Tuesday, Tea and Two Tiny Mice

Good Afternoon Tuesday !

Today almost slipped by , but here I am ...

 to say hello to you and all my new friends who link up 

with Elizabeth every Tueasday....for T stands for Tuesday.

 Today the mice are stirring    ....

a cup of

 Holiday Tea

         

 Every year 

these cuties hang on the garland 

around my kitchen

window

and

 there are a few more 

tea and coffee 

themed ornaments 

on my kitchen tree.

this cup says -

"Christmas is a perfect blend of

laughter, love and time with friends"

the bottom cup says-

"Ho Ho Ho a Jolly Cup of Joe "

and one more

Mom    &   Daughter

I enjoy collecting ornaments.

I try to stick to Santas, Snowmen, Birds, Cookies , and Snowflakes

but ocassionally a few others sneak in.

Do you collect a certain themed ornament or is it anything goes?

 

Expext The Unexpected

I was working on my Holiday Home tour post that I mentioned a few 

days ago and I was working on a Giveaway too....

( some of you may ave seen that....I posted it and then I reverted back to draft )

anyway.....

We just found out friends of ours are in town so we 

opened our house to them

 so they won't have to stay at a hotel.

They are on their way here now.

yikes! 

 I am so happy my house is clean. 

I will be away from the internet for a bit . . .

    meanwhile 

....Stay warm

Friday the 13th ?

 

 I am not one to rant on my blog but  . . .

I need to get this off my chest 

and out there to anyone who will listen
to my first blog rant

It wasn't like this when I was a little girl, 

I think  I first noticed this happening about ten years ago. 

Starting on December 13 or 14, 

depending on the calendar

and how they count days I guess,

 a blogger or business will announce the 

Twelve days of Christmas

um...people, people, people,

today is not the first day of anything related to Christmas.

     

I wasn't going to post this on my blog today.

but

When I logged onto the net and was slammed with 

 "Today is the First Day of Christmas"

I had to speak up.

NO IT IS NOT

Today December 13 is the Feast of Saint Lucy 

 and December 14 is the Feast of Saint John of the Cross

 I repeat:  

The First Day of Christmas is . . Christmas.

 Why is this so hard for people get? 

 Look at it this way.....

.

Let's look at another religious holiday ....Easter.....

 The First Day of Easter is not  

Ash Wednesday,  Palm Sunday or Good Friday.

Easter starts on . . . Easter.

So why do so many people have such a hard time 

understanding that The Twelve Days of Christmas 

begin on Christmas Day and run through Epiphany?   

ever since I was little . . .

 Epiphany was the day we take down the tree.....

which is a pagan morphed into christian tradition....

but that's another post

In our house....

we celebrate Yule and Christmas .

    Right now I am preparing for both.  

  I will celebrate Yule on the 21st

 and when December 25th rolls around

 I will celebrate Christmas . . .  for twelve glorious days ! 

Just like the Christmas celebrations that I remember. 

So what about you?

What do you celebrate this time of year?

and

When do you start?

Tuesday, Tea and Twinkling Lights

Good Evening Tuesday

I didn't want the day to end without saying hello to my friends who 

link up with Elizabeth and Bluebeard every week.

I have been cleaning and decorating. 

I am almost finished and will be ready to take you

 on a holiday tour of my home this weekend.

oh and ....

I will be having a

HOLIDAY GIVEAWAY 

on Saturday December 14th

So make sure you come back to see me this weekend.

Day # 9 . . . Movies . . .

Today  over at  Kickin it ...  we were asked to share our favorite movies. 

I do love movies.

 There is only one movie that I own the 

VHS, the DVD, the Book and the Sountrack

and that would be ...

  Shumani Tutonka Ob Wachi  ---   Dances with Wolves.   

 The scenery, sountrack, so much of the story speaks to me. Two Socks, Stands with a Fist, Ten Bears, Kicking Bird,  the whole cast. I just love it.

   nine more :
Forest Gump    
Hachi
Avatar
Sixth Sense
The Exorcist   
Once Upon a Time in the West
Contact
Dirty Dancing
Wizard Of Oz

 If I sit here too long I know this list will grow. So these are the top ten that rolled out of my brain without much thought.   My Lifeguard ( not the movie, my husband is a lifeguard ) loves to quote movies and he slips the quotes into everyday conversation just to see if I am paying attention. He does the same thing with song lyrics.  

