HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I hope 2013 brings you love, health and happiness!!




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GORGEOUS FABIC AND LACE JOURNAL!!

This has become the new "in" thing for me.  These beautiful lace and fabric journals.  I am not very good at it yet but in searching through youtube for ideas I came across this AMAZING book!!



I LOVE THIS!

BELATED BIRTHDAY CARD

We have a birthday club on one of my groups where we send each other 4x4 birthday cards.

With so many things happening recently, I didnt get a chance to make them. But as promised - I did. Okay - a little late - but with lots of love!

I made this 4x4 birthday card for my friend Eileen whose birthday was on Dec 3. We are still in December so she is still celebrating!



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3 YEARS AGO TODAY

I lost my dad after a brief but vicious cancer. I still miss him every single day of my life. I know my brothers do too.

My dad is smiling today. This morning my brother's 3rd grandson was born.


Albert Maxwell Vigil-Simmons weighed in today at 8.8 pounds and absolutely gorgeous!!

Today's sadness will always be much easier with the birth of this beautiful baby boy.

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LOCKS OF LOVE

My grand daughter Kaitlynn has always been very vain about her hair. She is almost six yours old and has never cut her hair except for the ends.

My daughter Kristina has donated her hair to Locks of Love - a foundation that makes wigs for children who have lost their hair to cancer.

Kristina told Kaitlynn about it and asked her if she would donate her hair. I really thought she would be upset about it.

Christmas day we were watching TV and that heartbreaking commercial for St. Jude's hospital was on and Kaitkynn asked if those were the sick children that needed hair. I told her they were. She almost cried watching the commercial and told me she was giving them her hair.

Today she went and donated her hair to locks of love. I am so damned proud of her and of Kristina for teaching her an invaluable life lesson.















I am so proud of you Kaitlynn!!


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Sandy Hook Elementary School

I can not shake the horror if this tragedy. It has affected me deeply as I am sure it has affected everyone around the world. I feel as devastated by this incident as I did after the 911 attack on New York.


My heart breaks for those parents. Any time would be awful but it has to be especially horrible during the Christmas holidays. Those family will NEVER be able to live through another Christmas without returning to this horrific event.


I think the feeling that is strongest is the feeling of total impotence. I dont know any of the victims or their families. Yet I am pulled to go to Newtown.... To HUG someone. You know what I mean?



What can we do? Not just for Newtown but for this entire country? What can we do about these senseless, horrible murders? How can this country not react when we see TWENTY families are burying their children?!


I heard on HLN that there were 16 "mass murders" in this country this year alone.


Why in the WORLD would this country sell these weapons to ANYONE???? What is the justification for anyone to own that type of weapon? A weapon that can kill so many people in a matter of seconds!?


I personally have serious issues with the NRA but I do understand the that the Constitution gave us the right to bear arms.


But does anyone really believe that the men who created that right had any IDEA of what an assault rifle would be or how many people it could kill?? Do you think they had ANY idea of what the citizens of this country would turn against their own?


It is inconceivable to me that this country has become the joke of the world. With all our Freedoms we can no longer live in freedom from fear.

Other countries live in fear of violence, of atrocious actions by their own people.


This country with its wonderful opportunities and all these 'freedoms' ---- except for the freedom from fear. We are living with the very fears and questions that so many people who live in 3rd world countries live with this same fear.

And THIS is growth? They want teachers to take weapons to school!!!! Doesnt any one see that this is so wrong on so many levels!????


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What is happening???

I am tired of feeling sad. After the awful massacre in Connecticut I realize that my problems are insignificant. My heart hurts for those people. And those babies.... What is happening in this country?! How can we tolerate a world where our children are mot safe in an elementary school?????
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WHAT ARE THE CHANCES????

December 28, 2009 I lost my dad to cancer. Nine weeks between diagnosis and death.

Today we were told my mother has bone cancer. Thankfully its not as aggressive as my dad's.

What are the chances of losing both parents to cancer?!?!?!

I don't even know what to say.


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DECEMBER DAILY

THese are the first 12 pages if my December Journal.


Pages 1, 3 and 5


Pages 2, 4, 6


Pages 7, 9 and 11


Pages 8, 10 and 12.

We are going to Disney from the 7th through the tenth so I made these pages with more writing space and space for pictures and "stuff". Plan to add the 2013 Disney pin to the page.

The pages are not decorated. I figured Id embellish it as I go.

Some pages are made on cardstock and some from different weight chipboard.

December Daily

I have received questions on the December Daily.  I have 12 pages of it done so far.  I have another 19 to go!!  I am using an 8 3/4 x 8 3/4 chipboard album which is not too big but not so small that I feel claustrophobic!

I am using the City Sidewalks paper line by Pink Paisley which I love.



I will post the first 12 pages either later tonight or tomorrow.  The great thing about this type of journal is that although I will make all the pages - I will only be doing the backgrounds.  I have all month to add ephemera to my journal; pockets to add receipts and christmas cards.  Lots of room for pictures.

Maybe you want to add envelopes for those great family recipes that come out during the holidays.

This is the first year I've done this but I am really excited about it.

