Beauty

The finished piece of my version of Japanese Art.  The symbol is Japanese for beauty. Dogwoods and Izu Thrush-native to Japan

This, my friends is called a Blue Hawaiian.  A very tasty concoction that my husband whipped up.

Sebastian was very bored with my photography of him.

He even got up and turned his back on me.

 My pallet with the different colors.

The glorious grape hyacinths have grown.

The daffodils and tulips are beautiful also.

Happy, Happy Spring!

My Beautiful Door

I have a thing for doors.

I feel a door is a preview to what is behind it.

Theresa and I had a shopping day in Indianapolis.

We found the neatest flower design shop called Palm Court Design.

1134 East 54th Suite K

Indianapolis, IN 46220

The people who design just have that extra something.

I had been looking for an arraignment for spring into summer that would show up really well.

When I look at it, I am happy.

Also right next door is a restaurant called Zest.

It was really interesting.

I had the April Burger of the Month-Which was the Veggie Burger since it was Good Friday.

It had tortilla strips on it and good seasonings, also a slice of avocado with a side of chipotle sauce and fries.

Theresa had fish tacos, which she enjoyed also.

This restaurant had a visit from Diners, Drive Ins and Dives-Guy Fieri

and it will be shown on May 9th.

If you get by there be sure to stop in.

Action photos

It was a fairly warm, sunny but windy day, so the Easter egg hunt was on.

These are the youngest members of the family.

Big Sister getting down to get that hard to reach egg.

Uh Oh, younger brother has spotted one nearby, you have to get up and get going!

The victory of the eggs!

Showing off her findings.

Slowly and methodically walking to get the eggs that are pointed out to her

as bigger sister is told to leave it for little sister.

Enjoying his bag of loot.

Handsome Dad taking the action photos.

My sisters house

I have always liked my sister and brother in laws house.

To me it looks like a country cottage.

She always has interesting things on the front porch.

The tree has light up eggs and there is also a swing.

Everywhere you look she has really interesting things to look at.

She has good taste and sets thing up so nicely.

It is a warm and inviting place to go.

Happy Easter

Chocolate Cupcakes, Peeps Bunnys, Licorice Whips and Jelly Beans = Fun, Cute and Tasty

Grape Hyacinths

Another thing I love is grape hyacinths.

First the greenery comes up from the ground

Then the purple flower starts popping their heads up

Then after a month they start dying off and the greenery takes a few months to turn, brown and dry up

Then when it gets close to fall the greenery starts popping from the ground again

I love the way they multiply too

These are out in our parking lot

Very pretty

Dogwoods-Progress

It's coming along

Words

My friend Theresa passed this on and I enjoyed it so much I wanted to share it if you haven't seen it already.

It gives a good and strong message.

I hope that you like it too.

Saint Francis nature

I caught this picture with my phone as I was coming into the building.

With the rainy, windy and cool weather this gives hope that there are warmer days ahead.

So Pretty!

Cardinals

I love cardinals.

I love their redness.

I love their song, it is so distinctive.

When the trees have no leaves you can spot them way at the top by following their song.

They are just a speck up in the top of the tree.

Here are a few that I have found that I have.

enjoying the outdoors

We found some comfortable furniture for the covered porch.  The chairs swivel and rock.

Tom got himself a Genesis Weber Grill, that he just loves.

Then we have an outdoor bar.

The logs in the bar are from an old fireplace. They are the ceramic logs and are heavy.

Where we live it seems to be very windy and they are keeping the bar in place.

Tom was pooped from putting it all together...etc.

He was watching a Tigers game and enjoying his new bar.

The blue mug is called a Bubba Keg.

A gift from a buddy.

dogwood-1st layer

I like to build layers on my watercolors.

Here is the first.

dogwoods

An assignment was given in my Religions East and West class. It was to do two projects that we could choose from a given list.  My first that I chose was to do a research paper on Cults.  The second I chose was to study Japanese Art and to render something.  I decided to draw and watercolor a picture with Japanese Dogwoods, an Izu Thrush which is native to Japan and the symbol for Beauty in Japanese.  Japanese art is based on nature and so I combined these elements. 

Here is the drawn picture. It was done in a 4H pencil so it is very light.  Click on the picture to make it easier to see.

More New Cards

I needed a new baby card and a sympathy card.

Here is what I came up with.



sympathy cards

I like to have some sympathy cards on hand.

Again since I had my stamps all out I did one for male and one for a female. 

The Tree, words and hanging heart are all from Judith

another card

Same Stamping set (since I already had it out) just different colors.

Same companies Darcies for the stamps and K and Company for the patterned paper.

I used Cats Eye, Versa Magic and Martha Stewart Inks to get the right colors.

flower card

I was in the mood to stamp tonight and made a birthday card.

The background paper is from Kand Company and the stamps are from Darcies.

It's a very happy bright birthday card. 

photo shoot

Here are the professional pictures that came from the photo shoot of our fireplace.

The pictures will go on the front of the boxes selling the fireplace screen and then also selling the tools, as in the fireplace utensil and the wood holder.

Also if you look hard there are differences in each picture.

Photoshop is an amazing program.

Plates and Cups

This little salad plate is made by Noritake and the pattern is Conservatory.

Pansies are one of my very favorite flowers.

This is a definite springtime plate.

This charming cup and saucer are made by Lenox and the pattern is Butterfly Meadow.

The plate has a raised flower in the bottom.

And the cup handle is a butterfly with little ladybugs in the pattern.

I just love it!

What I thought was neat about this was the whole deal.  The way the cup holds the teapot.

I also liked the bold colors of the butterflies.

It is made by Burton and Burton and the pattern is wings of grace.

This wonderful little red and white plate was one that I inherited from my Mom.

It is made by Royal Dalton and the pattern is Calico Red.

I have had these next plates for 30 years now.

Gone With The Wind is one of my favorite books and movie.

Scarlett and Mammy

Dashing Rhett Butler