Spring Might Have Actually Arrived

Hi everyone. 

Keeping this short but I wanted to add one more post for Jo's Hello Spring Challenge over at Art Journal Journey. Here's another one of my found fabric book pages full of spring flowers, and from all the spray, I bet a little spring rain too.

Some flowers are painted on this page and some are die cut. There's a little addition of sparkles, and some stamped words. The bottom one which is hard to read says bloom. The cloth is ironed onto some stiff backing and then stitched along the edges.

And thanks Elizabeth for mentioning these fit AJJ rules. I wasn't sure since they are a cloth journal.

And big thanks Jo for such a fun challenge this month, especially since spring here in New Hampshire hasn't been very quick to arrive this year.

We have clouds in my world today but it is day 3 of real spring weather, so the snow is melting away at a good rate. Hurrah! 

Happy Saturday everyone.

Pink Birds

Happy Friday everyone.  The weekend is almost here. So is some warmer weather and melting snow in my world. It is amazing what some spring weather can do for your spirits. (Especially since it is the very end of March.)

Yesterday when I came home from work I finished off my Florida travel journal. I have a few more pages to show you today.

I'll start with a tag I made for my journal and also for Tag Tuesday. The latest challenge has a bird theme:  Birds, Nests and Eggs.  I asked Valerie if the tag needed all 3 things and she said no, so here's my tag with this funny stamped  flamingo, a cool quote and a bit of a tropical feel. 

And flamingoes have showed up a few places in my journal. They are just fun. You can see one one my key lime pie page.  I thought those key limes I drew and painted made the pink really stand out.

I also made another page not with flamingos but with some flying pink birds.

I used all the stickers from the airline luggage tag as well as the little paper envelope our hotel keys came in when we were up near the Everglades. Because of the warm Florida weather flowers were blooming already, so i cut out this picture of a magnolia flower that I found in an old book. Then I added my die cut pink birds.

Some Roseate spoonbills, which are pretty pink birds since I saw no wild flamingos.

And below is a great blue heron, which is found in the Everglades in 2 forms. The standard coloration as this one is.

And also in this white morph form.

Which was pretty cool to see.

And since I shared my key lime page from my journal, I need to show you one of the 2 pieces of that pie I had while in Key West. (It is the official dessert of the Florida Keys so of course I had to try a couple of pieces-smile.)

It was pretty yummy and both pieces (which I had at different restaurants) were good but a little bit different.

Notice the 2 forks so I could share my piece with the hubby.

Hope you have a happy start to your weekend.

Cherry Blossoms

With the last few days of March here, I thought I would share another page for Jo's Hello Springtime challenge at Art Journal Journey.

Today I have cherry blossoms for you. They were just saying on the news last night that this weekend will be the peak cherry blossom bloom for the Japanese cherry trees in Washington D.C. I would love to go see that, one of these days, or even better, go back to Japan during their cherry blossom festivals. I don't know if I will ever get back to Japan, but maybe once I retire and have this time of year off, I could get to DC.

So my page today takes a Japanese theme with lots of paper collaging. 

I layered napkins, tissue paper, some cut outs from some Japanese paper I brought back with me last year, a stamped traditional Japanese woman and some clock and cherry blossom stickers.

Finally a painted a small block and stamped my Live It quote.

Not much else to say today. It's been a busy week but not exactly a very exciting one. We're wrapping up the end of the quarter at school and next week are the mid-semester exams. Already. 

Hope everyone is having a great week and maybe a little more exciting than mine.

Thanks for visiting.

Spring Kitties

Hi there everyone! 

Today I have another page today for Jo's Hello Springtime challenge at Art Journal Journey.

I was just having some fun with this one.

Now I don't think cats are a sign of spring, but these kitties on this tissue paper with the flowers in their hair made me think of spring. 

So I used a bit of the tissue paper and sketched and painted my own kitty. She has flowers in her hair too. And she definitely has attitude. Or may I should say cattitude. (smile)

Keeping it short today.

