Outdoor Wednesday & An Amazing Painted Rock

Welcome to Outdoor Wednesday hosted by Susan! For today's post I wanted to share a rock that has been painted by a TEENAGE BOY in rural Iowa. This HUGE rock is near a gravel pit on Hwy. 25. For generations, kids have painted slogans, names, & even obscenities on this rock, changing it's character many times. A few months back, the rock received it's latest paint job & since then it has been left undisturbed.

That beautiful flag looks like a real flag draped across the rock but, it's really part of the ART & is PAINTED onto the rock.

Here is another side of the rock. I love the saying on this side "We will not waver; we will tire; we will not falter; & we will not fail. Peace & freedom will prevail" Oh how I pray that is true!

And after just passing the anniversary of 9-11 how can this side of the rock not just touch your soul at it's very deepest part?

Is this the most AMAZING thing you've seen?

THANK YOU VETERANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And here is the AMAZING young man that created this true work of art. THANK YOU Ray Sorensen you are a gifted artist & a true patriot at heart. THANK GOD we have young people that understand what this young man does & can share it in such awesome ways. GOD BLESS AMERICA!

If you enjoyed this please let me know & be sure to join Susan & the other girls playing Outdoor Wednesday HERE or by clicking on the button on my sidebar.

Sandy's Twisted Sistah Choker

The beauty of Fall Colors shine in the completed Twisted Sistah Choker made by my adorable friend Sandy Navarro. Sandy & I met last February at a Gilded Life Art Event called HeArt of Communion (go HERE to see that post). We were instant soul mates (HERE)! She admired the jewelry I was wearing at that event & I told her I learned the technique from my friend & mentor Diana Frey in a class I had taken from her. I then took another class from Diana called Twisted Sistah which she taught at ADORN ME 2010 (which is a jewelry only Art Event held in Houston TX.). Again, Sandy was mesmerized by the beauty of the class. She contacted Diana & went to take the class in Diana's beautiful studio. She did this in early July just before I came out to California for Kim Caldwell's event Les Sierens. Sandy & I were planning to meet for dinner the night of my arrival in Manhattan Beach & she wanted to show me her beautiful Twisted Sistah Creation so, she stayed up LATE a couple of nights to get it finished before our dinner. IT WAS SOOOOOOOOOOOOO WORTH IT!!!

Sandy is a beautiful red head! She always looks for images of red heads & I can tell you there are not a lot of those beauties to be found. Diana had the perfect image for her centerpiece for this necklace. So Sandy chose Diana''s image & made her amazing bezel. SANDY IS A BLING GIRL & had to add those special vintage rhinestone pieces to make it her piece POP! And here's my BEAUTIFUL FRIEND showing off her MASTERPIECE at dinner that night. I'd be smiling from ear to ear too my friend. YOU DID AN AMAZING JOB & I'm sure Diana is very proud of you!!!! By the way, Sandy is coming back to Texas to join me at another Gilded Life Event in October & to spend the week with me to shop around the Dallas/Fort Worth area. I CAN'T WAIT!!!! Have a wonderful week my friends.

2 Peas In A Pod

Once in awhile a Momma/Nonna has to just beam!!!! Yep these two just make my heart swell. It's my precious son & his youngest. I'm so proud of both of my sons because they are amazing Daddy's. You know any man can be a Father but, it takes someone special to be a Great Daddy/Dad!!!!!! Sorry but, I just had to share. LOVE YOU BOYS!

The Shoebox Can You Relate?

So many of you have sent such sweet messages asking about Hubby & his recovery from his heart surgery. He is doing well. Everyday he is a little better. Has it been easy? NO!!!!!!!!! But, we have come so far & I see light at the end of the tunnel. And I don't THINK it's a train! Yesterday (Saturday) I did go to Cottage Panche & took a Class from my friend Lisa. AMAZING!!!!!!!!! I will share that with you soon. But, today I wanted to share a cute little email that I had gotten back in April from another friend. These guys... WE LOVE THEM yet.......... See if you can relate to this little story. It made me SMILE & brought perspective in the past couple of weeks when I've had to play Nurse Cratchit to a Hubby who's never been sick in his life & NOT HAPPY about being so now.

A man & woman had been married for more than 60 years. They had shared everything. They had talked about everything. They had kept no secrets from each other except that the little old woman had a shoe box in the top of her closet that she had cautioned her husband to NEVER OPEN or ask her about.

For all of these years, he had never thought about the box but, one day the little old woman got very sick & the doctor said she would not recover. In trying to sort out their affairs, the little old man took down the shoe box & took it to his wife's bedside. She agreed that it was time that he should know what was in the box. When he opened it, he found two crocheted dolls & a stack of money totaling $95,000.00 He asked her about the contents.

When we were to be married, she said, my grandmother told me "THE SECRETE TO HAPPY MARRIAGE WAS TO NEVER ARGUE" She told me that "if I ever got angry with you, I should just keep quiet & crochet a doll"

The little old man was so moved: he had to fight back the tears. ONLY TWO PRECIOUS DOLLS were in the box. She had only been angry with him two times in all those years of living & loving. He almost burst with happiness.

"Honey" he said "that explains the dolls, but, what about all of this money" "Where did it come from?"

"OH" she said "THAT'S THE MONEY I MADE FROM SELLING THE DOLLS!"

A prayer...

Dear Lord, I pray for Wisdom to understand my man; Love to forgive him; & Patience for his moods; Because Lord, if I pray for Strength, I'll beat him to death, because I don't have time to crochet.

