A Little Last Summery View

So my still fighting this head cold...I am hoping this is the cold and it doesn't get worse as the week progresses Slightly better though!. Add to that today we are raining and it is cold but still humid outside. Hopefully it will keep the kids a little more quiet, but thst makes me want to go back to bed right now. Looks like we might be getting a lot of rain over the next several days. We haven't had that in a long time.

It would be a great day (or rest of the week) to sleep in, read for awhile and play in the studio!

So how about something bright and cheery.

 This page started with the red flowers. I found this stamp on a markdown table and I picked it up. I like the flowers and I really like how tall the image is. (this paper is 81/2 x 11 inches.) I stamped each stalk many times to make the thick garden of blooms.

I added the butterfly words, which is a stamp I've had a little while and also found on a markdown table. I love digging through mark down tables. Not only do you get good buys but you find things you might not have known existed or things you would have never bought at full price because although you liked them, they weren't worth spending the full price for. It is the thrill of the hunt for me, (and probably for a lot of you too).

I made the butterflies by die cutting them from a colorful page from an art book. The book is from the 1950's or 60's and was in my mother's bookshelf. After she moved and we needed to clean out her things, I grabbed the book because I wanted the big cover size for a journal. Since I have no plans to used the inner pages, I thought I could use all the art pieces as accessories in my own art. I used one of those colorful pieces to die cut these butterflies from. So much for this 

Kandinsky painting.

It does make really pretty butterflies.

 I added several of these TH quotes. 

And finally I added the border. A mini blue sky feeling to the page-since I didn't want to color in the background itself.

Thought this page would be nice since it is the last day of  September! (Wow- this year is flying!)

Guess it is time for me to meander on off and get ready for school.
Hope you have a great day.

The Lunar Eclipse

 I don't know how many of you saw the lunar eclipse the other night. We had the very best night for it-it was clear and not too cold out either. And it started just after 9 PM, early enough to see at least half of it before it got late. We set lawn chairs up on the deck, right outside the back door, and we were able to sit, go inside and warm up every little bit. I got a few cool photos too.

 My first lunar eclipse photos ever. They came out OK.  Not too bad for a first time seeing I was just winging it.

You can see why they call it a blood moon.

That's all for me today. Fighting a cold, and I am definitely dragging a bit. Not feeling up to writing too much. 

Have a great day!

Oh Monday

Well all I can say is that just MAYBE this week will be a little more quiet at work than the last 2.

I can hope at least!

 So yesterday was a gorgeous blue skied day, a bit cool for the boat (or so the husband decreed) so my daughter and I decided to drive down to the beach in York, Maine and take the dogs for a walk.

You would think the dogs would be happy about it and be happy to go for a walk. They love going for a walk down the street. But no,they were like over-stimulated little children.

They thought dog play was what the beach was all about.

Like they've never been to the beach before!

Like they never see each other-they are together almost 24-7 now that my daughter has moved back home.

 I came home sore in the shoulders and arms from all the pulling. 

But I must say I still enjoyed walking the beach. It was such a beautiful day, how couldn't I enjoy it?

 Can you even make out the sandpipers in this photo? I should have brought my camera rather than relying on my phone.

 There's my crazy dog again. Something smelled good.

 And we ended out walk with a mother daughter selfie- after we put the dogs back into the car.

Anyone else see the  lunar eclipse last night?
Thanks for visiting and I hope you have a great day!

Lazy Sunday Start

 It is a lazy Sunday morning around my house today. The dogs got us up super early, and then we all (dogs included) fell back to sleep. Now I can't get very motivated. But maybe that is a good thing about Sunday.

Plus my husband put an old Dr. Who (when Tom Baker played the Dr back in the late 1970's I think) on the TV- since BBC America is showing them Sunday's morning, and I love re-seeing these old shows. 

And yesterday I was a ambitious star-walking and doing a bunch of chores- maybe I wore myself out!

Ha-ha!

So today another journal page to show you. Used a Gelli print (made on purple designed  paper) which I modified a bit, and then added the cut out girl. I Colored her a bit with Copics, and used half a paper flower to make the top of her shirt. Then I added some fun owl paper tape and some TH phrase stickers.

The pattern on this paper would make great fabric I think. Maybe I should have been a fabric designer instead of a teacher. That might have been fun!

So how about a couple of fall photos from my walk yesterday?

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

A Little Color

So there's a little autumn color starting to show around here.

This leaf photo reminds me of a Gelli print that I might make.

 And you can see the start of the color change here. I snapped this photo the other afternoon on my walk. Pretty soon it will be just ablaze with color.

Ready or not, fall is really here!

I can tell because Trader Joe's is having their pumpkin fest with pumpkin flavored foods. The whole store is full of pumpkin.

