My Weblog

Recent finds...a fun giveaway...free images, and what not!

Whew! That's a lot for one title...buy hey, I'm trying to cover a lot of bases in one post. So many fun things going on in the blogosphere (and atmosphere).

Here's another little treasure I dragged home from our recent trip to Florida. And despite the unrelenting heat for months here in Georgia, my flowers survived my absence.

But the cloud formations lately have been so thrilling... (me thinks mr. sky is trying to apologize or compensate for his friend mr. air who has been scorching this part of the world)

And if you love sky scenes, check out these moon beam pictures my friend, Patty has captured in the skies of Virginia. She has a way of zeroing in on anything that shines...I loved these photos!

Despite the fact that mother nature is more than capable of doing her own decorating, I added a little tree beauty to her world in order to showcase another little treasure from my Florida trip...

I merely took advantage of those little branches that pop up randomly where they're not supposed to be on mature trees and "tied" my new tray to the tree.

While my usage of the outside layer to this photo does not due this artists' creations justice I did want to share with any photoshop veiwers a gorgeous blog offering fabulous textures. I am still learning photoshop where these textures will rock when applied properly...my rendition is a cheap version (strong emphasis on cheap) of just layering and using a transparency brush to reveal my photo. The "real thing" is beyond dreamy...

Check out Kim's blog and her beautiful photos! Her prices for these textures are so reasonable and she even offers up free ones if you sign up to receive her newsletter.

And speaking of free stuff...

Terri has recently posted a couple of wonderful digital image freebies here and here. Go grab 'em! I had the pleasure of meeting Terri and her FUN ART when she won one of my giveaways.

So guess where that leads me to next. Yep! A giveaway... Connie is offering up a couple of yummy things...

Here's one of them! Isn't she a beautiful seamstress? Yes, indeed! She also has two adorable grandbabies...one is brand new. Check out those precious photos when you visit as well!

Now that we're talking about giveaways, I just realized that this is my 100th post since moving my blog to Typepad. Time to pull together a giveaway of my own...hmmmm... so many possibilities. Stay tuned....

Warm hugs to all the fabulous souls in the blogosphere...you all fill my world with so much inspiration!

xo, sue

Digital Collage and Free Images

Playing around in my photos again...I could get lost for hours manipulating photos. The inspiration began as I walked along the beach and spotted these sorts of shells everywhere. Don't they look like little wings?

I thought so and decided to digitally extract them. Here's a copy if you'd like them for your own personal use as well.

As long as we're sharing, here's the little girl I borrowed from here...

Starting with a background of clouds from my own photos I began adding and adding layer after layer. Many thanks and credit given to Karen at the Graphics Fairy for the use of the dove {extracted from a postcard she shared} as well as using the vintage ledger page from her collection.

Peace... xo, Sue

Free birdie images and we're off to the beach....

How did it get to be so late, so soon?

The calendar indicates that tomorrow we leave for the beach. You know what that means...a million little details to attend to before heading out. Well, a million little details if you're the mother. And I am the mother. So logic would tell you that I've been busy attending to all those details. NOT.

Instead...

A little birdie told me to start another art journal... {"start" and "another" are key words...}

 

I used this little birdie in my journal and made two different versions for you to grab if you'de like to use them in your own creations.

Here's a few other shots...

 
...just felt good to play...and make a mess...and contemplate the wise words I used in this creation...still needs a bit more added before I'm finished, but those million little details I need to take care of need my attention first...

Hope to have some happy reports to share when we return informing you that the beaches of Florida's panhandle are still filled with white, sugar sand and not chunks of tar...

Xo, Sue

 
  One of several old blue canning jars I picked up recently stuffed with a few hydrangea from my garden. The sustained heat in this region fried a lot of my moppy head friends and cut short their season of gracefully showing off their beautiful colors.

 Some little creepy bug has invaded my being and I'm not enjoying its presence one little bit. Can't decide if it's a sinus infection or one of those viruses that have been going around. All I know, is that it is winning...

 
It chooses to visit me right in the middle of my "busy-as-a-bee" season....! Have lots of irons in the fire, many that are time sensitive so resting yesterday was not an option. Spent hours on the phone coordinating utility hook-ups for daughter's new rental. Seems they like to have parents on the hook for those bills instead of college-aged students. Hmmm...wonder why?

And while I was tucked away handling all those calls...

