ANTI-VALENTINES 2010

As the Allman Brothers Band blasted in the background (looking forward to the upcoming concerts I will be attending in NYC, and yes that was Concerts PLURAL yahoo and teehee), I started working on this years Anti-V's. I decided to use scans of some of my abstractish paintings on top of sweet hearty scrapbook paper. Paper that I will never use otherwise, left over from when Sam was a baby and I documented every burp and coo. Who could blame me, she was a gift from the universe YEARS in the trying and finally making. BTW Miss Samantha's 16th birthday is my Valentine present every year. Yup, she was born Feb. 14. But I digress. Alcohol spray/ink jet images/Apollo 7039 transparencies are my favorite and consistently successful way to transfer images. Alas, this technique WILL NOT WORK ON TOP OF ACRYLIC PAINT, so I am going to be using scrapbook paper as the substrate a lot from now on. Both to use it up, and to make it my own.

Above are the scanned ink jet images printed on Apollo 7039 transparencies using my Epson c88 and Durabrite inks.

Above, I have 70% isopropyl alcohol in a recycled perfume mister. Spray the transparency until it is thoroughly covered, but not dripping. Lay the image down on top your receiving paper.
Gently brayer the image. Then lift a corner to see if the ink is sticking to the paper.

The above 2 are not perfect transfers. Doing transfers = embracing imperfection. Difficult, but you can do it!! teehee. See the ink left on the transparency above? Mist that spot with alcohol again, burnish that spot using your bone folder, and it will stick!!! You can repair these, quite easily. Or leave it nice and grungy, your call.
Above is one of the best transfers of the day. Look how clean the transparency is!!After they dry, you can fill in any blank spots with paint washes, or crayons, ink you name it. For this project I will be using Portfolio Water-Soluble Oil Pastels.
When the transfer is dry, I like to go over it with steel wool. It smooths out the finish and removes any sticky residue. You can skip this step. For these AV's I will be adding images of couples so I want my substrate smooth.

Here are a bunch ready to be embellished. If you look close you can see the sweet little hearts under the abstract splashes of color. I have started embellishing, but am not ready yet for show n tell!! I am doing a few sweet for a couple sweeties, but mostly they will be sour!! Remember, they are Anti-Valentines, after all. I hope I get them done on time!! xoSusan

Quilters: Get Ready To Drool

Most of you know I work at The Vision Center inside Wal-mart. What you don't know is that the VC is right near the front door and it's very, very cold. My legs are cold all day. I hate the feeling of tights under my pants, just can't do it. Last week by the end of my 10 hour shift, I was this close to buying a down comforter and going home and getting right under it. And Staying There, Forever. When I say buying, I mean charging because I don't have extra money right now. Or Ever, Actually. teehee. Anyway, I resisted. I came home and started frantically attacking the big plastic tubs in my closet looking for blankets. My daughter came out and watched the show.
"What are you looking for?"
"An Extra Blanket, I'm %&*# freezing!!"
"oh."
So far each tub had things from my domesticated married life I never use anymore. Place mats, table runners, table clothes. Seriously, I was a completely different species back then. The lid came off the last tub, and I gasped.
"What's that Mom?"
"You've Never Seen this have you?"
"Nope."
"It's the Quilt my Grandma made for me when I got married. I've never used it. When your father and I had the house, it was displayed on a quilt hanger on the wall."
"Are you gonna use it?"
"(horrified)NO!!!! pause. Well, I never have. I have always been afraid that I'll ruin it. I never felt responsible enough or grown up enough to put it on my bed. " Hmmm I am almost 50 now....
"huh?" accompanied by a puzzled look.
"And what about Buddy Guy's black cat hair getting all over it?"
"Mom, if don't ever use it, you might as well have THROWN IT AWAY years ago."
Realization that my 16 year old is wise beyond her years follows.
"Who are you and what have you done with my daughter?" I say. She rolls her eyes.
So from that night on, this quilt has been my comfort and joy. I feel so loved under it.


Grandma chose the pattern and the colors. Most of the fabrics are recycled from other projects. Notice the red and blues? I just love red and turquoise together, maybe this quilt started it all!
Just look at the precision of the stitching, the corners. They just don't make them like this anymore. BY HAND.

Rachel Colvin Myers.

Deb, Susan Rae (middle named after you know who), Grandma, Linda.

