12 days of Christmas

Lots of fun stuff being given away over at the Where Women Create blog...kinda like Santa without the silly red suit!!! And you don't have to leave milk and cookies for them! And they dont come down the chimney or drive a sleigh pulled by eight tiny reindeer, but, you get my point...

A GINORMOUS rock (and, no, I don't mean a diamond...)

Weel, I know it's been a while since we've spoken, and I have a good excuse, really! No, I really do...
I had some kidney stones.
Yeah, you read right.
SOME.
As in two.
TWO!!!
Two that passed (which, in and of itself is a huge deal, if you've ever had them...can you say hello to my new friend dilaudid??? I wouldn't have made it through without it...
Oh, and I don't have insurance.
I also got a kidney infection.
Plus, there are others lurking around in there. One that's 6 mm and too big to pass. I'm gonna have to have some sort of a procedure to get that bad boy out.
BUT, no insurance, remember?
Sigh...
I'm definitely feeling better. Thanks for listening...
I made myself feel better today by going to an Estate sale. I got some LOOT!!! Check it out...



Amazing wedding photos

Old first communion certificate

Vintage beads and bathtub chain

A super sweet vintage sleeveless frock in pale yellow and white

Cool pen nibs in a vintage dennison label box. I love the box, but DAMN I wish there were labels in there! You KNOW how I love me some vintage Dennison

Ok, this one's gotta be in all caps so you know just how excited I am about it: A VINTAGE BOTTLE BRUSH TREE!!! BUT THE FUN DOESN'T STOP THERE, KIDS...A PERFECT STRAND OF MULTI-COLORED MERCURY GLASS BEADS!!! AND, EVEN THOUGH YOU CAN'T SEE IT IN THE PICTURE, THERE IS A STRAND OF TARNISHED SILVER TINSEL!!! I COULD JUST PEE, I'M SO EXCITED....

Pretty little chenille stem/porcelain angel

Four little tarnished silver glitter birds

miscellaneous christmas fun stuff: check out the mercury glass star in the back on the right...I KNOW...**gasp***!!!! LOVE IT!!!! And the litttle whiteish-silver peices are a star that fell apart. I still love the peices.

sweet little velvet drum ornaments

And, finally, a herd of cute velveteen reindeer, with sliver glittered antlers and tails.
All for $12.35, with tax.


Merry Christmas!!!
Love,
Tammy

The reality of it all...

I struggle with what to post to my blog. I know this is a common problem. I want you to know me. I want you to see the "real" me, to convey my heart in the posts here. While it's true that, by nature, I wear my heart on my sleeve, I also don't want to be the kind of person who verbally vomits on those around her. Do you know what I mean? The person that tells you her life story in the middle of the aisle at Wal Mart on a busy Sunday and you only made time to run in to buy toilet paper, and an hour later she's still talking....I'm not talking about a heart-to-heart talk, here. I'm talking about someone who tells you things whether you want to hear it or not. I don't want to force my problems on you, so if you'd rahter not read this post...PLEASE feel free to skip it and just look at the pretty pictures. I promise I won't be offended!!!!!
( The pictures at the top of the post are from an Estate sale I went to today...I got all that fabulousness for $3.00!!! Totally worth the 30 minute drive!)
Anyways...the reality is...I'm gonna share a tiny bit of the hard stuff with you all. If only to reach out to those who have gone through it before, or maybe to encourage those who are going through it right now.
In July, my husband and I separated after almost 17 years of marriage. It was my choice and it was only after YEARS of heartache and counseling and prayer and agony. It wasn't a decision I made lightly. We have 3 children together, and I had a daughter who was 4 when we married.
I stayed home with the kids all those years, and so leaving him changed EVERYTHING! I had to get a job.
He moved out, but my Mom will be moving in soon.
But, for the first time in my life, I am in charge of my life. Thats HUGE, for me. I am losing weight (which I've needed to do for, oh, probably 15 years!) I feel so much stronger and healthier in every way, so, don't worry about me, please! I am TOTALLY gonna make it!
Well, there it is...the reality of my life. I hope you'll leave a comment if you stuck it out and read all this. I would love to hear from you. And, wwe can encourage each other, right? That's what friends are for. Even if we're just cyber-friends!

This is soooo not like me....

WHAT??? TWO posts in TWO days??? Yes. I know... shocking. But, that's not all. No... Not it at ALL.

I ACTUALLY did a little Christmas crafting. WAIT JUST A MINUTE, HERE!!! Isn't it NOVEMBER?? Technically the BEGINNING of November?

Yes, children, it's true. I did something early for a change. And by early, I DON'T mean December 20th. I know...gasp!!!

Now, pick yourselves up off the floor and let me explain, OK??? Jeez, you people....

I went to an estate sale last weekend. Squeaked in at the very end, which is entirely the fault of my kids' Dad and Google maps, but... whatever...

I don't like to go to sales at the end. Unless I already went at the beginning and snatched up all the good stuff I wanted then came back to clean up the stuff I kinda wanted but couldn't justify buying at the prices they were asking. Know what I mean?

Well, I am quite sure I missed all kinds of good stuff from the day before (but I try REALLY hard not to think too much about the stuff that got away...). But I DID get:

Another cute little suitcase to feed my sickness..I mean addiction...I MEAN love for these handy vintage items. A prett pair of Me/You embroidered pillowcases for my bed, a embroidered tea cloth edged in hot pink ( I SOOOOO love that color!!!), an aqua clutch (which I will embellish an show off in a later post), 4 vintage velvet grabby Santas and a cutter quilt top.

So, the quilt top was a partial. It has a pink background and it had these great stars.

