the PAPER COWGIRL ART RETREAT was a BLAST!!!

I am so excited to share with you the Paper Cowgirl Art Retreat! This is a long post because there are a lot of pictures, so grab something to drink, put your feet up and relax as you scroll through the Paper Cowgirl Art Retreat......

As the time approached for me to leave for the Paper Cowgirl Retreat last Wednesday, it seemed like my studio, aka crack house, became more and more dangerous to walk through. I took a couple of pictures just for you to see my work table. . .
Can you believe this? I'm so ashamed.
I arrived in Waxahachie last Wednesday after driving for five hours - I had so much "art stuff" in my car that I looked like I was going to California and didn't know the way.
The retreat was held at the Hampton Inn *my favorite hotel* and my room was so, so nice as evidenced in the photo below of my bed.

Then there was my "art stuff's" bed. . .

Thursday my friends, Rita and Susan, and myself, went shopping in McKinney.

Oh, my. There's this store there called Smitten. I left a large amount of Frank's money there. We had such a good time at Smitten's and the other shops we hit. Then it was back to 'hatchie for the "Meet and Greet" held at the Dove's Nest in historic downtown Waxahachie. Amazing.

Meeting all of the girls, seeing old friends, meeting women I've known like forever through emails and blogs and shopping at the Dove's Nest while enjoying appetizers was so much fun!

My class was scheduled to take place the next morning, Friday morning. I was so excited I could hardly stand it! I LOVE to teach and I had put so much into the prep for this class that I felt like I already knew all of the ladies so I was anxious to spend some time with them!

For those of you not in the know, I was teaching a class called, Home is Where Your Art Begins, and it involved painting and collage on a 16" X 20" canvas. So, okay, I'm on my way down to set up the room.

Oh, I simply must show you what I filled my "students" goodie sacks with - all kinds of wonderful little things that I hoped they would love. Look at that Aleene's Tacky Glue in the wee bitty bottles. Cracked me up - I had to buy them!

I was VERY fortunate to have a lovely assistant. LOL My BFF, Mendy Mitrani, one of the other teachers for the retreat, helped me in class and she was really SO helpful! Here she is with Terri, showing the class the example I brought from home that I had painted the prior Sunday. It's a collage of Marie Antoinette and worked well to show some of the different techniques we would be using on our own canvases.The class started with a blank canvas; literally! They had a wee bit of homework which was to paint their blank canvas with a layer of Gesso to prepare the canvas to take the paint well.

The next step, and first step in class, was to lay out what you THOUGHT your collage would look like. I have found that God always has his own idea about what it should look like and not to get upset when something doesn't work that I wanted to use! So, we all cut, shaped, and laid out our collage.

The next two steps involved painting a light color of their prominent color all over the canvas.

From there they could add other colors that complimented their first 'wash'. Then they added some papers.By changing from painting to laying papers, back to painting to laying more papers, they were able to create layers. It was at this point that I taught them how to use napkins in their painted collages. Boy howdy, was that ever a hit!

Here's my finished canvas. You can see that I used a napkin for the flowers along the bottom, cut papers, torn papers, stamping, coffee stained cheesecloth, glittered rose, a "special event" tag next to a multi-flash (remember those???), a metal circle, the Paper Whimsy girls, of course, and layers of paint.

Everyone worked very hard in my class and at the same time, we caught ourselves roaring with laughter at something someone said. It was a riot!

I had just the BEST CLASS! I loved every one of my students and hope we will remain friends and see each other at least at next year's P.C. Retreat!

Andrea, who is from San Antonio - right down Hwy. 10 from me:), was totally focused on applying her first layer of paint.

I wonder what it was that caused Cara to stop drying her paint to check out Lisa? LOL

Here's Mendy, my lovely assistant, helping Nancy dry her first layer. In front of them, Terri and her daughter, Andrea, are hard at work!

Here's Elizabeth, aka Stripper Girl, AND good sport! It's a long story, but even without hearing the whole story, you can imagine how hard we laughed. It was so much fun. In this picture she is showing us her finished canvas - it's simply lovely!

This is Nancy, a darling woman whom I've had the pleasure of knowing from last year's P.C. Retreat. Here she shows us her beautiful canvas. It's not quite finished (the fence needs to be attached), but didn't she do a wonderful job?

Lisa is rightfully proud of her canvas. She used a picture from a vintage magazine and napkins to make a soft and beautiful piece of work.

Wow. I wish I could tell you who did this piece, but I took the picture without the artist.

Duh. But, even though we don't know the exact artist, we can all enjoy the collage she created. I think I know who it belongs to, but not being sure, can't say. But, for the sake of the post, we'll refer this canvas as Rhonda's Canvas. (Gosh, I hope I'm right! LOL)

The canvas below is Cara's. I know that because of the yellow in the first layer:) Didn't it turn out great??? She incorporated several of the House of 3 color copies that I brought and are so beautiful.

