Photo of the Day--Mel

A really good pic of my sissy, Mel. This was taken, oh, about 2002??? Can't remember what file I found it in yesterday. Some folks think we look a lot alike. She's two years younger than me. The person in the world most "kin" to me! And I love her with all my heart!!

Mel got her masters in Clinical Psychology from ASU a couple of years ago and is now working at the prison .....hmmmm....it's up in the high country, Avery County, I believe. Anyway, she loves the work, is very rewarded by it.

Sandy (Hayes) told the funniest story the other night at Olivia's opening: said that they'd pulled up to the prison to pick up Mel, and Sandy was like, OMG, Mel actually does work at a prison!! Sandy saw the fence with the barbed wire dressing it, she saw the guards with guns and the tower and it just hit her where Mel works! It might intimidate us but she really enjoys her work. And I happy for her!!

If you do what you love--you'll never work a day in your life! Who said that???

Photo of the Day

A favorite photo of our Miss O

Taken while at Carova, NC June 2007

Gabby

GABBY









In June, Olivia says she desperately NEEDS a dog companion while away at school and her Great Dane Bella was way over the weight limit at her apartment. She goes to the shelter and isn't captivated by any and decides to wait on fate. Sure enough, as it aways does, fate had the perfect pet for her. Olivia and I were at the vets with one of our other furry friends and we just mentioned that we were looking for a small dog. They had just received four puppies from the pound that the pound couldn't put down and no one at the vet's had mustered up the necessary gumption to do it either. They brought all four of the pups in and Olivia picked Gabby mostly because I said she seemed the calmest. (Huh! Boy, was I fooled!)






These first two were taken within just a couple of days of acquiring her while we were at the beach (Carova) in June of 2007. Her personality was evident!!





















And this was Gabby at Christmas 07. She is a MESS!!!! She's of unknown for sure lineage but she looks like a mix of some sort of Welsh Corgi, Jack Russell and Rat Terrier. Her ears are huge! And stick straight up. Not in this pic though. Gotta get one of that.
















This was also at Christmas 07. Gabby must have been taken from her mom's teat too young! She sucks on a thump or finger to fall asleep. She's sucking O's finger here. Weird, I know. But it is sweet! It'll calm her right down too. Gabby's very hyper, lots of energy and gets very excited when anyone new comes in.

Also at Christmas. Mama with three babies loving on her.






I keep telling Olivia that she can leave Gabby with us anytime. She always says NO, mama, you can't have my dog! I'd take her in a minute! She's my granddog.

Bryson

BRYSON




After losing Bella in July, 2007, in an attempt to fill the vast void she left in our lives, we contacted the Mid-Atlantic Great Dane Rescue League and after a rather arduous application process and were finally approved, we brought Bryson home for a trial run. We became extremely attached to him--especially Olivia and me.





















He's a beautiful harlequin, very large, he weighed in at 140.





























Intimidating, huh?













Typical evening at the Shumates! That's Bryson, Zoe and Gabby relaxing with Mama.









Much to our disappointment, we were unable to keep Bryson. Did he EVER have issues with strangers! And he was so very, very large that I was actually afraid of him. Grant was too. When someone came knocking on the door, he just went nuts! Ferociously barking and growling and I could not contain him to my satisfaction. We had him over a month and that was certainly long enough to get very attached to him. After Jug was home for Christmas he helped me to see we just couldn't keep him. We couldn't have such a large animal that would could not completely trust. We miss you Bryson!






We actually tried another Great Dane after Bryson that also didn't work out. He was fine with strangers--he just had a problem with the other pets. After he attacked Zoe and the fight required after-afters stitches for poor, very traumatized Zoe, we returned him also.






Then Jug said what I needed to hear: Kim, you have two good dogs, Rosie and Zoe. You're looking for a GREAT dog. A Bella, a Max. When he put it to me like that, I knew I needed to stop trying to replace dogs that can't be replaced. I also realized we were/are financially responsible for six animals (our three and O's three) and that's just enough!

