BUNNY GIRLS AND TREES

This is what I have been painting lately. Yeah. I blame Suzi Blu for my fixation on bunny girls. She offered some free printable line drawings on her blog for people to make mixed media art. I didn't print them out, but her sketch of a bunny girl stuck with me. I have been thinking of the 'tree of life' motif lately, too. I really love trees and especially like looking at the structure and arrangement of their limbs and branches. Not that this was any great depiction. I just played with it. The top one - "The Bunny Sisters Rush Spring" is postcard sized. The other one, "Another New Day" is a little larger. Both are for trade in an artist's postcard group I belong to on Yahoo.
These two bunny girls are artist trading cards size and are for a swap on Swap-Bot.

TWO MORE ROW HOUSES

Thanksgiving House
Christmas House.

WINTER/SNOW HOUSE

I finished this one yesterday. It's also for the Charming Row Houses group on Swap-Bot. Then I started on the Thanksgiving House which is next.

GINGERBREAD HOUSE

This went off in today's mail to someone in Arizona. The theme was Gingerbread House, and I made it with Hansel and Gretel rather than a Christmas type of gingerbread house. It was really hard getting a good photo because of the thick coat of clear or irredescent glitter on the house.

AMADEA?

I got quite a bit of really great mail this morning. Included in it, was this cute Halloween postcard from 'Amadea', postmarked from San Diego, CA. There was a nice long note on the back, that shows that she read something (long and blathery, probably) that I wrote about Halloween. But there is no clue as to where she found me or where I know Amadea from... I have spent the last hour searching on Swap-Bot and Flickr and half a dozen other places without success. So if you are reading this, Amadea, thank you so much! It is so cute, and just the Halloween style that I especially like. And thanks for the movie recommendation. :)

TINY FRIDA KAHLO SHRINE

I made this, this afternoon for LMM for a Swap-Bot forum 'Wishlist Tag' swap. This, being so tiny - not quite 3.5" square, overall - was fast and fun to make. I may be making more of these. The gray cord you see, is gauze to tie it closed.

CEMETERY POSTCARD

This postcard was mailed today. It's another Swap-Bot swap: Handmade Art Postcard - Theme Cemetery. The photo I used for it is one I took at St. Joseph Cemetery in Beeville several years ago. I did a little bit of designing on the back, too, but didn't photograph both sides.
Isn't that a beautiful pumpkin blossom with the postcard?

...AND MORE

Untitled. This is for a 'Color Red Handmade Postcard' swap.
This is a 'Halloween Lucky Parcel' for a swap by the same name. This is the first one I've ever made, so I hope it is okay. It looks more like a 'lucky gift basket' to me.

And here it is after it is wrapped and tied up in a gray gauze piece.
This is a whimsey jar for the Magical Forest Whimsey Jar swap. The jar didn't photograph very well, but it is really, really stuffed full of all kinds of things. I leaned it in a pot of foxtail fern wrapped around with baby tears for the photo.

MORE LITTLE ROW HOUSES

Here they are all together, before it's time to send them off on swaps.
Autumn House

Crooked Little Haunted House #2

Tree House

SHARPIE POSTCARDS

These two are for a Dia de los Muertos Sharpie Challange on Swap-Bot.
And this one was for a Swap-Botter's son who has a thing for fishing and for watches. I combined the two. It went to him as a request from his mother in a Swap-Bot forum tag swap.

HAVING FUN

This was sent to Colleen for a Swap-Bot Forum Tag swap. The other side had a different mixed-media picture on it, but I only photographed one side. (Lazy!)
This is for Kelly and is also a Swap-Bot forum tag swap. The tag was for something "Halloween" and in her profile she wrote that she really liked Edgar Allen Poe, so I came up with this.
Another Swap-Bot forum tag swap for Colleen. One of her requests was a green birthday card for her birthday at the end of September. So I tagged her for that.
And lastly, this is a postcard for Tristan, also as a Swap-Bot forum tag swap. It's a photocopy on cardstock of a painting I did in 2004. The Edgar Allen Poe envelope behind it, is the one I used to send Kelly's swap.

That is about all that has been going on around here lately. Just art and swaps, mostly. But don't the basil plants and coral vine look pretty in the art photos?

I have become active again in a doll photo and story group that I belong to, and have joined 2 more, besides. So before too long (I hope!) there will be doll doings on this blog again.

HALLOWEEN WHIMSEY JAR

This is the first time I have ever made a whimsey jar. The card is one I made years and years ago. I found it when I was digging through all my art shelves, drawers, bins and boxes today looking for images.

SLINKING IN...

