Image of Jesus in 1942 photograph

This is a photograph of a bird in a tree that my grandmother took in 1942.  She kept it in her bible because of the image of Jesus that came out of it.  My father has the original. 

I wanted to share it with the world.  I thought it was spectacular when I when I first seen it 40 years ago, and it still makes me feel so happy to look at it today.  

Creepy faces caught on camera

As Halloween approaches I decided to re-post this picture I took in 2007 of my great niece.  She was just learning to walk and still crawling up the steps of my parents home.  I thought it was cute so I shot this of her backside and immediately saw this face on the screen of my digital camera.  It is very CREEPY!~   I also see one on the back of her right arm.  

Any explanations?  The ONLY photo alteration I have done is to adjust the contrast so you can see the details even better.  I'd love to hear your comments.

Repurposed Tree Stump into a beautiful Gnome Home

Sometimes you just can't let a tree stump by just a tree stump! 

At night the attic light comes on!

The Gnomes have moved in right after these photos were taken!

Here you can see the solar lights beside the door which light up at dusk.  The owl door bell is a nice touch also, and the black bear Welcome sign, fitting for Missouri!

A balcony.

The back door. Just too cute! 

Created & built in Warsaw, MO by Sonny Halterman

Decoupaged silverware for memorials

My sister had to put her 16 year old cat to sleep during a time when she was doing a kitchen remodel.  She was heartbroken by it all and I wanted to make her something to remember him by.  I decided to decoupage his photograph onto some old spoons I had gotten at auction.  

First I had a tiny spoon with praying hands.  I thought this one would be perfect for a memorial.  I measured the space for the picture then I cropped the photo in Photoshop.  I  printed it out on plain typing paper and then modge podge or decoupage the photo to the spoon.  Very simple.  I did the same thing with a bigger table spoon only I did it on the back side of the spoon and I stamped LOVE at the top.  To the larger spoon I also applied a crackle surface and wiped in some distress ink to the cracks.  To finish out the project I took a silver fork and heated it so I could bend it and make it more decorative.  I also stamped it to say "our Stormy" (which was her kitty's name) however, I did mess up my O (in the "our") a little bit as during my stamping the fork shifted and I had double stamped. :(   I used a Sharpie and turned the lettering black and this helped to hide that  mess up a bit.  

I thought she could use the fork either to hang in the kitchen or use as a grave marker.  I was going to give her some heavy duty magnets in case she wanted to display any of these as refrigerator magnets but she chose to hang them beside her new kitchen window.  She did have her husband drill a hole in the top of the larger spoon in order to hang it.  Overall I think they turned out really nice.  You could add some background paper or book text if you wanted something other than the silverware showing.  

This would be good for people memorials, especially people that liked to cook.  I could see doing it with cookbook pages as a background and then have a photo of my grandma, who loved to cook.  Just a thought.  Hope this inspires you! 

Watercolors~my favorite medium!

I have started watercolors again.  I also learned to make my own frames.  I'm hoping to get a bunch made up and go to a show this spring or summer.  I am taking orders from locals in some stores around Missouri/Kansas to do custom pet portraits.  No one has ordered anything yet,  but I'm hopeful.  In the meantime I'll list what I have for sale in my Etsy store.  Since I learned to make my own frames I'm going to also frame up some of my photographs.  My dream would be to enter something like the Kansas City Plaza Art Show.  That would be an awesome goal.  Lots more to do before that can happen!

Making Snowmen

Last Christmas I made 4 snowmen out of various supplies and bottles I had lying around.  I wish I had a photo of all of them but I didn't think to do that!  So here I have photos of my first one I ever made and the last one, made this year.  I got the idea at an art show and they were selling well (meaning, people were purchasing!)at $30 on up & I truly think mine look better, IF I can "toot my own horn".   This Christmas I only made one and of course I didn't think to take any photos as I was designing her.  I give them away as gifts as I think they are much to fragile to try to sell in my Etsy store.  I thought I could give you some instruction so if your interested in doing some for next year you can start collecting supplies. Right now the Christmas decorations will be drastically reduced so it should be very cheap for you to pick up some that you will want to use in making your own snowman. *Yes!*  I love a sale!

