Wrapping Up June

Can you believe it is the last day of June? I can't. 2012 is half way over!

Wow!

It was just winter time and the year was starting.

But I am not rushing through the year and I am certainly NOT ready for winter yet.

So yesterday I listened to the cleaning devil in my head and I went and organized my kitchen overflow closet down in the basement. I was pretty pleased with myself. And I lounged at the lake on my mother-in-law's deck and enjoyed some quiet down time afterwards. I figured I deserved it after doing that cleaning job.

LOL.

Today I work at the lake and then we have dinner plans with some friends.

As you can tell, I am having a blast so far this summer.

So here's a few journal pages to show you.

I used an old calendar page as my base to journal on. Love trying new things and that was it on this page. And rainbow colored Viva paint pen dots.

This page I used some stamps (Paperbag Studio) which I then colored. I sprayed the page and added some acrylic ink to the hearts to make them pop off the page, but you can't tell they're popping here.

One more page for you today.

Doodling, coloring, watercolor crayons, some Tim Holtz watercolor markers and the clouds are stamped images from Hero Arts.

That's it for right now.

Have yourself a super fabulous last day of June.

10 Things Friday

This week sped by! Wow-eee-Friday already! I have to say I keep thinking it has been a day ahead all week. So yesterday I kept thinking it was Friday when it was only Thursday.
Really, I am not trying to rush the summer.

My list this week is a summary of my week and some previews of my week to come.

1-Been having LOTS of studio time. Got so many projects going on-Arizona scrap-journal, summer scrap-journal, Gothic arch project, flower project, my journal for our trip in 3 weeks. Oh yeah, and I am working on a painting and that is so much fun. Must mean I need to do some more painting. Maybe I need to take a painting course.

2-Lots of mental conflict though-I want to play and the devil in me says I should do so some of those little house chores I want to accomplish. Don't put them off until the very end. But I just started vacation. I am on vacation. It is summer. So not everything gets done. Who really cares?  I hate when my brain does that to me.
Doesn't it understand the FUN and RELAXATION I have been having?

3- I am loving being home. Not bored yet. Been out in the garden, been walking, went to visit my Mom, reading...Loving it.

4-Took my kayak out and cleaned it yesterday. Now, next week, I need to put it in the water and go out for a paddle.
I would today but it is gonna to be a scorcher.

5-Next week I am working a lot at the lake. I appreciate it too since last week Dave found out he will be out  of his job in a couple of weeks. Poor guy. He's handling it well but you can't just lose your job and walk away without having some kind of reaction.
But since this is my place to be totally selfish and self centered-

I love my summer job at the lake-it is the perfect summer job for a teacher.
And I really appreciate having it and that Sue, my lake boss, gave me so many hours of work.

6-This weekend besides me working 4 hours on Saturday, we are going out on some friends' boat for cocktails and on Sunday we are  also going out in our boat to watch the Pease Airshow from the water. Katie and her boyfriend are coming which means we get to spend some time with her! Will be a fun but low cash spending weekend since we don't have to go very far in our boat to see the Blue Angels and the other flying planes.  Being out on the water (in the heat!) is such a summer thing to do.

7- So to appease the chore devil in my head, and I am going to try to do at least 2 of the following house things by next time I write this list: organize the basement kitchen overflow closet  (the whole closet doesn't need to be done-just the bottom shelves), start painting my bedroom, vacuum my car and/or the basement floor, or paint the wall by the sink the upstairs bathroom.

Think I'll be able to do 2? 

I don't know since it is the 4th of July holiday, I will be working 20 hours, and Dave will be home since he's going to use some of his built up time at work before the leaves.
Plus I have tons of garden tending to do...which depends upon the weather and if it doesn't get or stay too hot.

And if I don't do 2, or even I don't get to any of them, 

I hope my chore devil to go in hibernation or lock himself in some closet in my brain.
Stay there chore devil.

8- I also want to make this lemonade pie I have the recipe for-looks like a cool and yummy summer pie. Just got to go to the store and get a couple of ingredients I didn't quite buy enough of the other day. Like another cream cheese and a pack of lemon pudding mix.

