Fall is finally here!

Hello Friends and Family. I am so happy that the weather is getting cooler here in Texas. We have had a really hot summer, to the point that I don't even want to go out unless I just have to.

This new tag is for an inspiration mingle in one of my groups. This isn't even close to what I was planning to do, but then my muse took off, and this is where I ended up. I used the Grafix Rub-Ons Transfer Film for the muse and the word "Autumn", on the beautiful leaves tag that is free from Lisa Vollrath web site Go Make Something. Look at the top under the tab "Free Printables". Sorry this isn't the best scan. I guess I should have done a photo instead. I am working on a couple of more challenges, and then I am going to do some Halloween art using some of Lisa's really cool images and ideas from Ten Two Studios.

If you have been following my blog, then you know that I was going to have back surgery this week, but come to find out, I am having two surgeons and they couldn't get together this week or next, so my new surgery date is October the 6th. They say everything is set now, and on the 30th I have to go to the hospital for my pre-op visit, and new blood tests because the hospital says the tests can't be over 7 days old, so the ones I have already had have to be repeated!! Then on Oct. 2nd I have to see my back surgeon again so he can tell me what he has already told me about the surgery! It's not bad enough to have to sit around for a month and worry about the surgery, but now I get to pay for the same testing twice! I am pretty frightened over the surgery because when I had my right hip replaced (for the 4th time!) I had a horrible infection and nearly died, and then I went 10 weeks without a hip joint, while taking IVs everyday and lots of other medications for about 3 months until I was well enough to have my 4th hip prosthesis put in. Anyway, please keep sending your good thoughts and prayers my way during this upcoming surgery. They say that the bacterias that I had are still in my body only dormant, and I sure want them to stay that way!

So everyone have a great weekend, and nice weather, and enjoy yourselves with friends, family and make some art!

Girls Night Finished!

Hello Friends and Family. Well, I stopped playing with this, and here is the finished product. I used watercolor crayons and pencils to color the photo. It was great fun to do. At one time in my life, I worked at adding color to sepia and black and white photos, so it was a little like that, but this was way more fun , more like coloring! I added the gold German scrap around the photo to "frame" it, and the rest is just wall dressing! I hope you enjoy this piece. Oh, I did a little rubber stamping in black, and the title is done with that Grafix Rub-Ons Transfer Film. I love to use this stuff because my handwriting that was once really nice now looks like chicken scratch. TTYL.

Girls Night Out Challenge Lottery

Helllo Friends and Family. I am working on a piece for a challenge in one of my groups. The theme is "Girl's Night Out". I was looking through my images that I have saved on a little external hard drive and came across this one (my computer is too old, slow, and has such a small memory that I can't store things on it). While this is not a family photo, it could have been. This could be my mom (the baby in her family) and her sisters. Starting on the left would be Aunt Theda, Billie Lynn (my mom), Aunt Sis, Aunt Avis, Aunt Gwen, and Aunt Mussy. (I remember them getting together occasionally, and they would be playing the card game Pitch, and just having the best time. Oh course all of us kids were sent outside to play....for hours. We only got back in to go to the bathroom! Since I live in Texas, the drink would have been iced tea, and not hot tea, but other than that, this photo is like looking back in time for me.

I am a real beginner with Photoshop, but I did sharpen the image, and I think I took out the dust and scratches, and then I messed with lightening it all over, and I am pretty happy with the way it looks. Now, I am going to add color by hand, crop, and finish the piece. I will put up the final results later today. If you are like me, that big old Photoshop makes me a nervous wreck, so just remember to duplicate your image first, and play with the copy. If you destroy it, you still have the original, and you can copy it again and start over. I keep saying I am going to take some lessons, but who has the time!

Be my bra and give support for breast cancer

Hello Friends and Family. I was sent a link to a site where you can make your own breast cancer iconic doll so I made mine and here is it:http://www.mylifetime.com/fun-games/games/dress/be-my-bra Go make one for yourself and have some fun! I am looking for a button so I am off in search of the breast cancer button to connect my readers to information about breast cancer.
If you have a breast concern, please don't put off having it checked by your doctor. Hugs to you all, Mary Lynn

Make It Mondays Challenge

Hello friends, family and fellow bloggers. Here is my piece for Lisa Vollrath's Make it Mondays challenge. This piece is very shimmery and glittery, but you really can't tell it from the scan. I love birds, trees, water, but I really don't get out much anymore, but boy what a camper I used to be! Yes, I know it is Thursday, but oh what a week! I had to get my dress form dress finished and in the mail, and then I worked on this piece. It is called Friends Forever, and I really like this piece, but I am thinking of a way to give it away. Let me think, and I will come up with something. I am also working on some challenges and inspiration art for a couple of my Yahoo groups. I am also getting ready to have some fun with my fall and Halloween art, (I call it Fright Night because I just like the word Halloween). I want to make some slide jewelry to give to some friends too.

