Happy Halloween

Hi everyone!

I love having fun making some playful Halloween art, and so today I have my last 2 creations for this year.

Halloween is time for trick or treat and candy, so that's the theme of my 2 pages for today. 

And for a bit of spooky faces, here's some pumpkins I came across the other day.

Have a great day, whether you are into Halloween or not!

More Witches

Hi everyone. We are having a dark and wet week, and once again there's a lot going on. But since exams begin at school today, the kids have half days, and that gives me some time to wrap up work I need to do at school. Hurrah. Maybe I can get home before dark.

So my post today is going to be mostly photos, not particulary good ones either. By the time I get home it is already getting dark, mainly because of the wet weather. (And never mind the shorter hours of daylight.)

So here's the back spread from my witches board book, just in time for Halloween tomorrow.

 It also doesn't help the book doesn't want to lay flat.

I collaged scraps of paper and used some spooky images I had in my stash. I also added a few other odds and ends from my stash..
I noticed the latest challenge at Moo Mania is circles, and I have a big orange one on the left hand page, so I am linking up my post to that challenge.

Hope you enjoyed the views, and thanks for visiting my blog.

T Stands for Weekend Baking

Hello ladies (and any gentlemen who stop by). I'm going to start my T Day post with my last dream piece for Eileen's challenge at Art Journal Journey. Thanks Eileen for the great inspirations this month.

These ladies are ready to head off to a party.

I did a bit of stamping and inking on my page. I wanted to look like evening/night, but not so dark I couldn't stamp this fun dancing couple, so I gave the page a little wash of waterdown down black paint, kind of the way night is slides in at this time of year. Then I added the hand doodled, painted and cut out flowers, as well as the 2 party girls. I put a pink background around the girls ( I glued them on some pink paper first and then cut around them) so they would pop off the page a bit more than they did otherwise. I also added some silver Stickles dots, but they don't sparkle too much in this photo.

I bet they are off to a birthday party, like I had this weekend for my husband and daughter who both celebrates birthdays this week. 

So for T this week, let me offer you a piece of birthday cake.

You'll have to wait until they blow out the candles first. (smile)

I can offer you either milk or water to drink as you can see them behind the cake. They are my T day drinks for this week.

I did a bit  of baking this weekend to make their cake. Those of you who have read my blog regulary for while know I love to bake, so this is a homemade treat. 

My daughter's favorite dessert is key lime pie so I made a key lime curd for the cake. 

And my engineering husband just likes plain straight vanilla cake, so that is the base of the cake. I finished it off with a bit of real whipped cream.

Which, sadly for our waistlines but happy for our taste buds, we managed to gobble down over a couple of evenings. Smile. (I will say it is not a huge cake, but big enough).

Stop by Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog to see what the T Gang has been up to. Or better yet, join the T party. 

I had a long day yesterday and it's off to work again, so I am keeping this week's post on the short side. I will probably not get by most people's entries until tonight, so don't think I am ignoring you. I just wanted to get this post up before I headed out.

Hope you're having a fabulous day.

And as always, thanks so much for visiting.

Colors of Autumn

Hi everyone. It is Tuesday and time for another new challenge at Try It On Tuesday. Our latest challenge is the Colors of Autumn, and here's my collaged spread for this challenge. I used lots of papers, some napkins and even some bits of burlap to make the base of my page. Then I finished it off with various bits and pieces. 

I hope it inspires you .

And our design team has some beautiful ideas also. Be sure to stop by and check them out.
I look forward to seeing your autumn inspirations over at Try It On Tuesday.
Thanks for visiting.

A Little More Spooky

Hi everyone.

It's a rainy Sunday morning, and we are being lazy, watching Solo (The Star Wars Hans Solo film) on Netflix.  My daughter is home this weekend, and we are celebrating both her and my husband's birthdays. I need to go bake the hubby and daughter's birthday cake, but before I do, I thought I would share another Halloween view. It is hard to believe that at the end of this week it will be November. At least it is hard for me to believe that it is almost November.

