Shape shifting

An artist that works the opposite spectrum of shape shifting ??? Yes!

My Magic Me takes a simple picture and turns it into a work of Art that delights the senses.

This multi talented Artist My Magic Me works her magic in her ArtFire Studio.

Visit her and check our her ability to Morph your picture into something fantastical.

Our latest addition to the pack, a rescue puppy, perhaps by looking at teeth and sac about 6 months old. Sweet nature, hyper and waiting to go to the VET in the morning for his first complete check-up. Such an emotionally needy little fellow. Does not like to be alone at all! Currently isolated from the rest of the pack, until the VET check-up in morning.

We named him Karma Smoke aka Smoky. Jack found him at the Flea Market, someone just left him and he walked up to Jack and took up with him, so Jack called me and here we are. We will be keeping this little fellow.

Here are pictures of our latest child. We have no idea what breed(s) he is but the VET will give us an idea.

Exquisite Studios Artisan

Who is behind Exquisite Studios on ArtFire?

Who makes these beautiful necklaces, earrings, bracelets, baskets, and mosaic art work?

Just one heck of a Humanitarian that's who.

Ex is always there at the drop of a hat to support other Artists, always with genuine kindness and love for those she interacts with. Her love shows through in all her Creations, an expression of one wonderful soul peeking out and ready to become a little piece of love in your life. Check her out on ArtFire.

Cup of Tea

Cup of Tea

One day my mother was out and my dad was in
charge of me.

I was maybe 2 1/2 years old and had just recovered from an
accident.

Someone had given me a little 'tea set' as a get-well gift
and it was one of my favorite toys.

Daddy was in the living room engrossed in the evening news
when I brought Daddy a little cup of 'tea', which was just
water.


After several cups of tea and lots of praise for such
yummy tea, my Mom came home.

My Dad made her wait in the living room to watch me bring
him a cup of tea, because it was "just the cutest thing!"


My Mom waited, and sure enough, here I come down the hall
with a cup of tea for Daddy and she watches him drink it
up.

Then she says, (as only a mother would know... )

"Did it ever occur to you that the only place she can
reach to get water is the toilet?"

Survivor

When I find something I like I buy it. I fell in love with Michelle V's Unisex Jewelry Boutique on ArtFire, which is where I do all my shopping these days.

After Hot listing several of her leather cuff bracelets and looking at the leather Survivor Cuff for about 100 times I finally stuck that pretty little sucker in my Cart and dived in with payment.

I was not disappointed upon my product arrival, the leather not too stiff the copper plate hand hammered to perfection and the inscription that spoke so personally to me is perfectly stamped out. There are absolutely no sharp edges on the Cuff that would cut my tender skin so what can I say except I am thrilled with my new leather cuff, and wearing her proudly as if it were just another scar!

I actually went back to this chicks shop and just purchased another cuff for my hubby with a custom saying of mine own. The price is so right that I have considered many more as Christmas gifts as I totally can get them in the color leather I want with the words I want on the simulated bone or copper plates! This makes such a thoughtful gift.

You gotta check this gal out!

It's not often I have the guts to cut my flowers unless I am using them in a formula, but I had to wander out to get my dose of Vitamin D today. While in my gardens I picked three of my Mexican Sunflowers.

I added them to my soap counter so I could get a shot of happy while making soaps and perfume.

Gardner's Tip: When cutting flowers cut stem at an angle and then when you bring inside remove any bottom leaves that could rot in your water. Add a little sugar to your water to keep the flowers longer. Before placing your flowers in your vase cut again the stem at an angle under running water or immersed in water and it will absorb that, also keeping longer.

Craft idea: For those still practicing the much illegal Trade of Fairy Slavery you can use them empty bottles to capture the Fairy poop and fill with that. For those who are involved in the Free Fairy New World Trade Act you can use them to actively bottle Fairy Dust and sell.

Space Junk Leg

Yesterday I was in an ArtFire Forum and we were all discussing fads, like super stacked tennis shoes, leg warmers, Bling and Steampunk - and what we liked and did not like about them.

When I heard the term Space-junk it kinda intrigued and excited me, as I also dearly like Steam punk and some bling. But I like a little of everything - so what about that.

