Wrapping Up September

 Hi everyone. Happy Friday and almost weekend to you. And as hard as it is for me to believe, October is almost here. Once again I have to ask, where did September disappear to? I am almost certain I'll be saying the same thing in October since I have several important birthdays that month, as well as my wedding anniversary and a few other items on the calendar. Plus, hopefully, everyone's October will be a really gorgeous month with no hurricanes, no tropical storms, no long stretches of hot or very cold weather...etc.

Today I want to share my last page for Elle's challenge at Art Journal Journey. Thank you Elle for hosting this month and sharing so many cool pages. It was a really fun challenge, and l liked having so many choices in the theme. And thank you to everyone who joined Elle for her challenge also.

Elle's challenge was Books, Cats and Tea, and I decided to end the month by including all 3 topics on  my page.👍 The book, as you can see in this next close up, is my favorite part of the page.

This book image is stamped. After I stamped it I then fussy cut it and stamped the kitty on the bottom. I also outlined the edge in darker black. I  used some book words from a small set on the open book page. I've used some other words from that same set on some other pages earlier this month. Then I scribbled in some writing and inked a bit on the page to make the book look older and well loved. 

The teapot and cup are die cuts. The line of books is one giant 12 inch sticker that I've had for way too long. I cut it into 2 pieces to use on my page.  And my background was made with white gesso and a stencil, and then when the gesso was dry I used mostly red ink (but not only) to color it. You might have noticed that the teapot is cut out of blue paper that had the same stencil image on it, only made with pink paint. 

To wrap up my post, let me share some more photos from the gardens at the Ogunquit Museum of American Art. I visited there last week, and even though I did not go into the museum,  I walked around the grounds. Today I'll share some flowers and beautiful views, since those are always  good ways to wrap up a week.

Here's a close up of this sperm whale statue with the views around it.

Have a great start to your weekend.

Thursday Art

 Hi everyone. Happy Thursday.

As I mentioned yesterday,  I'm finishing up this week posting some journal pages that I made for Elle's Books, Cats and Tea challenge at Art Journal Journey. Elle's challenge ends Saturday, and to share all the pages I made, I need to post another one today. 

Since tomorrow's final AJJ page doesn't really have much for faces on it,  this is the page I am  going to link up to Nicole's Friday Face Off and also to Gillena's Friday Lunch Break.

I found this cute little angel kitty stamp in my collection, and I decided to make a page using it. This page refers to the saying that cats have 9 lives. 

I started by inking my background and also adding a few scraps of painted and drawn on deli paper. I had  embossed the black frame for another piece of art, and  when I  decided not to use it there, I  used it here, rather than letting it sit on my work table. The cute little black kitty image was in a pack of Halloween ephemera, and she was way too cute for Halloween, so I added her to my page. Then I stamped and fussy cut the kitty angels and added some stickers to make my quote. Finally, to give the background a bit more depth, I splattered some watercolor paint on my page, which did make a bit of a mess, but I still like it.

On T Day  earlier this week, I mentioned how a friend and I took a spontaneous day trip to Ogunquit, Maine. One place we  walked was on the grounds of the Ogunquit Museum of American Art. The grounds are small, but the gardens are beautiful, and there are a few statues there.

Here's a few more faces that are of some fun wooden statues in the museum garden.

the lion and the rhino

 And I'm not sure what this animal is supposed to be.

That's all for me today. Thanks for stopping by my blog.

Wednesday Art

Hi everyone. Happy middle of the week. 

I realized that I've made several pages for Elle's challenge at Art Journal Journey  that I wouldn't have time to share if I procrastinated, so for the next few days I have some Books, Cats and Tea  journaling to show you. 

Today's page is one that took me  several steps to get through before I liked it and thought it was finished. 

I started by first stamping this kitty in the window image in the middle of my paper. This is an oldie rubber stamp that I just love. My black ink isn't very dark anymore, and when I stopped to get a new ink pad the store didn't even have any. (They had a lot of blank spots along the wall, and I'm guessing they were in the process of putting out new merchandise, hopefully not getting rid of all their stamping ink.) To darken up my stamped image I  used some grey and black markers and doing that even gave the window frame a little more depth. 

