Land of the Free, Because of the Brave

Have you thanked a veteran yet today?  If not, please think of the meaning of the day, the history, and do so.  I would like to share with you the following from William J. Federer's American Minute:

American Minute for November 11th:

The 11th hour of the 11TH DAY OF THE 11TH MONTH of 1918, World War I ended. Though the Armistice was signed at 5:00 AM, fighting continued till 11:00 AM, killing nearly 11,000 more men.

In 1921, President Warren Harding had the remains of an unknown soldier killed in France buried in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington Cemetery. Inscribed on the Tomb are the words: "Here lies in honored glory an American soldier know but to God."

Armistice Day was changed to Veterans Day in 1954 to honor all U.S. Veterans. In 1958, President Eisenhower placed soldiers in the tomb from WWII and the Korean War. The soldier from Vietnam, buried by President Reagan in 1984, was identified by DNA tests as pilot Michael Blassie and was reburied in 1998 at Jefferson Memorial Cemetery, St. Louis, Missouri.

On NOVEMBER 11, 1921, President Harding stated: "On the threshold of eternity, many a soldier, I can well believe, wondered how his ebbing blood would color the stream of human life, flowing on after his sacrifice...I can sense the prayers of our people...Let me join in that prayer. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come..."

I am proud to come from a long history of service to our country and our people.  While I myself did not join the military, my grandfather, my father and my brother-in-law were all career soldiers, as were several dear friends.  I am so very proud of them, and thankful for the sacrifices they made for our proud nation.  We are truly the land of the free, because of the brave - men and women who have fought so hard to protect the rights we have been given.  We should never take that freedom for granted, or forget those who died to preserve that freedom. 

Operation Write Home ~~ Cards for our Troops

Operation Write Home is a special group that ArtHaven is supporting by making cards.  I managed to get a lot of time to create some while I was in South Carolina, but I never got them posted.  These will be heading out of here Monday to Celeste, a great friend who supports this wonderful cause and helped make it possible for the rest of the group to do so too. 

Christmas Cards are next on the list!

A Beautiful Fall Day At The Shore

Saturday was a beautiful day.  Much too nice to spend inside.  We decided to take a ride to the beach and spend the afternoon chasing waves, looking for shells and enjoying the beauty and peace of the shore.  Assateauge National Seashore is a wonderful escape close to home.  In less than 45 minutes we can be in a raw, natural seashore, undeveloped and teaming with natural beauty.  There are wild horses roaming the park, free to come and go as they please - it is the humans that have boundries here. 

Here are just a few pictures from our day.  Katherine is still shining in her makeup from a community festival we attended earlier in the day.  The sparkle suits her i think.  There is also a rarity for you - a picture of me. Not only am I always behind the camera, I run from it when it is pointed my direction. I am trying NOT to do that quite so often. Sometimes it is nice to have evidience that I was enjoying the day just as much as everyone else. 

There were magnificent butterflies everywhere Saturday. Some larger than my hand floating around the shore, along the breaking waves and over the dunes. It was amazing to see so many, and some so large. Nature at her finest.

Also enjoying the day with us were Rodney and one of his students from last year. Johnnie is a great young man, a very talented musician who never ceases to amaze me with how quickly he learns. With his talent and desires he will go far. We have been fortunate over the last year to get to know him, encourage him and watch him grow. His future is definitely bright.

Johnnie found another example of the wonders of nature in the tiniest of crabs running along the sand. It would pop up its little eyes and look at us with just as much curiosity as we were showing towards it. While it might have been tiny, it was a fiesty little thing and fast as lightning.

One last look at the pristine beauty of Assateague. 

Thank you for taking the time to visit and share with me the beauty that is around us.   I have a beautiful life - I need to remember that and take time to recognize it much more often. 

The Art of Wendy Vecchi

During my recent trip to South Carolina, I was lucky enough to find and attend an art class led by Wendy Vecchi, an amzingly talented ARTist.  The wall hanging below was from the second class.  The first class was an Ink Technique class where we learned diffferent ways to use distress, pigment and archival inks.  It was a great day!  I was so pleased with how this turned out, and was given high praise by Wendy for my first attempt at a grunge project.  Made me feel really good about my ability.