And yeah, the quilt's covered with cat hair already. I don't think Grandma would mind. xoSusan

I'm Mad As Hell

And I'm Not Gonna Take It Anymore!!!

The Nor'easter that arrived late Friday left this outside my front door. I hate that stupid woodchuck for forecasting 6 more weeks of winter. We are expecting another storm on Wednesday. I can't take much more.....xoSusan

Book Pages

I have been working on embellishing my cat card boards with the idea to turn them into a book. This book is just for me. I'm using it as a practice for transfers so far. Here is the post when I first made the pages. This first one, Serene Girl in Chaos, has a bunch of failed transfers that have been wiped off, which give the page lots of colorful texture. The floor plan of Notre Dam is a soft gel transfer from an Apollo 7039 transparency. The girl is the actual transparency glued down after I tried to transfer her twice using soft gel and failed. The flourish is a rub on. I'm going to add more paint over the flourish and more embellishing with words, stamps and paint.

This next page, Butterfly Nest, has an astrological chart transfer with the soft gel/7039 recipe. The upper butterfly is a rub on, the big one is paper glued down and blackened with charcoal pencil. The rose and egg are glued down transparencies, the nest is a tissue image. The rose hides a failed soft gel/7039 transfer attempt.
She Holds The Keys, now has the key image which was transferred using soft gel/7039. Lots more to be added to this page.
Doorway Silhouette has like 4 failed transfers sanded off and two pretty distressed "successful" transfers on top. I like the grunginess, but would have liked the face to come out cleaner. Can you even see the face??
Wordy Venus has a real mess in the center, another failed transfer. I will cover that up with paper.
I think I like Butterfly Arch the best so far. This one had a failed transfer of a queen and a castle on it. If you look real hard in the green area you can still kind of see her face. I used an Arch stamp and a butterfly rub on that will have to be toned down somewhat with a charcoal pencil. Can you see the face on the right. My daughter says she can, but she loves me and doesn't what to hurt my feelings. teehee.
So this is what I have been up to. All of these pages will have a lot more added to them as I experiment more and more. Once I get the majority of the page finished, the fun embellishing begins with words and bits of this and that. I've never done a "practice book" before and although often frustrated, I am enjoying the process. This weekend we are expecting another Nor'easter, and have heard estimates of up to 18" of snow. I think I will stock up on the Diet Pepsi and work on my Valentines ATC's. Time ran away with me this year, I hope I get them finished for all of my lovely Blog Friend Valentines by the 14th!! Now here is my question: Do you want Sweet Valentines or my typical Sarcastic Anti-Valentines???? I have LOADS of ideas for the Sarcastic ones and like 1 idea for a sweet one. Ok, that's a lie, I have none. But I am trying!!! Make a Choice and You Too May Be The Lucky Recipient of an Anti-Valentine or a Sweet Valentine. xoSusan

In Case You Forgot...

Thank you Kim, for the Gentle Reminder. I think we all forget sometimes. xoSusan

Braving The Elements-Michelle Ward's Crusade #36

Michelle Ward's Crusade #36 is very cool. What do I like about it? For starters, she's given the players 60 minutes to accomplish this journal page!! For me that is a HUGE challenge. Luckily for this one, I had a prepared journal page ready to go. The page is already covered with a gesso stamped background.

In Michelle's Words:


I call this crusade Braving the Elements because what I want you to do is make some tools - cut paper snowflakes - and use them to create textures, then actually apply the tool to your page. You will be making your own collage elements!

Ok, I deviated, cuz that's what I do!! I am not into snowflakes at all! I chose to make a cross stencil instead of cutting snowflakes. First we are instructed to gather our tools:
Above you see the prepared journal page, heart doilies, paint, magazine words, glitter that I ended up not using, and a page from an old calendar. Instead of making paper snowflakes I cut a stencil from the calendar page. I love this idea, inspired my Michelle.

You end up with a stencil and mask, or a cool collage element. The next step is a combo of drybrushing and dirty brushing, techniques Michelle explains in this Crusade.
You can start to see some of the texture created by the gesso stamping show through. Next, I used gesso and the cross stencil:
Don't forget to use both sides of the stencil to get your image going in opposite directions:

Most of the crosses got covered up by the end of the hour, but that's ok. Next was using the doilies as stencils:
Part of the directions for this crusade are to use the "hand cut" elements on your page. I didn't cut my own, but I do add the doilies I used to stencil onto the page.
I made the cross in red as a focal point. See my brush is still dirty!! Next I added some words ripped from a magazine:
I journaled using a black Stabilo pencil. I rubbed the edge of the pencil on top of the red cross and the texture below really pops. Oh and BTW, please forgive my use of red, turquoise and black YET AGAIN. I just love them so. Here is a scan of the finished page, which probably came just a little over the 60 minute rule:

So in Michelle's words:
The purpose of this crusade is to get you to realize all the skills you already have, and that you have all the materials you need within reach to make cool pages.

