Going to be away

Hello friends. 

Well it has been quite a time with illness and loved ones struggling with health.

I am going to be away next week for a few days visiting my father in British Columbia. He has been deteriorating and we had some alarming news earlier today but tonight the report is quite different. I will be going out to see for myself how he is doing, a much needed trip anyways since I have not been to see him in almost 2 years. 

Take care all, hug the ones you love, tell them you love them and make fond memories together.

♥♥♥

Happy Mother's Day

To my dear Mum
for all you do and continue to do for me, for listening to me, giving advice and just being you.
I love you with all my ♥

Happy Mother's Day to all my friends and family.
I hope you had a lovely day.

More musings to follow in the days to come.
Stay tuned.

More of my Musings

Hi there peeps. Bet you thought I had drifted off to someplace unknown. Well I have been keeping a bit busy with travel and such and tomorrow is my birthday.

Yesterday I went to see my sister and we had a nice visit. We hadn't seen each other in quite some time and I got to view her new home and we had a good time catching up on things. Traffic was not so good coming back. I always question why construction on a busy highway and turning 2 lanes into one during the busy times of the day, it's like sitting in a parking lot and moving inches every few minutes. I am so glad I do not drive for a living. I do appreciate those who do but you are crazy to be putting up with that.

Onto better things. Take a look at these lovely flowers my big Sis gave me yesterday. They are sitting on my table where I create and they smell ever so loverly. Robin isn't really a computer girl but I will thank her here anyways just in case she comes by. They just brighten up the room.

Next, my friend Jeanie made some key tags from the little tutorial that I put up here a while ago made out of  samples for counter tops. Well last night after supper I was  feeling a little antsy so I put that energy to good use. I made up a few more. These ones had a plain cream background so I used my alcohol inks and then used Artchix images for the focal point and cut and added some words on a couple. The green one turned out really cool and of course green is my ultimate fav colour so it is already hanging on my key chain. Woo hoo I actually kept something I made. I really modged the image on there too so it won't come off very easily, and I used a gold paint pen to go around the border to give it a finished look.

These would make great gifties for MOTHER'S day which is coming up very shortly. HINT HINT Ü

And.... I know every one is so sick of winter and cold and snow but I have to show you these snowies.

I will be doing more of these for my fall shows but I was so happy with how they turned out I wanted to  make you smile Ü. The middle guy is my first one and I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out and it did better than I thought. These are gourds I grew in my garden last year. I had lots of them.

There is quite a process before the paint stage. We put them downstairs in our basement over the winter thinking the wood stove would help them go through the dry out process. Well we had all these little flies in the house and when I asked the girls in my paint group what was going on they all told me they just put them out in their garages. Well they get all moldy and when they are ready you have to clean this dirt and mould off them, dry them and then you can paint. YUCK but well worth it in the end.

The hats are made of air dry clay then painted and dry brushed as well as the noses and buttons.  

These are just my first and I hope to do some penguins and more snowies with different faces.

And, I have not forgotten about my giveaway.

I have been trying to make a few things and I will be going through some of my stash to put together a goody bag.

I am so happy to have to date 110 followers and over 200 posts.

I can't thank everyone enough for dropping by and leaving such lovely comments.

Stay tuned for my Blog Giveaway.

Tomorrow is my birthday so another reason to celebrate and give back to those that have been so generous to me.

Have a great day,

♥

Pictures of my trip to Victoria BC

As mentioned in my previous post I was planning a trip to see my elderly father who lives in Victoria British Columbia. Dad lives in an extended are facility and has dementia. This trip was unlike many that I have gone to see but this one was a little harder since I hadn't seen dad in almost 3 years and I knew what to expect but this time was a little different. At no time did Dad call me by my nickname or my name, he did a lot of smiling and sometimes depending on where his mind was at he even looked scared or agitated. I saw days of happiness, days of frustration and the day I arrived it was like I wasn't even there. This disease is aweful, you always hear about other families that have a family member who had or has it but when it hits home it sure takes you aback. Makes one think about how you live your life and how you treat others and how you would like to be treated especially in those elderly years.
I can say that my Dad is well looked after and well loved by his health care team. He is shaven every day, clean clothes and the nurses just love him. Often I heard that " he is my favourite" . That being said I know in my heart even tho there is a lot of distance between us that is he in the best place possible with people who are knowledgeable about Dementia and Dad is living with the utmost of dignity.

