Here I am with my best friend in the whole world, Renee'. It took me thirty-two years to find her! I used to hear the expression soul-mate and I really couldn't get it, then I met Renee`. I believe men and women are just too different to be soul-mates. So, ladies, if you have one out there, it will be a girlfriend.

About Me

My photo
I am fifty-eight years old and a happy empty-nester of three grown children: nearly 26, 33 and 37. My 33 year old daughter is married and gave us our first grandchild, a baby girl named Astrid. I have been married one time for 41 years so far. I am the sixth of eight sisters. I have done some traveling. My restless oldest daughter took me to New York, Paris and London. I love to scrapbook, do needle art, beading, quilt, sew, decorative paint, home decorating and anything else that I can imagine or inspires me after looking at a magazine, HGTV, or the web! I enjoy having internet friends and think of them as modern day pen-pals.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Honey, I'm home.

Wow, I've been away a long time and I wasn't even on vacation.     Like many of you I've been busy with the joy that can only be found in preparing for "back-to-school".  Colored pencils have given way for ink cartridges, yellow pads for copy paper and back-packs for messenger bags.  My baby, 19 year old Victoria, , is moving to her very first apartment.  She is excited and we are all excited for her.  For the first time she would rather shop for home decor than clothes and she dared to utter the words Martha Stewart.  We are enjoying the hunt for used furniture on Craig's list and she's discovered the magic of over-time at her job.  In the midst of all this activity I've tried to carve out the time required to complete my Alice in Wonderland Apron for the Hot Mama Apron Swap.  I had ordered my fabric and, of course, I miscalculated.  Actually, I didn't calculate at all.  As is typical of me I just looked on line, chose a couple of prints that I liked and ordered willy-nilly.  I didn't have a pattern in mind and in the end decided on an original design.  Nevertheless, with the closest fabric store 30 miles away, I chose to do creative design work.  I'm pretty sure I took out more seams than I sewed and I had to dye my own trim, but in the end I was very happy and I hope my partner, Kathy Fuller, is as well.  In addition we were to include three additional items.  I selected: 1) A mint-condition 45 RPM of Neil Sedaka's Alice in Wonderland  2) darling miniature cake candle for the tea party  3) AIW Hot Pad  4) Vintage Hankie 5) ribboned ring of skeleton keys.  I hope this reaches Kathy quickly and brings her the same joy I had creating it.  Have a great tea party Alice!

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

I Built Them Myself

     This isn't my lawn furniture but, rather, my garden furniture.  I find it quite charming and I actually take pride in it.   I built both the bench and the chair with lumber salvaged from the fallen barn of a friend. On the bench is a galvanized double bucket with a single handle in the center, a gift from my best friend Renee', and, of course, the birdhouse on the chair is from other girlfriends.
     I built these pieces some time back so they're a little rickety but still, when I am in my garden, I am both in the company of friends and proud of my simple achievement.

Friday, July 23, 2010

The weeds faded in the beauty.

     Up near the Idaho border is a nice small town named Spokane.  It's Eastern Washington's answer to Seattle, without suburbs and everything their 3 million people bring with them.
     Nevertheless, business took me there today and just across the street from my meeting was this charming home.  I'm crazy for a picket fence and when combined with flowers my heart skips a beat.
     I walked closer as I fumbled around in my purse searching for my camera in an effort to take a few snapshots.  I will keep these images with others to daydream over on quiet afternoons.  
     The closer I got to the garden the more apparent it was how neglected it had become.  Still, as I stood there with the setting sun streaming through, the beauty of the garden caused the weeds to somehow disappear.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

From Me to You.

