A Thursday Art Post

    Hi everyone. Happy Thursday. Today I have some art to share for a couple of challenges. First I have a tag for Tag Along (and ATC's too). This month Brenda is hosting, and her theme is Favorite Colors. But you can also always post a tag, ATC or bookmark for anything goes too.

   I'm also linking this tag up to Creative Artiste Mixed Media challenge #128, where the theme is always Anything Goes.

   I love the blue and greens of summer, so that's the main colors of my tag today.

   I started with an old Impression Obsession cover a card seashell stamp, which I stamped in dark blue.  You can just see the images peeking lightly through the background. 

    Then I used some vivid turquoise and lime green liquid ink to color over my background. It was a bit too bold, so I lightly sponged some white gesso over it. Now my  background was ready for some images.

   I took out a very old Kin Hughes/ Cornish Heritage Farm stamp set full of fish and other sea creatures. I stamp the wave directly onto the bottom of the tag. I used a dark blue paint pen to color it in, added a bit of white paint pen, and then finished that with some very dark blue Stickles glitter glue.

  I then took some fish and stamped them on white paper. I colored them in with markers and fussy cut them. Once I added them to my tag I darken the stamp outline with a black pen, and I also gave them a little glitter glue sparkle too. Finally  I added some clear water drop style embellishments. I also stamped the quote which  came from the same stamp set and outlined it with the same blue paint pen I used for the water.

   Since it's any arty kind of day I also have a page for Halle's Fabric, Lace and Trim challenge at Art Journal Journey. Today my page is made in my ledger journal and except for some cloth trim, is a paper page.

   I started with some lavender colored ink and an old Hero Arts background stamp which I stamped several times around my page. I like how left a light random design and even the bare spots (thanks to what was on some of the pages before this one).  I then took some scrap paper and tore what was left a bit. I knew I wanted to use this old B Line stamp, which I stamped on white and had decided, after  I fussy cut it, to leave it uncolored. I wanted the black and white background paper to fill in around most of the image, and because it was black and white is why I left the stamp uncolored. 

  I then fussy cute both the flower and the banner out of a sheet of paper. I colored the banner to match some trim (since I thought I had purple ric-rac but didn't). I finished by adding the banner and the ric-rac. I also had the left over of a large word stamp on my work table, so I cut out the words and added them. They seemed to work perfectly with my images. Finally I added a few white beads to the banner  to tie into the white flower.

   That's all for me. I hope you're having a super week and maybe even finding a little creative time for whatever you enjoy making.

 

Sunday in the Art Room

    Hi everyone. Happy Sunday.  It's already Sunday, and it was just last Monday. Did Tuesday through Saturday get kicked off the calendar? 😉

   Today I have a journal page for Matilde's Houses and Building challenge at Art Journal Journey and also for Creative Artiste Mixed Media Blog and their challenge #127.  I'm also joining Nicole for her Sunday in the Art Room and Gillena for her Sunday Smiles .Sunday

   I'm happy with how my page for today came out, and I really like the way I created a hill going up with actually having to draw one on my page.

  I started with a page in my ledger journal and used some green-yellowish paint over the whole background. Then I used some pink paint and an Impression Obsession background stamp in parts of that background. I then took some purple paint and sponged it on randomly. I finished my background by using a handwriting stamp and added some handwriting in a dark brown.

   I then stamped the 2 house images and fussy cut them. I decided to leave them white so the the other colors on the page would pop more, and I also layered them.  I then used a punch out (from 49 and Market) of a strip of flowers along the bottom to anchor the houses and to create the hill. in the front of the houses I also added a fussy cut potted shrub (cut from a  sheet of paper) and a punch out bird. I stamped the quote at the bottom.

   I finished the page by painting some clouds above the house with white acrylic paint. I then outlined them with a black Stabilo pencils and used a wet brush to smudge the pencil.

   Last year I planted some chamomile seeds into a pot. We  had seen a lot of wild chamomile while driving around Greece in 2024, and when I saw this seed packet, it immediately brought me back to that adventure.

  This year this chamomile has come back with a vengeance.  Not only are they growing in the pot, but they've filled in the area around the pot too.

    

   I hope the whole area fills up the chamomile because they make me happy. And this is one spot we struggle to get grass  or just about anything to grow.

