New Beginnings

This is the result of my time in the art room this past weekend. I was working on my swap for the Stampin' D'amour group. The photo is from a collage page from Art Chix, I altered it with pencils and ink.

Tradition

I've been thinking about the word "tradition" lately. We have, in general, dropped a lot of the traditions that our ancestors gifted us with-we don't attend church regularly, we keep sketchy, expensive versions of family holidays etc. DH and I decided when our children were small (they are 25 and 28 now) that even if we could not keep or did not have "traditions" we would make them. We were a little $$$ challenged in the early days, and February usually found us in debt to the pediatrician and the oil company, and I was usually housebound by weather and sick kids. There wasn't any money for elaborate celebrations-so I started making heart shaped meals. Cream chipped beef on toast cut with my heart shaped cookie cutter. Mounds of mashed potatoes formed and baked golden brown on a cookie sheet. Heart shaped pancakes. One year I was down to a couple of packages of ground venison a neighbor had gifted us, I don't care much for it, but my Valentine did. So I constructed a heart shaped meatloaf! DH was so amused and touched-it's one of his favorite meals, and I don't often remember to make it. So for more than 25 years I have been making my Valentine a heart shaped meatloaf, mashed potatoes and corn. When the girls had boyfriends, they sometimes brought them to supper-just to prove their mother was that crazy. So for your amusement I am including a picture of this year's creation. I will also use this pic in the cookbooks I'm constructing for the above mentioned children. DH and I recently celebrated our 35th anniversary-it must be the meatloaf.

Gothic Arches-Hearts

This is my offering for this week's Gothic Arch Challenge. I originally cut the right side of the paper lace heart off-to conform to the arch-then wished I hadn't-soooooo...being as I had 6 kinds of glue on my table top-I glued it on behind-kind of recessed. It is kind of cool. Notice that the weekend's warmer temps have not made much of an inroad on our snowpack! Ick...

Two More Matchboxes

Altered Matchbox

I still have that pad of Basic Grey Bittersweet paper on my art table. It blends so nicely with the die cuts from Tattered Angels. This is the first matchbox I have altered, so I don't know if I broke any rules-but then again-would I be me if I didn't bend a few rules along the way?

Gothic Arch Challenge

This week's challenge at Gothic Arches is Tag Your Arch. I made a heart shaped tag from rusty screen, added a face stamped and distressed and some butterfly wings from
Tattered Angels.These components are layered with Glitter Mist in two colors. The background papers are again from my new pad of Basic Grey Bittersweet. Used my little Distresser from Tim Holtz-sure is easier than the old emery board method. Thanks for looking.

Sunday Post Card Art

This Sunday the challenge is Circles. My circles are very little, but I love that sequin scrap ribbon, and used it to stencil circles in the back ground-then as a tag. I also added circular postage cancellations. I used my new pad of Basic Grey-Bittersweet and some new German Scrap from Artchix. Thanks for looking.