It's not March?

Yesterday it felt like March. A little breeze, a bit chilly, patches of snow but not a lot, more sunshine than I expected since it was flurrying when I left the house.

But alas, nature is teasing us BIG TIME this winter here in New Hampshire. The only big storm we had was Halloween weekend, and we've had lots of small things, but then it gets warm or rains and it vanishes, or turns to ice. No ice on the lakes and ponds since it hasn't stayed cold long enough for them to freeze over. And not great skiing as it is kind of icey...nor snowmobileing...

But it is the LAST day of January, 2012.

This month flew by.

So thought I would share with you a few photos from the beach the other day-got to play with my Christmas present lens a little bit more, and it was the perfect day to walk the beach.

I love the colors here...and the textures....nature is so amazing isn't it?

These empty shells look like they're going to offer up a pearl.

My walking buddies on the beach, I'm surprised Mr. Puppy Dog Harley is getting his feet wet as he HATES water-but loves running on the beach so much!

As you can see here!

If you stop by and like my photos, leave me a comment. I'd love to hear from you.

Hope you have a great day!

Week Begins

Another week begins, and this one has a lot of committments for me-vet appointment, meeting at school, NHS is putting on a talent show Thursday night...not sure how much studio time there will be. Good thing yesterday I had lots of fun playtime!

So here's a mate to the card I showed you yesterday using another Riley the Moose travel stamp. I started with this red background paper and I used some Inkadinkado stamps from these fun little Posh set. I stamped the words and car several times in black to cover the background. I added some black and white polka dot paper tape. I die cut 2 of this fun oval shape, one in white and one in the same red as the card. The Big Ben Tower (Cherry Pie) is stamped with Versa Mark and some grey embossing powder-since I didn't have any regular brown powder. After embossing I cut it out and attached it. Then I stamped the Riley the Moose stamp on white and colored it before cutting it out and attaching it. I tried to make his shirt get a bit of a British Flag look to it, but it was an after thought and I couldn't put on the red. Lastly, I added some Ranger Dimensional Pearls on the 2 die cuts.

I like the Paris card better, but this little moose guy is still a lot of fun to use.

Thanks for visiting. I appreciate you stopping by.



Relaxing Today

I am going to lay low today and do a little school work and make a little art upstairs in my spare room studio.

Yesterday was so beautiful and in the 40's, the hubby and I went and walked the beach. Then before we ran some errands Dave and I went out for some yummy pizza for lunch at When Pigs Can Fly. And last night, we got to watch Maine play Boston University of TV and Maine won!!!!!! This weekend they swept BU both nights and last weekend they beat BC both nights- and they are the top 2 teams in Hockey East-never mind being really high ranked in the US. They are just on a ROLL! Now Maine is ranked #3!!!!!!! They were at 7th or 8th last fall so they have been playing their way right up to the top of the ten Hockey East teams. We're going to see them play when they play UMASS Lowell in 2 weeks and when we bought the tickets we figured UMASS would roll over them but now I am not so sure. Maine is ahead of them in points so it will be anyone's game.

I can't wait!

So this is a fun little card I made the other night. I love how I mixed some pretty layering with this playful little Riley the Moose tag. I made the tag on white paper and colored it with some Copics. The rest of the card is made with some images stamped directly onto this green American Crafts cardstock. Credits for the stamps-

Eiffel Tower in black (My Sentiments Exactly), writing background in brown (Cornish Heritage Farms), swirls in blue (Prima), clock in brown (Pink Paisley), Made in Paris (Stampa Rosa) and NO5 sign in mango (Pink Paisley).

I appreciate your visit.

Have a great day!

Bloggers Challenge

Here's my selection to the texture challenge going on right now on the Blogger's Challenge:

Here's a card with a little bit of love...just right for Valentine's Day which isn't all that far away.

I started by making a masterboard which included some brown images stamped from Oxford Impressions Casablanca set. Then I stamped some Stampington Hearts in red and colored them with a different shade of red. Finally I Crackled Glazed the. Then I brushed the background with a stencil brush and a bit of brown ink and a bit of dark pink ink.

Then I punched out the masterboard with a 1 inch square punch and attached them onto this cool reptile skin cardstock by American Crafts. I took a Making Memories long sticker and cut it to add it onto the card. Then I die cut the oval tag in white and outlined the edges with some light brown markers. I added a Making Memories tag over this and attached it with a foamy glue square so the tag pops up a bit.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my card.



