Apples & Blueberries ~


Had a fabulous painting class yesterday.
We painted apples & blueberries on a wooden recipe box.

Carmen








Alice




Nicole














Last month I held a drawing for students that took 6 or more classes in April and Lisa won the drawing. We spent today together ~ chatting, getting to know each other better, and PAINTING! We had so much fun. She knew immediately when she found out she won what she wanted to paint. We painted the seascape landscape we painted a couple of months ago in paint class and hibiscus.




















Here is the final project ~ didn't Lisa do an awesome job! The canvas is HUGE - 48x36 and she had the perfect place in her living room that is already framed out and waiting for this canvas.


Then we ate lunch and painted some more.
















We painted hibiscus on a 16x20 canvas and I just love the Cayman Blue background. Lisa painted this one ~


















and I painted this one that Lisa got to take home as well.











Well, it's Tuesday and that means I get to share another corner of my house with you.


We've been very fortunate to have travelled to many fabulous places ~ Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Thailand, China, Iceland, England, Germany, Austria, Belgium, France, Scotland, Wales, Luxemborg, and Italy just to name a few -hehehe
and with each place we've gone, we purchased a small something that reminds us of visiting or living there (Japan, Iceland, England). We purchased this curio cabinet 16 years ago in Japan and it's filled with very sentimental momentos from special places and people. Each piece has a story and special place in our hearts. The bottom of it is filled with glass ornaments because I'm too afraid of putting them away with the other Christmas ornaments. I'm afraid they'll get broken.
Speaking of BROKEN ~ my middle son broke his wrist. He was stopping a ball from going into the goal at soccer practice last week and fell on it hard. It was swollen and red so we iced it and over the last week he let us know it hurt off and on. Well, I finally took him to the doctors office yesterday after a weekend of "trying" to play goalie for his soccer team and they found that it is broken. He gets his hard cast on tomorrow and is pretty much done for the season missing two tournaments the next two weekends.


Hope you are having a fabulous week.

Another week of painting fun ~
Hope your Mother's Day was everything you were hoping it would be! I received a beautiful watch from my husband and 3 boys - my other three all stopped working the say week last month.


Here is a sneak peek at what we'll be painting the rest of this month in paint class ~




Apples & Blueberries










Birhouse & Hummingbird
My bird really needs to go on a diet doesn't he. Don't know how he ended up so big so will have to make sure the next one is a bit skinnier.



Lemons

Love this piece! Could so totally see using these at a summer picnic with a plain glass plate over it so that it can be eaten off of and you can still see the lemons below.

Hope you have a great week! Smile LOTS! Create LOTS! Have FUN!

Hope you have very

Happy Mother's Day tomorrow.

I love being a mother! It's the greatest gift and responsibility.

I feel blessed each day with these 3 boys God has given me to raise.

Hope you have a blessed day.

An extra special Happy Mother's Day to ~ Mom, Oma and Grandma Adkins.

picture courtesy of victoriantraditions.com

Fabric Painting ~
We did some beautiful painting today on fabric. We painted cabbage roses, sweet peas and wisteria.


Alice
















Jane



















Sharlee




















Brenda


















Lisa

Kim

Totally different then the 1980's early 90's painted fabric huh? I had so many outfits ~head to toe that were painted and puff painted with the dimensional paint that were in style and cute then but so totally not anything I'd be caught dead in now.

Today is my day at home all day - have you ever had SO MUCH to do you don't know where to start? Sometimes it paralyzes me but I'm going to start in one corner of my house and get started NOW! Have a blessed, fabulous, outstanding THURSDAY!

Tuesday Tales ~
My dad had his second surgery this morning and is doing very well. They are watching some levels with his liver to make sure there is nothing else going on. My mom made it in today from Germany this afternoon and didn't know that he was having another surgery this morning. Probably for the best ~ or she would have worried the entire flight.

I taught a painting class yesterday and completely FORGOT to take my camera. I was a bit side tracked with everything going on. I made everyone in class promise to send me pictures and well, I've gotten one so far. They promised so I'm sure I'll get them and I'll add them to this post when they do.


