Here is just another side of my life...my garden. Well, I share it with my husband and cats, but I love it. My grape arbor was built as a gift and is a very peaceful sitting place. I can view all the garden from there and with the grape vines going crazy, it is very cool in the hot summer heat. One of my other favorites is my basil goat! I tried growing flowers in him, but he likes the basil better. And there's tomatoes, corn, carrots, morning glories, zucchini...and lots of other small plantings of veggies not shown here. Maybe someday we'll plow a little more turf and make a more 'proper' garden. For now, this will be just fine! Hubby used his expertise and got our little cherub fountain to work again, too; the birds love the fresh water!

Okay...now I'm trying the glass marbles for charms. These are 3/4", but I received from my dear friend and co-member Dove, larger marbles I can't find in my area...hot dog! Small ones are fun, but need to practice on larger ones with a different glue. My 'will stick to everything' glue is a little testy :oP, so time to try what has been recommended (Mod Podge). Also, the group is doing altered tins YIPPEEEEE! I've got some great work ahead of me to do, so I'd better hop to. Later today I hope to take pics of my back yard garden and post them here. My hubby has planted a gift for me...an Angel Wings cactus that is in a dark charcoal blue pot! Although he put a few treasures in it, I am going to add more...a pic will show up later!

Remember..."No one is in charge of your happiness except YOU!" Happy creating!

Another Monday Hobnob ATC...Yin and Yang is the theme. I used a new trick on my camera where I swapped colors. The Buddha is really white, then I swapped it to black. Looks much cooler in real life than in the picture.

I need to work on my photographic skills. This is the first ATC for our new Monday Hobnob weekly ATC game, for lack of better term. Anyway, the actual ATC looks way better in real life, in hand, than in this photo. The theme this week is "Sparkle" and the winner hosts the next week.

So many of my fellow artists have been creating beautiful works of art, including Robin, Dove and Val...lots of great inspiration. So, I'd better get moving and explore. Happy April!

Well, I have egg on my face for not keeping my promise to myself. So, here is one of the eggs I did for an Easter/Spring Egg swap, and 2 mini-boxes for another swap. The boxes have a new technique where I took glass slides, layered small cutouts between the glass and used aluminum tape as "solder". These were my first tries and I'm pretty happy with them. I also added buttons on the bottom for little feet. The insides are painted with a small picture glued to the bottom. The egg is a cardboard one from the craft store - gessoed, painted and glued all over with shells and pearl beads...very fun to do. Now I need to get off my rear and make some samples of new ideas...explore what is hiding in "OZ" and stretch my imagination!

Well, Happy Friday the 13th! Again I am remiss in adding to my blog. This time I have good reason. I have been asked to help moderate our Altered Arts of Visions and Dreams group along with Dove. I am so honored and happy to be helping out and it is really putting me to the test of my artistic ability! My thinking cap is on and tuned in to everything around me...I am constantly looking for new ideas and ways to tweek the old ones. I also have been busy typing up my mother's recipe for our family recipe blog. I've quite a few more to do, then they get sent off to my nephew to upload to the site. This is a wonderful way to share the delicious recipes my mom, and actually all the wonderful cooks in my family, have used and created with each other and anyone else who visits the blog. I try to add a little 'history' when I can; it is amazing how simply reading recipes or notes can stir wonderful memories of 'mom over the stove' and her little special ways of doing things. Okay, back to the drawing board! Have a wonderful safe weekend!

Well, here is the finished product...nine glue cards that went ala Round Robin style through the group. I am very happy with them and am currently looking for a way to put them in a book without gluing or punching holes...this will take some imagination, but I'm sure I'll find a way. Actually, they would be nice in a frame - I'll just have to think about that one.