Vintage Lady

Hello,

I wanted to share this picture I picked up over the weekend at a yard sale. Feel free to use it in your art!


Best wishes and high hopes to you!
Jennie

Hope!

Hello friends,
I cannot thank you enough for the support I have received after pouring my heart out on my blog. I didn't expect it and am so grateful. Evidently your positive thoughts helped because the company I was so anxious to work for offered me a wonderful position today and I accepted! I start Monday at 8 am (which given my new love for sleeping late might be a bit comical) and I cannot find words to express how thankful I am for this opportunity. Each day I felt a weight on my chest, migraines and I think, developed an ulcer. Now I feel so much relief and am just overcome with joy.

I wanted to share my news with each of you, my new friends. Thank you so much for your positive energy and I can only hope that my prayers help each of you.

Best wishes and high hopes to you,
Jennie

Job Search and a "New" artist (new to me!)

OK, I'm trying to stay positive here. It's been 7 months since I lost my job; I've submitted 200 resumes / applications as of today. Yes, 200. I've been out of work before but I've always been very fortunate and able to use my connections to find work. However, they are now looking for work. The credit card industry has been hit hard and I'll be honest, we've been greedy for a few years, but the volume of colleagues that are out of work is astonishing. I pray for all of them each night and hope that we can all find work again and help each other. However...if anyone needs a tenured Payments Industry professional please visit my LinkedIn.
http://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifercbarnes . Yes, I have stooped to begging on my blog....

OK...enough of that nonsense. Must toss my hair and grab a Little Debbie. Why are they so addictive?

While window-shopping on ETSY I re-visited one of my favorite items...it's the sweetest little Pekingese trading card. I went to the artist's blog and I have to ask everyone to visit her site - she is an amazing artist named Patti Gibbons. She does ATCs which are so beautiful and she paints the most lovely paintings. I swear I just want to open a bottle of wine and stare at them until I'm a part of the picture.

So please visit her blog and website and leave a note of encouragement for her!

http://pagibbons.com/
http://www.catskillpaper.blogspot.com/

Also, here's the link to the card I love...I don't want to post the picture since I don't have her permission. http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=17351376

Well, time to pack up Peanut, Saffron, Sandy and little Ginger Socks and head to bed. Yes, all 4 sleep in the bed with me (one on my pillow, one against my leg, one curled against my back and one tries to sleep across my throat.) Pretty exciting Friday night planned...watching re-runs of Ab Fab and drinking virgin Mimosas. ha ha ha

Best wishes and high hopes to you all!
Jennie


"This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast..." Hebrews 6:19

Catching up...

Hello friends,
I'm sorry to have been absent for so long between posts. I finally know what folks on all of those depression commercials are talking about - I am very sad. I cannot seem to stay out of a "funk" for more than a day and I haven't wanted to use this blog to voice my feelings. We're all down in the dumps about something - many are having harder times than me but I can't seem to stay consistent in my emotions.

I'm just so sad and angry about not working, worried about how long I'll be out of work and well, just plain lonely. I miss listening to others banter in the halls, feeling as if I have a purpose, having people ask me for help and guidance. I miss having a reason to stay out of bed after I've fed my beloved dogs. I miss feeling strong and tough. I used to be the woman that nothing bothered,that had shoulders broad enough to handle everyone's issues and care for everyone else but now they are slumped and most of the time covered with a t-shirt from the dirty laundry basket. I know...yuck!

Some things I have noticed though in my melancholy, mean reds as Holly GoLightly called them.

1)One never really owns as much underwear as one thinks...eventually laundry day has to happen.
2) Eating an entire box of Little Debbie Swiss Cake Rolls in one sitting is really not a good idea.
3) Even with all of the lights off and the covers pulled over my head, the neighbors still know I'm home.
4) Closing the doors to unused rooms does nothing but allow the dust bunnies to grow stronger and more bold about showing themselves. I thought I had tumbleweeds in my den!
5) I would be my ideal weight by now if I had stopped sleeping and worked out (and put down the Little Debbies.)

So armed with these facts and some warm weather I'm trying to recapture a little of me. I've started working part time at the jewelry store I mentioned in an earlier post. It pays nothing but it gets me out of the house and I get super discounts on jewelry I can't afford! Tomorrow I will bathe the dogs and give them much needed manicures. I will sweep my neighbor's leaves off my porch for the 100th time. I will catch the dust bunnies...

Hopefully I'll feel creative enough to work on some ATCs and my journal again. I have been looking at everyone's blogs and comforted by your artwork and updates. Thank you to everyone for opening your lives up and sharing a bit of you with me.

Till next time...

Best wishes and high hopes to you all,
Jennie

Weekly Artchix Challenge Entry

Hello!