We painted butterfly bushes and butterflies.



Mine



Alice's Welcome Sign

My latest ATC ~
this one is on the way to someone this week.








My Wednesday painting classes ~
We're painting on fabric aprons. Cabbage roses, Wisteria and Sweet Peas.



Cuisinier is french for cook

Another corner of my house ~

This is in the eating area of my kitchen. I fell in love with this hutch when we lived in England and my great friends Brian and Jean (my antique suppliers) brought it over the night before the movers came. I had absolutely NO room in my house in England for a piece of furniture this big (because I already had too many pieces of furniture this big in my house). We were pretty much wall to wall, inch by inch filled with furniture in both of the houses we had in England.

Anyway, I have a LOVE for dishes. I've always liked blue & white dishes. I don't decorate anything else in my house with blue so I find it strange that I'm attracted to them like I am. I also like dishes with blue and greens in them ~ like the polish pottery patterns that I have. The drawers in the bottom of the hutch are loaded with platters, cake plates and bigger plates that wouldn't fit on the top racks.

I'll share pictures from tomorrows painting class on Thursday. I have absolutely not ONE thing on my calendar for Thursday. I cannot remember the last time I had absolutely NOTHING to written on my calendar on one whole day. I'm actually looking forward to getting my house CLEANED. I am very ADDHD when it comes to cleaning - start in one room, take stuff to another room, get side tracked with something in that room and usually by the end of the day (sometimes) I get back to that first thing I was doing in the first room. Sound familiar? Do you do this too? Think I will take Heidi Swapp's tip and carry a basket around with me and put things in it that need to go to another room and take them to that room and put them away. Maybe the next corner of my house I share with you will not have as much dust on it as the one above ~ hehehe. Hopefully this picture won't show too much of it. Also on Thursday, I'm looking forward to checking out some of my favorite blogs that I like to visit - have had no time to surf and lurk!

UPDATE: Thank you all for your calls, emails and more importantly prayers!
The surgery went well and they removed a stone that was blocking a duct/tube from the gall bladder to his liver. There is infection so he's on some serious medication but they've also decided that tomorrow morning he will have his gall bladder out. My mom was able to change her ticket and flies in tomorrow. Your continued prayers are very much appreciated!

Prayers ~
Hi my bloggin' family and friends. I debated about posting this but know that there truly is a power in PRAYER. I need your prayers right now for my dad. He is in emergency surgery as I write this. He left here last week and drove up to Memphis to visit my older sister and family. Yesterday he wasn't feeling very well and finally last night had my sister take him to the ER. They did many tests and have found that his spline is enlarged, he has many gall stones and this morning found that a stone blocking his liver. There is infection so they are unsure of how long the stone has been there. His blood pressure is dangerously low and they had to do surgery immediately. Prayers for my mom as well - she was to fly in Saturday to Atlanta and is now flying in tomorrow to Memphis to be with the love of her life. Thank you. It's in God's hands now.

Butterfly Bushes, Butterflies and Pomegranates
We painted Butterfly bushes and butterflies on a wooden tissue box! I love how these turned out. These are the two I painted.


















Stephanie

















Kim

Kim's mother-in-law MaryAnn

She won the drawing and got to take home my butterfly box at the top of the post.



Ashley













Ruths' Welcome sign

Pomegranates ~

Not the pretties fruit but one that I love to eat and one that I've wanted to paint on something for a while now. I thought how pretty it would be to make a set of these and put a glass plate over them so that you could set a table with them.
I painted some on a larger canvas and well...let's just say that I loved them but my father said they looked like Christmas ornaments and my husband said they looked like Helium balloons. We'll after much looking and thinking, I decided that they looked like whoopie cushions. SO....I decided to paint them on a smaller flat canvas and painted them how I saw them in my head - on tiles in a row in my kitchen ~ doesn't that sound awesome. I took the rest of the canvas to class to let those that finished early have a go at it. Nicole of course, the speedy painter finished both projects!