     This is a little piece of my summer.  I live in a small farming community in Southeastern WA, far away from Seattle, rain, crowds and, unfortunately shopping.  My county has only three towns and I live in the largest one with around 6000 residents and 50 miles from our county seat.  
     I'm not much of an outdoor girl but in the spring I like to get out and plant a few flowers.  This is my floral birdhouse, a birthday gift from friends a few years ago.  To assemble, I pound big 16 penny nails into the roof-top.  I remove bedding plants from their plastic containers and firmly push root side down onto the nails.  Turn plants at different angles beginning at the top standing up, gradually turning sideways until hanging varieties are facing downward.  After they feel secure, cover all exposed area with natural Spanish moss, this will enable the plants to both hold moisture longer between watering and prevent soil from eroding.  
     I usually plant two varieties of birdhouses.  The other style is deeper in the bottom and the flowers are planted around the base rather than on the roof.  I use the exact same method, focusing more on the hanging variety flowers.  This one I hang in my tree.  Particularly the roof style wouldn't require a special birdhouse, nearly anyone would work.  But, if you decide to create one of your own, they require more flowers that you might think.  So, save yourself an extra trip to the store and buy more rather than less, or just count off spaces on your birdhouse roof and it will give you a good idea.
     Have a summer flower kind of day.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Happy Birthday"Lucy"

In honor of her 46th birthday I want to introduce my baby sister, Patty.  She's Lucy & I'm Ethyl and in this snapshot we are at Disneyland, about six months ago. It's a "We took it ourselves snapshot", the type where you hold the camera out as far as you can and hope that you're both in the frame.  This generally takes us about three tries.  

Patty works for Alaska Air and a funny thing happened on our way to Orange County.  We were actually going to San Francisco. But Frisco was fogged in and the planes to Frisco were backed-up leaving us, literally, 45 seconds to decide whether to wait for a plane to Frisco or to book for Orange County.  Patty had never been to Disneyland and we cracked under the pressure.  Okay, it wasn't that dramatic.  It was more like: "What do you think?''  "I don't know, what do you think?"  "Well. hurry up, we have 45 seconds to decide."  "OK, Look out Mickey Mouse, here we come"  So, actually, it was quite easy.  Who wants to hang around an airport when you can just walk onto a plane---free?

Moving on....The reason we lovingly refer to Patty as Lucy is she frequently has some sort of scheme up her sleeve and I, foolishly, am always dragged into them.  Hence, I have been appropriately dubbed Ethyl.  One of Patty's favorite expressions is, "You got some splainin' to do." and, of course, any fan of the old I Love Lucy shows knows that Ricky usually ended up saying that to Lucy at some point during the program.

That was great for Ricky and Lucy but when Patty cooks up a scheme it usually begins with, "You can't get arrested for this."  Any sane person would run, particularly since she is not a lawyer, but faithful Ethyl is there for her every time.  That's why she's the baby sister and I'm the...I'm the, well, you know what I am and foolish just doesn't cover it.  But next time Lucy calls and says, "I need your help.", I'll put on my ever-faithful Ethyl hat, get into my blue Buick and be there for her.  

I hope she's right about that pesky little jail thing because I've been too close a time or two.  Smile.

Happy Birthday Patty.  Let's make it to 50 without jail-time.  Smile.
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Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Paper or Plastic?

I signed up for the paper bag swap--my first swap--with great excitement.  I tried to think of something new, marvelous, amazing.  Then, I went with an old favorite: a lunch bag scrapbook.  My partner was Sherry, designer of those darling maiden dresses.  The one thing I knew about Sherry was she liked Cowboys and I had a too-cute sheet of cowboy paper I'd been saving for a special occasion.  

I started with the cowboy paper on the cover.  I have a fun technique which is to spell my titles, in this case "giddy-up", in at least 1" letters.  I then cover the lettering with  FOIL Electrical Tape (I buy it at Wal-Mart $3-$5). I use a stylus to outline the letters and in this case I drew a lasso around the outside.  At this point I rub over it with dark ink and wipe it off with a tissue to leave shading in the grooves left behind by the stylus. On the inside I did a variety of pages including fabric covered and a pull-out page which can be a bit tricky.  I have a darling little rubber stamp that reads "photo here" which I confess to overusing!

