a FABULOUS jewelry class!

Good Wednesday, bloggers, and Happy Canada Day to those in Canada if you're visiting my blog today!
I took the MOST FABULOUS jewelry class at the Cowgirls Art Retreat from Charlotte
Charlotte takes vintage metal cases, makeup, pill cases, jewelry, etc, and watches and turns them into the most beautiful and interesting Jewelry! You must click on my link to visit her shop!
Here I am with Charlotte during her class...

Charlotte was very generous and brought the largest collection of vintage jewelry and doodads for us to use during our class to make our own memory peek-a-boo jewelry piece!
Here are a few pics of Charlotte's pieces...


Here's a fish of the sea inspired piece by Charlotte...

and Inside...

Now I'll share some class pictures while we were learning and working!
This is my friend, Shannon working out placement on her piece!

and here is my "pile" of jewels ready to be used!

Here is my "Cowgirl" friend Gail who joined me this year at the round-up!

And here's my other Cowgirl friend, Shannon, with her finished piece...

(I made us all Cowgirl Aprons for the weekend!)
Here are a couple fellow students' pieces...

And isn't this just lovely?

Here I am working on my piece, this is the beginning...

and a little glitter and an egg... (sorry for the blurry picture)

and my finished piece with a little baby bird jewelry piece and feathers and "life"

(again, blurry, just not a good close-up day!)
And the finished front, where it's waiting for a "LITTLE" picture of my granddaughter, Madison in the frame...

What a wonderful class and such a talented jewelry maker and teacher in Charlotte!
I'll have MORE tomorrow too on another class!

MORE FABULOUS COWGIRL CRAFTING TOMORROW, FELLOW COWGIRLS!

Cowgirls Just Wanna Have Fun by carol's creations on Polyvore.com

Cowgirl Crafting, yes, Still!

Here are the last pages of the fantastic Cowgirl Fabric book I received in the swap at the Paper Cowgirl Art Retreat this past weekend!
Let's begin with this gorgeous page by Alisa and her beautifully detailed page!

Next is another gorgeous page by Marie Jenkins, I don't see a blog for her, but her page was just gorgeous, the pale pinks are so pretty!

The amazing art contines with Terri, she had several different elements at play on her page that merged to create one beautiful page!

And look at this gorgeous page by Nancy from My Crafty Little Page Nancy pulled in the theme of "Happy Trails to You" and her page was just so wonderful!

I will end my posting with the poem on the backside of Nancy's page for you today, but please come back tomorrow, I'll share more Cowgirl goodies and crafts I played in this past weekend with you, friends!
Some trails are happy ones,
Others are blue.
It's the way you ride
the trail that counts.
Here's a happy one for you.
Happy trails to you,
Until we meet again.
Happy trails to you,
Keep smilin' until then.
Who cares about the clouds
When we're together?
Just sing a song, and
Bring the sunny weather.
Happy Trails to you,
Til we meet again.

Cowgirl Abundance!

Hi, Friends! I have SO much to share from my Cowgirl Art Retreat from this past weekend, so I'll share in stages throughout the week.
I thought I'd show you today the FABULOUS Fabric book that was part of a swap I participated in. It is just stunning! Our host Valita made the cover and the inside cover page for every book! She was a fantastic, patient host also!

I will share a few pages, but there were actually 11 pages total.
(I'll share more pages tomorrow too!}

I just LOVED the painted background and the blue buttons to represent the Texas Bluebonnets! Love it! It was made by Heather Ales

Happy Trails to You! So Nostalgic! The artist is Shannon at Faith and Chocolate
This next page is fabulous too, and it's no surprise to me, as I had Cheryl as my swap partner with a Marie Antoinette swap and it was extraordinary, and she continues her legacy of being an artist!

There is a mini pillow in the pocket that says "But you can't take the cowgirl from her heart", so wonderful!
Next is the Alamo, which I'm sure you recognize by Joanna at Sweet Finds
and it's just a wonderful rendition of the original!

