Friday, September 26, 2025

Creepy Crawly and Then Some

    Hi everyone. Happy Friday. I hope your week is going well. This post has several link ups in it, mainly because there are Friday challenges I like to join and also the month is winding down so I have some art challenges to join too. 

    Let me start with another  art journal page since these 2 challenges are ending soon. Today's piece is for Mia's Background challenge at Art Journal Journey. I am also linking up to this month Creative Artiste Mixed Media Challenge # 119. There challenge there is always Anything Goes, but you must use at least 3 types of media on your page.

      

   I started my page by inking a TH insect stamp with black ink and then stamping it several times all over my page. I then used a brown watercolor crayon and colored in some spots. After that I used a wet paintbrush to smush the color around the background. Some of the black ink wasn't quite 100% dry so it smushed that black with it. 

   I then used a small stamp and some red ink as well as adding  a scrap of red mesh I found in my stash. I then added some plastic rings (also from my stash) to create a design on the red mesh. Finally I used some red stickers to create my phrase.

  You might have noticed I hadn't been posting for a bit. My husband, myself and our 2 dogs took a trip to Maine where we then caught a ferry and headed over to Nova Scotia, Canada for 10 days. I still haven't really been able to do much with my photos from my adventure to Maine and Nova Scotia, but I thought I'd share a few random photos again just to wrap up my post. 

    I'll start with this silly view of my and my husband's faces for Nicole's Friday Face Off  and also for Gillena's  Friday Lunch Break .



     The downside of traveling with dogs is having to keep a large supply of poop bags on hand.  The dogs were great overall. They'd sleep as late (or as early) as we did. They rarely barked, and they love snoozing in the car. It helps that they're 11 and 12 years old too, and the weather was cool enough we could leave them to relax in the car here and there.


    I didn't know Nova Scotia had its own tartan plaid. Of course Nova Scotia means New Scotland, so I'm not surprised.


    This is a sign of one of the driving loops we took while driving out on Cape Breton. Cape Breton is the far eastern island in Nova Scotia. It's connected to the mainland by a causeway. I'll have a couple of posts later about this area of the province.


     Here we are getting ready to line up for the ferry in Bar Harbor, Maine. That ferry  would take us to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia in an approximate 3.5 hour trip. On the trip heading over the ferry wasn't very full, but on the trip back the ferry was at full capacity.


We stayed in a mix of hotels and Air B&B's.  One of the cabins we stayed in had this great deck with a gorgeous view (more about that some other time). Here's Miss Maddie relaxing in the late afternoon.


   It's not often I see yellow asters in bloom. I love autumn wildflowers, and we saw a lot of them.


   Our trip was a mix of nature, local history and local culture. Here's a view from a museum we visited about Alexander Graham Bell. Who knew he did so many interesting things? I thought he just invented the telephone. This is just a tease so I'll share more about that in a later also.


    And finally, some wildlife. We saw so many deer on our trip, as well as a few other animals.

    That's all for me. Have a wonderful end of your week and weekend ahead.

















28 comments:

David M. Gascoigne, said...

I have visited Cape Breton three times and have still not made it to the Alexander Graham Bell museum. You put me to shame! All the best - David

Anonymous said...

What a lovely trip. I suppose you go through immigration checks when you enter Canada by ferry?
Creepy page by the way. -Christine cmlk79.blogspot.com

Elkes Lebensglück said...

You've beautifully stamped and painted the journal page, and combined a piece of fabric with great imagination into a complete work of art.
These are interesting, wonderful photos from your trip! You are such loving people.
Beautiful weekend!
Hugs Elke

Maria Medeiros said...

oh what an amazing adventure! Thank you for sharing your wonderful photos! Lovely faces and beautiful smiles! :) Happy Friday and have a wonderful weekend!

Tom said...

...what a fun pair you are!

CJ Kennedy said...

Cute photo of you and your Hubby. Sounds like a fun and interesting trip. I hope you get to enjoy some time on the porch today. Temps. here predicted to be 80! I hope it's Summer for you as well.

Lisca said...

Welcome back. Thanks for sharing a few sneak-peek photos these last few days.
Looking forward also to learn more about Alexander Graham Bell. I know he had something to do with eduction of the deaf, so that helmet certainly is a tease.
Have a lovely weekend,
Lisca

Gillena Cox said...