But, as always, my favorite is what I consider my signature page.  A manila envelope accordion page with co-ordinating tags. It looks amazing (I think), but is really quite simple.  
I begin with 5 or 7, always an odd number, of small manila envelopes. Decorate with rubber stamps, inking, glitter or nothing at all.  Cut tops evenly creating five matching "pockets".  For a cute effect trim each successive pocket 1/4 inch shorter than the one before it.  Now you are ready to glue them together.   Glue each to the other securely down the center allowing room on the sides for "flex".  Finally, securely adhere the outside envelopes to opposite pages tucking the bottom deep into the "bind".  You are now ready to add your decorated tags remembering to trim each one to match the co-ordinating pocket.  The tags are fun for photos, quotes, show tickets or any memory you would like to tuck inside.

I've used this technique many times, always with a different spin on it, usually in altered books and I am always happy with the results.  If you don't have access to or simply can't afford the envelopes (which can be kinda spendy!), it is also effective to make mock envelopes from paper.  I have used this technique as well with equally good results.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Swap-so-Sweet

I was the luckiest girl in the Whimsical Jar Swap.  Hosted by .jessicarodarte.blogspot.com.   a totally talented artist and mom to three young children.  The sweet jar on top was created by Melinda in Utah, melindasfabricfancies.blogspot.com  It was filled with buttons & bells, pearls. tags, feathers, strings & ribbons.  Too many goodies to mention, and best of all pink glitter.  Smile.
  Deb, super talented gal from
garagesalegal.blogspot.com, was my second swap.  She sent a fun square jar with puzzle pieces on the front and quilling on top!  Quilling is nearly a lost art. It was also brimming over with goodies including a matchbox drawer filled with tiny-goodies! a tiny perfume bottle! a prism! and a giant box filled with lemonheads which went very quickly.
Thanks so much to both of you!

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Pretty Maidens All in a Row

Aren't these dresses sweet as can be? There is a whole line of them, six in all.  The best part?  They were just a a little of what came in the paper bag swap hosted by Jessica at jessicarodarte.blogspot.com  I had a fab partner from New York, Sherry, and she sent me a whole box of amazing things. In a day or two I'll share what I sent in return.  I've had Sherry, ificouldsetmysoulfree.blogspot.com , for a swap partner before and she always does awesome art.

Happy to be in the Land of Blogspot!

For my 4 or 5 followers that may of thought there is something odd about my blog, there is.

My sight is a little quirky today because I cut and pasted it from another blog-sight. That is why my pictures are a little out-of-whack, as well as my writing, and you are unable to tap into the comments etc. However, after "Around the World in a Lot of Days" my posts are new. Wish me luck, I'll try and get this cleaned up and I'm happy to be out of wordpress and into blogspot.

My address is pretty much the same: http://bestfriendsarebest.blogspot.com

We'll be seeing you, Bridget

Friday, July 16, 2010

Around the World in a Lot of Days

This is Anna and me after the performance of Wicked in LA. This little sweetie between us was in a starring role because the original star had fallen ill. Boy, was she excited. As an understudy I don’t think she imagined her day would come. Sort of like being runner-up to Miss America. “And if anything should happen that she is unable to perform………..like we find out she’s a porn star and not a virgin” LOL
Back to my regularly scheduled program….

