Looking in the shops at Tuscon...

Come for tea @ Antropologie..

Share your time with some "peeps"

Take time to do the dishes with such detail in the tea towel.

Art work @ The Old Town Artisans

Visit an art gallery.

It was a lovely way to spend the day, just looking and doing R&R for our next visit down there.

Travellin' to Tuscon...

The cousins...Wayne and Jim, don't they just look alike..Wayne's Mom and Jim's Dad were brother and sister.

Wayne, Jo-Ann & Jim in the desert along the way.

Sweet smelling Stocks

Art at Old Town Artisans Shop..

We had a lovely trip to Tuscon, it was a bit windy but sunny and bright. We had lunch at our favourite "El Charro Restaurant" but because of the cool wind, unable to sit on the Patio..still it was great.

Did allot of looking but no shopping, (what is wrong with this picture?) and I took a lot of photos to post in the next few days.
Jim and Wayne have already headed out to the FBR Golf Tourney in Scottsdale and Jo-Ann and I will have a day here at our house..I have lots of crafting to do, we will go for our walk and maybe if it gets warm enough, hang out at the pool.

Candle making 101...

Teacup Lights How-To

1. In a small pan set over a larger pan of simmering water, melt down old candles; clip the thermometer to the upper pot, and keep temperature at about 185 degrees. Remove old wicks with tongs.
2. Cut a piece of wicking to the cup's height plus 2 inches. Clamp one end to a wick sustainer; tie the other end around a skewer. Dip wicking and sustainer into melted wax to coat them. Remove and stick sustainer to cup's bottom.

From Martha Stewart magazine

Off to Tuscon today with Jim's cousin Wayne and his wife Joann...photos to follow!!! Cookie is looking forward to her road trip!!!

Fog in Vancouver, B.C....

Vancouver city center from Cypress Mtn.

Lions Gate bridge from Grouse Mtn.

View of the city at sunset from Grouse Mtn.

Shannon sent these these photos and I thought they looked quite wonderful as long as you were on the top of these mountains and not struggling thru this thick fag for many many days...
Good news, the fog has finally lifted and is gone!!

Austin's in Australia..

Christmas in Australia

This is our son in law Shane, with his Mom, Laurie (Jim's daughter) and his Dad.

This note from Shane.

"It’s Australia Day here tomorrow and we have just found out that my father Dan is to be named local Australian of the year for his community. We are very proud of him! I am glad others finally understand what we always knew – what a wonderful man he is!!

Congratulations, Dan

Shopping with Sue

Cermaic Church @ Casa Decor

@Painted with Oil

Ikea shelf

Ikea Bedroom
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Sue called me yesterday and asked me if I wanted to come out to Play (aka: shopping)...of course the answer was an automatic YES!!!!

Above are some of the things we saw. But we were very practical and just bought some glass ware and stuff from Ikea...good girls that we are!!!

So excited today, as my friend Shannon is coming for an overnight visit.

.

Gift from Cindy...

Vintage tin box, tablecoth, brooches and coasters.

This lovely gift arrived from Cindy in the mail yesterday.

It was so beautifully packaged with thoughtful gifts she knew I would love.

She sent two of these coasters, one for Cookie, and the other in memory of Pebbles!! They will be used, cherished and taken back to BC with us.

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To all of you that read my blog, whether it is daily, weekly, monthly or just pop in to see what we are doing, I am so touched that I can share with you some of our life as I see it.

Thank you for the comments that are left and the ones that I recieve via my e-mail.

It is my way of expressing and sharing the things that have meaning to me.

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In your thirst for knowledge, be sure not to drown in all the information.

~Anthony J. D'Angelo, The College Blue Book

550th post...

Popcorn Tops

Glass Beads on a bracelet.

Paintings on Sale.

Details on a Pashmina

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Hard to believe that this is my 550th post...

Thanks to all of you who let me know with comments or via e-mail that you are enjoying what I have to say and the crafts that I do.

It is allot of fun for me, and it keeps our large family connected without a ton of e-mails.

Today Jim, Cookie and I went to the Mesa Flea Market.

Cookie was very content in the car in the shade with all the windows down, a full tummy and a full bowl of water...Jim and I just walked around for a couple of hours and looked.

These are some of the photos I took in several of the booths..It is always an interesting way to spend a 1/2 a day.

Red Valentines...

I am playing again, making Valentine Hearts...this time in Red..Some new elements are the pearls.

The words are cut from an old book called the "King of Paris" by Guy Endore. copyright 1956

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And remember, no matter where you go, there you are.

~Confucius

New Journal...

The cover for this journal was a vintage linen napkin that I found at one of my favorite store, (Sally Ann) that already was embroidered with this cross stitch pattern that I love.

I stitched the pink felt to the top including the daisy chain.

I made the felt flower underneath the pink beaded daisy and then finished the bottom with lace, strips of vintage fabric and buttons. In progress..as you can see, I changed out a few things for the final look.