Then I watercolored the background, thinking I was going to give this page a sunset/sunrise look.   That idea went (hee-hee) out the window because when I added the sunset colors the  page was still too flat.  I drew in some lines to see if that helped (they didn't), and  I added some colored paint pen dots that did nothing for the page either.  By then I really disliked this page and almost called it quits.

But I didn't give up. I thought about painting over the background. Instead I decided to (first) add some ripped pieces of black washi tape.  The good thing about washi tape is I could pull it off if I needed to. Surprisingly, I liked it now. I picked up the scalloped border scrap off my desk and made a curtain. Finally I added the quote to remind me of how  making art can be as complicated as life. And that they are both so much easier if everything is simple.

And here's a tag I made for Michele's silhouette tag challenge at Tag Tuesday.  It looks pretty large in this first photo, but you can see in the second photo that it is an actual tag and not a full page. (This is a small journal 5.5 x8.5 inches).

I had a piece of cardboard just the right size for a tag. I covered it with some colorful printed paper and also some word printed paper. I then took blue ink over the exposed cardboard and the word printed paper so the background would be more consistent. 

I finished by die cutting the dancers and making a frame from 2 different sized oval dies. Finally I added this Art by Marlene quote.

That's all for me today. I hope your week is going well.

T Stands for Last Week's Excitement

 Hi everyone. It's time for T again. I hope everyone had a very nice week since we last met for T. 

 Last week I spent a lot of time puttering around my yard. One thing that needed to be done was to beat back the woods a bit, so  I spent too many hours with the lopers chopping down some saplings that were growing too close to the house.

This is the hubby's truck on Saturday morning when we moved the big pile from the driveway, and he took them to the transfer station, a.k.a . our dump.  It's amazing how chopping down some saplings near the house gives the feeling of space. My yard is surrounded on all sides (except where the driveway goes) with woodland so there are still a lot of trees, big and small.

The other thing I did last week was take a spontaneous one day road trip with a friend. It was nice to take a break from the yard work.  We headed not too far over the border into Maine and visited Ogunquit. 

Ogunquit is a small town right on the coast. It's rather an artsy community with a nice beach and (at least on the day we went) a lot of visitors. I've been to Ogunquit several times before, but I felt like this was the first time I could really get a feel for the town. I think it's because I'd mostly visited there in the winter before, when most everything was closed for the season.

Today for T let me show you a few random views from our walk around. 

The fall blooms were just beautiful, especially all the wild asters along the town's  ocean-side trail called the Marginal Way.

The ocean views along the Marginal Way were beautiful too, and with the tide coming in, we had a few waves splashes too.

As we walked through town we passed a stone wall that had all these inspirational painted stones. I think they were from 2020, but they were still fun to read. Here's a couple of them.

In town the Ben and Jerry's ice cream shop had this fun lobster serving ice cream in its window. The sun was hitting the window so I couldn't get a complete photo, but I  like how the reflection looks.

I also really liked these mirrors that were for sale in a gallery, especially this dog one. Now if only I had a place to hang it. (And the extra cash to buy it.) 😬

One store had these beautiful autumn decorated flower boxes. I like how they added the gourds and the tops of the corn stalks. 

Last but not least, here's my lunch and my glass of water, my ticket to T this week over at Bleubeard's and Elizabeth's blog.

I didn't get the big carafe of water that was on our table into my photo, and since the glasses were small, I filled mine a lot. 

For lunch I had a yummy smoked salmon sandwich with dill boursin spread, cucumbers, tomatoes and onions along with some broccoli slaw on the side.

We had a fun day out, and I ended up walking about 5 miles (8 km). Besides having some enjoyable friend time, I was really happy to get some good walking in also. It's been tough to go for a decent walk lately since our vet doesn't want Miss Maddie to overdo exercise yet so everything can finish healing 100%. And if you ever tried going out for a walk and leaving a dog at home, the sad face will definitely get to you.  (But Miss Maddie is doing great otherwise.❤)

I hope everyone has a great T day and the last of September week ahead.  

Welcome A New Season

 Hi everyone. Happy weekend.  And welcome to either autumn or to spring, depending in which hemisphere you reside.

