michelle ward

coming home....

I am standing upon the seashore.

A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the

morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean.

She is an object of beauty and strength.

I stand and watch her until at length she hangs like a speck of

white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other.

Then someone at my side says:  "There, she is gone!"

"Gone where?"

Gone from my sight.  That is all.

She is just as large in mast and hull and spar

as she was when she left my side and she is just as able

to bear her load of living freight to her destined port.

Her diminished size is in me, not her.

And just at that moment when someone says:

"There, she is gone!" there are other eyes

watching her coming,

and other voices ready to take up the glad shout:

"Here she comes!"

And that is dying.                                        ~Henry Van Dyke

                

My friend Lesley Jacobs shared this beautiful poem recently with a group of friends.  I love this perspective of death.  It's a perfect illustration of entering heaven.  My friend Liz is now in there.  It was a sentimental journey this week.  Thanks to those of you who wrote your sweet words of comfort.

I'm home now and trying to catch up.  Kids are off school for a week and we have lots planned as Graham's sister Sandra and her family have arrived from England.  I had hoped to plan some online specials for April since it is Autism Awareness month but I didn't get it together.  The month is 30 days long so maybe I'll come up with something.  In the meantime, tomorrow is the last day for the SixDegrees fundraising, and Ali is making us all proud with her efforts for Autism....last I checked it was over $25,000!!!

EDIT: she's at $37,000 plus! Ends at midnight.

Have a good Spring Break, Easter, or Passover.

Don't Wait

Monday I will travel to my native Minnesota to attend a funeral of a dear friend.  Just a few weeks ago I wrote her a letter to tell her what she meant to me and my family.  It was one of those things you get an impulse for and know you need to do it.  I believe now, that God knew the timing was right.  Writing is a good way to gather your thoughts, and put into words things you might not say over the phone or face to face.  Too often tears get in the way and you don't complete your message. 

Just wanted to say today - if you have some kind words to share with someone - don't wait.

"I fancy you like mad"

That was his opening line when we met at a nightclub in England in 1984.  March 23 will mark our 17th anniversary.  And even though he doesn't come by here I wanted to acknowledge this cool dude I spend my life with.  Gets better every year honey.  Love ya.  Yep, those are leather pants....he bought 'em.

Hope Springs.........

She's doing it!

She's making a difference!

Ali is raising awareness, raising funds, and is making a huge donation to Autism Speaks on behalf of those who contribute.

Here's the thing - Kevin Bacon's Six Degrees Network will match her total if she's in the top 6 at the end of March.  He even mentions HER on Ellen today.  (Take a look!) 

HELLO?  She's in the top 3.  BRAVO ALI!!!  Thanks to ALL who have made donations, and those who will.....it's time to solve this puzzle!

I don't know how to make a badge link thingie in my sidebar so you'll have to follow link from here.

Donate:  HERE    

(Photo of Simon Edwards from the 6 Degrees Badge for Autism Speaks, created by Ali Edwards)

EDIT:  Tonight on CNN, Larry King will be hosting Toni Braxton and Bill Cosby to talk about AUTISM. 

EDIT AGAIN:  Autism Speaks Co-founder Suzanne Wright will appear on CNN's "Larry King Live" to discuss autism on Wed., March 21, 2007 at 9 p.m. EDT. Wright will appear along with Bill Cosby and Toni Braxton, the stars of the upcoming Concert for Autism Speaks on April 9 at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City. Braxton was recently named national celebrity spokesperson for Autism Speaks.

See details for the concert, and get more info on Autism Speaks:  HERE

Green Pepper Press = Four Leaf Clover

To finish up GREEN week I'll tell the origin of my company name.  Cutting open a green pepper, dipping it into paint, and pressing to paper, makes for a great St. Patrick's Day card when you are stamping for the first time with your young child (now 16 years old).  Here are the keepsakes saved from a project Peter and I did together when he was 3.  I love when there are secret meanings behind something.....so now you know this one.  Green pepper's pressed to paper make four leaf clovers, provided you've scouted out the best shaped ones.  How cool is that?

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We don't do corned beef and cabbage. 

We just do green....

jello,

sherbert,

cherries,

muffins...

and of course a little Bailey's on ice,

and Creme de Menthe on ice cream. 

Regardless of your heritage, we are all a little Irish on St. Patrick's day, right?

One more post about green and shamrocks....

I'll save that for tomorrow.

Still spraying....

Didn't make these til Thursday, so they'll be late arrivals....but not for you, dear reader....Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Picks from Ireland

Lots of great music coming from Ireland.  Here are a collection of links, taking you to youtube to see some old faves, all artists coming from the Emerald Isle.

Enya - Only Time

The Corrs - Breathless

The Corrs with Bono - Summer Wine (even though I like THIS one better...caution: nudity)

U2 - Sunday Bloody Sunday, LIVE

The Cranberries - Linger

Commitments - Trailer, couldn't find a video.  Great movie and soundtrack!