I LOVE this instant  Pumpkin spice chai tea mix. Like a liquid piece of pumpkin pie.

But A LOT fewer calories.

And I have another journal page for the windows challenge this month at Art Journal Journey. The window is pretty abstract, but I wanted it not to look onto pretty scenery but more onto what someone's future would be.  And I was still playing with TH found relative cards on this page.

I used a background made with some spattered Brushoes. I added to that some ledger strips from a checkbook, which were glued down and lightly covered with some gesso. The border edging is a Dylusions stamp and then I added some hand drawn and painted circles. I didn't want to draw the edges of a window in, because the future isn't quite that defined. Not sure if this worked or not, but I like it.

I used some Copic markers to color Jorge's clothing and hair. He is quite a dapper like guy, don't you think?

So I've been good at meeting my 2 goals for the week-which were to make some studio time for myself and to work on reading my book (The Girl in the Spider's Web). Then this book arrived from Amazon the other day. I had been looking at it awhile back in a bookstore and decided it was a must have. Yup, still agree. And I have been reading it too, which I must say has cut into my reading my novel. But I have learned a lot of about acrylic paint and I really want to try some of the techniques. Hope to find some time this weekend, though today I need to run errands in a BIG way.  But I think the hubby and my daughter are coming along so it should be a fun little drive about. Maybe I can get my husband to buy us a late lunch or dinner too. ;)

So I hope you are enjoying your weekend so far. If you are you to anything fun I'd love to hear about it.

Thanks for stopping by.

Dreams

It is Friday!!!!!! Spirit week has been going on at my school since Monday, and it has been crazy. Formal day, flashback day, clash day-the kids are soooo wound up. It is fun to see how people dress but not so fun trying to get them to be productive. Like Halloween for a week. And today is pep rally day with school colors and they'll have painted hair and faces, maroon and white everything, and no one will be focused except for the end of the day rally. I am not a pep rally fan personally,  But many of the kids LOVE it. By Monday they will all be exhausted and quiet.  I will be ready for some work normality.
So another Paint Party Friday has rolled around and I have some journal pages to show you.
Thanks again to Eva and Kristen for hosting!
So I have been busy making lots of journal pages using TH found relative cards during the past few weeks (maybe too many pages...think it is time for a little shake up), and lately I have been using the kids and making these dream for the future pages. 

So the top page says (in case you can't read it) 'Olaf thought of joining his father's fishing fleet but his dream was to be a marine biologist."  The background is a oceany Gelli print  from my stack. I added Olaf, who I cut out from the card, and then I die cut on gold foil paper the fish.  I love how the big ones really look like those gold foil German scrap pieces that were so popular before. I don't see them as much now, but I love them and have a whole folder of them, but no fish, so these work great. The stamped quote is from Postmodern Designs, That is one stamp company I wish had not gone out of business all those years ago.
And my second page has an oceany feel too, This time I used a Gelli print from my stack and added a Gelli printed deli wrap paper over it. I did a bit of collaging with book paper, washi tape and a mini file folder from my stash. I also die cut the silverware, and stamped, painted and fussy cut the sun shape. It is actually not a sun, though I use it for that a lot, but the top of an award ribbon. Makes this stamp so much more used that's for sure..........
So do you have any fun weekend plans?
I need to run errands and get my house restocked up on some basic items, and I am hoping to get a little studio time, maybe meet a friend for lunch and maybe even do a few more chores. I have gotten into a fall clean up mode, mainly because I found out this week I was approved to be my husband's kidney donor, and I have lots to do before I (and the husband too) are both down from surgery  We are hoping will happen in November, but not exactly sure of any details yet.
So have a great day, and thanks once again for visiting.

A Few Photos Today

Humor me. I've just got a bunch of photos from last Saturday's boating adventure to show you. It was a beautiful day and lots of people were out on the water.
Some were working, like the lobster men above.

Those lobster traps make a great pattern. Could make a cool stencil with a little adjustment..

The tugs of Portsmouth. They are a local landmark!

A fisherman's boat controls are much more simple.

Ready to fish, ready to catch!

Not sure why all these people were at this dock. Were they waiting for someone to return for a long voyage? Was it a big Christian baptism?  Was something exciting going to come down the river?

Portsmouth view from under one of the bridges.

Another local Portsmouth landmark, the salt piles.

This buoy rope is so covered in seaweed.  Nasty, but pretty cool too. And I love the lobster weather vane.

Patterns every where. 

And very cool light on the water.

Thanks for humoring me. With the cool fall weather right now the warm days (even though this was just Saturday) seem so long ago. But even though I am not looking forward to winter, I am excited for fall.
Enjoy your day and thanks for visiting.