Quotes

Coming back to my real world after being away at Art and Soul this quote a co-worker forwarded to me is a great one.
"Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul."
Don't count your years, make your years count.
Cheers!
Melissa

Faces are being drawn

Enjoying my time learning to draw faces and create while at Art and Soul in Misty Mawns class.

Cheers!

A summer time project

I have been here and around over this summer time. One of my many big projects I worked on tackling is the new flooring that I put down through out most of my house. I'm standing in my kitchen and the flooring is in the kitchen the dining area, hall ways, bathroom, studio, and laundry room.

The far room is my studio, it gets great natural light. Still a work in progress.

Can you see what pattern the flooring is? Well here are a few hints.

Do you see a pattern.
So here is a close up of my new vinyl flooring. Leaves!

There is a story behind this flooring. When I first moved into my house, back in 2001, I had new carpet put in and new flooring in the kitchen. Which was smaller at that time and I had a different flooring put down before I did my remodel 3 years ago. At that time I had a Utility room, 10 feet by 12 feet. Well I put off new flooring in that room, though I had what I wanted all picked out. Are you thinking was it this leaf pattern. Yes it was. I still had the catalog showing this pattern with big circles and X's all over it. Though when I did my remodel 5 years down the road, in 2006, I don't know what I was thinking. When it came time to get the flooring it was wood flooring, bamboo to be exact, that I went with. Don't get me wrong wood flooring is a great thing. I lived with it for a few years. Then in one of my many decluttering moods. I came across that old flooring catalog with this leaf pattern. It still spoke to me. Surprising enough the pattern was still being made. The wood floor just didn't represent me, in my house. This is me. I love the Fall season. All the leaves as they change colors. The crisp morning air.

So this was just one of my summer projects taking place. Stay tuned for the exterior transformation of my yard. Still in progress.

The wood flooring, you may ask, was able to be pulled up and went to a good home. My brother and sister-in-laws.

Still moving forward.

I've found the lights

Going through one of my many boxes looking for paper and supplies I came across the strand of lights. Voila, let there be light.
I can cross that off my list.
On to the next.

Melissa

Chandelier - Finally

Alright Alright. I'm being bugged about not posting photos of my chandelier from the workshop I took with Sally Jean back in July. So I'm a little behind. I've been busy, who hasn't.

So here they are.
This is what was hanging on the hook in the corner of my living room above my couch.

And now I have my chandelier there. Though I have added more of the coccoon beads from a charm swap I was in earlier this year after taking this picture. My theme for my chandelier is butterflies and nature.

A close up of the lower half of my chandelier. I added pearls to the middle area as I felt it needed something.

The upper half of my chandelier. I cut out panels from this resin sheet that I created. I put in pressed flowers and leaves along with a few sayings I cut out from some books. In my living room I already have a leaf theme going on, so the pressed flowers and leaves seemed appropriate. As with anything it may be complete for now. Though there are always changes and additions that will be done to it. One thing, I need to create more of the baby butterflies for around the top.

Now I just need to find where I put the clear strand of lights, so I can have it light up at night.

Moving Forward

Melissa

Finale Necklace

My soldering buddy Rebecca took this photo of me modeling my creation in Sally Jeans Finale studio workshop.

Star and Stripes Ornament

So the 4th of July Holiday is a couple days away and I received in the mail a fabulous assortment of Red, White and Blue 4th of July ornaments from the swap I was in, hosted by Allegra.
My niece, Grace, and her family were over last Saturday, when the box arrived on my door step. She helped me open up each one and found a home on my tree for them all. I finally got to taking pictures of the tree last night.

Here is the Ornament that I made, called it Star and Stripes.

The tree of Glory for the 4th of July.

Everyone have a Safe and Happy Holiday weekend.

Graduations

As June is upon us graduations of all kinds are happening. From College, high school, junior high, even kindergarten graduations. I was going through some photographs not too long ago and ran across a photo from my 8th grade graduation. I thought I would share it. Looking at the photo now it helps me see that I was my own person even back then. Can you pick me out of the picture? Even back then I didn't like being in the pictures. With any big event you can imagine the number of photos that were taken through out the evening.

I must not have gotten the memo or didn’t care and did my own thing. I’m not really a pink person and white is just to blah. So when my mom and I came across this peach dress, I knew that was the one. Thank you mom for letting me be myself, even back then.
I still have that dress in the back of my closet. Come to think of it I could repurpose the lovely fabric in some way. Ideas are a brewing now. C#@p, I already have enough up in my head. I think other stuff seeps out my ears every time something else pops in. Maybe that is why I wear my ear phones so much. So as not to loose any more thoughts and such.

Congratulations to all those graduates of 2009.

Lisa Donahue learning to solder

Sharing some of what I do, we took Lisa's mermaid painting from her Suzi Blu's workshop and scanned it so she could learn to create a soldered charm. She is hanging it from her rear view mirror in her car.
Happily Creating!

Convenzione Part 3 and My Boat

Let's Continue. Friday night after the class was done, pretty much everyone headed over for the evening dinner and guest speakers.
Dinner time was a buffet style. So we all got in line and dished up. Some quicker than others.

My new friends Lyn, Jill and others sat at the back table. Though, for some reason, I wanted to mingle and sit at a different table to meet other attendees. I sat with Diane, Kathryn, Shari and a few other great ladies.

Once we got done eating, the first speaker Jill Badonsky came to the podium. Talking about ‘A Journey to your Creative SAelf’ from the special pass card that was handed out to everyone. She talked a lot about “The Voices”. Everyone has them and they come from our fears. It was very enlightening. To drown out those voices a lot of the time I put my head phones on and listen to my music. It helps me focus on what I am doing at that moment.
Our second speaker was Michelle Beschen, who will have a new show coming out this summer called B. Organic. Talked about how every single one of us has creativity in us. As we go through life creating and what not, there are always those Happy Little Accidents. She is so down to earth. I was happy to have my picture taken with Michelle.

Ok, so now on to my Marionette boat from Lisa Kettell’s class.
Come Along for the Ride.
A close up of my doll that dances and moves all glittered and sparkled up. Ready for her big show.
More close ups.

And atop my boat, some great pin wheels sparkling out at sea.

It's All Good.