Zoe, Rosie, Bob, Atticus and Callie

Zoe and Rosie

Rosie's (on the right) been with us 11 years this month. She was a stray of unknown breed that my friend Ellen Royal and I found as a very tiny puppy walking one day when we still lived at the lake. She's good and loyal companion. Zoe, acquired from a breeder, started out being Grant's dog but she's very attached to me. We call Zoe Idiot Dog most of the time. She is very strange--all there is to it! Very neurotic. Sneaky, got to watch her ALL the time or she's in the trash or having an accident. She's looking at me sheepishly in this photo. I took it this morning and she knew she was "in the dog house" because the little sh-t peed on the carpet this morning and I had put her out and hadn't yet let her back into my good graces!!

Olivia's Atticus

Jug calls him Henry. She named him after To Kill a Mockingbird's Atticus--she loves that book. A very good cat. He's who exposed Jug and me to feline friends. We'd never been cat people until Atticus. We're now a member of the People Who Love Cats Club!!

Our Bob

My friend Lisa Factor calls me up one day about two years ago and says--now, Kim, you know you can say no to me, right? Yep, I can. Well, you're not looking for a cat pet, are you? And sure enough, I was! After Jug and I saw how wonderful a cat can be --having Atticus here when O was home from school, I was actually looking for a good cat. Olivia and I had been to the shelter in Asheville twice and I had left empty handed because I was waiting for the perfect one! Lisa and her family had just acquired a new puppy, a Maltese, I think, and as a puppy, she was extremely tiny--like a good sized mouse and their cat, my Bob, their Shadow, thought she was prey! Lisa said she couldn't relax for fear Bob would eat their new baby!! I said, yeah, bring him over. Best cat that EVER was! He is absolutely perfect! He's indoor/outdoor which I love because he rarely uses the litter box. He's very affectionate, climbing up onto mine or Jug's lap daily to snooze. He's vocal too. Talks to us all the time. A truly great cat!! And no, Lisa, you can't have him back!!

Isn't Bob just regal?

This is Callie. Another of Olivia's cats. She was also a pound kitty. She's a Siamese mix. Olivia acquired her because she thought Atticus needed a companion. Callie had been completely de-clawed which I think is the most cruel thing you can do to a cat! She's completely defenseless and can never go outside. Recently, Olivia's friend, Aly has taken Callie on. We are just about pet poor and Olivia had begun to feel a bit crowded in her one-bedroom since she got Gabby. How it continues to work out for Callie and Aly!!

Max

MAX

Another pet that touched our lives leaving a lasting impression. Max was a stray that just showed up at the back door one day while we lived in Finley Park. Grant and he bonded right away. It was about 1999 or 2000? If I'm remember correctly Grant was still sneaking into bed with us occasionally and he was 8 or 9. That stopped entirely when Max came along and Grant had a sleeping buddy! Max was of unknown breed but looked Pit Bull with some boxer maybe. I, like most folks, was very cautious and intimidated by Pit Bulls. But Max was so very, very smart, loving, and his personality was evident! We loved him so very much.

Max had issues with strangers. Typical of the breed, he was protective to the extreme. So unfortunate. He was such a good dog otherwise. But he bit a neighbor, not badly, but certainly bad enough. She was scared of him and ran from him--worse thing you can do, and he got her on her foot. I was devastated. I KNEW we could not keep a dog that I couldn't trust. In desperation, I searched and found a trainer up in West Jefferson to take him for an extended training session. She was sure she could "fix" him. She called me after three days. She related that she'd not even started training him yet, just had him out in the yard walking with him, getting to know him and unprovoked, without warning, he bit her on the hand. I was completely devastated now. KNEW what had to be done and it was by far THE hardest thing I have ever done. I cry absolutely every time I think about it. Don't think about it much. We put him down. We'll never forget him. Grant still searches for a "Max" replacement.

Can't get this second paragraph to accept any other formatting!!! Scheech!!

