Sights & Sounds of the St. Patrick's Day Parade

Our friend, Shannon and his family came for a weekend vacation. Our first adventure together was experiencing the St. Patrick's Day Parade. The weather was perfect and we had only to walk a couple of blocks to get a wonderful front sidewalk view!






Can't you just hear the bag pipes?




























And then there are other Irish bands.













Of course, the parade would not be complete without horses in my opinion.










Oh, these young girls are great!




























There were lots of Irish wolf hounds!







The Vulcans were celebrating the arrival of spring. He has the green dauber ready to paint a clover leaf on my daughter's cheek and then mine! We're supporters of the Vulcans!




This is their antique fire truck....the same one we had a chance to ride in the Winter Carnival's snow sculpture contest.





It looked to me like a leprechaun was driving the Whiskey truck!









The original Riverdance is beginning their five shows here in Minneapolis.









This group was all about recycling and I couldn't help but find her sign very funny. But in reality, he is only away on a work assignment.







And the little children in the back of this truck made me smile!

Happy Birthday Sis!

Each year my sister and I exchange birthday gifts and among all the packages...we promise to have at least one handmade item.

We both usually start collecting unique finds throughout the year for each other. I had found her a gift from an antique store in Mountain Home last year and she also found me an item from the same area during the same time period. Funny how that worked out.

My sister made me all kinds of goodies which I will post at a later date. She is so very clever!


The gift I made were ATC's that are personal for her. I forgot to scan them before I mounted them into their frame.

The letter "A" was Zentangle inspired on Arches Text Wove. I watercolored the background before making the design. I added red rhinestones for bling.


This ATC shows my sister in a "Back to School" picture that my dad had taken. I cropped out everyone else. I added butterflies and a sentiment of "Fun & Funny".


I had made ATC's using Dada poetry a couple of years ago and this particular one was in my collection. The background is a photo of the farmhouse that was our Great Grandparents and the woman is a great great aunt.

I thought the poem was perfect for the photo!

I used antique buttons to embellish the ATC.



I collaged this ATC and specifically selected the words that best describe how my sister views life!

She loves lace so I added a border with tiny little pearl drops on top.




This ATC is one of my favorites that I made. I used dyed fabric that I made when we were together last year over July 4th. The photo is also when my sister was about three years old. I am sitting next to her on the couch however, I cropped myself out of the photo. I added bits of fabric scraps and lace behind the photo...wrote the sentiment and added three black rhinestones.


I really love how this ATC turned out! I used a vintage card button where there was one button left. The red frame was part of the card and it was the perfect size to fit our mother's school photo!

I then framed this onto black card stock and then the final mount was white card stock.



I saved this bit of quilted fabric from my sister's friend when I was on a retreat last fall in DeSota, Wisconsin. Her friend Eileen delighted me in showing me all kinds of stitches that her new quilting machine did and then she gave me a good chunk of goodness.

I sewed on top of the quilting the antique buttons that my sister loves a lot. A blanket stitch borders the ATC.





A playing card is the background for this ATC. I collaged a napkin on top, added the quote and bling. Gel medium was used to seal the card.








This is another part of Eileen's chunk of goodness that she gave to me. I sewed the "dream & play" tiles and sewed three times around the ATC.






This is a photo of me when I was three. I went with the cowgirl theme!



Tim Holtz showed me how to make tiny wire bird nests at one of his classes last year. I made a whole bunch of these at the retreat last year with my sister so I knew I wanted to make a card where I could use one of these nests as an embellishment.



I've had this transparency forever so it was time for me to do something with it! Using it on this ATC seemed perfect. I sewed the transparency onto the background paper. Inside the keyhole is text that says "secrets".

A matching key is attached with ribbon at the top.

Snow & Ice

This was my first time going to the Winter Carnival. It was their 125 year celebration.....which included 125 different events one could enjoy!

We went to the St. Paul fairgrounds where the exhibitors were working until midnight for the final judging competition being held the next day at noon.

My farm roots must be showing because my favorite exhibit was the milking cow!




The sun is so bright it is very hard to see all the details. There is a cat patiently waiting for a drop of milk....and I love the two milk cans that are more realistic that the real thing.


