Join me in ICAD

So the house seems erie without hearing little paws tip toeing through the house at night. And very cold without a kitty to pet and hold while watching TV at night. So I've decided to join in a challenge to take my mind off Glove for a while.

I'm not usually much of a joiner but I ran across a post on Karen's blog at I am Rushmore (artist and smiler extraordinaire oh and chief salamander catcher) and saw for the first time this ICAD thing. ICAD stands for Index Card A Day and it's been created by Tammy of Daisy Yellow. It's just one index card a day. It's not any real time consuming project and it sounds real laid back and bound to be inspiring to get you creating. It will at least get my creative ju ju going again.

So join in and keep your ju ju goin' too! It starts tomorrow. Just go to Daisy Yellow to see all the details, which there aren't that many rules. She says even if you can't start right away just join in, no catching up required.

So go out and get a couple pack of 3x5 cards and let me know if you're doing it so I can look for your ju ju. 8-)

Glove 1992 - 2012

Glove 1992 - 2012

It pains me write this, but my sweet kitty Glove died in my arms last night just before ten o'clock. It was peaceful and I'm glad I was holding her as she drew her last breath. She was my faithful and loving companion for nearly 20 years. It feels very strange not caring for her this morning. I miss her but am thankful for her life that was spent along side of mine.

Saying good bye

Saying good bye is never easy. I've been saying good bye to my sweet girl, Glove, now for a couple days. I honestly don't know how she has held on this long. Maybe it's my love for her that keeps her alive. It is heart breaking looking at her. Unable to do anything but lay there. All I can do is try to keep her comfortable as we wait for death. The waiting is killing me. I've whispered in her ear that it's okay to let go, to go on and wait for me when my time comes. To go and be with Whiskey her sister cat and my mom. I stroke her gently and kiss her tenderly as the tears come down. It's all I can do.


I've got her wrapped up in her favorite blanket and turn her every few hours as she is not able to even stand or roll over or even move her legs. I hope this is what she wants. I see her end of her tail just barely flick as I touch her, a sign I hope. I will put her down if I notice her starting to suffer. For now I am just waiting for nature to take it's course. It's still hard and many tears have already fallen. She's lived a great life though and I know that she's been given the princess life she deserved. We should be so lucky as to be one of my animals.

Gardens!!

Gardens!! I've never had this much to take care of before and I just keep making it bigger and adding more flowers. Someone seriously needs to intervene. I am not finding time to make any art and felt like I haven't made any for a while now. I have all the inspiration I could ever want in the way of flowers and ponds, gardens, a cute kid and animals so I need to get on with it! I'm scolding myself here if you can't tell.


Every day seems to bring more work to do, things to finish or continue with or new projects to begin. Like today... it's the 2nd day of summer vacation and the temps are going to hit 90 and stay in the upper 90's for as long as the weather report shows so it is time to get the kiddie pool going. No easy feat. Got to haul the water today from a nearby town and hopefully get the pool up and chemicalized so Asher can play and stay cool. The vegetable garden will soon be screaming for it's more than fair share of work very soon. With watering, weeding, hoeing, picking and plucking, canning, ugh. I'm already exhausted just thinking about it.


With all this, I still want to show you how the gardens are looking lately. So here are some pics of my labor of love =)

Mr. Lincoln Rose - what a stand out

my furry sidekicks Thunder the cat and Zoey the butt licker

I have to say I just adore this geranium

I'm really liking the newly added structured blocks and they are filling out

same here

The addition of these blocks has made it much easier to take care of

here's the same side before the blocks

oh if you could only smell this gorgeous rose

another new plant I couldn't resist but you should see the 2 tone petals!

I can't remember the name of this rose but it's so pretty all clustered like that

the swing with all the Lynchnis

from the pond, a beautiful water lily

The circle garden as I call it

remember the circle garden before?

We could use another pallet of those blocks, but honestly I'm sick to death of them. I'm ready to just sit back, sip some tea and relax while admiring all my hard work and watch my kid play in his pool ;)


Speaking of which, here's my little cutie on the morning of his last day of Kindergarten on Tuesday. It was a crazy morning but I wish I had remembered to comb his hair... haha

See ya soon.

ARt Finds from Arts in Harmony

So I told you a couple posts ago I'd share my purchases at the last art show I went to called Arts in Harmony, which is local to me. So here they are! I didn't have much money to spend so I had to keep it economical but I'm pleased with everything just the same.


