Sunday Scripture

Jeremiah 32 verse 17

O Sovereign Lord!  You made the heavens and earth by Your strong hand and powerful arm.  Nothing is too hard for You!

Aaarrrggghhh!!!

Can Labor Day

with its promise of cooler temps around the corner

come any faster???

Stay cool, everybody!

(Read:  stay indoors)

XOXO,

Lucky Dog
♥

I Have an Etsy Store!

With the help of my sweet kind patient loving supportive techno genius husband, I have an Etsy store!!!!

And some day, maybe I’ll know how to link my blog to it, but for now you can use this:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/JustaLuckyDog?ref=pr_shop

(gosh, I am soooo pre-2000!)

ANYway… it’s in a very rough state.  I need to make a prettier banner and list some more items, and who-knows-what-else, but it’s functional!  It’s there!  It exists!

And I have ONE thing in it for sale so far… 

This:

It is my latest pastel painting, of a blue and purple nebula, set against a starry sky.  It’s matted and measures 8x8 inches.

Oh, I just love painting these.  And I ordered some new pastels, handmade by Diane Townsend, and they’re fluorescent!  Talk about delicious colors--they will be such fun! 

And I have several other things to put in the store, but I had to start somewhere.  And the first time you do something is always the hardest, so hopefully now I have the formula down.

Because I have some fun and colorful things to sell!

Isn’t the Internet amazing??

XOXO,

Lucky Dog
♥

Quote o' the Day

“The main thing is to keep the main thing, the main thing.”

-- Stephen Covey

Our Not-So-Night Wildlife

4 raccoons

How anything is making it out there in this heat is beyond me, 

but sure ‘nuff, it’s that time of the year for baby raccoons.   ♥

The other night, though, there were some hanging out in the trees!   They were out there like that for quite awhile, too! 

3 raccoons

And, lo and behold,
we actually spotted one of our resident owls, Hootie.

a barred owl

We have heard owls for 4 years now, and had never seen one until this night.  The light was quickly disappearing, but I tried to get a photo.  It’s dark, but he’s there.

(You may have to click on it and open up the larger image to see him.)

We hear him calling to his mate,
♫ Who Cooks for You?  Who Cooks for You? ♫

I hope they’re all double-tough, ‘cause it was 105 yesterday.  (The car's thermometer read 109!)  In fact, I’d better go make sure the water bowl is full out there.  The raccoons tend to waller in it every night, spilling and splashing until it's almost empty.  They’re funny that way.

XOXO,

Lucky Dog 
♥

Sunday Scripture

James 4 verse 8 

 Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.

Bits and Bobs

I have been playing a lot with my Sharpies, and have enjoyed making some more colorful strips that will become accordion books someday.

Gosh, I love color.  And I really love making these rainbow, fun books.

I also lettered on some scraps of paper that I had, leftover from when I mess up on a piece. 

Fairly often I don’t like how something turned out, and instead of throwing the whole thing away, I harvest as much of the paper as possible.

Depending on the size, I letter just a word or a phrase on them, to be given away later.

Here are lots of little scraps that I lettered with my favorite Moonlight gel pens. ♥

And I got some new Sharpies last weekend, the Couleurs Café collection.  New to me, anyway.  With its deep, rich shades like Earl Grey, Mocha and Hibiscus Tea, I made this rather “manly” piece.  hahaha  I used the richer values on good ol’ kraft paper.  No glitter.  No ribbons.  No nail polish.  Just the facts, ma’am. 

And it was Mr. Man-approved.  (!)

So!  That’s what I did this week.

Oh, and I finished painting the upstairs bathroom yesterday!  Yay!  Slowly, but surely, I am getting the whole house done.

You know what that means….?

More fun in the art studio!!!

XOXO,

Lucky Dog 
♥

Quote o' the Day

“It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.” 

 -- Eleanor Roosevelt

Plodding Along

Before.

Here are some more pix of the forever-and-ongoing painting project.  I’m still working in the upstairs bathroom, painting the drawers and cabinets.

After.

Gosh, it’s hard to get all the sides of some of these things.  And I thought 6-panel doors were tedious.  Ha!  I’m working in stages to accommodate the 3-D-ness of these things and it feels like it’s taking forever.

After and Before.

And art-wise, I’ve had two good sessions in the Studio already this week (!), so I’ll be sharing more of that with you later on.