I like movies about time travel.
and... movies about aliens .....   The Abyss and Close Encounters of the Third Kind
I also love romantic comedies, love stories, westerns,  horror, and disaster/apocalyptic movies.
I like movies about survival and mountain climbing.  Did you see Vertical Limit?  and K2.
I could talk about movies all day.     But you have other blogs to visit so I will stop now.

See you tomorrow !
 Marianne

Every Day during the Month of December I will be linking with 

Kickin it Old Skool  and blogging just for fun and connections.

I have already met some pretty cool people who I have added to my must read list.

I see some new friendships are in my future

You can join in any time here.

Silent Sunday and the 8th day of #kickinit

Today's prompt: 

We hope you don't mind if we invite ourselves over. 

We'd love to see where you blog!

I blog in my kitchen nook

Every Day during the Month of December I will be linking with 

Kickin it Old Skool  and blogging just for fun and connections.

I have already met some pretty cool people who I have added to my must read list.

I see some new friendships are in my future

You can join in any time here.

One Sentence Saturday

After a day of yard work , a Country Artisan Studio Tour and dinner by the fire ,

 the dogs watched her hang the last few santas on the tree.

Every Day during the Month of December I will be linking with 

Kickin it Old Skool  and blogging just for fun and connections.

I have already met some pretty cool people who I have added to my must read list.

I see some new friendships are in my future

You can join in any time here.

Revisting my first blog post

Today is Day 6 of
the
Kickin' it Old Skool Blog-a-thon

today's assignment really made me think.
My first thought was to skip it.
call in sick
make up something like
"the dog ate my homework"


Here it is straight from their blog:

Whether you've been blogging for 5 years or 5 days, share with us your first post. What inspired you to start, what have you've learned or how you've changed since then?

When I first started blogging I wasn't sure why I was blogging.

I had no real goal.

I never intended it to be a soul searching exercise 

but it turned out to be just that.

Through the years I have found out things about myself
 that I don't think would have come to the surface
 had I not been rambling on and on here.

I learned more about me than I expected,
 and less about blogging than I wanted.
I had hopes of being able to design a beautiful blog without help.
I wanted to share tutorials and videos and PDFs.
All of those take time and a lot of work.
I admire bloggers who can do all that.
I am lucky if I finish a project and get a few pics in the proccess.
I share what I can, when I can,
 and my loyal readers
are always here to validate my efforts.

The most important thing I learned is that there
 are real people behind all those wonderful blogs.
I have recently
been able to meet a few of them in person
 and I know that they will
be friends for life.
The part about wanting to meet people and make new friends came true.
I love how the Universe works. State your intentions and step back and wait. 
Little did I know that blogging would open up a whole new world

You can read my first post here 

Thank you Shannon and Jamie for another interesting prompt.

see you tomorrow !

Marianne

 

Every Day during the Month of December I will be linking with 

Kickin it Old Skool  and blogging just for fun and connections.

I have already met some pretty cool people who I have added to my must read list.

I see some new friendships are in my future

You can join in any time here.

10 things about me (again)

Today is Day #5 at  Kickin' it Old Skool

and the girls  are asking us 

to list 10 things about ourselves.

1

 I love About Me lists.

Even though I am an introvert and a recluse

 I am chatty and I do like sharing.

So here we go.

2

I am married to a lifeguard.

I love dogs.

We are trying to not rescue dogs anymore 

because we are getting older.

Today we have four dogs.

 

I am mom to two adult children.

I am a grandmother to one sweet grand daughter.

 

3

I love meeting new people.

I believe the best days of my life haven't been lived yet.

And I have had one awesome life so far.

It makes me excited to think the best is yet to be.

4

I am a spiritual mixed bag.

an earth and nature loving,

 eclectic solitary

person who respects all religious beliefs.

I practice kindness, love, truth and forgiveness.

I respect all living creatures

I do not label my beleifs 

but

I have been called a Pagan, a Christian and a Buddhist all in the last week.

I do believe Love is all we need

 

5

I am an Artist

I am a Quilter

I am a Gardener

I am a Good Cook

6

I love to travel.

I have visited 49 states  

and a few of the Caribbean Islands 

Alaska is on my list.

After that I will travel outside the US

Africa, Australia and Europe ...in that order.