I have been busy with doctor appointments and testing this week too as I prepare for my back surgery next week. I will be putting up some more new art before then though. I am really back in the spirit of creating now that my nightmarish fog is starting to lift (over the death of my dear sweet brother). He loved to do art, and I am trying to do art for him now too, and he loved life, and he was such a hoot, that I know he wouldn't want me to give up living, or art so I am really trying to get back to myself. It has been almost a year since we found out that Charles had cancer, and my life changed so much through the last year, some for the good, and some not.

I want to say a big ol' Texas thank you for all of the nice comments on my dress form dress. The dress is paper napkins, not fabric! I love doing it and the cause: cure for breast cancer auction. Please go make a bid on some of the lovely dresses at the link I posted yesterday, or maybe the day before: http:/stampsaladotexas.com. Well, I am wiped from appointments so I am going to lie down and read for awhile. The old back just want let me set here any longer. TTYS, and hugs to you all, and God bless.

Dress Form for Breast Cancer

Hello Friends and Family

I am so happy to show you my finished dress. My dress is made from paper napkins, green tissue paper, and green tulle, beads, ribbons. I had an awesome time planning this dress and then actually doing it! This dress is for a charity auction for the Susan G. Komen Foundation. All of the proceeds from this auction will be spent to find a cure for breast cancer. The auction is being generously hosted by http://www.stampsaladotexas.com/. This is a really artsy town about 150 miles from me. You do not have to be at the store to bid on this dress. Just go to the site, and scroll down to the bottom, and there is a link to all of the dresses. Also you will see three ways to place a bid on a dress. My dress has been mailed, but it is not there yet. I can't wait to see it with all of the other beautiful dress forms. If there is any way that you can support this worthy cause, please visit Stamp Salado and make a bid. Thank you so much!

Next Step, adding some style

In the top photo, I am wraping some tissue paper around the top to sort of make a pattern ( more work needed there!). In the bottom photo, I am adding some beaded trim to the bottom of the napkin skirt. The weight of the beads is really pulling the skirt down. I will think about this, and I am going to go iron some napkins and glue the edges together to make it large enough to gather, and decide about the trim. I took the paper back off of the one napkin here, but it made it too thin and delicate so the white paper on the napkin needs to stay on for strength.

More Dressing

Hello friends. I am working on finishing my dress form. In the photo on the right, I have added the gathered green tulle over the tissue paper. I tacked the two together around the waist so they couldn't slide up. It looks pretty just like this I think. This was a double layer of tulle, folder with the fold at the bottom. I hand stitched the seam down the back of the tulle before I gathered it.
In the second photo, I am working with my chosen napkin pattern. These are the small napkins, and I wish I had the large napkins because the napkin does not go to the bottom of the form, but I think  t will be ok.

Slip for Dress

I am working on my dress today, and after looking at the tulle layer over the wire frame, I decided to first add a slip. I'm sorry these photos are so dark. I forgot to turn on the flash.I went to my tissue paper stach to find some white tissue, and low and behold there was the same color of tissue as the green tulle! So, first I had to iron it because it was so wrinkled. Next I turned down the edge to gather the paper by hand. I wish I had turn it down again though. You have to be careful sewing the tissue because the threads will rip through. I then gathered the paper onto the form and tacked it to the wire frame to hold it in place. This is two pieces of tissue gathered, and I will glue the seams shut rather than sewing them. Next the tulle layer, and finally the paper napkin skirt, and top.

Altered Friends

Today, I played around with this, and I finished it so I thought I would just post it tonight. I want to be working on my dress form, but there have been so many interuptions at my house that I haven't been able to concentrate. You see I am preparing for some major back surgery.  I have been poked and prodded all over. I have had at my house, a social worker, the occupational therapist, the nurse, and the physical therapist.  All of these people are helping me to prepare for surgery, and they will take care of me here at home, after my surgery. I love that I can have home health care. That will so make my life easier. (I am in a wheelchair if you didn't know. I can share how that happened at another time). I am looking for a really inexpensive lap top computer so that I can be online as I am getting better. If you know of a place let me know .

Well, I am really tired tonight so I am going to go zone out on a little TV and call it a night. TTYL, and blessings to you all.

