Coming home from work yesterday, I found a rose-covered package waiting!



It was my traveling ART SAVES art journal which had come home. Look here to see inside the package!
Thanks to creative and inspiring Carmen for this wonderful round robin group project!

Mail....both kinds!!!!and mermaids too!!!!

(Synchronicity at work!!!!)

Arriving home yesterday, I was greeted by a lovely e-mail from Carmen. She had photographed my name spelled out in seashells, beside a piece of mermaid art. Stunning!

Carmen tells me that the mermaid is from Gemma's "pay it forward" art offer. I love redhaired mermaids....and here is a watercolor I did last year of one who is maybe a litle vain? (Aren't most of us who blog!!!???)

I also had a package from Arizona!!!!

A few weeks back, in a greedy moment, I left a comment with Gemma to "win" some of her art work in the "pay it forward" art offer. [I have some "Gemma art" already, the "indigo pears" in my sidebar!]. Never-the-less, I wanted MORE....she came through with a lovely 5X7 collage/watercolor with pearls and feathers. It is about my name!

LILA

Origin: Sanskrit Meaning: Divine Play

Origin: Persian Meaning: Dark Haired Beauty

I have read about my name a lot over the years, and do so appreciate having this to hang in my art studio. I think the "divine play" aspect will be a blessing for years to come as the "dark beauty" fades...(remembering the Michelle Pfeiffer 400 year-old witch in "Stardust", LOL)

Thank-you, Gemma. (now I need to do the art for those who left comments on my "pay-it-forward" post!)

One last package contained two items from Corey at Tongue in Cheek Antiques !!!!

They are antique French postcards and Limoges charms found by Corey at the Paris Flea Markets. Now I can touch and hold in my hand something related to her wonderful blog!

The postman just came.......

I was delighted to receive a box from Julie!

In a brown parcel with lovely Victorian flower children stickers, I found some accordian folded "scrap" books, and more! I have scanned some of it here.

You can see a handmade necklace with a charm which is a robin's nest. The beads on the necklace are "robin" colors....red-breast red and robin's egg blue. The artist, included the legend of the robin with the lovely jewelry! [Contact Julie for info on her hometown artist, Lila(!), of Dog Day Designs in Bismarck, ND]

I'm off to have a great day wearing my treasure, with a robin to guide "new growth and new beginnings"!

(Later....well it is a "new beginning" of sorts....the foot doctor is having me stay off my inflammed -tedonitis, we think- foot for a few days...so I won't be going to "in" to work for a week or so....more time to play..."Oh no!"...I can get caught up on my "Finding Water" study! except no walks or Artist Dates on my feet!)

More mail!!!

I found a package waiting when I got home from work on Saturday night! It was filled with a lovely notecard, papers for collage and altered art projects and 3, ATC's done by Janet! They are good examples of different techniques for ATC artworks. The stitchery one has a very different appeal and "feel" !

Now I am really inspired to get busy and try some more ATC's and 4x4's!

Thank-you, Janet!











We are posting old photos of ourselves...these are what I found, easily ( as they were sitting here in frames and easy to scan).

The photo of 4 children from the 1950's shows me as the oldest (bossy?) sister. One little sister and 2 younger brothers completed our bunch! I was very proud of my glasses which I thought made me look grown up like my mom and grandmother!

Below is a college photo from the late 1960's. By then, hating my glasses, I was so happy that contacts were invented! I was an art and math major ( my father was a mathmetics professor).



Perhaps, we are "supposed" to be posting photos from 20 years ago (mine are much older!)....that I can do after I go thorough some albums...have to run to work now....My last day before a vacation!!!







I must say, no matter how I plan and do this layout, the preview and published versions are always a surprise...!!!

Hoping Blogger keeps this in some kind of order!