Ciao Bella

Good morning. Rather than going back to work-I wish I was traveling in Italy and seeing sights like this villa stamp by the British Company Chocolate Baroque.  I stamped with Veramark and embossed in black, and then colored with Copics. I actually stamped the image  twice and used 1 image to cut out some of the trees, fence newells, and roofs on the villa. This gives it a little more of a 3D effect, which you can't really tell here.

Maybe a little better in this close-up?

This a great set called Echoes of Italy and I love it. 

So last night I was having the end of vacation stress-kind of the blahs- oh my vacation is all over. This morning I am just tired, but it is getting light just after 5 am now which is definitely enough to perk me up a bit. I'm not against going back to work, just still want to be home.

But oh well!!!!

Summer will be here soon.

So got my new TV stand set up yesterday-looks great.  TV is now at a normal height.

Here's the new stand-

So it is off to start my day.

Happy Monday all.

Wrapping It Up

So I thought I'd show you a few more of my travel glue book pages this morning. (See Yesterday's post for details). On this page I glued down some strips of scrap paper, attached a stack of train tickets, clipped down some Windsor Castle tickets and then glued down some parts of a bag. I still need to add more, none of the pages in this book are finished.

I started with a restaurant menu which folds open like a brochure. I added some scrap travel theme paper to the left and then a ticket at the bottom. You can pull this page open to the left and you'll see

I added a couple of strips of paper over the menu and I want to add some items here on this pages too.  You can see on the right hand side I have a punch of price tags I pulled off some rubber stamps I really splurged on at Blade, which you can just barely make out the design they stamp on their brown paper bags.

There's also on the right a ticket from going up in the London Eye. Below on this last page you can see how it can flip open-to see the date and time we went up.

You can also see the scrap of paper I put underneath the ticket and I had this little calendar piece that glued down too.

So the vacation is really in wind down right now. Tomorrow it is back to work. BUT...this is the last push until summer vacation. AND it was a fantastic week off. I enjoyed it and feel refreshed. Spring is such an exciting time of year-everything popping out, days getting so much longer and most days, warmer, so even going back to work isn't so bad. May is only 2 days away. Katie will be home in 2 1/2 weeks for the summer and Memorial day is only a month away. Got to enjoy each day at this time of year! (Yes, at any time of year that holds true but there's some special about spring and all the promises it holds.)

Yesterday I spent the day with my hubby and mother-in-law floor shopping. We also had lunch out (a yummy lobster roll) and went and picked up the tv stand I bought at Home Goods the other day. We'll set it up today most likely and I can finally clean up that corner of my living  room-been a mess since the hubby bought a new tv awhile back. 

So hope your week starts on a really good foot! Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you again soon.

Happy Saturday

Good morning blog-land!

I can't believe it is Saturday-already. 

My vacation is over and I am in the normal weekend time off. No complaints though...just can't believe how fast the past week and the whole month of April blew by. Tuesday is May 1-wow.

Here's a bit of a glue book that I started working on while at my Mom's the other day. I used a blank white board book and a bunch of travel "scraps" from a 2009 trip my family and I took. We spent a weekend in London and then took the train down to Paris for a few days.  While I was poking around at home the other day I found a bag full of scrap-tickets, brochures, maps, etc. This is a fun little way to save those memories.

So I have a lot more of this book to work on, and will have a lot more to show you in some other posts.

And I am rereading-

New Sookie book on Tuesday-

I've got it pre-ordered from Amazon. But got to finish book 11 before this one arrives next week!

So yesterday was a fun way to end my vacation. Katie got home from school early and we went out to lunch and shopping at TJ MAXX for the afternoon. Then we bough frappes at one of those summer ice cream places that had opened up for season. Was lots of fun to spend some time with my college girl! Especially when I don't get to do things like that all too often.

So I am off to do my Saturday chores-today we are flooring shopping with my mother-in-law.

More later.

Have a great Saturday!

&

Thanks for visiting!

Blogger's Challenge

This week's Blogger's Challenge is to make your own background. That's what I did on this tag-it is glossy card stock and some alcohol inks. On top of that I stamped some blue dots (Tim Holtz), some postmarks (B Line Design) and  a French song (not sure who made that stamp). Then I added a strip of paper from an old book and some colorful mushrooms (Dylusions). The mushrooms are colored with Copics and some Stickles glitter added to the dots. Finally some white paper trim along the bottom and some white cloth trim that I used Distress Stains to make pink.