I'd almost bet the ranch that this next lovely piece was done by Kim. If you read this post and you know better, please email me and I'll fix any mistakes I've made! But, whoever did it, it's wonderful, isn't it? I like the way the pieces of collage seem to grow out of the one attached to it. (Did that make any sense???)

Me, working hard on my corsage in Mendy's class.

Rhonda and Karen - sweet picture of two friends!

This picture was taken in Mendy's class.

Phyllis and LaVerne working hard, or is it 'hardly working', dragging, pooped....whatever it is, it's in Mendy's Corsage Class!

My finished corsage in Mendy Mitrani's class - isn't it beautiful??? I simply LOVE it and Mendy was such a great teacher!

Me with my happy face on and Mendy.

Just some of the spoils from the huge ATC SWAP hosted by an amazing Barbie look-a-like.

Just a hint of what I received in the Paper Ephemera Swap hosted by the delightful Jamie Miller!

This is the most precious Dale McLain who taught a class with a bird theme, I can't remember the name, but it was so wonderful! And just look at her sitting up there on that credenza like a pin-up girl from the 50's! She's a cutie, alright.

Dana and Leisl are chomping at the bit to get started in Dale's class!

"PUT THE GLUE GUN DOWN, LEISL!

PUT THE GLUE GUN DOWN.

WE CAN TALK ABOUT THIS.

DALE ISN'T GOING TO ASK YOU TO DO ANYTHING YOU'RE NOT CAPABLE OF.

THINK OF ALL YOU LEARNED IN JAN'S CLASS.

WHAT? YOU LOVED JAN'S CLASS? YOU WANT TO TALK TO JAN?

WE CAN ARRANGE THAT, BUT YOU'VE GOT TO GIVE US SOMETHING.

JUST PUT THE GLUE GUN DOWN.

WHAT??

AND, YOU WANT SOME ICING SHOTS? NO PROBLEM. BUT, LEISL, YOU'VE GOT TO GIVE US SOMETHING."

Shannon is working hard on her piece in Dale's class.

Lisa and Dana can still have fun while working on their pieces in Dale's class!

I LOVE this picture of Kim. We all have that look on our face at least one time when we're working on a new creation!

These following three photos are from the SHADOW BOX class taught by Joanna. There were some really precious pieces made in that class!We had MANY swaps to go along with the retreat and one of them was the CROWN SWAP. Here are two Paper Cowgirls with their crowns atop their heads!

Here's Andrea, her mom, Terri, and Cindy, ready for VENDOR'S NIGHT! They're probably looking for those icing shots!

Two sweet Paper Cowgirls during VENDOR'S NIGHT.

LaVerne and Nancy had a shared "booth". I think Nancy came out ahead in this partnership as LaVerne is buying some of her items!

And just where did Nancy disappear to when it was time to tear down???

Poor LaVerne, on the floor.....will she be able to get up without help? Here are some cards I made to sell at Vendor's Night. I used my precious Paper Whimsy girls on them along with some wonderful "flashcards, patterned paper, hat pins and swirls!

There were some left and I'll be listing them in my Etsy shop and my Lollishop........soon..........very soon.

My pink flamingos are lined up and ready for the long walk to 'hatchie!

Look at them - you can see how excited they are!What to cover my table with at Vendor's Night???

I pulled out some vintage tableclothes and dresser runners, ironed them and they looked mahvelous!

Here's my table at VENDOR'S NIGHT. I packed it full so it would look really good!

And it did:) I had such a good time that night.
Glittered and dressed for a Texas garden with their coordinating pink bandanas, these flamingos were a huge hit!

The PAPER COWGIRL RETREAT is nothing if it's not filled with the most wonderful women and this year was no exception. Everyone was wonderful, lots of fun, kind, helpful, I could go on and on.

This is Karen - she was a doll.

And here's Cheryl playing Queen for a Day with her wee bitty crown! Dale had these little crowns in her goodie bags and they were quite the hit!

Susan and Rita and I terrorized McKinney on Thursday - here's a picture of them at lunch. We had such a great time. Susan is a delight and, knowing Rita for many years, I can tell you that she's a dear!!

There was always time for a hug as Shannon and Lisa prove!

I could simply end here by saying, "The End", but I have to tell you one more thing.

I may have said it earlier, I don't know.

The Paper Cowgirl Art Retreat is a dream retreat.

It's filled with the most wonderful women, amazing teachers, great bosses, lots of fun things to do to fill our "down" time, and it's in Texas!

Yee-haw!

