Embroidered Hairstyles – Take 1

Hand-Sewn Hairstyles That Cascade From Embroidered Hoops by Sheena Liam

by Kate Sierzputowski on May 24, 2017, Colossal

 

Fashion model and embroidery artist Sheena Liam hand sews images of women whose hair seems to gracefully dangle from each of her 2D surfaces, Liam using black thread as a substitute for her subjects’ long locks. The works are all completed and displayed on embroidery hoops, with hair styles extending from the women in french braids, messy buns, and long ponytails. In one particular design, tiny pieces of thread are seen attached to the wall below the hoop, creating the illusion that the embroidered woman above is messily trimming her bangs.

Liam creates relatable, solitary moments within each hand sewn hoop. You can see more of her elegant designs, as well as snapshots from her travels, on her Instagram. (via Teen Vogue)

 

Sheena Liam

 

Sheena Liam

 

Sheena Liam

 

Sheena Liam

Art Therapy – Take 1

Art Therapy: Fictional Self-Help Book Titles Painted by Johan Deckmann

by Christopher Jobson on May 25, 2017, Colossal

 

“Copenhagen-based artist Johan Deckmann examines the complications of life through clever titles painted on the covers of fictional self-help books that appear to tackle life’s biggest questions, fears, and absurdities. A practicing psychotherapist himself, Deckmann thoroughly recognizes the power of language in therapy and possesses a keen ability to translate his discoveries into witty phrases. “I like the idea of distilling words to compress information, feelings or fantasies into an essence, a truth,” he shares. “The right words can be like good medicine.”

Deckmann often takes his pieces beyond simple language and into the realm of visual puns, such as an LP cover titled “The very best of the voices inside my head” or the juxtaposition of smaller and larger suitcases labeled “Baggage” and “Emotional Baggage.” All of the pieces have the faded color and worn texture of 1970s era self-help guides that were popular at the time.

Deckmann’s books have been exhibited around the world since he began the series in 2015, including a solo show last March at Andenken Gallery in Amsterdam. You can follow more of his recent work on Facebook, and on his website.”

 

 

 

Kindred Spirits

Nino Chakvetadze via Zen to Zany via Cathy Ruggiero

Be Happy

Life Lessons by AwePost

“The Portrait of a Mottled Parrot”

“The Portrait of a Mottled Parrot” – Paul Militaru Photography

A Bit of Levity – Take 2

Wimp.com

And the Building of the Greenhouse Officially Begins!

It might not look like much to you, but this is beautiful, as far as we’re concerned.

Our good dirt and driveway guy, Eric, came over with his tractor today and smoothed our really bumpy driveway and then proceeded to clear land for the greenhouse my husband and I are going to build.  It’s to the east of our house, on the extra 2 acre strip we bought to add to our land several years ago. It’s the only halfway level spot we have on our almost 8 acres of land…

The cleared space we need is supposed to be 15 feet x 15 feet in order for us to build a 12 foot x 14 foot greenhouse. The first step is to drill and then pound in the corner spikes. My husband cut 2 foot pieces of pipe, then we got big, heavy angle iron to weld onto the spikes, making corner posts to which we’ll attach the treated wood to make the perimeter of the greenhouse.

This is no small step. We had to use explosives in order to be able to dig our basement, put in our septic system, and prepare for the swimming pool we never built 30 years ago. We have a cement drill that we’ll use to drill holes down as far as possible. Then we’ll use a sledge-hammer to pound the spikes with angle iron into the ground.

I’ll take pics as we do this.

I’m really excited to have the plot ready to attack!

Amber’s New Toy

We bought some toys for Amber when we first got her two weeks ago. We also gathered the toys that our other dogs played with for a bit and then lost interest in, or never liked, and put them in a big laundry basket on the porch.

Today, while we were waiting to pay our wonderful dirt guy, Eric, for clearing land for our greenhouse and making our driveway much less bumpy – at least until it rains a lot – I gave Amber the water bottle I had just emptied, minus the cap. She LOVED it.

 

All you could here on the deck was the distinctive sound of a plastic water bottle being crunched. The just couldn’t get enough of it.