Thanks for stopping by.

Day Out

Wanted to show you a few snapshots from my fun road trip yesterday. Figured I would write a second post to show you my fun day out.

So my friend Vicky and I went to Salem, Massachusetts to one of my favorite art museums-the Peabody Essex Museum. If you are ever in Salem, don't spend your whole day doing witch things and visit this museum. It is fantastic.

This is the exhibit we went to see. I saw lots of Native American art, both antique and modern. There was video, music, painting, weaving, sculpture. The art was fantastic-some of it was just beautiful and some of it was challenging and making statements about how Native Americans were/are treated. I really really enjoyed this exhibit a lot. It made me think and feel good and feel uncomfortable. I guess that is what good art is suppose to do, isn't it?

This painting was outside the gift shop and you could buy copies of it. I love the colors. 

And look at this statue we found when we took a little walk for some fresh air in Salem. Its a statue of Elizabeth Montgomery the star if Bewitched. Perfect for Salem, MA and its witchy history.

There's even this TVLand  star plaque like a mini Hollywood walk of fame.

So we had fun-lots of chatting and laughing and a nice girls day out.

So I've been watching more of Dark Shadows-it is really getting spooky!

Have a great Friday!

10 Things Friday -Post Vacation List

10 Things about my vacation-so far -since I still have today, tomorrow and Sunday:

1-I stayed home a lot of my vacation-some days I didn't even go out and I loved it. Stayed in my sweats those days and puttered about- I LOVED being home so much. In fact, I wish I didn't have to go back to work so I could be home some more. I am in a homebody mode right now!

2-I got lots of walks in the morning after sleeping in most mornings. (but did notice it is now getting light just after 5 a.m.-so exciting).

3-I got my rug ripped up AND I got my screen porch bleached. YAHOO!

4-I made art! I worked on my prayer flag curtains, finished my OBX/last summer's vacation scrapjournals, I ran off photos from Arizona to start the next scrapjournal, I worked on my travel journal for this summer's vacation, made a few cards, knitted, and had lots of fun time.

5-I organized my paper punches and put a big bag of fabric away in the space I created when I organized my paper punches.

6-I cleaned my car and switched over my many of my spring/winter clothes.

7- Saw my mom one day and had a fun day out with my friend Vicky. Both of those included road trips- and I love road trips.

8-I watched lots of episodes on Dark Shadows. I finished my Peter Mayle book and started rereading book 11 of the Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood series. (New book 12 is next week!)

9-Made my first quiche.
10-I tried not to do too many chore projects but one thing being home is you see all those projects that need to be done. I had to tell myself not to work, work, work! After all, I only had a week off and though it feels fantastic to get some work done (especially that bedroom rug), it was super not to do anything.
But that is what vacation is all about, isn't it?

Photo Friday!
Here we go!

It is getting GREEN!

My first quiche!

Dropping daffodil in the rain the other day!

Have a great Friday!

Time is Flying

One week is not enough time off, so I have discovered for the 100th time. And staying home I keep finding things to do...art projects...cleaning projects...books to read...recipes to try...garden play time. I guess I just expect way too much for the week.

Today I am off with my friend Vicky to the Peabody Essex Museum. This one of my most favorite museums  ever and it is in Salem, Massachusetts. No witches here however-it is all about art-and lots of nautical items. They also have this whole Chinese house which is very cool. We are going to see a Native American exhibit. I am very excited to do something fun-take an adventurous road trip. But part of me is in the biggest homebody mood I've had in a long long time...just wanting to do all those many things I can do here at home.

And watch more of Dark Shadows. It's a lot of fun and is one thing I didn't plan on doing, but am loving it.

Did I mention I got a few of the DVDs at Costco on Tuesday?
And I have been doing some art every day. Here's some views.

A sewing project-making some prayer flags (inspired by the latest Cloth, Paper, Scissors issue) which I am going to turn into kitchen curtains.

And here's a second one. Want to see the flower close up?

