Sunday Art-Pelicans and Hummingbirds

     Hi everyone. I hope your weekend is going well.   We're having some nice weekend weather and finally some beautiful May temperatures. ❤ It feels even better since we haven't had a lot of this weather so far this spring.👍

    Today I have some bird inspired art to share for a couple of challenges including Nicole's Sunday in the Art Room (Sitar) and Gillenas's Sunday Smiles. I'll also be linking a up to Art Journal Journey and  Tag Along (and ATCs too) It's a busy post for certain. 😉

    First, let me share this page for Mia's Birds challenge over at Art Journal Journey. It's part of a trip journal I just finished making, the trip being my weekend away in South Carolina. By the shore we saw lots of pelicans; they are always fun to watch. The big guy at the bottom (of my page) reminds me of one time when the hubby and I were somewhere (maybe coastal North Carolina) eating lunch on a dock and this one pelican flew in and landed on  piling. He kept watching us eat. As soon as we looked at him, he turned away like he didn't care we were there. But as soon as we went back to our lunch, his eyes were on us again. 😄

   I started with 2 pieces of paper. The base paper is covered with seagulls,  (more birds, right?), and then I cut part of this wave designed paper to put on the bottom. This paper was plain light blue wit the dark wavy lines, so I decided to add details using blue and white paint pens to color in some of the waves on the paper. 

  The tiny flying pelicans are stamped and then fussy cut before I glued them down. I created the large piling with some scrap paper, and then I stamped and fussy cut the big pelican. I lost some of the stamped details when I colored him in with the dark brown marker, so I added some white flecks to him to try to give him a few details.

   Finally I added a white cloth sticker sun that I painted yellow, and then stamped and added the quote (Impression Obsession).

    Here's one of the inspirations for my journal page today. I reminds me I should have added some white to the pelican's head. 😏

    You can see the punched holes and the metal binding rings on the right side of my page. This is the first time I made my own 2 ring binder journal cover. I hadn't known you could buy unattached binding rings up until recently.

  Here's the cover of that journal.

   I cut an old book apart and covered the actual covers with a recycled  Amazon bag and then I used cloth bookbinding tape to cover the edges of the cover and to make a spine. I used pink stencil paste and a stencil to add the texture to the cover. What I find really strange (but also interesting to look at) was how much lighter that pink stencil paste looked on the black binding tape than it did on the paper bag. That was true even when I rubbed some watery orange acrylic paint over it. Hmmm.  

 

   To finish the covers I used some chicken wire designed cloth tape along the edges and used some TH metal book corners. The Charleston stamp is something you can collect and should put into a special stamp collection book, but I usually buy them and put them in (or on) my travel journal. I use a TH metal frame that was in my stash around this travel stamp.

   And I definitely don't want to forget to share the tag I made today for Pinky's  Add Some Pink challenge at Tag Along (and ATCs too).

   I started with a brown paper bag colored tag that I rubbed some Versafine Claire Pink ink over.  Then I fussy cut the heart out of a sheet of paper, and I punched out the hummingbird (49 and Market) and the daisy  (Stamperia). I did use a light pink marker and colored in some of the daisy's petals. The quote is from a TH quote set, and I finished off my tag with some pink lace cloth trim.

   That's all for me today. Hope you have or are having a wonderful rest of your weekend and start to the new week.

Where in the World is the Best Place

Hi everyone.  Happy almost end of August. 

In this post I want to share my last pages for Chris' Where in the World challenge at Art Journal Journey. I really enjoyed this challenge, and I also enjoyed seeing everyone's pages. There were a lot of great journaled places to explore, and it goes to show you how interesting the world is. 😀

Thank you Chris and thank you everyone who participated this past month at Art Journal Journey.

My final pages (there's 2) come out of my Charleston (South Carolina) trip journal.

Even though it's always exciting to go away, it's even better to come home. It's Where in the World the best place to be is.

When I went to visit my friend, I had an evening flight home from Raleigh (North Carolina) with a plane change in Baltimore. It should have been a quick and easy trip, but both flights had delays. I was supposed to have landed around 11 PM, with an hour drive home from the airport, but instead I ended up landing well after midnight. Luckily I only had a carry on  bag so I didn't have to wait for luggage, but it was still very late by the time I ended up at home. 

My first page is pretty simple. I inked the background, die cut the moon, stamped and fussy cut the plane, and then cut the word home out of a magazine.

I wrapped up that part of the trip with a second page, more about my going home travels and arrival time.

For this page I also inked the background. I also added the receipt for parking my car at the airport. I  die cut a watch fob, and I didn't add the "clock" to it. Instead I added in some sticker to show the time I arrived at home. I also made a small "tag" with some scrap paper, stickers and a "charm". The words around the edge in this photo actually are on the paper before this last page in my travel journal. They relate to that page, but they do look good as a border to this page too.

And that's all there is for me this month at AJJ.

Before I sign off I also want to share a tag I made for Wendy's OWL challenge at Tag Tuesday.

I used some orange spray ink, a tad bit of tissue paper, a TH Halloween image as well as a button and some little foam stars to make this whimsical owl tag.