That being said, I'll leave you with one last picture - a picture of the poster women for Glue Guns.

And to show you how well they do their job (they didn't want me to say anything), they are the ones that talked Leisl down. She gave up her glue gun and no one was hurt.

Thank you, Mendy.

Thank you, Jan.

XOXO, Jan

THE REST OF THE STORY. . . . .

I started this story on Facebook and am going to finish it here.

For those of you that didn't read the fb entry, I went to the doctor yesterday about a blister on the bottom of my right big toe that, over the weekend, had ulcerated. I knew that it had, I had been on my feet for the past five days instead of staying off of my foot and taking care of it.

But, we all have choices to make and I chose to honor a commitment I had made that caused me to travel out of town and be on my feet like a regular person (said tongue in cheek). I had gone to my doctor last week about the blister and had been following her instructions. I could tell nothing was happening very quickly, but I went ahead and left town knowing that I would continue to take my antibiotics, keep the blister bandaged, clean, medicated, etc.

So, I went straight to my doctor when I got back in town (Monday), she sent me to my podiatrist (today) that took care of my ankles after my surgeries in '06 and she sent me straight out for an MRI to make sure the infection hadn't made it into the bone - if it had, get this, readers, I would probably "loose my toe". I wasn't laughing then, but now must shake my head with a tiny little smile on my face just thinking about the things I do that God takes care of for me....read on....

Oh, and the radiologist noted a stress fracture of the 2nd metacarpal (I think that's the right word:)- probably caused by pushing down really hard on my bicycle pedals when riding up hills. But, the good news was that the infection was not in the bone. Praise God - I so don't deserve His unending care!

So. Here I sit, laptop in my, well, my lap, ice cold diet Cherry 7-Up on the table next to me, a stack of b'day cards to write of which I'm way behind, tons of pics on my camera's memory card to blog about, pictures to upload onto Flickr, blah, blah, blah. I have plenty to keep me busy until my next doctor's appointment on Monday. However, I doubt seriously I'll be back on my feet that soon. She'll probably keep me down for at least two weeks. (Now, that sucks. LOL)

Okey dokey, thought you'd want to know what was going on with me. Thanks for being such sweet readers. And, check back later this week, like in a couple of days, because I still have to blog about another one of Joan and my adventures during her visit AND the Paper Cowgirl art retreat!

Be safe! XOXO,

. . . . . . . . . . . .Jan

MARIE ANTOINETTE, FLAMINGOS AND GOODIE SACKS IN THREE MINUTES!

Before I say, "goodnight", I simply must show you what I've been up to these last couple of weeks.
One thing, and it was covered in the last post, is that my sister, Joan, is here visiting from Indiana.
Oh, have we had fun. And, as usual, it doesn't take much for me to make myself laugh so hard I PIMP and when I'm with Joan, I'm often the only one laughing. She's says I'm not funny, I'm stupid.
Oh, how wrong she is!!
Anyway, I've been frantically getting ready for the Paper Cowgirl Art Retreat that I leave for this Wednesday. I say "frantically" because Satan has been trying to have his way with me by doing mean things to keep me from accomplishing all that I need to do......like crashing my new computer, having T-Mobile continue to be T-Moron - oh, I will be blogging about them after this retreat - and a bunch of other stuff I can't remember.
See??? He's even messing with my memory! I'm down to one brain cell! YIKES!!
So, here I am trying to get ready for the retreat at which I'll be teaching, am heading up a 22 participant ATC swap and am participating in Vendor's Night.
It's 10:30 here and I'm so tired all I want to do is go to bed! But, first, let me show you -

I did a run-through of the class I'm teaching just to brush up since it's been a while since I painted and that's what I'm teaching. (Don't tell my students!) For my practice canvas I did a very simple Marie Antoinette collage painting.
This is a close-up of Marie herself and some of the most amazing vintage lace that I added!

This is a close-up of the chandelier. It's really cool as it's a napkin and looks all old and cracked.

This here's a close-up of the vintage lace that I cut off of a larger, wider piece and a vintage drawer pull. Oh, so cool, I think.

I wish my camera took better pictures. These pictures don't do the canvas justice. But, never fear, I'm saving my money to buy a new camera so sometime in the next couple of years.......hahaha!

Oh, these are great.......tonight I "glittered" these flamingos and they're in my flower bed drying! I'm going to put a pink bandana around their necks and sell every one of them at Vendor's Night!

You can't see the glitter well at all in this picture, but trust me, they're "glittered" and look smashing!

And, I think I'm safe showing you the goodies that will be in my student's sacks that I've made. I doubt any of them have time to read my blog this week! I made them the most precious sacks and wrote them letters on these amazing tags that I made and am filling their sacks with all you see below! Won't they be surprised??? Don't you just love really cool surprises? I'm so excited for them to get their goodie sacks!

