Karen's Muse and Musings

I made this house for a swap with my Oh My Gothic group. Last year, we traded arches, but this year we're doing houses. This one is for Cat. Here's the reverse side.

I Love Michigan!

Last weekend I visited my friend, Joanne Thieme Huffman, in Portage, Michigan. She is such a gracious hostess and treated me royally. Another dear friend, Catherine Warner (sadly blogless), lives close by in Kalamazoo, so she joined us for most of the weekend's activities which consisted of the best life has to offer — friends, food and ART!

Here's Joanne standing in front of her beautiful artwork which features her daughter, Becky.

On my first night there, we ate at Martini's. That's Catherine and me.

On Friday Joanne and Catherine took me on a scenic tour of Lake Michigan. We visited several quaint and lovely towns. Here we are all happy after a terrific lunch at Clementine's in South Haven.

Isn't this a cool chair? The back is made of golf clubs, and it was surprisingly comfortable. They also had chairs made of old skis.

We walked out the pier to the lighthouse. This was my first visit to one of the great lakes. Lake Michigan was impressive as was the beauty of everything I saw around there. The weather treated us well. It was cloudy that day, but no rain, and the other days I was there were sunny and beautiful. Much better than here in Atlanta where we've had rain, rain and more rain.

The lighthouse up close and personal.

Saturday morning Catherine took me to the fabulous farmer's market in Kalamazoo. Then Joanne hosted an art play day with several of my online friends who live in the area. Jeanie Croope drove down from Lansing to join us. That's her on the right in the above photo. Doesn't the table look lovely? Joanne made a scrumptious curried rice salad, and that long tray of gorgeous veggies was prepared by Catherine.

Brittney Young was there making envelopes. She must have made 50 from different beautiful papers.

Garage sale and flea market guru, Beth Bricker, came in AFTER hitting 3 sales. (That's Beth with the blonde hair in the center of the photo.) Of course, we all had to go out to her car to see what treasures she found, and we weren't disppointed.

I was delighted to meet Nellie Wortman in person. She looks pretty happy here, don't you think? She said that was water in that cup, but I wonder?!

That brings us sadly to my last day there. Catherine graciously prepared a brunch for Joanne, Jeanie and me. Catherine asked me to make mint juleps. I guess she figured since I was from the South, I should know how, and fortunately I did. First, you have to muddle fresh mint leaves with sugar.

Then you add ice and, of course, bourbon, preferably a really good one.

Good friends and yummy mint juleps!

Catherine prepared her scrumptious Orgasmic Eggs — fresh spinach, poached eggs, and diced tomatoes. Really, really delectable!

And that's beautiful Catherine standing by her delicious brunch. Sadly, the time came when I had to leave. Joanne had to drive from Portage to Detroit on Thursday to pick me up, and it took her 3-1/2 hours due to road construction, so it was very nice of Jeanie to offer to drive me back to the airport on Sunday.

I snapped this photo of the always smiling Jeanie as we drove along. No delays that day, so I arrived at the airport in plenty of time to catch my plane back to Atlanta, where it was raining, of course.

Calling All Angels

These are a few spreads from an altered children's board book I just completed.

A Bird in the Hand

Les Petit Dolls with Suzi Blu continues to be so much fun, and this piece may be my favorite yet. I drew the girl with the bird, and then as I was looking for text in one of my bird books, I found these words, "What Bird Is That?" — perfect, I thought.

Speaking of birds, I added a ground feeder to my collection of bird feeders in the backyard. The nice man at Wild Birds Unlimited told me that it would attract indigo buntings who are migrating through our area. So, I sat it up and added the recommended bird seed. A little while later I look out the window hoping to see a swarm of brilliant blue birds. No birds, but my cat Annabelle was there, slyly positioned by the planter, and I think she was saying, "Come here, my pretties!"

What I've been up to...