This is a spread in my Halloween board book. The page on the right (with that awesome paper I found, I have to learn how to do that) is an insert between the boards. I used some metallic tape to put it in.

 The lighting in this view below, which should let you see things better, makes it look like there is a ghostly presence hovering over the image.

I rubbed a bit of white ink over the page edges to make it look a bit spider webby. Not sure that worked but there's no getting rid of it once it is there.

When I use  these old photos I always wonder if that person was alive, what would they think finding themselves in someone else's art spread? Especially being called spooky when perhaps they were nothing like that at all.  (But it is fun to use these vintage people in art, isn't it?)

I hope you can get the gist of my spread from these photos.

And I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Thanks for visiting.

It's That Time

Hi everyone. It is the weekend, and I must admit I am glad this work week is over. It was spirit week with dress up days at school, and although it is fun, it was also a little bit crazy. 

And since Halloween is less than a week away, I have some art to share before the day comes and goes. Today's page is a little bit of paper layering and some stamping, as well as few stickers. I first painted the background and then added the papers. Then I stamped the ghosts and the witch scene. I also added some details to that image Finally the clock and the phrase stickers finished off the page.

And there's still a few die hard flowers in bloom in my garden. We have yet to have a hard frost. which I am waiting for so I can trim back my rose bushes.

But until then, I might as well enjoy the blooms!

 And my chrysanthemums are still going strong too.

 And look what creepy thing I discovered on my hydrangea flowers. It is almost Halloween.

(I actually didn't even see him until I loaded my photos onto the computer.

Happy start to your weekend!

Dreamy But Spooky

Hi everyone. 

It's been a little busy around here as late October is always a crazy time for me. I've got 2 big birthdays to celebrate this weekend (the hubby and the daughter-their birthdays next mid-week). End of the quarter exams are next mid-week at school also, and this week has been a crazy, need to dress up spirit week at school. Plus I have been inundated with college recommendation letters, all due by November 1. (Usually I have 2-4, this year I have 10.) Augh!!!!! So much on my to do list! Good thing I've had lot of art pre-made. But I have missed being in my happy de-stressing place as much as I would like.

I am ready for the weekend. and it is almost here

-smile!

Here's a spooky dream page for Eileen's challenge at Art Journal Journey

This view had been lightened up a bit so you can see details.

Here is one below with the true color. That didn't photograph all that well.

This is a page in my Halloween board book, which for those who asked, it is a blank book with cardboard pages and covers just like a young child's book.

And since I have made a lot of Halloween bits and pieces, I also have a tag that works for the Everything Goes Challenge at Tag Tuesday.

Hope you enjoy my Friday art.

Have a great start to the weekend.

More Fun Halloween

 Hi everyone.

Time for a little more Halloween fun today. Here's another spread from my Halloween board book with a tag in the middle of the spread.

My book has a witch theme, and today my witch is certainly a  lady of the night.

The owl is actually on the paper I used on 3/4 of the spread. (The paper from Martha Stewart and I bet I've had it for 10 years.) I just added her  hat.  And I colored her in also. I drew and colored the moon, and then added the moth sticker. The top of the page is decorated with some paper doilies cut in half, and the bottom of the page has some fabric leaf trim across it.
The right side of the spread is a bit of scrap paper and some of a striped napkin. I also a few other paper bits and a stamped quote.

And I added a few buttons to give the page a little bit of finish.

And don't forget the latest challenge at Try It On Tuesday is Witches, Wizards and Halloween fun.
Hope you enjoyed the art today.
Thanks for visiting my blog too.

A Good Book

 Hi everyone.  Today I have a short post with another journal page for Eileen's Dream challenge for Art Journal Journey

I saw this girl in a magazine and those she looked rather forlorn. So I put her on a stenciled background page that I had in my stash. Then I did a little table clean off and added the numbers of letters. 

I scribbled in the quote bubbles, which say (in case you can't read my writing):

left-What am I doing here?

right: She stood dreaming of a good book.