It was a very busy kind of trip, not really a holiday although I did seem to find a morning to head on down to Chinatown. I love Chinatown but over the years the stores have changed a lot but the one alley way was still there and held some special little shops that I like to wander in.
Fan Tan alley is what I am talking about and here you will see this long alley way and the first door I came to although I am not sure it was even a shop but I didn't recall it being there before I just had to take a pic. This red door with Chinese characters carved into it screamed at me to take a picture of. I am not photographer and I tried my best to get it all in, the alley wasn't very wide so I couldn't really stand back and get it from top to bottom. Anyways I did find some rice paper napkins to play with in my artwork for ATC's and  cardmaking and some neat Chinese papers with floral designs. It didn't say use for Oragami but I am sure that is probably what it is for.

                                                       
 Gateway to Chinatown (above pic) I was there early, I guess most shops don't open til almost 10 and I was there around 9.

  Chinese School, years ago I was in this school and not sure it is still in use but don't you just love those lanterns?

                                                                      Fan Tan Alley

 The Red Door, click on the pic for a larger view to see those Chinese Characters carved into it. Not sure what all the notes and things hanging on it but I am sure it was for some reason. Made it look kind of junky but oh well, loved the door just the same.

And this is me, my dad's older sister lives in an apartment close by and this walkway goes all the way down to the shoreline, this is part of Victoria Harbour where the Cruise ships come in.

Since my return from the trip  I lost a week of creativity for my shows I have been busy this week making bookmarks, corner bookmarks, more inchie Christmas houses for tree ornaments, next I am doing an idea I got from ARTCHIX studio and I cut out some wooden shaped houses and I am in the process of decorating them with mixed media.
That reminds me, Jackie at the warehouse for Artchix Studio I have been in touch with for an order. I was going to pick it up there while I was in Victoria but because of my appts and schedule I had only 1 day to pick up and Jackie was so nice, she will ill and was going to make a special trip back to the Warehouse but she was willing to drop my order off for me at my hotel. So Jackie this is a huge cyber thank you for doing that for me and I sure hope you are feeling better.
Well that being said I had better hit the kitchen studio again and keep going. Time ticks away, lunch runs into dinner time which runs into evening then bedtime at 11. The workshop closes every night at 11pm no matter what I am in the middle of.
Til next time, thanks for dropping by.

HoHoHo in Stouffville

        Yesterday I took off to Stouffville north of Toronto to visit Mumsy and Thom and the 2 cats.

I had a wonderful time. We shopped, had lunch in a Thai restaurant, shopped some more, met a lovely Italian couple where we had real cappucino and I was even taught how to make it and received from this new found friend Jessie a little pot from Italy to make it in. Wowsa talk about good.

We had a nice dinner out last night then came home to chat and visit.

This morning I was awakened to being served cappucino Mum made, in bed. Wow talk about a little spoilage happening. Might have to do this again sometime soon. :)

Mum and I went shopping in a different little town and I met some wonderful people Mum has gotten to know, had a wonderful lunch again then we returned to Stouffville to shop just a bit more.

My time to leave was coming near so we got the car all packed up, and I mean packed, trunk full back seat, front seat, you name it, I might have had it.

Thom gave me some wonderful items, a large wooden spool, I have ideas for that, a huge tin pale, a cast iron vase on a pedestal, a terra cotta cat for the deck next summer and a milk can and ......a huge crock with a lid. Mom and Thom thank you soooo very much for your hospitality and love.

Thom and I had a good couple of laughs at the expense of Mum, poor Mumsy but she took it in good stride.

Wonder if that item will appear tonight now that I am gone. he he

Now that I have given Mum this box I can show you what I painted for her.

This is a rectanguar box with a lid, it is not hinged, and I know Mum loves old world Santa's. This is more a primmy Santa but he has an armful of toys and such. I mixed the background paint for a vintage look then painted this Katrina Roncin design on it. I also filled the box with some little treasures, my inchie Santa cube, a notebook I altered, and some Christmas cards I made.

This item I wanted her to have before Christmas so don't go peeking into you bags now that I am gone. I might have to get Thom to keep tabs on her, if it were me you would want to lock those up because I would want to feel and smell everything. I am just just a little kid with packages that just cry out to be opened. Perhaps that is why JB won't put my pressies out til Dec. 24 because he knows I can't stand just to look.

2 can play at that game tho. He he

Today Mum and I also got our picture taken with Santa so as soon as Mother sends it to me, hint hint, I will post it here. We couldn't do it before because of circumstances such as they were so we did it today. He was a nice Santa too.

Thanks again Mum and Thom, Alley and Sophie for having me and all the wonderful things you do for me.

I love you.

Also for rescuing me when I got a little lost. Ooops we won't go there right now, it is another story and would take a while to explain that one.

Thank goodness for cell phones is all I can say.

Good night.

Update on my brother

I am so relieved although serious enough as it is, my brother had a blockage in his main artery and if he had ignored the symptoms it would have been far more serious. After a 4 hour angiogram they found the blockage and did the angioplasty right then and there. If all goes well tomorrow he will be home.
Thank the Lord for his recovery.