Okay, that took just a few more minutes than three, but it was a really fast post! I felt like I had been ignoring you and wanted to show you what I've been up to so now you know as much as I do! LOL

I won't get a chance to post again until I get back from Paper Cowgirl, but I'll have lots to show you then! Also, since I've been such a mess this month and didn't get a giveaway done, in July I'll have two fabulous giveaways! I hope that's good with y'all!

I've got the best readers in the world and I thank God for you!!

XOXO, Jan

"THAT was really scary."

JOAN, SECOND FROM THE LEFT

As you know, or don't know because you remain uninformed and for that I apologize, my baby sister, Joan, is down from Angola, Indiana, for a two week visit.
"YES!"
Oh, we do have fun! We both love junking ("thank you, Jesus!"),

she's a professional photographer and I have a camera and love to take pictures,

she doesn't mind at all for the top to be down on my convertible and

we both ride bikes.
Ahhhhh. Heaven on earth.
And to think, she's related and we love each other and are BFF's.
Isn't that just the best???

So, I thought that while she's here, I'd keep you abreast of anything interesting, odd, or just plain stupid because "stupid" can be REALLY funny.

Let's start with scary.
I didn't mention "scary", did I?
Well, I think that's because I didn't expect to have a sub-title, "scary"!
But, alas, my life is full of surprises.
Sometimes my art is scary (so say my boys, friends, husband......"Why did you put a fish on top of her head???" "Clay. It's ART.", blah, blah, blah)

Okay, I disgress.

So, Joan asks me if we have a meat market close.

See, she's an AMAZING cook and does all of the cooking when she visits.

Of course, the Tank is so excited when she comes to visit because his beautiful, though busy, wife doesn't do much cooking.

AND, when she cooks, she makes extra and freezes it.

BFF's - it's a perk!

Okay, so she asks about a meat market after we've just bought groceries at Stupid Wal-Mart (enough said) and I tell her there's one in the town down the highway from us. For the sake of the story we'll call it the "Comfort Meat Market".

We drive down to 'the town down the highway from us' yesterday and go to the Comfort Meat Market.

We walk in together.

It's small and old.

There's a stainless steel meat case across the front and on the right wall there's a hand written sign telling the public what they have to offer and the prices.

Okay, I didn't see any mention of "human cuts" but I swear I saw a man's thigh (plucked) cut into steaks. Joan said I was wrong, that there weren't any cut up humans *rolling her eyes*, but I'm here to tell ya, we didn't buy any steaks. Case and point.

Behind the meat case, leaning on it, is an older man who looks a little like this (exchange the hat for one of those white paper rectangle hat things):He looks at us and says nothing.

Joan says, "Hi".

He replies with, *definately not with a lilt in his voice* "Hi. Whatchawant?"

I think it was at that moment that we both wondered how we could back out of the door gracefully - "Oops, excuse us, we were looking for the Dairy Queen. We'll just back out of the door."

We approached the meat case and that is when we noticed his "helper" standing to the back near the large refridgerator/freezer, I'm not kidding.As we looked at the meat in the display case, both Joan and I (as we discussed while peeling out of the parking area) noted that all of the meat looked a wee bit dried out. There were two chickens in the case....I wanted to ask him how much his cornish hens were but thought better of it.

We stand there for what seems like forever, the meat man staring at me. *I'm the cuter of the two of us.* Joan turns towards me like I'm going to make some kind of decision. Shut up!

I'm busy keeping my eye on the helper.

I tell her to pick out what she'll use in her cooking over the weekend because I KNOW she feels like she needs to buy something.

As she looks over the porkchops she asks how thick they're cut and Mr. Meat tells her they're *narly-ish* "one-half inch".

She asks if he could cut some thicker for her and he tells her, *in a wierd way - you know what I mean* "I'm not going to pull out a big ol' slab if you just want one or two. I'll only do it if you want a lot.".

Hey, look Mr. Meat, it's not like there's exactly a line forming here.

Joan passes and picks out the thickest of the one-half inch thick pork chops, pays, and we head for the door............The minute that door is closed behind us both of us say to the other,

"THAT was really scary."

We hadn't spoken of our reaction to any of it until that moment (we couldn't exactly comment on the amount of blood dripping from the chainsaw) and we both had the same thought.

Of course, that started an entire litany of what had transpired and ended with us deciding to tell Clay (my 19 year old) that we needed some bacon and sending him to the meat market.... alone.... to see what his reaction would be. It was at that point that we couldn't talk in full sentences because we were laughing so hard thinking up different scenarios.

See? If you have the right attitude *warped sense of humor* you can turn "scary" into "PIMP" (Pee In My Panties).