Anyhow yesterday I got fitted for my Space-junk leg and crutches and in the morning I see the Orthopedic Doctor. It seems I sprained or popped my Achilles heel. Hmmmm not a pleasant feeling but whatever.

I was told no weight on it but cannot quite figure out how to make it to the restroom, to fill orders and or tend my pets and gardens. And, forget about the crutches, nice looking but almost impossible to use.

Welp that's it for me today, I am off to fill orders and then veg in front of TV. EEE TV gets soo boring, and I mean b-o-r-i-n-g. I would rather be swimming.

ArtFire a Hot Hot Marketplace

ART FIRE Is the hottest market for selling and buying handmade goods. What's super cool is ArtFire offers $12.00 (holy molly) a month life pricing and the new FREE RIDE program ROCKS. The FREE RIDE now what's that? Just another way ArtFire gives back.

no listing fees, no final value fees, or renewing fees

That's for real no catch!

Verified members can list unlimited items with never a listing or final value fee, just like on your own website, but with less hassle, and at a lower price. Full access to a whole host of management features, promotional tools, and enhanced functionality. Plus increased site exposure use of all new features for just US US $12.00 per month.
Hey go for it Register on ArtFire.com

Finger Puppets and Therapy

Finger puppets - you bet! What a great tool to use in Therapy, for Teachers and or Social Workers or to just make story telling time with your kids more fun.

Beautiful Gifts by Springtime on ArtFire
a stay at home Mom and Artist on Art Fire hand makes these adorable finger puppets.

Personally I have no children but darn don't let that stop you as I can think of a hundred uses for these little buggers.

I could torment the dogs, use them to communicate things I normally have a hard time saying, or breakdown and actually tell my Grandchildren a story with fingers full of these adorable little guys.

Creativity score on these is a whopping FIVE STARS!

ArtFire Alive and Kicking with Found Objects

Art Fire is alive and kicking! What I really wanted to discuss today is Found Objects on ArtFire.

If you have an addiction or rather a compulsion to picking up odd items from the ground, like feathers, rocks, bones and such, then Art Fire is the place to discover additional exciting Found Objects to add to either your collection or craft supply.

Found Objects officially and unofficially partially defined as:

"Found object" can also refer to a small object found by chance which, though usually of little monetary value, captures the imagination of the finder and is therefore kept as a keepsake. Perhaps it is a penny or an unusual stone or even a pretty piece of metal. Often found just "on the ground," it is kept as a curiosity or even a good luck charm. They are often associated with a trip or a special memory or an important time in a person's life.

The connotations of mystery about where it came from, the feeling that it is a lucky or providential occurrence, and the sense that it is simply a "free gift from the world" or "from nowhere" can add to the sense of wonder or magic surrounding a found object. A "found object" may stand alone or may form the basis for a collection. Some birds similarly use shiny things they find in their nests, and some people deliberately seek out such objects..." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Found_objects).

Art Fire has a stupendous collection and variety of defined raw Found Objects, yes, enough to more than whip up your appetite and spark the imagination.

I mean check out this rock and glass melded together. What would you create with this or would you purchase it just to have it as is?

Feathers, rocks, old vintage buttons, seashells..... you'll find some fabulous items at ArtFire. ANd then of course there are 'items made from found objects such as this cool ring.

I can't end this without plugging myself and my found objects at Madwomen Lab.

A baby with Cancer

Please help this baby? Read about it here:
http://www.manicmother.com/2009/05/please-help-my-family-kick-cancers-ass.html

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Please help my family kick cancers ass!

I don’t even know where to start this post…its going to be hard to write, as I am already choking back tears and haven’t finished the first sentence. I am taking some hours away from the hospital, to write this and to try to clear my head.

As many of you know my youngest son was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) 2 days ago, the day my world fell out from under me.

Memory and Shifters

Jack brought me this lovely vintage shifter with a little black wooden knob on the handle. I remember this shifter well my any childhood a common one in the 60s and 70s or maybe it was the 50s.

My memory is like a shifter, gently swaying, sometimes turbulent, going back and forth, round and round. It brings me such a peace and satisfaction this simple kitchen tool.