 ...this little family member with the white fur coat was busy in the kitchen eating the leftover pizza oldest son forgot to put away. Naturally, it was one of those mega-sized take and bake pizzas. And even more naturally, oldest son ate only a few slices so Miss Sophie (the one in the white fur coat) had herself quite a feast! But the revenge of such an over-indulgence was swift and severe...and was all mine to handle, each episode... for several hours.

All other family members were out and about...DH had a business dinner, the boys had soccer and what-not...just us two sick girls left to man the fort. One rested, and the other did not.

The one who didn't rest was originally planning to share some recent finds on her blog.

 DH and I have decided that we will plow ahead with having the house spruced up a bit and I've got a budget to work with for decorating and such. To that end, I've been hitting lots of antique shops...made some really fun scores at fabulous prices. The photo above is one of MANY of these late 1800's lithographs I made an offer on to a dealer and he accepted my offer. They are each 11 x 14...this larger format is harder to find and even more difficult to find at the bargain price for which I obtained them.

Hopefully this cruddy crud cold/virus will decide to release its grip on me and I'll have a chance to soon show you some other fun stuff in their "potential" state and what I hope to do with them...

Meanwhile, here's a scan from my personal collection you digital manipulators might enjoy having in your stash for your personal use...

In "real life" this is a four page, handwritten  French deed on that old yummy cotton type paper I just adore.

Hope everyone had a safe and memory-filled long weekend!

Xo, Sue

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness

a scan from my own collection...please feel free to copy for your own personal use

Most Americans recognize the familiar words of:

 "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."

  These are words that appear in our Declaration of Independence. Beyond that, I'm not sure how much of this document, I, or others could recite if asked to do so. But in honor of this much celebrated holiday here in America I grabbed an enhanced copy of The Declaration of Independence from www.ushistory.org.

The original, measuring 29 3/4" x 24 1/2" is now very faded according to this same source as a result of not being properly stored for so many years. Obviously, this copy that has been digitally enhanced isn't exactly legible either. However, if you would like to read this document in its entirety, click here.

Rebecca Ersfeld for Vintage Living has a wonderful post for the Fourth of July! If you have a minute it is worth the read. It talks about the price of freedom... It begins with the words: Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?

Personally, I find these types of trivia/info to be very enlightening. Speaking of which, I also thought this fact copied from the ushistory site noted above to be quite interesting...

"In a remarkable series of coincidences, both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, two founding fathers of the United States and the only two men who signed the Declaration of Independence to become president, died on the same day: July 4, 1826, which was the United States' 50th anniversary."

And if you have even more time, and would like to see another creative take on the Fourth of July click here.

Here's wishing all you American bloggers a delightful Fourth of July weekend; but to all of mankind, regardless of nationality, may you enjoy life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness!

Xo, Sue

A Free Image...Oh, Sweet Baby!

Not long ago while meandering through an antique store, the owner, a darling lady with not only grandchildren but great-grandchildren, made a casual statement about old photographs. She mentioned she recently gave away a large box of old family photos....to someone she just met.

Seriously. I was stunned. Here was a lady who had exquisite antiques mostly gathered in England and France...someone who loved old things. Many times I have wondered how these beautiful old photos happened to end up in the marketplace instead of being cherished by family members. Never would I have suspected that someone like this, a person who loved antiques, would {{{gasp}}} give away her relatives.

On the flip side, how wonderful that so many of us have adopted these old photos and welcomed them into our homes and hearts. 

[credit: chippy pink paint background free textures flickr: stevetoearth] 

We enjoy gazing upon them, imagining what their life was like, using them in our creations....

 
 I printed a few of these yesterday and transferred them to old linen hankies...still not sure exactly what I'll do with them...just playing for now...

Another thing we all love to do with old photos is share them...so if these appeal to you, please feel free to grab the prints and use them for your own personal use. I'm perfectly fine with someone selling something they've made using any of my free images, but I would ask that you not sell the image in a CD, clip art sheet, etc.

My extracting skills leave a little to be desired, but WHEN I learn, and I WILL LEARN photoshop, watch out stash of photos....

Sweet little blessings on your day,

xo, Sue 

 My time in the mountains of western North Carolina was over before

I could blink. But it is always time well spent. Lots of laughter, good food, beautiful scenery, drives through the countryside...

...an hour or so walking through the shops...you could spend days in this area going through hundreds of unique shops if you so chose...

...each visit I usually try to check out a place I've never been before... 

...most times I even remember to grab my camera...

...Mr. and I drove to one of my favorite antique shops tucked way back in the woods on a twisty, narrow mountain road that gives me the creeps because there are precious few guard rails...and someone in the car who shall remain nameless drives way too fast on those roads... 

