Colors of June

Can you believe it is the last day of June? Not only is the month about over, but we are half way through 2015. 

Alright, enough of that. Too much thinking about time flying by is kind of depressing and a downer. Especially when I've only really just started summer break.

 So how about some gorgeous color today? That's always inspiring and cheery.

These are blooms in my gardens right now. Bright and beautiful and works of art on their own.

Hope you enjoy the view. I'm keeping this short as I am off today on a little road trip to visit my mom. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Fly Free

Welcome to Monday everyone.

Another grey day here. I'm not sure what I will do with myself today. If it doesn't rain I might go pick strawberries. Or I might do some more wall painting in my daughter's old bedroom- I painted one wall back in February and that's as far as its gone. Maybe I'll just continue the play space cleaning.  Or I might  set up my sewing machine  and play with some stitching I've been hankering to do for awhile.  Then again maybe none of the above. 

Oh the decisions to make-ha-ha!
So yesterday was quiet, rainy and dark. I did a little journaling and watched 3 old movies.  I've been in an old movie kick lately,  a little bit of everything from comedy, to scary movie to drama.
Lots more I'd love to re-watch yet too.

Since June is winding down quickly, I thought I would post one more journal page to Art Journal Journey's masculine and feminine theme. Today's page started with one of my paint stamped backgrounds I made last week, some stamped and painted butterflies, some spray ink, and some paint spots.I then added this old photo of a young Ingrid Bergman I found in a magazine.

 And I love the look of all the raindrops on these leaves out on my deck. The veins ribbing the leaves is pretty cool too.

That's it for me today.
Hope you have a great start to your week.

The Gnome Knows

Its a dreary Sunday here in my neck of the woods. Not exactly a day to go boating, which makes the hubby rather grim, but I don't mind a low key day as the last couple have been busy with some  fun vacation adventures.

There's been a little shopping, a little studio cleaning, a little gardening and even an art day too!

More about that later, but right now let me show you this journal page I made on a Gelli printed background.

I then added the painted sun, clouds and grass, as well as stamping the stars in black all along the white edge of the paper. I'd love to get one of those super sized Gelli plates to avoid the white edges but they are pretty pricey.  I hope the company puts out on that is smaller than the jumbo but bigger than the 8x10. Who knows, maybe they already have and I just don't know about it.

So in my cleaning I came across a bin with some paper in it I haven't gone through in forever. Once I removed the printed paper on the top, I came across all this cool textured paper, a sheet or 2 of wood paper and even a couple sheets of cloth paper. The bin was shoved in the back of my closet, which I have now made much more user accessible,  and I left the bin out so I will definitely make use of some of the paper stash.

I cut the flowers from the cloth paper (this paper looks like a yellow towel). Then I stamped Mr. Gnome, colored and cut him out, and then did a  little die cutting of these small garden creatures (Cheery Lynn designs and Frantic Stamper).

I think my gardening adventures inspired me to make this page. Sunny days, garden gnomes and all kinds of creepies and crawlies.
That's all for me today. Going to have a lazy morning and since gardening is out, maybe a little more studio cleaning or maybe some art. Or maybe just watch more old movies, which seems to be something that's fun right now.
Hope the rest of your weekend is going well and thanks for taking a minute or 2 to stop by my blog.

This Week

Friday is here already. This week flew by faster than fast can go. School wrapped up and summer has arrived.

Got to love that!

So yesterday I started my summer break from school, and I spent the a big chunk of my day as any paint lover would do, playing in my happy space and trying out a couple of new things I recently bought.

First off-Brushos. I've never seen these in any store here in the US but have read about them on  blogs and a few European websites. Then when I went onto Dick Blick to order a few things and  did a search for water colors they showed up and I thought I would try a few colors. 

They are lots of fun and make some cool backgrounds.

(As many of you already know, so bare with me, OK?)

I love how you can make a tie dye effect using them as well as adding lots of water so you can make drips at spots and drops.

The other new item I had to try out was this small round Gelli plate I picked up the other day. I've wanted to try a round plate, and I thought like small sized (4 inch) circle might be the most user friendly.

I had fun playing with paint and some foam stamps I have.

This stamp was by far the one I was feeling the most.

I made a few backgrounds of printed circles.

And although I love  these pieces, I really liked using the plate to ink my foam stamps. Makes some cool colored inpressions.

So I spent quite a bit of time stamping up my foam stamps and then working on some of my Brusho backgrounds.

Here's a few favorites.

Always good to have ready made backgrounds, and experimenting is always an interesting experience. I love seeing what happens and what masterpieces ended being created.

I am linking this post with Paint Party Friday. Thanks to Eva and Kristen for hosting this every week. Stop by and see what lots of talented people have been up to. 

Have a great weekend, and I hope you're up to something good.

The End is Just the Begining

So yesterday I finished up at school and now my summer break has begun!
Oh the summer adventures ahead!
I love  the potential this day brings.
Today I don't have to do anything I don't want to do. I can sit on the couch all day. I can go back to bed sleep all day.  I can paint or read a book or I paint and read a book. I can sit in my pj's all day if I want. Because today I am really on vacation.
And yesterday was another landmark. Yesterday
I  completed 30 years at my  present teaching job too!
Where did the time go?
30 years of adventures in a classroom at this school!
So yesterday we were suppose to do department work at school (we've had no kids this week), but our department got permission to go to Boston and visit the science museum for some staff development.
It was  the most stress free and funnest way to end the year.

 Me and some of the ladies I teach closely with managed to try out some of the exhibits and laugh our heads off in the process.

 We took on strange positions before a flash went off and left our weird shadows on the wall.

