To Everything There Is A Season

This very tall Ash tree has been ailing for a few years.

Safe to say it reached its end.

Unfortunately, it was very close to my house, and cost an obscene amount of money to take down.

Over 80 years old.

Today's lesson: Be careful where you allow trees to grow.  Generations from now, some poor shnook might curse you!

Enjoy!

Wacky Answer

Everyone guessed Kodak film for yesterday's (8-29-12) Wacky, right?  Do you remember that type of packaging, however?  I think it's a 126 cartridge film box.  As a matter-of-fact, I have an old 126 camera tucked away that I used for years.  In this digital age, I still prefer actual film and actual pictures; how about you?

Playing Cards

This is a favorite playing card pair of mine.  Love the colors and style; I'm guessing early 1970s.  Remember stylized ladies with an art nouveau flair?

Pretty cool.

Enjoy!

Wacky Pack Wednesday

I thought I better post this Wacky before this product is extinct.  As it is this size hasn't been manufactured for years.  

Enjoy!

TT/Funfair

The Tag Tuesday theme this week is "Funfair."  I immediately thought of Ferris wheels then thought of the great, old movie "Meet Me In St. Louis."  The 1904 World's Fair is a backdrop to the plot.  So I was able to use both ideas.  The image of the Ferris wheel is really from the 1904 fair.  And the bottom ad was a billboard at the time.

Enjoy, and if you've never seen "MMISt.L," go treat yourself!

Wish You Were Here

The second attempt at the "turn a song into a mini collage" idea.

My family knows when "Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd comes on, all other activity must cease.  It's been my favorite song for decades; never tire of it.

And how about David Gilmour's hair (second from the left)?  In my antiquated opinion, guys should still look like that.  At least someone had a camera handy so we can look back.

Enjoy!

Robert Van Allen

Found a small, nearby, friendly estate sale yesterday.  This fabric/canvas picture was hanging on the back porch.

Very cool.  The artist is Robert Van Allen who designed this type of work for fabric, china, flatware, and lighting fixtures in the 60s and 70s.  And at $1.00, the price could not have been right-er.  Not sure where it will hang yet.  Might have to redecorate a room to accommodate it!

And who can't use paper, pencils, staples, more paper... all for $2.00!

Enjoy!

Flower Shots

Just adding to all the flower photos floating around the internet:

Enjoy!

Wacky Answer

Yesterday's (8-22-12) Wacky Pack might have stumped the non-smokers out there. True cigarettes.  I have at least three other cigarette Wacky Packs.  Today they wouldn't dare put cigarettes on a kid's sticker!  Good thing.

TT/Table Games

Tag Tuesday on a Thursday??  I definitely qualify for the "Major DUH Award" this week.  I totally forgot to post my tag on Tuesday.  First time this year so I guess that's not too bad.  And yesterday was "Wacky Pack Wednesday" so here we are on a Thursday.

Like last week, I was a bit stumped at first.  The theme "table games" offers too many choices.  My family played a lot of board games when I was a kid.  I had several favorites.  "Masterpiece,"  "Careers,"  "The Inventors" just to name a few.  I decided on "Clue" as we played that often too.  I found images of an older version online.  I placed the images on a bank envelope to look like the "secret envelope" in the game.

So who is your favorite character?  They all look a bit sinister.

Enjoy-- and don't let me confuse you; this is Thursday, not Tuesday-- isn't it??

Wacky Pack Wednesday

Believe it or not, I have a "Back to School" appropriate Wacky.

These are still around, I guess.  Never having been a smoker, I had to look it up. And good luck to all you students out there!

Enjoy!

Zany Zoo

Another children's book from my bookcase, Zany Zoo by Norman Bridwell of Clifford the Big Red Dog fame.  

The story might be considered a bit "non-pc" by today's persnickety standards.  A zoo keeper leaves his wife in charge of his zoo, and we see all the changes that only a woman would make.  I always liked it, however, and the drawings are funny and imaginative.

Enjoy!

Spider Siting

Every Fall a few creepy (in my opinion) spiders are seen around my yard and in my garage-- it's a detached garage so that's not as yucky as it sounds.  And do they really catch a lot of bugs inside a garage?  Anyway, I spied this one about a week ago.  I think that's kind of early.

So maybe Fall will make an early appearance this year.  We'll see.

Enjoy!

Chinese Checkers

Just a simple post today: an old Chinese Checkers board that belonged to my grandparents.  I have no idea how old it is-- it's wood and pretty cool.  I have it hanging in my "studio" (i.e. counter on the back porch).

Enjoy!

Sweet Young Thing

I decided to try making ATCs/small collages of my favorite songs.  The first offering is by the Monkees; "Sweet Young Thing" sung by Michael Nesmith. 