Bella, A Tribute

Bella February 2002-July 28, 2007

It's a testament to the human psyche how very attached we become to our canine and feline family members. And attached we were to Miss Bella. This is going to be harder than I thought to do--write about Bella. It still hurts so very much. But here goes.

We got Bella as a 12 week old puppy for Olivia in May of 2002. Grant got Zoe, our weimaranier just before or just after we got Bella--can't remember exactly how that went now. Bella, like Max, was an exceptional pet. Just lots of character and personality. She slept with Olivia every night of her life that Olivia was home. They adored each other. When we moved out here to Moravian Falls in 2005, Bella and the other pets blossomed and thrived with all the freedom and space they had to adventure in! We have an invisible fence and they are all indoor/outdoor animals, coming and going as they please and always sleeping inside.

On July 28th, 2007, we spent the day in West Virginia at a Higgins family reunion. We arrived home, Grant, Olivia, Jim and I (Jug was out of town) to find poor Bella. We don't yet know what happened. The not knowing haunts me still. She was lying (laying??) in the pasture on the outside of the invisible fence line and essentially unmarked. Closer examination revealed two very small cuts. We took her to the vets that evening and they did a superficial autospy. Radiographs revealed massive head trauma so the vet speculated that she must have been hit with great force on the head. Car hit her? Don't know.

We loved her greatly. We miss her still.

This first picture is bad, I know, but I kinda liked how it blurred. That's Aaron Pruitt, Olivia's ex-boyfriend. We still love Aaron too!







Bella loving on Ryker. Ryker is Ginny Edmiston's son. His last name isn't Edminston and I can't recall what it is!






















A beautiful specimen of fawn Great Dane.







She was a "presence" in the house. So relaxing, so calm and very loving. She was a force to be reckoned with too! Very protective and territorial. She really did not trust most strange men and we had to watch her closely to prevent her biting. I always felt safe when Jug was away with Bella in the house!

Butterfly/Dragonfly Frames

Click on the image to see it larger.

This is a photo of the project I made for my friend Sandy Hayes' daughter Casey. Sandy held a celebration recently in honor or Casey's 21st birthday and I made this for her. It's a canvas type frame or mat--the kind that you slide your photo or whatever into the opening. I stained cardstock using Adironack Color Wash (it's a fabulous dye for paper, fabric--whatever and am just teaching myself how to use it!) using greens and browns. The dye is so intense that it's easy to over do it. I stamped and embossed the words and sayings after dyeing the paper. I cut the cardstock to fit the mat and glued it using soft gel medium. The black background is cardstock sprayed with spray paint from Lowes called "Hammered"--which resulted in a great mottled effect on the paper. The butterfly and dragon are stamps and I stamped/embossed the same image over and over--about 12 times using Powder Keg embossing powders--using several different blends of powder. As the embossed image starts to "build up"--it's just so beautiful how the colors start to blend. I cut the image out using exacto knife and attached to another piece of cardstock. And attached that to a "pile" of cardstock cut the same size to give "depth" to the image. Just adds something. Cut the four holes in the corners using this fabulous hole puncher I paid $40 for and have never regretted this purchase!! I can even cut holes in my clay pieces with it! Then put the brads on the images in the four corners. Glued to the black card stock. Put a couple of coats of soft gel medium--think I mixed matte and gloss. And it was done!!

Michelle liked what I did for Casey, so thought I try something a little different to sell at the store. Same technique as above but I had a "happy accident"!! I had a dozen or so pieces of cardstock spread out on my work table and was spraying water to dilute some dye when some of the spray splattered on some of the already dyed cardstock and I thought, uh-oh! About a minute later, I saw how very lovely the effect that water had! The dye ran and blended and created beautiful streaks and new colors!!!! It was fabulous! Doesn't matter whether the paper is dry or not, it'll blend and streak. I was spraying water on all the paper I'd already colored and loving the results. So these three examples are the result of this happy accident!

Olivia and I were talking about one of the things a "creator" needs to have: bravery, no fear about making mistakes!! Just go for it! If it turns out to be a mess, no matter, you learned something, but if it turns out to be beautiful--YAY!! I'm finding being fearless to greatly inhance what I can produce!