 

We’ll have to remember this lesson as we go forward. Our sweet Amber has gone from 18 lbs two weeks ago when we brought her home to 25.8 lbs today, when she turns 3 months old.

We introduced her to Eric. A good time was had by all.

A Bit of Levity – Take 1

Wimp.com

Hahahahahah – FunnyPica.com

Paper Art – Take 6

Toilet Paper Rolls Art – Pinterest

 

 

Work of Art – A Look at Paper Flowers

 

 

Work of Art – A Look at Paper Flowers

“Romanian Mountains”

“Romanian Mountains” – Paul Militaru Photography

Make a List

Begin with Yes

My list has been thrown up into the air and has blown away in the wind lately – ever since we made the decision to get a new puppy in the middle of trying to get my husband’s cataracts removed.

We only have one more appointment with the eye doctor and my husband is feeling fine and getting his energy back now. He is being a big help with the puppy now, so I’m not feeling quite as fried every night way before it’s time for bed.

Today I called our dirt guy to tell him we were functional now and to please put us on the list to clear the land for our planned greenhouse, as well as repair our driveway. Happily, he MIGHT be able to work our projects in this afternoon!. We have some errands to run, but we shouldn’t be gone long and will be home to receive his call if he can, indeed, come today. :0)

• I want to get back to doing a session of yoga every day.
• I want to take some time to play in my art room.
• I want to be able to sit and read a book for awhile.
• I want to be able to take a nap.

Now that my husband is recovering, I’m feeling more able to call on him to give me a bit of time and space to regain my sanity.  I’m delighted that we adopted Amber, but she is a double handful of extremely active puppy. I find that I’m a much better ‘mom’ to her when I can get my act together a bit between sessions.

So I’m ‘adjusting accordingly’ right now, and hoping to get a little bit of my normal life back soon.

 

 

Amber on the Run

We made a 100 foot dog run for Amber, to use when she is feeling feisty and we need to be somewhere else for a few minutes. We usually monitor her while she’s on it, since it’s possible for her to get the harness off if she moves in just the right way at the right time.

 

She makes quite a show of biting the rope and the connecting hardware, and then happily runs back and forth, finding a cat to chase, or a bug to sniff, or the water dish at one end.  She also gets frustrated because she hates restrains of any kind, and so complains a bit.

 

We just got back from taking Amber to the vet for another set of puppy shots. She’s 3 months old today. When we brought her home to be a part of our family two weeks ago, she weighed 18 lbs. Today she weighs 25.8 lbs. – a growing girl!  She was a good girl at the vet’s. She tried to play with two doggies that were on their way out while we were waiting. She licked the hand of our vet and smiled at him. He smiled right back. He pronounced her very healthy and set us up for the last set of puppy shots, plus a rabies shot, in three weeks. Then we’re free until we take her to be spayed in August. I can only wonder what she’ll weigh by then…

OOAK FUN Hand-Painted Aprons

“Lady Bugs” Hand-Painted Apron by Linda Lewis

This is a sample of my one-of-a-kind hand-painted adult-sized aprons now on clearance at Creative Artworks!

There are

• themed aprons
• holiday aprons
• aprons with attitude

They are on sale now at 50% off plus free shipping to the contiguous United States.

(People outside the contiguous U.S. can email me at linda@creativeartworks.cc and I’ll find out shipping costs. You can pay via Paypal.)

First come, first served. These make fun gifts for friends and family, or something special to wear at holidays dinners in your home.

OOAK hand-painted aprons by Linda Lewis

CREATIVE ARTWORKS – Handcrafted – Hand-Painted – Unique -AHHHH!

Paper Art – Take 5

Paper Cut Works by Bovey Lee

 

 

Peter Callesen-WebdesignerDepot

 

 

Portraits of Endangered Animals Around the World

Gorgeous Flowers

Ginger Charles, Greenwood Arkansas

Ginger is a “Purple Person” as I am. I think she took this photo in her yard. I found it on Facebook and wanted to share it with you. Are YOU a ‘purple person’ too?

Memorial Day in Greenwood, Arkansas

Greenwood Arkansas Memorial Park

Greenwood, Arkansas is a small town about 9 miles south and east of Fort Smith in west-central Arkansas.  At last official count, there were a little over 9,000 people living here.

