Latest Postcards

Work on my postcards continues. Below are a few of my most recent creations.


Hand-painted cotton, embossing powder, glue, Japanese maple leaves, gold pigment powder and Golden gel medium were used in this card. The leaves were collected and dried last fall from a tree our son planted years ago.


Tissue paper from a dress pattern and gold pigment powder were layered over hand-dyed cotton. I once again used Golden gel medium. If you look closely you will see the peace symbol rubber stamped under the tissue. Unfortunately, peace seems to be getting more elusive all the time.



I laid cotton over a Sushi mat and then applied Lumiere paint using a brayer. Rayon chenille cording was couched on as a decorative element.




Hand painted Peltex was decorated with squares of cotton, beads, silver metallic powder and quilting.



This time I used my hand-dyed perle cotton on more Sushi mat fabric.

Art Once More

I spent most of the weekend working on postcards for my Art2Mail group, completing seven. With my travels and other commitments, I hadn't been able to create in quite some time. It felt wonderful to poke around in the studio for inspiration. My challenge for these cards was to use only what I had on hand.

I experimented with Golden gel medium for the first time and was able to get wonderful results using pattern tissue paper, Japanese maple leaves and pigment powders. Watch for photos of those soon. For some reason, shots from my camera appeared cloudy even when taken without flash. So I'll let my dh shoot them with his Nikon D80.


I had a great assortment of paper scraps purchased at Random Arts I wanted to use. The image of the boy and the word 'write' led to the addition of the pencil nub. Note: He is left-handed. Ever notice how many lefties are extremely good at math? I'm not, which explains a lot of things. But all five of my husband's nephews are. Ask me how many excel in math!


A scrap of fabric I'd resist dyed was the base for this card. I added a piece of rubber-stamped cloth as well as recycled buttons.


Pigment powders, rubber stamping, paint and beading were added to a Bounty paper towel I'd painted. I'd hoped to retain a lot more of the wrinkling, but most disappeared during the fusing process.

Rain, Blessed Rain!

Rain at last! I'd almost forgotten what it looked like. But we were blessed with nearly an inch Monday night, and nearly 2" more since then. We're thankful for this, but know it will take a lot more to alleviate our exceptional drought. Although some cities can foresee running out of water within the next couple of months, the state has yet to impose mandatory restrictions!

The Old Girl is Finished!

Our house is finished! My husband's nephew Chip and great crew spent 5+ weeks of very hard work scraping, prepping, priming and painting. We chose a deeper tone for the house itself, adding a bold front door in beautiful Amsterdam blue. Our European neighbor tells us it is indeed the blue seen all over Amsterdam. We splurged on new house numbers, mail slot and door knocker. We even had our friend Hunter come and wash the outsides of all the windows, including the dormers! We don't think the old girl has ever looked better.

Photo Credit: Bill Guerrant

Journey's End

As our genealogy trip came to a close, we pondered what we had learned. We were able to get a sense of the struggles our ancestors had faced but not of the prejudice they must have known. We saw where they lived and where they are buried. But the most incredible thing was meeting a part of our family we thought was lost forever. A span of more than 80 years had gone by with our families being separated! But now that we've found one another, we look forward to going forward from here. As cousin Katannah said when we finally met and hugged for the first time, "Isn't this something? Isn't this something?!" And indeed it is.

Our Last Night

We celebrated our last night in Nebraska with a great dinner at Whiskey Joe's. My sisters enjoyed strawberry lemonade (at least that's what they told me it was)!

Scottsbluff National Monument

This magnificent monument was our last official stop. Sue climbed high up in the hills where she was at last able to see the ruts of the wagon trains which had passed through more than a hundred years before.

A Notable Landmark

Near the Wyoming border lies Chimney Rock. Its unmistakable spike served as a landmark for pioneers going west on the California, Oregon and Mormon Trails.

We spotted this field of sunflowers on our way to Scottsbluff.

Crazy Horse

The Crazy Horse monument is years from completion. Still an interesting sight. The museum there has a very nice collection of Native American artifacts, including these beaded moccasins.

Black Hills Sunset

Our view as we left South Dakota.

Beautiful Mt. Rushmore

We caught this glimpse of George Washington before reaching the summit.



The four presidents. Quite a magnificent sight.


One of the beautiful South Dakota lakes.


My sisters needed an ice cream break during our trek as it was a very hot day!