The End.

Until the next adventure, remember that I love my readers and I live for comments and thick-cut steaks.

XOXO, Jan

BUSY WORKER BEE GETTING READY FOR VENDOR'S NIGHT AT THE PAPER COWGIRL RETREAT

Meaning, I have no personal life, no time for telephone calls - 3 minute maximum, even my mother, cooking (oh, waaaa), cleaning (bigger waaaaaaaa), but I'm getting so much done.
Oh, wait, what I mean is that I'm getting so much done between telephone marathons with T-Moron (aka, T-Mobile), a laptop that is new but needs to be dumped in the trash. Instead, it's at the shop getting a new hard drive! This is after getting an external mouse because the mouse stopped working, and a CD drive that's never worked. All of that is going to be a future post - I have a lot to say......

Today??? I simply want to show you what I've been working on for vendor's night at Paper Cowgirl.......

These first three photos are pictures of lavender sachets I've made. Are these tags too cool? They are copies of hand-colored engravings, circa 1779, and the originals are the property of artist, Sandra Evertson. And, let's not forget the fabulous fabrics (toile and cottage roses), ribbon and the gold brad.

These photos are of wee bitty pots with precious little bird's nests, teeny eggs, mommy bird and a Paper Whimsy fairy to watch over the nest.

These following photos show you wonderful bird's nests, each seated on vintage lace or, as with the pink bling birdie, a vintage ladies glove. Each nest has ribbon, eggs, flowers, a gorgeous bird resting atop the nest and a tag. They're so wonderful! I simply love them!

I have so, so much more to do to get ready for not only vendor's night, but the class that I'm teaching that there's no time for chit-chat today. My three minutes are up - LOL.

Bless all of my readers - especially those that aren't too shy to leave a comment.

You know the comments make my day feel like my birthday....."show some love, leave a comment." (said with an Italian accent:)

xoxo, Jan

SO MUCH TO TELL YOU, SO MUCH TO SHOW YOU, TOO LITTLE TIME!

Okay, I gotta be honest with you - I am so sick of being on the computer that it is only my love for you that keeps me on it. I've been taking pictures of finished pieces, fixing the pieces with my software, uploading the pictures to my lollishop and describing, pricing, proofreading...it's enough to make one want to set themself on fire.

So, this post is going to cover a multitude of pieces that I've finished and are now for sale (I am nothing if I'm not subtle) in my lollishop and I can't help but throw in a couple of pictures of another one of my boys (Blake was in the last post).

This picture is of my oldest son, Craig, ummmm, let's see, he's 24, and his girlfriend, Janna. He's a policeman - he loves it; I don't talk about it - and his squeeze is a doll!

No, it's not a model - it's Craig.

I know, I know, it's confusing, but it's true. . . . . .

Is it a crime to describe your son as "a hunk"?

The rest of these pictures are of pieces I told you I've just listed in my lollishop.

They're self explanatory so I'll just let you browse through them and I'll go to bed.

Sounds like a plan!

Who doesn't love Marie Antoinette???

A set of almost funny tags:

A set of summertime tags:

A set perfect for that special friend:

The tag slides into this sleeve...

Oh, I have to tell you - the brown spot on the envelope below is a shadow from the fabric it's laying on - it looks like I laid my cigar too close to it, but really it's just a shadow.

This is a cute little tag (it has an envelope, but blogger just ate the picture of it. Stupid blogger):

Ahhhh, another delightful set:

Next precious (LOL) set:

Okay, that's it. I don't know how blogger is going to interrupt my spacing of pictures and font sizing, but you know what?? Tonight I'm too tired to care and I really need to get this posted.

.......Don't let their spill on my posting ruin the eye candy you've just enjoyed. ROTFPIMP!

Love my readers,

all the time!

XOXO, Jan Oh, good grief. Look what I just found way down at the bottom of this screen.

Well, here it stays. Like I said, I WANNA GO TO BED!

WHEN MY BOYS START GROWING UP DOES THAT MEAN THAT I'M NO LONGER 24?

*COMMERCIAL BREAK: COMPUTER'S ARE STUPID. SOMEHOW MY 'PUTER ATE MY TEXT FOR THIS POST. I WILL NOW RE-WRITE IT. IGNORE MY ATTITUTE.*

Blake, our middle child, graduated this month from the University of Mary-Hardin Baylor.

Now, that might not be interesting to many of you, but to me? It's totally worth blogging.

Blake is an amazing person, someone you would be blessed to know - everyone that knows him would tell you that - he's simply awesome in ways that most of us strive to be every day.

Okay. The pictures.

I'm going to give you a description of the photos and leave it at that. No more "text" except for pic descriptions.

