Featured Artist of the Day.....

THIS IS A REPOST FROM 5 YEARS AGO TODAY. THIS YOUNG LADY MEANS A LOT TO ME. SHE IS ONE OF THE MOST CONFIDENT, SWEETEST, HELPFUL LADIES I HAVE EVER MET. I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE NICE TO SHARE HER TALENT WITH SOME OF MY NEWER READERS. 

Webster's dictionary defines art as the conscious use of skill and creative imagination especially in the production of aesthetic objects.

To me, a truly great artist is one who makes you want to step inside the painting and spend the day. I recently had the honor to speak with a teenager in my church, who happens to be our Pastor's daughter. Lindsey Compton has one of those rare raw talents in the art field. When I asked her if she had taken art classes, her answer was "Well, yes and no. There's a guy on TV who teaches how to paint using different brush strokes. So I watched him and tried it." I've watched that show and could never in a million years recreate what he was doing. Lindsey has a special gift of putting her visions on canvas in such a way that leaves you wanting to step inside. To have this kind of talent as a teenager is amazing to me. I, for one, hope she sticks with this and that we see her paintings in art shows some day. She was kind enough to allow me to debut a few of her paintings on here today. I hope you enjoy them, but please do not duplicate or use since these are her copyrighted originals. Enjoy!

Some cute ideas...

I can't believe Easter is in 25 days. I don't like it to come so early. I had a lot of craft projects lined up but didn't feel like doing them when it was so cold and dreary. Now that we have had some sunshine I am in the mood but too busy to do it. Maybe next year. Here were some things I thought looked simple and easy to make. I have so many buttons that this would have been fun.

Talk about easy. I may end up doing this one. 

And these are really, really cute. If I could gather enough spools, I would do this as a Children's Church craft. 

This is really cute and simple.

And I may try this bunny. It looks like it is made from a sock. 

Just a few ideas that caught my fancy.

Welcome March....

I am a morning person. I got up today at 4:54 and decided to start  gathering craft supplies for an upcoming. I found some assorted flowers that were left over from various decorating projects over the years. So I thought to myself, those look like I could put them together for something. I took them all and put them on the table.

Then I thought about what vase I might be able to use. As I went to look at my milk glass collection, I remember my vintage Fenton vase my sister-in-law gave me a couple of years ago.  

I decided to clip the stems shorter and arrange them like a bouquet of wildflowers. I am very happy with the result and now I have a little spring time on my desk at work. 

I am very happy with the result for an impromptu arrangement.

Getting to know me....

I am so outgoing and don't mind sharing information, but every so often I say something that totally shocks the people around me. I get comments like "I am so surprised." or "I would never have guessed that about you." So I decided to do a blog about things that might surprise you about me if you knew them. So here it goes...

MUSIC

I am well known for my love of country music. Everybody that knows me knows me as a die-hard country music fan. But did you know that one of my favorite songs is Paradise City by Guns N' Roses.  And that I absolutely love any song sung by Bon Jovi. Yes, I was a fan of the Big Hair Groups of the 80's. 

On the other hand, I love Beethoven and have times at home where I put on a classical piano music while I clean house. 

My all time favorite song of any genre is Take it to the Limit by the Eagles. 

BOOKS

I love to read. Romance novels are my greatest love. All my reader friends swap book recommendations for our favorite romance novels. But if there is a new John Grisham book out, it goes to the top of my MUST READ list. I am a true fan of his and have read almost everyone of his books. Even though I love romance novels and Danielle Steel is the Queen of romance novels but I have only read two or three of her books ever.

TELEVISION

I don't watch a lot of television. But when I do, it is usually The Voice or a comedy. But I love to watch American Pickers, Counting Cars and Pawn Stars. Over the past month or so I have become addicted to a show that my granddaughters watch. It is geared to around the 10 year old age group, but one of them had it on and I was mesmerized. So much so that I have my DVR set to record every single episode and I take a couple of nights a week and do a marathon to get caught up on what is happening on it. It is called Maco Mermaids. I just love it.

MOVIES

As with books, I like my movies to mostly be romances. Dirty Dancing, Sweet Home Alabama and The American President top my list of favorite movies. But I some older ones I own that I just love. My all time favorite movie ever, ever, ever is Summer Magic starring Hayley Mills. I watched it when I was younger and it will always be my favorite. But I also love the old musicals like Oklahoma and South Pacific. My favorite musical ever was Lil Abner. And my favorite old movie was Spencer's Mountain with Henry Fonda and Maureen O'Hara.

FOOD

I am a picky eater. But I love comfort food like pizza, hamburgers and hot dogs. I adore fried chicken with mashed potatoes, brown gravy and corn on the cob. And I could eat breakfast for supper every night. But my favorite meal is hamburger browned and mixed in with Velveta cheese, milk, butter and noodles and a big skillet of fried potatoes with onion, garlic powder, and black, red and white pepper on them. And normally I never put pepper in my food, but fried potatoes, I do. 

FLIP FLOPS

If you follow my blog or are friends with me on Facebook or know me in "real life" you know of my love of flip flops. I patiently count the days starting in February and watch the weather daily, just so I will know when we will peak 55°. Then I start bringing them out. And come October/November/December I start dreading the day I have to drag out shoes and socks. But do you want to know the truth? I would rather be barefoot than to even wear flip flops. Flip flops are as close to barefoot as you can get, but if I am sitting at my desk or if I go outside at home these little tiny feet of mine are happiest if they do not have to have anything on them at all. When I was little, it would take longer to wash my feet that it would to do the rest of my body and wash my hair. Simply because I ran around and played outside barefoot most of the time. I love not wearing shoes. It is that simple. 

An Inspirational Sunday...

And the winner is......

Congratulations to Ms. Terri D. You are the winner of an Easter Egg Wreath. 

I will contact you for your mailing address and get it out on Monday. 

Thanks for all your comments!

East Tennessee Weather

I am currently in a love/hate relationship with Mother Nature and my Weather Man. I believe they are in a conspiracy to insure my flip flops stay in their winter storage. Here is what we live with in East Tennessee.

Cold, sunny, sunnier, rainy, stormy, bring on the snow and then back to warming. 

Dear Ms. Nature, 

Seriously. Pick a season and stick with it. There are FOUR seasons every year. That is annual. That is a few months at a time per season. Nowhere can I find a rule that says you must inflict all four seasons in one week. I need to get my flip flops out and you need to cooperate. Thank you.

Signed, 

The Queen of Flip Flops