Lovely tartan. Glad you had a nice time. Happy Friday

Gillena Cox said...

Happy Friday
Thanks for linking to AFFF. Glad you had a nice time in Maine

MUCH♡LOVE

an artist reflects said...

Beautiful travel photos ~ fun ~ a great place and had one of those tartan scarves ~ Happy Weekend to you ~ hugs,
an artist reflects

DVArtist said...

First that art piece is fantastic. I kinda love the bugs. LOL That selfie is fabulous. I love the big smiles. It looks like you had a wonderful trip. We used to travel with 3 big dogs so I know what you are talking about. LOL Can't wait to see more photos of your trip. Thank you for sharing with FFO and have a lovely weekend.

Iris Flavia said...

Love the silly faces! The creepy maybe not so much ;-)
Your trip sounds wonderful, a bit of "everything" but stress (I hope). Have a great evening, hugs

MELODY JACOB said...

What a fantastic post. Your art journal page for the Background and Anything Goes challenges looks really cool, that stamped insect background combined with the red mesh and rings creates such an interesting, slightly mysterious texture. A trip to Maine and Nova Scotia with your dogs sounds like such a wonderful adventure.
www.melodyjacob.com

Shari Burke said...

What a great pic of you and hubby! Such joy on your faces--it made me smile, too. Your page is definitely creepy!

Angie's Recipes said...

Such a great trip! And that face off of both your beautiful smile is wonderful!

Fundy Blue said...

Oh, Erika! I loved this post! Well, the bug images not so much. I really shy away from bugs, but your multi-media art was great. I've made that ferry crossing from. Bar Harbor to Yarmouth many times. Bar Harbor is where I entered the US as an immigrant. You must have been in Baddeck for the Alexander Graham Bell Museum. I love Cape Breton, and my mother's father's people are from the Mabou and Lake Ainsley areas. Love the photo of you and your husband! Have a great weekend!

Lowcarb team member said...

I enjoyed seeing the photographs from your trip and the one of you and your husband made me smile ...it's great.
Have a great weekend.

All the best Jan

Linda's Relaxing Lair said...

Very creative. I love ❤️ your photos as well.

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

What a fun trip you must have had. Loved the Creepy art and background for Mia's theme at AJJ. Loved the spots of red that were the WOW factor.

Great photo of you and hubby. Laughed at the poop bag. The price of traveling with dogs.

So glad Maddie is doing well. I always worry about her. I hope you show Pete a few times, too in future posts.

So glad you had a good time and I look forward to the Bell museum. Did you know my internship was partly at Bell Labs in NJ?

The Happy Whisk said...

Sounds like a wonderful time!!!! lol on the pictures. You're funny!

Aimeslee Winans said...

Ok, that AJ page is indeed creepy, as in skin-crawling, lol. And that's a cute face snap of your both. I hope his back is feeling better. I'm kind of surprised it's still so green in NS (which I did not know translates to New Scotland!). I guess it's still too early for turning leaves. XOX

Nuria de Espinosa said...

Jajaja, me hizo gracia como afrontar tu post. Tú esposo y tú estáis radiantes. Tú creación me parece genial aunque los bichos tengan tan mala fama. Además me encantan las telas a cuadros tipo escocia. Un abrazo grande

https://linsartyblobs.blogspot.com said...

Nice creepy crawly work.

*Vicki* said...

Awesome page with the creepy crawly things! The texture is so fun with it too! Great photos and looks like you had fun with hubby!

hels said...

I don't understand Nature. The insects are ugly and people try to swat them. The deer and dog are handsome, protected by humans at all costs.

Tracey@Hotchpotchcreations said...

Great page Erika, love the added textures, those creepy crawlies I'll be dreaming about tonight :D Laughed about the poo bags.. I think every pocket in my jeans has one.. i'm always prepared Haa haa! Thanks so much for sharing @ Creative Artiste x
LOVE the pic of you and hubby, looks like a great vacation, I hope I do not miss too much whilst i'm in and out of blogland.
Hugs Tracey xx

ashok said...

Wonderful trip

Mia said...

I LOVE seeing you again, Erika!!!
And I LOVE the photo with deers!
Thank you for entering again my challenge at Art Journal Journey.
Hugs,
Mia
Co-administrator for AJJ
craftartista.blogspot.com {My Blog}