Monday, February 27, 2023

T Stands for Driving my Mother-In-Law Again

 Hi everyone.

Happy end of February. Winter has returned here to New Hampshire with more snow and some cold temperatures. And according to the forecast there's more of this type of weather coming later this week also. That old saying that March comes in like a lion and out like lamb  sounds like it will be true about the lion part. 

Since winter is rearing its ugly head in my location today, let me start off with my tulips which are actually looking lovely right now.


I also picked up this hyacinth bulb at Trader Joe's, and it is blooming and smelling great too.


I think the roots are really interesting too.

You might remember last week I mentioned I had had a mother-in-law driving day.  My husband and I  had taken her from one  sister-in-law's home to the other's home. This past weekend it was a reverse driving day. We picked up my MIL at my sister-in-law's house in Massachusetts (where she had been visiting for the week)  and drove her to the other sister-in-law's home in Maine. My mother-in-law "lives" with my SIL in Maine, but that SIL had been having  her school vacation last week and had plans to go away for a part of the week. My 89 year old MIL isn't in good enough shape to stay alone any longer (even if  she's still convinced she is) so she had needed to go to my other SIL's home in Massachusetts for the week. 

You might also remember that last week for T day  I mentioned  how when we drove my MIL down to Massachusetts, we stopped for lunch while traveling.. We did the same thing this past weekend when we drove her back to Maine. We were going to have lunch at a different restaurant, but my MIL (who can't remember what she did an hour ago) remembered where we ate last weekend and asked to go back there. Since that restaurant worked in every way we needed it to, back we went to Grill 28 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. It's actually the restaurant on the golf course near the airport, and I'm guessing used to be the clubhouse when this was all air force base.


Here's my drink photo for this week's T day over at   Bleubeard's and Elizabeth's blog . All you need to join is to share a drink related photo.

The pastrami sandwich on the menu caught my eye, and although I don't think a pastrami sandwich is something you'd usually rave about, I could about this one. This was pastrami sandwich perfection. 😀 You can see my diet coke in the glass and also the home made potato chips with it. And you can see a bit of my blue sweater on the right since my husband took this photo. I am glad we went back to Grill 28 because I had this delicious sandwich. 

That's all for me. I had a fairly quiet week last week, so I can't say there is all that much else to write about. 
Have a great T day and week ahead. And as always, thanks for stopping by my blog.




My Last Page for February

 Hi everyone. Happy new week to you. 

I know Valentine's Day was a couple of weeks ago, but here is my  belated Valentine for everyone and also my HUGE thank you of appreciation piece for all of you who joined my Seeing Red challenge at Art Journal Journey.




This is another old red background I had in my unfinished page pile, and I decided to finally use it. I added the orange homemade paper scrap across the bottom, used a white pen to add some contrast to the border,  stamped and fussy cut some flowers, added a red heart that was sitting on my worktable, and then stamped a quote.

OK, it's a cliche, but I do mean what this quote says.


 It's been lots of fun hosting this month and seeing how people used  various shades and tones of red. I have lots of new ideas for using this color now, and I'm actually liking red a little bit better than I did before. Thank you everyone for inspiring me. Now that spring is arriving (or is thinking of arriving) I am leaning more towards pink rather than red, and I am also ready to use more colors.   I didn't get sick of using red however, which is a big surprise for me. 

I hope those of you who joined the challenge also had some fun too. And maybe you even learned something new about using red. Wednesday a new fun challenge at Art Journal Journey will begin with a new host also. There's a bit of time to See Some Red though if you want to share any pages.  We're always happy when you join us.

Thanks once again for all your support. 


Sunday, February 26, 2023

Mystery Man

 Hi everyone. Happy Sunday to you.

Since February ends on Tuesday, I am sharing another Seeing Red page today. This is for my challenge this month at Art Journal Journey.

I'm recycling another older journal page today. I managed to remove  the bits off of this  old page, except I couldn't  (nor wanted to) remove the big red painted heart and the "Je t'aime" written quote I had put in the heart. The Mystery Man words were added once I finished the page.