One For The Money



Yesterday I went with Katie and my friend Joanne to see One for the Money after work. I love this book series-it's fun, romantic and makes me laugh. The kinds of books you can sit down and read in a weekend or a long summer afternoon. I wasn't expecting too much from the movie, but I loved it! It was fun, light and made me laugh. And I from the previews I didn't think the characters would match my mental picture of them, but I loved them too. Plus we had this great groupon voucher-so we saved $5 on each ticket. Worked for me!  Katie and I then went out to dinner, was a fun evening out and a nice way to end the work week.

Here's a card that I made a long time ago but recently rediscovered. I stamped a foam stamp with green acrylic paint and added some black/brown stamped images...the clock (Dawn Houser/Inkadinkado), the bracket, the postmark and the RSVP (Postmodern). The owl was stamped on white paper, colored and then cut out. Finally I stamped the saying.

Have a great Saturday! I'm hoping to go walk the beach since it is in the 40's.

10 things Friday

1- Nothing better than having a big new jar (from Costco) of JellyBelly jellybeans and sitting down and digging out the black ones to eat.Yummy.

Plus it drives Dave nuts.

2-On the other hand, feel like I need to cut back on eating as it is winter and I don't get the exercise like I do in the warm weather, and although my weight has been stable so far, I don't need to put on any extra pounds-like I always seem to.

3-The days are longer, by 4:50 it is NOT dark...just starting to get dark. LOVE IT! It's amazing how great when the day gives you 30 or so minutes of more sunlight.

4- I noticed that the other day in the January thaw when it was warm I was SO much more ambitious and creative. It gets cold and everything in me slows down. But overall my winter slump has not been that bad so far this year-maybe because we don't have a lot of snow and it seems we've had a lot of days in the 40s.

5-So it is official, we are going to Glacier National Park and the Canadian Rockies this summer-bought plane tickets the other day when I noticed the price once again went up...kicking myself I didn't get them 2 weeks ago when the price was down, but we all do that...don't we? Retrospective kicking ourselves that is.  Anyhow, it will be a fun adventure in July. And speaking of travel, Arizona is coming up in less than 1 month now. We leave Feb.25th.

6-Was poking around on Amazon the other day and I noticed that fun new knitting book I want-knit your cat. I'd actually like to knit my cats,both of them. I know I will be a cat lady when I get old.
7-Lately the world has had this depressing kind of air to it...not my everyday life but politics. State politics digging into our retirement accounts, the school district trying to be super frugal and get us to give up things. I know the economy is tough, and things aren't improving, and so many people are hurting...BUT it is just that life gets tough when everyone is scrambling to justify their jobs and that trickle down affect stinks. Superintendent, state reps, city council...sometimes you like how the world seems to be and sometimes it's not so much that way.
8-Oh No! I feel a little bit like I might be catching a cold. My nose is a tad bit stuffy, my throat a tad bit scratchy...not for the weekend. Last time we changed quarters at school I got sick. Not this time....not now.... Katie and I are going to see one for the money after school today and then grab dinner since she's not coming home this weekend from school...the beauty when college is only 30 minutes from home-you still get to see your baby.
9-New classes are looking pretty good...and I love having microbiology at the end of the day...and those kids are really interested...what a great way to finish my day...I am relaxed when all the kiddies leave.
10-Some icky weather last night. Hoping this mornings drive is ok...and would love a delay, but not a snow day. Here it is- January 27, and no snow days yet this year!


So this week's fun Friday photos are a few studio snaps I took last weekend using the new macro lens Dave gave me for Christmas.

An old casette tape holder I got for free from someone throwing it out that I keep my inks in and a plastic plant pot that I keep my watercolor markers in.

This cool old mailbox unit I have hanging on the wall in front of my worktable that I store a lot of small stamps in.

Some ribbons hanging on my new holders on the wall behind the door.

Some little plastic drawers that I have hanging on the wall to hold little things. This has made finding those little supplies so much easier and they actually get use now!

Year of the Dragon

I missed the Chinese New Year by a couple of days- the year of the dragon started this past Monday, 1/23.

To celebrate I made this card on Sunday (which was right on time). I used this pretty cardstock and stamped first this Chinese Horiscope image from Postmodern Design using Distress Embossing Powder in Vintage Photo as a background image. Then I added the 2 Chinese word stamps (another oldie but goodie by Hero Arts) in black. I LOVE this dragon stamp-it is one of the first stamps I ever bought about 12-13 years ago and it is made by Hot Potatoes. I stamped it on white water color paper (using the smooth side) using red ink, then I cut it out and attached it. I stamped the words (Cats Life Press) and then used some Mango colored ink to distress the whole front of the card. Finally I added this single clock hand (Tim Holtz/Sizzix) cut on cardboard and added a bronze colored Viva paint pen dot inside.

