Like Christmas Morning!

I woke up this morning to see my new Christmas blog banner courtesy of Heather at Bluhm Studios! I just love it!!!!! Thank you Heather!

Thanksgiving - Famous People Edition

Happy Thanksgiving week everyone!!! Last year I did a list of things I was thankful for.....this year I will do a list of famous people I am thankful for. Thankful for their art, their music, their writing or their entertainment (since this is my own little game I decided that the people did not have to be alive).....let me know who you are thankful for okay?
Mr. Rogers
Elizabeth Berg
Tim Holtz
Fannie Flagg
Dwight Yoakam
George Lucas
Steven Spielberg
The Polyphonic Spree
The Beatles
Ella Fitzgerald
Barbara Streisand
Rosie O'Donnell
Neil Armstrong
Doris Day
Carol Shields
Princess Diana
Rohinton Mistry
Cezanne
Matisse
David Letterman
Rembrant
Guy Lombardo
Van Halen
The Who
Spinal Tap
Tina Fey
Dick Van Dyke
Julie Andrews
Carol Burnett
Walter Payton
Alex Zanardi
Mozart
Bach
Wagner
J.K. Rowling
Holly Hobbie
Rick Bragg
Ruth Reichl
Harrison Fischer
Anne Leibovitz

ADDITIONS:
Mattie J. Stepanek
Patsy Cline
Loretta Lynn
Raul Malo
Christo
Mary Engelbreit
Verdi
The Inventor of Tab

AND:
Beethoven
Charles Schultz
Queen
Renee Fleming
Johnny Cash
Kukla, Fran, and Ollie


Obviously this is not an all inclusive list...but off the top of my head, that is a pretty good start!

A Lost Art

Grandpa Bates, Christmas 1967, 14422 Michigan Avenue, Riverdale, Illinois.

Yup, that is my Grandpa. He was such a great man! Beloved by many, and you can see the evidence of that with all the Christmas cards on the walls of his home!!! Nowadays sending Christmas cards has become a lost art. I love receiving Christmas cards, but over the years the number I receive is dwindling fast!

So, on the way to work this morning I was thinking wouldn't it be fun to have a little Christmas card cheer program! Here is how it works, you sign up on the blog here and email me at duetabode@comcast.net (so I can get your home address). Then I will make a list of all who want to participate and send the addresses to each of you. The plan is to make handmade Christmas cards to send to others starting December 5th. So as not to overwhelm anyone, if more than 10 people sign up then I will have groups of ten or so.

It will be fun to anticipate some homemade Christmas cards coming to our mailboxes, right??? Hope everyone thinks this is fun!

Edited on 11/18/07: This project is now closed. It will be a nice little cozy card sending project as we only have a few people participating. But that is okay, less pressure for all of us! Participating will be: Jane, Donna, Jennifer, Karen, Lorie, Nancy, and me!!!

You Gotta Have Friends!!!

Okay, I don't want anyone to worry about me, but to tell this story correctly I have to tell you that yesterday was a day that I would not wish on anyone. Suffice it to say, I pulled a really stupid move and felt really bad about it. Bad enough to Boo-Hoo-Hoo, well, in swept my friend Jane and helped me to gain control over the situation. Then home to Mike for further help and hugs. So, everything is okay, but when I came to to work this morning Jane brought me this beautiful card and see over there, where my current book is listed, she brought me that book too!!! She knew I read about it on Lotus Reads' blog and she went and got it for me last night. I feel rescued and loved, and it is wonderful! So, thank you Jane for being sweet and such a good friend.

I am blessed to have friends like you all that visit me here!!! I am getting misty, but this is really a source of support, this blogging world! Now I am off to read my new book!