This journal is smaller and filled with blank pages that are quite heavy.
That will make it easier for me to paint in in and hold heavier attachments.
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I am continuing to work on my Red Valentine Tag and I will post some of them tomorrow. I had the best luck yesterday finding a red velvet vintage valentines chocolate box ( minus the chocolates, darn!!) and I will show you what I plan to do with that!!!

Ghost of the Salmo Ram....

My sister Caroline is donating the proceeds of this wonderful painting that will be auctioned off at the FNAWS conference in Reno, Nevada, in February 2009.

She painted it on a piece of slate rock...terrific, isn't it.

I hope it gets sold for allot of money to benefit the Foundation of North American Wild Sheep. Will keep you posted on how much it raised.

Change has Come..

It was quite moving to be in the USA and see first hand this historic moment of Barack Obama becoming the 44th President of the USA.

He spoke so clearly and with such passion. All of us can only do our part to make change, one person at a time.

As Canadians we are their closest friend, trading partner and ally.

We hope that this works well for trade, commerce and our cross border relationship.

Lunch in our back garden....

This is my eldest brother Heinz. He and I are closest in age, then Evelyne who was also here with Richard for our lunch in our back garden.

This morning I did all the prep work, and was able just to sit down and enjoy our meal togethr. I made 2 salads, grilled some salmon, chicken and steak, cut up lots of vege's and we had French bread to nibble on.

Eveyone made their own salads and topped them with what ever struck their fancy at the time...A large bowl of fruit salad finished off the meal.

Heinz's wife Marlene.

She is holding Gussy and Flash is laying at her feet. It was great to have more dogs here again.


Keeping cool on the back patio as it was around 79 today.




Just hanging out..it was lovely.

My new fabric Journal...

The completed fabric and embellished jacket for my new personal journal.

This is the same basic composition book that I use

for most of my books that I have made.

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The back, all sewn or hand stitched.

Details of the front. I covered the photo with some glitter, ( I mean what little farm girl wouldn't of wanted glitter on her blouse?") but left the cat as she was.
After that was done I then put a thin plastic sheet over the photo and as well as the crown on the finished photo.

Added lace, buttons, ric rac, vintage doily, beaded flower and trim.


The front and back before I sewed them together. I changed my mind about the embroidery that I have on the left and covered it up.
I worked until 12:30am and will do some more work on the inside pages, but what a fun project and satisfying project this was.

Scrapbook Class

Friend booklet made in class

One of the inside pages.

Work in progress.
Our instructor, Susan, had these special sugar cookies made to match the look of the paper on the letter I page...
Each page inside has a saying, eg: inside page 1:
"When you are sad - I will jump on the person who made you sad like a spider monkey jacked up on Mountain Dew!!!
Page 2. "When you are blue, I will try to dislodge whatever is choking you"..
Fun to make and it will be something that I can make and change out the saying....
It was a grand day scrapbooking.
Jim and his buddies had a great day @Lone Pine Golf Course in the sunny AZ. desert at 83 degrees.

Friday Jan.16...

Felt pocket in progress with some of the brooches I have found.

This morning I am off to a workshop to Scrapbooks, ETC. learning some new techniques to make a friendship book....will post the results later.

Jim is off golfing with his buddies and Sue is coming over to feed Cookie her lunch and let her out...

You can already tell it will be a beautiful day.

I have both of these publications and they are worth checking out.
You can see what is inside each one by going to
http://www.stampington.com/index.html
The imagination of some of these artists are awesome.

Scrapbooking isn't about scraps of paper and photos. Scrapbooking is about scraps of life - yours and those special to you.
~Rebecca Sower

One proud Mom...

Great ideas need landing gear as well as wings.

~C.D. Jackson

Julie visiting Jeremy while he was at the University of Oregon working on his Masters.

Jeremy's Master's degree..Well done, sweetheart!!

We are really proud of you and Julie for the hard work and effort you have put into your lives to make this happen!!
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The promises of this world are, for the most part, vain phantoms; and to confide in one's self, and become something of worth and value is the best and safest course.

~Michelangelo

How cute are these?

Not sure how old I am here, but don't you love the great hairdo!!

Of course I am holding my pet cat..I noticed a ton of scratches on my arms..typical kid, probably holding her too tightly and I didn't want her to get away. I added the pink to the b&w photo as well and I painted my hair yellow..It was so white blonde then that you hardly knew that I had any color at all.

The new series of valentine tags I am working on. Have my sewing machine out and that means that neither paper or cloth are safe!!


Illustration from a 1966 garden book that I painted with water colors.
Happy with the way it turned out...definitely a pink day..
thinking of you Suzi..the perfect pink color.





The process..always fun getting the inspiration..and then being able to have the time to complete this little fun project. Tags make sure a great valentine's day gift and more special because they are made by hand.
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This apron was part of the blog that I thought I had just put into draft, but it got posted...so here it stays. Cute eh?