My Weblog

Sharing some free images...

 
There's been a lot of chatter going on in blogland about hoarding. No doubt it has become a topic of conversation due to the new TV show featured on the history channel. But seriously...it is causing me to take a hard look at my own "collections"....yipes. This sentiment was only fueled by my middle child's recent teasing comment of "Mom, I think you have potential to become a hoarder one day!"

Whew. "ONE DAY." He didn't say that TODAY I am a hoarder. Rather, I have potential...but still. And he's right! As much as I hate to admit it, I have too much stuff. I have been a collector for several decades, but I need to scale back...big time. To share more....

So with that sentiment in mind, one goal of mine is to share more of my vintage stuff here in blogland with those who like this same stuff. So please feel free to save any of my images today for your own personal use. I'm perfectly fine with you using these images in things you will create for resale...just please don't sell the actual images in a collage sheet, CD, etc.

 
 
 
 
 

...and the same label in a couple of other colors...

 

 

 If anyone has some great advice, words of wisdom, ideas they've used for de-stashing I'd love to hear them! Meanwhile, I did manage to do a once through the old closet and have two knee high piles of stuff that's going to Goodwill...

...one box at a time....wish me luck....or better yet, perseverance, discipline, focus, determination.......!

!!!Winners of my Giveaway!!!

Wanted to do this post last evening but completely forgot about today being the first day of school. Seriously...way too early especially when all of nature screams: IT IS STILL SUMMER! Unfortunately, no one let's me choose when school starts each year.

I also wish I could choose EVERY entry as a winner! But instead, I let random.org pick the winners. Linda Jo wins the journal-gift card-surprise goodies prize! And ZuZu wins the gift card-surprise goodies prize! Congratulations! I'll be snooping around in your blogs to come up with ideas of what I'll tuck in your packages for your surprise goodies piece of the giveaway. Meanwhile, if you two would send me an email with your mailing address I'll get these goodies sent your way hopefully by the end of the week.

Thank you to everyone who participated! Your kindness and encouraging words are always such a bright spot in my day...

Here's a couple of different versions of the old postcard I used above if you would like to have a copy for your own personal use!

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

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 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 

Pink Saturday!

 

First, I'd like to wish Beverly a speedy recovery on her recent surgery! 

A listing of all this week's participants can be found on her blog, HOW SWEET THE SOUND. I haven't heard that there isn't a list, and knowing Beverly, if humanly possible, it is there waiting. If not, it wasn't humanly possible!

One thing I enjoy doing is making my own cards. If only the other demands of life didn't get in the way, I could have made many more than what I ended up making. But I'll share some photos I snapped along the way.

  Mother's always like to receive a little love note at Valentine's, don't they? 

  

This particular roll of vintage wallpaper was more fragile. In order to give it more stability, I first lined it with muslin. I've found the most economical [but very effective] method of adhering the fabric to the paper is using a glue stick. I buy them in bulk at Sam's Club as I go through a lot of them! 

 
I'm still having problems with Typepad freezing up on me and losing my work. Scream loud. So I'm going to stop while I'm ahead! I'll look forward to hopping around to see as many of you as I can. Due to a winter wonderland hitting the Atlanta area [a very rare event in these parts] a few things on our calendar were cancelled. More JAMMIE TIME...yeah! 

Wishing all you sweet pinkies a very special Valentine's day! 

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

 

Take the time...

A spot in my old hometown....

For the past week I was up in the Midwest. Back to the place where I was born and raised, but haven't lived for over thirty years. Every time I go back all I notice is change. Buildings that I loved are gone. People whom I loved are gone. The house that my great grandfather built, where my mother grew up, and eventually became one of my childhood  homes, now belongs to someone else.

The majority of my time was spent transitioning my 86 year old mother from her assisted living apartment to a nursing home. The good news is that it was her choice to move to the nursing home. Yet, when the time came to part with many of her belongings, this was a tough emotional hurdle. Thankfully, she has a private room and was able to comfortably keep two chairs and her sofa. But beyond that, storage space was very limited. What was interesting (heartwarming actually), are the things she chose to keep.

One of those things she chose to hang on her extremely limited wall space was this picture I created back when I was probably 11 or 12 years old. For as long as I can remember, its original spot was in her bedroom hanging above the light switch {and it didn't match ANYTHING in the decor of the room!} Like many of you who remember that innate need to create that has lived inside you forever, I too share similar memories.

Granted, this is not a masterpiece, not even by the wildest stretch of imagination. But  after seeing that my mother also reserved a spot in her precious little drawer space to house the handmade cards I've made for her through the years, as well as a spot for the photo album my sister and I put together for my parents 50th wedding anniversary which took place over 10 years ago, it was apparent that handmade items by someone she loved, were highly treasured by her. These were the items she chose to keep {along with photographs} in her now confined living space.

Seeing this firsthand, spoke to my heart. The things I make for others are important despite the fact that some might argue, the time could be "better" spent completing more practical tasks. It is in the knowing of the importance of what a homemade card might mean to someone that spurred me on to make these two cards in the recent days "just because"....

 

 

In a perfect world, I would have liked to have had more time to work with my creations as well as having access to all my supplies still sitting in packed boxes. But in the end, I know, it isn't about the perfectness of a given item, it is about the fact that someone showed they cared by taking the time...

 
  
 Taking the time for the important things in life has become a subject I've given much thought to lately. So much to choose from...and I want to choose wisely.  
 

 

 

 

 

Digital Design

 

Playing around on the computer with vintage images I've scanned into my picture files. It's an attempt to avoid doing the mundane, but necessary tasks of housework and such. But John Muir is right...beauty is a necessary component of life.

  Credit given to Ali Edwards/Digital Design for grid overlay, and Sande Krieger/2 Peas for french brush design.

 

I use these creations in a variety of ways. But I'll save that for another post.

Okay. Time to turn my attention back to the mundane.