I cut the flowers using a Sizzix quilting die that makes 3D flowers. The leaves are also cut from a Sizzix die. (As are the hearts.) I sewed 2 of the die cuts together and then made the flower. I added some green yarn as the inner stamen and pistols-to give the flower some more depth.

Here's a last view of my sewing prayer flags.

Think these prayer flags might still need a little something-but will let them roll around in my head a bit first. Since they are going to be curtains- I don't want them too busy and I want them to match my kitchen.

The other day at my mom's I also worked on a glue book with a bunch of "scrap" items from a trip my family and I took back in 2009. You know brochures, tickets, maps, etc. Figured rather than just throwing these things away, and they are so full of info about the trip, I would glue them down and make a glue book. 

Will show you some of those pages another day.

Got to have some suspense, eh?

Have a great Thursday everyone!

Changing my View

So here's a card I made on Monday that kind of represents yesterday-I didn't get to pack a suitcase and fly to someplace tropical, but I did drive 2+ hours south to Massachusetts to visit my Mom. We spent the day having a nice little visit and having some of the quiche I made for lunch. Was fun and good to see her. Then on the way home I stopped at Trader Joe's and Costco. Was a long day with lots of driving time. But I did get some original Dark Shadows DVDs at Costco which I may just sit and watch today. If you're old enough to remember the original series then you may be excited about the movie  coming out called, what else, Dark Shadows with Johnny Depp next month. Of course, just having a Johnny Depp movie coming out is exciting anyhow. But I can't wait to watch some of these old shows-Dark Shadows was a soap opera on at 4 in the afternoon-I used to watch it after school when I was a kid.

Can't wait to watch it today-figured last night when I got home that  since I am a chicken hearted soul I better wait and watch it in broad daylight-just in case.

Especially since Dave was off in Western Massachusetts on business and I was home alone- well I had 2 needy boys and one other not so needy girl so I wasn't totally alone. At least one of my boys is big, black and hairy and barks pretty loud. The other one is big and hairy but just plain emotional and needy. He meows a lot but not sure that would have protected me. And neither would help if I just plain freaked myself out.

LOL!

Anyhow, my card is NOT off kilter but when I photographed it was wasn't totally flat-the open side was a bit popped up and I didn't catch that until after I snapped the photos AND mailed the card out to my college baby at school. All the stamps are from Paper Smooches and all are from their Get Outta Town set. I was all excited to find my fav. craft store carrying a bunch of Paper Smooches stamps, so I got them there and didn't have to order them online.

So today I might do some sewing and I might just lounge on the couch and I might even get ambitious and clean. Well maybe not clean. Maybe play with some copper clay or scrap. Who knows? I am home all day and doing whatever floats my boat.

Will fill you in later.

Thanks for visiting!

Tuesday

It was great hanging home yesterday while the rain came down. Me and my sweats. Sleeping in after Dave left for work with a dog and a cat in bed with me. It was the perfect sleep in morning and it was so nice not to have to get up for work.

 I will admit though, once I got up and going, at first I felt like I needed to do chores, and there are so many chores on the need to do list, I could have worked all day. But I reminded myself it is VACATION, so I did a bit of seasonal clothes change over first thing and then hit the studio for 5 hours. 

Was sure better than working all day, especially when you know there will always be chores on that to  do list.

Plus after playing in my happy space I did some reading and made a quiche, my first, and it was easier than I thought it would be.

Yummy! Think I'll be making a few more quiches in the future.

I added onions and bacon to it-mmm.

Anyhow, back to yesterday and my studio time. I finished my North Carolina scrap-journals. I had only 1 photo  left to scrap and then I needed to put in my covers. And I did all of that!!! Plus some other art too.

I haven't been in the studio for that long in a few weeks, and I was so ready to play.

Here's some views of pages I made in the last few weeks to finish up my Outer Banks, North Carolina scrap-journal.

Here's a tag I made last week. I started with a die cut scalloped circle made out of cardboard. I glued down some little decorative shells and a couple of shells I think I found in the Outer  Banks- (I have this habit of collecting shells every time I go to the beach-and there's quite a few of them so if these aren't from the OBX, they're some a beach someplace.) LOL. I also added some of this Viva sand paint, which dries into this real sand that's stuck on for good on the page.

Here's one of the 2 pages I made yesterday. It is the last page I made. I like the checkered flag style letters. The words are from Cornish Heritage Farms that I stamped around the edges. Here's the other side, the last photo I needed to do.