Let's start with the flowers that were in our room when we got to Killeen the day before the ceremony. They were laying on the bed with a card and note from our dear son.

I felt like Barbie - flowers in the room.

I'm the one that found the vase.

Frank Two Pies aka Frank the Tank, enjoying the room.

Blake's sweetheart of a friend comp'd us the room and it was such a blessing.

Thank you, again!!

Clay was lovin' the TV - there was a basketball game on - I was really glad that we didn't have to watch HGTV or some nonsense like that.

A very proud mom and a very proud daddy with Blake after the ceremony.

Blakers and Clay. Clay is a sophmore at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor.

I get to do this one last time in three years.

Whoop.

Uncle John (the Tank's brother), me (John is always asking for my kisses), Blakers and daddy.

Craig *he's there in spirit - he had to stay in San Angelo and catch bad guys and couldn't come*, me, Blakers, Clayman and daddy.

The whole family.

Sorta.

I knew you'd want to see yet another picture of me, Blake and daddy.

I aim to please.

This is a picture of Brat, Blakers and Will.

Brat (short for Brittany) is like Blake's best friend.

Will is Brat's understanding boyfriend.

We all love Will.

Brat is like a daughter to me. She's wonderful.

Ahhh, Uncle Emil, Blake and Aunt Melinda.

Melinda is my cousin and one of my fave fives on my phone.

They live in Belton where UMHB is and they were always there if Blake needed anything and actually, they made it so much easier to leave him at college his freshman year especially, knowing they were there.

Melinda and I have been close all of our adult lives and they've both been "Uncle" Emil and "Aunt" Melinda to all of our boys. They're wonderful.

This is a picture of Greg and Laura's precious daughters. I have momentarily (yeah, right) forgotten their names, but they were at the PAR-TAY that their parents threw for Blake at the fitness center after the ceremony.

Friends of Blake's from the fitness center digging into the amazing food that was prepared!

Blake and one of the patrons of the center.

She adores Blake.

Look at the smile on Blake's face.

Enough said. Let's move on.

Brat with her baby.

Oh, wait, that's not unmarried Brat's baby. I'm sorry, Brat. Editorial mistake. ROTF

This is Greg, Blake's boss, who threw the party along with his precious wife, Laura.

I only got to speak to him for a few minutes, but in that short time I could see why Blake admires him so much.

He's standing with the sweetheart (for those not in the know, when I can't remember someone's name, I call them sweetheart. It works better in person and not so well when blogging.), and Blake's good friend, that comp'd us the room at the hotel. Of course, I adore him!

There was so much food at the PAR-TAY. It was amazing.

They had set up grills out back and bar-b-qued chicken and ribs! Shut up! I know!

They went to so much trouble putting on this celebration that I was humbled to think, no, to know, that they think so much of Blake.

In line for some of that amazing food!

What a special day it was! Everyone had so much fun celebrating this milestone of Blake's! I hope by looking at the pictures you felt like you were there with us because I would have LOVED to have had all of my readers there!!

I love you dearly, readers! Thank you for being so consistant and supportive of my blogging efforts!

XOXO, Jan

WHAT? DO I HAVE A SIGN ON MY FOREHEAD???

I've been tagged again! Yep, I get to stop what I'm doing to tell y'all six fascinating things that you might not know about me.

I don't think I need to list "I can be sarcastic at times". What do you think?

I adore my tagger! She's a precious woman that I am happy to be tagged by. *note: does it bother you as much as it bothers me to end a sentence with a preposition like I just did in that last sentence? BUGS ME TO DEATH. I'll be up all night.* I just couldn't think of a clever title for this post.............."I'VE BEEN TAGGED!".

I think that one's been used.

So, the rules are for me to link back to Summer Sunday's blog, which I just did.

Okay, got that part right.

Now, I am supposed to list six other bloggers that I want to know more about so that they can tell all of us six fascinating things about themselves.
It was tough, but I chose:

1. Rowdy Robin at A Robin's Nest
2. Sweet Susi at Star Dust & Moon Beams
3. Mahvelous Mindy at Rockin' M
4. Sweet Tina (it's so who she is!) Sweetina Veronica
5. Darling Deb at the Junkin Yaya ......okay, one more......
6. Always giving Abbie at The Vintage Moth

Whew. That's finished......except now I have to email everyone and tell them they've been tagged - I'm always cementin' friendships.

Okay. Six things that you might not know about me.
This is not going to be easy because I'm rather humble and not one to brag, but, heck, I've been asked, so here ya go......

1. Through my mixed media art I support seven poor families. I am that good.

2. I swam the English channel last year. Naked.

3. I have translated the Bible into five languages.

4. I have personally given birth to 16 children and they were all boys.

5. The walls in all of my bathrooms are painted yellow. (think about it)

6. And, last but not least, none of what I've told you is true. The only truth is that I love blogging and hopefully I made someone laugh as they read this list because I really love to make people laugh.