There is a ‘square’ that makes up most of ‘downtown’ that brings back happy memories of visiting my grandmother for two weeks in the summers in Nevada, Missouri. I felt all grown up, getting to stay there by myself, walk to the shops and the library by myself and be thoroughly spoiled. My grandmother was phenomenal, taking sole care of my grandfather who was bedridden from Multiple Sclerosis. She seemed to look forward to the visits of her grandchildren, one at a time each summer, doing all sorts of wonderful, special things we would remember vividly the rest of our lives. When my husband showed me Greenwood, planning to take a job in Fort Smith, I fell in love with it immediately.

The court house used to be in the center of the square. One time it was destroyed by fire. It was again destroyed in 1969 when a tornado leveled the town and killed many. The clock tower is all that remained in the center of the square. Recently, a local businessman built a new copper-looking roof for the clock tower. It really looks wonderful, shining in the sun as you enter the square from any direction. (The court house is now across the street to the south from what is now called, “Memorial Park.”)

Several years ago funds were gathered and grants won in order to turn what was a nice little park into “Memorial Park” – honoring our veterans. If you look carefully, you can see plaques that have been set in concrete up and down both sides of the concrete paths in the park. These were purchased by the families of the veterans to honor their family member for their service to our country. There are more plaques in the park each year. Flags are put out on all appropriate holidays – a sight to see! What you cannot see in this picture are statues commemorating each of the services around the base of the clock tower. Nice benches were added and some lights, and hanging baskets of flowers, and a nice wrought iron fence around the street side of the park. There is a gazebo on one end, surrounded by knockout rose bushes, where people sing and play instruments from time to time.

This is the center of our town. A town proud of the people who made our country great, who served to keep our people free.

Ahhhh- a Bit of Quiet….

Amber has been on 3 walks this morning so far, has inhaled a heaping cup of puppy food, jumped into her kiddie pool, visited her ‘dad’ and Molly in the office, played with ‘mom’ and is finally sleeping.  Ahhhhh – a bit of quiet.

Last night we had a good friend over to share a cookout with us and meet Amber. Amber was amazingly good for a crazy, hyper-enthusiastic puppy. Our friend wore sandals and Amber wanted to lick her toes. Both laughed.

“Properly trained, a Man can be Dog’s best friend.” ~ Corey Ford

Memorial Day 2017 – 2

Romper – 10 Sing It Loud and Proud

“I have never been able to think of the day as one of mourning; I have never quite been able to feel that half-masted flags were appropriate on Decoration Day.  I have rather felt that the flag should be at the peak, because those whose dying we commemorate rejoiced in seeing it where their valor placed it.  We honor them in a joyous, thankful, triumphant commemoration of what they did.”  ~ Benjamin Harrison

Memorial Day 2017

Memorial Day Pictures

“That’s what it takes to be a hero, a little gem of innocence inside you that makes you want to believe that there still exists a right and wrong, that decency will somehow triumph in the end.” ~ Lise Hand

“The Earth Laughs in Flowers” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

I don’t know the name of this group of burgundy lilies, but we’re really happy to see it each year. All the buds open and it’s like a huge bouquet.

 

Here it is from a different angle.

 

We’ve had so much rain this spring that a cactus in the wild part of our place is blooming!

 

We have a pot of these impatiens on either side of our front door.

 

This is one of a trio of brick planters that divide the driveway from our front lawn.

 

This lone sunflower is blooming between the house and the shop. The bloom is opening more each day.

 

We love these yellow lilies!

 

Extremes are Pounding My Garden

http://www.intellectualtakeout.org

My poor square foot garden is reacting to the cool weather, then hot, then too much rain, then the cycle all over again that we’ve been having over the past several weeks.

 

This is my square foot garden, minus the tomato plants we have on the opposite end of the house. We have six 4’x4′ planters at about chest level inside a fence and reinforced around the bottom by chicken wire. As you can see, my lettuce is starting to bolt.

For those of you who are beginners, as I am, ‘bolting’ lettuce is bad. It means the plants shoot way up high and start to go to seed. Usually this happens when the weather gets too hot.