Made a set of three--don't know if they'll sell as a set, so Michelle said she'd price them individually.

Just another example of what I made for Casey. Olivia has taught me to make at least two of anything I produce so I won't be reluctant to give away or sell the original! It's so hard, as a beginner, to part with my work!! They're like my babies!! And I'm afraid I'll forget how I did it!

Photo of the Day

From left: Rodney, Suzy, Kara, Adam, Maddyson, Alan, Jackson and Carrie--all Kerley's.

Suzy is my older sister. This was taken Thanksgiving 2007 in our front yard.

Click on the photo to see it supersized.

Christmas 2007 Prayer Book

April 7, 2008: These are photos of the "Prayer Books" I created as Christmas gifts this year. Unlike most of my other work, this project was entirely my creation! Sometimes I can be original! It was a huge project because it evolved into my making so many--I think I did 16. The bulk of the "book" is just simply ivory cardstock with tissue paper attached using gel medium. It made the paper extra stiff and sturdy. The text was formatted in Word and printed out using a font close to the same gold color. The image of the woman's face is a stamp that I stamped onto polymer clay.

Also--Olivia helped me tremendously with this project. We spread all our supplies out on the large dining room table and were "at it" for a good week. I so enjoyed having this special quality time with her! She "meditated" about the person the book was intended for also.

And I have thus far only shared the technique with one person--Sandy Hayes. I've offered it to all those that expressed interest. Guess it's just our very busy lives that prevent having the time to teach others. The day Sandy and I worked, we were at it for 8 hours! The time just flew by. Sandy is so open and daring with experimenting! She's very creative! She made her book for her daughter Casey. I bet Casey loves it!

My Prayer Books ---(this is from my journal, 12-23-2007)

I think they really liked their little prayer books. I’m proud of them. As I put theirs together yesterday morning (and two more) I put the piece in the back with whoever’s name on it first and then as I assembled the rest of the book, I prayed for and thought of the person. I think it makes it more powerful, makes the book have great meaning. Not that I’m some shaman or something but I so strongly believe that what we think has great impact. It creates energy that effects us. My hope is that the people I give them to will use them and thereby create more positive energy. I’ve also considered that I could possibly sell them or something like them. But I won’t. I think I’ll only make them for my loved ones or someone that asks for one. Then by knowing the person and making it with them in mind, I continue the positive energy. I can’t do that if I’m making it for some stranger and it won’t have any power and making profit from them would certainly defeat that! It kinda feels like a calling. And I’m sure they will improve and evolve as I continue to make them. I need a good bit more supplies to make many more than I’ve got planned for the holidays. I have to have gel medium first and most importantly. I will try and get some online today. Also need a lot more white polymer clay. And tissue paper! Lord!




Journal entry from 12-26-07:

My Books

I’m so insecure about them! I think they’re beautiful but what the hell do I know? Will the folks I’m giving them to appreciate them? Will they understand how powerful they are to me? I need stroking from folks about this or I’ll just not make anymore. Suzy called last night and said that before I got there (at Pug’s) yesterday Lisa was passing hers around and that everyone was saying how talented I am and how beautiful they are but no one said one word to me about it. Not one word. Why? Were they saying the compliments for Suzy’s benefit and don’t really mean it? Do they not want to encourage me to make them? Hmmmm…..perhaps. Perhaps they think I’ve gone off the deep end and just want this to go away. Jug said that maybe they were wanting one too and I hadn’t made them one. I said my little inserted card said I’d make anyone that asked me to one. I just don’t know. Perhaps I have gone off the deep end. I need to not think about this right now. God, I’m such an insecure baby. Makes me sick.

This is what I wrote up to insert as a seperate "card" into the book. It explains what I had in mind with the "prayer books".