A little light housekeeping

This picture is really apropos of nothing.......I just went to Google Images and put in some key words, and this cool picture came up! How romantic! See the Harvest Moon in the backround? I don't have too much to say tonight, but felt the need to have a new entry. My thoughts tonight really relate to my drive home from work. It was the first night that it was pitch black on the way home. It was really kind of relaxing. For the first time in a long time I came home and felt like "nesting." I put away the laundry and even did the dishes after dinner!!! (Mike cooked, as usual)

Now, I am settling in for an evening of Dancing With the Stars and Heroes. I will finish my current book and just laze around! This coming Sunday I have my first book club meeting with my pals from the world of medical transcription. So I am looking forward to that. I am also going to start compiling my Top 10 reads of the year. I would love it if a bunch of us reading blogger types listed all of our fave reads of the year....(Nan, Anjali, Heather; I know you all are big readers!)......So, keep a list people and maybe in late December we can share them!

So, I am settling in for my long winter's nap and am hoping to get a little organizing/cleaning done everynight after work. That is goal #1; and if you know me, you know that is quite a lofty goal. Then I need to add the working out goal, the eating healthy goal, and the getting back to the stamping room goal. Baby steps!

ETA: New picture cause something got messed up. Thought this was funny!

Three Words

I LOVE MUMS!!!!!!!!!

Happy Halloween!

Yesterday I came home to a Halloween surprise in my mailbox!!!! My friend Liz in Florida sent me this wonderful Halloween card and ATC!!! They are so cool, funny, and sweet!!!! Thank you Liz!!!
Hope everyone has a "sweet" day!!! For Halloween this year I wish I could dress up as either a beautiful bride from 1924 or a "stewardess" from 1966!!!!! What would you dress up as????????

Valley Rige Montage

Scenes from a weekend

Is this not the cutest stamp you ever saw????? Run, don't walk, to Red Lead in St. Louis or visit their web site for such awesome cuteness! I can't wait to make stuff with this little gal and her friend below!
Red Lead never ceases to amaze me! Chris and Sharon are the coolest!
Here are the stamps I recently purchased from their website! They seem to be in tune with my inner child at all times!
Here is a dish I recently purchased for $3. I just think it is so cute and love storing art supplies in it.
Here are my two fur children, Buddy and Pal, stalking the falling leaves.
Yesterday we went to the Third Sunday Antique Market in Bloomington, IL again. Here is a sight I love to come across, a bunch of vintage photos. I just want to sit in a comfortable chair and go through them all!
There was lots of vintage Christmas about too.
Here are my Mom and one of my bestest buddies, Lorie, giving commentary on the "stuff." We had a great day together. Lorie packed us a cute sack lunch and we met Jane and her Mom to eat.
Saturday night my Mom came to sleep overnight because we had to leave at the crack of dawn on Sunday for the Antique Market. Mike made some delicious chicken pasta salad!!!!
Close-up of Mike's culinary masterpiece!!!

Now I am getting ready to leave Wednesday right after work to drive up to Wisconsin for class with one of my idols, Lynne Perrella, at Valley Ridge. Should be a total gas. I will take pictures and post when I get back, so see you in a week people!!!

Web Curator

Well, I am coming out of my funk and feeling better! Really, the main thing that I am anxious about is that I have overscheduled myself this month! 5 concerts, one big antique trip, and then 4 days out of town at an art class. Don't get me wrong, all of it is totally fun, I am just one of those people that needs lots of downtime and when I don't get it I get panicky! This week Mike and I will go see The Polyphonic Spree (again! we just saw them in September, it was so good we have to go again!) and then the next night Jane, my brother, Todd, and I are going to see Van Halen!!! I am so excited about this concert! Todd and I used to listen to Van Halen all the time! Then on Sunday I have a double duty. During the day we are going back to Bloomington, IL for the Third Sunday Antique Market (me, my Mom, my friend Lorie, Jane, her Mom, and Trish...and maybe even Karen and Jody). I am hoping we can have a tailgate party at lunchtime with a show and tell! and then Sunday night Mike and I are going to see Bruce Springsteen!!!!

Next week Jane, Kim, Julie, and Beth and I are going to Valley Ridge in Wisconsin. We are taking a class with the famous Lynne Perrella!!!!!!! Dream come true!! Am I ready? NO!! Have I had almost a year to prepare for this? Yes!!! What a lame-O!!! Luckily, I took next Monday off from work so I can gather all the items we need for class. I have been collecting ephemera for year for this class. Is it in one place, organized, and ready to go? I think you know the answer!!!!

