My trip to NY!!!

I am back from a wonderful vacation to New York. Mom and I went up there to visit a dear friend of ours, Jane. We are in the same ATC group with her. Last November, Jane came to Tennessee to visit us, so we went up there this summer to see her world.
We flew into Stewart Airport on Sunday June 17th. We had to leave Nashville very early that morning and laid over in Chicago for about a hour. Arrived at Stewart around 1 p.m. It was a good flight and I took pictures of the clouds because they looked so awesome.

I also had to take a picture of the city of Chicago while I was flying into it.
It was a very pretty day to be flying. After laying over in Chicago we made it to Newburgh and Jane was waiting for us. She took us to a harbor on the Hudson River that was close to her house. She lives almost right on the Hudson river. It was a beautiful harbor and we had lunch at the River Grill. Then we walked along the harbor and looked at the boats.
The next picture is of Mom and Jane at the harbor.
And then a pic of Mom and I at the harbor!
We really enjoyed our lunch. I had a mediterean salad that had calimari in it. That was a first for me, Calamari are little squids that looked like octopuses,,lol. Not too bad though.
After that we went to Jane's house. She has a very pretty house and very comfortable. That night we sat around and also did a little crafting too.
The next day Jane had a art party at her house. She invited some of her friends. She had won a hugh deli sandwich that she cut up for the party. Her is a pic of Jane acting like she was eating the sandwich.
One of Jane's friends, Ruth, brought a beautiful quilt that she had made.
We also got to meet another friend of ours who is in our ATC group, another Beth. She brought some of her beautiful scrapbook pages.
It was a neat get together. Also Jane taught us how to make a explosion card. Which I will post a pic of when I get it out of my craft supplys. After the party, Jane and her daughter Ashley and Mom and I, went to A.C. Moore, which is a craft store. We don't have one here in Tennessee, so we loved it and bought several neat items. I got a hugh pad of paper that was full of great designs. Then we went to the Olive Garden restaurant and had a wonderful Italian dinner.
The next morning we were up and getting ready for our train ride into the big Apple. The train ran right beside the Hudson River all the way into Grand Central Station in the city.
When we got to Grand Central we took a taxi to our hotel. We stayed at the New Yorker Hotel. It is an old hotel but very lovely inside. We had a suite on the 24th floor.
We had some terrific views from there. We were right across the street from Madison Square Garden and Penn station below it.
But the best view we had was of the magnificent Empire state building. Of course I took alot of shots of it.

That night we went to see the Broadway play "Phantom of the Opera". Our seats were on the 4th row from the stage, and it was an amazing play. We were not sure if we could bring our cameras inside, so I didn't get pictures of the theatre but it was beautiful inside. It was as the Majestic Theatre. After the show we had some pizza and then went back to the hotel. As soon as we got inside it started storming, and it was so neat to look out the window of the hotel at the streets and the Empire building all lit up at night.

Most of this week is going to be about my trip. I will have amazing pictures to show of all the sites and places that we got to enjoy. Tomorrow will be my trip to the Empire State Building.
Stop back in tomorrow for that. I hope all my blogger friends are doing good. I have missed you all this past week. Have a marvelous Monday!

Soldering

This has been my art space for the past few days. Its out on my bench near my pond area. Its now my official soldering workshop. Its really nice out there as its shady and I can look at all my flowers while I work. Hubby made the neat alluminum work table for my soldering adventures. I am actually getting a little better at soldering. Yes,,I do have to have my music out there too. Yesterdays music was

I Love their music,,wish they were still together,,I did get the last cd that Annie did and enjoyed it. Ok,,off the subject, I know. Below is my handy little gizmo that I call my helping hands for holding my pendants when I solder them.
And now the finished products.
I actually made several more pendants but I am out of the ballchains to make the necklaces. The backs of the pendants has decorative paper on them too. Here are a few close ups.



In between creating these, I have been packing for my trip to New York which I will be leaving for on Sunday. I can't wait. More about that tomorrow. Thanks for looking at my art today! Hope everyone is doing good and enjoying the summer.

Walk with me!

Here's another post with more of my flowers and the wonderful creatures that they attract.