7

I am fortunate to have a home in a forest

and a home on a beach

I love both equally and spend most of my time barefoot.

8

 I am extremely terrified of lightning.

But I am fascinated by storms, hurricanes, tornadoes

9

I am an organized hoarder.

I collect craft and art supplies, kitchen gadgets,

coffee mugs, stars, suns, fairies, santas, plates, 

and

owls

 I  been collecting owls since I was a kid in the 60s

....it's funny how popular they are again

10

I recently lost 75 pounds

I stopped eating sugar.

when I eat sugar the pounds add up.

It's not the same for everyone. 

I had a great time learning about me and my body

while figuring out what I could and couldn't eat.

I am looking forward to reading all of the ten things the other participants sharing.

if you would like to know more about me:

 About Me page

and even more here on

 Ten Ten Ten,

 More More More,

 It's never too late,

 and

 One World One Heart

see you tomorrow !

Marianne

Every Day during the Month of December I will be linking with 

Kickin it Old Skool  and blogging just for fun and connections.

I have already met some pretty cool people who I have added to my must read list.

I see some new friendships are in my future

You can join in any time here.

a conversation with the weather

 Over at Kickin it old Skool we were asked

What's the weather like where you live today?

  

  Today is a good day to decorate the outside for the winter holidays.

  I always have dreams of draping live greens on the fences and

 around the doors and windows.

 Then the price of the garlands stops me dead in my tracks. 

In order for it to be worth it I have to buy miles of the stuff.

 Ok ... not miles....but 300-400 yards That's not going to happen.

 Not for something that will be thrown away.  

 I have heard some people drag their pine roping

 into the woods so it will break down and become a part of nature again.   

Nice thought

 ... BUT .... 

what about the wire that binds it together????  

I don't want to take the chance of an animal getting tangled up in rusty wire.

If it were made with hemp or twine I might consider doing that.

  But then I imagine it would cost more. 

Why don't I make it myself? 

  Well.  Time. 

 I would rather be doing something else. 

This is why I use faux greenery outside.

So today is a good day to decorate outside. 

And that means that first I get to wash my windows for the last time this year.

 I guess today's weather says:

"It's a good day to wash the windows Marianne"

After that you may hang your faux greenery."

 (  yes the weather  spoke  to me with a  light blue-grey whisper.  )

( sometimes it shouts in dark indigo with firey orange flashes )

anyway... 

So that's where I will be and what I will be doing.

Hope it's sunny and bright where you are.

See you tomorrow.

Marianne

Every Day during the Month of December I will be linking with 

Kickin it Old Skool  and blogging just for fun and connections.

I have already met some pretty cool people who I have added to my must read list.

I see some new friendships are in my future

You can join in any time here.

  

Tuesday, Tea , Turkey and Trees

Just a quick post to say hello to all my friends who link 

up  with Elizabeth and her  T stands for Tuesday   linky party.

Have you had your fill of turkey leftovers? 

Are you getting ready for the winter holidays?

How do you celebrate the holidays? 

 

 

I have been busy decking the halls and

that means pulling out the trees and santas and snowmen and birds and 

glass ornaments and beads and burlap and........ well you get the idea.

I will have a tour for you as soon as it's finished.

I also joined Shannon and Jamie for the month of December 

as a part of their  Kickin' it Old Skool  blog-a-thon. 

I just finished today's homework for them while drinking Lipton's

from an old holiday mug.

(my current post for that meme is here)  

 

Last month I was creative and arty everyday and I love 

the habit that was formed because of it . So this month

 I will try to create the habit of keeping up with my blog...

...and all of the blogs I read. 

Hope you all are having a 

wonderfully warm and happy December so far.

Thanks for stopping by.

Marianne

  

Sharing Colors - a meme

This post falls under the "be careful what you wish for" catagory. I was wishing someone would bring back some fun memes. Well the girls at Kickin' it Old Skool  did just that, and today's meme is a long one.   I wasn't expecting this much homework. and I will understand if you skip to the bottom, fake a quick comment and run.
Anyway ..... here goes.


[ RED ]

1. What's the first thing you think of when you think of red?        roses
2. Closest red thing to you?        a red pen
3. What is the last thing that made you angry?       the string of lights that worked on Saturday but did not work today
4. Are you a fan of romance?       yes. 
5. Do you have a temper?         yes.   but only when I need it. Remember....we must use our powers for good.

