Happy Easter

Happy Easter to those of you who celebrate.

To me, the arrival of Easter means the start of spring. This year especially since winter has been hanging on for so long. So to celebrate, here's some colorful blooms.

I have a big pot of tulips in my living room window. My husband brought these home to me when he made a Costco stop one day last week.

I love them!

I love him too!

Hope your Easter Sunday is a beautiful spring day.

Gelli Prints

Last Saturday I told you (and showed you) my new Gelli plate. 

A new toy is always so much fun.

 http://fat-emma.blogspot.com/2013/03/new-toys.html  

I spent that afternoon making some fun new Gelli prints. Here's a few of the prints I made that day.

Then I used some of my Gelli prints and made some cards.

Here's one. The background is from a piece of the very top photo.

The pink flowers really make the gelli print colors pop more too.

I die cut part of a Gelli print with a Spellbinder's deckle edged die. Then I stamped and watercolor painted these cool flowers from Technique Tuesday. (They are stamped and added twice. The first time a flat set is glued down and then I embossed a second image, cut those out and added them at different heights to give the branch a more 3D realistic look.) Inside the center of the flowers I add some white and silver pen highlights and some clear Viva paint-pen.

I also cut apart some green Prima flowers-those basic ones they made ages ago-which I then used a leaves to really enhance the bouquet.

I embossed the thank you on the card-word by Flourishes Rubber Stamps, and then finally I added a few little Prima metal embellishments on the corners.

Hope you have something planned for today.

See you again soon.

10 Things Friday

This week 

10 random photos.
They are very random too.

Been sleeping a lot this week - just wiped out.
Busy too with car and hair appointments, my field trip at school, being from tired from last weekend's late hockey games...a huge huge pile of papers to grade...just a lot on my plate.
So here we go!

1.

Balling up some yarn I bought in New Mexico. You can tell I am working on my kitchen counter.

Still have a few more skeins to go.

2.

Cloth flower parts I die cut, use a GAC fabric stiffener on then and then when dry I molded them  and made some fun flowers.

3.

My latest read. Got the suggestion off of Dispatch from LA blog. Its pretty good, but am really liking reading about Italy, about being away. This lingering winter is making me want to disappear to some place exotic.
4.

Anemones at the aquarium on Wednesday.

5.

We can pretend we are snorkeling in some Caribbean reef looking at this photo.

6.

Add a few pretty fish and it makes it even more exciting.

7.

Cool shadows in my yard last Sunday, look how much snow we had then!

It is about 1/2 gone but that means we still have a lot.

8.

Also last Sunday at Merrymeeting Lake. If you follow me, you'll see I work at this lake during summer. And I have friends who live on the lake and we like to jet ski here.

But not like this.

9.

Finally found this book on Amazon's used sellers for a really good price-it retail's at $40 but found it for $12.99.  Yeah! I have been wanting it and though I haven't started to read it, I looked through it and it is inspiring and full of glorious color.

10.

Do you like my new rain shoes? Used some of my birthday money to get these a couple of weeks ago when LL Bean had them on sale. I LOVE the red, can't wait for it to get warm enough that I don't need my Smart Wool socks-you see the lines on my feet in this LOVELY photo from having those on.

Happy Friday everyone!

Wild and Wierd

Yesterday I took my senior zoology class to the New England Aquarium in Boston. A bit disappointed they had a lot of the aquarium closed off for renovations, but overall, it was still a very good day.

I got to see one of my favorite creatures at the aquarium.

I love watching these guys. They are so weird and different and interesting.

Yes, you heard me right.

Do you know what these critters are?

They are cuttlefish.

Related to squid and the octopus.

The one in the far back is not so white because of the photo but is so white because the cuttlefish changes its color and pattern to blend in, and since he (or she) is under the bright light, they have become very white.

These guys can also flash light through their bodies to confuse their prey, and I have seen that one other visit, but not on this visit.

I did see them reproducing though, which was pretty unique too.

They're strange looking but pretty cute too. Love this big eyes.

The volunteer at the aquarium told me they don't live that long and they reproduce before they die.

The couple on the left side of the tank are reproducing. Right out for everyone to see, even this little boy I happened to get in the photo.

Rather strange as they are connected head to head.

Not really rated X, I guess.

I like visiting the aquarium. They have some really interesting and some other really weird creatures and it is always relaxing to watch the fish or jellyfish swim around in their tanks. Plus they have this eared seal who makes really loud and  funny noises.

That was cool since one of the kids brought it up in class on Monday and we watched the YouTube video and had a good laugh about this seal.  Look up seal that sounds like man to get a listen if you are so inclined to know more about what I am talking about.

The kids liked going to the aquarium today too.

We walked to Quincy Market for lunch afterwards, which teenagers always like because they all like to eat.