That's all for me today.

Enjoy what's left to August. I'll be back on the first when our new challenge at Art Journal Journey begins.

Friday Art

 Hi everyone. Happy Friday to you. 

I'm posting  3 journal pages today to link up to Nicole's Friday Face Off ,Gillena's Friday Lunch Break  and also Chris' Where in the World challenge at Art Journal Journey. 

I made these pages to go into my Charleston (South Carolina) travel journal. You might remember I traveled there with a friend back in May.

These 3 pages are about my visit to Magnolia Gardens and the Audubon swamp located there. I shared a few photos from that visit in some earlier posts.

When I travel I like to pick up bits and pieces to create with. My friend that I traveled with is one of the few people (not including some of my blogosphere friends) who is also into collecting bits and pieces during a trip. One thing we both had fun doing that weekend  was collecting items. 😁

You can see  on this first page that I used the front of a brochure plus our ticket to get in the locked gate of the Audubon swamp. The ticket is only attached on the left, so you can actually pull it up to see the full image behind it.

The lady in these first 2 pages is from a collection of TH people images you can buy. I love how different sizes are included in the package, so I was able to use the same lady on both of these first 2 pages. I think she looks very Antebellum to fit the theme of those pages. And she makes a great face for Nicole's challenge this week.

I wish they had left the chair behind her though, as one of her arms looks  a little strange. But it is what it is. 

On this second page I used a bit of Spanish Moss that I picked up while walking, and I made the top piece of the page cutting out the border from  a tourist magazine. Then I used some other ephemera I had including a printed transparency as well as some printed images.

These guys have great faces too.

At Magnolia Plantation we saw A LOT of alligators, so I needed to make a page about them. I had picked up a gator postcard specifically for this book, but  when I got home I decided I didn't like the way the alligator looked. I have an old Technique Tuesday alligator and die cut set, and I really like these gators. I cut the top off the postcard to use as the title of my page. The info is from the tourist info booklet I picked up. The background is made with washi tape and some inked edges, and finally I stamped and die cut several happy gators. I gave them some details like the eyes and the teeth, and after they were glued down, I stamped the quotes which are from the same stamp set. 

You might remember some of the alligator photos I shared, especially this guy who walked out in front of me. 😨

Have a great Friday and start to your weekend.

Second on the Second

 Hi everyone. Happy Wednesday, August 2 to you. 

As it's August second, it is time for  Second on the Second  over at Bleubeard's and Elizabeth's blog. This month I am showing you some old travel pages.

These pages are from a short  trip the hubby and I took with my sister-in-law and her husband to the Finger Lakes in Central New York State.  This trip was back in August of 2017. I used all the scraps I picked up to make a travel junk journal.

On this trip we did some wine tastings, as well  as some beer tastings and even a trip to a gin distillery. It's a good thing those tastings are just tastes. :)

We also went for a beautiful hike, visited a couple of museums, as well as visiting a couple of National Park Units. It was a very busy 3 days, but we had a lot of fun and laughed a lot.

I can't find my junk journal page post from when we visited the Corning Glass Museum which was huge, and it was one of the highlights of this mini-trip. It had some really wonderful glass creations. The Finger Lakes area was  a great little get-away.

To get to New York  from New Hampshire we had to travel through Vermont, so I made a page about that too.

I chose these second views because this month at Art Journal Journey Chris is hosting with a theme of Where in the World.  Although these (above) pages have been posted before and don't work for AJJ, here's a new page from my Charleston (South Carolina) travel journal that I haven't shown before. I am linking this page up to AJJ.

If you stop by my blog frequently, you might remember this was a fun weekend trip that I took with a good friend back in May.

This is a pretty simple page. I started with a full page spread from a travel magazine I picked up. These beautiful homes are along the waterfront, and I walked along this sidewalk. I used an old stamp set and stamped the girl on her bike. There were a lot of bikers down in this part of the city. Plus I like this lady. I colored her and cut around her and then added this image to my page. I also used a quote from the same set on the page. To finish off my page I added some washi tape along the bound edge, and punched out the holes to fit in my journal.

There you have it. I hope your August has started off well. 

And before I click post, thanks for visiting my blog too.

In Bloom

 Hi everyone. 

 I wrote this post the other day.  July is starting to wind down and I still have some pages I  want to share for Alison's Come Fly with Me challenge at Art Journal Journey. That makes this a scheduled post.  I figured I had better post another one today because  if I didn't, there wouldn't be much time to get them all posted. Smile.

I mention this because my friend from North Carolina was visiting, and  I also picked up another shift at the lake. I haven't had much time to comment for the last couple of days, so if I don't get to your blog, it's not because I'm ignoring you.  

Today's page comes out of my Charleston (South Carolina) travel journal that I finished a few weeks ago. Coincidentally, I took that trip with this same visiting friend, so this page works in 2 ways, for Alison's challenge and for my company. Smile.

 I don't make my travel journal with any particular challenge in mind, but if a page fits, then I might just use it. Smile. 