I love "Using What I Have On Hand" and this Crusade is another perfect way to do just that! The subject of my page "Your Cold, Cold Heart", is something I fear I am destined to struggle with my entire life. My thoughts came out in "I am sick and tired of selling my heart to the lowest bidder". Yeah, I'm a genius, I know. A sad, dark genius with a way with words. Sorry Mom, I did it again! teehee.

My Inspiration is taken from the song, "Your Cold Cold Heart" written by Hank Willims, Sr. You've probably heard Norah Jones' version. But, sniff, Hank's is way better. Just says the Music Snob. teehee.

I've tried so hard, my dear, to show that you're my every dream
Yet you're afraid each thing I do is just some evil scheme
A memory from your lonesome past keeps us so far apart
Why can't I free your doubtful mind and melt your cold cold heart?

Another love before my time made your heart sad and blue
And so my heart is payin' for things I didn't do
In anger, unkind words I say that make the teardrops start
Why can't I free your doubtful mind and melt your cold cold heart?

Another love before my time made your heart sad and blue
And now I know your heart is shackled to a memory
The more I learn to care for you, the more we drift apart
Why can't I free your doubtful mind and melt your cold cold heart?

Why Indeed?? xoSusan

Charms for My Mom

I made wine charms for my Mom for her birthday. My Mom has many interests: party planning, entertaining, dominoes and mah jong, quilting, sewing, reading, and writing poetry to name the most current. She is a font of Wisdom and Grace. I tried to honor her spirit in my charms with words that describe some of her attributes. I, of course, used words from Wuthering Heights as my source. Mom's charms are abstract in nature, cuz well, personality traits are kind of abstract in nature, no??

My mom tries to teach me to persevere and move forward with a positive attitude and to stop with the Regret, already!!! Unfortunately it is a lesson she has to try and impart to me, A LOT!! Thanks for not giving up Mom. Giving up is not in her repertoire. xoSusan

Ink-Jet Transfer Play

While waiting for the paint to dry on the canvas I just sneak peeked you, I played with transfers. My tools were ink-jet images printed on Apollo 7039 transparencies, Golden's self leveling clear gel, and acrylic painted ATC backgrounds. I also used some of those cardboard postcards I posted about earlier. You know, the cardboard from the cat food cartons that I gesso'd and painted with sprays and glimmer mists. I sealed them with PYM. I had to, cuz when a spot checked the paint with the GSLCGel, the sprays smeared. Bummer. Out of the attempts that night only ONE was a failure. I'll show that first:

Not sure if the problem was too much GSLCGel or what. But the next ones turned out Grungy, not perfect, and therefore exactly what I wanted! Thanks to Andre, of Aftermath, for sharing the steps: apply GSLCGel to substrate, let Gel get slightly tacky for barely a minute, lay down transparency, burnish with paper towel, lift and rejoice!! I also used a bone folder to burnish. This is the only method that I have found to provide consistant successful transfers on top of acrylic paint. Hey, Marianne, I haven't tried the Elmer's Caulk yet!!






Here is the image I used:

Feel free to use this in your Art. I changed the color to black and white before printing to get rid of the background color and to save ink. Also, don't forget to mirror the image before printing, so the transferred image is not backwards. Trust me, I forget to do this often and get so mad at myself for wasting ink!! The next ones are the catboards, oh I mean, cardboards, teehee:




I think I'm going to bind these into some kind of book, some day. A lot more transfers, experiments and embellishing have to happen first. Below is the image I used for transfer. Feel free to use it.
Next on the horizon is thinking about trades for the upcoming Art and Soul Retreat!!! I'm so excited!! Who's going?? Give Me A Shout!! xoSusan

Canvas Sneak Peek

Yeah that's all you get. For Now. I figured it was about time I posted some of my own Art. teehee. xoSusan

Look What Jimmy Made!!!