I had this cool photo of the walkway into the Nascar Hall of Fame.  So I stamped these cars onto my watercolor paper (Crafty Secrets) and then I stamped and embossed the King of the Road image, which I then colored with Copics. A little red and yellow spray ink, some paper tape, the North Carolina sticker....that's my page.

Last page for today is this journaling page. I added some slides that I ran through the printer/copier, some 7Gypsies tape and a sticker I picked up at the Hall of Fame. I stamped the pit stop image and embossed it and colored it. Then I gave the page some spraying and finally added the chipboard letters.

So that's it for today. I am off to visit my mama down in Massachusetts. Me and Harley are going to a little road trip together- and he will be one happy puppy since he loves road trips.

Till next post.

Nature Busting Out

I am writing this Sunday night as it rains and it is amazing how the leaves are popping out. The wood around my home is tinged with lots of bright new leaf green. So amazing to watch the spring arrive.

Onto Monday!

Here's some weekend photos.

The cherry blossoms are past now.

But I have daffodils.

And we are getting new baby leaves outside...

and new leaves on my tomato seedlings inside the house.

And this ancient pink carpet (complete with some animal hair) is now at the dump. After 23 years of living in this house (and it was here when we moved in) we finally ripped it out yesterday. Yahoo! New floor coming this summer.

And I didn't know I could make collages in Photoshop.  OK, I should have known this but I didn't. Made this page to stick in the front of my OBX,North Carolina vacation scrap journal which might even get finished today.

I mentioned yesterday how I started to assemble the pages in my next travel journals. Here's some of the assortment of materials I am using.

So that was my Sunday and weekend. And now for Monday, a rainy day. Hmmm...we'll see what I feel like doing. All I know is I am hanging home and staying in my sweats ALL day.

Thanks for stopping by.

The Rain is Coming

So yesterday was a fantastic way to start a vacation. I worked all day-LOL! Well much of the day. Got one of my 2 big vacation projects done-I bleached down my screen porch wood to clean it up for the season. It is one of those jobs that takes a couple of hours and luckily, only needs to be done once a season. I feel good it is accomplished, that is for sure.

I also hung my second over the door cloth shoe holder in the studio and put the rest of my paper punches into it. Then I rearranged a couple of drawers of supplies in these 3 plastic storage units I have which means I now have 5 big open drawers for supplies!!!!!!! Granted- I have some fabric I need to put into at least a few of those drawers-which I have not done yet, but my whole point of hanging the shoe holders for my punches is to make space for that bag of fabric.

But getting some extra space is a bonus!!!

Love it when you get things accomplished that you've been wanting to do.

Only art I did was work on putting together my travel journal for this summer.

OK, I am not going away for 3 months but had the supplies to organize it-not decorate it- so I did that. Now I can add a few little embellishments when the mood strikes.

I also lounged out on my now very clean screen porch and read some more of my Peter Mayle book. It was 80 ish degrees and just a gorgeous day-light breeze-not too humid. A morning walk started my day. Ended my day by going to Lowe's for some grass seed and masks for when we rip out the carpet (so we don't breath in all the crappy build-up in the rub) and going out to dinner with my hubby.

It was a very full day for sure.

So today I am showing you this cute little card that uses one of Unity's Stamp of the Week selections. I think this one is my most favorite to date. And this is a simple simple but perfect little card.

I first stamped the cherry image in black on both the white card and on some plain white stamping paper. I then took some pink ink and brushed a bit just around the cherry on the card. Not a lot though. Then on the white paper I colored the cherries and the leaves-which I then cut out and glued down in the appropriate spots on the card. I put some pale lilac  Viva paint pen dots on the flowers and then stamped the sentiment.

So you are asking about my title? The rain is coming?

 They say starting today we will get a day and a half of some good soaking heavy rain. We need it, my backyard is like the dust bowl. Hence the grass seed, which I plan on throwing onto the ground tomorrow a.m., hopefully before it starts to rain. My lawn is looking HORRIBLE right now. Hardly any grass left for some reason. We also put down some bug killer and fertilizer so hopefully all this will help.

Plus tomorrow will be a nice lazy day for me, hanging home in the rain. Maybe watching some old movies or reading on the couch. Sounds fabulous.