So I survived my first day with new classes and decided which one(s) are going to need to to put my foot down and get them serious about biology. But since I woke up early with a bit of new class nerves I spent most of last night half asleep on the couch...plus Dave was out and that didn't help stimulate me to stay awake.

So what is on your Thursday agenda? I am off to work once again, day 2 of the new semester...hopefully my classes will be as good as yesterday.

Thanks for visiting.

January Thaw

Just GOT TO LOVE the fantastic weather we had yesterday!

Ignore the tire pressure too low (snowtires not hooked up to my sensors) but look at the temperature on my dash- I LOVE IT!

Notice my road-a gravel one- has just turned to mud!!!

Just like spring!!!!!

Puddle stomping would be a good activity for this afternoon-here's my back sidewalk...

Suppose to cool off today...that's enough to make a grown woman cry.

So I'll take my mind off that and show you a bit of art.

Something that always cheers me up!

Here's a holiday journal page that's not too holiday-ish...my daughter is a Vera Bradley freak...she loves the stuff and seemed to get a whole stash of it for Christmas. (Thank goodness for one day email sales, TJ MAXX and an outlet down in Massachusetts...those items get EXPENSIVE!) but anyhow...I took this photos of some of the items she got...though mostly you see the fabrics. Then I used some printed paper and some inked background watercolor paper. I also used some red trim. What I love is that I recycled this tag and white ribbon that came around one of her gifts. Then I die cut some flowers in white (Sizzix)- I love this old fashioned fringed flower, and I colored them with Copic marker and inked them and then assembled them with a velvet brad from Making Memories. FInally I die cut a couple of leaves (Sizzix) and markered the edges of each and added a small bit of journaling...very happy with this page...and I love using flowers I just don't think they are appropriate on every page.

And here's a page from our roadtrip to Cabela's in Maine...they have these taxidermied animals displayed and since U Maine is my alma mater and out mascot is the black bear...I had to make this page. I layered paper tape (7Gyspies) on the white background paper and then attached the photo. I stamped the word Maine and used a Stampotique heart stamp (Jo Capper-Sandon) 3 times-and then colored in the hearts. I also used a Jenni Bowlin die cut tag which I journaled on and added a small postmark stamp (Paper Co.) that says Portland, ME. Then I die cut the 4 trees (Sizzix), inked them with some darker green ink for a bit of a distressed look and after attaching, I added some Viva red PaintPen dots-since it was the holiday season.

And finally

This title page for the last section of the journal. On the my white background paper I stamped some clocks (I think Judikins....) in black and the Happy New Year saying (Basic Grey) in blue ink. Then I covered a manilla tag in printed paper and stamped in red the upside down fireworks from the same Baic Grey mini set as the Happy New Year saying. Kind of gave a nice edge to the tag. Then I added some string to the tag and attached it on the page, and finally used some October Afternoon sticker letters as my title.

Simple, simple, simple!

So new classes start today- it is now second semester at school! Woke up a little nervous today...but that's always how it works for me.

And in 1 week only- it will be February!

Thanks for visiting.

Making Chili

A good bowl of chili is always a great dinner on a raw winter's night, and last night that's just what I did when I came home from work. A way to celebrate the end of the semester at school...a nice big pot of Chili.

I love this book, chili recipes from all 50 states...have been trying chili from various states, but so far the favorite in my house is Massachusetts Chili-could it be since Dave and I were both born there? LOL.  But there's some others I have yet to try...last night I did the old standby though-only this time I did it on the stove rather than the crock pot.



My goal is to get through all 50 Chilis...someday.

So today's piece of art us this close up of a card I made on Sunday using this cool Earth Art clear stamp. I stamped the moose and white and colored him in using my Copics and then I cut him out. Before I attached him I rubbed the whole image with some Mango ink to darken it. On green cardstock I stamped some pine trees (Hero Arts) in 2 shades of dark green ink. I die cut the circle (Sizzix) on some lightly polka dotted paper and attached it and then glued down some brown velvet ribbon. Finally I put some pop-dot glue/foam stickies so Mr. Moose would stand up off the card. The saying is from Cats Life Press rubber stamps.

Say Goodbye

No, you don't need to say goodbye and I am not quitting my blogging, but today is the last day of this quarter at school and I lose my classes after today. I like my classes a lot right now, and I may not like what I get new on Wednesday (we have a mid-year work day tomorrow without kids), but I am ready to say goodbye. I'll miss them, but after all these years of teaching-this is year 28 for me- I can handle the new faces. Plus, I have microbiology again starting Wednesday-last block of the day-so that is GOOD!

