I've signed up for a couple of little art classes...

On-Line, of course.
 Y'all know I love Junelle - And this spring-time class is SO FUN.

I'm doing mostly sketching and water color -- 

on water color paper...

 

SO much fun to just play a bit!

I know I'll be using some of these same ideas 

on canvas / mixed media soon!

You can sign up for Junelle's classes here -

I LOVE sketching along with Junelle!

She makes you feel like you're sitting right in the room with her!

 

 And I've REALLY given myself permission to play with Tangie's

"A Walk in the Park Sketch Book Adventure."

[Who knew my basic water colors could look so vibrant

with just a little spritz of water before getting started?!

I LOVE the wonky - sketch-while-we're-'walking-through-the-park' feel of this class!

I'm using the little book I created for our trip to Disney last fall...

I'd signed up for Tangie's on-line class then and had started on some of the prompts -  

First trip to Disney, anyone?

And while she's walking through Disney LAND... 

I'm adapting her ideas a bit to cover DisneyWORLD...

This new [improved] class is wonderful - and it really does give you the feel of walking through the park with her during her in-real-life version of the class. 

So fun - and this just-for-me kind of art is so relaxing!

You can join us [and find out about all the artsy goodness Tangie has to offer, here.

Celebrating this one's birthday this weekend!

 

Love you so much Matt-bug!

And we're so happy to see you living a life you love!

 

Some traditions continue on - 
by, my how things have changed!

Who says you can’t have your cake and eat it too?

This is a favorite little treat – 

Simply slice about ten strawberries [[38 calories] 

and toss with a packet or two of Splenda [or whatever sugar substitute you prefer] – 

Then spoon onto a dessert shell [80 calories] and 

Top with a couple of tablespoons of whipped cream!

[This is 4 TBSP = 30 calories – reddi whip in the can.]

So – yay!

A great little treat for less than 150 calories.

ENJOY.

“...there is no such thing as a charmed life

, not for any of us, no matter where we live or how mindfully we attend to the tasks at hand. But there are charmed moments, all the time, in every life and in every day, if we are only awake enough to experience them when they come and wise enough to appreciate them.”
― Katrina Kenison, The Gift of an Ordinary Day: A Mother's Memoir

Be Present Be REal

All quote from Pinterest -

Random thoughts...

My sweetheart has been gone most of the week on his 

annual fishing trip with the guys.

I think he had a good time.  

And I'm sure glad to have him home -

EmmaLou and I hung out at home, 

and tried to stay out of the pollen-filled air as much as possible!

So I thought it might be fun to share some of the photos I took 

when I got my glasses from Zenni.com --

I've long forgotten the names of them -

[so don't even ask - ]

These [black rims] are single vision, [far-sided]  for driving in non-sunny conditions - although,, I did get some clip-on sunglasses that match perfectly for less than $4.

 These [green rims, not the exact style - but close; 

these are little more rounded than square - ] 

are single-vision, sunglasses.

Love these. 

Pay no attention to the wonderland banner behind me - these photos were taken in March, before the BIG event. And yes, there appears to be an AU bag, left from Christmas, still setting in our kitchen...

 These are probably my second favorites - 

they are bi-focal with [metal] green rims on top and wire on the bottom.

They have sunglasses too -

I'm wearing these a lot..

And these are the other set of bi-focal lenses I got.

Wire on top and rim-less on bottom.

With sunglasses, too.

[By this time I was tired of taking selfies to show off my new glasses, ha.]

So that's it - four pair of glasses - [one prescription sunglasses and two pairs of bi-focal lenses] all for less than $150. Gotta love it.

 In other news - I picked up one of those veggie spiraling thingies

[as seen on TV.]

And I AM LOVING spiral zucchini 

with a little kerrygold butter and garlic.

I added tomato, capers, and basil to this one 

and topped it with a little shaved Parmesan cheese.

Oh. My. 

So good.

Much thanks to Rhetta for the delicious recipe ideas!

Oh, you don't know Rhetta? 

 She's Junnelle's sister and our resident chef in our art classes. 

Come on over and join us, here.

 

 And lastly - 

 I'm mad at this one - he stayed gone almost the whole time my sweethert was gone, despite me calling for him... but was around within an hour of Craig getting home.

 Hmmph. 

Guess I know who he loves best.

[Not that fish guts has anything to do with it - ha.]

It's spring-time y'all...

and that means I am easily distracted when driving out in the countryside...

 by things like this -

And I love it.

Seeing crop-dusters doing their thing just never gets old.

Despite all the fun we had at the Wonderland Crop

I really did do some scrap-booking.. and for my sponsors- 

Let me assure you that I scrapped at least 30 of the 38 hours...

[including teaching a class!]

Here's some of the pages I completed - 

I'm still enjoying instagram --- and WalGreens will now print 8x8s [yay!]

Love this adorable photo of MK and Craig!

I've had this balloon paper for ages - and finally had it with me to put 

some of our yearly balloon photos on!

Thanksgiving and Fall is probably my favorite time of year -

this is a quick re-cap of the weekend.

[I love mixing patterned papers!]

And those are BRADS, y'all!

I cut the 'file folders' on this paper so I could slip my photos 'inside' -

Love the little teepees and trees on the paper on top.