The flowers were blooming when I visited the city back in mid-May, and they were gorgeous.  I started with a piece of 6x6 Graphic 45 paper. I wanted to show the lushness of the spring blooms in the city, and my paper also happens to have a hummingbird and some butterflies on it. Perfect for Alison's Come Fly with Me challenge.

The wording is cut from a tourist magazine, and then to finish my page I added a chipboard doorway/window as well as a paper vase image, both from TH. Both of these images  reminded me of those you find in many of the historical homes.

We didn't have time to tour any homes on the weekend I visited, but we did spend an afternoon wandering around the city's historic district. It was really beautiful, and here are some photos that inspired my page today.

Have a great day!

Tea Party

 Hi everyone.Another week is flying by, isn't it? 

This week seems to be the week for T parties,. Not only was this week's T day a big 10 year party (T Day 10 Year Celebration) but it is also the theme at Rain's Art and Dinner Date . 

Here's a couple of pages from my Charleston (South Carolina) travel journal. I just love cutting up brochures and figuring out ways to make pages that bring back memories of the things/events/places I want to remember. These trip journals I make aren't exactly scrap books, maybe more junk journals. But then, they aren't exactly a junk journal either. 😏

This first page even explains how to make the perfect cup of tea for the tea party. Of course being summer maybe you prefer yours iced.

I am also going to link this page to Alison's Come Fly With Me challenge at Art Journal Journey. The bald eagle works for that. You may wonder why there is a bald eagle on my page.

When we were driving out of the tea plantation (that my pages are about), we noticed a large number of large birds on the ground right next to the road.  Most of them were turkey vultures, but in the mix was one bald eagle.  We both said "There's a bald eagle." at the same time, and then my friend turned her car around to head back to the birds. Just as we arrived another car came in the opposite directions with their windows open and their music blasting, so we only were able to watch the bald eagle fly off. But I had to add the eagle in to remember this mini-adventure of the trip.

I made my page using strips of leafy washi tape and then some green ink to blend it all together. Then I added some brochure  and tourist booklet cut outs along with my die cut and colored eagle.

And let me pour you a cup of tea for the T party. Some of you who were also by my blog for Tuesday’s T day post mentioned how many infusion “tea" boxes that I had. The reason I have so many is that it was cheaper to buy a set (on Amazon) than to get individual boxes. 

Here are my 2 favorites.  These infusions are made with herbs and fruit. They do a great job flavoring water, and they have been my go to drinks for the past month.

I'll end my post with my big insulated thermos which is filled with some flavored water, and I know, you can't see it. You'll just have to take my word for it-smile.  The stickers on my jug came on it and are part of the design.

That's all for me. I'm thinking I might try to do some gardening before the day heats up. I hope you're week is going well.

A Yummy Breakfast

 Hi everyone. Happy Thursday.

The week is getting close to  ending, and  of course rain is back into the forecast. Today it sounds like there will be more precipitation this evening with chances of passing storms, but parts of New Hampshire and sadly Vermont are back under a flood watch again. (The photos from Vermont and the flooding are terrible.) Rivers, streams and lakes are high, and west of me they are really high. Thanks to those of you who asked how it was  around my home. Monday when all the flooding happened there were only 2 counties not under a flood watch/warning, and I live in one of them, both in the Eastern part of New Hampshire up against the Maine border. And my daughter, who lives in the flood zone has so far been high and dry. 

Today I have a journal page today for Alison's Come Fly With Me challenge at Art Journal Journey. I know chickens aren't big flyers, but they definitely can get some lift off the ground.

This page is in the little travel journal I made from my weekend trip in May. I had gone to visit a friend of mine,and she and I spent the weekend in Charleston. 

There is a story behind this page. I had been telling my friend about when I was in Florida, and how I had visited a Waffle House restaurant assuming they would have chicken and waffles. (Of course the Waffle House restaurant didn't have this.) While  having dinner one night in Charleston, my friend ordered chicken, and I swear there  was so much on her plate it could have fed 4 people. She took it back to the hotel and put it in our room fridge. The next morning we made waffles at the freebie breakfast and had the rest of the chicken with them.

I first stamped my page with these bird footprints.  I then looked through my paper pile for something that would work for waffles. I found this tan graph style paper, and I cut out a random "waffle" shape.  I know when you made  waffles they should be square or round, but it never seems that they end up being perfectly shaped. Plus I like the odd shape artistically too.

I cut out the pat of butter from some yellow paper, and then I tried to figure out how to make the maple syrup. It worked on the edges of my waffle but I had a hard time getting the little pools that are made  in a waffle. To make the syrup I took some bronze metallic paint and watered it down. Then I stamped, colored and fussy cut the chickens and added them to my page.

Finally, I used some ancient stickers and a bit of writing to finish off my page.

I'll finish my post with some photos from last week's trip to my local botanical garden, Bedrock Gardens in Lee, New Hampshire. (Yesterday I visited a different botanical garden, and I'll have more to share about that another day.)

Since it is Thursday, I'm also linking up to Rain's Art and Dinner Date.

Have a great day, and thanks for stopping by my blog.