Plus it was a beautiful sunny day even though there was a COLD wind off the ocean.

A good day all in all.

Dreaming of Blue Skies and Warm Days, Green Grass and Flowers

Our snow is melting, BUT, not as fast as I want it to be. It has been a cold stubborn stretch since Frebruary, with too many snow events and temperatures sticking in the 30's too many days. Except for the longer days and brighter sunshine  and slightly warmer temperatures (I will take 40's), lots of days it feels more like February or January rather than March-late March. You know, lamb time, not lion time.

 I was looking at photos I took while out boating last summer, and it made me wish even more that the warm spring weather would arrive.

Here's one of those photos, changed just a bit using some Photoshop filters.

Oh this looks SOOOOOOO

NICE!!!!!

I have a few big plans for my summer coming up- but I'm not talking yet.

So with Easter this Sunday, thought I would share this card with you.

I started by stamping an oldie but goodie Hero Arts flower stamp several times along the bottom of a white card. I colored the flowers and then used a stippling brush and some aquamarine colored ink to color the background.

The grass is made using a Martha Stewart paper punch.

The cloud die cuts are from Die-Versions.

The bunny is from Paper Smooches, I cut him out and sprayed him with pink October Afternoon spray and then made the cotton tail white with a pen.

This is pretty cheery-

it suppose to be a nice day today and I am off on a field trip to the Boston Aquarium with my seniors.

Should be a good day to go back down into the city again.

I hope we have a lot more melt today.

I hope you do too if you are also in the snow like us.

See you again soon.

Travel Journal Part 3

Today I will show you the last few views of my Taos travel journal.

Post cards and little tags make up a lot of the above spread. I added my luggage transfer tag and also a little wooden suitcase from Prima.

The left side here is the back of a bingo card. I added the circle art which was cut out from a travel magazine -you know those freebie little local tourist magazines.  I added some price stickers and some pepper stickers. On the right is a post card of a coyote and the sagebrush and then underneath is the edge of a postcard.

You can see this vintage photo post card here. I added the totally Taos words.

A sales receipt, a restaurant card , a stamped image on the right. A religious card and a tag of assorted paraphernalia on the left.

On the left, tags and some yarn snippets from yarn I bought. On the right, a tag I made using a magazine cut out and a couple of little word images I added to that.

How about this tag made of a lot of stamped images?

And one more view.

A collaged map, and on the left, a tag made using one of Tim Holtz/Sizzix embossing folders.

Hope you enjoyed the views of my travel journal for this past trip. Earlier posts are here:

http://fat-emma.blogspot.com/2013/03/snippets-of-my-travel-journal.html

http://fat-emma.blogspot.com/2013/03/more-of-my-taos-travel-journal.html

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you come back again soon.

Art Journaling

Here's a view of a 2 page spread from my art journal.

I started by painting lots of stripes and then spraying some Dylusions bubblegum pink ink and a Crafter's Workshop stencil. Then I took some orange acrylic paint and a Prima stencil with these big fun flowers.

Here's more of the left side of the spread. I also stamped this fun little saying. You can see the first layer of stenciling really clearly on the top and even the flowers I stenciled with the orange paint really pop here.

I die cut this Tim Holtz Sizzix bell jar. The top I outlined with black Sharpie since I used some acrylic packaging to the make the glass bell, which doesn't really show up in this photo.

And there's those butterflies again. Both die cut (Cheery Lynn Designs) and stamped ones.

Then I added some bunnies and decided to call this page spring.

Can you believe that it is the LAST week of March? What a month this has been. Lots of cold and snow and really not spring like at all. I am ready for April.  Looks like this week we won't have a snow day and any big snowfalls though, which is good news.

Let's hope the weathermen and ladies are actually right about that too!

Thanks for visiting.

Happy Monday!

Hockey Season Wrap Up

So last night the Hockey East season wrapped up with UMASS Lowell winning. That worked for me, since it wasn't going to be Maine, since we lost last weekend and didn't make the final play-offs.. We went to the semi-final games in Boston Friday night, which was a lot of fun even though we didn't get home until after 1 a.m. and I was dragging all day yesterday. It was better when Maine played last year, but this year in the semi final instead of Maine beating Boston University like they did last year, Lowell and  Boston University won. Last  night my sister and brother-in-laws came up for dinner and we watched the game on tv, which was a lot of fun too, but not the same as being there.

Friday before we game we went into Boston and had dinner in the Italian North End of the city, which is always a lot of fun and a lot of good food.  Here's a few untouched photos from our trip into the city.

Here's my lunch. HUGE, and yummy. I ate the seafood and the veggies.

Here's the hubby in Boston's North End.

This is the place to buy  cannolis. They freshly fill them for you when you order at the counter.