    And one thing I've observed this year is that when it rains or in the dewy evening, all the flowers move their petals downward. 

   And then, when the sun comes back out, they flip them upward. 

    Sometimes nature surprises me and creates beautiful gardens without me having to do any work to get there. Now I just need to figure out how to make chamomile tea. 👍

   Have a super rest of your Sunday and start to the new week.

   

Sunday Art and Bees

     Hi everyone. Happy Sunday to you. I hope you're having a wonderful weekend so far.

    Today I am sharing a journal page for Gillena's Trees Are Awesome, Aren't They? at Art Journal Journey. I will also be linking  up this page to Nicole's  Sunday in the Art Room  and Gillena's Sunday Smiles .    Plus since I've used various types of media, I will be linking  up to Creative Artiste Mixed Media Challenge Blog which this month is #125 and always has a theme of Anything Goes.  

   My page today is more true for last Sunday's weather than for today, but I was thinking of the quote "April showers bring May flowers" when I created this page.

   I started with an umbrella stencil and some water color markers. Then I used watercolor paints to make the colored sky over them. I like how watercolor paint took away the sharpness of the umbrella images.

   Next I took a crackle stamp and stamped it along the bottom of the page because I needed some ground to base my other images on.

   I painted the tree tops with acrylic paints and used a Sharpie to create the trunks.  They may not look like trees here in New Hampshire in April,  but someplace in April you already have green leaves. Probably more places than not  already have green leaves. 😏

    Then I took an older TH die as well as a small stack of colored cardstock. This  is one of those thick chunky dies Sizix used to make a lot of, not the small metal frame dies that are more popular now, so I could cut a big stack of colored house shaped pieces at once.  I assembled  3 of those images together to make my house. 

    On white paper I used a stencil and traced the square shapes that would become the windows. I cut them out, glued them down and drew in the details.   I also outlined the house to give it more definition on my page. I then took a raindrop stamp (Impression Obsession) and some dark blue ink and stamped  raindrops all over my page.

    The flowers in the bottom windows are actually each a piece from some cloth trim that I clipped apart and colored in the center. I drew in a stem on each. I also added a punch-out picket fence from a 49 and Market image set.  To finish the page,  I stamped the eye in the middle and colored it in. I also die cut the umbrella and stamped the details. Then I used a quote from the same Hero Arts set that the eye and the umbrella  image came from to finish this page. 

   The other day it was one of our warmest days so far. The hubby and I took the bee winter enclosure apart. Boy were there bees out and about.  Here's the enclosure partially apart. It had a roof and another side wall on it which are missing in this photo.

   There were so many bees going in and out. At one point there was a cloud of them in front of the entrance.

    Once the enclosure was off I opened up the top and took a peek inside. There were a lot of bees on some of the left over winter food. I had really stuffed the hive with sugar patties and also pollen/protein patties in the fall. You can see where they have eaten away at the edges over the winter.

    I didn't do a deep dive into the hive this time because the bees were pretty wound up with us down there taking down the winter enclosure and changing their environment. But I will take a deep dive into the hive soon.  However, I can report that although they were curious about us and what we were doing, they were not aggressive and no one was stung.   😏 Of course we weren't nervous and just ignored them so they just went along with their own business as we were with ours.

    I left the bags of half decayed garden leaves under the base to block any spring wind.  But other than that, here's the hive now.

   I'm really excited that with the very long, very cold and snowy winter we had the bees actually made it. 👍😀❤

    In another month my next batch of bees will arrive so hopefully this year I'll have 2 hives. I have tried this before, and never had any luck, so we'll see what happens.

   Have a great rest of your weekend and start to the new week.

Everyone Likes Flowers, Right?

    Hi everyone. Happy Thursday to you.  Slowly spring is coming. We're back into some chilly chilly temps at night way below freezing. Brrr.  But at least the ground is about 85-90% snow free. And today we have no inclement weather in the forecast either. 👍

   Today I have a spring journal page  for Chris's challenge at Art Journal Journey. I am also linking up to challenge #124 at Creative Artiste Mixed Media challenge blog since I have used more than 3 types of media on my page.

   My page started with me using up some left over blue and green paints. It really was just a wipe off my brush page but it had potential. To pull it together I took a brick stencil and some white gesso.