...I was so happy to have survived the ride that even finding the place closed barely even caused my emotions to fluctuate one iota...of course, finding these beautiful pink roses growing along their fence was more than compensation for having driven so far...

  ...and wouldn't you know it? On our way back to the cabin we just happened to drive right by my favorite shoe store in Highlands. Look at my {SQUEAL} new shoes! They are incredibly comfortable and just plain FUN! Just what I needed for all the traveling I'll be doing in the coming days....

Where am I going, you ask? Why I'm off to visit creative spaces across the globe during theWHERE BLOGGERS CREATE PARTY! 
 

credit: free background image from rubyblossom [Flickr]

Free Vintage Image

The more time I spend sorting through my stash, the more I keep thinking, I MUST start scanning some of these to share...
Is he adorable or what? Love the little pocketwatch attached to his jacket.

The photo is dated 1911. The actual photo is pretty scuffed up with lots of little ickies that I digitally erased to the best of my photo-editing software's ability --it's not Photoshop. One day, she says with a hopeful attitude, I WILL LEARN the ins and outs of Photoshop.

Please feel free to save and use any of these images for your own personal use!

Now it's back to more sorting...trying to be ready for Karen's big event: Where Bloggers Create on June 19th. 
 
 

A Winter's Day...and Free Images!

I don't think of all the misery but of all the beauty that remains.

~anne frank

OKAY. There is a certain beauty to it. But it's making me miserable. There. I said it. I am so done with winter.

Trick question for the day: Can you identify someone who needs to LIVE the words so eloquently penned by Anne Frank and not just quote them? 

The photo above was snapped from my family room windows this morning. Our hot tub water is gurgling because the freeze mode protection has kicked in. More accurately stated, it's been running all winter long. Typically it only kicks on a few times each winter.

However, I received a pass on having to show up for jury duty today. Tomorrow might be a different story. But yesterday was an emotionally tough day. I didn't get chosen for a particular case. It was a gut wrenching case. The kind that made me physically ill just listening to the allegations leveled against the defendent. Yet, I am grateful to live in a country that affords its citizens the right to a trial by jury.

Wanting to focus on something else to stop dwelling on the sadness I feel, I started sorting through some of my old Victorian cards. There is a certain innocence captured in the art from this era that appeals to many of us. These four little beauties could be used for so many projects...bookplates, placecard holders, address labels, cut out the girls and use their images in your art journal, etc.....

Please feel free to save these to your computer for your own personal use. They are only about 2.5" x 3.5". But just for fun I printed one that was 5.5" x 8.5" and the image was still quite crisp. I've also had good luck with enlarging images on my copier/scanner/printer that I eventually use in my journals.

  

I'm off to finishing up my wild rice soup for dinner. There's nothing like a pot of homemade soup on a wintry weather day.

But still dreaming of Spring,

xo

Sue 

Altered Dolls and Giveaways !

She was my first. My first altered doll made by someone whose work I am in awe of...If you follow her blog, you probably already know who I'm talking about just by seeing this photo.

If not, then you'll be in for a real treat to go and visit her blog.

In fact, she's having an INCREDIBLE giveaway...

Wait, more accurately stated, she's having five different giveaways. I love how she's doing this....check it out!

  

The first little doll came to my home over a year ago. Recently, I added her sister, if you will. Her name is called "Love Endures"....

I love, love, love these dolls. They never cease to warm my heart whenever my eyes take them in. Purposely, they've been placed in a spot where I see them all the time.

The details in JoAnnA's work is nothing short of spectacular. But I must warn you, when she adds something to her Etsy shop, and you really, really need it, you better grab it as stuff flies off the shelves before you can blink.

As long as we are talking about scrumptious giveaways, there is another one you won't want to miss either. Lisa at Tarnished and Tattered, another blogger whose work and heart I admire has rounded up a not-to-be-missed giveaway as well.

 

I mentioned in my last post that I had extracted this darling little cupid to share. Unfortunately, Typepad kept freezing on me. It's still happening. But only on my PC that is showing signs of aging.

We have a new MAC, but on a scale from 1 to 100, I know about "10" when it comes to using it. Plus, all my photos are on the PC. But today I jumped another hurdle in the learning curve and transferred these photos from my PC to the MAC via copying them to a CD. That's how I got the "10", otherwise I would have been at a 3.

Have lots more Valentine type graphics I will share in the coming days.

xoxo

Sue