And yes, it’s still over 100° every day…  Aarrrggghhh!!! 
Actually, when I stay inside with the A/C on, I don’t really know how hot it is--hallelujah--but the turf is looking pretty beat.  I don’t know how anything stays alive out there.  Really.

I think we’re at 26 days over 100° so far this year--I’ve lost track.
Here’s the 7-day:

Stay cool, everybody!

XOXO,

Lucky Dog 
♥

Sunday Scripture

Psalm 12 verse 6

The Lord’s promises are pure, like silver refined in a furnace, purified seven times over.

My Latest Piece

More wild and crazy fun in the art studio!

XOXO,

Lucky Dog
♥

Quote o' the Day

“All colors are the friends of their neighbors
and the lovers of their opposites.” 

-- Marc Chagall

Hot Hot Hot

It’s been so hot lately that I opted for iced coffee
the other morning.  

Apparently, I wasn't the only one who liked the change.

I don’t know what it’s been like in your neck of the woods, but it has been a real scorcher of a summer in Oklahoma.  It may be the worst one since we moved here.  Most every day it’s over 100°.  We’ve already broken a record or two, and on our way to maybe breaking some more.

Last weekend it was 110° on Saturday and 105° on Sunday!

And we were out in it, running errands, like crazy people!!

Today, though, we got a break and had some thunder and a few sprinkles.  The airport got nearly 3 “, but we only recorded 0.02” at the house.  Oh well.  A cloudy day and a little wet is better than 102° again!

All I can say is, thank heavens for air conditioning!

XOXO,

Lucky Dog 
♥

Sunday Scripture

Philippians 1 verse 6 

And I am certain that God, Who began the good work within you, will continue His work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.

An Accordion Book

Here is a little accordion book that I just made:

Closed

I used really fun, rainbow colors for the inside,
so I purposely used neutrals for the outside.
(But I chose a polka-dot ribbon to betray the whimsy inside.)

Opening...

I used my funky alphabet with Sharpies,
shadowed the letters with a 30% grey Prismacolor marker,
and then “whapped” it with some white pearl nail polish.

Open

That’s my favorite part--whapping it with nail polish!

It's one of my signature looks.  ♥

Detail--left side

See the fun, jazzy marks it makes?

And I picked the pearlescent white so it's not too overpowering.

Detail--Right side

It’s kinda like spatter painting, but with nail polish!  I use a lot of arm motion, and do it in the garage with the piece laying on some spare cardboard.  Not only is it a little messy to do, but it’s a little “fume-y”, so I let it dry there and then take it back to the studio later to turn the piece of paper into a book.

And the bookmaking part was even easier, now that I’m using that mega double-stick tape.  It’s 3M Scotch 924 ATG tape, and is also acid-free.  I use it without the gun.  I’ve mentioned how much I love this stuff, haven’t I?  It’s a dry method, meaning, it’s not PVA--or even a UHU gluestick--so there’s zero wrinkling of the paper.  And did I mention it’s super-strong?
(It’s what framers use.)

Accordion books are beyond fun and so easy to make.  I love them, too, because they’re tactile and personal.  And they’re kind of secret.  You open them for a little surprise or for a message just for you.

XOXO,

Lucky Dog
♥

(click on any photo to see it larger)

Quote o' the Day

"Always be a little kinder than necessary."

 -- James M. Barrie

Happy Stay-cation!

I hope y’all had as wonderful a 4^th-of-July weekend as we did!  The fireworks were so cool with the crescent moon as a backdrop.  (!)

One of the projects that we worked on over the weekend was painting the high portion of our den.  Boy, that Little Giant ladder sure came in handy.  And, yay, we finished it! 
(Thank heavens for Mr. Man and his long arms.)

Here are the before and after photos:

After and before.
(The new color is the darker taupe on the left.)

Before.
(I had already painted the walls.
Now we were painting up to the beams.)

After.

Mr. Man stopped for some lunch
and had a lot of help eating it.

It always amazes me how a different wall color (and especially Value) can change things so much.  I just love being a Taupe girl!

Well… back to the real world.

I hope you have a great week!

XOXO,

Lucky Dog 
♥

Sunday Scripture

Psalm 33 verse 6

The Lord merely spoke, and the heavens were created.
He breathed the word, and all the stars were born.