The picture above is courtesy of the world wide web. The colors here have not changed yet. Hopefully in the next several weeks there will be lots of beautiful leaves. Fall is my favorite season of all!!!!

Now for the title of this post, web curator. This means that I have searched the web for some cool links for you!!! I am at your service people!!!

So go now, and click........

Great Blogs:

Holly Loves Art

Little Pink Studio

Under the Red Roof

12 Days to Christmas: Remember last year when I was in the wonderful swap and all the great handmade Christmas gifts that were exchanged? I could not get myself together to participate this year, but the swap lives on and you can follow it (and drool) here.

CUTE CARDS FROM SPLITCOASTSTAMPERS (I vow to make a card within the next two weeks!!!)

Overalls

Halloween in Paris

Vintage Baby Girl card

Friends

Super

AND NOW, WHAT KIND OF CURATOR WOULD I BE WITHOUT SOME ART WORK!!!

One of my most favorite artists is James McNeill Whistler, You know Whistler's Mother....
here are some other great works by him....

Arrangement in Black No. 5 Lady Meux

Symphony in White no. 2 - The Little White Girl

I don't know the name

Okay, I have to get out of here now because I have to get ready to watch Heroes!!! and then we Tivo'ed Dancing with the Stars!!!!

Hey, let me know who your favorite artist is!!!!

In no condition to blog...

Do I look relaxed here???? Am I feeling just A-OK???? Well, not really. Remember last week when I was working at my new-ish job by myself for the week as my buddy and co-worker (really my manager) Jane was on vacation.....well everything went well, but it was super-duper stressful. I did not have a minute to relax, and today I think I had a little mini-meltdown. Nothing too bad, just a few crying jags here and there! So, I came home tonight and took a long nap!!! So, for all the people who I owe emails and all the Alphabetica journals I need to get moving on, I am sorry!!! I am in my recovery phase now, and hope to get some stuff done soon. I mean I did not even get to read a book last week!!! That is really saying something...and I don't mean I did not get to finish a book, I mean I did not have time to read! That is unheard of for me! Well, enough of that rant.......Here are some of the things that I am currently excited about........

1. Vera Bradley purses.
2. Dancing with the Stars.
3. Going to see Van Halen next week.
4. Waiting for the new line of Christmas paper from Basic Grey....Figgy Pudding.
5. New Christmas stamps from Red Lead.
6. The upcoming memoir from Steve Martin.
7. The fact that I finally got my IPOD hooked up to my car stereo and now I can listen to a ton of music as I drive. Shuffle!!!!!

.....and as always, the fact that I have you all for friends!!!!!

Ebay-itis

I have been on an Ebay kick of late. More vintage ephemera. Lots of vintage Christmas cards and seals. I will be posting a lot of them around the Holidays.

I also bought these totally cool Tally Cards! I have not seen such unique ones ever. Love em!
I need to stay away from Ebay for awhile, or as Mike puts it, "quit buying junk." Although I heartily disagree that it is junk!!! To me it is a total treasure!
You might not see me back in these parts for the rest of the week. My buddy and co-worker Jane is on a well-deserved vacation in Northern California and I am working alone, which means go, go, go the entire time I am there!!! Exhausting! Plus, Mike and I are going to see the wonderful and talented Raul Malo on Wednesday night. Have a good week everybody!!!!

Jane is a Genius!

This is my friend Jane's page for Lain's Alphabetica book. In this book the challenge was to pick a letter and then a word that describes you. Fun is right!!!! Jane is a such fun to hang out with......and this page says it all!!! I think it is so completely gorgeous!!!!!! Absolutely beautiful Miss Jane!!! Look at the pin that the girl is holding with the hand-dyed ribbon coming from it!!!! Clever!!! This page is a true sight to behold!!!!
Next up we have some new rub-ons that I found through the most wonderful shopping site, Stamp Diva!!!! She has tons of great stamps and embellishments! Her service is superb and shipping is fast. When I saw these rub-ons I knew they were right up my alley, and I suspect a lot of you out there would love them too!!!!!!

