A LOVE POSTCARD ....

 The shelves I  used are from THE ROUND TOP COLLECTION .... you can order them from The Apothecary in Round Top,  they are part of Jeff's garden collection....they fold flat and are goodlooking....I have them in my wash room as well.

 Here you can see the grand children's lockers all eight .... this is their room too!!

Wow, two posts in one month.... I hope that is a sign that things are getting back to normal after moving.  This is just a fun piece of torn paper, tissue paper with hearts, a "love" stamp from my friend Jenny's card, I also had torn away the lipstick kiss she had on the back of the card, but I lost the lips!! I thought they would have been a fun addition, so you'll have to add your own!!  Then cut out zinnia from my art, written words on tissue, blue dots from inside of an envelope etc.  All done on 8x8 gessoed cereal box cardboard.  Love that stuff!!  I also was unpacking and stacking my art supplies onto my new shelves and into the drawers I have saved for years from my Dad's garage!! Thanks Dad for your slight hoarding .... I have inherited it!!! The stuff AND the slight hoarding!! I love my loft room and this wall is under the loft by my table, or one of the tables.... Happy Valentine's Day and enjoy!!! BLESSINGS today in red!!!

AT HOME .....

The picture above was the beginning to which I began to find the story within....which is on top.

AT HOME.......Words that have become paramount in this season of my (our ) life!  Words that were given to my heart and mind as I prayed for direction with our downsizing move.  The year and a half we have taken to clean and glean the STUFF in our lives, the stuff we have gathered through the years of living..... precious memories, hard memories, things from loved ones gone, too much furniture, too many antiques, way too many frames for art, and way too much fabric and art.  We were excited about our new adventure and the momentum was energizing ..... and we were on a roll moving forward and never looking back.  But we were getting tired ..... really tired, really really tired!  And then began to look at the past years and all the hard work lovingly building the house of our dreams ..... and the yard of our dreams with fabulous porches .... all 2.5+ acres of it!!  Hosting people in our B and B and welcoming new people into my shop each week.  And then I got a little confused (slightly depressed maybe) thinking .... WHY HAVE WE SPENT THE LAST FOURTEEN YEARS BUILDING SOMETHING SO BEAUTIFUL TO ONLY HAVE THE DESIRE TO LEAVE IT!!??  And then thinking ....  WILL YOU BE AT HOME IN LAGRANGE IN THE SMALLER HOUSE OR IN THAT TOWN?  I asked people to pray for me, as I was also not feeling well at that time, and just really really tired, mentally and emotionally!!  I know they were praying because I would awaken in the middle of the night from sleep with profound thoughts ..... like questions from God ..... "Where IS Home?"  .....  "Do you really want to feel At Home?"   "To be at peace in your home?"  "You created a beautiful place, ... but it became difficult to enjoy because of so much work...."  "Do you need all that you had?"  "Can you let go of special things?....because you can't take it "Home" with you....." ....wow, you mean to Heaven?, I thought.  Yes, that is the real HOME, when we get there, but what about before we get there? .... then I had a visual ..... of ME BEING THE HOME WHERE HE LIVES IN ME! .... like a house!!!  So as I wrote and listened and prayed and gave thanks too..... I finally realized, ..... That I need to work on the place where He DWELLS..... and that is inside my soul.  I need to have HIM there so comfortable that He is AT HOME THERE... in my soul...  OK, A couch potato on the couch of my soul..... Wow, where did that thought come from!!?? Ha, but really, HOW COMFORTABLE is He or are you with HIM REALLY DWELLING INSIDE (Your) MY SOUL.....not just on Sunday, but every minute of the day....  Oooo now that's what I am talking about!!!  Yes!!! When He dwells in me, I am AT HOME WHERE EVER I LIVE!!!  EVEN UP ON A LEAF ON A STEM OF A GIANT FLOWER!! Climbing that little ladder..... That is where this art piece comes in.... I did the MYSTELE (you'll find her by clicking on STUDIO THRIVE/MYSTELE to the left in my list of favorites.) style of  collaging, doodling, writing, paint dripping, smearing and playing for the picture/story to appear in it .... had to come from my soul, ... what has been in my thoughts for several weeks!!! So enjoy!!!  He DOES HEAR YOUR PRAYERS AND THOUGHTS .... AND HE ANSWERS.  You have to be still (or even asleep) and listen.  We are finally getting closer to being completely moved and THIS WEEK I got ALL MY ART SUPPLIES  on shelves!!! That also feels "AT HOME" for me.  I am thinking AT HOME is actually doing something you love with Him living in your heart and getting to do it with you!!! .... or He is doing it "through" you because He lives inside!!!  So many empowering thoughts that have warmed and comforted my heart!!! We look forward to the resting with AT HOME in us ....!  BLESSINGS!!!  I am adding what we read today in Sunday School!!! PERFECT for this art and my thinking!! 
www.biblegateway.com 
click on the above link to go straight to the verses, or here are the references,
2 Corinthians 4:16-18
2Corinthians 5:1-9
Romans 8:22-25

