Oh My Gosh...WOW!

OMG, you guys...imagine my excitement when I walked in after a grueling day at work, and found an envelope from Teri at Painted Daisies,...our fearless Cactus Leader, containing THESE!!!!!

I had loved the zentangle here that looks like 3 ferris wheels at a carnival from the first moment I saw it on her blog...and she surprised me by sending it to me...but then...

THIS was a total surprise! She did a watercolor ATC of my Doozey!!! WOW!!! It looks just like her!!! It must be framed and placed on my wall where I can see it every day! Oh, thank you, Teri! From the bottom of my heart!!! OMG!!!!!

Doozey and Baby Tuesday...a little early!

I don't know if any of you remember seeing my "keep to himself" cat? He is an indoor, outdoor kind of guy, and he basically is out or is asleep on our bed. He is pretty much useless, and because he is about 11 years old, he has really slowed down and doesn't really want much interaction with us anymore. He has been a great cat...keeping us pretty much bug and lizard free inside, and rat-free outside! My son always called him "Baby Killer"...maybe that's why! He is a handsome feller!

Hello my sweet little Baby doll!!!

And here are some pics of Doozey enjoying her new found freedom in her safely fenced backyard! She has enjoyed hanging out with her cousin, Bailey (the Lhasa), and running after lizards (favorite activity)...no need for any toys out here...she has live, interactive ones!!! She also enjoys sitting on my lap out there and stretching out in the grass, in the shade of the big huge Sapodilla tree.

What's that I hear?????

Oh God...now what is that smell???

Those are my two sweet babies for this week! Hope everyone has a wonderful Tuesday tomorrow!!!
Julie

The making of a cactus flag!

Last week I took a pic of the "stars" part of my Stars and Stripes series! Below is that pic:

Then for my "stripes" I decided to use a stem of my Huernia plant!

My daughter put them together for me using Photoshop:

Then we added color:

Since I couldn't get it to wave...I swirled it and it turned into this funky cactus flag! I like it...now if I can get it into my blog title, I will be happy!!!

Happy Cactus Monday!

Aqua

A color that I am recently in love with...but it has to be an exact shade either alone or in combination with just the right other colors! I really love this picture of some beads for sale at Goodybeads.com! I would sure love to try and paint this...maybe one day!!! I wanted to document it here so I can come back to it eventually!

My rainbow! What is yours?

Well, this was fun...especially when it says such nice things about me! LOL! My rainbow colors are kinda drab though...what's up with that? You can go to Space Fem for your rainbow quiz!

Your rainbow is intensely shaded yellow, green, and white.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is says about you: You are an intelligent person. You appreciate optimism. You're good at getting people to like you. People depend on you to make them feel secure.

Find the colors of your rainbow at spacefem.com.

Saturday fun!

This morning my husband mowed and trimed the yard, while my Mom and I pulled vines from the bushes and weeded my oyster plants that I dearly love! They are wonderful for Florida living...don't need water...can survive in droughts wonderfully! Anyway...we bagged up about 9 trash bags of junk pulled out!!! I was exhausted...took 4 Ibuprophen and sat under the tree and had a beloved Fresca while cooling down. In no particular order here are a few pics I took. This first one is a pic of the sky from under the tree...it almost looks like a picture of water, doesn't it? Wispy clouds looked so pretty floating by while we enjoyed the cool breeze!

Here are my dirty feet relaxing.

And here is Doozeys cousin, Bailey. He is my brother and his wifes Lhasa. He is a lot of fun...the dogs would run over to the fence barking every time they saw anyone pass by on the sidewalk! They spent half the time inside and half out...enjoying their chewy sticks.

This is a tether ball pole my Dad made for my son (the Army son) when he was around 4years old! It is concrete poured inside a tire...(Oh crap...another tire in my life...I hadn't thought of it before)...LOL. The pole is sunk in the concrete. The old ball and rope are long gone...so a new rope and ball is on my shopping list to buy for my grandson...we will play many games together as a family. I think he should be able to beat me...he is so strong at almost 5 years old!

The new fence...after I cut back thse bushes severely...I must get the fertilizer on them and lots of water. I have one neighbor who got these things up 6 ft. in a short amount of time...I must go ask how they did it...I suspect just frequent fertilizer and tons of water though. I wish I could think of the name of this plant, but it is not coming to me. I have every other one variegated...but I need to replace a few that were damaged.

As we were sitting, relaxing, my Mom noticed the bird nest on top of my security light...complete with bird! How sweet! I am thrilled...must keep an eye on the progress!

Daughter and I are on our way to Penneys now to look for summer shorts and tops, and any other fun thing I can find for my grandbabies!!! Happy summer days to all!