Well, you met Erin in my last post, now meet her husband, Jimmy. Jimmy is an Extremely Talented graphic designer and artist. He often shows his work at galleries in Philadelphia, and recently had the well deserved honor of designing an AMAZING Mardigras display at Universal Studios. Among other arty things, Jimmy is a people and pet caricature artist. Check out his website, McIllustrator. You too can have yourself or your pet caricaturized by Jimmy. Now, you know how it is when you "inherit" a friend through marriage. Well, Jimmy is a dream cuz he endures lots of girl talk with patience, and so far hasn't told me to hit the road. Always a good feature in a man, teehee. I am one lucky girl, cuz look what Jimmy gave me:

copyright J. Mchugh,

don't even think about copying, or I will go Ninja on yo ass

HELL YES, THAT'S THE MAN IN BLACK, MR. JOHNNY CASH!!! thanks Erin for making Jimmy give it to me!!! teehee. Thank you Jimmy, you are the best Friend-in-Law a menopausal Johnny Cash lovin girl could ever have!!!! xoSusan

Look What Erin Made!!!!!

I am Blessed with a Capital B to have some Very Very Good Friends. Let me introduce Erin, who recently married Jimmy, who you will meet in my next post. I met Erin when I was the young age of 30, new owner of a screaming newborn. Later, to become Miss Samantha, my Valentines Baby, who will turn 16 this year. We interrupt this post to bring you Samantha's new look:

I just couldn't resist. She is absolutely Gorgeous, if I do say so myself. She looks exactly like her father, who was and still is an Extremely Good Looking Man. I am so happy she got his perfect nose and not the Sager Ginormo Ball of Flesh!! Anyhoo, back On Topic.....So I was living in the sticks, asked a neighbor for a babysitter, and met 16 year old Erin, who lived down the street. Erin was a shy but smart, sweet but funny, an all around awesome kid that I would be proud to call my own. So I thought, hey, what better babysitter could I ask for? Maybe Sam will turn out a bit like her. For many years I "mothered" Erin, along with Sam. Erin was a dream, she loves to organize and clean. I reaped the benefits of her skills when I was a very busy full time workin married woman with a big house to take care of. I moved from the sticks with my divorce, but always kept in touch with Erin. We weathered each others heartbreaks, moves to Hawaii (hers, not mine, dammit) college, jobs, and lots of Art. Erin is a very talented jewelry maker, is a genius with paper folding, makes exquisite shadow boxes, floral designer, a truly gifted mixed media artist. And I was lucky enough to see this girl evolve into a wonderful woman who I mother less, but Friend more, know what I mean?? I BALLED my eyes out at her wedding. Sam was mortified. teehee. Erin is now the age I was when we met. I have been hounding her to have a baby so MY 16 year old can babysit HER infant. The circle of life, no? Anyway for Christmas, she created these Stunning envelopes as my gift. The computer does not do them justice!! I overlapped them for scanning purposes:

How beautiful are they?? She and her husband also designed a calendar with her gorgeous nature photography. I am so proud of her. Here is my beautiful girl in all her creative hilarity:

Yeah, that's Jimmy doin all the work. Thanks, Erin, for the beautiful Christmas presents. Now get pregnant already!!! xoSusan

More Blog Love

Wow, I am fortunate to know THE MOST AWESOME Bloggers in the world. Not only are my blog friends Talented, Wise, Funny, Inspirational, you are all unbelievably GENEROUS with your friendship, and ART!!! Big Thank You goes out to Sherry of Got Art? who sent this wonderfully festive Happy New Year ATC:


How cool is that?? I love it!! Sherry is taking a little hiatus from blogging but visit her blog anyway!! There is so much talent to see there from ANY of her posts, past or present. I'm sending Positive Thoughts out to Sherry and hope YOU will do the same!!

I received a Christmas Card from Marsha of Tumblefish Studios, Gorgeous As Only Marsha Can Do It!! Beautiful detail, The Most Intense and Juicy Colors Ever!!

And in True Marsha Style, she enclosed a print of one of her horizontal works, that I requested to add to my "Marsha Wall". Yes, I am a stalker of The Highest Caliber!!
How Stunning is That???? Marsha also Generously enclosed another print, but I'm not going to share it here. I am going to Emulate Marsha's RAK and send The Magic along to a dear friend. Payin it Forward!!! xoMarsha Many Many Thanks.

