Gift

Today is a gift, yesterday too, tomorrow is uncertain, it's all up to you. But if I have tomorrow and all that may be, of this I am sure, that this is the key: Everything that I have, everyone that I love, every tiny and large thing is all from above...
Thank you
mvw

Vintage Candy

What can I say about this one? Drool...Vintage Eye Candy...
Enjoy
Marianne :)

Vintage Cameras...

I love, love, LOVE vintage cameras! Here is my current ( kitchen) table display. Sliver tray, cameras, pedestal, more vintage cameras :) ,and a glass dome. A camera pic, some altering magic, and there you have it. Vintage camera deliciousness!

Wish...

I miss my Mama...

Though I would not wish her back into a broken and suffering body...Or would I take her from the joys of heaven... I just wish I could take care of her again, just for at least a day or so... I wish I could hold her papery thin, soft and warm hand...I wish I could tell her that I love her... I know she knows. I do. And I feel her in the blessing of getting to be a Mama myself, and an Oma now. That's how I'm passing on her legacy...Her legacy of love... I would say, rest in peace my sweet Mama, but I hope she's not resting...I hope she is dancing and singing with all her might! I hope she is laughing and talking again... Enjoy my sweet Mama!  

Marianne

Sent from my iPad

A little bit of yumminess...

Here is a simple but delicious gluten free snack/ dessert. Glutino has some amazing chocolate-covered- gluten free pretzels. Yum! I love them but do not buy them often because they are dangerous for me if you know what I mean! One of my daughters is not gluten free and I have to fight her for this treat...I have been out of them for way too long and then, I discovered an alternative. A yummy one. Another dangerous thing. Anyway, I saw this dark chocolate cream cheese. From Philadelphia, no less, so it has to be good...Ok, I have to stop right there. Dark. Chocolate. Cream. Cheese. Yes. To all of the previous. THEN, add them together and stick a salty, crunchy pretzel into the mix and you have: heaven. Ok, not heaven BUT, a chocolate-y, salty-creamy-crunchy delight! Deliciousness!
Enjoy!
Marianne :)

Pinterest!

So I'm a little slow in coming to Pinterest...ok, a LOT slow! I mean half the female population has been pinning for, I don't know how long! And what I have been missing! The world will never be the same for me... Being a very visual person that LOVES color, and well, stuff, it's just a load of fun...See you on Pinterset!
Enjoy
Marianne. :)
ps. The photo below is an altered photo of an encaustic piece that I did this year. Lots of color, and my words... :)

Pretty in (mostly) pink...

Just adding a few of my loves together...flowers, especially hydrangeas and cone flowers, (though i will probably have a new favorite this year), drawing, creating one of my Curlie Girls, photography and altering my photographs...
Enjoy...
Marianne :)

Photo Fun with "Little Owl"...

I'm having way too much fun photographing my new (and only) grand son this week... My mind can not stay still with all the creative and crazy ideas that are popping through it! I'm also enjoying...holding, feeding, burping, cuddling, admiring...lovely... Such a sweet time...What a blessing and gift a child is...
Thank you LORD for Wylie Jackson...
Enjoy...( I certainly am! )
Marianne :) :)

Bloom! Journal page...

One stamp, many colors...This is a simple journal page where I took a favorite stamp and placed it in random places on the page...I had an idea in mind, make a different "flower" from each stamp, with different shapes and colors...I tried to make them all as individual as could be, with the face as the common theme... See how the amount of ink and shading of the faces actually makes them look more intense or innocent? Anyway, just a bit of black ink, one "baby" stamp as I call it, a sharpie pen ( fine, non-bleeding) and AquaMarkers make for a fun, easy and relaxing journal page, card or small art piece...The sky's the limit!
Hope you Enjoy,
I did!
Marianne :)

I AM AN ARTIST! SUZI SAYS SO!

I am an Artist. Suzi says so!
I remember the first time I saw this, heard her say this... I am referring to the fabulously talented Suzi Blu! I was sick, in bed and depressed a couple of years ago and stumbled onto Suzi's great YouTube videos and then her website... I watched her videos over and over again, so attracted to her art and style... and when I heard this statement, something in me was set free... I didn't have to be trained in art school, have graduated from art college... I could just be me, little ol' me, drawing, painting, crafting, majorly enjoying these things and be an Artist! It didn't matter that I was a Mom too and wife and that I had dedicated many years to bringing up kids, throwing birthday parties, making painted T-Shirts and custom cakes and homemade hair bows...Singing, teaching, cooking, crafting, taking pictures, decorating my home, gardening, raising chickens and making a cozy place to live...It didn't matter because...I was an Artist too!
I took Suzi's online drawing class and ended up getting to meet with her several times. ( I wrote about this last year in a couple of LONG blogs.)...Anyway, I will continue on this subject in the next couple of posts but I just wanted to tell you that I got her AMAZING new book this week from Amazon and this picture and her statement are in it. I highly recommend this delightful and beautiful book, it comes with a video too but I have been SO into the book that I haven't even had a chance to view it, yet...
From: MIXED MEDIA GIRLS with Suzi Blu
"I AM AN ARTIST! SUZI SAYS SO! Yes...you. Little and meek, wanting so very badly to make beautiful paintings, you think, "Who am I to do this?"..."
"YOU ARE AN ARTIST! And if you don't believe it yet, believe that I believe!" Suzi Blu

