I HOPE EACH OF YOU HAVE A NICE, SAFE HOLIDAY!

In today's times it's important to be thankful for those who came before us and all they did to keep us safe and free. From my Dad, George Erwin, who fought in WWII, to my cousin now serving in Afghanistan, and all those I do not know, but who serve, I would like to say a very heartfelt...

THANK YOU!  

God Bless the U.S.A.

I've linked to Tidymom...have a look! http://www.tidymom.net/

SUMMER TIME AND THE LIVING IS SNOWFLAKES, ART AND PROJECTS!

SCHOOL'S OUT FOR  SUMMER!! 

SCHOOL'S OUT COMPLETELY!! 
TIME TO CATCH UP ON MAKING SNOWFLAKES, ART AND JUNK!! TIME TO DO GARDENING AND WORK IN MY WORKROOM...TIME FOR CHILLIN'!!!

HERE'S ANOTHER BLOG TOUR OF   MY GARDEN...HOSTAS, DANCING LADIES, CLEMATIS AND MORE...

 

JOIN THE PRIOR LIVES PARTY!

This hangs in my very colorful kitchen. It is one of my mosaic projects using a tray I acquired from a roadside shopping trip, it was RED in it's PRIOR life.

( ;-)LEZLEE). It also had an ugly botched decoupaged picture in the middle...el tacko!  The photo is not the best because I used my Snag It program to well, snag it from another photo that had Christmas decorations in it also. I just wanted the tray! The tiles I used are linoleum flooring samples that I picked up at one of my Saturday yard sailing jaunts. They were in the cutest little box and I savored them for a while before I finally decided where they would take up residence. So, I painted that ugly roadside tray BLACK and placed those cute little sample tiles over that el tacko decoupaged picture and made myself a colorful art piece for my colorful kitchen. One of the best things about using the linoleum sample tiles was that I could use scissors instead of tile clippers to cut the tiles to fit the corners. Things like that just make Life Grand!

               PAINTBRUSHES, 

   SIDEWALKS  AND   LAUGHTER!

I wanted to end this year with a *SUPERFUN* activity...art class is always fun, but some days are more memorable than others. We needed an outdoor activity!!! The weather most days has been beautiful! The primary kids' energy and excitement over the end of the year has been well...off the chain...on the ceiling...over the top...straight to the moon! 

(For some reason the words to "Killing Me Softly" keep floating through my head...just the title words...and yes, they are killing me!!!) It's a wonderful way to go, however, I am ready for the summer!!

We needed something with mucho movement, and room to roam. So outside my art classes wiggled, with paintbrushes, huge cans of water and sidewalk chalk...and questions, excitement, awe and laughter!

I have posted about this briefly, but I thought today I'd post some pictures. I am on a 4 day rotation this year so I didn't spend an entire week going outside, I carried a group a day over several weeks until each group had participated. 

They had a  BLAST!! 
 

Of course, there were guidelines, but basically I just turned them loose to create. I gave suggestions of things to draw, and that was a great way for me to review the students. They were painting with just water and they loved painting on the side of school! They quickly discovered they could mix the water with the chalk on the sidewalk and make a form of paint. This activity was definitely a hit!

 

A FEW OF MY FAVORITE BACKYARD THINGS

Fifty cent bird feeder found at the Peaches to Beaches Yard Sale in March...I think the bird's are still sizing it up. Hanging for about a month before Bill said, "Has that always been there?"

                                                                  Look really hard and you will see an egg in this nest, it's a Wren's nest inside our Topsy Turvy Tomato gadget. My husband is frustrated, but I love it!

    This beautiful yellow running rose is just about to cover my arbor, this year we had to level the arbor because it has grown so much! Perhaps, a little trimming is in it's future. Or maybe I should have only planted one? It is gorgeous!!

 Here are a portion of our Koi and gold fish. Do you see the one I call Chick fil A? It is marked like the Chick Fil A cows. It's a new one to our pond. The big boy at the top we've had for close to 10 years! He is in charge of the pond...he works his territory.

WHAT??? IT'S JUST A GIRAFFE!!!

Here is just something I want to share because I think we all need to remember how wonderful our young people are today...these twins belong to one of the teachers I work with and they are all a crafty bunch. As an assignment for one of their classes 

they created this Giraffe! With only a little help from mom. They came to my art room to share it with me and I was so impressed I had to have photos. Do you see her sweet little eyes looking out in the larger photo?