connections

come on in and have a cup of tea with me. 

I like my tea in mugs.

when the Lifeguard asks me  

" Why do you waste your time blogging? " 

or when he says  

"Blogging again? you have too much time on your hands"

it hurts a bit

because what he thinks about me matters

and because when he asks the question and

makes his remarks about how" bloggers have no lives"

(his words ...not mine)

it makes me question my actions

it makes me wonder why

why am I blogging

it wasn't so long ago that I thought blogging was a waste of time

I had a few friends who blogged and they always seemed to be writing about their blogs

or taking photos for their blogs

or tweeting about blogging and blogging about tweeting

makes anyone with any common sense say

why?

I'll tell you why

connections

yes

Connections

I have met some amazing women in this past year.
I love the link up parties and the challenges and the swaps.

I love giveaways and I had the best time hosting my own

 giveaway earlier this month.

The photos in this post are of a mug from a friend I would have never met if

I had not started blogging

Elizabeth   is an artist and  her art on the mug.

a mug that I won in her giveaway last summer.

(thank you again Elizabeth...I use it every day )

and I am always reminded to:

The mug says it all

the postcard is from Elizabeth too.

I love it

I received it as a part of a postcard swap hosted by another friend, Beth

I am so proud of both Elizabeth and Beth.

They have had huge success this past year.

I am so happy to have been able to watch them grow.

So here I am

a

 part of this huge community of bloggers

each of them bringing their own beauty to the party

I love that

and

I guess

 I just want to be a part of something big..

....by doing something small.

( I stole that line from my daughter...love her )

the blogging community is huge and I just want to be a part of it

I am not pursuing a career in art

I am not promoting a business

I just want to be a part of this wonderful artist community

as a

a cheerleader

perhaps

an inspiration

and

always

a friend

xo

                                  

Please come back next Tuesday and we'll sit down to another cup of tea. 

I'll introduce you to more friends I have met.

  

 I am linking to Art in Red Wagons' "Tea on Tuesdays"
go see who else is having tea this morning
now I need to go tweet about this blog post and add to to fb too

susie asked.....

Did you do any ceilings?
well...yes I did.

This was a "skylight " painted in the same house as the window in my last post.

And these were done in a basement playroom for a family in Monroeville, PA

Looking back on these old photos really brings back memories.   I did a few more ceilings too...but I'll save those for another day. 
It's spring and those weeds are already starting to grow...

see you soon
Marianne

Spring Fever at RuffHaven

I've been raking the twigs and stones and stuff out of the yard all weekend.

Spring Fever has set in and if I want
 to continue blogging I must move my computer to the sunroom. 

As I go through old photos (before digital) I occasionally come upon a few I'd like to share.

 Here's a faux window from my mural painting days in the '80s. 

This was done for a wonderful family in Pittsburgh in 1987.

Painting murals and decorative gifts was how I supported myself and

 my two children after my divorce.

Well this, and the help of child support too.

My ex was a good father.

Hope you are enjoying your first evening of Spring.

see you soon,

Marianne

by the light of the beautiful moon

Will you be watching the moonrise tonight?


We don't howl at the moon here at RuffHaven. But we do celebrate its beauty.

Reel Around the Sun

Happy St.Patricks Day !

We have a winner !

Well actually..... we have 6 winners !

Drum Roll Please

After carefully tracking all the entries

After creating spreadsheets to assign everyone numbers for each box

After assigning numbers in the order the posts came in.

After trying to use random . org  generator to  pick a winner.

Really???

did someone say that service was easy?

so on to

Plan B.....

After coloring those spreadsheets

after cutting them into itty bitty pieces all the while cursing random  . org

 because I am extremely late at this point

All itty bitty pieces were placed in a cup

one color at a time

Then using the back up plan:

random . husband .  hand

and he would NOT allow even a photo of his hand on my blog.
aarrrggghhh    men !

Yes after ALL that

We have 5 winners

Then just for an added twist

I dumped

ALL the itty bitties

back into the cup 

and

For the Grand Prize

oh I didn't tell you about the grand prize?

a mystery box

of equally wonderful and gifts

goes to



 Now it's your turn: 

Contact me ...by email....
And I too will send the winners an email to let them know they won.

