Anthony Hamilton in Concert

So the reason we went to Cleveland Ohio on Veteran's Day was actually to see Anthony Hamilton live in concert. Can I just say that the man is fantastic--he has so much soul, he's got a great voice (just as good as what you hear on his records) and he's got the energy of a teenage girl!!! He was amazing!!! Check out some photos of him at our concert at the House of Blues!

This was his wife with him. Apparently she's from Cleveland, Ohio and is working on a CD of her own right now. She's gorgeous and has a great voice! They make a super fantastic couple and they even kissed on stage a couple of times--the sweet pecks on the lips that make you happy to see them together (not at all jealous)!

This was him when he first came out--with his nerdy, huge glasses and his gold jacket.

I think the jacket was crazy, but hey, it worked for Elvis I guess. :o)

This was him after he took of the nerdy stuff. Although the man did look really nice in that hat!
This was him in the crowd. He was great! He went all over the crowd
and sang and danced and was crazy!

This was my mom and I. She was tired--we stayed up late and had to stand the whole time, but regardless it was a great concert, mom even liked it! And she's not one for R & B!

Hot Dog Man, this one's for you!

This is a giant hotdog in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. It's hanging from the ceiling and it is probably twice the size of that car that's down in the lower level! So, for everyone's sake, I hope that it's not an evil road weenie!!!

A little more Cleveland, Ohio

Here is a little more from Cleveland, Ohio.

This first one is from a piece of street art I saw down by the river. Someone painted over it, but it still was pretty cool.

This is the entire piece.


Okay, so we were driving to visit a friend and we saw the sign saying,
"Dollar Paradise--World's Largest Dollar Stores"
although we thought it was supposed to be THE Worlds Largest Dollar STORE--not just one of the largest chain or whatever their criteria was. So basically we went for nothing, but it was still fun and we took some photos in front of it too!



What do you buy at the Dollar Paradise? Well you buy pop that is bottled in Cleveland, Ohio of course! 25 cents a can--can't beat that price!

Oh, and No Fishing!

Don't you love this sign?

I think it's too cute!!!

Cleveland Rocks!

We just went to Cleveland, Oh for an overnight trip to see a concert, and here are some of the bits of the trip that I wanted to share:

This is from the skate park outside of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame--I just loved the red metal flaming gates that were surrounding it. There was also some graffiti there, but nothing too exciting. I was hoping to see some stickers while I was there too, but those were also lacking in teh more touristy areas that we were in. Although at the end of the trip we saw some nice stuff, but I didn't get to take any photos. :o(
This is my mom, Elizabeth (a friend of the family) and myself, on a windy morning in downtown Cleveland! It was lovely weather that day!

This is Downtown Cleveland from one of the private beaches on the Lake Coast.

This is downtown Cleveland, Ohio!

Hello Cleveland!

Swap-bot Dotee Doll Swap

Ever do a swap and then realize that you never took a photo of what you sent?

That's what I did for the Swap-bot.com Dotee Doll Swap, although to be honest with you, my Dotee doll was not very good and I don't think I'll be making another one any time in the near future! Regardless, check out the doll that was sent to me by Colleen from Novi, Michigan. She's so cute! She kind of looks a bit Christmasy, but she's not supposed to be. Colleen said she just kind of turned out that way. :o) I think that I will put her on my Christmas tree this year though and after Christmas I will find her a place on my art wall. And I will never find a photo of the doll that I made, which is probably a good thing since she's really terrible in comparision!!!

Fall is here--time to break out that B-day present!

For my birthday--in May--my friend Stephanie made me the most lovely of all scarves!! I saw it in a book (can't remember which one now) and asked her to make it sometime, not at all believing that she would, but she did! It's it so fun! It is a scarf with a rose, leaves, and even little thorns--she did a fabulous job at crocheting it! I'm so happy!

Since the weather has been chilly I actually got to wear it one day--I even wore it at work all day. People kept looking at me--not sure if they thought I was crazy for wearing a scarf in the building or were actually admiring the beauty around my neck!

This is a really bad close-up of the flower on the scarf. I like it the best, but it is kind of large and sometimes you have to readjust it to get it to lay right, but I sewed it tighter and that helped a bit. I'm trying to figure out a way to display it on my art wall when it's not being used to keep me warm or as a fashion accessory. Thanks again Stephanie!!!

Pretty Fall Pictures in Fort Wayne--City of Three Rivers

Great Tree Canopy Comeback!

This year my friends and I participated in the Fort Wayne Friends of the Park's Great Tree Canopy Comeback. The deal is as follows--you and your friends show up at 10am at a local park where they have pre-dug holes and you plant a tree (or 4!) and then you get a free t-shirt and a hot dog and some chips. But you get tons of fun and entertainment from it too!

We named this tree "Rick James"

This is Andy, Lydia, and Steph trying to cut the twine out of the branches of our tree--we didn't realize until it had been planted that it had twine in the branches and we didn't have a ladder or a tall enough person to get it out--but no fear, we did it! We used the handle of a rake and some snips and got most of it out.

We named this tree "Nancy Drew"

This is Steph trying to measure the hole in the ground to make sure that the tree bulb was planted three inches above ground level--Gina, Lydia, Alyssa, Laura, and Andy are assisting her.

We named this tree (see the right side of the picture) "Duck Poop" in honor of the many piles of duck poop that we had to walk through to get to the back of the park where we planted this tree.