Riverdance - love the music, and the dancing.

U2- New Years Day

Now if only I had a clip of Elvis singing Danny Boy!  I found THIS where you can hear him singing it, and the photos are supposed to be Ireland, but some are of England.  What the ?

How do you like this clover?  Am I clever or what?

And for quick viewing, The Cranberries - Dreams:

More FOUR (green week continues)

Claddaughs and Clovers.  Wearing luck, can't hurt.  The necklace on the left is the backside of a custom Sally Jean, designed and given to me on my 40th by my dear friend Judi (you can see her initials J.A.R.).  The front is a "lucky girl fairy".  The 4-leaf silver locket is also from Judi, an Irish girl herself.  Upper right - a locket made of glass, one of my clovers floating within.  The pendant below it is smithed by Melissa, a custom design with FAITH HOPE LOVE and LUCK stamped into silver.  The vintage green clover pin - gift from Julie last Christmas.  And the brass bracelet at the bottom.....it's so cool, and the brand is LUCKY, so I HAD to have it.....right?

I'm running out of days before St. Patrick's Day...too many things to share.  Therefore, two posts today, and probably two tomorrow.  We are talking about things we collect over on the Street Team....so here are just more of my collections.

I'm looking over a 4 leaf clover....

I'm pretty sure I found my first one when I was about 8.  Haven't saved every one, but a few years ago I started an album and there have to be hundreds of them in it.  I also keep many loose, like these in the wax paper, to use in my artwork.  There are even some 5 and 6 leaf clovers here.  With so many, I began challenging myself to find the smallest ones and have scored several itty bitty ones. 

To preserve them - I put the collected clovers in a small cup of water for at least a day.  This softens them up enough so they can be pressed between a folded piece of wax paper.  Then I store them in a book so they dry flat.  The ones that end up looking too yellow or brown were left in the water too long.  To store them in an album, I used to attach them with gel medium.  Now I lay them on the page, and place a clear circle sticker over top.

How do I find them?  Couldn't tell ya - LUCK I guess.  But I'll give you this clue.....where you find one, you'll almost always find two, so don't stop looking.

Graphic Tease

Love Old Navy printed tees.  Love when they have seasonal sale items like this one.  LOVE WHEN IT IS ALMOST 80 DEGREES IN NJ IN MARCH!  Is this just the coolest graphic?  I wish I had thought of it.  I'll be rockin' in this Saturday!

My Bumpa used to say.....

We called my Grandpa Kelly "Bumpa" because he had a bald head and he used to bump foreheads with us (when we were little, of course) and he would pretend to be all wounded, and rub his head, and we would howl, and belly laugh, and do it again.  His bald head was very distinguished, especially while wearing his black robe....he was a Justice on the Supreme Court of Minnesota.  And a proud Irishman.  And his first name was Fallon - yep, my daughter was named after a man :)  Now MY Dad is called Bumpa - he's a good bumper, but he's not bald.  And also a proud Irishman, with the middle name of Fallon.

Off the GREEN topic for just a moment....I've been working hard on a project I can now share with you because it went LIVE this week.  I've designed a new website for my friend Lynne.  Take a look, it's really cool, if I do say so myself.

Kelly Girl

As a KELLY by birth, my Irish comes from both sides.  Up the line on one side it goes Kelly, and Fallon (hence my daughter's name), and the other side begins Morrissey, then Burke....and many more. 

In 1984, my friend Anne and I went to school in England, then made a pilgrimage to Ireland.  (She's a Lynch).  We made a circle tour around the country, and after buying ourselves Claddaugh rings in Galway, seeing the mountain goats on the Ring of Kerry, and kissing the Blarney Stone, we ended up at the Waterford Factory. 

Amazing to see the still quite primitive workhouse where the glass is blown, then see the skilled craftsmen cutting the glass.  We stopped off at an appropriately selected shop, named Kelly's, to have a dozen Lismore patterned wine goblets sent home to Mom and Dad. 

The above shows my small but very special collection of Waterford and Belleek - gifts given at our wedding, or passed down from my great aunt Allie O'Connor, and my Grandma Kelly.  Green week continues...

Kelly Green

It's GREEN week, St. Patrick's Day is Friday!  I'll start today by showing you my green glass collection.  Since we are showing the things we collect on the GPP Street Team this month, Penny mentioned to me that she collects green glass.  So, here's some of mine, just for you Penny.

The collecting began with the Hock wine glasses, with green stems, in two sizes.  Some were a gift from my friend Martha.  Then, almost 20 years ago, Anne and I were flea market shopping in Maine and I scored a square set of dishes, bowls, cups and saucers.  6 each.  I've added to it and now have 12 of each.  Over the years I found additions to the collection and have been given many pieces as gifts - vases, serving dishes, glasses, platters, and pitchers.  Of the terrific shaped tulip glasses - some even came from the dollar store!  Most of the collection is in my dining room breakfront.  I've also started collecting red glass to use with the green at Christmas.  AND I have some pale yellow glass to match my Grandma's dishes.

