I just finished these banners for Palm Sunday at Genesis Lutheran Church, Buchanan Dam, Texas.

 

Church Banners

I made these banners to go behind our church's altar for Holy Week!  Now I'm working on Palm Sunday banners and just finished Easter.

It's been awhile and not all good things have happened to us.  In October, we put both our old dogs to sleep because their quality of life was getting worse and worse so we let them die with dignity.  Then in November, a coyote came into the neighborhood and killed Bill the Cat, all of the outside cats are missing, and our 8 month old kitten Lucky went missing, too.  All out searches, newspaper ads, rewards, house to house inquiries yielded nothing, other neighbors' cats are missing too, no new neighbors in the 'hood, and I saw a good sized coyote twice at the end of the street.  From there is an open field and ranch land, it's so dry there is no water and food so the wild animals have started coming into the neighborhoods.  Then Christmas was busy as always, work was plentiful this summer and into the winter (we actually had a couple of days below freezing), which we are grateful for.  And of course, church keeps us happily busy.  I am now teaching guitar through the prestigious Harmony School for the Creative Arts and have 9 students.  It keeps me on my toes, I'm blessed with some really great students that are easy to teach.  Who'd a thunk it - me a guitar teacher?  Our Praise Band that we have nicknamed New Beginnings is doing great and I'm still the bass player.  With the addition of an electric guitar, we have an even bigger sound.  I rejoined the Highland Art Gallery and the Friday Art Bunch is going strong.  Check us out on Etsy.  www.fridayartbunch.etsy.com and me www.joyceweaver.etsy.com.  Now that I'm able to get back into my blog, I'll try to stay more current!

I made a New Doll!

Here's my newest doll creation.  I started with Christine Shively's Treasurer Keeper pattern - the doll is mounted on a boat shelf that you can find at the craft stores, I did a scrapbook paper collage inside the shelf.  You probably can't see it, but I have little cupcake & pie buttons along the top shelf - yum!  The doll's dress is made from my mother's Aunt Helen's hand embroidered, crocheted, and tatted laces and linens.  I've had these linens in plastic bags in my closet which wasn't doing anybody any good and they are going on 75 years old so I wanted to do something to show off Aunt Helen's beautiful linens.  I'm going to give this doll to Mom but this pattern would work up so nicely as a wedding/bride gift, Christmas, Halloween, or any kind of keepsake.  It was a fun project and Christine loved it!

Big Wins at the County Fair!

This doll was just one of the handful of ribbons I won at the Burnet County, Texas Fair last week.   My teddy bears (Mr. & Mrs. Ted E. Honeypot) made from an upcycled, vintage, faux fur coat and sitting on a hand made, refurbished doll bench - got another blue ribbon.

A drawing I did and a mixed media painting each took a third place ribbon and my famous peanut butter blonde brownies got second place in the baked goods division!  It was a fun time and I'm so glad our Master Gardener group has taken over running the fair every year.

Update on Lucky the Rescued Kitten!

Update on Lucky!  Sorry I haven't posted an update before now - life gets in the way sometimes!  She's doing great, it's been 6 weeks since her rescue on Highway 71, she scares the other cats and Gizmo the big calico is now her best friend!  Thanks for all the good wishes and interest!

We named her Lucky!

I found this poor tiny kitten on busy Texas State Highway 71 so close to the road that I could see she was still alive, so I stopped & picked her up.  She doesn't look to be injured, but I'm not sure if she is going to make it, she has been sleeping since I picked her up this morning, no telling how long she was laying scared on the side of the highway.  A couple of big trucks flew by and she is so small that she ended up being rolled all over the side of the road.  She may have hurt her front paw, but for now I'm going to let her sleep until she's had enough.  She's got some food right there when she wants it.  Gizmo is fascinated but hasn't caused any trouble YET!  Like I need this!

Gift Bags from Scraps

Mom gave me some leftover "cheater quilt" pre-printed fabric blocks and I made these gift bags out of it.  I used a super stiff iron-on interfacing, lined the inside and even put a blank tag with a fabric tie on the inside to use.  The picture was taken at my huge patch of cilantro, which is blooming and going to seed.  The butterflies and bees love it and it smells like a Mexican restaurant around that part of my yard!

Recipe for my AWARD WINNING Blonde Peanut Butter Brownies

Below is the recipe that won 2nd place in the baked goods division at the Burnet County, Texas Fair 2012 - but if you don't want to cook them yourself you can buy a freshly baked batch on Etsy:  www.burnetcreativeart.etsy.com.  And, you'll be supporting Burnet Creative Arts, Inc.'s school art programs!

Blonde Peanut Butter Brownies (aka Old Folks' Delight)

This makes a 9" square pan - so grease one up for this recipe and heat the oven to 350 degrees.

1/2 stick butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar (not packed)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla (or to taste)
1/2 cup (approximately) crunchy peanut butter
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch salt
1 cup all-purpose or cake flour

You'll need your mixer for this recipe.  Start by beating sugar and butter until well mixed - or fluffy as the cookie recipes call it.  Add vanilla, egg, mix that together, then add peanut butter.  Mix all that until well blended, in the meantime, blend baking powder, salt and flour in a bowl, add that to your mixer bowl, blend all that - it will be a stiff dough.  Then add as many chocolate chips as you want - I usually add half a 12 oz. bag (then I eat the other half!).  Dump that in your greased pan, spread it out with your hands & fingers (AFTER you wash them) until even in the pan, bake for about 18 minutes - until light brown around the edges.  Take it out, let it cool, cut into squares.  That's it!  Enjoy!

