OH, HO HO HO IT'S ANOTHER CHRISTMAS SALE!

Yep, that's right.  There is another SALE going on in my mixed media painting collage shop  lorenfidalgodesigns.etsy.com!  Just use the coupon code  Loren1 and you will get 10% off anything in my shop.  This is my new shop on etsy and it features prints of my lady painting/collages called sweetie curves TM and floral collage prints DABBLING DELIGHTS TM.  Come on over and have a look at my new shop and pick up some goodies while your at it.

This collection of lady painting/ collages called sweetie curves TM are near and dear to my heart.  They all have their own personality and world that they live in.  I feel they are like playing with paper dolls as I draw, design, print and paste the layers to each lady together.  I am truly surprised how they look when they are completed.  They really tickle your heart with their look of whimsy and charm.

ELEANOR

GEORGIA

KATIE

PENELOPE

MELLISSA

VANESSA

BETTY

DAISY

VERONICA

LUCILLE

VANESSA

This is my new line DABBLING DELIGHTS that I have been working on for some time now. I've finally got a small selection of these mixed media painting collages on my blog and my website lorenfidalgoportfolio.blogspot.com.   I hope you will find the new look interesting and that it appeals to the inspirational inside of yourself.  I worked on many versions of these pieces and I am happy with the way they have developed into their own message and purpose.

AMY

PENNYROSE

CARRIBELLE

DARIA

ABILIENE

JULIANA

BETHANY

I will be adding new products to this shop such as pendants, bookmarks and greeting cards.  Keep checking back for new stuff.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

Loren

OH, HO HO HO MY CHRISTMAS SHOP IS HAVING A SALE

Just a post to let you know that my shop Dabbling Delights on etsy is chockful of Christmas goodies and everything is on sale 10% off.  Just use the coupon code celebrate1  when you check out.

There are beautiful Christmas Ball ornaments, adorable Santa and snowmen gift tags, lovely wine bags, floral winter gloves and awesome Christmas greeting cards just to list a few. 

                                                                           
                                                         GIFT TAGS

CHRISTMAS BALL ORNAMENTS

WINE BAGS

WINTER FLORAL GLOVES

GREETING CARDS

Take a peek over at my shop and I hope you find some things that you really adore!!!  There are a lot more designs than are featured on my blog and I take special orders up until December 13th.  Hurry on over and have a ball in the Christmas shop.

Cheers,

Loren 

ABOUT THE JERSEY SHORE AND SANDY

I want to share a post about the storm Sandy and the devastation it has caused all up the eastern United States and talk about my sorrow I feel for all those who have lost everything that defined who they were. All my family lives in Toms River, New Jersey and they all have had some sort of problem from Sandy barreling into their homes.   My sister is still out of power and she is driving around in her car to charge up her phone and sleeping in the dark with her pug Rielly under a bunch of blankets because they have no heat.  My aunt and uncle had a large tree fall on their roof and I'm not sure how they are doing since I can not get a hold of them.  The saddest story I know and where my heart goes out, is my sister's ex-husband who has lost his entire house and the contents of what he owned.  It's been a huge trauma in all their lives.  I would like to share my feelings and what this all means to my family, me and to all the people who have lost everything including the things that really matter,such as family photos, momentos, as well as the necessary essentials like clothes, furniture and endless meaningful possessions.

It is not commonly thought of but what we have in our possession, what we save, what we build, I believe does define our selves to some degree and the loss of those things can bring on a severe loss of self and identity.  Although I am not an expert, however, I have learned some things about memory and sense of self over the years and this is what I believe.  I think that loosing your home in a storm is as if each home was lost in a fire and loosing everything. Many did loose their homes to fire in this storm.

I have asked myself, how do these people go on?  How do they pick up the pieces where there are none and try to maintain some sort of normalcy and sanity?  Loosing family photos is a identity changer for some because it tells them who and where they have been and who and where they are.   It is a common effect that loosing memories erodes our sense of self because memories help keep our sense of self together by linking events and experiences like a spider spins a web.  I know my world and memories have been effected. and life will be different in my home town.