9-And mostly, I want some low key relaxing time next week just like I've enjoyed this week. Slowing down. Just passing a summer day in low key mode.

Got to love it.

10-Still putting up some craft supplies on eBay.  Check it out-I am seller LittleHippyMom. Thanks to any of you that have stopped by and placed a bid. If nothing else gets done this summer the chore devil should be thrilled I am cleaning up some of those craft supplies.

And what is more summer than chairs and towels on a swimming dock?

And if you have chairs and towels on a swimming dock, you need a swimming raft too!

Have a great weekend if I don't get around to checking back in.

Journaling

Journaling.

This page is back from the very end of the school year.

Not right now. There isn't a lot of stress nor counting down right now.

Won't do any journaling today as I am taking off to go visit my mom in Worcester, MA.

Lots of driving ahead of me.

And yesterday I worked on a flower book I am making-but no photos-and I started a canvas painting I have been thinking about doing for a very very long time.

No photos there either.

Will get some though. But not today.

So yesterday besides a bit of studio time-

In the short stretch of sunshine we had I went and worked in my veggie garden. It was a successful day.

Have a happy hump day.

Scraps of summer

Don't mean to keep showing the same old type of things every day-but unfortunately I haven't yet taken any photos of anything else I have been doing in my studio. (And I have been doing some non-journaling projects-love that!) So here we go, more of my summer scrap-journal.

Fabric scraps and fun red stitching, along with some red Viva paint pen dots.

Everyone's journal needs some pages that are a little bit different.

No words, no real planned layout, no stamping, no die cuts.

I love this page.

So yesterday I planned on doing some cleaning but it never made it out of the planning stage. I did play a bit in the studio-but my poor puppy was having nervous fits with all the rain and thunder so I was trying to comfort him-if you can comfort a dog that is. And Katie was home so she and I went to see Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter at the theater. As usual, the book was a lot better but it was an entertaining flick. That is if you like that kind of film.And the best part was spending some time with my baby.

And today I woke up feeling like I've had a week off and it is time to start some house projects. Not just cleaning. So my plan is to go buy a gallon of paint to repaint my bedroom. Not changing the color-I love the pale grey-lavender that it is, but I want to refresh it and clean it up so when we get around to putting in our new floor, the paint will be done. (We had this 30+ year old disgusting carpet in my bedroom which we pulled out in April and right now my floor is just the plywood base.) I probably won't get to do any painting today by the time I run errands, but it will be there for when I am ready. And if the rain ever stops I will definitely go out and try to turn my gardens back into gardens from the lawns that they are now. With last week's heat and the last 2 days of rain, they are looking green-but the wrong green.

So I found out last night the piece of weed (natural stuff-not the drug variety) I pulled off a trailer at the boat ramp 2 weeks ago was in fact an invasive species so I get credited with a save! It is exciting.

And here's my latest read-another light fun kind of book.

Enough of my random babbling for today.

Make it fabulous.

Monday is a Rose

Simple photo on a fairly simple background. I used a Crafter's Workshop stencil which I sprayed to create the center flowers and then I flipped the wet stencil over to make the images and blobs on the page. Then I used some Prima thread designed stamps with some various colored ink to fill in around the stencil. I just love circles, and the thread stamps are great circle items.

I also thought the page was helped by this tiny section of red doily (Cheer Lynn Designs) die cut sticking out the bottom.

I added the photo and the words (from a Postmodern Design stamp) which I stamped, cut out and inked.

And here's another related page. I used the same flower stencil and some pink and orange Dylusions spray ink. Quite LOVE the background.  Then I used a Sharpie and outlined the words, which I then painted in with some various liquid acrylic inks. The orange ink I used in the gardens word is from Viva, the others are some very old acrylic inks I bought years ago at Michael's.  Once dry-I used a white pen to doodled on my letters. Finally, I stamped the word bloom.

So did everyone have a nice weekend?