Well, besides taking care of 7-month-old grandson Bobby along with my husband and two geriatric dogs, dieting (yuck! but it's going well), walking every day, and constantly chasing squirrels from my bird feeders, I'm taking Suzi Blu's online workshop, Les Petit Dolls. I am thoroughly enjoying it. First we started by learning to draw the faces and the figures. I haven't had as much fun since about the 6th grade when I used to draw Barbie in as many different outfits as I could dream up! Then Suzi demonstrated her method of coloring the images with colored pencils, and, now as you see above, this week's lesson was on making our backgrounds. The substrate is a 6x12 inch piece of balsa wood, onto which I've collaged different papers and then my girl, affectionately known as Pouty Party Girl. She is not finished. Suzi is going to show us more techniques such as painting her features and more fabulous stuff I don't even know yet. While I'm anxiously awaiting the next lesson, I did another Petit Doll, and here she is. Once again, she is not finished. I'm excited to see how these will look when finished.

Official Easter Basket Inspector

The inspector is my cat, Annabelle. I had just finished this basket for an Easter basket swap when Annabelle jumped up to check it out. She gave it 2 paws up, so now it's on its way to Karen Campbell, also affectionately known as Karen Brattypants.

Once the basket was in the mail, I finished a necklace I started a few days ago.

Another Funky Tree

Here in the Atlanta area, the trees and shrubs are blossoming out for spring. So here's a funky tree in springtime.

A Funky Tree

I attended a painting class the other night where we all basically painted the same tree. I painted this one at home the next day, using acrylic paints like we did in class, but adding LuminArte's Primary Elements and some distress inks.

Think Like a Tree

by Karen I. Shragg

Soak up the sun
Affirm life's magic
Be graceful in the wind
Stand tall after a storm
Feel refreshed after it rains
Grow strong without notice
Be prepared for each season
Provide shelter to strangers
Hang tough through a cold spell
Emerge renewed at the first signs of spring
Stay deeply rooted while reaching for the sky
Be still long enough to
hear your own leaves rustling.

I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream

Years ago I read Harlan Ellison's short story with this title, and although the story has faded a bit from my memory, I'll never forget the title. From what I remember, the human body had evolved into a blob with a functioning brain but no limbs ... or mouths! I felt a little mouth-less a few days ago. My cellphone died a quick and merciful death, followed closely by the demise of my modem. I was cut off from the world! Yes, it's true, I had contact with nearby family and friends, but what about my online friends? How could I survive not knowing what they were up to? Or, how could they survive not knowing what I was up to? What did we do before this world of instant communication? Yes, it has its pitfalls. Sometimes, I wish I could escape the ring of an ever-present phone. But ... when I don't have that phone, I'm nervous about driving without it. What if my car breaks down? What if I have a wreck? Thankfully, the cellphone and the modem have been replaced. Once again, I have a mouth, and I can even scream ... if I need to.

(Yikes! I've been cleaning house all day, sat down at the computer for the few available minutes I have before starting dinner, and my husband calls. "I'm on my way home. Didn't get to eat lunch. Fix me something." Hmmm ... maybe I need to rethink this need for a cellphone.)

I'm back!

Wow, I can't believe it's been over a month since I posted anything. Life has been busy, but I'm becoming accustomed to my new routine of keeping grandson Bobby 2 or 3 days a week. I've even felt the creative itch returning recently. I've been experimenting with acrylic painting, and I plan to take a class soon. I also made two houses for a swap with my Oh My Gothic group. Here is Heather's house, front and back.

For the door, I used a stamp from Layers of Color Beaded Frames set. I thought it made a cool door. I punched the shape for the window. The girl is an image from PaperWhimsy, and the eggs are from Character Constructions. Below is the house for Debby.

I had spring on my mind as I created this one. I used Art Impressions stamps for the door and scene on the front, and the the girl is Clara from my collage sheets.

I'll close by adding some recent photos of Bobby. He is such a joy, and it's a privilege to nurture him and contribute to his well-being and development.