I grew up since I was 7 years old in Toms River and I lived 5 minutes from Seaside Heights which was slammed by Sandy. Needless to say, I am so saddened to know my childhood years and memories will never be the same.  All my memories of the boardwalk have fallen into the ocean and the town no longer looks like I remember.  For a year after graduating from high school, I lived in an apartment with a friend, one block from the beach and boardwalk.  My entire childhood was defined by the Jersey Shore and the 'beach'.  Those were the days.  I have vivid memories of riding on the amusement rides with my friend Mary and revealing and sharing our deepest darkest secrets on those rides and also while walking the boardwalk.  We were tan as can be and bathing suits were standard attire for us.  Some days we would go to the beach all day, go home to shower and back at the beach and boardwalk we would go for the evening.  I remember OP clothing and wicker and velvet flip flops.  I remember the long lines of cars down route 37 waiting to get over to the beach.  I can remember the sand in our bathing suits and the smell of the salt water in the air.  I remember.

I have been carrying a line of pendants in my Dabbling Delights etsy shop that were created from my memories of the Jersey Shore. They are fittingly calIed a block from the beach.  I have put some below and you can also check them out in my shop.

For all those who have lost everything or something, I will pray for you.  My heart is heavy for all the folks who are struggling to make sense of this event.  I know I am and I was not in the path of the storm.  God bless ..

Loren




http://www.etsy.com/shop/dabblingdelightshttp://www.etsy.com/shop/dabblingdelights

MY GRAM'S BIRTHDAY

Today is a sad day for me and my family because it is my Gram's birthday. Today she would have been 99 years old.  Sadly, she passed three weeks shy of 99.  Gram so wanted to make it to 100 years old and we wanted her to go on TV to bake her awesome cheesecake.  Generally, she would get together with my cousin, my anut and my anut's mother Rosemary to celebrate all their birthday's since they all fall in September.  Unfortunately, they will be missing Gram this birthday and so will I.


It is selfish to say that I wish she was still here on earth even though she was so ready to move on to heaven to be with her husband and her sons, brothers and sisters.  I wish she was here to talk to on the phone about random things such as cooking and TV.  I wish she was here to share a bowl of Cheerios.  Even though my Gram was so old and ready for what comes after death, I still miss her and miss sharing our passion to make things and look at pretty things.  I hear all my Gram's sayings in my head since they were so memorable.  Here I want to share some of the classics 

When I would tell Gram I was coming to visit her, she would say in somewhat of a musical way, "I'm here.  I'm not going anywhere".  When Gram was confused or frustrated she would say, "I'm all balled up!"  Never sure where that came from.  One of my favorites was when I told her I loved her, she would respond, I love you, too"  and always with the "too" on the end.  When she would speak about going to heaven, she would say in Italian, "When Jesu Grist, begom...I'm going."  She meant, "when Jesus calls...I'm going".  Another of my favorites was when Gram would say, "I'm a saver, not a spender'.  Love that one! I also loved when she would remark, "I always paid cash". I will ever forget these Gramisms and expressions that she said time after time.  They are so uniquely hers.

Well, Gram , I miss you so much. I hope you are enjoying all the things that you longed for and waited for?  I know you will be with me always to guide me towards becoming my best self.  I miss you so.  Send me a sign to let me know you are okay and happy.  Say "hello" to my Mom and Dad and tell them I will see them when my time comes.  When I get my oven fixed, I am going to try to make your cheesecake.  Brace yourself,  Gram, I am going to try baking because of you!  And I will be a 'rebel' like you were and put in 'four' cream cheeses even though the recipe calls for two.  Hold on to your to your seat, Loren's gona cook!!. 

Gram you are loved.
HAPPY 99th BIRTHDAY!!!!!
and I love you, too!
Loren

GRAM'S STUFFED PEPPERS AND CHEERIOS: SAYING "GOODBYE"

Gram about age 15

For the second time in one year and 4 months, I am facing the pain of loosing someone that I loved so much, my Gram.  How do I sum up the life my Gram lived that was so full and also sometimes painful and challenging.  My Gram was an awesome lady with so much strength and the ability to handle extremely stressful events.  I have written some posts on this blog here and here, about myself and my Gram and how I discovered that we were both artists at heart. 

    

I want to share this story with you about my relationship with my Gram and how we bonded over many years.

One day about 2 1/2 months ago and after my Gram became very ill, she still wanted to cook and she had stuffed peppers on her mind.  Gram had these red peppers in the frig and she thought we would make it with them.  So, Gram got all the ingredients she needed in her slow moving way.  Bread crumbs, onions and spices.  She asked me "how should we cook them?"  I suggested that we cook them in the oven in a pyrex dish with some water in ther pan. 