 

When this happens, the leaves start to get bitter-tasting. I’m going to harvest as much as possible during the coming days, but a lot of work has gone to waste. :0(  This is the red leaf lettuce.

 

And here is the Romaine.

 

My Georgia sweet onions seem to be doing well.

 

My celery plants look healthy, but nothing like what you would buy at the store. I have no clue what to expect here, but I’m having fun trying.

 

More celery.

 

I’m trying to get the spaghetti squash plant I grew from seed to spread out as much as it likes. It’s blooming, but again, I have no clue whether I’ll actually get a spaghetti squash or just a lot of leaves and blooms.

I still have some spinach, but it doesn’t like the hot weather, either.

My tomato plants on the other side of the house are still looking pretty good. I’m hopeful we’ll start getting ripening tomatoes soon.

Each year I feel like a complete beginner again. Every year I’ve had a square foot garden, the results have been completely different. Each time I feel I’ve learned something, Mother Nature laughs at me.

I love the process of planning, planting, and hoping, though. The greenhouse we’re building will hopefully help me do some laughing myself! (The progress of the greenhouse is slow because the first step is clearing some land. Our weather has not been cooperating, so we keep having to move it to another week. This forecast shows you what we’re dealing with.

 

Too Often

Life Lessons by AwePost

Paper Art – Take 4

Paper Necklace Jewelry – Pinterest

 

 

Maude White

 

 

Les Papiers de Peter Gentenaar

“Thirst”

“Thirst” – Paul Militaru Photography

Truism

Pinterest

I’ve already told you I’m a slob. I’m on a mission – albeit off and on, depending on my energy – to get rid of a bunch of STUFF in our house.

I’m tired of “piles” of things, and we have them everywhere. Now that we have a new puppy whom we are trying to get used to our home more and more, it’s really important that she not run into PILES of things that will get HER in trouble and make ME crazy.

We also have a good friend coming over this evening for a cookout. I’ll at LEAST need to get rid of the piles of stuff around my chair. It would be NICE of me to arrange that she can put a glass down beside her on the couch, plus HAVE a clear place to sit down, as well, wouldn’t it!

We have the food prep done for our evening. I’ve taken Amber out twice this morning, so I’ll use the lull in needing to meet her needs and clean up the living room, bathrooms, kitchen and dining area.

I can see that my home would be in much better shape if we had more new puppies and more guests! The good thing about going through the piles is discovering things I had misplaced or thought lost. It’s like a treasure hunt! The bad thing is that I tend to get distracted by the things I find, wanting to do something with them…

We dodged the severe weather from yesterday, and the cloudy skies seem to be clearing up for a nice evening. I really enjoyed sitting on the deck this morning after Amber and I had a long walk, enjoying the cool morning.

I hope that you are enjoying the nice long Memorial Day weekend with friends, good food, and fun.  If you get bored, you can think about me uncovering something wonderful in my living room!

Waste

Purple Clover via Cathy Ruggiero

I would LIKE to take the above to heart and quit worrying, but it seems to be something I carry deep into my DNA. I TRY to say I’ll stop, but then it rears its ugly head again.

I worry about things about which I have absolutely no control – a sure sign of stupidity – but, KNOWING it’s stupid and ACTING on it are two different things.

So, I post this in the hope that each of us will read it and digest it, hoping that THIS TIME the sense of it will sink in.

31 Gymnasts

“At first they duck down around the mat, then they form a grid pattern – that’s when the real performance begins. They added in elements of surprise which only kept you guessing what they would do next. One moment they would be sitting low to the floor, and the next they would be soaring to the ceiling. It was so unpredictable. As eye-catching as they were by their costumes alone, their moves took their performance to a level that had those in the audience sitting at the edge of their seats waiting for all they would do next. With music by Cirque du Soleil and Mark Mancina playing, they gave everyone a whole experience to enjoy.”

31 Gymnasts Stand Around A Mat, Seconds Later The Audience Gasps

Holly Reyes  5/18/2017

LifeAspire.com

This is truly the most amazing performance I’ve ever seen.  I hope you enjoy it, too.