Here in New Hampshire we had a really nice weekend-but a good sized thunderstorm Saturday afternoon that broke the super hot and humid weather. I spent a lot of time on or near water-lake and ocean. We went out in Dave's boat yesterday and went mackerel jigging and caught a bunch of these fish. I never realized how pretty they are. Well Dave caught a bunch and I only caught 2-and we each caught a squid too. But it was really a fun time! Enjoy spending time with the hubby-we always have so much fun with each other. 

And what I love about going out in the boat is that every time we go out I discover something new.

You can see what a gorgeous day it was.

A real summer day.

And last night we had True Blood on tv.

It was a really really good day.

Have a great Monday and the new week ahead!

Sky and water

Yesterday was a day I spent a lot of time looking at the sky and at the water. From 7 AM when I started work at the boat ramp until almost sunset while visiting my mother-in-law at her place on another lake. Got come cool photos, which I will share a few with you right now. 

Morning

Mid-Day

Late Afternoon

After the storm/after dinner

Sometimes a day just develops a theme without you even picking it or seeing it coming. When the day wraps up and you take all your photos off your phone, you realize that you had been shooting the same thing all day. Well, the same theme. As you can see, that way my day yesterday. Something about the sky and the water must have been calling me.

Happy Sunday.

A Little of This and a Little of That

In my leisure time I have been playing with a bit of photo shop and the camera on my new phone. I love this view of the lake from work last Saturday. Cool pink to the clouds and sky view. The actual view is nice but a little less spectacular.

And rather than using some funky filter, here's some daisies on the side of the road. The roadsides are blooming beautiful right now.

How about some more daisies.

The hairdresser next to the post office has a new sign out this week too.

I got a few dreams I am hoping will come true.

***

And here's a journal page for you to see- simple  but I really think the background does the photo justice. 

Lots of Dylusions spray inks. I used a Sizzix die cut to cut the hexagons from some printed paper. Added the May stamp (Hero Arts) and a Tim Holtz phrase tag with some twine tied around each end. A small amount of journaling-which I find harder to do than to go on and on-but finding just the right words without saying too much really makes a page....

***

Lastly

I'm reading a new book now too...total trash book too.

Has anyone seen the movie? Is it any good?

I'm up early and off to work at the lake.

Have a great day!

10 Things Friday

Already. First week of summer edition.

More like a wrap up.

My brain has slipped into summer mode and my usual less than high level thinking ability has shut down a bit more.

1-Love having time to read more. Ready for some mysteries and some junk reading.

2-Working on the getting out of work mode. Keep looking around the house and seeing all the chores that need doing. Feel like I need to do them right away but then I tell myself-you will get to them if they are that important to get done.

3-Keep pinching myself to remind myself I am on vacation.

4-Waiting for this  heat wave to break today since I have a huge amount of gardening to do and it is way to hot to do it during the day. We'be been hitting 100 with HIGH humidity. Definitely affects the week's plans.

5-It is weird not having Katie around as much as in previous summers. It is nice to have the house to myself, but I am adjusting to that too.

6-Had to get up today for an 8 am drs appointment-why so early you ask? Needed to get my cholesterol checked and since you have to fast, I wanted to get it done early. Tomorrow I need to work at the lake at 7 so will be up again. But yesterday-oh I slept like a baby in a very quiet house. Really didn't even hear everyone else getting up and ready for work. I must have been tired.

7- Yesterday since I wanted to be inside with the AC I worked on organizing my rubber stamps. Took me 3 1/2 hours but am SO happy to have it done. Now, I just hope I can find everything in its new places.

8-Also managed to get a big bag of eBay items. I have some things listed right now and more to come. Check it out.

9-Time to get in touch with some friends as it is time for some summer adventures. Or find some adventures for myself to do. I am so ready to expand my horizons a bit.

10-Back to Dark Shadows. Am really enjoying how the series is progressing.

Photos today are from our boating adventure 2 weeks ago.

Today-Portsmouth, NH area.

Portsmouth Headlight. And some of Fort Constitution in the background. It is actually not in Portsmouth but in New Castle.

Time to put out the lobster traps.

View of old Portsmouth, NH from the inner harbor.

Another view of Portsmouth, NH

Finally, here's the pier where the commercial fishing boats tie up. You can see all the lobster traps waiting to be put out.