I thought it would be good to stitch around the heart so it would stand out more.  At the same time I stitched around the border. I also die cut this man. As I did on another page earlier this month, I used a white paint pen and colored him in because I wanted him to stand out more than he did in his original black. Since he has no features, he is still a bit of a mystery.

I also created the border along the bottom of the page.  I used some cut outs from a sheet of red ephemera I had in my stash. I cut the leaves off of  another old journal page that I was pulling apart, and I used some tiny red beads to add a bit of texture.  Then I wrote in the phrase mystery man to go with my written Je t'aime.


I wonder who this mystery man is, and who will receive his big heart. There's definitely a story (or several stories)  behind this page.

And how about a few more views from the Sunken Gardens in Florida.




I love how plants I grow at home in a pot inside my house can grow outside year round here in Florida.






That's all for me today. I hope you have a great rest of your weekend.


Saturday, February 25, 2023

Weekend Art

 Hi everyone. Happy weekend to you. It's already the last weekend of February.   I am ready for March to begin however. I definitely want spring, even if I am half expecting  winter to come back with a vengeance next month. We've had too much nice weather in February. I could just be superstitious, but it always seems like when the winter is fairly mild, as this one has generally been, March is a lion. A lion roaring lots of winter weather our way here in New Hampshire. grin or maybe I should say frown

 With a little luck this year spring will be early. One can always hope.

My first piece of art is a journal page that tells the story of a family. It also has red in it for my Art Journal Journey's Seeing Red challenge.  This challenge runs through the end of the month, which is this upcoming Tuesday to be exact.



For my page today I made a layered collage in a journal with some tissue paper, stamping, collage sheet art and ephemera from my stash.  As you might notice on the punched out postmark, my page is set in 1946.

Can you see Dad? He's the small photo next to the daughter. Papa is a  French baker, and now that the war is over he, his wife and his daughter are thinking of coming to the United States or Canada with  dreams to open their own patisserie. Post war life is still hard in France, and he and his wife are looking for a better future for their daughter. Still,  the idea of leaving extended family, Mama's garden and  the life they have known is very hard. 

I also have a tag for Michele's Fairy challenge at Tag Tuesday.


Meet my butterfly fairy.

I thought this woman looked like the body of a butterfly, except I forgot to add 2 antennae (and to be technically correct an extra pair of legs). I stamped and colored her wings, stamped and lightly inked the tag background, as well as adding the black scrap paper off my work table and also some purple painted little foam dots.

And to finish off my post, how about a few more garden views from the Sunken Gardens in St. Petersburg Florida?








Not much else is new with me. Thanks for visiting, and have a great weekend. 









Friday, February 24, 2023

Friday Face Off

Hi everyone. Happy Friday. Thursday's snowfall amount was lower than predicted (hurrah- we only got 4-5 inches/ 10-12 cm when we were predicted to get twice that), but today we have some more winter cold. It's been such a weird winter with  many mild days interspersed with a few actual winter days.

Today I have a faced filled journal page to share. Welcome to the circus.

I was going through my bin of assorted art ephemera, and  I came across this circus peanut bag I've had way too long. It has lots of red on it so I decided I should make a journal page about the circus. I haven't made a circus page in a very long time, and it was a fun change of pace.

 I am linking this up to my Seeing Red challenge at Art Journal Journey.


I inked my journal page with some blue ink to match the blue on the bag.  I think it ended up being a little too dark for my taste, but by the time I realized that, the page was done. 

Then I took out this big circus tent stamp I have and stamped it on some red inked paper. I added it to my page and then stamped this fair border image across the bottom. Once that inked border dried I used paint pens to boost the color of my tent. That little bit of orange and blue made a huge difference when it came to brightening my page.

 I added the red heart and also a small confetti red and white swirl to the top tent post. I stamped, colored and fussy cut the clown. He came out as freaky as I find clowns to be. Then I used several TH children layered to show the crowd  watching the clown. 

I added a bit of washi tape, some stamped words and also made some stamped ticket tags to put in the circus peanut bag pocket.

There are lots of faces for Nicole's  Friday Face Off this week.  I am also linking up to Gillena's Friday Lunch Break.


And I thought I would share a few flowers today, because as far as I am concerned, flowers always make the day better.