I just hopped to Marsha's blog to get her address to link, and was deeply saddened by news she shared. One of her dear blogging friends lost her battle with cancer. I did not know this artist personally or by her work, so I will let Marsha's post speak for itself. Marsha's father has been diagnosed with cancer, her daughter has been in and out of the hospital frequently this winter, and her dear friends have seriously ill parents. I am going to join Marsha in asking for prayers for all of these Beloved People in Marsha's life. We Artist Blogging Friends are a POWEFUL and LOVING group of AMAZING STRENGTH and SUPPORT. Thank You Thank You for adding your Positive Thoughts, Prayers and Comments to all Your Comrades in this Big Wonderful Bittersweet thing called LIFE.

My Dear Friend from The Other Side Of The World, Lorri of Artivity in Australia, has also had a terrible loss in her life. Her Cherished mother passed away recently. Although I feel powerless to Really Help, I did the only thing I could, support her with Words and Love. Lorri's blogging about her painful loss is very real, very raw, and an amazing tribute to her mother. I have had to brace myself to visit her blog, because although, I try to be supportive, I can be a coward too. Lorri's writing is so powerfully written, and I am thankful she has her blog to help in a small way to purge her emotions. Lorri sent me an angel.

I didn't crop, sorry. Please say a prayer for Lorri and her family.

My Mom is celebrating her birthday this week. The family is celebrating this Saturday with a dinner in her honor. I am so blessed to still have my parents with me. I Love You, Mom. I Love You, Dad.

Me and my Dad.
Me, my sister Deb, my sister Linda, at her wedding 2008.
Mom and Dad's Engagement photo.

25 years together.

The Colonel and his wife attending a Military Ball.

Sam and my STUNNING Nieces.
Me, Mom and Dad
My cousin Dionne and My Wonderful sister in law, Robin.

My hilarious Nephew Joe and his Awesome wife, Erin.
The coolest Brother, Dan and The Coolest nephew ever, Tim.
Me and Dad at Linda's wedding.

Me and Sam.
I Love and Appreciate Each and Every One of You.
So this is what happens sometimes. We start out carefree, silly and shallow and End Up, Saddened yet Thankful, and therefore Grown Up. I was going to delete the beginning of this post because it started out too lighthearted. After visiting Marsha's blog and reading Lorri's latest post, I felt completely different. Then I realized turning on a dime is what life does. Keepin it Real is hard. Much Much Love, Susan

NY Resolution 2010: Think Outside The Box

I'm working (and salvaging at the same time, teehee) an 8 x 10 mixed media canvas. During drying times and brainstorming, waiting for an idea, truth be told, I played around with 2 ATC's. Since I'm not ready to share my canvas, I'll share these 2 "out of the box" for me ATC's. I collect rubber stamps, I love them because I can't draw. I under utilize them and decided to bring em out and shake things up. There are so many inks, powders, paints, and all kinds of techniques that are available to make that stamped image your own individual piece of art. Here is what I came up with, "Black Gold":
I used the back of an old paperback as the substrate, and tried that ink swish method. ie use a non stick craft sheet, dab inks on it mist with water, then lay the card down and swish or smoosh it around. Yeah, it looked like crap, wiped that off. Tim Holz uses this technique a lot. I have no swish skills. sigh. So I just took a make up sponge dabbed the ink pad and dabbed the ink around on the card. I used a sage green, a goldish, and a burgundy. Then I stamped in black the flourish and embossed it with black embossing powders. ohh ahhh. shiney. I took a square of my handmade paper and inked the flower image, its one of Fred B Mulletts stamps. I took a piece of black paper I bought and gold embossed a leaf on it, but it didn't turn out very shiny. Wrapped some thread around card and taped on a flower charm. Sharpie'd the edges and layered with gold and then black paper. I did this quickly, rummaged around my paper scraps box. I tried to use this as an exercise to stretch out of "my style" and see what happens. Not using words, or having a sarcastic, or humorous, or R rated slant to my work is definitely out of the box for me. I was really kind of surprised with what I came up with. I may be spending some time forcing myself to work differently in order to refresh. I think that is a lovely New Year's Resolution, don't you?

