Chicago

The tree in the main lobby of The Merchandise Mart in Chicago

Lunch was a bottle of water and a meatless salad. $13.75. Uh huh

A belated birthday present from Pat

Cocoa. Always in pearls and now sporting a coat

I had a 3 day weekend in Chicago for Christmas. Have not seen everyone for months, so this was also a catch-up trip. We had a wonderful time, and now that I am home, I fully realize there were too many people I did not get to see. This just gets harder as you age.

On Friday I went to the annual ONE OF A KIND show at the Mart. Over 600 artists bring their wares for a 4 day selling show. Seth Apter had announced in August that he was going to be there, and because I took his class in Wisconsin, he offered all of us free passes. THAT, my friends, was the only thing free. Round trip train ride from south suburbs to downtown: $15.00. Cab fares from Randolph and Michigan to The Mart: $15. Lunch (????): $13.75. I also purchased art from Seth, and some cinnamon goodies that I gave to Pat after eating two. She was unable to join me on this adventure due to an electric outage. Consolation prize.

I love Chicago, I truly do. It is my birthplace, my hometown. But there is no way I could travel into that city 5 days a week as I did for 11 years. And Metra? That union needs to teach it's people to be kind and thoughtful for out of town travelers. Just saying.....

Thanks for stopping by.
Linda

"Destination" by Seth Apter. Now mine. I love the patina.

Christmas Tags

Very old scrap book paper with new Tim Holtz stamps

The man and tree are from the Tim Paperdolls Christmas collection

Old paper, new stamps

The kitchen gate, so far

I have a stack of Christmas tags already complete. The problem is I put them away for safe keeping when the house was for sale, and I do not remember where they are. There are 5 boxes in the garage, and I know they are in one of those boxes. Just don't feel like tearing into those at this point in time. So let's make new tags! Yeah.

The tag in the upper left hand corner is a combination of Dyan Reavley Merry Christmas stamp, colored with markers,  a Tim stamp for "Dec. 25th", Tim stamps for the background trees and other marks, and the paper doll from this year's collection. The new stamp set (new to me) with the profile of Santa, and the Merry & Bright are Tim's. As is the Happy Holidays and the 3 ornaments. The shiny tag is metal hand embossed over very old grunge board letters that were first glued down. I did this tag 6 or 7 years ago, and the alcohol ink I used for coloring the metal sheet was faded. So today it was touched up with markers.

Thanks for stopping by.
Linda

Tis The Day

Have a very Merry Christmas.

 

Hug those you love.

 

Don't forget your pets.

Linda

Merry Christmas

Gracie refusing to look at me

Jake refusing to look at me

Have yourself a Merry little Christmas. Happy Holidays. Whatever you celebrate, let it be done with joy in your heart. And realize that it is almost over. Because, hey! The build-up started in September, so we were all hyped up for months.

Only in America.
Linda

Tis the Season

Christmas is a mixed blessing for most people. Gives everyone a chance to get together with family and friends, kick back and have some fun. But it is also stressful, because you feel that you have to kick back and have some fun. So many people to see, so much to do.

Grand dog Riley

Grand dog Sophie

My brats

Jake

Nephew, Amos

My solution to the stress of the season? Hug a dog. Thankfully I will have that opportunity on various occasions.

Enjoy yourselves.
Linda

Last Minute Crunch

Getting ready to head north to Chicago metro area. We are having a family Christmas this weekend. Doesn't exactly feel like Christmas, with the temperatures going into the mid 50's today. NOT THAT I'M COMPLAINING!!! Good grief, no. I hate the cold. That is probably the worse part of getting older, besides the aches and pains: no tolerance for the cold. And let us define "cold": that would be anything below 40 degrees.

I came across this from somewhere, and thought I'd pass it along. As a dog owner and lover, it just tickled my funny bone.

Have a wonderful weekend. Don't stress, okay? It's all good. And almost over!
Linda

Tis The Season

It is that time of year. I started making my own Christmas cards last year. And this year is a whole lot of fun.