A word or two or three about these little prayer books:

They were inspired as a result of some frustration I was experiencing regarding my prayer life. After a discussion with a good friend about this and her giving me the three prayers after the first one from Julia Cameron’s Heart Steps and I made a little card with the four prayers and set out to faithfully pray and meditate every day. Within a few days I was inspired to make a more elaborate “book” and share it with loved ones. Michelle and I had just spent an afternoon making Christmas cards for her to send to special customers and we used scanned images of the beautiful angel tissue paper as inspiration for them. I loved the tissue paper so much and knowing that Michelle had used the tissue paper and decoupaged it onto other objects and Olivia telling me that tissue paper was interesting to decoupage with, I thought why not decoupage it onto card stock? It worked beautifully and the book was born.

I put the last card in a book first with my loved one’s name and then assembled the remainder of the book and with each additional embellishment I pray and think about this person. I might conjure up memories of the person and just generally think about what they mean to me. I believe this creates powerful and positive energy that is magical, mystical and certainly worthy of its creation. Then as you, my loved and cherished one, use the card in your prayers, more positive energy is created and shared. It’s a powerful thing!

The angels aren’t just for the Christmas season but to put you in mind of the celestial as with the subtle female image on the second page. I find the gold theme very calming and hope you do too.

These “books” are not for sale or for profit. I’ll make one for anyone that asks me to and would be thrilled to share the techniques so you can make some too! I eagerly anticipate the evolution of the “book” as I learn better inspired techniques! And finally, those who assist in the making of them add their own prayers and blessings. How awesome is that?

Blessings,
Kim
December 2007

Distressed Furniture Refinishing

I refinished this piece last summer (07) and Michelle sold it at the store. I enjoy doing this but ONLY during the warm months. I've had a dresser to do for my cousin Lynne since last fall and it's a thorn in my side because I feel so bad not getting it done but didn't realize how much I would be disinclined to work on it when its cold! Most refinishing I can't do inside because of the fumes and the mess of sanding. And sure don't want to be outside working when it's cold. Weather's warming finally so I should get Lynne's piece done very soon.......

This piece sold like the day I brought it in! That's another thing about furniture refinishing--it's very time-consuming and it's very difficult to get compensated for all your time.

Mother's Day Card 2008

Since becoming so immersed in "paper" art in the last half year or more, I've been teaching little classes at Michelle's store, The Vintage Home, (http://www.the-vintage-home.blogspot.com/ and am thinking I'll post some of the examples of my work here. This is the Mother's Day Card. I didn't exactly create it...creating is THE hardest part of art! It really stumps me! It's rare that I come up with something entirely on my own. I'll find inspiration from others work and go from there. This particular card, at least the front cover (which is the photo on top), came from an example at Enchanted Cottage (it's a wonderful stamp/craft store in Lewisville--about 45 minutes from here) and I took photos of it and just recreated what they'd done. The inside is all mine though. These photos are of the one I made. Lots of embossing on this card.

OLD BLOG

I attempted to blog in 2006 but didn't pursue it other than a few entries and photos. I tried to just add to it but blogger wouldn't let me or I just couldn't figure it out! Seems you now have to have a Google account and when I registered for that, I wasn't given the option of adding to my already existing blog. Anyway---sure I just missed something in the process but regardless I could still access the old blog and just copied and pasted what I had there.

Old Blog Stuff--02-28-2006 Grant

Grant

Doesn't he just imbue cool rock star? We had a conversation the other day about artists who sell out. If I understood him correctly he believes that if you become famous you've sold out. Hmmmm..... My idealist son.

Grant is so cool. I love his hair! I tell him it so reminds me of the boys when I was young--all the boys had long hair in the 70's. He's a very talented artist like his sister, specializing in graffiti art. He also plays the guitar very well especially for his age. He takes weekly lessons from locally renowned guitarist Donnie Story. He LOVES skateboarding most of all. He skates every day, weather permitting. He's a fine young man!He told me recently: "Mom, I sure I hate I missed the rock-n-roll of the 70's--that's when music was really good." And it sure was! He and I have our love of 70's rock in common.