I also really like the artist's who add stitching and fabric to their art. My friend PB, of Barn Owl Studios told me about an artist I never heard of before, Rebecca Sower, who utilizes fabric in her work, quite beautifully. Another artist, along similar lines, Ruth Rae, does gorgeous work I have admired for a long time. I have mentioned before that sewing on a sewing machine for me would be like driving a space shuttle. I have one gathering dust, but I am afraid of it. So I bought one of those hand held wheel thingys that pokes even holes when you roll it across paper and filled the holes with thread. Yeah, I bought it like two years ago and just took it out of the packaging. I should be a third generation quilter, my grandmother and mother are unsurpassed in their quilting skills. They tried to teach me. See that picture up there with my two brokn arms??? How do you think that happened? you guessed it, sewing lessons. teehee. not really tho. So instead of using fabric, altho I have several tubs of it from my mom, I used a napkin and mulberry paper on this one called "Buried in Trees":

You probably don't believe me, but those words are taken from "Wuthering Heights". Anything that is worthy in life can be taken from "Wuthering Heights". teehee. So the black card stock has a bit of the stem from Fred B. Mulletts Teasel stamp, that I bleached stamped. I used the German scrap bird, layered the papers, rolled that hole making thing, and filled those holes with red and a gold/black glittery thread from my cross stitching days. Dabbed a bit of ink on the blk and white napkin. So there you have it. This is a lot of writing about 2 average and humble ATC's. What makes them special, to me anyway, is that I tried to think intuitively and quickly, force myself to think outside of the box. They are a beginning only, and I'm hoping my findings from these exercises will help my "personal style" of art making evolve. How do you challenge yourself to keep your art work evolving? Please share your process, I'd love to hear. xoSusan

The Day After Christmas My Muse Came To Me

The day after Christmas I finished several and created several new ATC's. The first one you've seen the background already, but now it's complete with the words.

Treachery and Violence:

The next is a VERY non perfect attempt at doing a transfer with alcohol spray and an inkjet image printed on Apollo Transparency 7039. Yes, this was before I ACCEPTED that this technique would not work on top of acrylic paint. I KNEW this, you see, but I hadn't yet ACCEPTED that fact. teehee. Remember my definition of insanity??? go back a few posts. Read. Learn. Do Not Make Same Mistake. teehee. So the transfer is patchy, but I like that the image looks ancient, therefore the title, Always and Forever:

I used some old scrapbooking border stickers and gold embossing powder also. Substrate is a vintage page of Wuthering Heights mounted on a baseball card.

The next is kind of quirky, but I bet you have felt this way too. I was inspired by an experience I had the Wednesday before Christmas. I was driving out of the parking lot of the grocery store, having just picked up the fruit tart for Christmas Eve. I stopped at the crosswalk in front of the store. Looked both ways. No one coming either way. I proceeded to drive. A man steps out between 2 cars that were parked farther down in front of the grocery store, NoWhere near the crosswalk. He starts yelling at me, There's a stop sign, Your supposed to Stop, over and over. And I mean Red in the Face, scarey yelling. Yes, I almost hit him. I didn't see his Stupid Ass. I drove away stunned at my close call and stunned at his bizarre reaction. Every year I remind myself that there are A LOT of people who don't usually Leave Thier House that Have To during the holidays and that these people Speak and Drive. We must be on HIGH ALERT in case we Encounter one of these Aliens.

Here is "Species":

That one was fun. The next is a set using the "Hot Topic" Rubber Half Sheet I purchased from Michelle Ward. I used scrapbook paper over baseball card substrate, gold embossing powder and vintage words from Wuthering Heights. That book is so perfectly written, such emotional words within it's Genius. One of my favorite books of all time.

"Crown of Wishes":

The face is from my Medieval Workshop. I then did an alcohol transfer from an inkjet image printed on an Apollo 7039 transparency. I ADORE this rubber set. Get used to seeing A Lot of it. teehee. I can't wait to participate in Michelle's monthly Creativity Crusades, starting again in January. The next ATC uses the same materials and techniques.

"See Through":

Boy, I'm really proud of these, if I do say so myself! I think they are among my all time favs. The last uses the words cut from a vintage book, and the wisdom of none other than Professor Dumbledore of Harry Potter. Again, same materials and techniques used.

"Do Not Dwell In Dreams":
And in Homage to the Enormous Amounts of Snow we had here and to paraphrase Buddy Guy's song "Stone Crazy" is the last ATC, "Where The Weather Suits My Clothes" :

I'm glad the muse struck yesterday, cuz today a sore throat and earache struck!! At least it waited till after Christmas! off to take Tylenol and Gargle. xoSusan