A fine tool for also extracting goodies from the river, such as rubies and crystals that are in abundance around here. Oooo and not to mention gold in a certain nearby river.

It almost, just almost makes me want to venture on down and start treasure hunting. Just almost. This time of the year too many snakes are out, and snakes I do not relish meeting up with at that.

Swamp Flowers

I am excited this morning - well actually have been excited since my beautiful Swamp Hibiscus is growing at an astounding rate. Both the white and red have returned, the white three times as large as white.

I saved seeds last year and sold them, but also planted in several strategic areas in my courtyard garden area and they are all knee high as of today.

This beautiful floral gets 8 feet by 8 feet and it was my vision to line my walkway entrance with these beautiful tropical looking plants. Now, this vision appears!


The flora of this plant excite me so much as they remind me of both magnolia and gardenia in sight and texture. The leaves look like Hemp plants.

The entire plant has such an exotic feel to her that I feel transported to the beach. Last year was the first year I noticed Hummingbirds flocking to my courtyard gardens. They gravitate to this flora.

The leaves from this plant have been used to make soothing poultices for boils and eruptions of the skin.

This year flying creatures have taken up in the gourd birdhouse the beautiful old man gave me, and already the sweet chirping and singing of little furry creatures fills the courtyard! I believe I will incorporate more of these gourd housing.

Next project though is to purchase a solar fountain, and if I like it - then even more of them. I like the idea of the sun and water working together, instead of having the hum of electricity throughout my soil.

Earth Worms and Humans

Ok and so it is May and 1/4 into it as well. I have been losing time - really losing days.

What's time anyhow but something created by chaotic capitalists to feed the giant wheel and contribute to automaton?

The only time I need be concerned with is when the leaves drop and the first green peeking through rich soil. Or when my stomach speaks growling for some yummy without poisons.

Each day I wake and live, I laugh at man's structure and myself that I must in some form or another be part of it, yet happy and grateful that I have created my little islands too. To live in two worlds, mine the reality and Mans the pit of vipers.

So it has been crazy with storms for almost a month here. It's starting, all the warnings of the Greenhouse effects. It's happening. A Mother is a wicked force when her children are hurt. I see Earth as Mother and all that come from her womb, which are the soils and sands, to be her children.

We are nothing more than parasites living in disharmony with her for to long. We are no more than the earth worms, perhaps we have become less since we do not contribute to Her in a healthy way. What does not benefit the organisim ... well ......

About Fragrance - General Information

Perfume The most concentrated and purest form of fragrance. It is composed of up to 40% of fragrance oils and is the most expensive. This form of scent lasts the longest. Perfume should be usually dabbed on rather than sprayed.

Tip: Do dab perfume on your ear lobes not behind your ears as the glands located there will change the structure of the perfume.

Eau de parfum The most common form of fragrance which contains up to 14% of fragrance oils. Depending on the fragrance it may last into the next day, but need be reapplied every few hours to recapture many notes.

TIP: Apply your scent to warm parts of the body, like the inside of the wrist, inner thighs, along the breast line and between, behind the knees is my favorite.

Eau de toilette The weakest of perfume with up to 3% of fragrance oils and lasting a couple hours before reapplication is needed.

TIP: When using EDT I spray a cotton ball and place in my cleavage.

Eau de cologne - Now known as eau fraiche equivalent to a concentrated eau de toilette.

Scented cream and balm - This type of fragrance lingers on the skin because of the thick and creamy base.

• Top notes: The scents that are perceived immediately on application of a perfume. Top notes consist of small, light molecules that evaporate quickly. They form a person's initial impression of a perfume and thus are very important in the selling of a perfume. Also called the head notes.
• Middle notes: The scent of a perfume that emerges just prior to when the top notes dissipate. The middle note compounds form the "heart" or main body of a perfume and act to mask the often unpleasant initial impression of base notes, which become more pleasant with time. They are also called the "heart notes".
• Base notes: The scent of a perfume that appears close to the departure of the middle notes. The base and middle notes together are the main theme of a perfume. Base notes bring depth and solidity to a perfume. Compounds of this class of scents are typically rich and "deep" and are usually not perceived until 30 minutes after application.