Alice


















Lisa







Nicole



















Brian


(Nicole's


husband)





he was so much fun to have in class! An absolute riot and he called me Ma'am all day long!

Congratulations to ~ see below

Since putting together my May Day Basket for Artsymama's May Basket Swap I've been in a "springy" mood. I painted this up the other day and wasn't quite sure what I was going to do with it until I posted a couple of days ago and decided that it was going to be a PRIZE!
Thanks to all the entered by leaving me a comment and to those that didn't, I still want to thank you for stopping by.


I got these glass cups and saucers last summer at an auction when I went to visit my good friends in Nebraska. I painted it with Hydrangeas - one of my favorites! BUT, I wanted to dress it up a bit so I added the bunch of hydrangea and the gorgeous pink bird.





















So, my son Holland came in from school and I had him do the drawing - and the winner is...



RHODA from Southern Hospitality

My sister Linda was the one that was looking through my links and found a link on one of their links that lead us to Southern Hospitality

Her southern charm and eye candy photographs and house decorations are just beautiful and I hope you'll go by and check out Rhoda's blog.

Drop me an email Rhoda and I'll get this mailed off to you! From my southern home to your southern home.

I've been spending the day getting ready for two painting classes tomorrow. We're painting butterfly bushes and butterflies and in the second class we are painting pomagranates and vines with berries. Went to WW today and lost another 2.4 lbs. yippee ~ it's been slow going but it's coming off steady and in a healthy way. Then went to have lunch with our good friend Dana ~ we had Thai today and the Chiangmai Green Curry was delicious!

We've quickly passed Spring and have entered summer here in GA with temps in the 90's. Muggy and HOT. Plus, all day today we've been under this haze from all the wildfires that are going on in Southern GA.

Have a blessed, FUN filled weekend!

Iris



I had two fabulous painting classes yesterday. We painted one of my moms favorite flowers the Iris in both the a.m. and p.m. classes.

with flash




without flash





















I faux finished the canvas with Yellow Ochre and then sponged on Linen to tone the gold down a bit. I think the purple of the Iris looks great on that golden color.















A.M. class ~


Sharlee













Brenda


















Nicole


















P.M. Class ~



Lisa

Lisa had no clue until she showed up for class that she won the drawing I had for those ladies that took 6 classes last month and the prize is to come and spend the day at my house painting and she's already picked out the two projects she wants to paint.







Sherry

Last night was her fast class with me. She's been painting and teaching herself and she did a fantastic job!












Terry






Terry's hubby got his orders and she's moving - boohoo. I told her she better come to every paint class I have from now until she moves. They're not sure yet when they are leaving but sometime this summer.









I received this gift today from the ROSC board! My friend and 2nd Vice Terry (same Terry as above) picked out this print and I picked out the frame and they gave it to me today.
Today was our my last board meeting with the OSC. Isn't it gorgeous. It has a picture of the Hay House, a very historical and beautiful home in Macon, GA. as well as a mug that says Cherry Blossom time in Macon, GA.
I had a fabulous time this past year being the President but I'm looking forward to some much needed free time. I've wanted to do a Beth Moore bible study at church now for 2 years and couldn't because of my volunteering. I've also wanted to spend some more time with some of my friends and go to lunch and well, somedays just stay home and read all the magazines that I subscribe to and never read, as well as play in my ART room. Speaking of my ART room ~ it is in desperate need of a good cleaning - It really is gonna take me weeks to get it back in order. I'm hoping to get it done before my mom and dad get back in a couple of weeks for a short visit.

My husband and I had lunch today with a friend that we actually met here 14 years ago and then we followed them to Mildenhall, England. (has it really been that long Dana?) Great lunch, great conversation, same funny sweet Dana. Today we ate at the Vietnamese restaurant so tomorrow we're gonna go eat Thai. It's was awesome to have her tell me that she reads my blog all the time!

Don't forget to enter the drawing in the post below - I'm going to have my son draw a name after he gets home from school tomorrow and will post a picture of the goodie I'm sending as well as the name of the person that will be receiving it. Just leave me a comment in the post below to enter!