Hope you're having a great day!

T Stands for a Yummy Lunch

Hi everyone.  It's good to be back after missing T day last week. I wish I could report that all our snow has melted or that has the mud dried up. The temperature is dropping off tonight as I write this,  but they are saying it will be warming up a lot later this week. I sure hope so since March has been a lion so far and I am ready for the lamb to arrive. Just a couple of days I hope.

I will be stopping by  Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog  for T. Won't you?

This past weekend my husband and I decided it was warm enough to put the Christmas decoration boxes up in the unheated attic over the garage. Finally. Afterwards we did a bit of cleaning out and when we finished for the day, we decided  to go out for a late lunch.

We hadn't been to this local place for almost a year, but they have good food and a big menu.

Even better, all their meals come in 2 sizes. I always go for the smaller light fare size and still have leftovers.

 I had this yummy macaroni and cheese with some pulled pork. It came with a bread stick and a side salad. My drink was an unsweetened iced tea.

I mentioned last post how I found a couple of boxes of art goodies in my attic cleaning. I thought I would share another colorful painted piece of cloth I found. There were several of these pages and I think I was going to make a book out of them. No reason I can't do that now.

Even though I made this many years ago, I have never posted it. Does that mean it is too old to post at Moo Mania and their Colorful challenge?
I used some colorful fabric as my base, and painted and stitched the flower and the ini hearts.  I even added a little glitter  in the center of the flower as well a a few little brass mini butterflies.
Hope everyone has a great T day and thanks for stopping by my blog.

Treasures in The Attic

Hope everyone had a good weekend. 

Mine wasn't wild or exciting but I did get a bit of spring purging done. And the benefits of the purge, besides starting a good clean out, was finding some arty treasure.

I came across two small file boxes that had been sitting there for years. I was going to throw them out, but they felt heavy when I lifted them, so I pulled off the top and discovered lots of fun things.

There were old photos, some photo transfers printed on cloth and some images printed on paper.

I remember doing these years ago. I must have put the boxes away at some point and forgot about them.

There was also some art. Some seem to be pages for a cloth book and then there are some partially finished cloth collages with some photo transfers on fabric.

Here's one.

It is always exciting to find such treasure. 

And in this case, inspiring also.

Hope your week has  some inspiration in it.

Enjoy!

Something Different for Me

Hi everyone. It's been a blustery and cold  in my world today.  I stayed inside much of the day and did a bit of spring cleaning. Tomorrow it is supposed to be warmer and more like spring. That will be a good thing if it actually happens. Since I got my chores done today I can enjoy the better weather tomorrow.

 I want to remind everyone about the latest challenge at Try It On Tuesday, which is Say It With Flowers. I recently needed to make a sympathy card for a friend who lost her father, and this was it. I am not a big card maker as of late, so for me, this is something different.

I began with an embossing folder which I inked ink dark blue, and then I ran the inked folder onto some light blue paper. I did a bit out outlining in black pen to bring out some details, and then I added the stamped and colored flowers, as well as a die cut banner. I attached this to some white card stock and added little bronze colored paint dots at each corner.

Recently we got a big hornets nest knocked down from under the eaves of our house. Better to do it in the cold weather than when they are all awake and buzzing around in the warm weather.

The nest ripped open in the process.

The inside was really cool.  I moved the nest out into the woods so maybe some of those hornets would make it until spring, but I don't know as the nest opened up so much. You can see one coming out of a honeycomb in the top photo and a few inside honeycombs in the bottom. I know a lot of insects go dormant in the cold weather, and if any are alive they would have made it through some really cold winter weather of the last few months. I think maybe a few will make it. 

And what else is better to do on a cold Saturday afternoon?

Today was National (US) Pup Day and I would say this is the life!

