Busy Weekend

Whew...What a busy weekend! I went to an awesome class/workshop/monthly club thingy at "Stamps And More By Eleanor" , which is an local stamping/scraping shop, on Saturday. Look here for more great classes http://www.stampsandmorebyeleanor.com/. I go there for my paper/ink/fiber/stamp fixes...usually leave there with a glazed look on my face...unable to converse logically for about an hour or two. I'm sure that my dh would say that in itself was fairly normal for me...Anyway, I wanted to go to the Altered Book Club meeting but got the times confused and ended up at the Tag Art Workshop. They use Tim Holtz stamps and the alcohol inks to do a different technique every month. I LOVED it! I am going to try and make the workshops every month. They take place the first Saturday of every month at 1:00pm. Anyone out there want to go with me? I soooo long for a fiber art friend that lives close to me ! One that loves to quilt as well. I have a lot of neat paper and fabric that I am willing to share...Perhaps I should put an ad in the local paper...hmmm. maybe I will.

The background of the rust/gold/butterscotch tag was done with the Adirondack Alcohol Inks and the Alcohol Blending Solution. It's a very simple , 2 step technique. If you're interested, I'll be glad to email you or post the directions. We then added images from printouts and placed Tim Holtz Fragments over them , utilizing Glossy Accents. It looks really cool.

The Eiffel Tower one was done with a mix of water, Faded Jeans Distress Ink refill and Perfect Pearls. You then spritz it onto the tag. You can't see the gold sheen sheen on the background but it is there, and it is beautiful! I'm going to try it on fabric next.

Of coarse there are different techniques on the top of each one. If I have time, I may post those as well.

Speaking of "will" , I'll turn the subject to Mother's Day. And the "Will" I speak of is my son, Will. He surprised me with a beautiful card, a yummy candle AND a bag of luscious chocolate! Yes, Will , the kid that once told me that Hallmark came up with Mother's Day so that they could make more money...lol. There is a picture of the card front above. It reads "Wonderful". Inside it says "That's what you are."

Now, isn't that just wonderful that he picked it all out himself ? I love the flowers on the front of the card and may use there likeness on a smallish fiber project.

My awesome (and handsome) husband gave me 2 dozen roses (wow!) that are really beautiful. I love getting fresh flowers and he often brings them home to me for no particular reason at all. Maybe to ward off bad juju...? Nah, he is just a really good guy. He also cooked me a special dinner Saturday night...champagne and all. Did I mention that he is an AWESOME cook? I guess by now you can tell that I think my husband is terrific...he truly is my knight in shining armor, dents and all.

We went to my mom's in Toccoa Georgia for lunch on Sunday , after church. We took my mom out to eat and my sister, Chrisie and her daughter Bonnie went with us. Man , I can't believe how quickly all the kids are growing up! Bonnie is 14 going on 21. Beautiful blue yes and so slim and curvy...hey wait. What did I just say?!? Curvy, yes! Yikes, my BonBon has curves galore! I'll try to post a picture of the dark haired beauty. She really is the perfect combination of her mom and dad. My mom was so glad to have us all there but we sure did miss my older sister, Cindy. We lost her one year ago to Renal Cell Carcinoma. She was so brave through the whole fight...she was such a giving woman. I know that her 2 sons, Jason and Matt, missed her so much this Mother's Day. There is a hole in all our hearts that will never be filled on this earth...but we will see her one day. All smiles, walking again, helping everybody else out...never a thought for her own comfort...that was my sister.

After Georgia, we went to T.R.'s dads to see his step mom Sandra. They were not home yet so T.R. planted her Mother's Day rose bush in her fabulous rose garden. She has THE most beautiful roses! One florabunda (spelling?) bush had 66 buds on it! 66!! She just has the touch for roses. T.R. and Sabrina (dh's stepsister) fixed dinner while we all consumed adult beverages and visited. My husband made up this great , really fast chicken recipe that he fixed. Everyone loved it and it was E-A-S-Y. You take a pack of dinner rolls. Cut them in half (like you're going to make a "roll sandwich"). Take a rotisserie chicken , pull it apart or shred it. Place this on top of the bottom layer of the sliced roll. Spread BBQ sauce of choice (we used a yellow mustard base one). Sprinkle shredded cheese on top of this. Replace the top layer of the dinner roll and warm/toast in oven. Eat! Enjoy the crowd exclaiming over how great it is!

I will say here that I am truly blessed this Mother's Day. My mom and mom-in-law are such wonderful, caring women that I know I could turn to for anything. I hope that they both know how very much I care for them.

Among all the travel this weekend, I did manage to knit up a wool bag that I am going to felt. The "small project bag" ...hopefully it will turn out ok, as I just made it up as I went...

This morning I had to sit and wait for another appointment and while I waited, I knitted what is going to be a paint brush holder / pencil holder to put on the large work table in my studio. I actually finished it this afternoon AND felted it! Man, I am on a roll here with projects! I just had to sit a lonnnngggg time this am...I'll take pictures when it's done.