There were so many exhibits.....each one so very unique and fabulous!
















At the ice sculpture show I was delighted to see that they actually had an "ice" bar in which all the beverages were sold!









This was an amazing wall of ice that displayed the sponsors for the show.






















We spent the entire day outside and the weather was absolutely perfect!

I officially have winter wear and so enjoyed the day!

Both events were in St. Paul and took us about 15 minutes to get to our destination. I am already looking forward to the events for next year!

This event was in 2010...I am just now getting some time to post!

Highly Prized

As promised, this is my journal that I decided to use for the year's Sketchbook Challenge. It was my second choice but it became clear to become my first choice because of the Arches Text Wove paper I used for the text pages. The binding is a Coptic stitch so it easily opens flat.






In addition to my sketches, this journal also has some collage work. The pages that you are viewing says "Dream" and the page is in black and white.






This page has the same image as the first page but in color and I have written "in color".....so the complete message is "dream in color".










This is my January entry for Highly Prized. I plan on doing just a few more things to each page, i.e. watercolor all the "O's" on the written text.

I will also list the entire path of buildings that I walk through on my way to work. It is a brisk thirty minute walk....but oh so nice!

You can read more about the Sketchbook Challenge by clicking on the icon on the left side bar. I encourage to participate!

A New Life

After many months of planning, designing, and building, we are finally officially in business.

We are located in the historical Flour Exchange Building which is skyway connected and in the heart of the government corridor.

We absolutely love the beautiful space we have created for attorneys.




Our kitchen is perfect and the best thing is the automatic dishwasher! Since I have taken this photo, our Bunn coffee maker arrived and it now sits on the counter next to the refrigerator.

The kitchen has a huge window and is large enough to be our mail center along with fax and copier.


This is the lounge area of our office where the overflow of clients can sit and/or attorneys can visit.

We have hung several art pieces since this photo was taken.





We receive so many compliments from our clients on the floor. It is Asian Walnut and is absolutely stunning.

I am definitely having this flooring in my new home!







This is our largest conference room that has video conferencing capabilities. It seats twelve. The table was custom made by TulsaWoodSmith and personally delivered and set up by the owner on a snowy weekend. He and his wife traveled from Tulsa Oklahoma to Minneapolis for set up and we spent an awesome weekend together!

He also built the receptionist desk that is seen in the first photo. We HIGHLY recommend his shop if you are wanting anything built with beautiful woods! His work is beyond amazing!

Morelaw Minneapolis has a website that you are invited to visit. Enjoy!

Dinner Invitation

Art can be expressed in so many ways. My very dear friend prepares delicious meals to share. This is eye candy for the body.

Beautiful presentation! Thanks Debbie for another wonderful meal and conversation!!

Sketchbook Challenge

Just thought you'd like to know...... I am going to participate in the Sketchbook Challenge group and post my progress. I invite you to join in and have some fun too! Click on the Sketchbook icon for all the information you need.

I think this will be an excellent New Year's art challenge. Let me know if you are going to have some fun with this challenge and I will visit your blog!

Nest

I made this piece for an art journal round robin. I really like the layout and had an opportunity to use my rubber stamps with the calligraphy. And that's a good thing!

All You Need Is A Friend Who Has Chocolate!

In our art journal round robin, June added a fabric image to her page. I wrote the quote "All you need....." by Sophie Diehl, Age 11.



And of course, I had to add the Brownie recipe! The paper I used as Arches Text Wove with gray card stock for the backing.

Altered Surfaces

I highly recommend two books that are published by Design Originals. Altered Surfaces and Transfers and Altered Images both by Chris Cozen. She's a working artist representing Golden Art Products.

Both books are packed full with easy to follow instructions and plenty of inspiration.

So I decided to give it a try...using a tiny canvas. After the background colors were added and dry, I added the image with bees wax.












I think I will leave this tiny canvas just as it is!




























The tiny tin bird was a surprise from my friend in Japan. Thanks Minori!















This canvas piece is my favorite.













When I found the sentiment in my stash....I thought it would be fun to add a metal number 2.....just for grins.









This is my second favorite canvas.