When Maddie wakes up she would say enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Friday Mutterings and Osprey

 Happy Friday everyone. Right now the weather is a mix of rain, snow and sleet. UGH!

 I surprised myself yesterday and decided to take this teacher work day off (there are no kids in school today). The morning was training in suicide prevention, which is important, but which we have had twice in as many years (it's a pet project of my latest principal) and with my downer mood lately due to this never ending winter and all the family issues in the past 3 weeks, I think it is better to be proactive and skip it. Plus this afternoon was all about working with our subject team (no working alone our principal says), and my entire team is out from school today for various reasons. Joining another group was my option, which I don't mind, but working with the physic or chemistry teachers to plan  lessons I would never use seems a bit like a waste of my time, and as I have tons of work I can do, but  I would not be allowed to do, I might as well stay home.. 

(But can you tell I don't usually do this and I am still having to explain to myself why I am home.)

So I thought I would show you my fixed boat painting from my Florida journal.

Here's the view from the other day, half the boat out of the water.

And I fixed the water so now the boat is fully in the water.

Plus I love the sun on the water effect much better.

And as this page was when we visited the Flamingo part of the Everglades National Park. Here's a few photos.

We got to the Flamingo area on the late afternoon side, but got lucky since they were just loading for a sunset cruise into the bay. We ran into the park general store and bought tickets, which worked out great since this cruise, which could hold at least 30 people, only had 12 on it.

One of the coolest things we saw was all the nesting ospreys, which are a fish eating bird of prey.

 And look, I even caught the baby popping up their head.

We do get ospreys here in New Hampshire, but they don't return until April, and certainly around here the concentration of them in a small area is much less.

Unlike much of the Everglades, we are right on the tip at the ocean here. The mangrove plants with their crazy roots are always cool to see.

Especially since you never know what might be hiding in them.

And we had another gorgeous South Florida sunset.

Right now I would like to be back there while I wait for another spring like day to arrive. BUT, on the positive side, it is a good day for some art!

Hope you're having (or had) a good day.

Spring Has Officially Arrived

Hi everyone. I am writing this just about an hour after  spring officially arrived. It was a nice day here but we did have a bit lower temperatures than if you went inland because of ocean cooling. But no complaints as it was still a very nice day. 

Today I have a journal page with a spring theme.

Something I am ready to do, pull out my spring and summer clothes! Still a bit cool here for some of these summer clothes but that doesn't mean I can't get prepared.

This page began with me using up some extra paint.  I thought the green and yellow reminded me of sun and grass. Then I doodled the clothes and painted them.  A few letter stickers finished off the page.

First of all I am linking up to Jo's Hello Springtime challenge at Art Journal Journey.

And then, with all the color on my page, I am also going to link up to Moo Mania and their new theme of Colorful.

Hope everyone is well and wishing you all a happy start to spring.

Say It With Flowers

Hi everyone. Tuesday has rolled around again and we have a new challenge over at Try It On Tuesday:

Say It With Flowers

Since British Mothering Sunday (Mother's Day) is on March 31, I decided to make my page not only filled with flowers but  also as a tribute to mother's all over also.

I began with some blue checkered paper, and did a little Gelli print over it. Then I hand painted and the flowers with acrylic paints and used both  a Sharpie and a Stabilo pencil to outline the flower petals and leaves.  I added the white cloth trim and some colorful paper tape, as well as some gold rhinestones along the paper tape. Then I stamped the word cherish, but purposely made it a little lighter so not to make it compete with the flowers. I added the TH found relatives and a cloth 2 heart sticker.

And since this page has a spring like feel (even if Mom and son are in more wintery clothing), I will be linking it up to Jo's Hello Springtime challenge at Art Journal Journey also. 

And before I sign off, I want to thank Sabine for being a great hostess last challenge and welcome our new hostess Reoplane. 

So put some blooms into your life. I look forward to seeing your flower art in the next 2 weeks.