This second picture is of the next class she will be teaching here in Maryland in October.  This is only one of the four classes, but it is the one I am wanting to take the most - I will have to work on the budget to be sure I can manage it - Katherine will be taking it with me so there will much art flowing in our family. 

Wendy and I

This picture just struck me as one I had to take.  A little bit of country in the middle of the city - how wonderful it was to find.

Creative Memories and Cricut - A New Partnership

Creative Memories and Cricut have recently formed a new partnership.  Cricut will be developing cartridges that will go along with the Creative  Memories Collections.  The first two are fabulous cartridges, crammed full of content.  Recently, I became a Creative Memories Consultant and I am so pleased to be able to offer you these cartridges through my own Creative Memories web site.  Please click on the link below for more information.  Contact me directly if this is your first order with me - I would love to offer you a "New Customer" discount!

My Creative Memories Site:

http://www.mycmsite.com/sites/sherriauld/

Today's View Through My Lens

We decided to go for a ride today, just to get out and wander. We headed over to Cambridge MD and the Blackwater Nature Preserve. Of course Sadie went along for the ride.

One of my hobbies over the last year has been photography, and while I am far from great, I do like a lot of what I have taken. I did develop a serious case of Lens Envy today - there was a group of Japanese tourists at the Nature Preserve who were loaded down with cameras and some of the nicest lens I have seen in a while. Guess I better start a special savings account. :-)

Hope you enjoy seeing what appeared thru my lens today.

Handle With Care

How will you handle our fragile world?  Are you remembering to handle it with care?  Let me know what you are doing to recycle, reuse or refresh our earth.

Prima Givaway

Prima has a BIG SECRET ~ and a fabulous prize giveaway worth $100.00. Head over HERE to learn more and to enter to win!

Hearts and Swirls

Valentine's is right around the corner, love is in the air.....

This little heart hanglie danglie will be winging its way to my ARTHaven friend Sandy on Monday - I hope it makes her smile. I used papers from SEI and findings from Lost and Found, both of which just shouted Valentines Day to me.

A little button fairy flitting by.....

I have entered a whole new area for me - working with beads and wire. It was an interesting introduction, as I learned that there is a big difference in the gauge of wire, as well as regular wire and MEMORY wire. Little did I know that the lower the number, the thicker the wire. The big haha on me was the memory wire. It doesn't bend well, it pops right back into shape, and darn it all, it will NOT straighten out for anything. Nor will it go through the holes in a button. Well, it will go through one, but not the second. After asking for advice, and a speedy run out to get new supplies, I was finally able to put her together. I loved this project - loved the colors, the feel and just how much fun she is. I wish I had more buttons on hand, because I would have made several more. These are going to make great little gifts down the road for some special friends.

Isn't she lovely?

A Suave and Debonnaire King of Hearts

I had to smile when I saw this image from an old pattern book. This seemed perfect for the King of Hearts altered playing card. All he needs is his queen on his arm.

More Christmas Fun

The two projects that follow are exchanges that were done for ARTHaven. Both of these were created using gorgeous paper from My Minds Eye - so elegant and perfect for the holidays. While you can't see it in the second picture, the paper had beautiful glittered sleighs on it, which went perfectly with the silver ribbon I found in PA over the Thanksgiving holidays.

Here are a few more of my art projects for Christmas. These were all done for ARTHaven, The holidays were a blur this year, time ran short, I was late on many things, and most of all, overwhelmed a great deal of the time. I was grateful though for the time that I had to create and play, and look forward to a new year where time is more available! I am looking forward to letting my creative mind overtake the analytical mind for a change.

The image used on the snow ATC is an actual photograph of a real snowflake. I found this and other images at http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/photos/photos.htm. They are from a project at CalTech University in California. They are amazing.

A Christmas Shoppe

In ARTHaven one of our fun projects was a Christmas Shoppe Row House - I had a great time with this one. I was able to find the perfect file from SVGCuts and was thrilled with how it fit my idea of a shoppe. The little bit of sparkle is from some beautiful glass beads.