I can't say there's been lots of reading in my life lately. Those of you who stop by a lot know I am a big reader, but that has dropped way off lately. I did finish listening to Harry Potter books 6 and 7. Those are certainly fantastic books. But then I got bogged down reading my last book club which I didn't care for (Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver) and was really disappointed about too. So maybe this lady is rereading the Harry Potter series as that would be worth going home and picking up.

Thanks for visiting!

T Stands for Seasons Changing

Hi everyone.  It is time for T again. Stop by    Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog  to see what interesting things the T Gang ladies have been up to, or even better, to join us for T.

So the weather in my world has cooled off since last week, and it really feels (and looks) like fall.

By this weekend coming up I shall have some raking to do.
And bye-bye boat. The hubby took it up to his mom's where he stores it for the winter.

And this past weekend the hubby also closed up my screen porch.

The plastic helps keep that side of the house warmer in the winter as well as creating a good place to store the lawn furniture. Maddie had to check it out. She and Pete always enjoy an afternoon nap while I read (and maybe nap) on the porch during the nice weather. It's always a sad moment for me when we close it up. Winter is rather long here in New Hampshire.
And  back over the long Columbus Day/Indigenous People Day weekend  (which was the weekend of October 12th for those of you not familiar), my husband, daughter and myself went out for dinner one night.

 I've taken you to the Red Arrow Diner before.

We all met up after work on the Friday at the start of  the weekend. We just beat the dinner rush so we got a table without waiting. You can see my Diet Coke behind the menu.

On occasion, a diner dinner tastes good.

For dinner I had turkey meatloaf, mashed potatoes and cream corn, which was the veggie of the day.
Perfect food for a chilly night, at least for me.
And you'll have to take my word for it since I forgot to take a photo.
Hope you have a great day and thanks for visiting.

Ghosties and Ghoulies...and Witches Too

Hi everyone.  Hope you are having a nice weekend. Time for a little playful spooky art as we get closer to Halloween. Here's another collaged spread from my Witches Halloween book. 

You can see I used torn bits of paper. Then I gave it a little white ink spray. Some of the images are stamped, some are die cuts, some are little plastic bits and I painted the caldron. . Then I added a small witch's broom I had.

You can see my painted caudron better here. The expression on the cat makes me laugh.

And I don't know if you are getting sick of my autumn photos, but here's a few I took on my walk yesterday. I usually walk the same direction because there is less traffic that way so the views probably look similar.

Do you like my new fingerless gloves? I found them on sale last weekend, and I had been looking for some. They worked out perfect on this chilly morning stroll.

 I love the seedy remains.

 We still have some color but we lost so much of foliage with all the winds. Now there's lots of bare branches in between the leaves.

 And there's a few blooms left in the garden.

 My hydrangeas may not be at their peak but my chrysanthemums are.

Thanks so much for visiting. Enjoy the rest of your weekend and start to your  newweek.

The Leaves Are Falling

Hi everyone.  Happy weekend. I am looking forward to a "quiet" weekend; last week was busy and next weekend looks to be busy so it is nice to know I have a little me time in between all of these events.

So today I have another page from my autumn board book for you. On the left is a board book page, which is inked to start with.  Then I added some corrugated tape, a "fake" fall leaf (it is a silk leaf), a frame with a piece of napkin and a found relative photo in it, a crow die cut, and also some inked paper flowers. I needed to ink the flowers to make then a fall color rather than being spring pink.

And on the right I have a page from an old book, and  decorated that with a Victorian woman image as well as a stamp.

I am linking up to Moo Mania and their latest challenge which is die cut or punched pieces.

And after a lot of wind (some of it very strong)  and some rain this past week, the leaves started to fall.

Here's my latest foliage photos from around my yard. I snapped these last evening after work.

The screen porch will get closed up this weekend. One of the saddest days of the year for me (smile), but the temperatures have dropped off and the days are a bit chilly now. It is (unfortunately) time. Too chilly to lounge on my hammock out there at least. Time to pick up all the lawn chairs and the garden decorations, and if the wind dies down, maybe even time to take out a rake.

Wishing you a fantastic weekend.