I need the 6 winners  mailing addresses

by Monday March 14th , 2:00pm

( my time )

Eastern Standard Time  USA


I want to thank you all for playing along.
xo
Marianne

woyww # 92 - paper, ink and more

 It's time for woyww once again and I do have a few things to show you.  If you came from Julia's list you know what I am talking about. If you didn't then you need to pop over there to see what this is all about.

First,  I have been cleaning up my inks, pens and misc wall. Next week I'll  tackle paints and mediums.
The problem with having a large space is that while cleaning I always get distracted by the fun stuff and end up making a bigger mess,  instead of cleaning up the original mess....this problem keep multiplying until I can't move anymore and I end up on the dining room table.  My goal is to have the whole room clean at one time so I can show you the whole space. I would show you now ....but I really don't want to win an award for most clutter.

Second,  I have been making journals and gathered some paper and fabric on the dining room table ....because ... of course there's no room to work in the craft room.

And last,  The big project this week..... I have the boxes for my giveaway lined up and almost full. I have a few surprise gifts to put into each on then they will be sealed and ready for my giveaway drawing  this weekend.

and here's the database I am using to keep track of the entries.  It's actually five giveaways in one, and the way I am allowing the players to choose where their entries go takes a bit of organization.

Everyone gets three chances and can play them any way they want. So far I have 35 players, so that's 105 entries.  I am having fun with this.    There's still time to enter. Check out Life at RuffHaven to see if you might be interested in any of the goodies. Now off you go to see what everyone else has on their work space this week.

Laura Harms' zentangle challenge # 12

I have no idea how she comes up with all these great challenge ideas..... but I am so glad she does.   I have met some of the nicest people through this challenge. The support and camaraderie keep me coming back every week.
This week she is throwing us a color challenge.  - Something Blue
At first I thought -  wedding
Then I thought - sad.   ... and then I thought about my poor dog Ginger who we had to have put to sleep a few weeks ago
And then I noticed something.  I was thinking about "blue"  I was not approaching this as I would a normal Zentangle.
hhhhhmmmmmmm..........  interesting isn't it?
Just by thinking of a color it changed the whole process.
I am not quite sure I like this. It turns Zentangle into drawing and we all know drawing can be scary.

Since this is not a normal Zentangle it becomes a ZIA...Zentangle Inspired Art. And It doesn't need to be on an official Zentangle tile....which is good because I have run out of those.

So I doodled my blues on a blank coaster.

 And as I went along it became

 "Storm at Sea"

Don't look too closely, I could not find my watercolor pencils so I used my oil color pencils and they did not play well with the coaster.  I am going to work on this a bit more and submit another before the week ends.

For all my non zen paper pals....if you have not yet tried Zentangle or if you are new like me, you owe it to yourself to check out The Diva's blog and the official Zentangle site.

Oh and please  visit my main blog ... Life @ RuffHaven , and enter my HUGE  giveaway.
One of the prizes is especially for Zentangle enthusiasts.... and anyone who might want  some blank round coasters.     I don't want you to miss your opportunity to enter.
click here to go to the giveaway

Have a beautiful day !
Marianne

jingle belles 10 -

This week  the jingle belles theme is " home for the holidays "  Nothing like making a gal feel homesick for Christmas in the middle of March.    What I remember most about the holidays when I was a bratty little girl, was how much my mom decorated the house. It seemed like she and my Aunt who lived next door had this competition every year. I have to admit that my Aunt always had way more decorations, but my moms were sparklier. Is sparklier a word?  Any way our house was full of glitter year round. and the glitter back then was big. Not those teeny tiny details glitters we can get now. So home for the holidays reminded me of glitter and over the top sparkle.

With that in mind I give you my card this week. Over the top and sparkley:

Now before you go running off to see the other cards......pop over to  my main blog -  Life @ RuffHaven and enter my HUGE giveaway....something for everyone over there.
I hope the belles don't mind the shameless plug.  But you all are my card crafty friends and a few of you don't read my other blog and I didn't want you to miss out on the fun.
And for everyone who has no idea why we are making Holiday cards in March, Go to The jingle belles' challenge blog to see what's going on.

did someone say GIVEAWAY ?