I am not a cook.  I find it to be overwhelming.  But my Gram was a brilliant cook and everything she made was to die for.  She could cook anything and everything and she managed to feed five children cooking everything in one pot as we were growing up.  So, we mixed the ingredients together in a bowl and preheated the oven to 350 degrees.  The red peppers were small and we cut them in half. We scooped the mixed ingredients inside the small red peppers.  Gram said they "looked good".  We put the peppers inside the dish and I placed them in the oven.  We sat and waited for them to cook.

I kept checking the peppers and they seemed to be cooking okay, but they were not cooking fast enough so Gram said to raise the temperature to 400 degrees.  She was surely a 'rebel'.  I turned the black knob and raised the temperature hoping that they would cook well.  Again,we waited.  I was becoming discouraged with how they looked so I took them out and my Gram thought that they were done. I put the pyrex dish on a hot plate for them to cool.  I got plates, forks and knives for us.

Well, Gram took the peppers out of the pyrex dish and placed them on our plates.  She said, "oh, they look good".  I was secretly feeling dissappointed because they didn't look good to me.  But Gram just kept telling me they were good as she ate one of the stuffed peppers.  I felt inside that they weren't right, but because Gram was saying that they were good, I thought they were okay after all.

Gram and me at my wedding

Sadly, my Gram passed away August 27th and she lived three weeks just shy of her 99th birthday.  She wanted to live to 100 but her little heart finally gave out and she got on the bus with Jesus to heaven to see her much adored Portugese Prince (as my brother calls him) my grandfather.  Gram told us that she was going to miss all of us and I told her that we would all be okay and one day she will be waiting for us to join her.  When I talked to her the night before she passed away I told her as I told my Mom 16 months ago,  "go towards the light, Gram.  When you see it, go towards the light"

Gram and Grandpa (The Portuguese Prince)

Gram and Grandpa, again

Two weeks ago was her beautiful funeral service.  I made display photo boards to illustrate the 98 years she lived.  They were the best I could do and I was proud to be able to use my creative talent to honor Gram's memory.  My younger brother gave the eulegy.  It was beautiful. 

At the funeral dinner on Thursday night, I mentioned to my brother Ken, who was very close to Gram, that I made the stuffed peppers with her.  I told him that I didn't think that they came out very well but Gram didn't say anything to let me know she thought so.  She knew all along that my suggestion on how to cook them was not good, however she never told me so. When I told my brother  he smiled and said, "I know, Gram told me".

This may sound like this is a simple story about cooking stuffed peppers, but it is more than that. I think it is a story about the character of a woman and how she kept her thoughts to herself when she saw I was making a mistake because she didn't want to hurt my feelings.  Gram knew that we were experiencing a moment together and it could be the last. It was the first time we had ever tried to cook together so as Ken told me, Gram knew we were cooking the peppers wrong, my heart filled up with much saddness and much joy.

Gram and me in her kitchen.  Her funny bird in the back.

Gram and me.  She was so happy

Today, I am missing my Gram so much and I am missing all we shared over the years. From raising me and my siblings since I was 7 years old, to my teenage years that we used to butt heads and the distance in my 20's.  I have come around to know just how special my Gram was.  I wish I had more time to spend with her, but she had lived so long of a life and she was being called to meet her loved ones. 

I am thinking of my Gram and all we experienced together.   I am missing her expressions and her touch. Gram and I did art projects together and created many things.  I brought pretty things to show her such as lovely patterened paper and fabric because I knew how much she loved to look at them. I brushed her hair and sprayed beautiful perfume on her wrists. I sat with her on the sofa and held her hand as we watched the cooks on the Food Network Channel.  We watched the mass together on the Christian Channel that she loved so much.  I remember one night that we watched episodes of 'Reba' and Gram laughed and laughed.  It made me smile inside to see her laugh.

One of the last nights before she passed away, I was getting ready to leave for the night and Gram said out of no where in her Gram way, "Let's have some Cheerios!"  So I sat down and said "sure Gram let's"  So Gram and I sat at her kitchen table and I ate 3 bowls of Cheerios with her.  She ate 1 bowl. As I ate each spoonful, I was thinking to myself... "It doesn't get any better than this. I will never look at Cheerios the same way again"

I know I will always carry my Gram's memory in my heart and I will think of all we shared.  I will write posts about her and about things we did together and about how she raised my siblings and myself and literally saved our lives. 

Gram and me taking a Thelma and Louise photo.  We were having fun.

Another photo of us playing around

Gram playing around at Christmas

                                   

                                                Gram and baby Isabelle.  She LOVED babies!