No special reason this song is first.  It just happened to be playing when I came up with this brilliant idea.

Do you listen to music while you craft?  I've always been a fan of music.  I had a radio at a young age and some hip high school art teachers who let us listen to LPs or the radio during class.  What could be better than art and a cool song?

And, by the way, if your Monkees library doesn't go beyond the TV theme song, give them a more in depth listen.  They put out some good tunes in their day.

Enjoy!

Wacky Answer

So can you remember way back to the 90s?  Sunshine brand put out Hi Ho crackers among other things.  They still make Cheez-It crackers if you're interested.

Calendar Collages

I bought three old calendars on Etsy (from the fun, friendly Dime Store Chic shop). As you can see in the "before" photos, they were in very vintage condition.  But, hey, if I was 110 years old, I might be crumbling a bit too.  So I decided to "collage" them. 

They are now mounted to illustration board so shouldn't crumble any more.  Most of the elements I added are scrapbook paper.  And the top one with the flag looks great in my patriotic bedroom which is why I bought them in the first place.

The third one will be heading to my Etsy store.

Enjoy!

Wacky Pack Wednesday

Here is a Wacky to make you laugh.  According to Wikipedia, this product was discontinued in the late 90s.  Do you remember it?

Enjoy!

TT/Theater and Cinema

"Theater and Cinema" is the theme at Tag Tuesday this week.  I didn't know where to begin with this tag as I'm somewhat of a classic movie buff.  How do you narrow down?  I decided to kind of "start at the beginning" and went way back to Buster Keaton, one of my favorites.  I even have a print of this same poster hanging in my living room.  I'd say that qualifies me as a "buff."

Enjoy!

The MGM Story

Since the theme this week at Tag Tuesday is "Theater & Cinema," I decided to post another of my film books.  The MGM Story was published in 1975.  Believe it or not, I picked up this copy at a second-hand store.  A really nice book, it has tons of photos.  Here are a few:

Front Cover

Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, and James Stewart

Lucille Ball

Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds

William Powell and Myrna Loy with Asta

Tom Drake and Judy Garland

Enjoy!

Raindrops and Lilies

My Resurrection lilies after a good rain:

We don't have as many as last year's bumper crop.  Too hot for them too?

Enjoy!

Hull Vase

This Hull vase belonged to my grandmother.  Lately it lives in a kitchen cupboard due to lack of space, dogs' tails, and an active child.

The colors are soft, and as you can see, it has an interesting shape.  Although the shape is the reason it is at my house and not my sister's.  She calls if the "fish vase."

Yeah, I see her point.

Enjoy!

August Celebrations

My family celebrates many birthdays and anniversaries in August.  Kind of fun if you don't mind writing out greeting cards!

So congratulations to all you Leo and Virgo types and August brides and grooms!

Enjoy!

Wacky Answer

The Wacky Pack posted yesterday (8-8-12) was a cinch, right?  So the next time you're feeling spiteful, pour yourself a glass of Sprite; you'll feel better thinking of this Wacky Pack!

Waiting For The Sun

Here is another Jim Morrison collage I made recently.  Most of the pieces are from a book about The Doors that I bought dirt cheap-- years ago-- that I already owned-- with the intent to cut it up.  Is that wrong?

In case you're not a Doors fan (how could that be possible?), "Waiting For The Sun" is the title of one of their songs and albums.  Although the song "Waiting For The Sun" is on the "Morrison Hotel" album or do you say CD?

Enjoy!

Wacky Pack Wednesday

This week's Wacky Pack is a newer one but every bit as funny as the older ones.

 Enjoy!

TT/Casino Amusements & Bingo

The month of August should be fun at Tag Tuesday.  The first theme is "Casino Amusements and Bingo."  I have some old Bingo cards and pieces in my stash of "paper stuff" so started there.  I thought of the children's song "B-I-N-G-O" and intended to cut out dogs from scrapbook paper and magazines. But why not use photos of dogs I know?  So included on this tag are one of my old dogs and two of my sister's-- none of which were named Bingo!  Yes, Arthur and Rhody got the biscuits when I was done shooting.

And I apologize to anyone who gets that song stuck in their head!

Enjoy!

First Halloween Post

Time to work on some Halloween art.  Usually I find July's departure rather depressing, but after this year's heat, I can't say I'm sorry to see summer winding down.  So on to Fall!

Enjoy and happy Fall crafting!

Cracked Walnut

We had a short but windy thunderstorm yesterday afternoon.  Our Walnut tree had a slight problem.

This was the one good tree left in our yard.  Oh well; could have been worse.

Enjoy!