Autumn and Homecoming

Jess and her friends before homecoming.

Her sister did her hair.

Jess and her friend, Brigette.

I'm linking up with Beverly at How Sweet the Sound for Pink Saturday. Pay her a visit and see all the wonderful Pinks that are being shared.

Rosie the Riveter - Happy Halloween

One of my daughters is attending a Halloween party as Rosie the Riveter, and after researching to help her with her costume, I found out some interesting things about the model for the famous recruiting poster. Her name was Geraldine Hoff Doyle and was from near Ann Arbor, MI.  She only worked in the plant for 2 weeks. I found only one place that had the original photo of her working in the plant which prompted her use as the poster girl.  The poster, which was done by J. Howard Miller., became an iconic symbol for women in the workforce. She only died last year - Dec. 26, 2010, at the age of 86. She was married for 66 years and had 5 children, 18 grandchildren and 25 great grandchildren. Quite an accomplishment, I'd say!

Here are some pictures.

lhttp://www.bestcelebrity.net/rosie-the-riveter-geraldine-hoff-doyle-dead-at-86-photos.html

 This is the original photo that was the inspiration for the poster.

http://www.dnadropbox.com/2010/12/30/iconic-face-of-rosie-the-riveter-poster-dies/

I just thought you might want to know!

Attitude of Gratitude Challenge for November

I stumbled upon a blog today where a blogger at Perfectly Precocious is challenging us to An Attitude of Gratitude which is to blog about what we are grateful for each day in the month of November. This just struck me as something that would be a blessing in my life to stop and think each day of something special that I am thankful for. So with fear and trepidation, I am joining her challenge. I am not always successful at doing something every day, but I am going to give it a try. You can join her, too.  I'd love it if you would take the challenge and hold me accountable! Blessings to all!

http://precociouspaper.blogspot.com/2011/10/attitude-of-gratitude-2011.html

Birthday Bracelet - Pink Saturday

I bought myself a birthday present - a handmade pearl bracelet. The artist is from Washington D.C. and made it to look like cherry blossoms. I splurged, but it is beautiful.

I am linking up with Beverly at How Sweet the Sound for Pink Saturday. Autumn is in full swing here in Michigan. Not a lot of pinks around - reds, oranges, yellows and greens. So if you are feeling the need for a little pink today, skip over to Beverly's Blog and enjoy the pinks!

http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/

Great Dinner

My daughter and I cooked this up tonight from a recipe I got here:  The Larson Lingo. It was super easy to prepare and really delicious. We used boneless chicken breasts rather than the frozen, bagged type and added an extra can of chopped green chilies. Other than that, we did it the same way. This is definitely going to be one of my favorites from here on out.

Photos and recipe from The Larson Lingo. Check out her blog for some wonderful recipes!

Secret Garden Altered Book Page - "Dickon"

This is the latest page in my altered book.  I really enjoyed making this one.

This is a page about Dickon from The Secret Garden. Below, I have shown some of the steps to make this layout. In the first step, I gessoed the page and added some ink and some torn paper.

Next I added more gesso over the entire page.

I painted the lower half of the pages with a mushroom acrylic glaze and scraped a blue glaze over the top of the pages.

I went over the page with various shades of green acrylic paints and glazes.

Next, I stamped various images and used a couple of stencils to add paint and spray ink.

I then stamped and then hand painted some flowers along the bottom of the pages.

I cut out a tree and glued it to the page and added oil pastels to the tree trunk to make it seem to be hand painted on the page. I added Dickon, the cut out leaves, the bird, the animals and the quote from the book and used a charcoal pencil to shade the elements. I also overstamped with a few stamps and stamped "Dickon" on the page.

I am linking up with Art Journal Every Day at Balzer Designs. If you are in the mood for some wonderful art journaling inspiration, visit Julie's blog - you won't be disappointed.

http://balzerdesigns.typepad.com/balzer_designs/art-j.html