Autumn is now really official here in New Hampshire, and I really enjoy this season. Usually the biting bugs aren't so bad; the air is crisp so it's good to walk,and it's especially good for sleeping at night. It is also a bit bittersweet season though, because all of the good things about summer end, like using my screen porch, having lots of flowers blooming, and going for swims and boat rides.

Too bad we can't combine the best from each season.😏

I have a page for Elle's Books, Cats and Tea challenge at Art Journal Journey that celebrates  autumn here in New Hampshire.

Can you tell (if you look on the right of the photo) that this journal is so full I can't get the pages to lay flat for photographing?  I still think you can get a decent enough view of my page. 

I stamped the leaves in various autumn colors. Then I added the bronze washi tape, the die cut pumpkin and the stamped and fussy cut cat.   I used this round hello pumpkin stamp which comes from a very old clear stamp set  from back in the day when circle word sets for scrapbooking were big. Finally, I added a few little circle-spiral confetti pieces to finish off my page. 

One other thing about autumn that is always good are freshly picked apples.  Last Sunday the hubby and I  went to a local orchard, and we picked a bag.

Time for apple crisp, apple pie, and so many other yummy treats. It's a good thing it's cooled off enough to do some baking. ❤

To wrap up my post, here's a few other seasonal photos from the orchard.

Have a great weekend.

And I'm linking up to Gillena's Sunday Smiles too! 

Some Faces in my Iceland Journal

 Hi everyone. Happy almost the weekend to you. 

And before I go further, thank you for all your stories about my journal page yesterday, I loved everything that happened to Marnie. And I especially loved how everyone had their own stories, which makes the post so much more interesting. I hope Marnie ate a lot of yummy treats, didn't spill tea on her gown, successfully delivered the baby and saved the mother too.  And if she is waiting, I hope the time flies by for her, but that she does have enough time to drink her tea.

Today for Nicole's Friday Face Off  and Gillena's Friday Lunch Break .   I have some pages from my Iceland travel journal for you. I always bring home bits and pieces that I pick up along the way during any trip I take.  Then when I get home I make a junk style journal with those bits and pieces. It's a lot of fun to do, and I also find it helps me not only firm up the highlights from the trip, but keys in on some details that can easily  be overlooked in my memories of a  journey.

Here are some pages with faces for you. This first page commemorates me finally being able to see wild reindeer/caribou. I say finally because when I've been to places where reindeer/caribou are found, I've never managed to see any. Until Iceland that is.

I'm  a knitter, and  Iceland is known for a particular sweater style.  Of course I had to make a page about that. 😏The pieces of yarn stapled in the right hand corner are the colors of the skeins I bought and which I am knitting with now.  

On this next page is a piece of a photo I took that I used in the background, as well as a  vintage woman in National costume. This lady was cut out of a postcard I bought.

Just to show you how I use all kinds of ephemera to make a page, this page has a lot of paper "junk" that I picked up in various places, not just on my trip back in June.

It started with a postcard that was made to announce a class in paper marbling  that I picked up  after my trip. I also added a bit of painted tissue, but it's hard to see the silver paint on it in this photo. The colors  reminded me of Iceland; these were the first things I put down on my page. I then added the hotel room key holder from Iceland.  I put all the blue paint pen dots on it. I also glued down  the metal number one because this was my favorite hotel during the trip. I added a Tim Holtz craft supply person sitting on the top of the hotel key holder.

The photo below shows  the inside when you open up the hotel key holder. I added a little journal card note in the key holder, and I also glued down a piece of a map from a travel brochure to show where we were. Finally I used some thin  washi tape along the top. To the right you can see a card I picked up at a different hotel, but I haven't yet completed that page in my journal.

I have made a  few trip photo books with some photos I took, and one of the books arrived defective. I called the company where I had them made, and they sent me a new book. Now I have my defective book that I can  chop up.  That's where the photos on this next page come from.

And finally, here's a page I am not sure is finished or not. I finished the background, and then I added this cool sheep postcard I picked up. Underneath I added some Bingo pieces that came from a game my daughter had as a child. These pieces were still attached to their plastic strip holder, but I like how they look.

What else I'll do with this page, I'm not certain. Perhaps I'll just leave it as it is. 

That's probably more than enough for today. Enjoy the start to your weekend.