The supplies I have listed are not all necessary.  It just depends on what you want to do or add to your snowman.  I look often at Estate sales, auctions and garage sales and find most of my supplies.   

• First thing you will need is a see through bottle or vase of some sort.  Usually one with a narrowing at the opening to allow a Styrofoam ball to sit on.  You can also use glass lamp globes.  Watch garage sales!  I got the tall, crackled vase above for a quarter!
• Lights:  I use 36" 18 Light Silver Wire Cool White Battery Operated LED Micro Miniature Christmas Light String Set With Timer.  They will run on 4 AA batteries and will only be on for 6 hours at a time.  Any miniature lights should work, even if you need to plug them in.  Michael's, or Joanne's carry this brand and you can use their weekly coupons to get them 40-50% off. 
• Hot glue gun & glue sticks
• Scissors (decorative edge if you like)
• wire cutters
• Starch
• Small Square Craft sticks in various colors (maybe 2" or under) I use these for the nose especially.
• Package of Christmas Trees (from old bottle brushes- I found a pack at Big Lots for $6 that has a wide assortment of sizes and a dozen trees.)
• Old Christmas book or hymnal
• Glitter- I use silver and like to have it in square for the head.  I also use the tiny round for accenting other parts of the body.
• Gesso White paint
• Fake snow, or rock salt
• Styrofoam balls- it will depend on your bottle size what size you need to purchase.  I find these often at Estate & garage sales. 
• Christmas decorations:  snowflake garland or other small garland, picks (like the snowflake above), pearls, Christmas berries or other Christmas floral, tinsel, small glass ornaments, glass rocks or vase gems, etc.  ANYTHING that would look good either ON your snowman or IN your snowman. 
• Feather Boas, faux fur, cotton batting, old junk ties, ribbon, etc.  Anything that can be used to accent your snowman by making shaws, scarfs, wraps, etc. 
• Antique findings:  Old keys, lockets, knobs, wooden thread spools, vintage jewelry, corks, marbles, etc.  I even used an old hammer handle in my snowman pictured above...the tree is sitting on it.
• decoupage glue
• Buttons, nails or tacs for eyes & mouths.  White/ or pearl ball head straight pins.  Smaller ball black straight pins. 
• Netting from anything.  The netting that looks like a bird cage veil is from a red craft supplies sacks that held glass gems.  But you can also find it on onions, apples, spices, etc.  Just keep your eyes peeled for netting and then SAVE it.  Examples above in white & red. (The white is hard to see in my photos but if you click on photo to enlarge it you will notice it on the finished snowman by the mirror) 
• Old postcards.  I used the one shown above and decoupaged it to the back of an Amaretto liqueur bottle and it fit perfectly in the indention of the bottle.  The old writing shown through the glass and "fillings" and the back side was the pretty Christmas postcard picture.  You can also use them as the floor of a globe.  If your globe is wide then scan the postcard in and re-size it bigger to fit the base of your open glass globe and print on heavy card stock.  Then cut into the circle to close up the globe then fill as though it were a bottle.
• White metal hangers.  I don't use these in all of my snowmen but if I fill them really full like the big one shown above, then I'll cut the hanger to fit inside the bottle and wrap the lights tightly around it and then insert it down among the fillings of paper & fake snow and tinsel. If you like, you can leave enough coming out of the bottle to poke into the base of the "head".
• Natural Brown Vine Covered Wire for the arms.  Give them a very rustic appeal, wraps around your bottle nicely without needing glue and will hold items well (like hammer handle). 

Okay, I think we should be ready to start.  I begin by painting all the Styrofoam balls I will use.  I paint them with white gesso paint, coating well into the holes of the Styrofoam.  Then before the paint is dry I sprinkle them with silver glitter (usually square cut).  Don't overdue it, just a light dusting of glitter is good. 

While those are drying you can work on your snow "person" body.  Decide where the arms will go and wrap your wire and cut it to fit. Sometimes this is around the "neck" of the bottle and sometimes in the middle.  Examples in photos above. 