Here's my art for today...I was playing with my new camera lens yesterday before the Pats game.

Winter in my backyard...sunny and not cold-but chilly, quiet, white-

+++++

And I told you yesterday about my new ribbon holder- and this circle

"thing" hanger I found at IKEA...

I saw this hanger idea in Scrap 365 or Craft Stamper...and then when I saw this I thought this might do the trick!

And it works quite NICELY for $16 (I bought 2 at $8 each).

+++++

So yesterday Katie went back to school...miss her already but in a few days I'll be adjusted to her being gone. Not that I never see her...but got used to her being home again.

And the Pats won the AFC championship!!!! What a game- the Ravens missed a field goal right in the last 15 seconds of the game which would have tied it up. So the Superbowl will be worth watching this year.

Lots of events here for such a quiet weekend...(I never even left the house/yard from when I got home on Friday and I needed that recharge).

Have a great Monday!

Yesterday

Yesterday was dark with light snow most of the day...we didn't get a lot of snow but a couple of inches. The kind of day you want to lounge and watch the flakes come down...but not me! I had a very successful day all around. Slept in. Started a new book-just taking a break from Darwin which I haven't quite finished yet. Organzied my scarves in the new holder I got at IKEA the other day and organized all my ribbons on a couple of the same holders I hung behind the door in the studio. Now my ribbons are easy to get to instead of being stuffed in a drawer where you can't find what you want and if you do find what you want, most likely it is all tangled. Will get a photo for you one of these days.

Then I also got the studio more or less picked up and I vaccuumed and I FINISHED the holiday journal!!!

Yahoo!!!!

I really needed to get done with anything to do with Christmas. Got all that put away. Am happy with my journal but just didn't want to even do any more with it so I had to finish up the page or 2 I had left.

And I couldn't stand the studio mess...not that it is perfect, but all the things laying around on the floor were really driving me crazy. So much I didn't even want to go in there and work.

But now, it is better.

And if those accomplishments weren't enough for 1 snowy Saturday,

at 4 we had Maine vs BC on NESN-fantastic college hockey especially since MAINE WON!!!!! 7-4. It was a good game. BC is a tough team too, and I guess Maine also won last night so that moved Maine into 3rd in Hockey East. So exciting!!!!!!!!!

 I'm writing this Saturday night and we're watching UNH vs Merrimac hockey on tv now. What a day. I'll give it an A++++.



Here's my latest read...really enjoy this author's murder mysteries set in Quebec.

Inspector Gamanche is her lead detective...he sounds like a hottie to me.

Today's card is made on some pink reptile skin looking cardstock. I did a small masterboard using the Casablanca stamps by Oxford Impressions. I also stamped the hearts-Stampington stamps and colored them red and then added some Crackle glaze to them. I then used my inchie punch and punched out the images and attached them. I added the 7Gypsies tape, a little Making Memories sticker and then a few Viva Paint pen bronze colored dots. I've done a bunch of inchie cards in the last few months...I guess you kind of go through phases with what you make and what you like to make. And no, it is just my cropping that cuts off the bottom edge of the card so there is a little pink edge of cardstock there too.

Thanks for visiting!

Finding Inspiration from 2008

Another review of years past. Today I went through 2008. Going through my old blogposts and finding some inspiration and lessons learned.

OK, inspiration #1- I want to go back to someplace in Europe. Here's a few pages from my Dublin/Ireland travel journal. As you can see we went in 2007 but I was working on the journal during 08.



This page I just love the lace, flower and little stamped pink birdies. Plus the picture is unique and she's a cutie.

Another page-I love that I found this giant beer sticker, and snapped this photo from a bus window and then cut out the words from a brochure.

Love this painted and stamped fabric book -this is what I am thinking about doing now...bright colors and design.

Made these cloth hearts and love the layered background.

An atc swap I was in-love the layering here. It is so tradition Valentine's Day.

I took this FANTASTIC mosaic class. This is a close up of my still most favorite polymer tile mosaic I have made.

A fun ATC-I like the rainshowers.

A make me happy collage page from my travel journal for in Feb or 2008 I went to London with my family for a few days. I used lots of newspaper cut outs and some stamps from Blade and some buttons....

I love this page because of how much I hated this page when I made it-I still remember that dislike.  Now I actually like it.

I like this card because its quirky...all the carrots-so different for me.

Took this Alice in Wonderland book class and I like how I took just a so-so book I did in class and came home and really jazzed it up...well, enough to make it a book I now really like.