Thanks for visiting.

Make a great day.

Summer Time

I think there's an old song that goes "in summer time and the weather is hot". I actually think it goes "in the summer time when the weather is high" BUT since it is VERY hot and humid right now I think my lyrics are much better for the moment.

After finding 3 dead mice inside our air conditioner yesterday- and when we turned it on the dead critters broke the fan in it so we had to  get a new ac-very frustrating. Better yesterday than before they all sell out I guess.But I did get to go out to lunch with my hubby which I never get to do when he's at work. And I ran into Target and Staples to get a few things and tried to stay out of the heat which read 100 degrees on my car thermometer.

Last night was also the 3 people on the jet skit adventure-me, Dave and Katie. Was fun except when we stopped to swim we lost balance and it totally tipped over-we had to right the machine but luckily nothing fell to the bottom of Merrymeeting Lake nor did the engine take on water. It was an adventure- as I like to say.

And not the day I thought I would have when I got up to walk in the morning.

But that was yesterday. Today is still very hot and humid but I am not sure what is on my agenda. It is kind of a beach day but with the house cooler now I wouldn't mind working on organizing the studio a bit either. It might be too hot in the sun. Guess that is the beauty of having a day to yourself. You can decide later on what you feel like doing.

It is weird because I am used to being home in the summer but I am used to have Katie around a lot and now she is working 3 full days down at UNH so Wednesday through Friday the days are all mine. I love it but it also takes a little bit adjusting. And I am still in the readjust to not working mode, which takes a couple of weeks.

All kinds of adjustments.

So here's a page from my summer scrap-journal- I haven't really done any other "art" lately-just this and my Arizona scrap-journal. This page is one of my favorites. I used a  Crafter's Workshop stencil on the page and 4 colors of Dylusions spray. I love the texture. Then I stamped those long sun rays in green and the 2 squirrels. I added a bunch of SMASH tape, another tiny calendar, a ring die cut along with a star die cut. I also added the stamped and cut out owl and the June tag, with the brads. Lots of little things to decorate this page.

And it makes me happy.

I am having a blast making this scrap-journal, but it does kind of get all consuming. I haven't yet had time to move onto other projects but I have an idea for the 4th of July I want to work on. Maybe today is the day to start that! If not, I have lots of days to do it.

That's what I have to remember-I don't have to squeeze everything into 1 day.

Hugs to you and thanks for stopping by.

How I spent the first day of my vacation

It was fabulously the kind of day I needed. I read in bed in the morning, got up at 8, took a walk, did a small amount of cleaning-just enough to make me feel better-worked in my studio, did a small amount of studio organizing (YEAH!) , napped, watched some more of Dark Shadows and lounged on my screen porch reading.

The perfect get vacation started day and the kind of day everyone needs every now and again.

The kind of day if you did too often you would probably get bored.

But Tuesday, it was SO needed -the day flew and I crave another 12 hours of it.

Of course, if I still need to mentally recoup today or tomorrow I can do this kind of day again too!

Knowing that is the best part of any vacation.

And it helped to get me thinking in summer mode and not in the go to work everyday kind of mode.

Allowing yourself to be lazy which doesn't happen when you go off to work.

Here's what I read yesterday. It is my latest book group book-we're meeting in a couple of weeks. This a graphic novel- about the Iranian Revolution in the late 1970's and early 1980's through the eyes of a young girl. I really like the graphic novel format, and her drawings especially, but I am not sure about the topic. It is interesting, and I am learning a bunch, but not sure I would have picked it up on my own. Not that it is a bad book, but probably not my personal choice.

But that is the best part of book club, you get to read a book that someone picked and you get to be exposed to something you wouldn't expose yourself to. It is also the worst part of book club because sometimes you just want to read what you want to read-especially when you're busy.

But I am enjoying this book.

And today is the summer solstice!!!
Longest day of the year!
And the first heat wave too-
so we go to plug in our portable ac-which spent the winter in our basement-and come to find out there are a couple of dead mice in there. Dave had to turn around and come home to try to get them out-easier said than done too.
Always an adventure.

