Time for a New Challenge

    Hi everyone. It's Tuesday and time for another new challenge over at Try It On Tuesday.

    Thank you everyone who participated in our Add Some Text challenge. There were some fun pieces shared, and some great way to use text. Our new challenge means you can make your Valentine's Day pieces because for the next 2 weeks we're asking for art with the theme :  All Loved Up.

   I didn't start with the intentions of making my page something that was very traditional Valentine's Day, but that's how it ended up. Sometimes pages just have a life of their own. 

    My page started with some white spiky flower-like  design because I was cleaning off a stencil.  I was hoping when I inked the page it would show  up more, but you can "kind of" see them if you look carefully. Then I used some pink ink and stamped an old X...O stamp randomly in spots. The roses are an old but new to me die cut. 

   I used water color paints, paint pens and a bottle of red acrylic paint to color the roses. The small rose (from the same set) was painted with acrylic paints and some glitter glue. I added the die cut heart, added a few sequins to it and then added this metal Cupid I found in my stash and finally have been able to use. 

   Don't forget we accept any types of art at Try It on Tuesday, and if traditional Valentine's Day is not your thing, check out the other design teams pieces for some other great ideas.

 

   I am also linking  this page to Bleubeard's and Elizabeth's Art Journal Journey challenge. This month the challenge is Anywhere, Anyplace, Anytime, with Anyone. But please remember that at Art Journal Journey we only accept art journaling and no cards, tags, ATCs etc.

  I can't wait to see your All Loved Up pieces over at Try It on Tuesday.

T Stands for Another Owl Hunt and Second on the Second

    Hi everyone. Happy February 2  which is not only the Second the Second (over at Bleubeard's and Elizabeth's blog) but is also Groundhog Day here in the US. I don't think it matters whether Mr. Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow or not because it seems like the answers are the same. Six more weeks of winter or spring is just around the corner. Well how much time does  "just around the corner" actually mean? 

  This post today is not only my Second on the Second link up but is also my T day link up. Hello to everyone who stops by Bleubeard's and Elizabeth's blog with their drink related post.

  Last Thursday I met up with my friend Deb, and we went on a snowy owl hunt. This is the second time we've gone this winter, and sadly, once again we did not see any snowy owls. 😩 However, we did have a super birding day. We headed down to Plum Island State Reserve in Newbury, Massachusetts. They had tons of snow there from the big storm that hit earlier that week, plus it was quite cold,  but a large portion of the road and most of  the pull offs were plowed. And luckily it wasn't very crowded,  so we could stop just about anywhere, even on the road. Plus the few cars that were there seemed to be mostly birders anyhow. 

  Although we didn't see any owls, we did see a couple of Cooper's Hawks.

  Plus we saw lots of robins, cardinals, blue jays, sparrows and even a small flock of cedar waxwings.

    On our way out Deb spotted a giant sized bird out on the frozen marsh. From the car it looked the size of a wild turkey. She pulled over and stopped. I hopped out of the car, and then the bird took off.  We weren't very close to it because the marsh is really large there, so I think me hopping out of the car had nothing to do with the bird flying. I did manage to get one OK photo of the bird in flight because it flew in our direction and that helped me identify what it was.

    Definitely a bald eagle, and I believe it's a  juvenile. Later we saw an adult bald eagle but I couldn't get a photo of that bird. We decided we definitely need to go back and explore the Plum Island park once the snow melts and it warms up.

    When we left we drove back to Salisbury Beach State Reservation since it is hardly any distance away (like 10 minutes of driving and even in the right direction towards home) just to double check there were no owls there. No owls, but the Northern Harrier that lives there was sitting nearer to the road (than last time) and posing for a photo.

   Before we left that morning we made mugs of hot cocoa at Deb's house. That was a super idea (thanks Deb) and so here is my cocoa that I drank through our time out. It's my ticket to T this week.

    Because it is also Second on the Second today, I need to repost something, so I'm going back to 2015 and 2014. In 2014 I saw my first snowy owls (I saw 2 that day). Here's a few photos of one of those owls from that day.

    Then in 2015 I went back but didn't see a snowy owl, but I made a daily journal page about that. Here's the link to that page and post: Snowy Owl Quest.

  The last time I saw a snowy owl was in January of 2022. Here's a photo from that day: Snowy Owls and Other Birds, and here's the owl I saw then.

  Deb is skipping out of town for a few days this week, but when she returns we're planning on another owl hunt. She has never seen any kind of wild owl, and that's the goal this winter, elusive as it might be. 

  I hope the new month is going well for you. Have a happy T day and week ahead. 

It's February

 Hi everyone. Happy new month to you. It's February.  I'm not sure how much winter weather we'll have in my area this month, but  at least the days are already getting longer. That is always a little encouraging at least.

  A new month means a new challenge over at Art Journal Journey. Before I get to that, let me once again thank everyone who joined me during January. Everyone had some super ideas and made some wonderful art which in my mind made the month a big success. ❤❤❤

   This month I want to welcome one of my co-administrators. Well maybe I should say 2 co-administrators, since this month our hosts are the furry Bleubeard and the lovely and arty wordsmith Elizabeth. You probably know them both from Elizabeth's blog Altered Book Lover .

    This month the challenge has a  long name, which I will only write out once right here.

Anywhere, Any Time, Any Place with Any One

   I'm going to call it the 4 A's through the rest of this post. 😉

   Here's my first page for this 4 A's challenge.

   I was trying to hit some upcoming calendar highlights from this month, but in the process I forgot Asian New Year. (Shame on me.)  And I got carried away with hearts because I actually like the shape of hearts.

   I used a couple of pieces of packaging to create my background. Then I added  a tag with a stamped house and  also on that tag are a couple of left overs that were laying on my work table (the face and the trim along the bottom). The big hearts are from a very old Stampington heart cube rubber stamp. The black line ones are stamped directly onto the page and the red checked ones are stamped on paper and then fussy cut. The other stamps used as the small card suites (Postmodern Design) and also the various ways to say I love you (Magenta). I also added a queen of hearts playing card, a Mardi Gras mask from a Stamperia set and a die cut heart. To finish my page I splattered a bit of red watercolor paint over my page. 

  Please  don't forget the dreaded rules also. We only accept art journaling, but any kind of art journaling is allowed. But we do not accept cards, ATC's, tags or other art forms unless they are on an art journal page. I should also mention that we may not be able to comment on your link up unless you link through blogging because not all of us admins belong to  every or any social media platforms. So please, link up through a blog post.

   This should be another fun month because you have such an open challenge. I hope to see your art journaling over at Art Journal Journey.

  Since it is Sunday, I am also linking  up to Nicole's Sunday in the Art Room and Gillena's Sunday Lunch Break.

  Have a great start to the new week  and the new month everyone.