Another delightful picture of a flutterfly and a cone flower!

The ugly bugs above are the nasty Japanese beetles. They will tear your rose bushes up. The hubby will be stopping at Home Depot tonight for some Beetle bags. I hang the bags up in the backyard and they have some some stuff in them that attract the Beetles and they fly up into the bag and cannot get back out. We have to put new bags up every month in the summer as they get pretty full.
Pretty orange nasturiums above. I also love the shape of the leaves. You can put the flowers in salads and eat them as they give the salad a little hot flavoring and looks pretty too!
Yes, its a Granddaddy long legs on the coneflower. Did you know that they are poisonous but their mouths are so small they cannot bite you?
Here's little Kermit Jr., he is guarding my hen and chicks, and he takes his job seriously.
A basket of impatients hanging on the front of the house by the door. I love the bright red color.
This is a close up of some bee balm. I have a nice patch of it and it really attracts the hummingbirds.

I hope you enjoyed the walk. Thanks for the kind comments about my friend in the post below. Her funeral is going to be wednesday so Mom and I will be going to it. Hope everyone has a terrific Tuesday!!!!

sad news for Monday

This morning I received some really sad news. One of my friends who is in my stamping group, had a massive heart attack last night and died. I am so sad as Bonnie was a very sweet person and we always sat together at our meetings. She was pretty close to my age. Now my prayers are for her Mother who also attended our meetings and her whole family who will miss her so very much. Bonnie and her mother and her daughter, shared the joy of scrapbooking and crafting together, like my Mom and I do. I know her mother is in shock and is taking this very hard. Just a really sad day for me, as I will miss her so much! The picture above is of Bonnie(dark purple shirt) and her daughter (light purple shirt), it was taken 2 years ago at one of our Stampers meeting.

RIP- my dear friend.

Sundays Sights

I went to visit my brother friday night in Alabama. We were going to go out on his boat in the Tennessee River where I grew up. But of course it ended up being a stormy day and we didn't get to go. Pretty disappointing but I will go back down soon and try to go out in it again. After the storms cleared out late in the evening on friday, I took the pictures above of the beautiful sunset. It was really pretty so I just had to share it here with my friends. I hope everyone has had a wonderful week-end!

Simply Charming

These are some charms that I made for a charm swap that I am in. I made them by melting some UTEE in my melting pot and added some gold pearl x powder to it. I dipped the stones in the UTEE and then sprinkled them with some glittler and added the small stone to it. After they cooled I wrapped the wire around them and heated them again so the wire would stick to the UTEE(ultra thick embossing powder). They look prettier than the picture.
I still so sad today about the loss of the young girl's life that I posted about yesterday. Such a waste!
I joined in on Daisys Poetry fest. This month we were to post the poems that we loved as children. I picked Shel Silverstein's poems. Please go check out all the wonderful poems at her site. I hope everyone has a great Thursday!!!

Sad news for Kelsy's family!

This post is dedicated to the family of Kelsey Smith. She is the beautiful teen-age girl who disappeared Saturday night after leaving a Target store in Kansas City. Her body was find this afternoon across the state line in Missouri. Please remember her family and friends during this tragic time for them. Kelsey had just graduated from High School 2 weeks ago. Here is a link to the blog that they had set up for her during the intense search for her.
http://www.findkelsey.com/
I hope the person or persons who did this to her are found immediatly so the family can has some closure. I cannot imagine the pain that they are going through right now.

Garden scrapbook

I started a Garden scrapbook last summer. I wanted to have pics of my flowers, insects, and birds. Well of course I haven't progressed to far with it. I am so picky and indecisive about the lay outs(and I want to do scrapbooks for my kids?) But I got the tub down that I am storing the work in and started on it this week-end again. Going to try to do a page or 2 a week this summer. I am also incorporating some garden theme ATCs in it too. Here are the other pages.



So wish me luck on my two pages a week! And have a wonderful Monday!!!

Nice Summer Saturday!!

Yesterday, my son and I went canoeing on a river about 30 miles west of us. Its called the Buffalo River. I was too chicken to take my camera,, and I didn't think about buying a water-proof disposeable camera. We had a wonderful time and the weather was excellent. We saw alot of cranes, beavers, turtles, and alot of beautiful birds. We were the only one canoeing on one part of the river so it was peaceful. The link above shows pictures of how pretty it is there.