Anna Marie is my world traveler and my oldest daughter. Her restless feet have seen five continents in her 26 short years, four in the last two years alone. But growing up in a tiny farming town that is nearly 80 % Hispanic the first country she hit was Mexico. She does a lot of scrap-booking, however I love to scrapbook too so, at times, I have taken it upon myself to preserve her memories. Her work is not as refined as mine but she is amazing when she journals which, definitely, trumps meticulous.
I wanted to show(off) the first two pages of her Mexico trip. I first drew an outline of Mexico. That was a trick for me as I always say Geography wasn’t my major and my husband adds, “Honey, Geography wasn’t even your minor.” LOL (bunny trail) My sister works for Alaska Air and when I asked her if they flew to St.Louis she, with all sincerity asked, “Is that a state?” She’s been with AA for three years! But I fly at a discount so who cares if she doesn’t know her states. Back to the page…I cut my pics into one inch squares for a mosaic and on the second page used a background of floral velum. As you can see, I inserted a star with a photo of Anna into the area that she lived. I used full photos to fill the country and random partial photos to fill in areas around the border. I used floral letters to pinpoint and spell the name of the city where she lived which I had to re-spell three times because, quite apparently, I’m an idiot. I won’t even try to spell it here. it was in Southern Mexico. She also went to Guatemala. Did I mention that my Anna travels alone? This is the only time I live through my child. A few years ago my husband, a friend and I decided we would run the Portland Marathon. We paid our dues (actually I think my friend paid our dues), we bought our shirts (actually I think my friend bought our shirts), we bought our pins (actually I think my friend bought our pins) and we all started training. Then one of us got injured (actually it was my friend that got injured). My husband and I went back to doing nothing, my friend kept swimming and none of us even watched the marathon on TV. But the next year my daughter ran the Portland Marathon. Good enough for me. Same DNA.
What more can I say, Anna travels and runs and I scrapbook, but I’m dang good at it!
Thanks for visiting, hope to see you again. Bridget
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My Best Girl & Her Necklace

This is “my best girl”. My baby. Victoria. Today she and her big sister are going to look for her first apartment! Her sister has traveled the world and had many apartments. Actually Victoria lived part time with my niece last year traveling back and forth the 50 miles to college and back. This year she will be close to school while her sister, Anna, travels 45 miles to teach school. Anna normally teaches calculus but this year is challenged to bring middle school kids who have no basic math skills–even simple addition– up to WA State standards. Go Anna!

Victoria's next step: College!
Victoria wanted me to re-create a necklace that she saw in a dress shop. I made her the one on the left. She was really pleased–she’s my gracious one–and the only one of my children who calls me mama. See why she’s my “best girl”? Anyway, she hung it on her rear view mirror and her friend, Miki,
was crazy about it. So Miki sent some beads home with her and the only ribbon I had available was sheer silver. You guessed it. My daughter may be gracious, but she’s still eighteen and she wants one in the same colors as Miki. Miki had said to keep the left over beads and I have plenty left over along with more ribbon sooooo…….I suppose, since she’s my baby, and my best girl, while I’m sitting on the sofa, doing nothing anyway, I could make her another one. Maybe she’ll give me her first one. Isn’t that what mom’s always get, their children’s castoffs. We give the best to them and take what’s left. That’s why were Mom’s and hopefully we’re are teaching them to be selfless as well.
I actually believe that is why I am not a grandma yet. I say that my children are, “Me, me, me, me, me. Oh, and what do I want.” LOL Actually, they are very generous with their Dad and I and each other, but a family of their own, not so much.
Tomorrow, another day, another craft. Or another crisis, it’s always hard to tell.
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altered books…and more

I’m just getting warmed up to blogging and I’m still learning but I know my friends, both old and new , will be forgiving.

First I want to say Happy Birthday to my First Born, my only son, Lyn. He will be turning 30 in two short days. July 17, 5:30 am. In celebration he is flying to Minnesota and from there he is taking a two week road trip through the mid-west: nine states, eleven baseball games, a few museums tossed in there and a flight home. I love my son more than anything but this is one road trip I’ll pass on. Take me to San Francisco.
Today I want to share one of my favorite things, altered books.
They are rather hard to photograph (maybe I’ll get better). For now I’m thrilled if I can get them from my camera to my blog. Forget about getting them in the right order or any semblance of order, for that matter. But you get it, right?……Wrong? Let me know.

Altered books can be big or small, thick or thin. They’re magical, if you can dream it, they can take you there,


These treasures require a hard-bound book from a thrift store, a lotta glue, a little paint, vintage & hardware & a sprinkling of wishes & day dreams. It is the wishes and day dreams that truly make altered books a little magical.
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