Lazy Sunday Afternoon

Why is it that on Monday mornings at work I have a ton of energy, and I think to myself, "When I get home, I am going to stamp and make cards, and send one to everyone I know and love, and then I am going to work on my round robin art journals and get completely caught up and then work on a new project, and yada, yada, yada." "Oh, and I am going to completely clean and organize my house, and keep it that way!" "Oh, and I am going to the gym and watch what I eat so I can become a size 10 again!"

I probably have all this energy on Monday because I spend most Sundays in "silent monk mode." I laze around the house, watch some TV with Mike, take many naps, read books, read magazines about stamping and get great ideas of what to do, look in my stamp room, feel overwhelmed by all the stuff in there, and just fritter away the day! Fritter should be my middle name!

See the picture above, that is not one of my dear little cats. For a picture on this blog entry I went to Google images and typed in Lazy Sunday Afternoon. This is one of the images that popped up!!! It fits!

The main way I fritter away time on Sundays is by surfing the net. So, in an attempt to make it seem like I am doing something productive, come along with me as I share some sights on the Internet that I think you will like!!!!!!

First stop on a Sunday morning is Splitcoaststampers. This is a site for rubber stampers who love to make cards. It is really the best site there is for stamping. Every Sunday morning they have a list of "favorites" from the week. These are cards that people have posted in the gallery and other members are now calling attention to. This weeks cards are AMAZING! Go HERE for a visual treat!

Next up is Television Without Pity. This is a great site if you want to read funny commentary about the TV shows you watch. I love to read what other people are saying about some of the outrageous shows that Mike and I watch.

Over the past few weeks I have found some AMAZING BLOGS! Talk about inspiration!!! and Eye Candy!!!!!

First up is the wonderful Under The Red Roof by the extremely talented Donna Layton. She makes the most gorgeous art!!!! and she is such a sweetheart to boot!

Another sweetheart is Ceri at Little Pink Studio.....You must see the picture of her studio on her latest entry. Yum! Enlarge that picture and tell me you don't just sigh with envy! She has an Etsy shop that is loaded with fun stuff too. And her banner!!!! So gorgeous!

Holly of Holly Loves Art has a blog that often causes me to have heart palpitations. Her art is so unique and SO GORGEOUS! Talk about inspiring!

And then I check my email every two hours or so (probably not an exaggeration!) so that keeps me tied to the computer. Today's email brought the news that my dear friend Trish has a new Flicker account. Her art looks fabulous here!!!!!

Oh, and then I can cruise through other peoples' books shelves on Shelfari!!!! That can really eat up the time. I love to see what other people are reading!!! (ETA: I cannot get the link right for Shelfari. The address is www.shelfari.com)

Okay, that is a sketch of my usual Sunday.....today I will try and do something a little different by watching the Chicago Cubs and the Chicago Bears games with Mike. However, more than likely I will start watching and 5 minutes into the whole thing I will be asleep!!!

Completely Mad for Ephemera!!!!!

Tonight in the town where I work it was Ladies Night, so the stores were open late. Jane and I zipped over to the antique shop. It was a slight bust except for this picture!!!!!! This is one of the most unique wedding pictures I have seen. (Click on this picture to see it up close!!!!!)
Over the past few weeks I have been going insane with ephemera collecting. Here are some of the things I have recently acquired. Above is a darling card, and so a new category is born, greeting cards from the 1940's through 1970's with cute children images!
There there was the above, a whole deck of playing cards with little Miss Apple on them!!! Isn't she just a dear?
I am usually not one for little baby stuff, but this was too cute to pass up!!! (Karen I am saving one for you. I got a pack of these!)

All of sudden today, the need for vintage Christmas ephemera has struck!!!! Above is a darling card we found tonight. Now, I am on the hunt for more kids Christmas cards and vintage Christmas wrapping paper. What a fun hunt.

You know what I really want to do tomorrow???? Drive around Indiana and go to lots of antique shops!!!! Alas, I will be going to work.....hopefully this weekend I will start using some of this ephemera in some sort of artistic expression. Stay tuned.

Lastly, is anyone else in the same boat with me? You know, the boat where you could look at this kind of stuff all day, dream about, plan trips to antique shops, and just generally go insane for this?? Please tell me I am not the only one!