Another London journal page...a tea page since we were in London afterall. Like the fun background I stamped, like how there's no photo, like how I used assorted stamped items...

This page is strictly an art journal page from Greenwich, England.  I like how it looks rich, the background has some depth, the big gold chipboard key....

Love how I played a bit differently with a photo of fish and chips. The fish, the waves, and Big Ben clock tower...

I love the circle journalling tag , the post makrs and I love the 3 birds I stamped.

I love the paint, even if it did get a bit pink and I love the Churchill postcard. Perfect for the Cabinet War Rooms but not too obvious.

Love how I cut out the photo and the grunge little tag I made.

Page from a holiday book. I like the different textures...gems, paper leaves, stamping, coloring...

I love this flip book I made...that it flips.

Fun page...How adding the little bird imade really makes the saying stamp so much more fun.

So how am I inspired?

Well, like the review of 2007, I definbately need to try some more and various art forms and styles.

And I need to travel more....

I need to be me and stop trying to follow the trends....it's not bad...

And I like adding some different and fun items-like the pink birdies above and the little red bird right here on the holiday book.

Make it fun!!!

10 things Friday

1-This week has FLOWN!  It is Friday already and it is already past the middle of January.

2-Exams start for me today. Just 1 more day on Monday (and the kids get out at 11:30 because of exams) and this quarter at school is over and we're officially into the second half of the school year.
I however am SICK of grading. Next quarter, gonna cut back on the grading.

3-Had a fun shopping trip with Katie this week-went to IKEA and a Vera Bradley outlet in MA. Probably shouldn't have spent the cash, not that I spent much, but got some good deals on a few things. I love a good road trip and I love some good shopping and some good deals.

3-Katie goes back to school on Sunday to start her second semester of her sophomore year.

4-When we went to IKEA I looked at flooring. This summer I want to rip out the 35ish year old carpet in my bedroom-(IT IS SO YUK!) and put in a laminate floor. I am ready to fix up my bedroom since most of the house is how I love it but how I want to fix up  my bedroom has taken forever to come to me. But we've been here for 23 years this May so I'd say it is about time to fix up this room.

5-This weekend I don't care if I go anyplace. I want to organize my ribbon stash, finish cleaning the studio and finally finish the holiday journal-which is right now like 97% finished. Just a couple more photos to deal with. I also need to do some of those usual weekend chores. Then we have Maine playing BC in hockey on NESN at four tomorrow so Dave and I want to watch that plus UNH is playing Merrimac on tv at 7 and Katie wants to see that-and we'll watch it too..and Sunday we have the Pats playing football for the AFC championship at 3. Sounds to me like a good weekend to hang home and do these things. They're also saying maybe some snow on Saturday too. Another reason to hang out in my sweats and a fleece and enjoy some home time.
6- Man, it has been cold the last couple of days (need to pre-start my car) and I am still in my sleeping-in mode. (Oh to sleep in every day until like 9!) BUT I will say that it is not completely dark at 5:15 in the afternoon...I am definately noticing the difference in the length of day, ever so slightly. That is encouraging.
7- I am still reading my Darwin book-haven't had any time to read this week since Monday. Not happy about that since I wanted to make more time to read. I did do some bit reading of my mitten book from the other day and I did read parts of a book on National Parks. Of course I have also been reading my honors ecology classes book papers...and catching up on last minute paperwork...so after reading papers I come home and don't really want to read right away and then with the dark and cold I get tired...no excuses...
8-Some light snow this morning...a little more light snow tomorrow. We're white, but not really white-and its crunchy icey snow.
9-Been thinking about doing some fabric art- sewing and painting some muslin. Now just to make my thinking a reality. And I bought some cheapo frames at IKEA to play around with some mosaics-trying to make some mosaic frames. Oh how I wish I had more TIME!!!!!!!! How I wish I could play 8 hours a day. I am in an arty mode and not a teachy mode.
10- I wish I could be going to CHA when it happens in a week or 2. Just to walk around and see all the new goodies before most of the rest of the craft world. It was be a fun adventure, don't you think?

And here's a few fun photos taken in the last week:

One of my favorite road trip and shopping buddies- my daughter Katie. (We're having lunch at IKEA)

At the hockey game we went to last Saturday night-Maine playing Merrimac College-can't get over this arena...I mean rink...it is so small compared to what we're used to.

It was raining too hard to stand in front of this sign on Tuesday and get a good photo so I snapped this from the side. This is in my town here in New Hampshire-the front of a local hairdresser next to the post office. The sign says you don't have to be perfect to be awesome. Hopefully I'll get back to get a photo of the sign another day before they change it.