Little Red School House

I can't believe this is my last entry to Art Journal Journey this month. Usually September is a long month but this year it absolutely flew.  

Thanks Elizabeth for this great back to school theme.

However this week has NOT flown by.  Its been way too long, and it isn't over yet. Instead of just focusing on the hubby's surgery-that was suppose to happen-I am dealing with a very busy week at school. Oh my. 

And the chilly weather we have now makes it feel more like October. Just giving us a taste I guess. It is nice to pull out the sweaters and fall clothes. :)  I always feel like I have a new wardrobe when you pull out those clothes you haven't worn in 6 or 7 months. 

So this journal page I made this little red school house. Here in New England red school houses are quite popular. I was curious why, so I looked it up and I found out that back in the 1800's a cheap paint could be made with iron oxide. Not only did it color the buildings red, it also was a great wood preservative.  So I painted up this one room red school house, and added the class too.

I even added the school bell that could ring when it was time for class to begin.

And to celebrate Friday- yahoo- I am ready for it- I am linking up to Paint Party Friday. Thank you again Eva and Kristen for Hosting.

Another short post today. My school bell will be ringing this morning before I know it. 

Thanks for stopping by. 

Working Together

A big thank you to all of you who sent good wishes for my husband's surgery yesterday. Unfortunately he developed some type of rash and the doctor decided it was better to wait than do the surgery, so after arriving at the hospital at 5:30 AM, we were on our way home at 8. Maybe next week. 

Last night I was emotionally wiped out from all the pre-surgery stress. Aaargh! I hate to think of going through all that again soon. :(

Here's another page for Art Journal Journey. There's just a couple more days left to the back to School theme hosted by Elizabeth, so if you haven't joined in, you should.

My page started with this school workbook page that I found in my stash.  I decided it needed a more modern theme than it was meant to have when it was drawn back in the day, so it became my "modern" multicolored page. 

Not much else new here. Its back to work for me, so hope everyone has a wonderful day.

Tea Box Art

Happy T Day everyone.  Its is another Tuesday already.  This has been one of the fastest Septembers for me. Usually this month just pokes along as though time has slowed way way down.

I just want to mention that today my husband is having his heart bypass surgery (so keep you fingers crossed for him please), and I'm not sure if I'll get back to everyone today or not. It all depends how energetic I feel tonight. I will be by though, so please have a little bit of patience.

So today for T Day I have some tea art.

Last Saturday I met a good friend of mine for lunch.  Even  though we only live 15 minutes apart we hadn't seen each other since April. Besides catching up, we played tourists. The town next to ours is a huge tourist town (the oldest summer resort in America they claim-and also where some influential people have summer homes-including former US presidential candidate Mick Romney.) After we ate our sandwiches, we went and poked around some of the little stores. It was fun as I hadn't done that for probably a couple of years. In the kitchen store we found these fantastic hand decorated tea boxes from Kenya.

You may have seen these before, but I had not. Each box is hand decorated with cut outs. They are each unique, and how fantastic are those scenes?

 The designs are made from dried banana tree bark turned into paper.

 This company was the brain child of a woman in her early 20's. You can go to the company  website and read about them, including seeing photos of all the woman artists who create these wonderful boxes.

Ajiri artisans

According to the sides of the box they say that 100% of the profits go to help orphans in Kenya with schooling. According to their website this supports 29 orphans. The tea is also grown and picked and packed  to help create jobs for Kenyan women. According to the box Ajiri means to employ.

I bought a couple of boxes. After I drink the tea they will make  beautiful little storage or gift boxes.

I am linking up to   Altered Book Lover on Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog. T Day is when we share some type of drink related post.

While we were out we saw a couple of interesting signs.

 I liked this one outside of the pet boutique.

And outside of the yoga studio.

They were also having an antique car and boat show on the town docks. We took a little walk through and then ate our sandwiches on the deck of a sandwich shop that overlooked the show.

 And this car made me laugh. You have to sit upon the horse in order to drive it.

 Plus for T Day, Moxie is one of those local soft drinks. It tastes like a cross between cola and root beer. Not popular, but still made and you can find it at some stores.