  

Gram pointing to a paper boat she made.  She loved making them

I love you so much,

your granddaughter and your friend

Loren



IN MEMORY OF OUR BELOVED FAMILY MEMBER SYDNEY A PUG

I would like to let everyone know about the love, loss and sorrow of Sydney,  Bev and Ron's (my anut and uncle)  beloved pug who passed away New Year's Day at the age of 12, and just shy of 13 years old.  Sydney passed away from congestive heart failure.

It is a painful time for all who knew Sydney and her gentle and funny spirit.  Sydney had been sick for awhile and the night before Sydney passed away she was acting somewhat peculiar.  She was having trouble breathing and could not sit or lie down so she stood for almost 24 hours.  Bev told me that Sydney passed in their arms as they weeped as she took her last breathe.  As anyone who has loved their pet so intensely can understand that this is a very emotional time for Ron and Bev as they process the loss of their beloved Sydney.  To Ron and Bev, Sydney was not just a pet, she was a baby, a family member and she will be missed as one.  They just adored her and gave her all the heart and soul they could.

I want to share the things I remember about Sydney and how she touched my life as well as others who had the joy of interacting with her.

To me Sydney was a extremely lovable and gentle soul.  She was a beautiful companion dog.  When I would go over to Ron and Bev's house or to visit my Gram, Sydney would sense that I was there and she would come barreling down the stairs to see me.  She seemed to really like me and I felt an honor to have captured her heart.  Sydney had a little snort as most pugs do and she would also grunt while she got excited jumping up onto my leg to greet me. Sydney had away about her that made her so lovable and I would so enjoy to be in her presence.  When Sydney would open her mouth to breathe she had a smile that went from ear to ear.  I was always certain that she was smiling at me!  My Gram would enjoy it when Sydney would some down to see her during the day.  She would keep her company.  She was a friend.

I don't have any animals, however, I can surely tell you that the love for this special pug was immense.  She was not just a pet to everyone.  She had a human nature that would rival any dog I have ever known.  When she was with you, you felt like she was just a bundle of love.  When she would lie in Grams TV room, she would rest her head on the curved bottom of the rocking chair and go to sleep there.  This was Sydney's funny way.

In her last years, Sydney lost her hearing and she could not see very well, but she seemed to always know who was there with her.  I am going to miss Sydney and my heart goes out to all who are grieving over the loss of her.  I will miss her her snorting, grunting and the excitement she evoked in me when I saw her.  Since my Mom passed way in May, I can only think that Sydney and my Mom will cross paths on another plane and they will feel the same joy that they have given to us all these years and they will be at peace.

Time to say goodbye...
We will miss you Syd!

Loren

MY GRAM IS MAKING HER CHEESE CAKE FOR CHRISTMAS SHE IS 98!

Aren't these Santa soaps the cutest?  My Gram who is 98 gave them to me last year.  I don't know how old they are but Gram says that she's had them for years. They look vintage to me.   They are about 2 inches high by 1 1/2 inches wide. so, so, so cute...

ME AND MY GRAM

Gram always collected little trinket toy like things as far back as I can remember. Some things were hanging from the ceiling and some were in the garden. She had a wide array of magnets that are just so cute.  She also cut out things from magazines and glue them on her cabinet..  The things she cut out were so cute and funny and they had a lot of detail to them.  Gram was good with a scissors.  Interestingly, my Dad was a awesome toy designer and maybe, Dad had some of Gram's 'toy making' and trinket genes.  Hmmm...

GRAM'S CABINET

My Gram is baking a cheese cake today.  Believe it, she is 98!
She told me not to call her on Friday because she is baking her awesome cheese cake today and it will take her all day.  So, she said in a very serious way "don't call on Friday, all day".  Gram says it takes her a long to me to make the cake because she has to move around the kitchen to get things.  Gram tells me that she is putting in 6 eggs and 3 cream cheeses this time.  She says she thinks this is the last cake she will make.  I hope it is not.  We will have her yummy cake on Christmas Sunday.

Gram raised me and my siblings since we were young and it was really hard on her but she had a lot of courage and bravery to have us come live with her.  My Grandfather has just passed away and Gram was 50 years old and she was in a new house in a strange town.  After my Dad passed away, when I was 14 years old, she again had all four of us come to move back in with her.  I really don't know what would have become of me and my siblings if Gram did not take care of us.  I don't even want to think about it.  So I say, Hats off to Gram.  Hang in there Gram and I hope you make it to 100 years old!

I love my Gram and here's to the cheese cake on Christmas!
Cheers!!!
Loren