In Progress

Happy new week everyone. One more day of Florida wildlife on my post today and then I shall give you a rest from it. At least for a few days. (grin)

Here's a quickie page I have started for my trip journal. 

I love posting art as I always can see better what it needs to be finished or fixed, and looking at this I have seen that the front of my boat is not in the water. I looked at it for quite awhile and couldn't figure out what it was that just wasn't right. Funny how putting it online made that jump right out at me.

 When I have some art time I will fix this issue, but for today you get boat with only the back end in the ocean.

I shall show you the finished page once I get it completed.

But how about a few more  photos?

You can see the Everglades (for those of you unfamiliar with them) are flat and wet, at least in this season. The amount of water running into them is so low at this time in history (compared to the past) that they are really in trouble. The state has started fixing roads so water will go back in rather than being bottlenecked by highways. But there are many other reasons why the water doesn't go back into them, mostly non-environmentally friendly development. I am glad they have at least started to elevate roads so the water can flow under them and back in. But it is also hard to make fixes for a hundred + years of bad decisions because as you know, everything takes money and enough people to believe in them.

 You find little "islands" of mahogany trees within the river of grass and also little hills that look like islands from a ways off but are actually pools the gators dig out and go into during the summer when the area dries out.

And you can see the Roseate Spoonbill flying here in my photo above. I love the pink.

Wood stork below. We don't have storks here in New Hampshire (nor Spoonbills nor the variety of water birds you find in the Everglades).

There is a tower at about the halfway point of the Shark Valley Tram ride that you can get off and go up. It gives you some pretty amazing views of the landscape.

Including looking down and seeing this gator in the grass below.

And this view shows the road the tram takes back to the Visitor's Center.  The tram tour took 2 hours and was really amazing.

The Everglades environmental crisis was brought to the public's eye in a big part by a book written by Marjorie Stoneman Douglas. She helped make this area a National Park before the whole of this part of Florida got developed.

I ordered a copy from Amazon and hope to read it once I finish my current read.  If you can't tell. I found all the ecology fascinating here. 

And I still have tons of bird photos I am going through.

I won't be joining you for T tomorrow as I am off for my sister-in-law's funeral. This one is going to be tough as she was only 55. 

Thanks so much for visiting. Much appreciated on my end.

Chitter Chatter

Happy Sunday or maybe even Monday, depending on when you read this. Our cold is back, although it is not quite as bad as it was, but when Friday really felt like spring, these temperatures today make you think Mother Nature likes giving you a hard time.

And Happy St. Patrick's Day to those who celebrate. 

Last night we went to a hockey game in Boston to wrap up the season, and before the game we went to a pub for a burger and beer, and they were adding green food coloring to beer to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Since I have never had a glass of green beer, I decided to give it a try. 

So did my husband. It really didn't change the taste at all, and what the heck, it was festive and fun. If you are wondering why the smaller one looks different from the the taller one, it is because the beer I was drinking wasn't as filtered as the one my husband had.

And some of you are also showing your early spring photos, and so I thought I would show mine so you don't think I am just needlessly complaining about the weather.

This is my backyard late Friday after work. Snow, mud and puddles. I woke up this morning to a dusting of new snow, but now the sun is shining again.

And several asked about how many babies an alligator can have at one time (based on yesterday's photos), so I looked it up because I didn't know. What I found said 35-50 is what they usually lay for eggs.  I imagine not all hatch, but still, that's a whole lot of baby gators. No wonder why I saw so many in the Everglades.

And speaking of Florida, how about more  from my travel journal and a few more photos.

 The page on the right is colored with watercolor crayons and then I added the die cut mermaids tail. No we didn't see any mermaids, but  we did see some fantastic creatures.

Spoonbills with some ibises.

Woodstork in flight.

And my favorite, the royal tern. This little guy (girl?) was such a ham for the camera, even if he (she?) was just doing it's natural thing.

Enjoy whatever is left of your weekend. And thanks for stopping by my blog.