Mandala Monday and T that isn't tea again this week

Hello and happy T Day! I'm sharing a favorite drink of ours for family parties. It goes way back to when I was growing up and my Nana would make it. Nothing fancy here but it goes with our holiday meals nicely, thought you might like to try it. We use a pitcher and fill it with half ginger ale and half with fruit punch, looks pretty in glasses too. Let me know if you've tried it before? To see other yummy drinks and/or cups visit us at Elizabeth's where we get together every Tuesday to share what's new and in our cups. Come by and say hello, it's always fun!

 

Today I have some fun art to share with you, YAY!! Happy mail came in this week and I love them.

My fall ATC swap came in, so excited about this one since fall is my favorite time of year. I love each single one of these so much. Some of these were from ladies I've never traded with before, YAY! We still have 4 of them being mailed from overseas but she sent these ahead for now so we don't have to wait any longer. Click on the image to see better if you need.

here is a surprise happy mail I got this week. It's a way to use up your scraps, LOVE that idea, right!! You use the big packing kind of tape and put your scraps on it, then another one on top and trim it up to fit. You can make it this size or go smaller. As you can see she used two stamps on this one, it was a bit bigger then she planned. There is a playing card you put in the middle and paint over the one side and write the address on it. Isn't it cool, now for the other side:

Here is the other side, NO SCRAP LEFT BEHIND, love that! She wrote her message and name for me on that little scrap on the right side. I was so surprised and happy to see this, so fun! I'm going to try this once I get some tape. Have anyone of you tried this before? She sent out a few of these surprises and they each looked amazing.

I made another mandala this week too, YAY! These were just from my own yard this week. Loving all the purple ones that are growing in my ditch right now. I found some fall leaves on a walk yesterday and hope to make one for next week. Thankful still that Dawn inspired me to make these.

 

Hope everyone has had a good week. The weather actually got hot for a couple days and now rain and wind are here. The kids have had and still getting over bad colds/coughing. Can't believe how fast September is going either, trying to soak up each day we can before the nasty winter gets here.

 

Thank you so much for the sweet comments last week on my mandala and the zentanbles I received. I still love looking at them! So nice getting these little bits of happy mail from all over.

Take care and thank you so much for your visit!

Mandala Monday and T stands for no Tea today

HAPPY MANDALA MONDAY

this was made with flowers from my neighbor, so thoughtful she is to share

I'm joining our wonderful very busy painting hostess Elizabeth for T stands for Tuesday. Notice the fall in my picture and in my mug. Remember I bought this orange mug last fall, it was time to pull it out again. We've had very cold temps here, needed jeans and jackets several days. To warm me up I bought my first jug of cider and a donut to go along with it. Love donuts and warm cider together! Also, sharing my cute tiny mini pumpkin, I keep it by me on the table beside me and smile when I see it. I'm sure there will be more cider photos to share these next few months, YAY!! Thank you Elizabeth for hosting us and making us always feel welcome.

I'm so excited about these zentangle ATCs from a swap!! Love them! Hoping to do more of these, it was hard and took a long time but so neat to see them afterwards. It was a small swap which helped too. I'll be working on a Halloween theme one next and my Fall ones should get here later this week.

More fall fun to share with you

 

Thank you so much for the visits and  comments last week. I'm glad some of you liked Summer's doll, Tiffany. She has just given her a perm this week and is looking totally different.

I have shared some Project Life pages below if you'd like to take a look. So glad to be catching up and hoping to do better at that now that summer is over. The sun is out and feels warmer already today. Have a great week, will be around today to see what's in your cup!

SHARING PROJECT LIFE TODAY, FIANLLY!!

Hello and welcome to my Project Life catch up post, YAY! I haven't shared PL in over 2 months, that is so crazy. I know the computer not working is part of that and the other part is my not being on the computer much anymore. I have been stuffing pictures in the pockets when I can all summer and that's it, just didn't feel like journaling again, not sure why this keeps happening this year. Anyhow, this is what my table has looked like for a few days now, PL on one side and all my other creative outlets on the other side. I have snuck fall goodies in here but want to clean up the table so you can see only fall on it. I've been lucky to get some PL goodies from my dear friend Nancy who spoils me and my secret pal at church and a friend on IG who saw some on sale at Hobby Lobby and sent me several new theme packs. So blessed and inspired by all these new goodies to play with.

So here goes some pages for you, click on the images to see better. It wasn't very light out when I took these so hoping they aren't to bad for you. I have more done that I will share later, didn't want to do too many in one post. Thanks Nancy for nudging me to get these done and posted!

Here is the start of June, sorry for the glare. We had last day of school fun and out oor DQ treats.

I meant to show you this one first, it's my into page for June. My plan was to use summer colors and fun but for some reason kept being pulled into these tans and blues.

more June fun

More June, make sure to read these if you can. Good stuff here, sigh.

here is my intro for July on the left side and the 4th of July on the right. I hope it shows these cards as white on your screen because on mine they are cream. Everyone knows I love red/white/blue !

 

I have most of July done, just journaling on one page and not sure how to fit it in. August needs journaling a bit and September is coming along well for the first couple weeks. These pages will show my new goodies, YAY!!

 

Thank you for visiting and hope you enjoyed them. My heart is with those from 9-11-01 today, hugs and prayers go out to all the families affected by this first hand and even for those like me who didn't have someone there but still feel a big loss in their hearts for those that passed. So sad.

 

I will see you Monday/Tuesday for my mandala and T post. Have a good weekend.