The internet is full of free images that you can download to your computer, then print out at home. I think the quality is excellent. I chose some Christmas collages, and would love to tell you where I got these, but honestly don't remember. I do know that I tracked them on Pinterest, if that helps. Except for the top two tags: those are from iralamija, and the link to her blog is on the side bar. If you would like to make a purchase, click on her etsy store link. She has a wonderful variety of vintage images, especially for the holiday season.

It is very cold here today, so thinking the dogs and I are staying in and making more cards and tags. Enjoy yourselves.
Linda

Working hard, or hardly working?

These are pint size mason jars, covered in a combination of paint and glue. You then sprinkle cinnamon all over the wet paint and let them sit overnight. Uh huh. After they are dry, a great deal of the cinnamon falls off. I had cinnamon everywhere, folks. In the box I put the jars in, on the kitchen table, on the floor, and I'm certain on the dogs who have to see what mom is doing constantly.

The Christmas images are from a download I purchased from iralamija. She is a hispanic paper artist. I don't want to call her a scrap booker, because her creations are more than that. If you would like to check out her blog, it is on the sidebar.

Back to work. Have a great day.
Linda

Merry Christmas

Gracie, Sarge and I wish you a very Merry Christmas. May you have a safe and calm holiday.

We are home for the day, doing a little of this, a little of that. The snow has stopped, for now, and we may just go for a walk later today.

What was your favorite Christmas present as a kid? Do you remember? Just a few stand out for me. The first one that is a vivid memory is receiving Rubber Soul, the Beatles album that had just been released. Clever Capitol Records company! After that, I do remember being absolutely thrilled my senior year in high school when my dad gave me a Polaroid Swinger camera. If my memory serves me right, this was one of the first cheaper Polaroid cameras made. I guess the correct term would be affordable. My friends and I had a blast using that camera, when I could afford to buy the film.

Make some memories today.
Linda

The Family Christmas

Typical brother and sister, snarling, snapping

He trotted downfield, then cut to the left to sneak up on Gracie

You run! No, YOU run.

Allie and Bella

We had our family Christmas party this past weekend. The dogs traveled with me to Crown Point, IN. I am proud to say that they were perfect house guests. My youngest stepson has a large home with the perfect dog backyard: huge and fenced with several trees. And because it's in Crown Point, lots of snow on the ground for Sarge to roll in. For those of you not familiar with the midwest, Crown Point, IN. gets what we affectionately call "lake effect snow", off of Lake Michigan. In layman terms, that means the area gets dumped on habitually in the winter months.

This was Bella's first Christmas, and she was uninterested in anything except a)give me a bottle, b)Daddy, talk to me/tickle me/smile at me c)change my wet diaper. Allie, my youngest granddaugher, is holding Bella, my great-granddaughter in the photo.

We had a great time, there was too much food as always, and the dogs received a giant box of Meaty Bones as a present. They are happy campers.

Life is Good. Enjoy your day.
Linda

Christmas Favorites

A Williraye Santa

I grew up in Chicago and a suburb south of the city called Park Forest. We had six television stations from the antenna on the roof. Waaaayyyyy before cable, folks. For those of you from the Chicago metro area, name them with me: channel 2 was CBS, channel 5 was NBC, channel 7 was ABC, channel 9 was WGN when it was just OUR WGN, not the world's. Channel 11 was PBS, and when UHF became available, we had channel 32.

WGN played a ton of old movies. On Sunday afternoons, we had Family Classics with Frazier Thomas. I adore the old Sherlock Holmes films with Basil Rathbone. One of my absolute favorite old movies is The Mark of Zorro, with Tyrone Power and Basil Rathbone. Don't know why, but it just appealed to me.

So when it comes to Christmas movies, I'm not into animation, nor am I into the more recent films of the 70's and 80's. No, I like my Christmas movies in black and white. These are my favorites, and if you disagree, that's cool. It's my blog, so I get to do this......

The Bishop's Wife - Cary Grant, Loretta Young, and David Niven. Doesn't get any better.

Holiday - Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn. This is hardly ever on tv anymore, and I don't know why unless it is considered too dated. Love this movie, and I no longer have a copy of it. Need to find it.