A few years ago I had the dining table piled high with many pieces as I was about to put them away after a holiday meal.  My table at the time was passed down from a great aunt and it had a dodgey leg.  You guessed it, the leg gave in and the table tilted, all the glass sliding to the floor.  I was heartbroken as many pieces were shattered.  But how cool is this?  Later that same summer, we happened to be vacationing in Maine, so I went back to that first shop and was able to get a few replacement pieces. 

I remember watching Oprah years ago as she was visiting Luther Vandross in his home.  He said he drank water from his Waterford glasses.  Then something was said about using your favorite things.  Something to the effect of 'it will break someday....better to say I'm glad I used it, then to say I never got use it'.  I do use my green glass all the time.  Hope you are using your favorite things.

Have something special you collect?  Come tell us about it HERE.

time...........

Time to turn the clocks AHEAD.

Sunday morning (so Saturday night),

Time to change the batteries

on your smoke detector.

Yeah, we lose an hour of sleep.

But isn't that worth it

to have more sun in the day?

Seems funny that we have a shorter

sleep to get a longer day. 

But it's only one night.

Don't forget to get the batteries.

Even if they aren't dead,

change them. 

It's good practice.

BANKSY

Sure, there are arguments against public display of spray painting.....  But BANKSY?  I love this guy.  I found his books on ebay - tiny little volumes that show some of his clever tagging around London.  Just look at his titles - you know he has a sense of humor.  One of my favorites photos is lowest left,  "this is not a photo opportunity".  Can you imagine posing for the tourist type picture with Big Ben in the background, only to get home and see this tag on the concrete IN YOUR PHOTO?  I would crack up!  And lowest right....this is more cleverness.  It does not say "Police Line - Do Not Cross"....it says "Polite Line - Do No Get Cross".  He kills me.  He's also the guy you may have read about who hung his own artwork in the several New York Museums, read about that HERE .

Thanks to YouTube, you can see a newsblurb about him:

This ROCKS!

HOW COOL IS THIS?  Four terrific gals created their own swap of very cool Gothic Arch pages, using GPP stamps.  They were generous in sharing their inspirational pages on their blogs, and now you can see it on the Art-E-Zine site.  In addition, two friends offered guest pages.  Thanks to Belinda, Pilar, Tina, and Audrey, for Rockin' Cleverness with your stunning pages.  And thanks to Gillian Allen, host of Art-E-Zine, for featuring the entire swap.   

More tips.....

A great way to keep your stencils organized is to get a package of page protectors and a 3-ring binder.  I put paper in mine so I can use both sides of the protector and the stencils won't get tangled.  For slightly larger sized ones I cut the side of the protector open.  When there are alot of little ones I clip the protector closed with a paper clip.  After alot of use your stencils may be tacky so keeping them stored this way helps avoid a sticky mess. 

I find there are some terrific commercial stencils available at craft stores but they aren't usable AS IS.  For instance, this Fleur-de-lis stencils....I would not lay it down on a page and spray.  You could mask off the unwanted images with scratch paper, or you could alter them as seen here with the butterfly.  This was from a full collection of butterflies.  I cut it apart, than attached it, with packing tape, to a blank sheet of acetate to isolate the image as it's own stencil.  Don't forget to cut an opening in the acetate that roughly matches the outline of the image.

 

Once you've been using your stencils over and over they become a work of art themselves.  If you invest in the cardboard letter stencils, consider getting several sets as eventually you may want to use the actual stencil IN your art.  You can see I love to collect alphabet stencils.  Speaking of collecting.....we have started the next GPP Street Team Crusade.  Crusade No. 6:  Pick Your Poison, is about journaling the things you collect.  Congrats to Juliet Wilson for being the Top Hat Draw for Crusade No. 5.  Don't know what I'm talking about?  Come see over HERE.

P.S.  Don't forget to visit my pal Lisa's blog.  She's become a devoted blogger and this week she covered more about stencils.

Beyond the Page

Continuing talk about spray paint - you can move off the page and onto fabric.  Your plain, everyday variety spray can be put to work on your jeans!  And surprisingly, it doesn't result in crusty surfaces.  Well, if you are super heavy handed with the paint it might get crunchy - but a light touch is all it takes to apply color.  How cool are these?  And those funky shoes?  They aren't sprayed, they are from Target.  But they could have been!  Nothing is safe from getting a coat of spray around here.

Here I cut a mask of the logo of our favorite band.  This time, because the fabric of the t-shirt is much softer, I used the Tulip brand fabric spray paint.  And Fallon?  Had to show you how beautiful she is.....with colored hair spray from Hot Topic.  I told ya, nothing is safe.

And lest you think everything I do has black....here's a little color.  Looks like Spring doesn't it?  You can see some custom cut masks, some purchased stencils, the floral is by Heidi Swapp.  Her masks are terrific but they are super sticky and will rip your paper so blot them on your jeans to pick up a little lint before setting on your page.