Thanks for visiting! And have a great start to your new week.

I am on VACATION!!!!!!

Spring vacation is really here!!! Trees are blooming and it is sooooo pretty when you drive around.Cherries and apples and forsythia and a bunch of other trees I can't even name are all in flowers. Here is a peak of a flowering tree stamp from Unity stamp of the week. It is stamped in black on a piece of glossy card stock that had  decorated with some alcohol ink in a bright plaid pattern. Then I added some Viva paint pen to the blooms in some light spring colors.

So yesterday everyone was so ready for the day to end and vacation to start. Lots of people I know are going away- but I am OK staying home. I have 2 days planned-a visit to see my mom on one day and going out with my friend Vicky on another. I really really want a low key week and just do some things I want to do. I already accomplished one thing I have wanted to do...I bought a shoe holder-one of those cloth ones that would hang on the back of a closet door but instead of putting in shoes, I put my paper punches in it. That created a bunch of space when I emptied out my  punches so now I can organize some other items better. Love it. Really think I want to do some cleaning out too of some of  those overloaded craft supplies. 

Just about time to get my eBay sales up again.

So here's a bit more of the tag, using a Sizzix die cut of swirls, a Spellbinders peacock feather die cut and a small stamped scrap of blue paper.

So for day one of my vaca....what will I do? Not so sure...but am thinking of getting one of my big projects done- bleaching down the wall in the screen porch-I fill a bucket of water half way and add some bleach and then use a long handled scrub brush to rub it on the wall and posts. They need it too- lots of black mildew since I didn't do this chore last year.

Lets see how motivated I am in the morning-since I am writing this Friday night.

Friday night-the best part of vacation when the WHOLE week is still ahead of you and all the potential of having a week off.

It was a gorgeous day on Friday and when I got home Katie and I went out and got an ice cream. Yum!

So here's the final full tag-with some lace and some more Viva paint pen dots.

Don't know if the tag is a bit too bottom heavy....but I still like it.

So enjoy your Saturday...make it fabulous!

10 Things Friday- What I Want to Do on My Vacation

Vacation starts at 2:30 today-hurrah!!! The very best part about a vacation-besides the vacation itself-of course-is that first night when the whole week of downtime  is in front of you. What a fantastic feelign that is!
I am so excited to have a week off!!!!
Today's 10 things Friday is about the 10 things I hope to do or plan to do over my week off at home. (And you must know how it is, you have lots of plans but they all don't get done. Check back next Friday and I'll do my 10 things I did do over vacation list!)

1- Studio time- I have copper clay to play with, would love to do some polymer clay tiles, and finish my OBX scrap journal. As long as I get to be creative most days-even if I don't do any of these- it will be a good vacation.

2- Make my new kitchen curtains- I am trying something, not sure how it will look, but thinking of doing something on the line of making Tibetian inspired Prayer Flags and stringing them over my ktichen window. I cut out the bases the other day- now to sew and add details. Will let you know later how it all goes. (They won't look like actual Prayer Flags but those are my inspiration.)

3-READ a lot of pleasure reading or whatever reading I want to read- even if I end up reading my Organic Chemistry for Dummies book-hopefully out on the screen porch.

4- Get my bedroom rug ripped out. (It is old and digusting-we've been in our house for 23 years and it was there for at least 8 or 10 years before we moved in). Need the hubby to do that.

5- Work outside a bit- I have 2 main half day projects- bark mulch the big flower garden (which is still on the maybe I will not do that this year list-meaning I may not even contemplate that project next week)) and bleach down the inside of the screen porch. There's a lot of wood out there- including the ceiling and one wall up against the house, and I didn't do any bleaching last year. With our New England humidity- it needs a good cleaning. (This is number 2 on the project list for the week- that and pulling out the rug which I need the hubby to help with). I really hope we get some nicer weather so I can get this done, but it would be a big must do off the list.
We shall see.

6- Go visit my mom one day.

7-Spend  at least 2 days at home with no schedule. More would be better. I do have plans to spend a day with my friend Vicky- not sure what yet, but I will play that by ear. If she can't get off from work then that won't happen and I'll have another open day at home. Staying home and having OPEN time is MY BIGGEST GOAL of the week.