It's been a month since I was here last! It's not that 1) Things are dull and I have nothing to blog about nor is it that 2) There is so much going on that I have no time to blog.
I just don't know what it is. I let blogging opportunities and photo opportunities pass. I get side-tracked and then the farther behind in blogging I get, the stronger the tendency is to just keep on letting it go. I still blame it on getting my new camera. By the way, my old one that broke irrepairably? Mathieu was running around in his yard yesterday with it taking photos. He now has a new memory card for it. I should have let him - young child that he is - work on it for me, before I gave up and gave it to him as a 'toy'.

Anyway - the photos above... The first one is one of several shots of the sky I took on my way down the highway last month. I noticed the rainbow colored wavy clouds lines showing from behind a huge, larger cloud. Strange. They were much brighter and more obvious in real life than in my photo.

Then there is Mathieu - the proud new owner of the camera formerly known as mine. It was Grandparent's Day at school last Monday morning, so we went and saw his classroom, playground, and other spots around campus.

The third photo is of a handmade stuffed felt owl I made for a Halloween ornament swap on Swap-Bot. I hope to mail it out today.

My other plans for today are to order more materials for two of the religious education classrooms at church, haul some garbage to the dump (fasinating, I know), deliver some things that need delivering, and start on some more artsy things - some handpainted postcards, a Halloween whimsey jar - all for swaps and then maybe soon, some for myself. I have an idea for the 'captured fairy' type jars that I want to try. Photos (eventually) if successful!

ART POSTCARDS

First of all, I apologise for the really poor photo quality. I still don't know how to use my new camera, really. I'm always accidently hitting mystery buttons and don't know how to fix things.
This one was for an alphabet handmade postcard swap.
This one was for a one-on-one postcard tag swap.
The top one is for the next installment of the alphabet handmade postcard swap. The ones on the bottom are for a Sharpie postcard swap.
This last one, is one that Shabree was working on. It may be too dark to see, but I'll take a better (I hope!) photo tomorrow.

STEWART'S HOME!

First of all, here are two photos, front and back, of the Spirit House Accordian Book I received in the swap from Agnies2ka/lighthouse in Poland. Notice the machine stitching around the edges of each house. Isn't it so nice?! Then she also included in the package, a wonderful vintage postcard of her hometown, Bielsko-Biala, circa 1915. Wow! I really like it!

Here is what I've been working on lately - two sock monkeys, for Swap-Bot swaps. They were much quicker and easier than I thought they'd be. The swap criteria was that they had to be made out of socks other than the traditional sock monkey socks. I didn't realize how difficult it would be to find colorful socks of the right kind (no anklets, no short tops, etc.) around here, right now! These red ones were the ONLY choice I had. Well, I didn't check the dollar stores, but didn't want to. If I ever find any more suitable socks, I may make some more.
Computer woes - aRgH! We have been unable to get the computer to connect to the internet for a week or more. Stewart arrived home from Baghdad last night, and says it is something we did to it, but he hasn't figured it out yet. He did tell us how to connect for now, though, although it is still far from right.
It is great having Stewart home for awhile again. I picked him up late last night in Corpus Christi. He has a lot planned for while he is home...mostly business and work, but a lot of relaxing, too. He said that he didn't get to see Angelina Jolie when she was in Baghdad, but she was in the embassy and walked by his office. She was in the cafeteria having lunch while he was busy doing something else. He was disappointed that he missed the Santana concert in Dubai that he planned to attend. His travel plans were delayed, and he missed it by hours.

INK BLOT CHARACTER #2

LUCILLE LARUE has always had a flair for the dramatic. She is an energetic woman who does all things well. She gives killer parties that help zoom her husband up the corporate ladder. As president of the PTA she rocks the fundraisers, which, naturally, are always very successful. She keeps an immaculate house, has a healthy flower-filled yard, and cooks all the latest popular recipes – Beef Wellington, CocaCola Cake, Waldorf Salad. She is quite smitten with the new orange breakfast drink – Tang – that has just come out, and those new TV dinners as well. And naturally, there is always room for Jello.
She laughs loudly, is an impeccable dancer and enjoys wearing her small but growing collection of designer frocks. But this one is a little over the top, don’t you think?

INK BLOT CHARACTER #1

I joined an ink blot character swap on Swap-Bot recently. We were supposed to send two characters and a short bio of them to our assigned partner. But these are too much fun to do. It was hard to stop. I will be posting the three that I sent my partner, over the next three days. I am doing them in order of my least favorite (although I still like Batrick a lot!) to my most favorite.

Batrick is a cute and artistic little bat who lives in the famous bat colony under the Congress Avenue Bridge in the middle of Austin, Texas. He does honor his roots and go the more traditional route for the month of October, usually, but mixes it up a bit for the other months. He attends art gatherings all over town and impresses the other bats with his various costumes such as his bright tie-dyed ones for the Jerry Garcia Birthday Fest held each year in Austin. The motto, ‘Keep Austin Weird’ is one that Batrick believes in.
In this picture you can see Batrick in his Count Dracula costume, on his way to a costume party.