Some random Mardi Gras photos that I needed to stick down -

On both of these layouts I used

 my over-lapping journal / tag approach to embellish - ha.

And I stepped out of my comfort zone on this one 

with the all-white background. 

SO NOT ME.

 But I love it when others do it.

And I REALLY like this one too.

I doodled around the photos and used stickers from my 'goodie bag.'

[Craig and his fishing buddies.]

This documents the time I totally crashed

 another convention's workshop.

 It's 8.5x11 and will go into my 'event' album - as will the ones that follow...

I'm trying to do just a page or two of each event / group that I create with throughout the year... This crop was for the Cerebral Palsy Foundation. 

This is my regular group of gals that I try [so hard!] to get together with monthly.

We did a big birthday bash last summer that was loads of fun.

And this one is the CF Crop last year when super heroes was our theme.

And lastly a few pics from the all-day class with Sunny.

Such a treat! 

So, that's it.  

I'm a pretty simple scrapper - and using kits makes life so much easier for me!

[It's already all coordinated!]

All of these pages were made from kits from Noel Mignon.

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter Day!

 

 ... a day to really focus on Christ’s Resurrection – and ALL He did for you, and me, and our friends, and that guy you pass on the street corner, or the women who JUST CANNOT DRIVE but keeps sliding into your blind spot

Every. Single. Morning. 

[That hasn’t really happened to me – but I’ve had plenty of cRaZy driving experiences  

as I go up and down The 65.] 

BUT! How wonderful that He loves us – HE REALLY LOVES US. 

Every. Single. One. Of. Us. 

Despite our flaws and sin and utter unloveablity. 

 Praise God. 

He provides salvation to every one of us who chooses to accept it.

 

So.

Our day started with sunrise service up on Monte Sano. Loved it. 

[And kind of loved that another sunrise service was going on just across the way from us – hearing sweet music when our service was quieter – just made me think of pockets of Christ-followers praising around the city or countryside way back in the day.]

Wonderful.

[The Golden Hour in the morning is almost more special than the afternoon, 

don'tcha think?]

Next we had a little Easter Breakfast at home with our little family 

[so sad that I didn’t get a group photo – ] 

 

I used cookies from a local bakery for our place cards

[just for fun, and decor {and TO EAT - They are SO GOOD.}

- We really sit wherever we want -]

 

We had fruit [frozen, thawed and tossed in a little mint syrup - made with mint from our garden, easy-peasy,]  breakfast casserole [with turkey sausage -- my friend, Bobbie's recipe [I really think the secret is buttering the bread before assembly.]

We also had asparagus wraps -- just asparagus, pancetta, and parmesan wrapped in puff pastry - YUM, deviled eggs,and carrot cake scones [both made the day before.] Despite ‘cake’ being in the name, the scones were not overly sweet; [recipe from texanerin.com] they had a nice flavor. 

 

And then we ended the meal with Easter Cup Cakes 

and Haley’s Birthday Cake [with yummy icing.] 

 

After a wonderful meal together we left the kids at home watching videos from their rocket-launching fun the day before – and headed over to The Shoals so we could go to church

with Craig’s mama and then to lunch too.

We tried a new-to-us place that we’d heard rave reviews about – 

just good ole southern all-you-can-eat cooking. 

It was good to have time to just relax and visit together!

A full day for sure.

But so nice to celebrate The Resurrection with family near and far!

 

Now, it’s time for the rabbits to be put away and spring / summer décor to come out –

Happy Spring y’all!

[I’ve switched to Pepcid for my stomach and I made it ALL day without allergy meds! #whoknewitwasahistamine ?]

 

Also, the white rabbit may stay out for a while - 

I just love the quirkiness of him setting on the stove - lol.

[I know I'm weird -]

surrender

All One Little Word images are from pinterest -

I always try to take a little project along

when I'm working out of town for several days - 

And this last time as I was packing up I KNEW I wanted to

 DO SOMETHING 

about the way I carry my jewelry [in a plastic bag - ha]
So all the way down I was thinking about what I wanted to do - 

and how to do it in the easiest possible way. 

Ha. That's me.

 So I came up with this - 

a place mat from Kohls, embroidery thread, plastic rings, 

ribbon [and needles] from Hobby Lobby...

I laid the jewelry out to see where to put the rings...

Then marked the spots 

[You'll see that I ended up with a different plan from the lay-out above.]

I know it's blurry - but it's only pencil marks - ha.

Then I started stitching the rings down. The place mat was double fabric, so I was able to just stitch through the first layer [thus - no stitches show on the front! Yay!]

I decided on the double rings at the top for shorter / longer necklaces. 

And you can see that at least one of the necklaces was too chubby to fit through the rings so I tied it down, but I may replace with bigger rings...

They can also be used for earrings. 

I plan to stitch at least one little bag onto a ring to hold the earring that are not a loop.

I stitched the ribbon to the outside of the placement, again, 

being sure to not go all the way through. 

[Sorry no photos of that -- 

Must have got caught up in The Voice while doing this part. HA.]

But I do love the way it rolls up and ties it all together 

so that it can fit easily [smashed anywhere] in my suitcase. 

Would love to see yours if you create something similar!