Christmas in Connecticut - Barbara Stanwyck and Dennis Morgan. Corny as all get out and I don't care. A fun flick, one that I used to put on while I was baking cookies to take to work. Always made me feel good and put me in the Christmas spirit. I have seen this so many times I can probably recite the dialogue.

Should you get the chance to view one of these, please try them out if you haven't already. Cary Grant was a master, so smooth, so seamless. Enjoy.
Linda

Christmas in the air

One of my favorite Jim Shore pieces - dogs!

Williraye Studio wall decorations

Detail on the flying snowman

Jim Shore Santas

Williraye sheep -just can't get away from those sheep

Williraye dogs

I have quite a collection of Christmas figures. Most of them are either Jim Shore or Williraye Studio creations, as those are my favorites. The details and colors are what capture me. So this is how I decorate the house for the holidays: everything comes out of the cabinets and boxes and is scattered on every flat surface in the living room, kitchen, and bathroom vanities. (Instead of reading on the throne, you can look at a Santa!)

Oddly enough, I didn't realize how many sheep figures I had. Was this an omen of my future? Are the sheep still winning? Well, yeah, they are but that's beside the point. I just like the look of the sheep.

It is bitter cold this morning with wind chills below zero. Wherever you are, stay warm and cozy.
Linda

Busy Monday

Just before sunrise

Storms coming tonight

Christmas album

Good Morning! The sunrise this morning was beautiful, and I couldn't resist taking those two shots. The sky changes so fast when the sun is coming up. It's now just cloudy, so glad I did take the camera outside.

This is a Bo Bunny album in graduated sized pages that I did last year. I used a variety of papers, but mostly Graphic 45. I made myself another album that has photos in it. So can't decide if I want to keep this one, or give it to someone this year.

There are a few changes to the blog. I've added a widget to see who is viewing the blog, and where they are from. I've also added my photostream from Flickr. I will definitely work on adding more photos to it.

I have a link under "scrapbook supplies" to Allyscraps, the store where I work part time. Sad news is that, due to the economy, the actual store is closing. If you are in the area, the closing sale starts this Wednesday, December 1st, at 10a.m. Good news is that Cathy, the owner, has decided to continue with the internet business. So the link will stay. It will take you to the website.

I heard on the news this morning that one of my favorites has passed. Leslie Nielsen of The Naked Gun movies died at the age of 84. He was good.

Have yourself a great day. I'm heading out to take the babies for a very long walk.
Linda
 EDIT: Not that I'm stalking anyone!!! I thought about what I said when we were out on our walk. I'm just curious what visitors I have to the blog. Thought I better clarify that statement. Have a good one.

Images of the Season

The Three Wise Men

Sheep and the donkey

The Shepherd

Baby Jesus

Mary

Baaaaaaaaa!!!

After dinner and a walk on Thanksgiving Day, I hauled out all of my Christmas Decorations and started setting them up around the house. I'm having a jewelry party and a cookie exchange in the next two weeks, so I wanted to spruce things up a bit.

I collect Jim Shore. If you have not heard of him, he is an artist who sells replicas of his original carvings. They are usually in resin. I fell in love with the vivid colors years ago, and started buying a few pieces. Then the kids found out I like them, and have given me a ton of Santas, various animals, and the above Nativity. I've never had a Nativity before, but this one I do indeed put out every Christmas. I like the size, shapes, and most of all the colors used. The detail is excellent. This year it sits on my fireplace mantel. Please note that the shepherd has detailing of sheep on the front of his frock. Uh huh.

Speaking of sheep, I was at the Gingerbread Shed a few weeks ago, and saw this little guy pulling a Christmas tree. I walked by. I went back. I left. I went back and picked him up. Just could not resist having another fake, calm sheep in the house. One that does not intend to knock me to the ground. One that doesn't look at me and say, "Baaaaaaaa!".

We're waiting for the weather to warm up, then heading out for a walk. Beautiful sunshine today but a tad on the nippy side. Enjoy yourselves.


Linda