Let's continue on with actually one of my pages I hadn't shared earlier with you, I had this vintage fabric in my fabric stash, and finally put it to good use! You can learn to make the "coochie" flower on my sewing blog over at Suzie Button Sews (and not just a button)

This next fabric page is also a gorgeous homage to Texas bluebonnets and the artist is LaVerne from Riverside Studios and this is the backside of the page and on the front she has the most AMAZING Poem entitled "I first saw my first Bluebonnet Field" by Cora Johnson Hill whom was the first female Poet Laureate of Texas. This poem, according to the attached info card from LaVerne, appeared in "Flame of the Wind" published in 1930, the history was just amazing!

I saw my frist bluebonnet field today.
It took my breath away.
It was so blue beneath the Texas Sky
It made me want to pray.
And oh, I was so very glad to see
That beauty spread for me,
And infinitely pleased that God should take
Such trouble for my sake:
To let the old brown-crusted earth break through
With such strange heavenly blue
To let a barren field be frosted white
With such strange heavenly light
That would take the pink that dawns all wear
And let them sparkle there.
I watched that field upon my knees today
It made me want to cry.
Grace Noll Crowell

While I was away...

While I was away crafting like a real Cowgirl at the Paper Cowgirl Art Retreat in Waxahachie I missed having lunch with this sweetie pie...

(Grandma's Sweetie pie, Madison!)
But even Grandma's need to connect with friends once in a while to pursue their passions! Like swapping Cowgirl Crowns...

(Left to right: My friend Shannon, My friend Gail, and Suzie Button, me!)
and meeting up with some of the sweetest, funniest bloggie friends a gal could ever have!

(Left to right: LaVerne (LaVerne made Nancy's crown!), and Nancy (Nancy made MY crown!) and Suzie Button (I made LaVerne's crown!)
LOVELY, JUST LOVELY!
I have SO much more CRAFTINESS Loveliness to share, but I'll do that early next week, Miss Madison and my daughter and husband are here to swim this afternoon, and we're going to try Madison out on a little baby floatie in the pool!

Crafting in Black

Hi, friends! My friend, Gail, recently had a birthday, and as friends we always make something for each other's birthday's, Christmas and so on.
I found this really easy and COOL project over at DESIGN SPONGE
It is a Kate's Uncommon Valentine
This is a very easy and doable project!
I first gathered up various doodads, puzzle pieces, vintage jewelry, old earrings, little charms, just interesting shapes, and I spray painted them all black...

I then took watercolor paper and cut it to size for my scrapbook type frame and I took my desired shape ( a G for Gail in this case!) and printed it out and enlarged it on my home computer, cut it out and traced it lightly in pencil....lightly!

and traced...

Then I used E-6000 glue for the metal pieces to glue them within the shape, and hot glue for the puzzle pieces, etc, and also be sure to erase your lines before you glue as much as you can and still be able to properly place each piece...
Here is a close-up showing the detail...

More close-ups...

And the finished piece! Voila!

Is this REALLY dieting?!

Since my daughter Megan had a baby almost three months ago and since I really needed a boost to work on my weight issues, we decided to tackle Weight Watchers together!
I've "done" Weight Watchers in the past, once I lost 35 pounds when I was 27 years old and became then a size 8 for years! But then again, I worked out constantly and chased children all day back then.
Now my job involves sitting and typing on tiny keys as a broadcast captioner for hours and I'm getting older, so I'm, well, not as active as I once was!
I remember trying to cook healthier and eat out less on the plan before was VERY hard many days, but this time it's so much easier because I'm doing it with a supportive daughter and she's the BOMB when it comes to great lowfat, low point, recipes! Like this one....

