I'm still here!!

My computer is still acting possessed by a demon. I rarely even have the courage to try any more. But I do miss you all so. So here I am, trying again.

I hope this contraption will let me finish this post and save it. I'm hoping for a new computer for Christmas.....

I received my 5X5 Winter Themed Swap items and they are all so lovely.

They arrived in this lovely pouch. I want to add a satiny braided strap to it and turn it into a little carry bag. Purse just does not seem to be the right term.

Jillayne included this lovely little embroidered heart in her card to me and I just love it. I have decided to place it on my Christmas tree this year. Wouldn't

it make a lovely ornament?This is the 5X5 Jillayne made. I love the snowman ribbon. So whimsical. The colors are perfect too.

This one was made by Marie of Trash to Treasures. I don't know about trash but if she made this from scraps all I can say is wow. It really is a treasure.

This one came unsigned. I love how this little gal seems to be blanketed by snow. Very pretty!!
This pretty felted piece was created by Appleshoe of Nuthatch. I love how it feels. You can't see it here but the bird has a dark beaded eye. Love it!!

This quilted and embroidered bird came to me from Lucilla Rossouw. The birds eye is a shiny red bead. I love the use of buttons for the corners. Lovely piece isn't it?

I wish to thank all of the wonderful creative people that entered this swap and to thank Jillayne for putting it together. What a wonderful way to begin the holiday season a little bit ahead of schedule. Thank You to you all.

I apologize for just disappearing like I did. I have been working hard at my rehab, going 5 days a week. My knees are so much more flexible now. I am still losing weight and struggling with the chocolate cravings. I joined a holiday hold out at the fitness center to help make me accountable to someone for my goals. One goal is to keep my weight going downward during the holiday season and to not miss many days of rehab. I have found I enjoy the elliptical machine.

Be Happy, Be Healthy, Be Safe,

Tess

P.S. Yes Cinda, My lovely tweet arrived and I have placed it in a pretty bird cage on my buffet for all to see. I love it. Thank you....

Winter Song 5X5's Swap Art

Happy Saturday folks,
Ahhh, The weekend. I do live for my weekends. (Sad isn't it?!) The shopping is done and the fridge is cleaned out. Plus I've had a nap. 3 things off my to-do list. It's not a very long list this week-end. All the better!!

I mentioned in a past post that I joined a 5X5 swap over at A Fine Seam. Jillayne and the others will be happy to know my five 5X5's are in the mail and winging their way to Canada. (She told us to think of these as ATC's on steroids, so funny!) It was surprisingly inexpensive to mail them off. Our postage here in the States is outrageous but my little package only cost just over $2.00 to send from Kansas to Canada. I glued the original designs to a stiff cardboard I found in my basement. (Sometimes I could swear things just "appear" down there.) I was concerned about the amount of weight the backings would add but I think they will hang much nicer this way for my swap mates. My 5X5's mainly consisted of paper, card stock, paint and mod podge. I didn't like the plain card board showing so I "painted" it with tissue paper. I love using tissue paper. The stuff comes in so many vivid colors and if you stamp on it before gluing it to something the stamps really "pop". I want to get a stamp of my name and blog address to use just for that purpose as I find I cover a lot of things with tissue paper, including envelopes. I forgot about doing that with this envelope though. I wish I had taken a picture before I mailed it off. I like to reuse bubble envelopes and I found I had one just the right size. I colored all over the old label and then glued tissue paper down. Then I drew a leafy vine all around the front of the envelope with color markers. I think it makes the packages prettier for the postal workers and recipients plus I love the recycling aspect. I have a few more bubble envelopes that I want to give a make-over for resending out into the world. It's fun because there is no set plan in mind when I do it. Just color, stamp, paint, whatever to make sure all of the old label is completely covered.

OK, now that my 5X5 swap items are in the mail I've decided to make one just for me. I love how these turned out but I do have a question though. What could I have done to make the cutout blend into the background better? Thanks for helping me learn with your answers.