First buy was this sweet little poem printed on watercolor by a creative artist who attends a rehab service. All proceeds went to help out the programs they have there. I loved her lively colors and the poem is great inspiration

Artist Ashley from Posey Co. Rehab Services Day Program

This next piece is a hair clip made from drinking aluminum cans! How creative is that?! I love to wear flowers in my hair and didn't have a metal one. Mine shown here is a V8 juice can and I was drawn to it the second I saw it. She had all kinds of color combinations. They are surprisingly not sharp.

Artists mother and daughter team of Green Wear Designs

Then I found these cute earrings which have been hand painted with alcohol inks the artist told me. Again, I was drawn to this pair immediately. Don't you love it how just gravitate towards certain things. I guess our taste's are just ingrained in us. She had a beautiful assortment of colors and different shapes.

Stillwater Creations by Kathy Gibson (find her on Facebook)

And my last buy of the day that I couldn't resist was this super cute copper ring. Copper is my metal (besides gold) and I love the design of this one by Nancy Pace of Wild Wire Art. Nancy had a lot of different items at her booth and was so nice to meet. Her and I hit it off right away. I love connecting with other artists. Nancy has exhibits showing in Illinois. Try to ignore my chubby little hand ;)

Wild Wire Art by Nancy Pace

I met so many friendly artists at this art show. I plan to have a booth there myself one day. It's a two day show, which are not my favorite, but I'd love to get my work out to local eyes. I wish I had all the money I needed to buy something from each artist as they were all talented and I'd like to be able to support their efforts, but you know how it is.


Some of my friends and their sites that were there include:


Tom Wintczak of Bee Tree Pottery - gorgeous Redware, Stonewear and Folk Art pottery by this super nice guy whom I'm proud to call my friend. Tom had these two pieces that were new to me that I really wanted to take home with me, they were of fish and they were calling out my name! Maybe next time if he still has them.


Kay Wiggins - Handmade baskets that puts Longaberger to shame. Kay is witty and fun to be around not to mention a talented artist. We met at the Farmer's Market here in New Harmony. I'm not sure if the link will work but her Facebook is here.


Katherine Sands - Fiber artist and good friend that I also met at the New Harmony Farmer's Market. I've shown you a beautifully dyed scarf she so graciously gave me as a gift one year. She just recently ended her solo show where she showcased her fabulous fiber art. Her art is expanding all the time. Her blog is Art Journal - A Creative Journey.


If you have time visit these artists, it's great to look and be inspired by other artists :) Let me know if the links don't work. Thanks,

Another Sisterhood of the Traveling Sketchbook entry

Here's Kat's book and somehow I've ended up doing another September entry. I'm not sure what has happened but I think my next entry was supposed to be October. Oh well, here it is anyway. I noticed that I had created another September when I was uploading my the pics to my Picasa albums. Apparently, I had a lot more to say about September the second time around :)


I've got a question for anyone who can answer it. I've got this new smart phone and it's an Android. I am trying to figure out how to post to my blog from it but the app keeps telling me that I have no such blog! I have tried many many times. This app is one that is from Blogger. Does anyone know a work around? I've looked all through the help sections and am following the directions but still it does not work.


Oh and I didn't forget about taking pics of my art purchases from Sunday, they are coming next ;)


Happy Friday!

Strawberry Sunday

just picked

I had to share my drool worthy pictures of what my latest project has been and that is cooking (well sorta) I guess making strawberry yummies. I went strawberry pickin' if you can't tell.


Freezer jam... aka candy crack. I use Sure Jell and have success every time. So easy to make if you've never tried it. When buying berries for it remember one and a half pounds of berries = 1 quart if you're trying to figure how much to get for the jam. Tons of sugar, not for the faint of heart, but oooh so tasty!

just jellin...

and strawberry pie!

make sure you wipe the drool off your keyboard ;)

nom nom nom

And of course many many didn't make it this far. Popped right into my mouth! Mmmmm


I went to an art show today called Arts in Harmony in my little town of New Harmony. There was a real nice selection of artists of all kinds. Some I see often, some friends and some new ones that I've not seen until today. All very talented and I want to buy something from everyone but of course I can't. Still though, I'll share with you my finds tomorrow hopefully when I can snap some pictures of my goodies :)


Enjoy your Sunday evening.