Or cookies.

Bunny and chick cookies for Easter.

We walked around and then went into the Boston Garden (TD Banknorth Garden) for the games.

And we snuck in our cannolis, which were yummy, except that Dave's got mushed.

Still was scrumptious though.

That was how we spent our Friday. And a little bit last night.

And now it is Sunday. 

Will take a bit getting used to weekends with no hockey games...will miss it a bit but then once spring really comes gardening and boating and fishing and all those warm weather things will start up.

4 weeks until I am on vacation.

Lots of life a head.

Thanks for stopping by and visiting my blog.

New Toys

So last Thursday I had a few hours to kill between leaving work and going back for 8th grade open house which started at 6. Plenty of time to take a trip down to my favorite sort of local craft store which is on the North Shore of Massachusetts. 

I didn't NEED anything but of course what I wanted was a different story.

Here's most of my purchase. I found some fun things to play with in the studio. Then I spied this one item that I have been wanting, almost lusting after but haven't seen any where except on-line on blogs.

My heart skipped a couple of beats and then started to race.

I have a small one already-the 6x6 size, and have been wanting this rectangular 8x10 plate. 

That is my plans for today, to make some prints. I love this size for journaling because it will fill the whole journal page.

Even better, I found out I had a store credit that covered the cost of this plate, which they were selling for $32. This is like a belated birthday gift from the store to me!!!!

I was one happy bioartgal that day, I tell you.

Even made going back to school/work that night a lot better.

So I am off to go play.

Thanks for stopping by.

Blogger's Challenge-Easter

This week's Blogger's Challenge is Easter- which is perfect since I just made this card the other day with these cute little bunnies and hadn't posted it yet- I bought this new cute bunny die from Impression Obsession which is fun.  I die cut them and then sprayed them pink using some October Afternoon spray ink I happened to have on hand. I colored their tails in white with a white pen. I attached them to this white card-I like a simple back ground but this one is really really simple- and then used a black Sharpie to make the little hopping dots. 

I stamped the bottom with an image from Paper Smooches Tri-balation set- and then I trimmed it down to get this pennant shape along the bottom. Then I used Paper Smooches A Magical Spring set to stamp the words. 

Here's the links to these 2 sets in case you're interested.

http://www.papersmoochesstamps.com/A_Magical_Spring_p/fbs-13-136.htm

http://www.papersmoochesstamps.com/Tri_balation_p/kqes-13-140.htm

Thanks for stopping by and have a "hoppy" day!

10 Things Friday

It is an exciting Friday here in my house. Dave and I are taking the day off and we're off to the big city of Boston for the hockey east semi-final games. Not as good as last year, when Maine played and won against Boston University!  But it will be fun to go with my sister-in-law and brother-in-law and go get some food and walk around  the city and then watch the games.

Last hockey weekend for us, which means it really will be spring!
Ha-Ha!
Hard to say that this year with the way the weather has been.

So this week my 10 Things Friday is 10 more travel photos from my New Mexico trip.

My theme today is FOOD!

( a favorite topic of mine)

1-

This is really good soda. Wish I could buy it here in New Hampshire.

2-

And if you are in Santa Fe, go to Harry's Roadhouse and have this chocolate cream pie. It was beyond the best.

3-

And if you want New Mexican Mexican food in Taos, go to Orlando's.  These were delicious fish tacos.

4-

And also in Santa Fe- a fabulous gigantic yummy breakfast at the Counter Culture.  This is my friend Vicky.

5-

Here's my lemon ricotta pancakes with real maple syrup at the Counter Culture.

6-

And how about this delicious breakfast burrito that I ate for 2 days?

7-

This is Harry's Roadhouse in Santa Fe with the yummy chocolate cream pie I showed you early in this post.

8-

And here's friend Vicky again-this time at their house with her husband Bob's bacon and pancakes. They were REALLY delicious too. As was his apple, walnut and brown sugar bowls of oatmeal..

I ate really well on this trip.

9-

And I know this doesn't look like a food photo, but we took a picnic when we did a day trip to Bandelier National Monument. We had cold sausage, apples and some Newman gingersnaps and orange chocolate chip cookies. What a great lunch while we sat alone 140 feet up in this cave. I didn't know that Newman's made just delicious cookies.

We also can't forget the fact that Bob had this delicious muffin from the gas station and Vicky had this yummy bag of Cheetos.  Nothing better than junk food on a road trip.

10-

And no, this dog isn't dinner- but this is Emma this super happy girl with a killer tail. Her favorite people food snacks are apples and lettuce. And watch that she doesn't go eat rabbit poop. Ha-ha. Unlike my puppy dog who likes candy and cheese.

Got to love them.

Thanks for visiting!

Taos on Dwellable