These were taken at the Sunken Garden in St. Petersburg,Florida.
That's all for me today. I hope everyone has a great end of the work week and start to the weekend. 



ps: Since a couple of you asked, here's the recipe for the muffins I posted yesterday. Sorry it's from an old cookbook and the measurements are just in English measures/ cups.

Date, Peanut Butter and Banana Muffins (with optional chocolate chips)

1) Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F or 175 degrees C. Grease or line your standard sized muffin tins.

2) Mash 4 bananas in a  bowl and add 1/2 cup of cooking oil, 1 tsp. of vanilla, 1/2 cup of any style peanut butter and 1 egg. Mix.

3) In a second bowl, combine 2 2/ 3 cups flour, 2/3 cup brown sugar, 1 tsp baking powder and 1 tsp. baking soda. Add chopped dates (around 1 1/2 cups) and chocolate chips (to your liking) and mix them in the flour mixture.

4) Add flour mixture to the banana mixture and stir with a spoon until just combined.

5) Spoon this thick batter into your prepared muffin tin and bake for 20 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.



 

Thursday, February 23, 2023

Drinks and Outside Time in Florida

 Hi everyone. Happy Thursday.

I'm back with a  new page from my trip journal that I recently made. I like to make travel journals, and this one is from when I went to Florida in January.   I also have a couple photos from the trip that go along with the journal to share today.

Since  Rain's Art and Dinner Date theme this week is drinks, let me share this tropical cocktail.


I can't even remember what it was called, but it was made with orange and pineapple juices and was delicious. 😀
I enjoyed mine even more because we could sit outside on the treehouse deck of the restaurant.


This is a great post for today since we're  getting  snow at home.  I'd have to bundle up to enjoy a drink outside today, but at least the ice in the drink wouldn't melt very fast. Smile
And here's the page in my travel journal about this drink too.


The little wooden hearts were the skewers that came in both my husband's and my drinks. The smiley fruit are some fun stickers from my stash, and I added the burger sticker because that's what we had to eat with our tropical cocktails.

And the other day I had some bananas to use up, so I made this new muffin recipe.


These muffins have bananas, peanut butter, chopped dried dates and a few chocolate chips I decided to toss in  because chocolate makes almost everything better. They're a yummy mid-morning snack. The recipe is in an old cookbook I have, but if anyone wants it let me know and I'll dig out the book and post how to make them.

That's all for me today.  I hope everyone is having a great week and has a nice weekend ahead also.













Wednesday, February 22, 2023

Some More Red

 Hi everyone. It's hard to believe in one week March will be starting. But on the other hand, it does feel like February has been here for quite a while. 😒

 I have so many more "red" pages to share for my Seeing Red challenge at Art Journal Journey I'll be posting lots of red in the next several days.

Today's page is made with a background that is from the past. I don't actually know when I made the background (that includes the mustache border and leaves going up the right side), but I found this in a pile of unfinished pages and figured it would be perfect to use for Seeing Red .


To complete this page I did a bit of stamping with black ink and added a couple of items from my stash.


Meet Sam. He's doing his usual  early  morning walk as Sunday arrives. This is when he comes home from the club. Sunrise is just starting, and the sky is red. The owls are still out on their hunt. Sam is the piano player in a jazz band, and the songs  from the Saturday night show are still running through his head.  As he walks he's keeping time to the beat also, sliding around the sidewalk, not because he drank too much (as he doesn't drink alcohol), but because he is still into the music.

 It's been an excellent art week for me and with another big snow coming in tonight, I think that means there will be a lot more art time on my agenda. Art and shoveling- Smile. I hope you have sunshine and spring like weather where you are.
Thanks for visiting.







Tuesday, February 21, 2023

Try It On Tuesday

 Hi everyone. It's once again time for a new challenge at Try It On Tuesday

 Before I get to that, I want to introduce the 2 new members of our design team. First I want to welcome Pia who you might recognize from her blog  Papir og Perler (Paper and Beads for those of us who don't read Norwegian). Secondly I also want to welcome Viv who you might recognize from her blog Viv's Visuals. It's wonderful to have them join our team!