How about you?  Did any of you do a December Daily this year???

A GOAL TO HELP ME GET BY

For the first time this year I made a December Daily.  I have never been good at doing ANYTHING daily but for some reason this year I really wanted to do it and did.

I will admit to being madly in love with Oprah Winfrey.  Listening to Super Soul Sundays always leaves me feeling good for the rest of the week.

Today's show has reached into my very soul.  It spoke to me in a way that has impacted me greatly.

With Charlie in jail I had already determined that it was going to be an awful Christmas.  I just wanted to close my eyes and open them in January.  How can I look at beautiful christmas decorations, listen to christmas music with my son in jail?  It just wasnt going to happen.

Oprah's guests today discussed what I already knew but forget at times.  That we need to live in gratitude.  That living in sadness and negativity is not what God or the universe intended for us.

Every day in my December Daily I will make an affirmation of gratitude.  I will find something to be grateful for despite the despair and the hurt.  I will send out positive energy so that positive things can happen.

I will be grateful.

We are 10 with Jen!!

I am a poet!!!

Got confirmation by our sweet friend Jennifer Rogers-Daniels that she will be joining us in March at the Keys 4 Art Retreat in Key Largo!!!!!

Jen has been with us since the beginning and I know you are all as happy as I am that she will be joining us for our 4th year!!!

I getting so excited about this next retreat!!!

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Back from Cuba

Got back on Thanksgiving Day in time to spend the holiday with my family. This time I went for 3 weeks, the longest I have ever gone and I really did not want to come back.

I come home to find my son in jail on a violation of probation with no bond. The same lover... The addiction he cant seem to be able to control any longer. He has never spent time in jail.

I thank God he is there. Id rather visit him in jail than in a cemetery. I put him in Gods hands a long time ago.

But oh my Lord what it does to your soul to see your child in handcuffs.

I have absolute love for and faith in my God. But seeing my son like that I would make a deal with the devil to trade places with him.

All I can do is be there for him with a love that is intense and unconditional.


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Vintage Ancestors

Finished my first Vintage Ancestors journal today. I felt a little intimidated because the journal belongs to my sweet friend Sox who is the GURU of this style!

This is my contribution to her journal:


The tag flips over to tell the story associated with this "relative":


I used the on the edge die with the sewing notions:


I embossed the scissors with the fabulous Zing embossing powder which I love.

I added a vintage pin to the lace


And some cute little Ideology hangers to the burlap


And DONE!

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Happy Birthday Banana!!!

Today is Savannah 's first birthday!!!! I love this grand baby.1 She has the sweetest disposition!
Happy Birthday baby girl!




!








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Day three

No pain at sll. Very uncomfortable.


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Day 2

More bruising today. Can barely see. Bored out of my mind laying in bed!



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EYE SURGERY

Finally had eye surgery yesterday i have been wanting to do it for a while.

Here is the plan:


My eyelids have always been very droopy and i always l always look exhausted. U started to develop some melanomas on my eyelids so I decided to have the surgery.
I really live Dr. tanenbaum and has done beautiful work on some of my friends.

So i got prepped for surgery:





Came out looking like Id gone 3 rounds with Tyson (except my ears were still there );


(No! I did mot have a baby! Just looks wierd!)

Git home like this





Lets see if when it heals we have a good outcome. :)

A present for my cousin Victor

I have had this on my mind for days now so today i just decided to just sit down and do it when I got home
This is from Donna Downey's Canvas Create class for the month of October!



Sorry! The shadows on the right wee not my idea!

Its done on a 12x16 canvas and the picture doesn't show the richness and beauty of the pastels.
I am going to Cuba soon and made this for my cousin Victor who just finished refurbishing his house. This is the first time I have shared my art with my family. I hope he likes it.
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Just for a smile

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Kindred Souls Postcard Swap

This month's theme is steampunk. I was partnered with the lovely Heidi Bound who I had the pleasure to meet in a recent trip to New York and Deb Ring who I have not had the pleasure of meeting yet!!

These are my two postcards for this swap:





And the backs:






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READY SET GO!!!!

Today is the send off day for our Vintage Ancestors Round Robin journals!!!  Everyone has such fabulous journals!!!  I am so excited!

Well this is my journal:

I left plenty of room for the pages as they will become bulky.

 This is my first page - the start of my "family" of ancestors.

 And the story behind this family.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we really could go back and meet our ancestors?  Even the crazy ones!

KEYS 4 ART 2013!!!

Every year I host this wonderful retreat at my house.  This year I decided to do something a little different and rented a house to hold the retreat in!!!

The house is just AMAZING!!!!

It sleeps 16 people and is definitely going to be a PAAARRRTTYYYY!!!!

Go check it out at www.keys4art2013.blogspot.com

Lace Book Project

The theme for my lace book project is Paris. We do our first page (front and back) before sending it on. The send out date is Dec 1 but since I will be in Cuba for the month of November I have to get it done ASAP.

These is the front and back page on a muslin background.





These will be decorated with tons of lace and doodads and sewn one behind the other to create the first page.

Both pieces of fabric are of a parisian theme.

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Lace Book additions

Added some color to the front page of my lace book.



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