Japanese Gardens, part three

I think these photos turned out well! Of course, they are digitally enhanced to be all pink and purple. The originals look fine too, but for some reason I decided to just play these up to look ethereal and fairy-like. Enjoy!

More Japanese Gardens photos

Here's another pic or two of the Gardens. Most of these pix have been digitally enhanced to look like a fairyland. :)

Japanese Gardens

Several weeks ago John, Hannah and I visited the Japanese Gardens in Fort Worth. We visited at the same time they were having a Japanese Gardens festival. Anyway, it was really lovely, even in October. I hadn't been to the Gardens since maybe before John and I were married.

Festival activities included watching a real Japanese tea ceremony, refreshments and drinks, swarms of people walking around (of course!), seeing a genuine Japanese dance (I forget the technical name), and if you wanted, having your caricature drawn by an artist, for a modest sum. Well, guess what was the coolest thing???

The caricature artist was none other than the one who drew John's and my pictures on our HONEYMOON almost 10 years ago! Can you believe it? How cool is that? I mean, we were married in Houston, and he drew our pictures there on The Strand, a famous area in Galveston, where we spent a lot of our honeymoon time.

So anyway, that was a fun, memorable day. We even took a picture with the artist and Hannah and me. I'll post some pix of that day.

TW

Falling Leaves card

Fashionista Cards

Here are a couple of cards I've made recently.

Last Saturday night was a wild night for the Williams family—Hannah’s Christmas school program! Ha! We painted the town red (and green) that night, that’s for sure.

Each class (collectively) played an instrument; Hannah’s second grade class played the xylophone. They played very well, if I do say so myself! Other classes played handbells or chimes or recorders. I still didn’t get to meet Hannah’s music teacher, but I look forward to meeting her sometime soon.

The children also sang songs and they were very pretty. I was so proud of our girlie. It was fun to be a part of the whole gang of parents watching their kiddos show off their talents. Hannah kept asking me, “Were you guys proud of me? Did I do good?” We assured her she did well and she would just give us that big beaming smile.

We drove around after the program and looked at lovely Christmas lights on homes in the surrounding neighborhood. What a blast! A police officer told us about a really nice area. And sure enough, it was absolutely breathtaking, the whole block and a half, practically, was lighted up more than Times Square. I felt like I was in a fairy tale, a wonderland. Hannah said twice, “Boy, that policeman sure was right! He knew these lights were pretty! He sure was right!”

Pensive Fairy

When I'm too tired to write much, I'll just try to post a photo or card. Let's see what I dig up.
I think my BFF will like this; she enjoys fairies, even had a fairy flower girl at her wedding. :)
I submitted this one to a rubber stamping magazine, I think, but never heard back from them. Oh well, I love it anyway!

One of my favorite card creations

Here's one of my all-time favorite cards I've made. I think it's because I created the background paper, with a rainbow wash of watercolors. Made for quite a "splash!" Enjoy!

You've Got Style

Here's a card I made awhile back; I think it pops and yet is nicely understated. You may not be able to see the beads placed strategically over some of the letters and also decorating the bottom of the dress. One of my first attempts at getting more glitzy. :)

Family time

We had a nice afternoon yesterday. After picking our girlie up from school, John and I were starving, so we went to the Olive Garden and ordered soup and salad. Miss Talks-a-lot just chattered and prattered about school, bugs, pirates, Veggietales and any other topic that came to her mind. Since she wasn’t hungry, she divulged even more information than usual, stopping only to gnaw on a breadstick or drink some water.

After the restaurant, we toddled off to our favorite park to feed the ducks. John and I happened upon this park recently, which is nice and quiet and not as many people swarming the trails. It has its own lake/pond, just the right size, which the ducks claim as their own and voice this possession quite loudly when you dare veer toward their shoreline. Of course, they’re full of forgiveness and proclaim a great “Welcome” when you come with breadsticks in hand, to share with all. And the all may include everything from Moe, the loudest white duck known to man, to Eeny, a little slip of a thing, and Meeny, the resident (docile) goose who stands nearly as tall as my 7 year old, not to mention some seagulls who also share the shoreline.

No sight of the Great Blue Heron, which I love to see flying across the lake. I envision him as looking down on the ripples, the cormorants, the fish and yes, those wacky, quacky, uncouth ducks, and proudly reigning over his domain, as if King. I call him Blue Yonder, for it seems as if he’s always in a restless search to fly into the blue yonder. A regal, stately bird is he, that’s for sure.

One-and-a-half Olive Garden breadsticks don’t last long, so it was off to home soon. But not before we made a side trip out to see the guys flying their model airplanes with engines so loud, you were positive a 747 was hiding behind a cloud. The guys were having a wonderful time. They created their own models, built simply with foamcore/foamboard, and engine, and transmitter. Very neat, we all were entranced, and eagerly scrambled over when the planes had landed, to gawk a little closer. The “pilots” were very nice and let us examine the aircraft more closely.

We skipped--well, the girlie and I did, while John strolled a manly stroll—back to the car. Time to go home and play with the bunny, craft a little, and work.

Over and out!

Bird Nest

I love making cards, being creative. My favorite part about making cards is using rubber stamps. I have made dozens and dozens for friends and family, maybe even hundreds. I started using rubber stamps in the spring of '03 or '04. Then I learned to emboss, and on and on with learning just one more thing.

Anyway, I will showcase my cards, tags, photography, collage pieces and more.

Here We Go!

Okay, I'm finally entering the great world of blogging! Not sure of how much of my "intimate" thoughts I'll write on here, but I'm ready to showcase my life, my art, my photography with family and friends. Or whoever cares to stop on by for a little Peace and Quiet.

-- TSW