Make It Mondays Challenge

Here is my entry for Lisa Vollrath's Make It Mondays challenge. I know I am a day late, but I have been so busy, so I am just happy I have something to display! This weeks theme is Chocolate. If you want to play then visit Make It Mondays and read how. I really like this piece. I'm not sure if it is the colors, or that it is about chocolate! I found inspiration for this from the book "Embellished Emotions for Scrapbookers". I don't scrapbook, but if you like clean, orderly layouts using poems, quotes or sayings then this is the book for you. The author is Trudy Sigurdson, published by Making Memories. There must be a hundred ideas or more in this book. You might want to look for a used copy because I don't know if is still in publication.

I will be posting more photos later today of my dress for the wire form. It is time to get it in the mail!

Embellishments

Why does it have to be so difficult to make these decisions? I know for me that I have too much stuff! I picked out a few things, and I will probably weed out some of them, but first the construction of the dress, and I am starting that right now. I will post more step by step photos later today.

More auditions

I am still looking for just the right combination. I was going to do the whole thing in pink for breast cancer (my favorite color), but since this isn't for me, I decided to go with somethings else, and my winner is the pink, red, and blue with the moss green tulle.

Auditions for my dress form

Here I am draping various paper napkins around my dress form. I have picked up these napkins from various places, but mostly at Hobby Lobby. This part of trying different things is so much fun....you do have to put back all the things you are not going to use, but oh how exciting when your ideas start coming together, and you start to visualize the finished product. I love to work this way because I am such a visual person, and if you ever get stuck for an idea, try my method, and I think it will be an instant inspiration for your project. This works for me with ATCs, squared art, and altered art.

New Art Project

Hello! Is anyone out there? I know it will take a while to get some readers back to my blog, but I will blog away anyway. I have a project that I am working on that I very excited about. Here in Texas we have a town named Salado. It is a real arts and crafts town. I love to go there and just look in all the shops. This is also the home of the famous artist Thomas Kinkade. Well anyway, I have friends Kate and Pat who live there, and I found out that Sandy at Stamp Salado was hosting a silent auction, and all of the proceeds are going to the Breast Cancer Foundation. The participants are required to "dress" a dress form that is carried by Stampington and Company, and that the "clothing" must contain at least part paper. I am all for supporting this foundation that is working to find a cure for breat cancer, and then that could lead to a cure for all forms of cancer. As you frequent readers know, my husband and my brother both passed away from cancer. I feel that this is a worthwhile project for me, and has helped me to become excited about art again. I am taking photos of my work, step by step, in case you would like to make one for yourself. Here is the dress form as it came from Stampington:

Hello Family, Friends and Fellow Bloggers

As all of you know, my sweet brother Charles has passed away. For weeks I have been just unable to do much of anything, just living in a dark place. I realize now that I have to get back to the living of my life. Life is short, and I know where my brother is, and I know I will see him again. He was such a dynamic person, and so easy to love. Several people have told me that they were saddened to hear of his passing. They said that through my words that they had come to know and love Charles, and some have said that they are changed for the better from having met him here on my blog. I am so honored that you feel that way about my blogging, and I can so understand this because I feel the same way. My family and I were blessed to have Charles, our angel, here on earth with us for 58 years.

In the process of grieving, sometimes you may feel that life isn't worth living any longer, or that your life doesn't matter. I have gone through some of this, but I had a long talk about it will my Sis, and that my life does matter, and the blogging that I do, and the making of my art is important too, but still I just couldn't feel it. I need to be needed by someone, and what I do and the way I feel is not worthless. To "better" myself and feel more worthy to go on living, we have decided that to honor Charles we MUST get back to living, and that there is another someone out there that needs love, encouragement, and someone to care about them. We have found such a person, and her name is Joanna. We are going to reach out to her, and just see if she is interested in forming a friendly relationship with us. So I am hoping that she will, but if it doesn't work out, then we will look again. I know there is someone out there that needs me to care about them, just as I need to care for them. I want to matter to someone, just as Charles did, and so I lovingly say that Charles you are in my thoughts from day to day, but you are forever in my heart, and so I am moving forward.

My first step in getting back to normal after many months of heartache and trips back and forth to San Antonio to see Charles is to get back to blogging, and to making art. Since it is so late, I will sign off for now, and post a new project that I am working on later today that means something to me.

One more thing: I have had some many beautiful comments and emails from several of you. I know many of you sent cards, gifts, and money to Charles. I will always hold you and your generosity in my heart as well. I am blessed that you read my blog and "met" my brother, and as I told one person by email today, please don't ever think that when you leave a comment, send an email, or offer your condolences that it really doesn't matter because I am here to say to you that yes what you said and what you did made a huge difference in my life and in Charles' life. Your words to me helped more that you will ever know....until you are in my position of having lost someone that you love so very much, and I pray that there will be family, friends, and blog buddies there for you.

With warmest regards to each of you who read this, and God bless.
Mary Lynn