Thanks Souly-B!!!

I got a beautiful surprise from Soulbrush, all the way from London, England the other day, and I am finally slowed down enough to take a picture to show you! WOW...isn't it just so neat? I have to frame it, I think. No way I can "use" it!!! Thanks, Souly-B...I adore it so much!!!

I got myself a new section of privacy fence this past week, and I am so happy with it...we broke down and spent the money since our beautiful grands are coming home in a few weeks and I needed to be sure they will be protected from 2 boxers next door (their fence was falling down, literally). Luckily he agreed to let us take away his fence and have a new one installed. It has changed my life! Not only is the yard just so much better looking, but I can let Doozey out there now and this morning, as soon as the sun comes up I will be going out to weed and clean vines out of bushes. Oh...fun! Seems there is never time to put my feet up...so I am doing it now... from 4-6am...hmmm.

I haven't had any time at all for art.

Been shopping for the return of the kids...new Spongebob sheet set for my grandson, a rug for baby to watch TV and play games on, a stroller, etc. I am still looking for a high chair to keep at my house when she visits. Can you tell I am not excited at all??? LOL...yeah right! I am about to burst with happiness.

I think I like being a grandma. Of course, you know I am way to young to be one!!! Ha ha ha!

I hope to get some before and after shots in the yard today and you can also see my new fence...I also have to buy a few extra plants to fill in the areas when his old fence fell and took some out! I'm telling you, it had become rickitty.

Catch you all later...have a wonderful Saturday!
ME

RIP Micheal.

I am in mourning. I had a personal relationship with Micheal Jackson. He helped me lose 50 pounds one year...I believe it was 1983. I had gained it with the birth of my first child and I developed a regime which included dancing to the Thriller album for 30-60 minutes a day. I was always sad for him. His life was hard. He got messed up along the way, but I will always remember him in a good way. Here is one of his sweetest and most memorable songs, for me:

God Bless YOU, Micheal. I hope you are singing with the angels in heaven!

Doozey Tuesday!

At the suggestion of my friend, Vickie, at Two Humans, Three Dogs and A Cat, I present DOOZEY TUESDAY!!! Enjoying time with her Daddy on his big cushy chair!

Happy Late Cactus Monday!!!

In honor of upcoming 4th of July, and the idea of Stars and Stripes....I would like to present some close ups of the sweet little nubbins of Escobaria missouriensis (Missouri Foxtail Cactus)...which were sent to me a while back by , my blogger pal, Claude (Random Rants and Prickly Plants). These little cactus specimens are so delightful and starry...they just amaze me every time I go into my kitchen, and they have really provided me with a lot to love ever since they arrived. I actually MISSED THEM while I was gone to Germany!

Anyway, I really wasn't going to do a post for Cactus Monday because it has been so darn hot and muggy outside. You just can't seem to want to do anything when it is like this. BUT...tonight I saw my little starry guys here and thought I would try and get some close-ups. My camera was very difficult and I felt like one of these fashion photographers who had to keep clicking away to get one good shot out of hundreds...and finally I ended up with three semi-decent ones!

Don't you just love the stars???

Next Monday I think I should give you some "Stripes" of the cactus world...

So stay tuned for the second part of "Stars and Stripes"...

Now look where I've been!

Yesterday my friend and I drove my daughter to an Anime Convention in Tampa! She had a ball-jointed doll meetup there, which she really enjoyed. Meanwhile, us "supposed grown-up's" meandered around and took pics of all of the neat costumes people had on. Here are just a few for your enjoyment!

SEXY KITTY KAT WITH A PENGUIN (don't know name of this character):

A "Furry"...these are the people who dress in plush costumes:

Some girls who each made their own matching outfits (AWESOME):

This guy was really cool...looked like some futuristic guy from the early 1900's???

And, for all you sewing people out there...the gal on the left was what looked like a medieval seamstress...if you make the picture big, you can see the thread spools around her chest:

This will probably go down as one of the most curious days of my life...it was a great bit of fun and seriously an interesting population of kids (mainly from teens-late 20's in age). I am so glad I went over there and checked it out!

I have just ordered these pens!