8-Get lots of morning walks in!!!!!!!!!!!!

9- Rent a couple of movies I have been wanting to see and spend either an evening or even better, and afternoon in front of the tv. (Meryl Streep's movie on the Iron Lady and the American version of The Girl with Dragon Tattoo, plus I really want to see that kids movie Puss N'Boots-because that cat from the Shrek series reminds me of my cat Leo.)

10-Be spontaneous!!!! Do what moves me. Don't get tied up in a schedule. If I decide to go out, I will go out. If I decide I want to drive to go shopping I will. Maybe go to the CK Scrapbooking convention in Manchester-not to take a class but to shop. Maybe skip it and save my cash. I might sleep late or maybe get up early. Maybe try some new recipes or retry some that I have been wanting to do for awhile. Maybe make a pot of chili or some French Onion soup. All of my plans sound so FANTASTIC to me right now that even if I just do 1 thing it will be a great week. Afterall, I am on vacation!!!!!
Not a week off to work around the house either!!!!!!!

I love these crocus photos. I know I showed you one the other day but here's a few more.

Also, today is the 100th anniversary of a famous New England landmark. Fenway Park is 100 years old!!!! And to make it special-the Sox play the Yankees as they did 100 years ago. Love that fact. The Red Sox are doing pretty awful this year-but it would be great if they won today-especially against those Yankees.

Go Sox.

Have a GREAT Friday.

New Art Books

Stopped by my fav craft store this afternoon (was such a nice day I just didn't want to go home and be stuck inside because of the black flies). I picked up this book. I really like it. It is all about techniques-things I really want to try on my vacation!!!!! They're simple-don't need anything too complex...a few are ones I had heard of before, and many I have seen on blogs, but it is NICE to have them all together in one handy useful book.

And this book I ordered from Amazon a few weeks back (I really must stop buying craft books). I had seen it in Barnes and Nobel and decided it was something I wanted since I am into traditional knitting. And these are the kind of patterns I LOVE. Not any specific item patterns-like how to make this sweater- but it is full of traditional knitting designs. Kind of a historical book, not a pattern book. I really like it. 

That's my latest book reviews.

Hope they  help you out. 

Vacation is getting SOOOO close

I won't have to be doing this pretty soon. At least for a week. Just today and tomorrow and I am a woman of leisure for a week.

I made this card for my daughter. Right now at college she has a chemistry class so I thought this would be perfect. I LOVE this little guy from Paper Smooches.

Check out the Smarty Pants set. The funny professor, the books (which I stacked several times) and the pencil all come from this set. I cut out the blackboard. The word study is made with the Paper Smooches alphabet set. And the dots are from the alphabet set too. I just added some Viva Paint-Pen dots on every other stamped dot.

Thanks for visiting and

Have a fabulous Thursday!

Assorted OBX scrap journal pages

Working away to finish my Outer Banks journal. Getting SOOOOOOO close. Here's some assorted pages from various times I was busy scrapping and journaling. I am very happy with how all of these came out.

On the Nascar page I used some 7Gypsies paper and tape and made the journaling card myself. Then I added some epoxied yellow letter stickers.

This one is different for me, but I love how it came out.

I stamped the back ground with a B Line Design stamp and then sprayed it with ink. Looks like paper in a way, not just my background watercolor stock. I added the die cut (Cuttlebug) and a stamped and cut out image. I took this photo of Dave while we were atop Hatteras Light and so I added that lighthouse image to the page.

I made an envelop to hold a brochure from this textured craft paper. I taped it down put added some paper tape on top just to design it. Then the 7Gypsies tag, 2 images and a bit of baker's twine and a bunch of Viva paintpen dots.

Some 7Gypsies tape and some stamped words and phrases- the phrase is by Postmodern Design and the sun,sand and surf words are by Rusty Pickle.

I'll only have a few more posts from this project I think...as I said my goal is to finish this by the end of my vacation...

I worked some more last night and I think have only 2 or 3 photos left!!!!!!

And it has cooled down a lot this morning. Finally, not so HOT weather-no AC on at school and with a room on the third floor-and of course, next week when I would have loved this weather they say rain- at least through Tuesday.

But we really need the rain badly.

But it is my vacation!

Just a few more days until it begins!!!!