time to clean up my studio!!   I finished my pumpkin, and thank you for all of your ideas and comments.  I think the most mentioned thing in the comments was that it was very vertical, and needed something on the sides.  using natural things was suggested, but since we were in a hurricane, and now we are supposed to get snow tomorrow (ugh), I went with ribbon.

I also removed some of the leaves from the top, and showed off more of the flowers and beads.  I also added ribbon to the top.  I am putting it on the table tomorrow.  End of story.  I've spent far more time on this pumpkin than I wanted to, so it is finished!!  I hope you think it looks better!

when I was at that convention this summer, I saw this little Christmas flower kit for 50 cents.  I will buy anything for 50 cents.  so I started making them today.  this is what is on my desk, along with my badge!!

Have fun peeking!

THANK YOU!!

I just have to say a HUGE thank you to everyone for your beautiful emails and blog comments.  It means so much to me to have so many people thinking of and praying for me and my family.  My heart just swells with gratitude!!

I am so thankful that we made it through this with our health and our home still intact.  So many are still suffering and my thoughts are with them.

We are pretty much back to "normal".  With the exception of my precarious tree.  Time will tell with that.  

You are the best blog friends a girl could ever have!!!

I've received so many emails and blog posts that it will take me a while before I can get to all of you, but know I thank you so much!

HURRICANE

I just wanted to write and tell you that we survived the hurricane.  It has been quite an experience. We only got power earlier today, we lost it Monday afternoon.  No heat, our food went bad, no hot water.  2 boys home from school for a week.  1 husband trying to get to work, yet be here for us.  A tree split in half vertically in our back yard, and we are worried that the piece that is left is going to come down too.  If that happens, it will destroy our shed, and our deck, and possibly our house.  We are waiting for the insurance person to come next week.  Our food went bad so we lost that, and we had lunch meat and milk out on the porch, because it was as cold as the fridge!

Even our grocery store had no power.  

But, we survived!  And we are very grateful!!  It could have been so much worse.  So many have lost so much.  We went to a different grocery store today and almost couldn't get there.  so many power lines are down, and trees are in the streets.  There is a shortage on gas, and many stations are closed because they have no gas.  We can only get gas on certain days, depending on your license plate number.  It is shocking to see.  And sad.

So much to be grateful for.  It is times like these that show us how strong we are, and how lucky.  My thoughts and prayers are with all of the people who are still suffering.  May they get some peace soon.

Thank you all for your wonderful emails and stuff.  I am so grateful that you thought of us.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart.  You have no idea how much you mean to me!