Sunday, February 18, 2007

my parent's visited this weekend

to open Christmas gifts - yes a bit belated.


me with K a photo taken by my husband when we went to a local tourist attraction when my MIL was here - for reference/comparison with my Mom's pics below. :)


my Mom




I made this over the weekend. And I love it, which is saying something as I hate - school pictures. If I had my druthers, we wouldn't have them done. Why, may you ask do I hate them? Because they are meaningless images of what a person looks like but say nothing about who the person is. Once upon a time before cameras - painters would paint likenesses -- I understand why people did it. To know and remember what a person looked like when an image was nearly impossible to create and keep and expensive too - a good likeness was valuable. Even in the early era of photography when few people owned cameras and most images were taken by 'professionals' and the act of photography was time-consuming and strenuous makes the idea of a likeness valuable. But now nearly everyone has a camera - the records of one's life are immense. Why wast time on what one looks like? We know well what the people in our lives look like and there will be plenty of incidental images to remind us. Lets get down to who they are - but that is harder.

Sorry for the minor rant.



It seems the thing to do lately, come to M's house and learn a new craft. My Mom made these from some napkins she picked up for this purpose when she was here in December.


So I made this one for my niece H - I think my Mom will keep it at her house and light it when H comes over. H is a bona fide horse nut.



I decided to experiment on an old jar. I think I might try this again - the result is a bit uneven but lovely.


12 comments:

  1. HI

    Firstly let me say how much I appreciated your comment in my blog. It was like a drink of fresh water. How I love Little House.. and your quote did make me feel at home.

    As to the alone-ness yes, I think you are right. Not a great place to be, but I am sure it is where I need ot be right now.

    I do love your candles!

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  2. Blogger's being a bit persnickety this morning and apparently didn't want me to tell you how beautiful I think you look in your photo. You are a picture. :)

    The candles are great too, and your mom looks awfully sweet. Btw, I'd love to tackle making those candles. They're great.

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  3. Anonymous8:54 AM

    Loved to see you in your picture!

    How did you get the paper onto the glass/tin? Is it glued on or varnished? Does the heat from the candle damage it? These and other questions! LOl.

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  4. Wonderful art! The pictures of your mom are really nice, but then, your photography is always fascinating!

    By the way, I responded to your comment. I wrote,

    "Thank you for the recommendation. A Girl of the Limberlost is the only book I have read by Porter, but I loved it and have read it several times. I will try to get a copy of The Magic Garden! I am also interested in reading Freckles."

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  5. "I hate - school pictures."

    Me too!!! I hate most all professional pictures in this day and age. {The kind everyone is supposed to find a place for and hang or prop up and etc. Wedding pics I suppose, are an exception}

    It's a marketing tool. Plain and simple. The school pics are supposed to be purchased by relatives too, which is even worse.

    Good rant! I had a rant today too! ,-) On a book, I -don't- want to read.

    Mmmmm, is it National Rant Day or something??? ,-)

    'MN'

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  6. My grandson hasn't had one professional picture taken in this 13 and 1/2 months of life.

    It's funny to me how many people question my daughter's sanity over this.

    But why pay when we have so many pictures of him looking - just like him?!

    LOVE the decoupage! I need to do some more of that!

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  7. Well I like looking at my school pictures. Sometimes they give me a good hardly laugh. Sometime I remember how I felt at that age. I think that often the unplanned photos are the most revealing. I have often discussed this idea with a friend of mine. He is an amateur photographer who often has told me that I should edit my photos to make them look better. I tell him that if I do that I lose the moment. These photos aren't meant to be professional looking. Rather they are meant to be a snapshot of time.

    Which brings me back to school photos. Sometime when I look through the many school photos of our four children I remember the stories that go with the photos. The changing of shirts or hairstyle after leaving the house. Or better yet the cutting of the hair and telling the parents that it was hacked after the photo not before, only to discover the truth when the pictures showed up.

    So now you have my little rant.

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  8. lovely! I really like the candle in the jar! and you are beautiful. I hate my picture being taken as well, probably why I enjoy being behind the camera.

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  9. But I love that school picture :)

    and I love your candle, too...

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  10. It's so nice to see a picture of you! You're so pretty! I really love the photos of your mom too.

    The block with the school picture is so original and neat looking. What is the base for it?

    Love the cans and jars, as always. I have painted jars but never have decoupaged one. I'll have to give that a try. The glow is beautiful.

    My older son, Nick, has (since middle school) always gone out of his way to make his school pictures memorable. At times I was a bit irked by it because I wanted "pretty" pictures but now I'm glad he inserted his personality into them. One example: One year he made sure a floppy disk was visibly sticking out from his shirt pocket because he was Digi-Nick that year and all into computers. LOL

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  11. You are just a fount of beautiful ideas!
    All of this is so lovely.
    As for me? My school pictures are ugly. Hilarious. And as much a part of me as anything. There's no shaking it! :)
    Rant away, my friend!

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  12. Wow! These are gorgeous and so easy to do! I am not the type of person who likes doing crafts, but I would love to make some of these. My father used to do Mod Podge progects with me when I was little. He has an antique bottle collection and, bless him, he used to let me cover them with drawings I had done and Mod Podge. I'll have to make some and post the results on my blog when I get around to it. My girls would love it! Thanks for bringing back some wonderful memories. My father still has those bottles.

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