CHRISTMAS EVE ..... and another Cereal Box Christmas Card

It is Christmas Eve in our smaller but warm and cozy living room lit with Christmas lights and watching Scrooge with Dick and also listening to the laughter from the children in the loft/art room playing with their new Christmas games they opened tonight.  It is truly a fit for us here on Walnut Street .... we loved our beautiful big home in Round Top but it was too much for us to care for at this point in our lives .... so it awaits a new family to be blessed by it's beauty and comfort.  We have had unexpected BLESSINGS in our new spot with four old and mature pecan trees that have produced a bumper crop this year!!!!  We have gathered pecans for weeks now giving plenty to family and friends.  Two extra large plastic tubs full went to families we know in Mexico where pecans are unaffordable to most.  The Lord truly provides!!! Dick's desire for years was for the pecan trees to mature where we used to live .... and he waited and watched as the squirrels got the few pecans they began putting on after 12 years ..... so to have these four trees mature and big with more than enough for us and the squirrels has been a gift for Dick!!!  
I just wanted to share my third Christmas card design and wish you all a very Merry and Blessed Christmas!!  My art studio is coming along and the art supplies are making their way to my tables..... so I am anxious to start the art and creating again!!  I have my sewing area set up and sewed up a storm for the grand girls for their dolls for Christmas.  I have been making doll clothes ever since I was nine...... about 57 years to be exact!!  I will post what I have in photos of them plus my card for the year.  The grand children were in the Christmas programs as an angel, a shepherd and as Mary ....the tradition of worshiping Our Savior goes on..... this verse came on a friends newsletter and I just wanted to share it to bless you!!  "...He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.  Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."  Philippians 2:6-8

YOU SHOULD SEE HER ROOM !!

Yes, you should see her Sunday School Room.  All around the floor the 3rd and 4th graders have built the scenes of David's life happenings in I Samuel.  All David's men (Ken Dolls) are set up with Saul's Palace, a Tabernacle, the giants at Gath, David's Family at Bethlehem and last week they built the caves in the wilderness because David is on the run!  Candy, the best teacher ever, emailed me and said,  "This Sunday I need to bring the girl dolls (Barbies) and some material for the children to fix and dress them up for the scene, but I have no under garments for the dolls!  Would that be a big project if I asked if you could COVER THESE NAKED BARBIES?"  That was a first for me ... I have sewn doll clothes for years, but asked to make at least a dozen under garments to cover the naked Barbies so they could be fitted and dressed up in Sunday School for the scene was indeed an important task.  Actually I got excited about it going to the local fabric store for the perfect slightly stretchy, non- raveling garment material in white ..... and I found what I needed.  Then I made a pattern looking at shorts and top designs and came up with a simple short type of pantaloons,  appropriate under garments!  I forgot to take a picture, but I drew one and added color to the fabric in the drawing of the under garments to create interest ..... even tho the actual under garments were all white.  This was a ministry first for me and as I sewed the tiny garments I thought of the action in that Sunday School class and what a fabulous way to learn the stories that happened in Scripture!  The whole time I was  wishing I was a 3rd or 4th grader!!!  I felt blessed to be a part of helping her teach that class!!! Blessings to you!!  I forgot to mention the middle picture .... just a drawing and color of present symbols in my life , an excersize for a small class, it has the sun shining on me and the blessings of children at the bottom, a paint brush which I love to do, a bird, love birds in my yard, Fall leaves, my new yellow house with columns out front and God at the center and over it all on the weather vane.  I should have had Dick flying an airplane above as that is where he was ! Enjoy..... my art supplies are still packed in storage and these are just pencil drawings with watercolor pencils..... simple but satisfying!!

ART EVERYDAY JOURNALING ... for one year!!

 New Beginnings ....

 Flower and caladium from back porch...

Ball point ink doodle and two real feathers with two painted feathers....below.

 Tree... "Getting Older" ...... and fun with color pencils below...

 A cherished place to rest my back...and the LOGO for ART EVERYDAY JOURNALING.....

 Above.....missing my art supplies and closing my eyes to the mess of packing boxes!!

 My new kitchen...play with my black and white floors....

 Crazy composition of leaves, twigs, and rain drops....

 My cheap but wonderful watercolors and supplies....

My mother's old metal flower hanging lamp I am thinking of restoring for hanging above my kitchen sink....

 Drips and drops of paint then made into flowers with a pen...simple fun!

 Peacock feather with metallic watercolors....

 Forever Love stamps reproduced in watercolor....stamps are on left and right.

Warrenton memories in the Texas Trash booth with Cheryl....

 Vase of leaves and acorns done with a fine Sharpie.....

 Detail of "New Beginnings"

I have an on going new EVENT on my FACE BOOK..... called "ART EVERYDAY JOURNALING" .  You are welcome to join in if you like..... it has been fun with a few friends who aren't even artists, they thought!,  to do some doodling and sketching and writing thoughts. Some are surprised I think at how good they are and we have just had fun overall!!  It is a challenge to me mostly to do some doodling or sketching every day for one year!!  Especially since I have had my art supplies packed away for almost a year trying to get moved!! So I am doing it to get me back to some drawing and playing with my simple tools of pencil, ball point pen, and cheap water colors and some color pencils..... someone seems to post at least EVERYDAY and it has become a way to communicate with each other and have something fun to look forward to!  No telling what God is going to do with this!!  I think after a year in 2013 in September we will actually have a get together EVENT!!  Anyway, stay tuned to see...also click on my FACE BOOK to the left to go to the EVENT and join or say you are "going"....which means going everyday to see what we are up to or to post your own fun doodling!!  I will post a bunch of the doodles done so far from me..... enjoy and BLESSINGS TO YOU!!!