Old Blog Stuff--02-28-2006 Olivia

Thursday, March 02, 2006

Olivia Throwing

Livvie really enjoys pottery. She asked for a (used) wheel for Christmas. This was taken Christmas Eve 2005. She made mugs and bowls for everybody for Christmas! Her great-aunt (my aunt) Louise Hudson Vickory was a locally renowned potter. Livvie likes to think she might have her talent--think she does!

Old Blog Stuff--02-28-2006 Greeting

2005, 02-28 Greetings!

Greetings! Creating a blog seems a bit narcissistic to me. Like I think what I have to say will be so compelling! Just my mother tapes playing in my head, I think.What's going on? After moving to our slice of paradise September 2005, we're reveling in it still yet. We still have so much work to do...so many improvements we want to make....and still many unfinished projects to complete. For some reason, I'm so much more patient about it than I would have been in my younger years. I would have been so frustrated with Jug. It just doesn't seem important now. We'll get it done and in the meantime, we'll enjoy what we do have. He's begun the long process of adding the front porch to the entire front of the house. He's moved nine scrubs from the front of the house to an area off to the right. He's got about four more to move. He's been distracted by Grant's skateboarding barn. Grant and his band of friends are so excited about this. They're pouring the entire floor of the barn hallway with cement and out into the shed area too. They're installing some steps and ramps. Optimistically, they could be skating within the week. But that's got Jug busy for now. That porch will get done! And THAT excites me!Lots I want to "ruminate" on. Believe I'll go ahead and post this...want to see what it looks like!

Old Blog Stuff--02-28-2006 Me

This was taken July 2005. I think Aly (Curley) took it. We were goofing off and she was experimenting with the "speed photo-taking"--whatever its called. She got about a dozen or more shots of me playing "model". It was fun. There aren't a lot of photos of me--I'm always behind the camera! Gosh, I look fat in the picture! I had no idea!

Old Blog Stuff--02-28-2006 Jug and me

This was taken in June of 2005 at our creek. We'd bought our new place and had just begun our three months of remodeling. That's Bella, our Great Dane in the background. Isn't our little creek pretty?!!

Old Blog Stuff--02-28-2006 Jug

My Husband

Taken June 2, 2005. The love of all my lives! The one who enabled me to know I'm worthy....if HE loves me and I have so much respect for my husband, then I must be worth something! Isn't he just the cutest thing? And he's sexy too

Old Blog Stuff--02-28-2006 Olivia

Olivia

Beautiful, sweet, loving Olivia! Taken June 20, 2005 while playing croquet in front yard. She's very photogenic!She's majoring in art at UNC-Asheville; a sophomore. She can't decide what medium to focus on though--she loves them all. She very talented--I'm sure she do well whatever she does. She's an excellent student--unlike her parents! We have her art decorating every other wall in the house.

Slide Show of Grant's Art

I Do Have TWO Children!!

My son Grant is now 16 and half! He's had one speeding ticket already and a ticket for driving after nine when he hadn't quite yet gotten around to getting his after-nines! He sometimes procrastinates! Wonder where he gets that tendency?

He's a really talented artist himself! Drawing well comes easily for him. He has painted skateboards with graffiti for years. When he went to camp at Woodward in PA, he earned some big bucks painting other kids skateboards.

Grant's requested homeschooling starting next year for his junior year. This boy of ours is a free spirit and has "issues" (as Olivia says so often!) with the over-structure and perhaps to be honest, with authority in general. We've agreed to allow it. Just seems to be the right thing to do. He's been "looking" for employment since Christmas--funny how NO one is hiring!!

We're very proud of Grant. I'm proud he told us how unhappy he is in public school. I'm proud too, that he's a non-conformist. He has his own mind. I've had posted by my desk for many (probably 20) years this from Robert Anthony: "The opposite of bravery isn't cowardice but conformity". Seems my children have taken this to heart! Bless them.

Above is self-portrait

Grant's nick is "Grizzle". He tells me his skate friends starting calling him this because of

his tendency to kinda growl at himself while skating.

I LOVE this one above. The detail is amazing.

Olivia Shumate's Senior Show Front Page