And they have this fun exhibit where you walk and it takes this silhouette video while you do.  Then it measures the calories you would use if you walked this way for a mile.
I looked like I was chasing a student down the hall.
Ha-ha!

And finally thought I'd show you a picture of me (because I never do that) with this stuffed black bear. The black bear was my college mascot so I had to my photo with this one.
And speaking of black bears...

here's a journal page that I painted and sketched and sprayed and stamped.  I added a few stickers from my stash and this is what I ended up with.

You can't see it here  very well but I really like the bear image.  I stamped him with Versa-mark and used thick embossing powder. After a couple of heatings and shakings he came out thickly coated and glossy. I cut him out and attached him.

Bet he's off to camp to search for some food. Those campers better watch out. So much for their summer camping adventure.

Ha-Ha!

Thanks for stopping by and visiting.

Heavenly Love

I think he is the moon and she is the sun. 

She is burning hot and he is cool so high up there in the clouds.

Their love is written in the stars.

Wish the sparkly paper that the heart is cut out from showed up better though.

I bought these cool constellation/horoscope stamps (Her Arts) awhile back and they fell behind a box and I totally forgot I had them. When I moved the box a few weeks back I discovered them.

What a treat!

And love is such a beautiful thing!

Don't you think?

I am linking this up to Art Journal Journey.

Thanks for visiting.

What The Fortune Cookie Told Me

Last week before the kids wrapped up, one of my classes and I ordered Chinese food delivered for lunch. So I open my fortune cookie and it tells me to keep my mouth  shut, KYMS.  That was a new abbreviation for me, and of course the kids certainly got a big laugh out of it.

I came home and decided it was worth making a simple journal page about. It so happened to be a frustrating day and I really wanted to get mad at someone but I did keep my mouth shut.

So maybe it was the right cookie for me!

Ha-Ha!

I used spray inks, a Black Sharpie, a white Uniball pen, some Dylusions paint and some little metal dot flourishes that I had in my stash.

So another Monday has arrived. Another weekend flew by, as it always does.

But no complaints. It was a good weekend! 

Today we are getting part of our living room ceiling torn out, as we had some ice-dam water damage last winter from all the snow on the roof. But the good news about it all is that by the end of this week I should have a nice new ceiling, and I never did like the old one anyhow.

Love it.

And I am loving my roses right now. Look at all the blooms.

Awe- the beauty of summer!

Hope you have a great day and there's a little beauty of some type in your life.

Summer Arrives

Today I have this page from last June to show you.  This page feels so much like summer to me, bright, hot and active. And today is the first day of summer! 

 It is not the reality here right now though. Today here in New Hampshire it is rainy and cool. I am having a wonderful lazy Sunday morning, and since I can't go outside sounds like the perfect studio day for me, even a perfect day to do a bit of cleaning in there-which is desperately needs.

So since today is the first day of summer, and since me the list maker hasn't done a list in forever, thought I would put together a summer hope to do list for myself.

If you are not a list reader, that is OK, you can skip on.

What Adventures  I Hope This Summer Brings

1-Relax and  enjoy (or continue to enjoy) the longer warm days, the flowers, the garden growing, the humming birds buzzing up to the feeder, the birds singing and all that jazz.

2-Read a lot of books while I am relaxing-and hopefully not napping too too much.

3-Make art! Have some good long uninterrupted studio time, try some new things, play with color, play with my camera...etc.

4-Do some new things not usually on my summer agenda. Actually I have already signed up for a 4 day baking  class-which I am hoping to learn and add some more tricks  and also a friend has paddle boards which I would like to try out one day too.

5-Go to some new places.  It is tough this summer for me.  Usually the husband and I (and often my daughter) head out for 10 days of exploring someplace out of our home area, but I have had issues with his kidney dialysis center scheduling anything. So I am going to find some new places to go near by, even if I have to go alone! Let's see where my sense of adventure takes me.

6-Come to some peace about my husband and his kidney issues and also about my mom and her dementia issues. Also I am going in to see if I pass step 2 in the being a kidney donor process and we need to get my mom placed in some type of housing where she will get more care for her dementia.

7-Do some old fashioned summery things like swimming, cook outs, raspberry and blueberry picking, and even a few campfires in the fire pit the hubby is building. All those kind of things.

8- OK, do a couple of house projects. The first one I want to do it finish painting my daughter's old bedroom, which means she and I have to (this is scary) clean out under her bed. I also have a kitchen over flow closet in the basement that needs emptying out, shelf adding and reorganizing. A good project for some hot humid day when the basement is cooler than outside.

And I have to finish purging my play space (but this one is actually enjoyable).

9-Go to a drive in movie.  The only one left around house is for sale and may not be there any longer after this summer. We used to go a lot when my daughter was little.  I want to do that again. And a few of my students are performing with a local theater company that does outdoor plays. I'd love to go see them. Guess the title of this number is redo some things that I haven't done in a long time.

10-And most importantly, not plan too much or be too busy so the summer just buzzes right by in a blink. Have a good fun and happy summer break. Live each moment. Enjoy my down time.

So what might you like to do or be a part of or enjoy this summer?

Thanks for visiting today. 

I am a Spy

 Me in the boat with my zoom lens. I become a paparazzi. Seeing what people are up to. I've seen weddings and lovers hugging and people taking naps. Nobody famous that I know of though.

 Just ordinary folks having fun in the sun!

 Look at these 2 cuties.

 And there's often fishermen. And fisher ladies too.

 There were lots of people on the jetty last Sunday afternoon. 

And on the beach.

Just out having fun!

We're heading back out on the water today so I may have some more super spy  photos for you another day.

Have a great day!