So yesterday I worked on my summer scrap-journal  but I didn't photograph any of those pages I made. Yet. 

But here's a page I had made and photographed before that I especially like how it came out.

I used Crafter's Workshop/Julie Fei-Fan Balzar's fire stencil. I outlined and colored the shapes with Tim Holtz's water based markers. No permanent markers or ink or anything like that. I used several different colors in various spots around the stencil.

Then I took a wet paint brush and lifted the stencil and then swirled the colors. Made them look for organic and fire-like.

Then I brushed on some black ink on the white page to make it look a little smokey.

Stamped the month and attached a black-colored grunge board number.

And added a few little notes to follow the swirls in the fire. A bit of definition with that too.

So Happy Wednesday.

Is it Wednesday?

This is only my second day off and already I am forgetting the days.

LOL!

Thanks for visiting!

Vacation Begins

It is Day 1 of my summer vacation and I plan on a low key lazy summer kind of day. Since I am pre-writing this on Monday, I am not positive that is the kind of day I will end up having, but I am guessing that's what it will be. I desperately need to clean the house-LOL-what a way to start vacation! But tomorrow is suppose to be HOT-like 90-so I at least need to do a bit today. Like run the vac around and clean up the floating clumps of animal hair. YUK!  And I want to sleep in and take my morning walk and play in the studio a lot of the day.

Of course. Right?

And my screen porch is calling me...and the rest of this giant book I am reading is too....I have a good idea I will have some well spent relaxing hours out there this summer.

I have no real plans this week-which is good-but I also have some ideas rolling around in my brain of some things I want to do.

We'll see how this heat motivates me, or not.

And last night it kept hitting-my epiphany every few hours or so-I am on vacation. I don't have to go to work for a few weeks.

Can't be possible I don't have to get up in the morning and go to work. It will take me a bit to get into vacation mode-you know, real vacation mode when the hour of the day doesn't matter and you really get into a summer low key form. For the first few days I am still in that high energy work mode...still waking up at the work hour and busy trying to do this and do that.

Summer mode will kick in pretty quick.

So onto some art!

So I have shown you these garden photos already but I wanted to scrap-journal them too, so here's some pages from my latest summer project.

This top page isn't too fancy-inked and stamped background, a die cut swirl that has been inked too, and my photo. But this photo is pretty enough I think that it doesn't need a lot of background to take away from that.

A way to journal a similar photo without the journaling taking over the page. Happy with the way this page came out.

Here's another garden page. No my book is not all about my garden, but I have been playing with the new micro-lens my hubby gave my for Christmas and it takes the coolest flower and bug photos. (Plus I love gardening and I am a bug lover-at least cool bugs that don't want to bite me.)

And here's a snippet of the last page for today. Love this bird corner. It is the best part of the page-other than the photo of course. .

Have a happy Tuesday, and stay cool!

This is IT!!!

Last full day of work for me!!!  Tomorrow my summer vacation starts.

This is always the best evening of the year (because the whole of vacation is ahead of you) and tomorrow is the best day of the year (because it is the first morning you don't have to get up for work!).

That is true for every vacation time off, whether it is a summer break or a week off!

So to celebrate, let me show you a few more pages from the summer scrap-journal I am making.

This is the back side of my title page (see yesterday). I included lots of little notes about what this journal is going to be. Plus the star paper and the sun to show that the days are long and carefree and the nights are meant to be out star gazing or staying up late and enjoying extra time-not being exhausted from getting up early for work.

You can see that better here.

And just to show you that this isn't just a scrap book-it is a scrap-journal, I do make pages without photos...this page is a bunch of paint, paper, stencils, sprays, inks, plastic flowers....

But you do need a few photos, and this one is a colander full of yummy cherries. I used some Jenni Bowlin paper that I've had forever, some tape, some stamped and cut out letters, and this really sweet vintage little tag which I stamped the saying (Unity stamps) on.

Here's another view.

How about 1 more page?

HA-HA-HA

What a tease I am.

I'll have some more to show you tomorrow.

Happy Monday to you!

Is it summer?