I think it would be a little sketchy to ride this horse down the road.  There's no seat belt nor any protection around you. Guess its like a motor cycle only higher off the ground. :)
And here's another page for Art Journal Journey. More Back to School. Thanks Elizabeth for this fun topic.

That's it for me. Happy Tuesday everyone.

Happy Sunday

A new week is here. It is crisp and chilly and feels like fall here in my neck of the woods. I am sipping a big cup of pumpkin chai latte  that Trader Joe's had back in stock. A little lazy time this morning with no place I need to go to. That puts a big smile on my face.

I have a new journal page for Art Journal Journey. The theme this month is back to school, hosted by Elizabeth. Its been a really fun theme and if you have yet to join in, you should.

My page isn't exactly about school, but it is about learning which is what you do at school. The school district I work in used to have the motto, "Making Life Long Learners", and that is my inspiration for today's page.  School district motto's seem to change with each new (well not always so new) and in vogue push in the educational philosophy.

So I was recently looking through one of the magazines I cut out from when I found a photo of one these little free reading libraries. Back in the early summer several photos of these cute little libraries appeared on various blogs, and since I had never heard of them, I was very curious. We don't have any of them around here, at least in the range that my travels have taken me.

So when I found this photo I cut it out and decided to make a page out of it. I used a bunch of items from my stash to finish it off, as well as some paint for the background.

And I was quite excited, when back in August on our weekend to the Hudson River Valley in New York, I came across one of these little free libraries. 

So I've been having a nice weekend. The hubby's surgery is Tuesday, and he is very nervous. He's been focusing on getting the boat cleaned up and put away, as well as pulling the air conditioners out of the windows. I can do the rest of the fall clean up while he is recouping. I've been trying to deal with my stress with a little more relaxing. I also need to get myself organized for school  as I'll be out for a few days and with some grades due at the end of the week, I need to get myself caught up.

Its always something.

Have a wonderful time with the rest of your weekend.

Art Journaling

Sharing a bit of art journaling with you today. Time to party over at  Paint Party Friday.
( Thanks Eva and Kirsten!!!)
My pages aren't necessarily exciting today, but here's a little journal play.

Some things I think worked for me, and some didn't. But overall I am happy with these pages.

Even more so, before I started this journal back in the spring, I would have been afraid to try a lot of these views. I'm come to be ok not only with experimenting, but also when the page doesn't  exactly work out. And I love having a journal to record some of the things in life.

Yup, the rear view mirror is upside down.

Glad it is Friday, although I must say this week has flown right by.  This has been a very fast month for me. Usually that first month of school drags, but not this year.  

And it is suppose to crisp and cool this weekend which sounds nice. I am ready to wear some sweaters.

Not tons on my weekend agenda either.. With the hubby's surgery next week, I know he wants to get the boat put away. I'd like to bake a cake, make some art, take a couple of walks and do a little sewing or knitting. 

Lets see what I actually accomplish.

Thank you for visiting, and enjoy your weekend!

Summer Nostalgia

Autumn is here. It is exciting and also a little bit sad. (Mainly because  it means we are closer to another winter, which always fills me with a little bit of dread. Not my favorite season, I will admit. Winter is just too long here in New Hampshire.)

  Thought I would start this new season by showing you some photos from the last season that I haven't posted yet. 

A little summer nostalgia.

Lots of boats and water.

And mechanical lifters. What would you call this? Does anyone know?

I apologize if I have shown you any of these before.

A late summer boat trip to the beach. I could deal with a nice day and doing this again right now.

Swimming puppies. They don't care that it is cooler they still like to go swimming.

And flowers!

Exploring. Here's some views from an old fort.

 Walking the puppies and exploring nature.

 Finding funny things like super big chairs.

 growing veggies in my garden.

 Now what is a statue of a rhino doing in the middle of Boston?

 And of course there was some great art.

 Interesting wall  coverings.

 City scapes too.

H-ha. Summer fun. It was a good one.

I'll be back with some art tomorrow.
Hope you enjoyed your visit.