Thanks Suzi, for the vote of confidence, for sharing your skill, for your fun videos, for teaching us, for believing in us and setting us free to draw, paint and enjoy and for your wonderful new book!
Enjoy...And go order that book!
Marianne :)

Mason...part 1

Dear Ball Perfect Mason Jar, how I love thee! I love the bubbles captured forever in your shining glass, I love your raised letters that reflect the light and show off who you are...I love how you look so good, just sitting around being yourself! It doesn't matter weather you are in the kitchen, living room or bathroom, people just can't help but notice how handsome you are...I love how anything that you are holding looks extra special, from buttons to cotton balls, you are always dressed so smartly. But Mr Mason, my very favorite thing about you is that you are an incredible shade of blue, and oh how I love blue! You are that snappy peacock blue, that look-how-good-I-look-today-kind-of blue...that kind that looks so great on its own...
(see Mason part 2 below)...

Mason...part 2

...and holding flowers!
Enjoy!
Marianne :)

"Working" on...

So this is one of the things I've been working on lately... I should say "playing", because that is what it feels like, pure pleasure!! These are Twinkling H2o's, just dabbled in the general shape of a flower... Then I come back, and this is the REALLY fun part, with a Fine Sharpie and start "picking" flowers! Hummm, what type flower does this one remind me of? And I start outlining, adding details... I'm not quite finished with this one and I'm showing that on purpose. In the top right hand corner of the first rectangle, you can see some unfinished flowers. I've already decided that they will be poppies, but just for illustration sake, I'm showing them to you undone...
Hope you Enjoy!
Marianne :)

My Big "Little" news....

I'm very happy to announce that a new, beautiful little life has entered this world: His name is Wylie Jackson and he has completely captured my heart. ( And ALL my camera lenses, believe me!) The fact that I am his Oma (Dutch for Grandma), makes it amazingly special! I feel much too young to be a Grandma, but I wouldn't change this love and feeling for him for anything in the world!
Welcome to this imperfect world little guy, you just made it a whole lot more beautiful!
Love from Oma...
And Enjoy from Marianne :) :)

My beautiful Mother and avoidance...

This was my beautiful Mother. The tiny black-haired beauty... She was born Cornelia vanderBrugge in 1926. The cute little blond next to her was her sister, Magdalena... You may be wondering why the subject is my Mom and avoidance...But I have been avoiding you because of her...You see, my sweet Mama passed away on February 11th...and I want to write a tribute to her, just the right thing, just the right words...and have several pictures of her, my favorites...But I feel inadequate to express her worth, her value to me, her beautiful life...I have things to say to you, things to show you...But until I can accomplish what I want to, they seem so petty...
She was sick a very long time...with Alzheimer's...I have written about her before and who she was to me and about her dreaded disease...She slipped away as the years went by, more and more, until all that was left of her was her body...laying in a hospital bed, day in, day out...But I still loved her and needed her and as strange as it sounds, there was still comfort that her body remained...I don't mean that in a cruel way...I wanted her to be whole again...she knew where she was going and I knew where she was going and that I would see her again when my time came... I prayed for the Lord to take her home so that she would be healed...forever...I just didn't realize that I wasn't ready, not really ready to let her go...several people have told me that you never are ready...as much as you think you are prepared, as sick as they may be...to know that on this earth you will never see their precious face again...it makes it so hard to let go...But then there comes that time, that is their time to go...and you don't have a choice...
So for today, I don't have the perfect words, the right tribute... I just have...I love you Mama, I love you still so much...and you were the best Mother to me...an incredible example...a beautiful, beautiful life...lived for the Lord...lived for others...so giving, so kind...I will miss you on this earth until I take my last breath...I thank you for everything you were, to me and others...for everything you gave...my precious, precious Mother...I would not be who i am if it had not been for you...
Good bye sweet, beautiful Connie Jane vanderBrugge Vandenberg ...
10-21-1926 to 2-11-2012...What a beautiful life, inside and out...
I sang "Fly to Jesus" to her many times...and she did.
Your loving daughter,
Marianne