Now, this is a total news flash for me! I have been searching(locally) for years, for the fine point pen I used to use prior to Sharpies...it was called the Pilot Razor Point Pen. These were not permanent, but they wrote so smoothly and thinly for letter writing (which was all I did back then)! I thought I should check and see if I could find any online tonight...and Yes, I did.....but I wasn't happy that they were not permanent! I refined my search for a PERMANENT Pilot Razor Point, and LOOK AT WHAT I FOUND!!! I just ordered all 4. WOW! After all these years, I am seriously thrilled!!!
Have a happy weekend...Julie

Sharpies

You know...my favorite pen has to be a Sharpie fine point. What is yours? I use them for everything...writing to addressing envelopes, making things that need to be in permanent ink. I just want more all the time...in every color imaginable! Is this the world's greatest pen or what? I only wish that they would be made in a micron tip!!! Can you even imagine what a world we would have if this were available??
Below is a pic of my new Sakura brand Pen Touch white opaque pen...it is pretty cool. There are three sizes of this pen, and mine is the fine point 1.0 mm....but I don't think they carried the smaller tip...0.7 mm at the store where I found it. I did find this online store, Soft Expressions that carries them. I must have that tiny tip!

Other than the people we love, is there anything better than cactus and art??? Hmmm............Have a succulent, and artsy day!
Julie

Kitty ATC!

This ATC came about last night after I bought myself a new pen, discovered at our art store, called PenTouch, an opaque permanent pen! I came home and drew on black construction paper, and this is what came out! This ATC is on it's way to Marianne in Holland! (Don't tell her...it's a surprise!) LOL!

Happy fabric ATC Cactus Monday!!!

These ATC's were made on Saturday by my friend and I, after a bunch of us going out for lunch, and thrift shopping. As we left the thrift store it started raining heavily with lightning and thunder claps! We headed straight home to my house. We decided to try our hand at some fabric ATC's. I have a sewing machine, but hate using it. We decided to do hand sewing, and in a primative style. I had some remnant jean material, and many remnants of cotton fabric. We talked and talked till we came up with our plan. We both did cactus. She drew out a saguaro cactus design, and I used a prickly pear one. From there, you can see what we ended up with! I used the sewing machine only to zigzag the edges. I think they turned out adorably! Hope everyone has a happy Cactus Monday!

ABOVE: "Stuffed Cactus" by Karen

ABOVE: "Hot Cactus Nites" by Julie

New succulent tabletop garden!

Happy Saturday to you!!!

Many of you may remember my fairy garden. Well, it got to looking sort of like a forlorned wilderness after a large forest fire!!! LOL. Pretty neglected. So...I decided to make it into a new succulent garden (of course...what else could it have possibly become)???

First I took out all of my fairy paraphenalia...and got it all washed for future use.


Then washed up my plastic saucer (yes, it is a saucer for a very large pot)...and got it ready for it's new babies! It has a hole drilled in the center...and I sit this whole saucer on top of an old hard plastic deviled egg dish so water can drain through and not make a terrible mess.


And here they are! I had looked around at Lowes last night and it was very disappointing as to what they had available...so I decided to steal some from my tires and screenroom...and it turned out quite cute.

And a few close ups! I HAD to add in the one little gem pin I found at a thrift store with 4 colors in it...for some added fun. I decided I did not want any stones or top dressing...I kinda like the look of the plants against the dark dirt.




I hope you enjoy looking at my pictures. It was fun. Now I have to get out and clean up my tires...those weeds and Mother of Thousands and Millions are taking them over! I am pulling all of them out and throwing them all around in the dirt surrounding the tire area and hopefully they will root down there and I will have an amazing kalenchoe explosion all around!!!

New succulent ATC's!!!

Well...where have I been and what have I been doing??? I can tell you that I have become an apathetic poster...but a voracious reader! I just cannot muster up any energy or excitement to make any ATC's, or take photos. What is wrong with me? LOLOL...but...then something happened today to give me such a lift, and a possible burst of energy...a little envelope arrived in the mail from Holland...

It contained a BIGGGGG surprise from Marianne, at Mandalas and More, and what colors!!! She knows my favorite color is ORANGE, so she sent me a beautiful ATC of that color. Then she knows I love succulent plants, so she made me a pink Desert Rose bloom! Isn't it just gorgeous! These two cards in front of the blue flower card that came with them, and WOW!!! Marianne...you are so sweet to think of me and send these to me, out of the clear blue!!! I am so happy! Thanks so much! The card will be added to my art board, and the ATC's in my book...


I am planning a little succulent planting surprise this weekend. Stay tuned...

It's a Happy Cactus Monday!

While walking Doozey this morning I passed the chopped down Prickly Pear...and this first pic shows how much trunk was left. I felt compelled to walk up and see what was happening as far as any new growth, and look what I found!

Some new growth!!! I am so happy...soon it will be a giant tree again, because it is a fighter! It really is a happy Cactus Monday!

E for eggplant and one messed up butterfly!

This day has been messed up for me and it shows in my attempt at art. I have been stressed out all day and tried to make my round-ish thing that starts with E in my recycled sketchbook...and it all just sort of came out half a--ed! I hope I can do better with my F.