Hee Hee this one made me laugh Evelyn & THANK YOU for sending it to me back before I even knew I would need it to cheer me up. And I hope it made all of you have a little chuckle too. Thanks for all the words of support & friendship. Things are moving along. HUGS!

Shopping with Cynthia at Rodgers Garden

It's Outdoor Wednesday & I'm joining Susan & the other girls. This is Cynthia(right) & Cathy the day we landed in California to begin our amazing weekend at Les Sirenes Art Event. As you know the amazing Cynthia picked us up at the airport & took us to a LOT of amazing places. After Paris to the Moon (see that post HERE) she took us to Corona De Mar to Rogers Gardens (click on the name to link to the site for more info). And being a plant lover I was in paradise!!!!!!!!!!! Just look at the beautiful BLUE of these hydrangea's They are so perfect they almost look like they are silk. But, they were NOT!

As I'm looking at these photos I am still trying to remind myself that this was in JULY that I was seeing these amazing flowers flourishing everywhere around me!

Fuschias just dripping with beautiful BRIGHT cascading color! Here in Texas I have tried to grow these in a hanging basket EARLY IN THE SPRING! And although I LOVE them I always know they are short lived because they can't take the heat. By April these are toast in Texas. Here... they thrive in July. It just doesn't seem fair.

Different hanging basket with a HUGE variety of different flowers. Each & everyone prettier than the next.

Or just a single bloom in a pot ready to be taken home & put in your chosen location.

I wanted one of almost everything I saw here! I hope you enjoyed this little bit of Rogers Garden & another part of Cynthia's tour of her stomping grounds! You know how to show a Texas Girl around girlfriend. Now go join Susan & the others playing Outdoor Wednesday by clicking on the button in my sidebar.

Goodies In The Mail & Paper Clay Starfish

Sometimes you meet someone & become BLOG BUDDIES! Linda of Itsy Bits & Pieces & I have been just such since the time I began my blog. She & I have visited each others posts & left each other many comments. The day I brought HUBBY home from the hospital after his open heart surgery I was getting some much needed down time cruising blogs while he slept & I had a sweet comment from Linda wishing us well & he a speedy recovery. I went to visit & return a thank you. While visiting I saw that she had some sweet French Flash Cards in her shop. Linda LOVES to hit garage sales, flea markets & resale shops & often has some great finds. When I commented on the Flash Cards she responded "let me send you some as a GIFT to cheer you while you are house bound for his recovery".

Well, the box arrived & in it she also enclosed this darling book.

The Flash Cards. some old BINGO cards, a vintage post card, a box filled with a card of beautiful Mother of Pearl Buttons (HOW did you know that is my favorite sweet friend?), a vintage earring & the cutest colloid cupid. I staged these items on a burlap bag from Les Sirenes Art Event & next to the sweet flower my friend Christine gave me at the event.

Aren't the cards amazing/ Mer "The Sea" And don't you love the cupid? In the photo above & below you can see him front & back. I can't wait to put him in a Valentine project. THANK YOU LINDA!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE IT ALL!!!!!!!!!!! Your kindness & generosity blows me away.

And the next shower of generosity & sweetness is from none other than my sweet friend & teacher (from Les Sirenes) Julie Haymaker Thompson. You can see us pictured together Hamming It Up after she taught our class. We made the most adorable Star Fish Headbands out of Paper Clay in her class(I'm wearing mine in the photo but, it's hard to see). I had never worked in paper clay & didn't really think I cared a thing about it. But, oh was I wrong!!!! Julie brought so many supplies & showed us how to put things together to create an adorable HIGH END finished piece. Look below for some examples.

Here is Julie's class sample.

And another one (similar to mine since I used the aqua color instead of the pink).

Here is another example that did not go on a headband. The starfish was painted & covered in GOLD Glitter for this look.

Aren't each & everyone of them beautiful & unique?

Well, I was having a little difficulty finding a SMALL STARFISH to make my own mold. I emailed Julie & ask her if she would sell me the starfish she had used to make the mold & she sent me a sweet email saying "she was OVER the starfish" & would be happy to send me her mold that she used to create all 50 she made for class (I can see how she could be "OVER" them can't you?). The mailman left a sweet little round box with this note to enjoy creating & the mold for my starfish.

The mold made with Fimo Clay. One thing that Julie stressed OVER & OVER in her class was for all of us to SHARE!!!!!!!!!! She stressed the importance of sharing your talent, information, sources, & ideas with other artists. She said if we would all adopt this theory the world of art would be an even more amazing place. She offered to share where she bought her supplies for the class, she shared techniques, she shared herself & her soul. WHAT AN AMAZING,GENEROUS, SWEET SOUL SHE IS!!!!! THANK YOU JULIE FOR THE MOLD BUT, MOST OF ALL FOR THE GIFT OF YOUR FRIENDSHIP! I can't wait to take another class with you & to spend more time visiting like we did that Sunday in old town Orange, CA(over coffee at Starbucks).

I hope you will visit both of these generous gals! And tell them you heard about them from Charlene. I also need to say Thank YOU to many of you who continue to send Get Well Wishes & Support for Hubby & I. He is doing VERY WELL!!!!!!!! It is amazing how they can "Mend a BROKEN HEART"(not in the love but, actually the heart doesn't work right any more kind of broken) Have a wonderful Labor Day Weekend. I can't believe that summer has come & gone. I WISH THE HEAT WOULD GO!!!!!!!!!!!