"Goodnight, Jan."
"Goodnight, readers."



XOXO,
. . . . .Jan

BLOG WINNER A-A-A-N-N-N-N-D DON'T FORGET TO LOOK UP!

May's blog giveaway was this precious stamp set below - oh, how I love it!

I did the drawing last night with the help of my best friend, Annette (she picked the number - always helping; that's just who she is), and the *excited* winner was CAROL O'CONNELL of Vintage Crafter! Yea for Carol!! And, she's from Canada which I think is so cool (well, until I get to the post office) - I'm making friends all over the world with my giveaways and that's the most wonderful thing! (I wonder how far away my farthest away reader lives???)

Oh, and don't forget that I have decided to have a giveaway EVERY MONTH!

Big WOO HOO!!

.....And, now the second part of this post............a fascinating story follows. LOL

Frank the Tank has been out of town this week so I've been in charge of watering his babies......his tomato plants (oh, please). So, I'm standing there watering them, probably not the right way, the gentle way...........I simply laid the hose in the container and let it fill with water and then moved to the next container. (DON'T TELL!) Anyway, I'm standing there just thinkin' about important stuff...you know, stuff like 'do these tomato plants make my butt look big?'...'what excuse can I think of to get out of making dinner? "oh, darn, Tank, I was with the tomatoes so long that I didn't have time to cook! *shrugging shoulders pitifully* I guess we'll have to order in" '...'this chore is great for fluffing'...and, pondering such serious dilemmas as erectile dysfunction.

Okay, I'm just kidding. (Well, not about how I watered them...) What I really noticed was the view towards the highway and how green the plowed and planted front field was and how gorgeous the hills across the highway are and how blessed I am to have that view. And, as I was thinking these things I thought about all of the things of beauty we miss because we don't look up! Like the hills across the highway - not something I see very often because I don't look up.

So, I went inside and grabbed my camera so I could share with you some of the beauty that is all around me. Now, you may not think my "views" are beautiful because we all define beauty in our own way. But, my views are awesome to me - they're bits of life that make me smile (fyi - glitter is a bit of life, too:) and a LOT of them make me smile because they make me think of God and how He is the one that has given us all the beauty that is around us!

I took the picture of the oh, so revered tomato plants, the view towards the highway and now I'm going to show you the view to the left of where I was watering the revered ones - you're looking at the barn area. When I look that direction I am flooded with memories of the boys when they were growing up!

And, so, these are the round bales from one of our hay fields. They'll feed the cattle during this drought and through the winter. The boys and their friends used to climb up on them (the hay bales, not the cows) and play 'keep away' while running down the rows and jumping from row to row! They also make a great background for target practice (so they say).

A close up of some of the barns (you're missing the hay barn - hey, hay barns are important AND they're honkin') and the pens. Oh, my gosh, talk about God's beauty! A lot of the beauty is in the memories of the parties we've had down at the barn - behind the small barn that eventually became my first studio. And also, looking at this area is a reminder that the barn was built in 1890 and that the ranch has been a working ranch owned by the Thomason's since 1890. Wow - now that's vintage and I LOVE vintage!

Oh, this is so cool! I see this beauty every time I take the curve coming up our lane - the wicker settee, fence gate and yard chandelier hanging in the ancient pecan tree. I love this little bit of "me" that you see as you're approaching the house and after you've seen the beauty of the pink bicycles lined up along the fence at our entrance...

See? The yard chandelier! Doesn't it make you smile?

Beauty.

Oops! I need another yard chandelier!

This little sitting area is just outside the fence that runs around our yard. It's crazy *meaning more pink on a ranch*, but it's so me:)
As I was walking around the front yard to get this one last picture for you I passed the front door....my lovely front door that no one ever sees because everyone that comes to our house uses my studio door (go figure). I think my front door is beautiful and I was so glad I looked up and saw it as I walked by!

Ahhh, my favorite place in our yard....the swing. I love to sit in it and gently rock back and forth as I look out at my favorite view.

I always look up and see this view! It's my special place where I can be calmed when agitated, blessed when I am troubled, cooled down after a long bike ride, and simply at peace while I am gently rocking back and forth.

You know what? There is beauty all around us; we simply need to look up from our busy-ness and see it! Even a parking lot is a thing of beauty to me if I find a rusty smished bottle cap! Texture, color, faded color, vintage buildings, children, all of God's people, and let me not forget the horizon - what do you see when you look towards the horizon?

I simply adore all of you, my readers. There's such beauty in your comments.

xoxo,

. . .Jan

"ENTER - ENTER - ENTER!!" ANOTHER FABULOUS BLOG GIVEAWAY!