Guess who is sore today? Left shoulder, very sore,,right shoulder, a little achy. Just used some muscles paddling the canoe that haven't been used in a while.

We finally got a small thundershower today, not alot of rain, but the 1st in over 2 weeks. I will take what I can get. More is expected tomorrow.

I stayed inside and worked on a few art projects today. The picture above is a 4 x 4 chunky page that I made for this month's swap in one of my groups. I used my own finch picture. I Love adding photos like these to my art. Below is a tip-in page for my Mom's deco book that I made today too.

I used my new set of Paisley stamps. They have glitter glue on them and look alot better in person. I am still working on several more art projects this afternoon and probably most of the day tomorrow.

I hope everyone is having a GREAT SATURDAY!!

Thursdays art!!!

Woke up today to a nice cloudy sky, and a slight chance of rain. Keeping my fingers crossed that we get it. Amazing that just west of us in Texas and mid-west they are getting floods and we haven't seen a drop in over 2 weeks. My flowers need rain, the old hose pipe chlorinated water just doesn't work as well.

I work outside most of the afternoon, had to yank up the pansies(saved a few to press). By this time of year they dying back. I replaced them with some favorites, periwinkles. I was up by the road yesterday playing with a sprinkler and this guy stopped in his truck. I am thinking he is going to ask directions, instead he told me what a beautiful yard I have and that is always looks great. Well that makes all the hard work worth it. When a stranger stops and says such nice compiments.

Today I am staying in and doing a little much needed house work,,then its in my art room the rest of the day. Tomorrow my son and I are going to go canoeing together, should be a fun time.

I am leaving you with some ART. The pic above is the cover to a deco that I made. In one of my groups we are doing tip-ins for decos. Which means you send 4 people the pages and the theme for your deco and they make pages for you and send them back. My theme is "By the sea".

The pages below are by my good friend Colleen.

Next 2 pages are from my dear, sweet mother, Lottie!!

The next 2 pages are by another friend, Sherrill.

Like I said, some wonder art for my deco. Doesn't it make you want to go to the beach? I hope every one has a excellent Thursday!!!

Wednesdays Walk

I am going to take you on a little walk around my yard and show you my flowers and the creatures who hang out in this pretty little world.
Below is a pic I took of one of my thirsty little hummers. The feeder is in my window boxes on the porch. I have to fill these feeders up at least once or twice a day.


Below is my patch of pretty pink primroses. They are so full and beautiful this year.
Next is the tranquility corner of the pond that my buddha and oriental statues are in. See my kitty Carl likes to hang out here and meditate.
Next is the first bloom on my Clematis vine that is also in the pond area. I Love the color!
Next is a flutterfly friend that is enjoying some pollen from my dianthus patch.
I Love this time of year as my flowers are so amazingly awesome. Even though its dry they are still putting on a glorious show of colors. I hope you enjoyed the little walk in my paradise. Have a wonderful Wednesday!!!!

HOT AND DRY SUMMERTIME!!!

Yes, its definetly summertime. We are in a drought again. No rain in over 2 weeks. They are saying we might get some by the week-end. I sure hope so as my water bill is going to be ridiculus after having to water every day.

Even though I am now off work, I am running around doing so much right now. I went to my friends over the week-end and that was fun. Then spent most of sunday and monday working in the yard with Daniel Today I picked up my Mom and we went and got my sweet Aunt so she could spend the week with Mom. I left my car at the brake shop to get a brake job,,needed it badly. Tomorrow a few more errands to run. Next week and the week after I will be resting and also packing for our trip to NY to visit our friend Jane.

Here is a little bit of art that I did for a friend's tip in altered book. The pages were made with some pictures she sent of her father. She had a little story about his life so I tried to incorporate pictures with what she told about him. Enjoy!!! And more tomorrow!!!

Happy Memorial Day!!!

I hope everyone has had a wonderful Holiday week-end! Just stopping now to remember those who have served our Country in the past and in the present!!! We will never forget you!!!