Pick-A-Photo Tuesday: On The Other Side?

Is he the prisoner, or are you? This photo was taken of one of my brother's friends back in the early 90's grunge days. Teenagers are totally into posing for photos... when they don't have to smile that is!

A Walk On The Sand Clears The Mind...

Yesterday was a really strange weather day... windy, cloudy, and very warm. It had to be over 60 degrees! Which, in a New Jersey winter is like a heatwave. So I took a walk down to the beach. It was so nice. And theraputic too! I was feeling a little under the weather (no pun intended!) and it was good to get out of the house and stretch the legs. And what a place to stretch them! I'm pretty lucky.

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and I'm sending wishes for a Happy and Exciting New Year to all of you. May 2009 bring wonderful things!

Pick-A-Photo Tuesday: Stop Fighting What Is

One of the things I'm learning in life is that if I'm in disagreement with how things are... I can create suffering in my life. And that's no fun! Everything is what it is... my job, my life, the economy, my car that needs the fuel injector cleaning and new filters, and so on. And the more I get mad at things and don't accept what is actually happening... the sadder I seem to be. So one of my new mantras is, "stop fighting what is!" And here I have illustrated that point with one very amusing "flea market family" photo I acquired for my collection... and then added the "WHAT IS" in Photoshop.

We Got Some Snow...

Over the weekend, we got a little snow here on the coast of New Jersey. Not much really... less than an inch. But everything looked so pretty. It was nice. Rain on Sunday washed it all away. Until next time...

Sticky-Back To The Rescue!

Okay, so this winter, I took my wool coat out of the closet, just hoping that none of the moths we usually get over the summer thought that it was a tasty treat. But, to my surprise, a kitty cat must have snuck into the closet and seen it as a scratching post! The back of the coat near the bottom had a giant nest of undone fibers, sticking out everywhere! Aw crap. And I just loved that coat!

So I hand wove all the fabric pieces back together and glued them in place with Liquid Stitch. But the glue kind of made the coat look like it was dirty. So then I tried to paint over it with acrylics, but just couldn't get the color right. Then it looked like I sat in something! Sigh.

So, I remembered we had a Sizzix die of a flower and thought—as a last resort—I'd try to cover up the area with flowers using Claudine Hellmuth's Sticky-Back Canvas, Studio Acrylic Paints and some vintage buttons. I'm so happy about how it turned out. Now I can go out in public again! Yay.
*Note: you'll eventually need to tack down the edges with Matte Gel Medium, as the fibers won't hold forever.

Last Minute Gift Idea...

For all those women in your lives... mothers, daughters, aunts, grandmas, cousins, friends, teachers, bosses... who really need to learn to take time for themselves... who have been through a rough year... or a tragedy of loss... or just need a kick in the pants... This is one of my most favorite books:

Simple Abundance by Sarah Ban Breathnach

Each chapter is a day of the year and is only 1-3 pages. For example, the first chapter is January 1. So as it teaches you day-by-day how to appreciate yourself, take time for yourself, notice the little things and such... it goes through all the seasons and has anecdotes and rituals perfect for those times of year.

A very good friend of mine gave me my copy after a very tough episode in my life and I'm telling you it changed the way I look at things. I think I'm going to re-read it again this year. Happy shopping!

©photo courtesy of Amazon.com