Flops and Flips

I am useless without flops and if they did not exist I perhaps would be barefoot even in Winter.

I had a flamboyant Great Aunt, Mary, who ran barefoot in the Appalachian Mountains in the dead of Winter up into her 90s. She among many adventures in her life was once The Snake Woman in a traveling circus.

Can you inherit tendency or rather a tendency to preferences? And, why not? If one may hand down genes, why could one not do so with preference towards certain things in life? Preference is wired with the brain and chemicals so...... What the heck am I rambling about.

The fact is I cannot bear shoes on my feet, nor socks on my feet. When I have to wear sneakers to the gym I am uncomfortable the entire time. When I have flip flops on I feel unconstrained.

I have for 30 years bought cheap flops since I go through a pair a week. This go round I bought the OP I show for only $9.99. They are made fairy well, comfy but thicker bottoms. So far it has been a week and the bottoms are still there.

I have my eye on every pair of Havaianas made but cannot afford them at all. Not with the speed I wear flips flops out. Ross has them starting at $17.99. The thing is $17.99 buys us food for three days or feeds the pet children for three days.

Picture is from the Folly Beach website since we each forgot a freaking camera.

O yeah back from Folly Beach - the edge of the world so it is called. Did not know there would be a drunken street festival when Victoria and I left to go.

Literally that is what it is - a Street Beer Fest. So we headed into Charleston to avoid that since it would be a horde of drunks, and ran into some Débutante thing going on there all around California Dreaming docks. The chicks were all decked out in fabulous dresses. The young men in beautiful black and whites.

Took Vic down to the old Slave Market so she could watch some of the local Basket Makers on the street do their thing. A lot of tourists already.

My idea of relaxing is to live 1/2 clad and barefoot on the beach. Just walking and combing the sands for goods that the locals have not grabbed up. The only place to get decent shells is down by the old lighthouse or over Edisto way. And to get the Sand dollars you gotta be up bright and early.

Anyhow - we are planning on taking off to Topsail Island/Surf City. Maybe I can talk Vic into several weeks there. That is where I find my shark teeth in abundance. So we will see. So long as I am back in time for the Endocrinologist on the 27th no worry, no problem.

a La la joke

A teacher is explaining biology to her 4th grade students. "Human beings are the only animals that stutter," she says.

A little girl raises her hand. "I had a kitty-cat who stuttered."

The teacher, knowing how precious some of these stories could become, asked the girl to describe the incident.

"Well", she began, "I was in the back yard with my kitty and the Rottweiler that lives next door got a running start and before we knew it, he jumped over the fence into our yard"!!

"That must've been scary," said the teacher.

"It sure was," said the little girl. "My kitty raised her back, went Sssss, Sssss, Sssss and before she could say "Shit", the Rottweiler ate her!!!!

The teacher had to leave the room....

A Cat's Perspective

Day 983 of my captivity.

My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects.

They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets. Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength.

The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape. In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the carpet.

Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates what I am capable of. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a 'good little hunter' I am. Bastards.

There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that my confinement was due to the power of 'allergies.' I must learn what this means and how to use it to my advantage.

Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow -- but at the top of the stairs.

I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches. The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released - and seems to be more than willing to return. He is obviously retarded.

The bird has got to be an informant. I observe him communicating with the guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move. My captors have arranged protective custody for him in an elevated cell, so he is safe. For now...............

Creaking Boats and Roosters

Ahhhh it is almost or it is about 70 degrees outside this day. Wonderful air with a warm fresh breeze. All morning and still now in the background I hear roosters crowing, sounds of sporadic traffic drifting from a main highway which is about 1.5 miles down the hill fill the air.

The sounds travel up the hill to where where I live, through my privacy fence, into the courtyard and then into my open screen door.

My favorite sound this day is my courtyard gate creaking. It is so relaxing. The wind causing a gentle sway to the gate sounds exactly like a wooden boat on a dead ocean creaking with the movement of the water.

I just had to close my eyes and lay on my garden swing - smiling - taking in the creak creak of my fantasy of lying on my back in a wooden boat and floating upon the Sea.