Frogs by Duda

Artwork by Diane Duda.

Here is a link to her blog.

Isn't she the greatest??? I received this card in the mail! My friend Jennifer sent it to me. I met Jennifer through the Inky Antics site and every now and then we keep in touch with a card in the mail. She went to Greeting Card Universe where Diane has turned some of her artwork into greeting cards. You pick a card, type in what you want to say, and it is mailed out for you! Who knew? I was so excited to receive this. Thank you Jennifer!

Third Sunday Antique Market

Jane and I left at 6 a.m. yesterday morning to drive 1 hour and 45 minutes to Bloomington, Illinois for the Third Sunday Antique Market. This is a huge antique market that I had never heard of before. It came in handy as it had been several hours since I had last been in an antique shop and lately, I have antique fever! We did not purchase any of the manniquin heads pictured above, but I thought it was a cool display.
Here Jane is oogling some cool glassware! I was off in the corner hyperventilating over some vintage children's books.
Loved these vintage posters! Would love to decorate my home with vintage illustrations.
We found this cute little book about sewing. Great cover! It came home with us for a dollar!
Also, this children's illustrated dictionary was purchased. This will be great for use in our Alphabetica round robin journals and our October class at Valley Ridge.
On the drive down Jane was looking through a book by Anna Corba and spotted a piece like the one pictured above. I guess it is a vintage plant stand. She fell in love with it, so we were on the look out. So now, the one pictured above is at Jane's house! It will be so much fun to put out cute little supplies on it.

Speaking of cute little supplies, we found TONS of great books, vintage greeting cards, cute children's barrettes, and old photos. I will post pictures over the coming days!

I purchased this great three-tiered table for storing 12 x 12 scrapbook paper! I can't wait to organize my papers by color family! Also, one shelf will be for Christmas paper only!!!! I have been wanting to see what the new Basic Grey Christmas paper looks like and today they posted it on their site! (Sorry, the link is not working. Go to www.basicgrey.com to see the paper. The new line is called Figgy Pudding! How cute!) I have a great idea for a little Christmas project on my blog - please stay tuned for that announcement!

Music Month

October will be music month for me!!! I will be going to see Raul Malo, The Polyphonic Spree (again!!!), Bruce Springsteen, and Van Halen!!!!!!! How much fun is that!!!!!!

Then also in October I will get to take a class from one of my mixed-media idols, Lynne Perrella!

All in all, I am looking forward to October. It has always been my favorite month, but this year it will be extra special!

New Banner!!!!!!!

New Banner!!!!!!! New Banner!!! I awoke this morning to find this new banner made exclusively for me by the very talented and brilliant Heather Simpson-Bluhm!!!!!!!!!! Isn't it the best!! She is so great at making these banners! I told her she should work for a high-powered graphic design company! Please take a look at all of the banners she has made for a visual delight!

I found the picture of Maude in an antique shop. When I found her I new she was the very personification of all that I think Maude is!!!! So I sent along the picture to Heather and asked her to do her thing! Here is the result!! Amazing!!! Please let me know what you think of her!!!

I am so excited I could burst!!!!!

Reading on Labor Day Weekend

Okay, I am about the last person that reads books about vampires. However, the word of mouth on this book is extremely good. Technically, it is a book marketed towards teenage girls, but I say once a teenage girl......always a teenage girl somewhere inside! The premise of the book is that Bella, a 17-year-old girl, returns to the town where she was born, Forks, Washington, (where I have been!) to attend high school. There she meets Edward who is so totally cool and fabulous, except for one thing. He is a vampire. And away we go..........Thanks to Marilyn who talked about this series on her blog and to my niece who also told me about this book. This is first of three in a series, and I hear a final book will be coming out next Fall. Here is a list of people who I know who should go get this book right now:

1. Noreen.
2. Trish.
3. Kim.
4. Sharon.
5. Kathy.
6. P. Stew.
7. Heather.

Also, I have been having fun putting some of my books on Shelfari. It is a website where you can post books on your shelves and others can then see what you have in your library. There is a feature where you can also have friends on this site and see what is on their shelves. I think all my reading buddies who are not on there yet should do so!