Even I had fabulous flowers this spring!

This is a big red rose from one of my bushes.  When we moved to this house in 2000, we planted all kinds of roses in many colors.  Now, all of my roses are red and climbing so I think all of the bees and hummingbirds in my yard are doing their job!

Happy Valentine's Day Everybody!

My Art Doll is all ready for a Valentine's Day celebration.  I hope everybody has a wonderful Day!

It's been Awhile!

It's been awhile since I've posted anything on my blog.  We have had a very rough winter at Burnet Heating & Air, the phone quit ringing about Thanksgiving and has just now started back in February.  I spent a month in South Austin taking care of Vicki Lippe, who broke her leg just after Christmas and got a new job at the same time.  She couldn't drive, and has a brand new Ford Escape, so I moved in with them and drove her to work, did the grocery shopping, some cleaning, laundry, all the stuff she couldn't do because she was stuck in a wheel chair.  She is now out of the wheel chair & using a walker, husband Gary is taking over this week and she should be driving again the week after that.  I'm home now and have all my stuff to do here.  Cats are acting weirder than usual but they'll settle down. 

I finally finished this painting!

This my dad & 2 of his brothers painted from a photo taken in 1947.  I painted this in acrylics on a 24 x 36 all media canvas.  It was a booger and now I know better than to use acrylics - I'm stickin' with what I know & that's watercolor.  I've got a big sheet of watercolor paper to try this again!

It's Fall in the Texas Hill Country!

We finally got some rain all weekend over 5 inches for us in Burnet!  The sunsets and sunrises have been beautiful over the last couple of days and there is actually dew on the ground - that's something we haven't seen for awhile.  And, the temperatures are down to 87-90 degrees - get out the coats!  So now all the Texans who ran off to Colorado because they can't take the heat can come home now!

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

I don't usually get controversial in these blogs or anywhere on the 'net but I have to speak out this time during Breast Cancer Awareness month.  I suffered (and am still suffering) breast cancer last year.  Thankfully, it was stage 0 and it's gone now but I'd like to share some of my observations.  First and foremost, when you give money to these big corporate "charities" all you are doing is supporting the charity.  If I contacted the NFL & asked them to buy a whole bunch of pink gloves & Nike shoes for their players, would they do it?  Even with health insurance, the treatments bankrupted us and I'm still paying.  I contacted the Breast Cancer Resource Center, all I got was a pink tote bag full of pink crap I couldn't use and didn't want.  When I asked the director how much those bags cost to put together, she told me about $35.  I gave the bag back & asked for the $35 - didn't get it.  I contacted American Cancer Society asking for help to pay medical bills and buy my prescriptions, no help there - they aren't in the business of helping individuals but directed me to my local food bank and maybe I should contact the local churches.  Susan B. Komen organization has so much money they can afford to sue anybody that uses their "for the cure" slogan (and win).  The money collected goes to "research" and while there has been some headway in cancer treatment, for the most part the treatment is the same as it was 25 years ago.  Who is in charge of "research"?  The drug companies.  I rest my case (as the legal community says).  So, if you really want to help fight breast cancer, find someone in need and clean their house, buy some groceries, give them a free ride to treatment and then buy lunch, give them money, gift cards, I'm sure you get my drift.  That person will feel better and so will you - your money will be helping someone who needs it and not the director's salary increase for some big corporate charity.  So many women have to keep their jobs during treatment because of the health insurance factor and it's very exhausting to go through chemo or radiation.  Thank God I had my family and my church, Genesis Lutheran there to help me through with support and encouragement.  I highly recommend a church family for everybody.  Anyway, that's just my observations and I hope somebody in power someday has enough compassion and puts aside greed and money to help those who really need it.

RAIN!

It's been over a month since we've had any rain - here in the Hill Country we only get rain when it storms, then we have to deal with possible tornadoes, straight line winds, hail & lightning strikes with not much rain.  Two nights ago we had lots of thunder & lightning and we actually got 2 1/4 inches of rain.  It was a time of celebration in the neighborhood, we didn't have to water gardens or lawns!  Lots of worn out knees from thanking God!

Blue Ribbon at the Fair!

I won a blue ribbon - first place in watercolor/fine arts division at the Burnet County Fair this past weekend - June 10-12, 2011.  I was surprised because there was lots of great competition.  All of the entries in all of the categories were amazing and I even got to taste some of the baked goods winners but I'm glad I didn't have to judge any of it!

Genesis Lutheran Church Garage Sale

It's that time again!  Genesis Lutheran Church Garage and world famous bake sale is April 15th & 16th.  Finish your taxes, come on out!  Last year, Bonnie Norman and myself were going through breast cancer treatments and weren't able to organize anything so this is going to be a big one!

Got My picture in the Paper

Highland Art Gallery had a new members' show last weekend and since I was the only new member in the gallery when the newspaper reporter showed up with her camera, I got my picture in the paper! This is a watercolor painting I did of Longhorns in the Bluebonnets and my husband Jerry made the frame out of an old cedar beam from our house.

This is a Test at Jan's House

This beautiful painting was done by Jan Hulen, Burnet, Texas.