If the link above doesn’t work for you, here is the URL to copy and paste into your browser:

http://www.lifeaspire.com/7154/31-gymnasts-come-together-for-astounding-routine/?utm_source=jjoy&utm_medium=Facebook&utm_campaign=main&src=jjoy

 

Amber Might be a Weather Girl!

Today we have had Amber for two weeks. This two-week period has changed all of our lives for the better – although it will be good when she settles in more.

She seems particularly hyper today. My husband remarked on it, too. He took her out for her early morning take-care-of-things outing and then fed her. Amazingly, she sat down when she saw my husband was filling her food bowl! After breakfast, I took her for a longer walk. We saw Smoke, the cat, and met a turtle for the first time. Amber looked at it, crept up to it slowly, then jumped backwards, barking.  (I told her I would protect her. :0) )

 

I just came in from walking her again. We brought her into the office with us, putting up a gate across the doorway. She found Molly, who was trying to take a nap. Molly wasn’t happy with the situation, but she bore it with reasonable grace. Amber tried to play with her again and again. We grabbed Amber’s harness so that the contact was mainly face to face, rather than Amber trying to jump all over Sweet Molly.

 

Amber played with her tug o’ war toy a few times, but seemed distracted. I have a large, heavy, solid glass paperweight shaped like an apple. I put it on the carpet and Amber loved it. There is no way she can hurt it, and on the carpet, it can’t hurt her.

She usually settles down for a short nap after we go out for the longer walk, or at least is content to play with her toys on the porch for a bit. She is definitely unsettled this morning.

Our weather forecast is for strong storms with rain, wind, hail, chance of tornadoes, and flying hair balls today. She doesn’t seem scared, and she has been through a couple of hard rains while on the porch in the past two weeks.  Maybe I’m wrongly conflating her hyperactivity (even for an active puppy) with the unsettled weather wrongly, but I think we may have adopted a weather girl!

Tales of Amber

Amber at 11 weeks of age is a study in motion. Saying she is an ‘active puppy’ just doesn’t describe it adequately. If you take your eye off her for a second, she has found something else that is fascinating – and, like a baby – she puts it into her mouth to get the sense of it.

We’re bringing her into the house with us several times a day to teach her house manners. These photos are taken in our office. The dog gate my husband made years ago is up so that she can’t get out – yet. She can’t get under it, but I think she can get over it if she figures it out. So far, she doesn’t know, and that’s a lifesaver for us. :0)

 

Tomorrow she will have been with us for 2 weeks, and what a two weeks it has been! She is actually sitting for a split second while we put her food bowl down. We say, “Okay” very quickly and declare victory for now. She is much better on the leash and now goes up and down stairs pretty well. She is sleeping in her crate at night with no problems, chooses to sleep in it for naps, and usually manages not to chew her crate blanket TOO much.

She is learning the perimeter of the ‘civilized’ part of our yard. She associates the shop with my husband and dog biscuits, trying to drag me there on every walk. She is nipping less, reacting to “NO!” and the clapping of our hands. (Sometimes it seems that’s ALL we say. When we see this, we change the location or the activity or both.)

Our biggest problem at this point is Molly, our cocker spaniel/schnauzer cross. She misses Bambi and the quiet life she had BA (before Amber). She really doesn’t like the way Amber dives into her face, wanting to play. She is 12 and, though she was the playful one when we had Bambi, she has misplaced her “play” button for awhile. We concentrate on getting them together in a monitored situation and giving Molly lots of love, special perks, and attention.

I’m reading the new book I got yesterday, called, “Everything Labrador” or something similar, to find out what we’re supposed to be doing. I’m hoping they give us new insights into Amber, how we can train her well, and how to integrate her into the family as smoothly as possible.

Our day revolves around when Amber was out last, how long has it been since we had a play time, etc.

New puppies are a joy, AND definitely a character-building exercise.

The Hummingbird Lady

I’ve had these pictures for quite awhile, and I neglected to get the name of the person who took them, so I cannot give credit as I would like to. I was fascinated by this lady and the hummingbirds’ attraction to her. I could sit with a little feeder in my hand until I melted into a puddle and hummingbirds wouldn’t flock around me like this. What a special lady she must be!