Valentine Humor 1950s Style

While looking through some Vintage Valentines, I came across this card from my Dad to my Mom from while they were dating.

That's a big rhinestone glued to the front of the card.  Now here's the kicker...and proof of my Dad's sense of humor.

You can just barely make out his "Ernie" signature at the bottom of the Valentine.  I do believe that this was the Valentine Dad gave to Mom the month before he proposed...on St. Patrick's Day.  I had never seen this card before and I wish I had been able to show it to her before she died.  I wonder what SHE thought about it?  How could she resist such a "romantic" guy???

Happy Almost Valentine's Day...hug those you love & tell them you love them.

Haiti By Hand

While looking through blogs this morning, I discovered this wonderful blog dedicated to helping the people of Haiti, especially the women who want to be able to support themselves & their children through art. 

Rebecca Sower, a fabulous artist, has started Haiti By Hand.  If you are an artist, you can help by donating items to sell in the Haiti By Hand Etsy shop.  Anyone can shop and be assured that the money you spend there will go directly to help these women and you will receive a hand crafted treasure.  You can read the stories on the blog.  You can donate supplies...I know I have lots of things to share.  Right now, there is a Yarn Drive.  An earlier post asked for embroidery floss. 

I would ask that you take a moment and read through the Haiti By Hand blog...and help if you are able.  I know times are tough for most of us.  I don't personally have money to donate, but I sure can donate stuff!   I will be working on an item or two to donate to the Etsy shop, too. 

While I was writing this post, I received email from Rebecca with the mailing address for the yarn & embroidery supplies.  To get the address, you can email Rebecca directly...there is a link on the blog...or email me or leave a comment here on this post & I will get back to you with the address. 

Thanks...and remember...as it says on one of my all-time favorite rubber stamp images...Art Saves Lives! 

Do you play in art swaps?

I love to play in art swaps.  I've been swapping art through the mail for at least 10 years now.  Even though many Yahoo groups aren't as active as they once were, I do participate in the swaps in a couple of groups.  I've hosted many swaps, too & it's a lot of work, but also great fun.

The ATC above & the ones below are for a Very Vintage ATC swap in the Red Lead Paperworks group.  You can join the group of Swap Sisters by going to the "Community" link from the shop home page.  I always make one more ATC than I have to send in so I have one of my own from each swap.  For this swap, the little art girl had to stay here with me in my studio.  All the images I used for these ATCs are from Red Lead.

How about you?  Do you play in art swaps?  I'd love to read your comments. 

Inspiration

So what inspires you in the creative process?  I'm inspired by colors or color combinations...textures...images.  I love to look through magazines & catalogues to find inspiration.  For years, I had files & boxes of pages torn from magazines.  Did I ever go back to them?  Nope.  So one night when I couldn't sleep, I pulled out a blank journal & started clipping my favorite images from some of the pages I'd saved.  Laid the pics out in piles of related colors or textures...and started to glue them into the journal.  This is not a wonderfully creative art journal...it's not a place for me to vent my frustrations & celebrate my joys.  Rather, it is a place for me to go to look when I need a bit of inspiration for a project.

The journal is a work in progress.  As I find a wonderful pic in a magazine or catalogue, I'll tear it out & add it to a folder.  When I feel like just sitting & organizing the images, I pull out scissors or my paper cutter & a glue stick & arrange a spread that is pleasing to my eye.  Sometimes a pic gets added to a page that was started awhile back...some pages have one or two lonely images on them, just waiting to see what gets glued in there next.  Ideas for projects are scribbled throughout the pages.

So I'm curious...does anyone else do this?  How do you organize images you want to refer to later?  Do you keep a journal of ideas?  Inspirational words or quotes?  What inspires you to create?

Here are a few more spreads from my journal...enjoy!

What's wrong with this picture?

So the scene above is my view from the back room in Parma, OH...looking south today.  The green garage is ours...the snow is FREE to anyone who wants to have it.  Really...just bring a truck & shovels & it's all yours for the taking. 

And the blue skies & scene below is the view we left in Corona, CA.  This is looking north from our balcony. It shows EXACTLY where snow SHOULD be...at the top of the mountains.   See?  I like snow...as long as it's in it's proper place at the tops of the mountains instead of in our backyard...and everywhere else we look.

Today it is 26 degrees in Parma

& 77 degrees in Corona.

Guess where I'd rather be?

I am getting some creative time in...just wanted to prove I actually do like snow as long as it knows it's place.  So this qualifies as NOT whining, right?

heheheeeeeheheheeeee!!!

Think WARM thoughts y'all.

What the...????!?!?!?!!!!!???

So it seemed like a good day for Chinese take out for lunch.  Phil went to our favorite place & after we enjoyed the food, we opened our fortune cookies.  The fortune above was his...how rude!  Let's hope this isn't a sign for the New Year!

Happy 2010 !!!

Well, we're an hour into the new year here...we've indulged in lots of goodies including hot wings & cheese & Korbel & stuff.  Talked to some friends & wished we were there.  All of the food & spirits have been safely inbibed at home...we're not about to go out on ameteurs night! 

Best wishes for a safe & happy NEW YEAR to all of you...may 2010 be MUCH better than 2009 was!