[ GREEN ]

1. What's the first thing you think of when you think of green?       money
2. Closest green thing to you?        the ten dollar bill in my pocket
3. What's your favourite green environment?        the forest I live in.
4. Are you jealous of anyone right now?        no
5. Are you a lucky person?        not really .... but I am not unlucky either.   I am grateful for everything that has gone right in my life.

[ PURPLE ]

1. What's the first thing you think of when you think of purple?      old women.
2. Closest purple thing to you?         there is a purple glass bottle on my window sill.
3. Do you like being treated like royalty?         I wish someone would treat me like royalty so I could answer this question. But for now all I can say is I don't know.
4. Do you like mysterious things?        no. I like to know what is going to happen next
5. Are you intuitive?           Um,   yes, most of the time.

[ BLUE ]

1. What's the first thing you think of when you think of blue?        my daughter's favorite color.
2. Closest blue thing to you?      a blue pen
3. Are you good at calming people down?       I think so. Never really thought about it.
4. What's your favourite body of water (i.e. lake, ocean, etc)?      the Gulf of Mexico
5. What was the last thing that made you cry?       I cried when we had to let our DutchBoy cross over rainbow bridge. Putting a dog to sleep is the hardest thing I have ever done.
6. Are you a logical thinker?        no

[ YELLOW ]

1. What's the first thing you think of when you think of yellow?    daffodils
2. Closest yellow thing to you?     the book "How to Cook Everything" by Mark Bittman
3. What was one of the happiest times of your life?       now
4. What's your favourite holiday?      the one where everyone arrives happy, leaves happy and no one gets hurt.
5. What makes you happy?        too long to list....  

[ PINK ]

1. What's the first thing you think of when you think of pink?       baby girls
2. Closest pink thing to you?        I have a big pink eraser on my window sill
3. What sweet things do you like?        chocolate
4. Are you sensitive?        yes
5. What is your favourite flower?        Roses
6. Does you have a crush on someone?         no

[ ORANGE ]

1. What's the first thing you think of when you think of orange?   oranges
2. Closest orange thing to you?       a screen cleaning cloth on my window sill and an orange wired cord wrapped around the neck of the bottle on my window sill.
3. Do you dress up for Halloween?       no
4. What gives you the warm fuzzies?      my dogs
5. What would your superpower be?        I am very good with animals... especially dogs.  I could go on and on about this but this meme is long ....

[ BROWN ]

1. What's the first thing you think of when you think of brown?       wood
2. Closest brown thing to you?      the counter here in my nook.
3. What is your favourite type of chocolate?        currently . . . Hot Chocolate in a warm mug.
4. What makes you feel grounded?  gardening. walking through the woods. nature.
5. Paint the wood or always leave it au naturel?     both. . . it depends on the wood.

[ WHITE ]

1. What's the first thing you think of when you think of white?    freshly washed sheets
2. Closest white thing to you?       paper
3. Do you always try to keep the peace?      yes
4. Do you like to play in the snow?      yes
5. Are you afraid of going to the doctors or dentist?      no

[ BLACK ]

1. What's the first thing you think of when you think of black?   
2. Closest black thing to you?     my phone
3. Are you sophisticated or silly?     neither
4. Do you have a lot of secrets?     yes.  I have alot of my own and I hold many that my friends have told me. I will take all the secrets to my grave. I am very good at keeping secrets
5. What's the new black?     charcoal brown

Well if you read to the end.   You have been added to the list of what make me happy.  This was not as hard as I first thought it would be.  I am almost afraid to see what Shannon and Jamie have up their sleeves for us tomorrow.     I need to clean off my window sill and decorate it for the holidays.

Marianne

so what are you doing right now?

That is the question being asked over at Kickin' it Old Skool,  

the blog-a-thon I am going to attempt to keep up with during December.  

I am also going to try to keep up with Tammy and her Rainbow Escape  Journal Prompts.

She is asking for 7 pages in December.... I should be able to do that right?

Here's the first spread.

the color prompt is Green and Turquoise 

and the technique prompt I chose was to use a rubber stamp.

I also doodled, glued and stenciled.

 

For Kickin' it Old Skool  --- today's prompt is  Time Capsule

Let's capture this moment in time.