And I also want to thank everyone who joined us for our All You Need Is Love challenge. I also want to say thanks to Lorraine for being our guest host for our last challenge.

And now for the new challenge, which is right up my alley, but also a little tricky too.

Let's Get Messy


I stepped out of my usual journaling mode and made 2 cards for this challenge. This first one you see is the one I linked up to the Try It on Tuesday blog because I thought it was a bit messier.


I used some pre-cut card sized watercolor backgrounds and bright watercolor paints. On my first card I used various colors and watercolored the entire background before outlining with a pen, stamping the smile word and also adding some tiny white flowers that are meant to be used in a shaker card. I think they work great as a little embellishment.  I didn't photograph the inside of my card before I sent it out, but I wrote in, when life gets messy, be sure to smile.

My other card had a monotone watercolored background with stamped images. I then used my watercolors to paint in the flowers and leaves. I did use a white paint pen on the center of the flowers. The words came from a stamp with lots of words on it, and I also added more of those little shaker card flowers.

I used to make a lot of cards, but that was years ago. It can definitely be  a different process from art journaling, and I should make more of them because it forces me to think  about what exactly I want to say .

And for more messy art (grin), be sure to check out what the other design team members created for this challenge. 

Thanks for visiting my blog. I hope you'll get messy and join us at Try It On Tuesday for our latest challenge.


Monday, February 20, 2023

T Stands for Back to the Beach

Hi everyone. Happy T day to you.

Last week was relatively quiet for me. I did manage 3 beach walks which made a world of difference in helping my winter restlessness. For two of them it was cold and mostly cloudy. I just bundled up because I can deal with normal winter cold and at least there was no ice or ankle deep mud. 

Here you can see my hive swollen (and kind of wrinkly) face. I've been in a  bad outbreak of my chronic hives (urticaria) for several weeks now, and if you care to look you can see my red and swollen cheeks and eyelids. UGH!


This time I was at Rye Beach in Rye, New Hampshire. I figured I'd get a change of scenery, plus it is closest to my allergist where I had an appointment for my shots that afternoon.


And these 2 were very happy, even if they didn't get any off leash time. 



This was Wednesday. By Thursday when I walked the sun was out, and it was 55 degrees F (about 13 degrees C). I wore a light jacket, no hat and no scarf.  What a difference a day can make. (But I still had my hives.)

I stopped at Trader Joe's after one of my beach walks for some groceries, and they had their $1.99 daffodil bunches. 


And my tulips that I showed you last week are starting to get buds. Here's 3 days worth of photos.




Once they start to bud they change so fast, don't they?

This past Sunday we had to transport my mother-in-law from one of my sister-in-law's to the other sister-in-law's house. We had to go to Maine to pick her up and then go to Massachusetts to deliver her. And then back home to New Hampshire. It went well, but I must say for me (and also for my husband), the whole mother-in-law issue can be  stressful because both of my husband's sisters can be rather demanding and my husband's sisters do not get along with each other either.

I was anxious that my MIL would end up at my house  because one of my SILs is also not particularly cooperative.  With my husband having to work, her care would fall on me.  And she is at the point where she  must have some nursing level care now. Luckily I have a supportive husband who doesn't think that kind of care should fall on me as the daughter-in-law.  I don't mind helping, but helping out and nursing care are 2 different things. My husband still wants to do his part though, so he volunteered to be the driver. Next weekend he'll be the driver again, and we'll  transport her back to Maine. (And I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this week goes smoothly. Smile)

This story brings me to my T day drink. Every week we share a drink related post over at Bleubeard's and Elizabeth's blog.  On our way to Massachusetts we stopped for a late lunch.


You can see my water, and this bowl of Greek style calamari my mother in law wanted for lunch. It was an appetizer, and we thought it might not be enough for her lunch so my husband ordered one for all of us to have a few bites of. It was really delicious.  I haven't had calamari in a long time, so it was a nice treat. And my mother-in-law probably could have had this for lunch as there was a lot on the plate. But then of course, I wouldn't have had a chance to have any either. Smile.

That's my post for T this week. I hope everyone has a nice T day and week ahead.