Monday Mandala, T Day and back to school

Hello and Happy T Day! I am sharing our first day of school pictures from 3 weeks ago, time is flying already. I was waiting to get a good one of Summer before I could share though, she started school later then these guys. Notice my nieces in the middle, nice to have them here in the mornings again. They all look so tall to me, Sam has now passed me and Ryan is the only other one left to pass me. I have to admit these are the worst first day pictures ever, no one wanted them and the sun was bothering them and they were not happy about it. So far it's been a good 3 weeks.

Here she is, look at her cute uniform for cosmetology class and a name badge too. Her first project was French braiding, she got it after about 50 tries, YAY SUMMER!! She has started on hand/arm massages and scalp ones too. Next up this week is shampoo washing, think I will go in as a volunteer, love having my hair washed. They also had to pass a 100 point safety test before starting and label every little/tiny/micro size item in their beauty kits. Lots of work before they got to play.

I LOVE THIS ONE! Here is Summer's new friend, a head piece to practice on, named Tiffany. They have to give them names and talk to them like you would with a client. Every week they have to change their names since you have so many names you hear all day and don't want to get to attached to just one, lol.  Anyhow I had helped hold "tiffany" several times and had chores to do so Sam said he would take over. Everyone but me is freaked out by Tiffany but I like her.

I made a quick red/white/blue Mandala for Labor Day, some are plastic and some are real

Here is the birthday card my mom made for me last month. I couldn't wait to share it since it goes with the reason why we share on Tuesday's. But first, see all those little hearts, my mom made them and tucked them into the pocket on the front of the card. These are little ideas we can go do together when we have time. Isn't that the sweetest and she knows I love these colors together too. The envelope was homemade also, she's a woman of many crafty talents. Next is the back of the card..

A pretty little teapot!! Perfect for my mug/cup/ teapot choice for today with Elizabeth and gang this week. Can't wait to catch up with everyone, missed you last week.

 

The weather has been so hot, had the a/c on most of the week and then Saturday we woke up and needed jeans and a jacket for Sam's first soccer game. CRAZY!! This week looks like normal temps, just right for more soccer days and my walks at the track.

 

For those of you who read the bible and want a way to combine reading it and doing art with it please read my post below. If you've never read the bible feel free to read it also, might interest you.

 

Thank you for your visits and comments, love them all. Happy T Day!

Some gardening and bible art

Hello and Happy September! Sorry I'm a little late in posting this week, totally missed T Time Tuesday. We had a long great holiday weekend, couldn't ask for better weather or time together. It was hard on all of us to get back on track again and can't wait for Friday to come.

 

Was lucky to catch this sunrise last week. I had the blinds closed all day to keep the hot sun out and thankfully opened them that night to see this beautiful sky. Love ending the day like this. We've actually had the a/c on a few times over this past week and probably will again today and tomorrow. Seems the summer weather we wanted before school started is here now, a little too late.

The garden is doing great, lots of tomatoes this year. Can't even keep up on them and tired of picking them too. Rich is sad we didn't get much corn this year, the wind and rain were too hard for it. Hoping next year will be better as it's his favorite. Each year it's a surprise as to what will do well.

The sunflowers took over the garden and got crazy again this summer. On the right is the tallest one and one of the last to finally open. We haven't measured it yet but looks taller then the one from last year. The sunflowers are just now slowing wilting and falling apart, sad when this happens.

 

I have something new to share with you. I will share more on Tuesday but here is a peek for now.

This is a new journaling bible I got as a gift from my dear friend Bonita for my birthday. We both just discovered others using them the week before my birthday and loved this idea. I was so surprised and HAPPY to receive this wonderful gift.

The bibles are made with wide margins for more writing or as a way for us artists to combine art and reading scriptures. This group has taken off so fast and amazing me with their talents and thoughts and more. The lady who started this is Shanna Noel and she has more info on her blog if you'd like to visit and see. The bibles are found at Amazon and some Christian book stores.

I found out about this through Instagram on my phone and Shanna invites everyone interested to her private FB group for more fun. She didn't think many people would take to this new way of learning scriptures/verses/quiet time and couldn't believe when she had 500 followers in the first week and I'm thrilled to say it's over a thousand now and going strong. Some of these followers haven't touched a bible in years or weren't sure how to make time for their bibles due to being busy and having other art interests. So this is the best of both worlds for them and they are loving it and sharing pages almost daily. This was my first page and it's my favorite verse, no big surprise it's about being thankful and thanking God in all we do. I truly believe in this and live this way each day, waking up thankful and ending each night thanking him for all I was blessed with that day, good or bad I'm still thankful.

Click on the image if you need to see better. I'm going through and doing some of my most favorite and ones I've learned from verses to do and will go from there.

here is the second page I did, it's Kristin and many others in my family favorite verse. I am trying to let loose and have fun and not stress about the pages. It's about what's in my heart and what do I want to remember from the verse and how does it effect me. Again, click on it to see better. Some of the others have been painting on theirs and really go all out on the whole page, it's beautiful. I am always the simple kind of girl I guess and as long as the words/thoughts are there I'm good.

Check out Shanna Noel's blog though if you are interested in learning more and you can ask me questions here if you'd like too. Will share more of my pages next week.

 

On other news, I got the fall decorations out last night and will start on that today, YAY! I have been walking almost daily and using a exercise tape too, feels good to move again after the summer. My dad is doing well, slowly getting his energy back. Sienna and Colt doing good in their new grades and only here for short days now, I'm more sad about that then them. I am ready to dive into old classes to redo and relearn some things and I just won two classes this past week at Big Picture Classes, YIPPPEE!! love when that happens.

So glad to be here and sharing with you, will be back for T time next week. Have a great week and thanks so much for your visits and comments that make my day.