Most of my Snowmen come out as women.  (Snow women just does not have the same ring to it as Snowmen.)  I have a lot of vintage jewelry and I like to dress up the gals with a bird cage veil, rings, broaches, colorful hats,  feather boas, etc.  One of mine even carried a purse!  But you can make men of course too.  I have taken an old hymn book with a Christmas song and cut it into a spiral.  I layer this into the bottle carefully as old pages like to rip easily.  I have also cut out cute old song titles and decoupaged this to the front of the bottles.  You can make a man's top hat from old book pages.  You can also print out saying on plain computer paper and tea stain them too if you don't want to mess with an old book.  I would like one to say "She loves Christmas".  That will be my next design that I will decoupage to the bottle front. 

Just pack the inside of the body by layering up with your tinsel, garland, book page spiral, etc.  You can use the wire lights to help spiral all these things together and up to the top of the bottle. You can add the fake snow to the bottom of your bottle first if your not going to pack it full. (If it's packed as my taller snowman above is then the fake snow will not show unless you use a lot) If you are packing them full then you will want to wrap the lights on the hanger wire & then push it down into your packed body.   I use vase gems in  the bottom of larger vases or bottles.  It's a cheap filler for a bigger snowman.

Add your Styrofoam head by hot gluing or using the hanger and poke into the base of the "head".  Then poke in an orange stick for a nose.  No need to glue it.  I then poke in  black nail tacs for the eyes and mouths on smaller balls.   I only use them for the mouths on larger balls, otherwise the eyes look too small.  I use buttons for the eyes on larger balls,  held in by black straight ball pens. 

Next hide the join of the head & the body.  You can use the feather boas, old ties, jewelry, make a neck scarf, (starched like it's blowing in the wind)  florals or pine garland.   Get creative. 

Add embellishments to the body.  I have used cork buttons, jewelry, postcards, book pages, old keys, etc.  I have starched a shaw to wrap around the the back and over the arms and then sprinkled it with small glitter.  Whatever you like.  

Add embellishments to the branch arms.  Hold ornaments, Christmas florals, string lights between the two arms, hold a sign, a candle, whatever you can think of. 

Now fix a hat.  I have used old wooden spools, old jewelry (or both as big snowman above has rhinestones wrapped around a wooden spool).  You can use glass knobs, small Christmas trees.  Whatever you fancy! 

Use the straight pins to add the bird cage netting if you desire. 

Now you should be finished with your snowman.  I would love to see your creations.  Send me a link to your photos if you make one or more!  Also, let me know if anything looks confusing or if I have left out anything important that is not letting you move on.  Merry Christmas!

Alcoholism

I am saddened by the amount of people in my life that are either
A) alcoholics
B) living with one
C) has a family member who is one
D) has a close friend who has A.B or C to deal with

Myself, I like to have a drink on occasion.  I enjoy mixed drinks or wine usually and it's fairly rare but I like the taste.  Never, every week or even month for that matter and I am not that person that drinks until I'm drunk.  I'm just more of a social drinker for parties or celebrations. 

Lately, I can't seem to enjoy those few "celebrations" because all I can think as I sip my glass is the ugliness held within that glass and the damage it is doing.   It's not "cheers" and happiness and laughter.  It's poverty, domestic violence, and tears.  I really am torn for those people that HAVE to have it.  The affects on the body are horrible, the money spent towards it can make a whole family lose everything, and the lost relationships just leave me at a loss for words.  I have seen so much destruction (past to present) within my family and with my friend's families and it makes me very sad.  I am heart broken at this very moment and so disappointed.

I read somewhere that alcoholics have no empathy.  The disease kills that and so they can't relate to your pain.  I don't know if that is true because a lot of these addicts can be very loving people at times.  I would say that is true at some stages.   I wish the ones I love could feel my pain right now.  Feel my worries.  I pray for them and those people closest to them! I pray that they come to their senses soon.  Before more regrets, ugliness, lost money and hurt people.  

There really is so much more to life.  It's easy to say when you are not an addict.  I try to go without sugar and it's really hard.  I struggle with my weight.  I can't imagine something like drugs or alcohol having total control over my life and the struggle to not want it, to not have it. 

 I pray for all those dealing with it in one way or another and I pray you get your life back.  The life you were meant to live.  Especially my loved ones.  Watch your anxieties disappear as you make it LEAVE YOUR LIFE and you beat your addictions.