The truth is

I am a shopper

When I find a bargain ....I buy it. ...sometimes I buy two or three
or twelve.

Why?

1. Because it's nice to have a gift on hand.
2.  Because you never know when you might need something.
3.  Because you never know when a crafty friend might need something.
4. well....you get the idea......

I have been cleaning my studio basement, and it seems I have
more stuff than I need, so the only logical thing to do is offer it to you.

I have 5 boxes full of great stuff....

yes some of it may be a year old or a bit more,

but it is still current and still quite popular and desirable. 

Here are some of the contents of each box.
Each box contains the items pictured and more.
I love surprises...I hope you do to.

you may click on the photos for a closer look

The Red Box

Martha Stewart Punches, Flowers, Leaves Musical , Clear Stamp, Ribbon 

Red Box - Prize  # 1 

The Orange Box

Martha Stewart Punches, Die cut card stock, ribbon

Orange Box - Prize # 2

 The Green Box

Zentangle complete kit, 8 colored Micron (01) pens, Book, 12 round blank coasters 

Green Box - Prize  # 3

The Blue Box

Claudine Hellmuth Sticky Back Canvas, 12 colorful fat quarters, ribbon, lace butterflies

Blue Box - Prize  # 4

The Purple Box

Tim Holtz smorgasbord and 12 stained coin envelopes

Purple Box - Prize # 5

 additional items in each box  include lace, beads, paint, embellishments, journals, paper, fabric,
ink, glitter, etc...
The boxes are packed full


 Rules :

This giveaway is open to all of my friends, followers, subscribers, twitter and facebook friends.
edited to add :   Yes, this is international.

You may enter one time only

Each comment on this post earns three (3) entries.
comments on other posts are welcome but you won't win anything...just a smile.


Your comment/entries must answer the question  I will ask at the end of this post.

You may request all your entries go toward one prize
or

You may request that your entries be split anyway you want

This giveaway will end and comments will be closed on this post

On March 11th at 9:00pm  e.s.t.

entries will be numbered and winners will be drawn

I will announce the 5 winners in a separate post on Saturday March 12th

I will also contact the winners by email. Please make sure I have a way to contact you.
The winners will have 48 hours to respond with their mailing address.

ok
here's the two part question:

Do you want all of your entries to go toward one prize,
If so, which one?
( for example  you could say something like    " I want all three of my entries to go toward prize #2"   )

or
Do you want to split your entries,
If so, how do you want to split them?
(for example you could say something like -    "I want one entry in prize #3 and two entries in prize # 4  )


Yes I know that's two questions but I couldn't figure out a way to word it as one.
 ONLY ONE COMMENT PER PERSON
how easy is that?


Good Luck

xo
Marianne


editd:



The deadline to enter was March 11,2011 at 9:00pm e.s.t
comments are closed

The Good Stuff Challenge

 Karla over at Karla's Cottage asked us to dig into our treasures and pull out the good stuff.....you know, the stuff that is just too good to use so we hold on to it ......sometimes for years.

That's what happened to these feathery floral pins. I took a class in Florida at Oblique, a Rubber Stamp store, that is no longer with us.  We made all sorts of wispy frilly things. I really miss that store and Betsy, the owner. And all the snowbird paper artists who would gather there on rainy days.

Anyway, I have had two of these  these floral bunches for years. Carefully moving them from place to place, being so careful  so I would not flatten them under piles of stuff.

When Karla offered the challenge I knew exactly what I would use.

I had a gift card box....because I save everything.
So after layering on some pretty papers that were also too preety to use, I added the flower and .....well......
I'll allow the photos to tell the rest of the story.

Now I won't keep you because I know you have so many places to visit with this Link Party.
Hopon over to Karla's Cottage to see the beautiful collages she made.  She used her good stuff .....but if you ask me I think all of Karla's stuff is good stuff.....

Marianne
Thanks for stopping by and remember to come back on
March 7th ( usa- est ) to enter my "Everything but the Kitchen Sink" giveaway.