My goodness, my goodness,

It's Christmas again.

The bells are all ringing.

I do not know when

I've been so excited.

The tree is all fixed,

The candles are lighted,

The pudding is mixed.

The wreath's on the door

And the carols are sung,

The presents are wrapped

And the holly is hung.

The turkey is sitting

All safe in its pan,

And I am behaving

As calm as I can.

     --Marchette Chute

IS ANYONE OUT THERE?

I haven't been posting lately, because I don't think anyone is visiting.  So, I'm asking everyone who visits to please just leave a small message, even just to say "hi", so I'll know that someone has been here! 

Also, if there are any tips from any of you about how to encourage people to come to my blog, please let me know!

Here is a sweet picture to share.  It is my mother when she was a teenager, probably taken around 1946 or so.  Her name was Lois, but most of her family called her Janie.  You are welcome to use it for your personal art.

GREAT GIVEAWAY!

Craftgossip.com is having a terrific giveaway.  They're offering Photoshop Elements and Photoshop Premier!  I'd like to win it!  Click the following link to register:
http://craftgossip.com/blog/giveaway-review-adobe-photoshop-premiere-elements-bundle/2010/04/27/
Bonnie

IT'S FINALLY HERE!

My chorus has been rehearsing for months and it's finally Regional contest weekend.  We all go to Kansas City tomorrow.  We are prepared, we are ready and we are excited! 

Emerald City Chorus is the 11th of 15 to compete Saturday afternoon at the Overland Park Convention Center.  If we earn a medal, (up to fifth place), we will also sing in the Show of Champions Saturday evening.  Our songs are both about Ireland, and our Choreography is fabulous!

In Sweet Adeline world, we would say "break a lip".  So off I go tomorrow morning.  Please send lots of wishes for broken lips our way!

Grandpa!

I only have time for a quick post today, so am sharing an image with you.  This was my Grandpa!

I keep this photo on my desk so I can see it often.  Wasn't he dapper?

His name was Roy Curtis Dyer, and he was born in 1892.  I think this photo was taken in the 40's, but I know it was taken in Kansas City.  

As a child, Grandpa was among the homesteaders that settled in southwestern Oklahoma.  He was a farmer, married my sweet Grandma, Susie, and after having 7 children (my mother was the youngest), moved to Kansas City when the Dust Bowl prevented any crops from growing.  My mother was quite small when they moived, so grew up in Kansas City.  As she grew older, she delighted in loading everyone (grandchildren, visiting cousins and  friends) in her mini van and taking them on her "nostalgic tours" of the places she lived, learned and played as a child in KC.  What fun those were!

Feel free to use this image in your artwork and please reference back to me if you do use it.  I know that images of men are not as common as other themes.  Personally, I look for pictures of birds and little girls.  But I love this one of Grandpa! 

Bonnie

Baby It's Cold Outside!

Tomorrow is the first day of spring, and here in south central Kansas we are having winter all over again!  It is sleeting and snowing, the ground is covered, and the prediction is for blizzard-like conditions in parts of the state!  No worries here!  I've got a nice fire in the fireplace, hot chocolate in hand, and my furry kids all around.  We're cozy and warm!

Kristin over at Retro Cafe Art Gallery is having a giveaway of 3 copies of the new book, "Teach Yourself Visually-Collage and Altered Art".  I have another of the "Teach Yourself Visually" book series, and they are a great resource.  I'm excited to see this one.  Go visit Kristin to enter her giveaway. 

I'm also excited to show you a piece of art I recently purchased.  This is a hand formed pottery ornament by Kansas artist, Carol Long.  Carol does amazing, whimsical pottery, and I've admired her work for years.  She always shows at the Wichita Lawn, Flower and Garden Show, and finally, I'm the proud owner of one of her pieces!

Isn't it fun!?

And one more thing about which I'm excited...Here is a piece of my own artwork for you to see:

This ATC looks like it is for St. Patty's Day, and you may be wondering what the 560 is about.  Well, I'll explain it to you.  I mentioned in an earlier post that I sing in the Emerald City Chorus.  We are a local chapter of Sweet Adelines International, and each region has a contest each spring, in which every chorus in the region competes.  My chorus is singing an Irish package for our contest, and both of our songs mention the shamrock, hence the shamrock on my ATC.  The 560 represents the overall score we hope to achieve this year.  Every member of my chorus was asked to make something for our bulletin board with the number 560 on it.  Some of the posts have been very clever!  One of the girls printed off the numbers in Roman numerals.  Another printed pictures of sign language showing 560.  One girl framed the numbers and decorated the frame.  Some are blingy and some are simply numbers written or drawn on a piece of paper.  I chose to do an ATC.  My shamrock is a vintage image from Scrap Smart.  I hope you've enjoyed seeing it.

I hope your weekend finds you happy and relaxed and having fun!  After working around the house tomorrow, I hope to work on a couple of mini albums and my sweetheart and I plan to go to a movie.

Bonnie

Finally! A Day of Rest!

I had hoped to write another post sooner, but my world has been terrifically busy! I've been blessed with a lot of work lately, and busy with my chorus, and by the time I can get to blogland, I'm too exhausted to think!

I mentioned in an earlier post that I own a business called Storage by Design. I design and sell custom closets and storage systems. Most of the work I do is master closets, but I also design pantry closets, kids' closets, linen closets, entry closets, basement storage and garage storage. We even do Murphy beds, wall safes and ironing systems. But I especially enjoy creating work areas and storage for scrapbookers, quilters, and jewelry makers.

The photo shown here is an example of the kind of work I do. My company is made up of me and my installer, Jeff. Jeff is terrific. He's great with our customers and does a wonderful job putting things together in the field. My sweet husband, Rodney also helps occasionally, when I can pull him away from his regular work. We do work all over south central Kansas and even go to western Kansas occasionally. You can see more about what I do at my business website http://www.storagebydesign.com/.

You must be thinking that my work is a lot of fun. And you're RIGHT! It is fun! My customers are great and I have the satisfaction of knowing that I've enhanced someone's life!