This is Andy standing in the hole stomping the ground down before we can put the actual tree inside of it. Andy had on his stomping boots so he got to be the main stomper! Gina is in the background laughing at him. :o)

We named this tree "Java"--it is a Kentucky Coffee Bean Tree

This is Lydia, Gina, Laura, and myself after planting the fourth and final tree of the day!

This is the whole crew of planters (with our tree--Nancy Drew).
Sorry but Andy was taking the picture, so he didn't get to be in it.

Survive the Week ATCs

I recently finished a swap called the Survive the Week ATC Swap at Swap-bot.com. They were fun to do this time! Thank heavens! You had to make seven different ones--for each day of the week and mail them to your partner. They were supposed to be fun and encouraging. I made them all and then put them in little ATC envelopes which I then wrote a quote on for a bit of fun and encouragement. I hoped my partner would open them one a day for a week, but I think she went ahead and did it all at once--can't say I blame her--I'm not good with temptation either! :o)

I have had fun playing with bugs on ATCs lately. These two make me pretty happy. :o)

I love these little monster ones! They crack me up--I made a few of them for a couple of different swaps.

Strangely enough these are my favorite two ATCs that I've made in awhile. I love that high heel stamp (which I got at the Paper Arts Festival last month) and that martini cracks me up! I love the retro fifties/sixties feel of it! I'll have to make a couple of these for myself!

Where did you get that mustache/Unibrow?

My friends Steph and Andy accompanied me to a Halloween party at Nick and Michelle's house. It was an interesting time. We actually left early so we could see Rocky Horror Picture Show--but we ended up freezing to death since it was outside and only saw about half of the movie. But these are the photos of Steph and I getting ready for the party.
This is Stephanie dressed as a little old man. She's a pretty good looking little old man--although everyone thought she was dressed up as Andy's dad--not because she looks anything like him, but just because she kept calling him son! :o)

This is me as a man--obviously not a good idea!!! I'll stick to not getting dressed up for the holidays from here on out! And it almost caused Steph to pee her pants from laughing so hard too--so it's obviously not a good idea!
This is Steph and I sharing the fun of the mustache and it's various forms--the Unibrow in this case. Steph actually has an entire box of these mustaches at home, so if you need a mustache, let her know and I think she can hook you up with one!
Oh, wait! Is that Lewis--wearing the aformentioned unibrow? Wow! Those things sure are popular this holiday season!!!

Gussy you Devil.... or Gangsta...

THE FOLLOWING PHOTOS WERE ALL TAKEN ON HALLOWEEN.... BE SCARED... BE VERY SCARED!!!

Gussy, are you supposed to be a "gangsta"? What's up G? Ask Mellissa again for those lyrics to "Bringing Gussy Back" to the tune of Sexy Back by Justin Timberlake



Gussy, you little Devil--that's more like it!
















Angels, Devils, and is that the Easter Bunny? Is he disgruntled? Huh? Talk about scary!







Library girls have all the fun--whether they are perfect Angels or Devils with aprons on--it's always a party at the library!

Steph's Pumpkin Carving Party

For my friend Stephanie's Birthday she had a pumpkin carving party. It was great--lots of treats, hot and tasty apple cider, smores, a campfire, and of course pumpkins!
These were our pumpkins after being carved--sitting on the table waiting for the judge to come along and choose the best one!
Here is Seth--Steph and Andys' Newphew who got to choose the best one. He actually picked the one done by Cesselly that was supposed to be like Charlie Brown's Ghost costume--although honestly it was a pumpkin completely covered with circular holes. It's been too long since I watched It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown for me to remember much about the ghost costume--but I'm sure some of you get the joke!

This was my pumpkin--kind of a vampire/pissed off girlfriend kind of look! Seth didn't really care for it--although he did try to put a stick in it's mouth so it had something to chew on!
Here are the pumpkins--let me tell you who was there and you can all try to figure out which pumpkin matches which person: Cesselly, Lewis, Stephanie, Andy, Seth, Michelle--you already know two of them anyway! :o) Happy Halloween!

Heirloom Rubber Stamp & Paper Arts Festival

October 18-19th, 2008 was the Fort Wayne Rubber Stamp and Paper Arts Festival at the Coliseum here in Fort Wayne, IN. I was really excited to go because I heard good things about the festival and also heard that they have an ATC swap that you could participate in. So I made only a few ATCs--a dozen that had fun little fairies and papers made from watercolored book pages and met up with friends to go.
It turns out the festival is really just a rubber stamp convention pretty much but I ended up having a lot of fun and got a couple of stamps and a lot of fun ideas for ATCs. This is one example from a place called Starving Artist Stamps--they have these great stamps that you can use to make mosaic looking images--it was awesome! Lesley and I ended up standing around watching for a few minutes because we just couldn't understand how it worked. It's so awesome though and I totally want to buy a stamp and try it out at my house! The picture below this gives examples of them--click on it to enlarge it and see how cool they really are!
I did buy this stamp while I was at the festival--it's an apron stamp and I have so many cute ideas that I want to try with it and see if they work out! Plus I love the card they made with it! It says, "Don't make me have to poison your food." I love that!
This was another cool idea--a lady used stamps and also some course brushes and painters tape to make these fun little cards. I really wish that I could just whip things up like they do--it's so awesome to see the people at these fairs and see what they can do--although I might not really want to do the same thing, it still gave me a lot of great ideas!
Here are some more ideas. Lots of them! Apparently the new thing is making your own cards. I thought there might be tons of scrapbookers--there were a few, but mostly these people were making their own cards and buying tons of fun stuff to do it with!