I have been wabting to make Christmas Stockings for forever. But, you know how it is...I couldn't find exactly what I wanted. I knew I wanted something vintage, of course, but I didn't want to do a lot of work. Well, the quilt top was perfect. The colors will go perfectly with the candy colors of the vintage mercury glass ornies I have been collecting.

I have to say, I am soooo proud of myself!

C'est bien

New Art Journal page

She's packed her bags...

Put on her ruffly dress...

And she's movin' on...but she wants you to know...C'est bien. It's good. She's gonna be O.K.

I'll tell you all about it soon...

I've fallen in love...

...with my new pink Converse. Sigh. I've waited a long time to find a love like this, and now that it's here, I couldn't be happier. Aint love grand?

2 ATCs and a Tag...

So, I'm a working girl now. (only in the strictest non-prostitute sense of that phrase.) (how weird is it that I have now mentioned prostitution TWICE in a ROW on my artsy-having-nothing-whatsoever-to-do-with-sex blog???) Huh...

I haven't had enough time to do much crafting, but I did manage to squeak out a few ATCs:

(Both of the images are from ArtChix...)

And a thank you tag, which I can't show the whole of because its a thank you and that would ruin the surprise...(this image is from Spark your Imagination)

Gotta run...doin the working girl thing...

New artwork and quotes

I LOVE quotes.

I love how a cleverly put together string of words can lodge itself inside my head.

I have been in love with words and especially quotes my whole life, or, at least what I can remember of it. Granted, I kind of have a bad memory, but...whatever.

I do love quotes!

And I almost always include a quote in my artwork. I keep a quote book and sometimes I pull a quote first and create a collage around it. The quote drives the creative bus, so to speak.

Sometimes the art comes first and the quote follows.

This piece has a quote I got from Teesha Moore's blog. I've never heard of this guy, but, DANG, she's got some good things to say! She was a German author and had a meeting house for intellectual and artistic gatherings. At least that's what I can gather from Wikipedia.

The quote is "Woman is born to create. In creating she becomes herself, accomplishes her destiny. Her whole life is only an initiation into creative power. To create is not merely to make a work. It is to give of ones own individuality."

I LOVE THAT!!!!

**The dark yellowish strips above the birdhouse and around the edges of the piece are actually ancient pieces of scotch tape that I took off of a globe I got at an estate sale. I just couldn't throw them out!!! Isn't that sick?

The next piece is kind of a departure for me. I collaged/decoupaged/painted the background before I even knew what I was going to put on it. I am totally DIGGING the drippy paint thing right now, btw...(if you hadn't noticed!)

I made a birdcage out of wire and glued it on at the junctures, sprinkling chunky vintage silver glass glitter onto the glue. I have also been finding myself creating these woman-as-birdcage girls. Notice how the cage is empty? That's not a bad thing. I think she sort of creates and then releases her creation (art, children, etc...) into the world, to find its own way.

This one needs a quote, but I haven't decided which one yet. Any suggestions? Do you collect quotes, too?

Thanks for coming over!

xoxo,

Tammy

A dream come true...

Ever since I was a little tyke...knee high to a grasshopper, as my mother used to say...I've wanted to work at a Starbucks.
Okay, well, maybe I wasn't little. Really, I was an adult, but, oh, so much younger and less jaded than I am now...
Anyways, I have always wanted to join the ranks of those ultra-cool coffee-slingers who came to be known as "baristas".
Well, okay, if you want to get technical, I didn't even LIKE coffee until I moved to coffee central, otherwise known as Seattle. That was 12 years ago. But, oh, man...once the bug bites, it bites HARD. The very AIR smells like coffee here, truly it does! This is the HOME of Starbucks, people. Be in awe.
Well, I got a job. As a barisata. At a Starbucks. A Safeway Starbucks. (how awesome is America? Not only can you get a fresh, delicious, creamy espresso from a bikini-clad barista on just about any corner (no, I mean in a drive thru stand, not that they stand there hawking their wares on the actual corner! Can you imagine? "Hey, baby...how 'bout a hot one? I have whipped cream!!!...we could call them Barista-tutes...)
Oh, gosh...I got a wee bit carried away there, didn't I? Get it together, Tammy! Where was I? Oh, yeah...you can get coffee while you shop! LOVE it!
So, I start training tomorrow. I'm so excited. Wish me luck!



Here's my last collage:

I found this WONDERFUL vintage book on Oil Portraits. The images are fabulous! The quote is from Lao Tzu "when I let go of what I am, I become what I might be"

This is the one I'm working on next:

Have a lovely day!

Pull up a chair...

I found this old office chair at Value Village last week. (For $2,50, thank you very much!!!)

You've all seen them...painted an ugly non-color industrial tan, seats an even uglier brown vinyl...

Well, I know you'll all be so shocked to find out that I didn't take a before picture...you know how on top of things I am...how calculated..how focused...

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(just had to take a chuckle break there for a second...)

No, really, what happened was I tore into that baby as soon as I could. I couldn't take the ugliness...I was inspired and couldn't be bothered with the before picture...What can I say? I'm an artist! Can't tell the muse to wait a second for the before picture.

A can of cream spray paint and some vintage Waverly barkcloth, and voila!

Isn't it CUTE???? Sooooooooooooooo much better than the big, huge, ugly, black pleather monstrosity I was sitting in before.

I'm way more productive and focused sittting in a cute computer chair. What about you?

then another and another and another....

A 3-D collage about my 4 beautiful daughters:

Done on a peice of wood I dug out of the garage, coated in beeswax.

Thanks so much for looking!

Have a LOVELY day,

Tammy