It has gotten chilly here in New Hampshire. Like 65 at the coast today. BRRR. Wonder if we will go out in the boat-which I know the hubby wants to do since it is father's day.  Yesterday I spent the afternoon working on weed patrol at the boat ramp (and yes I found a sample of milfoil-off to the state to be ID) and it was 59 degrees on my car thermometer at 7 pm when I got off my shift. BRRR.

If the sun would stay out it would be warmer-that's for certain.

Glad we went for our jet-ski Friday evening because it was a beautiful day Friday.

And to celebrate the last full 5 days of work for the season for me, we went to the local summer clam shack in Alton Bay and I splurged and had fried clams.

LOVE them!

So I am watching Jaws right now.

It is a classic flick. I really like it.

And tomorrow is my last day of work. Teacher day finale.

Yahoo!

So the only art I have done in the last 2 weeks is a few pages in the scrap-journal for the summer that I decided I was going to make. Haven't scrapped any photos of my summer for a very many years. Decided this was the year I needed to keep a journal of my summer.

And I made this title page that I really really like.

Not the greatest photo with the shadows but I used watercolor paper and a few different Crafter's Workshop stencils along with several different Dylusions spray inks.

Then I die cut the flowers on this distressed pink paper and doodled in the centers with markers.

Finally I die cut the butterfly (just love this butterfly) from green paper which I then sprayed a bit. I made the angel wings background for the butterfly from black paper which I covered with hot pink Stickles. When that dried I attached the background to the butterfly and added some pink dots.

Here's a close up.

And another.

Until my next post.

Thanks for stopping by.

Some Books

With summer just about here-thought I'd show you some books on my just read or wish list of reads.

And the Story is Happening?

Have you read any of Sabrina Ward harrison's books? They are more like her art journals. Don't know if this one is any good, but it is a wish lister. I want to look at her pages. Read her words which seem very spontaneous. I know they probably aren't though. My brain isn't so symbolic as hers which is maybe why I love her books-because she thinks  differently than I do.  AND She makes it ok for me to have MESSY handwriting. 

Maybe I should write a book?

Here's my latest art book read. I like it. I think it is a good book for me right where I am at this point. Basic  in a simple way but giving me more than the begining ideas. I am an advanced beginer at textile arts you could say.

I love looking at the photos here because they are very straight forward. And it is not showing me projects I can copy. I am not a copier, and although I do snag ideas, reading instructions for projects (to get those ideas) is always a lot more work because you have to pick out the little piece you may want to try. This book doesn't get bogged down with that. I just gives me ideas and ways to present those ideas.

I give it a 5 star.

Plus it has a really cool fabric covered cover. I like that little touch.

Did I show you this before? I've had it a month or so.

I picked it up from an Amazon seller about $10 cheaper than the discounted Costco price. And that was with shipping.

I like Martha's books. This one is no exception. It is a good compliation of American and regional recipes. I know I probably have lots of these receipes scattered in other cookbooks, but I like them in 1 place and I love the photos.

This summer I must try my hand at some hush puppies.

You can't find them up here in New Hampshire and I just loved them when I first had them last summer at the Outer Banks.



Finally, another book I want to read. Add it to my summer wishlist. Me and my travel bug...it is a serious sickness. More like an addiction I think.
I have started thinking I should write some kind of travel book...but it is not like I get to travel that much-compared to some people that is.
Maybe I need to make a career change and make my career traveling-
and art too-
make it a traveling artist.
Wouldn't that be fun?
Though I would miss my house and my critters and the rest of my life that you can't take traveling because it is part of the place you live-because I love my life right here. Of course no life is perfect...
OK, before I start to babble about philosophy, I will stop.

So I am off to work at the boat ramp at the lake today and hopefully will get to read more of my Ken Follett World Without End novel.  I am enjoying it but it is not as good as The Pillars of the Earth. I like how that book described the building of the cathedral as well as the personal relationships and this book is more about relationships-though they do build a bridge-you just don't hear as much about it.
But I am getting through it-steady wins the race they say.

Have  a great Saturday and I appreciate you stopping by.