1. What are you reading?    The newest issue of Somerset's Handcrafted 
2. What are you watching?    Nothing. Our TV is off most of the time
3. What are you listening to?  Bosley is snoring.
4. What are you loving?  my new slippers
5. What are you wearing?  Jeans, a sweatshirt and my new slippers.
6. What are you creating? An art journal spread for #rainbowescape.
7. What are you looking forward to?  Friday.   Hubby is going out of town and I decided to stay home.

and yes ....   I am still decking the halls.

see you tomorrow !

Marainne

Hello December.

One of the things I like most about blogging is 

the opportunity to meet people and make new friends. 

With that in mind I have joined 

Jamie and Shannon's

Kickin' It Old Skool Blog-a-thon

31 days of blogging fun . . .

 .... geared toward a time when blogging was new, memes were cool

 and it was more about making friends and connections, rather than self promotion and selling.  

  Don't get me wrong, I do love bloggers today and self promotion and selling doesn't offend me.  

 I just miss the fun and games. 

 So I am excited to play along and follow the 31 prompts

 and hopefully make a new friend or two.

So for today. The first prompt is "Selfie"    

  yes it's my profile photo. It's a  year old.    

 and this is me today

 So hello December and hello to to all of you too.

. . .   back to Decking the Halls.

see you tomorrow !

Marianne

November. Art Every Day 2013

another

 Art Every Day Month

comes to an end

 I knitted, I baked, I sketched, I doodled,

 I bound a journal, I wove paper, I painted,

 I took photographs

It was a very creative and artful month.

But

 I wasn't able to update here on my blog as often as I wanted. 

If you follow me on Instagram you'll remember these photos

 because they are the same shots I posted over there. 

I really enjoyed meeting so many talented Artists. 

I'd like to thank Leah for hosting this event every year.

 I can't even imagine how much work she does to put it all together.

Tomorrow is December 1st.

 I have one tree up and half decorated.

I celebrate Yule so I have 20 days to prepare.

I also host Christmas Eve for my family.

I love the holidays.

I will be home for the entire month of December so I 

hope to be able to post at least once a week.

I have holiday crafts and decorating ideas to share with you.

see you soon !

Marianne

 

Tuesday, Tea and a Tutorial

Good Morning Tuesday !

 On Tuesdays several bloggers link up with Elizabeth to share what ever is going on in their lives. The rules are simple ... and bendable ... . 

There is a link to her blog at the end of this post,

 so you can get more info if you would like to join us.

I have a few loyal followers on instagram

 and one of them has asked that I share the steps I used to make this.  

It's a 5x7 collage on Strathmore, 140 lb mixed media paper

As many of you know, I like to make copies of my art. 

Recently I made these four cards for a swap.

I made several copies.  I enlarged them in two sizes.

 I started with an old 5x7 piece that just 

wasn't working out the way I wanted

so I tore out parts of a copy

 .

 and using my favorite medium,  Water Soluble Varnish, 

I layered it in the center .

 Then I scraped a thin layer of gesso over it

 to add depth and soften the color

 next I added a heart that was cut from the copy

 then I added the word "grateful"

 The edges were a bit bland

 so I used Inktense Pencils to add color

 the pencils are loaded with pigment 

so it a little bit goes a long way

 next I used a small brush to add water to 

the pencil and puled the color toward the center

 I used red, bright blue, and violet in several areas around the edge

 The white squares were bothering me

 so I used the colored pencils again to add color

 I used bright blue inktense around the word. 

and added drips and dribbles

 Then I added some detail with a black  Micron 01 pen

I added more color to the heart

 I used a micron pen to outline the heart

 and a Sharpie to define the edge of the card

 I used bright blue to add "drips" from the top edge. 

I thought I might be done .

But the bottom right was bothering me

 So I used gesso on the edge of a folded scrap of junk mail 

 I usually use an old credit card

 but I had no idea where they were....

 hmmmm... need to straighten up a bit around here.

 I just added the gesso by gently tapping.

 Now it's finished.  

I think I'll make 3 more for Sandie's Happy Art Swap

So

What's in my mug?

Land o Lakes Raspberry Hot Cocoa !

Love it on a cold day like today.

  

Thank you to Carolyn for asking for the tutorial.  

Thank you to Elizabeth for providing the link up for us every Tuesday. 

Thank you to Leah for hosting Art Every Day Month.

And if you read this post to the end. . .

Thank you

I am truly grateful.

Marianne