VIOLETTE'S NEW DRESS

Miss Violette Spice Blythe is wearing her gorgeous new dress she received from enakitty in the Petite Blythe handmade outfit swap. She is hosting some new friends in a pre-Thanksgiving visit. The three Dotee dolls came in swaps from (l to r) Jane R, Moominbrooke and mcall. Thanks, ladies!

MY FIRST 'ZINE

I just finished these a little while ago. You'd think with how tiny they are, it would have been really fast to make them, but I was up until 3:30am last night working on the original. Then, this morning, I took the original to make copies. Then it took quite a while to bring them home, add some color and cut and fold.
Naturally, this is for a Swap-Bot swap. These are the first 'zines I remember making, and the swap guidelines set the style or method of making the booklet, plus the subject and title. That made it very easy for everyone to feel capable of doing a decent job of it. I am really hoping for more swaps like this.

ALL SAINTS DAY...AND A HALLOWEEN REPORT

Whew! Halloween came and went in a flash this year. I felt like I had enough time to prepare for it all, until the day before, about noon, when Andrew called and reminded me that it was just a little over 24 hrs. away. YIKES! So I rushed around trying to get the rest of the Halloween preparations done, as well as finish and send off 5 down-to-the-deadline swaps, and get other regular and semi-regular stuff done. Halloween went well, but was a little on the skimpy side this year as to my yard decorations and all that. I handed out Halloween pencils to 149 trick-or-treaters this year. Down from last year, but not too bad. The first ones arrived at 6pm and the last ones at 8:45 or so. There were three flat-bed trailer 'floats'. One with all the kids seated on orange lawn chairs, one really big one with hay bales, and my cousin's with orange rope lights strung up and plastic jack-o-lanterns hanging from it. But no 'Gator Caravan' this year. Oh, and about the pencils - only one group seemed disappointed in not getting candy, and almost half the kids were visibly and vocally excited with getting them. LOL - go figure!
So many of the parents that came by with their kids commented that there were so many fewer houses participating this year. From my vantage point sitting on my front driveway, on the corner of the block, I could only see one other house lighted and hosting trick-or-treaters. It's really kind of a sad indication of the change in the times and culture.
There was a plethora of pirates this year, and lots of princesses, witches and ninjas. We had two little kangaroos, a king, a cowboy, a couple of super-heros, lots of ghouls and ...accident(?) victims. The best costumes I saw were a big brother who was an Orkin man, and a little sister who was a really cute cockroach. LOL! The parents I noticed in costume were a pair who were a doctor and inmate, Minnie Mouse (shout out to Laura!) and some white-faced, black clothed ghouls (or whatever they were supposed to be). I wore my black capris with a oversized jack-o-lantern shirt, with my black crocks with the doo-dads on them, and had my hair in two lopsided pig-tails with a black and an orange scrunchie. It was too hot for the Halloween socks, and I never got my Halloween crown made. Darn! Hopefully next year. Now for photos:

Mathieu, as a bee-keeper, won first prize at the 4-H Halloween carnival in Beeville. Zachary, who is in that in-between age, went as Rambo...sort of. He borrowed my Desert Storm combat boots for the occassion. He's not mad in the photo, just doing his 'TOUGH' face. The beanie bunny rabbit in the photo is my doing. I have been hosting Floppity, from Sweden for a week and was obligated to take photos of her doing various things in South Texas, before sending her on to the next spot in her world tour.

This photo is from last Sunday's religious education class. Actually it is after classes. Most of the class time involved me giving a lesson to the whole assembled group - all age catagories. I used a pumpkin carving object lesson, including a pumpkin parable and lots of analogies and Bible teachings that go with it. Then at the end, we had each student put their name in for a drawing so that someone will get to take home the jack-o-lantern. Enrique won it, and so he and his younger brother came to pick it up when it was time to go home. Aren't they cute?

As extra busy as I have been lately, I've been forgetting to take photos of my crafty doings and swaps received. This is one of the two sets I made for the Dollhouse Miniature Swap on Swap-bot. I like them - for myself - but am really, really not pleased with how they look, to send to my swap partners. *Le Sigh* The things I received were so much better in design and quality than mine. But this was to the best of my ability, so I had to send them.

This very poor quality (sorry!) photo is of the three Dotee Dolls I made for the Swap-Bot swap of the same name. Mine are the dark green ones. The brightly colored one at the bottom left is the one I have received so far. Because of the leaves and shadows, you can't see her dangly string of beads below her that features a really cool parrot bead.

I guess that is all I have for today. Tonight is the All Saints Day Mass. By then, I hope to have my house a little less messy than it is now, and the garbage hauled to the dump. If I have time and am not too tired, I may work on some art swaps that are coming up, so I don't get caught in another time crunch like I did this week.

QUESTIONS OF THE DAY: What was your Halloween like? How many trick-or-treaters did you have?