YUMMY! I thought starting with dessert was the BEST place to start, don't you agree?!
AND each cupcake is only 3 points!!! Plus they're VERY moist and the icing is fantastic!
Here's the recipe...
RED VELVET SANITY CUPCAKES

1 C. MOIST STYLE DEVIL’S FOOD CAKE MIX
1 C. MOIST STYLE YELLOW FOOD CAKE MIX
2 (25 CAL) PACKETS HOT COCOA MIX
½ CUP LIQUID EGG SUBSTITUTE ( I USED EGG WHITES VERSION)
¼ CUP MINI SEMI SWEET CHOCOLATE CHIPS
1 TABLESPOON RED FOOD COLORING
1 TEASPOON SPLENDA
1/8 TEASPOON SALT

ICING --
6 TB. JET PUFF MARSHMALLOW CREME
6 TB. COOL WHIP FREE
¼ CUP FAT FREE CREME CHEESE ROOM TEMP
1 TB SPLENDA

PREHEAT OVEN TO 350. IN A MEDIUM BLOW COMBINE ALL FROSTING INGREDIENTS EXCEPT FOR COOL WHIP UNTIL MIXED WELL AND THEN FOLD IN COOL WHIP AND FRIDGE UNTIL YOU FROST

IN A TALL GLASS PLACE ½ OF CHOC CHIPS AND CONTENTS OF BOTH COCOA PACKETS AND ADD ½ CUP BOILING WATER AND STIR UNTIL CHIPS AND COCOA ARE DISSOLVED.
ADD 1 CUP OF COLD WATER TO IT AND MIX UP
POUR COCOA INTO LARGE MIXING BOWL AND ADD CAKE MIX, EGG SUBSTITUTE, AND REMAINING CHOC CHIPS AND FOOD COLORING, SPLENDA AND SALT, THEN WHISK FOR 2 MIN UNTIL SMOOTH. BATTER WILL BE THIN, NO WORRY, CUPCAKES PUFF UP WHEN BAKED.
LINE A 12 CUP MUFFIN PAN, SPREAD OUT EVENLY AND BAKE FOR 15-20 MIN.
CUPCAKES WILL LOOK SHINY WHEN DONE, ALLOW TO COOL AND FROST.

Oh, the recipe is from Hungry Girl 200 under 200 book available at Wal-Mart or online! DELISH!
Tomorrow is weigh-in at the meeting, in our first week I lost 4.2 lbs and Megan lost 6!! I really love having such a wonderful daughter!

I Love Lucy Pink Saturday

Hi, Friends! I thought I'd show you today a vintage "Saturday Evening Post" magazine I found at a flea market recently from May 31, 1958!

Of course, I was drawn to it because of it's wonderful vintage cover (!!!) but also because it featured Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. Plus, it was in wonderful shape, nearly mint! I meant to frame it but just haven't gotten to it...
Inside the article is "I call on Lucy and Desi" by journalist Pete Martin
and there are sweet
vintage images of Luci with Desi and also...
Lucy dancing and on the RKO set with Desi.
Here are some additional memories from one of MY favorite programs while growing up, and I'm sure yours too!
Oh, the theme song! (you will need to click off my music player at the bottom of the page first)

Here is her wedding photo..

And here's a slideshow of additional magazine covers, I hope you enjoy it!

And I'm sure you've noticed that my music is themed to go along!
Please visit Beverly at How Sweet the Sound! and Happy Pink Saturday, fellow Lucy lovers!

COWGIRL CRAFTING!

I am working on a Cowgirl themed Fabric Art Book as part of my swap for the upcoming
Cowgirl Art Retreat
I am having a lot of creative fun putting them together and I thought I'd share a few that I have made so far, with quite a few more to make!
The first page shows that if you're a cowgirl, well, in this group, you'd have to be a CRAFTY cowgirl! (Smiles)

There are cowgirls having reunions...

Even Annie Oakley came along to this party to craft!

Maybe Annie rode in on her horse here...

I hope there's no bad influences for these youngest cowgirls!

I even saw a Rodeo Princess at the party! She's so pretty!

This cowgirl is ready to Ride, Baby, Ride! She's a real go-getter type!

And it's kinda controversial, but there are also some pinup calendar girls here too!

I usually don't share the DISASTER of a craft room that I work in, but what the heck, I'm sure I'm not alone, right?! Too much crafting, and not enough storage or a big enough room! Boo hoo for me!

Have a wonderful Friday, friends!