Delightful Artventures

I've been busy preparing for a workshop - The Ghoulfriends, A Halloween Journal With Tags

 We'll be assembling a book with pages to record  Halloween memories and thoughts.  These pages are not limited to ghoulish reflections only!  Each journal should be about your personal experiences and if Halloween is not your thing, you don't have to abide by that theme.  I just happen to have fond memories of that jolly holiday!

There will be lace pockets to hold the tags which we will be painting, stamping and adorning with ghoulish delights.  There's plenty of room behind these 8 x 4 tags to continue with your journaling artventures.  See how I journaled on the opposing page?  It was fun digging up pictures of past Halloween jaunts.

I like to give my tag girls names.  This one is Lost Soul.  She's been searching deep to find herself for several years.  Other tags from this workshop have names like Twilight, Raven and Black Magic Woman.  I find them to be hauntingly beautiful and not scary as their name may imply.  I hope you'll join me in this fun day of art making.  

And now for some news.  Great News!  Breaking News! Extra! Extra!  Guess what?  See that little cowboy below?  Well, he's a grown-up now and just two weeks ago he made ME a grandma!  YES!  I'm the happy grandmother of a bouncing baby girl!!   

Here she is being held by a very proud gramps.  LOL!  I can't stop staring at my little Penny.  And I swear, but not loud enough for her to hear me, that each time I see her she looks a little different.  As if she's changing every other day.  I wonder how she'll look next time I see her.  Probably more beautiful than the last time I saw her.  LOL!!!  I am a very happy and sappy grandma!

As you can see, these past two weeks have been a whirlwind of various activities.  I got behind in producing a sample of my Ghoulfriends Journal due to my constant visits with you-know-who.  

Have a great weekend.  Make sure to get your fingers dirty with paint, ink and glue.  Those are great signs of fantastic times!

Cozy Inchie

The word prompt at Every Inchie Monday is "Cozy."  Doesn't this kitty look cozy sleeping on a pile of yarn? 

This is the man responsible for creating the "yarn monster" in me!

My love of yarn began in the fifth grade when Sister Evangeline announced that she would be offering knitting lessons to girls after school.  I was pretty excited about this and I immediately signed up.
The big day came when we were to meet after school in Sister Evangeline's class.  Throughout the day girls would bring out their skein of yarn for show and tell to one another. I remember seeing shades of baby pink, baby yellow mixed with white and someone had this wild color combination of black with primary colors.  Everyone had brought their yarn to school except me.  My dad was going to bring my yarn and knitting needles later in the afternoon before leaving for work (he had the night shift).  My mother didn't drive and she was too pregnant to go out walking to shop for my supplies.  So that left Dad. 
We were all gathered in Sister's class ready to begin the first lesson and I still didn't have my yarn and needles.  I didn't know what it was like to sweat bullets but I think I learned about it that day.  All of a sudden there was a knock on the classroom's door and lo and behold it was my daddy!  He gave me a quick glance with a grin and a nod that seemed to say "Here's your stuff."  When I opened the bag from Newberry's there was a pair of white plastic knitting needles and a beautiful skein of coral yarn.  I think I got my love of color from my dad.  
I quickly caught on with casting, knitting and purling and by the end of our first project I was sporting a pretty jazzy coral headband.  Our next projects included knitting slippers (mine were medium yellow) and then baby booties (mine were a mix of various pinks that I had to donate for the school's White Elephant Booth).  By summer I began knitting lots of baby booties for my baby "something" (we never knew what we were going to get back then) that was coming in July.  I stuck with basic colors like white, mint and yellow and when "she" was born I saw to it that her feet were never cold.  
I suppose it's safe to say, and I'm sure you'll agree, that my love of yarn stems from that first skein of coral yarn that my father bought and chose for me.  And I think it's safe to say, and I'm sure you'll agree,  that my kitty's love of yarn comes from that basket of yarn I hope to make future projects with!