This week's challenge for Artchix is to create a piece using pink and brown. I used wings from the Artchix Whimsical Wings Transparency sheet and a "new" image I found while antiquing. She's such a sweet little girl with her jewelry and socks pulled high!

I antiqued a stars border scrap that I had from a greenish brown to brown and added chocolate colored brown dots through-out the image as well as brown squiggly lines. The rest are shades of pink papers, crayons and markers.

Wish me luck this week! :)

Best wishes and high hopes to you all!

Jennie

Good morning!

Wow...didn't realize it was Monday morning already! Happy President's Day to each of you; we are so very fortunate to live in the USA and so fortunate to "want" to celebrate our former leaders! And our new leader seems so very promising!!

Over the weekend I finished my cards for my niece, nephew and Mom but of course forgot to take pictures so just trust me...they weren't too bad! I purchased an antiquing medium at Hobby Lobby and what a wonderful difference using it makes!

I did put together a couple more journal pages and a little fairy house that I want to share. The house was so much fun! Now I understand why so many people make them; I see many more in my future!

Have a wonderful Monday and get out there and charge up those credit cards..."mama needs a job"!

Best wishes and high hopes to you all,

Jennie

Valentine's Day Early

Thank you so much to dear Maureen from Celestial Charms - this is truly a lovely card! I truly love animals, especially little Pekingese dogs (not that my love for my little Fox Terrier is any less). Don't forget to visit her site - she's just posted some lovely variations on Valentine's Day cards; they are shades of blue rather than red! So pretty!

Thanks again Maureen!

Best wishes and high hopes to you all!

Jennie

The Background Fairy

Oh my...what a great site! Thank you so much Karen for providing all of us such beautiful backgrounds! Now if I could just wallpaper my den with this and add some lovely accents from your antique store...

Please be sure to visit: http://www.backgroundfairy.com/ and http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com/.


(I adore this picture from Karen's Graphics Fairy blog!)

Top Chef / Last Meal

So, if you haven't noticed yet.... I LOVE FOOD. This week's Top Chef episode challenged the chef's to prepare various "last meals" as requested by legendary chefs. So, I have become obsessed in the last hours about what my last meal would be. Since I cannot seem to narrow it down I'm going to stretch the fantasy to "last day meals".

For breakfast...

• My Mom's sausage balls with jalapenos
• My Mamaw's angel biscuits with my Mom's homemade sausage gravy
• A fresh beefsteak tomato at room temperature, lightly salted with sea salt
• Coffee and beignets from Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans
• Icy cold Mimosa made with Orange/Pineapple juice and Perrier Jouet Champagne

For lunch...

• Lobster Bisque
• Vodka penne pasta with diced roma tomatoes, a slight hint of pancetta and lightly dusted with asiago cheese
• Bruschetta with olive oil and balsamic vinegar
• A bottle of chilled Chateau St Jean Gewurztraminer, 2006 vintage
• Chicory coffee and a slice of my Mom's chocolate cake (she makes one with an orange icing that is outstanding!)

For dinner...

• Caesar salad with the dressing made from paste rather than actual anchovies.
• Filet Mignon, butterfly/medium well and king crab legs with fresh garlic butter from LG's in Palm Springs
• Braised asparagus and scalloped potatoes
• Pork tenderloin from the Healdsburg Charcuterie
• Flourless chocolate cake with fresh cream and raspberry sauce
• A bottle of Caymus Cabernet Sav, 1997 vintage

Oh my goodness....it's impossible for me to narrow it down so I'm eating a lot! I'm so in awe of food I've had in the states, I can't imagine how I'll be if I ever travel abroad! Now, fortunately in this scenario it's "my last day" so no worries of hangovers, indigestion, etc!

So what would be your last meal(s)?

High hopes and best wishes to you all! Bon Appetit!

Jennie

Aussie Fires

I don't know about each of you but it's been pretty easy for me to get caught up in my own stress lately. I watch the news but more to see how the DOW closed or whether we might possibly get rain. I find that I spend most of my time fighting off the desire to sleep away the day so that I can avoid everything... So that being said I'm delayed in hearing about the horrible fires that have stricken Australia; I'm shocked and saddened by the casualties - both human and animal. This is just more devastation for people who have the same struggles as me, you and everyone else.

If you have a chance and can afford a dollar or two please visit the website for Wildlife Victoria http://www.wildlifevictoria.org.au/cms/ and donate. I am sitting here worrying about how I'll continue to pay my mortgage and bills since I'm not working but I cannot help but believe that whatever I can contribute will make more of a difference to the animals than to my bills. Please donate what you can.

Best wishes and high hopes to you all. May God bless all creatures impacted by the fires.

Jennie