I promised you monthly giveaways, remember???

I had so much fun two months ago with my very first blog giveaway that I have kept it up and we've gone monthly! Wooooooo Hoooooooo!!

I think it's fun that one of you will win something *most of the time just for leaving a comment*, but, actually, I think I have more fun than y'all do! I love reading the comments - it's like finding something in the mailbox (snail mailbox) that's not a bill when I open my email! Instead, it's full of comments! I LOVE that!

All you need to do to enter May's blog giveaway is to leave a comment on this blog post. That's it! You'll have a chance to win this darling clear stamp set that I ABSOLUTELY LOVE! I have it myself!! Such cute stamps you don't know.

We call this "stinkin' cute" in Texas!
The drawing for the winner will be in ONE WEEK on WEDNESDAY, MAY 13th!

Be sure and tell all of your friends about this giveaway! The more people I have enter my giveaways, the more excited I'll be about having them every month!!

Thanks to all of you that support my blog habit! I love you dearly!

XOXO, Jan

WHY I LOVE TO BLOG!

The letter "B" can stand for a lot of things (Burp, Bookie, Big Lots, Barbie, Bairy Queen Blizzard and, last but not least, Barack [all complaints concerning any implied political "B" satire should be sent to Oprah, the anti-Christ]
.....{okay, I just want you to know that my SIL and I are sitting here unable to Breathe Because we think we're so stinkin' funny. I know we're not, But we're old and it takes so little to Bickle us})
....I'm so digressing.....Back on Bask (hahaha)......

Seriously, back on task........*clears throat lady-like* but, for me, today at this par-tay, "B" stands for "Blogging" because we're having a WHY I LOVE TO BLOG PARTY!

And, you know what? Sometimes it feels like a party when I post! Sometimes I'm so excited about what I'm telling you that I feel like I have on my party hat and a cupcake in each hand!
And, then there are times when I blog that I'm feeling despair or great sadness.

But, that doesn't answer the question of why I love to blog; of why I love sharing with you, my precious readers.
I simply adore sharing my art, my life and especially my humor with you!
I could easily keep a journal and call it a day, but, instead I decided to become a part of the blogging world, geez, quite a while ago.
I wasn't sure anyone at all would read my blog, would care to see my creations, to hear about my life, my family, my adventures....to put up with me when I think I'm funny!
But, I went ahead and started writing. How was I to know that I would actually have readers? Sweet, consistently loyal readers, stick by me through my bragging about my creations, my soapboxes *children living in poverty *rescue dogs*. That's why I blog. That's why I'm concerned when I'm not able to get a blog post written. . .in the back of my mind knowing that yet another day has gone by and you have possibly taken the time to look and see if I have posted and I haven't! AUGHHH!!
It kills me to think that I am not keeping up with my part of the deal like I should!

Blogging is a way for me to let off steam *rarely*, rant about the injustices of the world that make my heart bleed, to show you what I've created in my studio that soothes my soul and hopefully, at times, lots of times, make you laugh out loud or giggle in your heart.

I know y'all are aware that I'm a believer, a child of God, a prayer warrior, daily growing in His spirit. My blog allows me to gently touch my reader's hearts and show the love of God. That's a vitally important part of blogging to me.

So. Those are the reasons I blog! And, you, my loyal readers are the reason I continue to do so - it's so much fun sharing with you and reading your comments *those of you that aren't just lurking! LOL* I just love y'all so much and many of you I've never even met or 'talked to on the computer'!, but, some of you have become dear, dear friends!!

Some of you have been with me through horrible health adventures and have encouraged me through your post comments, your emails, your cards, your "just because" gifts, your birthday and half-birthday presents and your phone calls!! Isn't that just the coolest thing? All of us, artists and art lovers and people that simply love us, sharing our lives with each other???

Is it any reason that I love to blog??

So, have fun at the "Why I Love to Blog" party! Be sure and go to http://www.cupidscharm.blogspot.com/ for the complete list of the bloggers putting on the party so you can visit their blogs! There's like 70 of us! YIKES!!! Isn't that cool?

And, thank you for coming to visit me today. (Please let me know you came to my party! Post a comment! Even you lurkers! It's fun!!) You know I adore you!

. . .Oh, and next week I should be posting a NEW BLOG GIVEAWAY! Those are just so much fun and I love doing them so much that I'm making the giveaways a monthly thing! Whatchathink about that? LOL

XOXO, Jan

DON'T YOU JUST LOVE A GIVEAWAY???

My good friend, Cassandra, who is the moderator of a Marie Antoinette mail art group that I belong to is having a fabulous giveaway!
But, you must hurry! It ends THIS Friday! Go check it out!!