Have a great weekend,

Be Happy, Be Healthy, Be Safe,

Tess

Fused Plastic Envelopes

Happy Tuesday,

See the pretty envelope I made. This is a recycling project. I got the idea from Patsy of HeArtWorks. She did a great post with a tutorial using plastic banners. I don't have any banners but I did have some fused plastic Walmart and Dillons grocery bags so I put them to good use. It was fun and messy creating the first step of these; painting with acrylic paint and then stamping with ink. I even scribbled with my new gold leaf pen on one. I have finished four of them so far. I hope Patsy remembers she agreed to do a trade with me during June. She is in the Phillipines. I plan to send one through our mail to my mom tomorrow to see how they hold up. I suppose I could have machine stitched the sides shut or just glued them but it was fun sewing them up by hand. Do stop over and visit Patsy at HeARTworks. She has a great blog and is a wonderful artist. She has been adding ATC's to her scrapbook pages. Here are pics of the 4 envelopes I have made so far. Not only would they be great for mailing things in (pretty snailmail) but I thought they would be great ATC holders or gift card holders to tuck inside packages or suitcases. They could even be used to leave a tip for the waitress or the hotel maid. Maybe with a business card tucked inside too. What other ideas might they be good for? I plan to attempt to make a bigger one that I could use to send several smaller ones to Patsy with. These are not exactly even either. I left the plastic just as it was and just folded it in uneven thirds. I like the look.

FrontsBacks

Wow, I am really on a roll here. I haven't blogged this often in a long time. I still have another project I am working on, more 4X4 tulips. They are not finished yet though. And I have done a pastel-over of a poppy and one of my cats. I still have to create a background for them. I'll show them to you all another time.

Until then~

Be Happy, Be Healthy, Be Safe,

Tess

January's Journal Challenge - Day 6

I missed posting yesterday but I did do something artistic on Jan. 5th. I made my first ATC card. I love ATC's and I have 3 from other artists. I first found them in the pages of Somerset Studio. I even went out and bought one of those stamps that you use on the back of the card with the lines for artist name, card name, number and such. Of course I can't find the stamp now. I'm sure I'll find it as I'm putting things away in my new art dresser. Recently a new friend on AC gave me some links to ATC related sites on the web and I even found a tutorial at gomakesomething.com. That was a neat site to find, thanks Barbara. ~~~~

This is a recycled ATC of sorts as I used recycled items mostly. The base is junk mail and I covered it with bits of upholstery samples for stability. Then a torn page from an old dictionary I found and a canceled stamp. I cut a heart out of a magazine page for one of the heart balloons and used a sticker for another. Then I drew one with a glitter pen and a few squiggles too. I stamped words and attached a word cut from a magazine also. It looked too clean so I inked the edges with the stamp pad. I wanted to cover it with tissue paper to better pull it all together but but that attempt failed (I didn't like the look) and I ended up pulling the tissue off. I painted on a coat of modpodge and used torn envelopes on the back to cover some of the junk mail words. I'll call it celebrate 1. I have already picked out some mini cardstock papers to make another and I think I have another canceled celebrate stamp. Of course I'll call the next one celebrate 2.
Celebrate family, traditions and generations this year people. It will be well worth it.~~~

Thank you to all that have commented, I appreciate the attention. You lift my spirits and make me smile with each comment.
Happy Day,
Tess

Another Postcrossings Update

Remember my past blog about postcrossings.com? If not read it here in my September posts or at my AC site here:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1013602/post_crossings.html?cat=4

I had sent out about 10 cards and only received 3 myself so I was beginning to feel discouraged. Not any more! This week there has been a surprise in my mailbox everyday. I even recieved a postcard and my 1st Christmas card this year both on the same day from kind postcrossings members. It's been lots of fun and even my husband is starting to get excited about it.

I love the red roofs on this card from Leiden.

We both found this card very comical. I want to believe too, how about you?

This is a homemade card from Italy.

And my very first Christmas card this year. It's a bit early I know but hey, it's from the Netherlands. She even included a couple bags of tea and a nice little tree pin in the card. Thanks Karin and Merry Christmas to you too.

Well that's my update. I have more cards and have added them to my postcard wall at my postcrossings site. You can view them there and if you get bored and want something to do check out all of the cards that have been downloaded at postcrossings. There are cards from many different countries, some beautiful, some inspirational and some downright comical.

Enjoy the rest of your week. Hey it's almost Friday, I better get some sleep.

night night,

Tess