   The actual flowers are from a punch out set of images from Art by Marlene. I arranged them, glued them down and then used 2 different green paint pens to make the stems and leaves. To enhance the flowers I took some yellow daisy cloth trim and clipped the daisies into separate pieces. I glued a daisy down in the center of each flower and then added a small confetti piece.

   I also had a die cut on my work table that I hadn't used. It's the shape of a card you'd wrap threads or yarn around. I didn't wrap anything around to but I outlined the edges with a white paint pen. Then I inked those edges with a blue ink pad  similar  in color to some of the blue on the background.

   I stamped the butterflies and quote. I also added a a bit of black and white color to the butterflies to make them stand out more. 

 If you stop by frequently you might have seen the photos of my jar of tulips. Sadly they never bloom very long, but even as the blooms start to go, I think they look pretty cool. They also make great photo fodder. Here's a few more recent photos I have taken of them.

And if I brighten up the photos a bit, here's what I get.

Have a wonderful Thursday and (if your an occasional visitor) have a great rest of the week.

A Bit of Steampunk Art

   Hi everyone. Happy Thursday. I hope your week is going well. 

   Today I want to share a page for Bleubeard's and Elizabeth's Anywhere, Anytime, Any Place with Anyone challenge at Art Journal Journey. I'll also be linking  up to Creative Artiste Mixed Media Challenge # 123 since I have more than 3 types of media on my page. My page is a little bit steampunk and was one of those pages that took a while to figure out when it was actually complete.

    I started out by using up some left over red paint. I made all the circles on my page.  Then I decided to make some blue painted circles inside of the red ones. 

     At another session I sat down and took a black Stabilo pencil and outlined the black circles. I then took  a wet paint brush and went over those circles. I love how I get that dark and slightly fuzzy look with the wet brush.  After that I used watercolor paint and painted my background.

    I can't remember whether I added the gears next or whether I splattered the page with some black water color paint. Either way, those were the next 2 steps.  The gears are made of chipboard and I got a small set of them as a freebie when I ordered something sometime back. They've been sitting on my work table for a a while now, and it was time to use them.

   Here's my finished page. You can see  I added to it. And yes, I couldn't get the top right corner to lay flat so the top of my photo isn't very professional looking.

    There were more gears in this same set, so this time, instead of  painting them black I painted them copper or silver or in the case of the light bulbs, bright yellow. I didn't have a problem using scissors and snipping some of the gear sets apart so they would work on my page. 

    Then I used some various AALL & Create bits of pieces I had on my page. I also used the "cacophony" word stamped (Impression Obsession) a few times around the page, but I thought that if there are gears turning, it would get kind of loud and create a cacophony.  I particularly like the dog face since he looks like he might be a junk-yard dog so to speak. 

   To finish my page I took my roll of clear crow tape. I have no idea who made it or where it came from, but I love cutting the crows out and gluing them down on a page. I thought since they can make a lot of noise they would work with cacophony words.

   I had a lot of fun making this page, even if it took a while to make it. I hope you enjoyed seeing it.

  

Happy Valentines Day Art

    Hi everyone. Happy Valentine's Day. ❤ And happy weekend to you also.

    I'm not one that really celebrates this holiday, but I do like the shape of a heart. Every now and again it's fun to make some romantic art also.  Today I'm sharing  a romantic style heart laden page for Elizabeth's Anywhere, Any Placer, Any Time with Anyone challenge over at Art Journal Journey.  I also used at least 3 types of media on my page, so I'll also be linking  up to Creative Artiste Mixed Media Challenge. Their challenges are always anything goes,  and this month is their challenge # 123.

    I started by using a light pink ink pad directly on the page and adding a bit of color. Then I took a larger AALL & Create stamp. I tried stamping with sand colored ink once,but it wasn't what I wanted, so I went with a rosey pink and stamped the image several times over my page.  After that I took a smaller heart stamp from the same set and stamped that in red. 

    I colored in a few of the smaller red stamped images with a marker.  Then I added my details. These included a few flowers and also a scrap  paper edge from a 49 and Market punch out set. The butterfly is from the same company, but I didn't want the color so I painted it. I used a  "tag" die cut (the shape is for wrapping threads) from paper, and I wrapped a bit of colorful yarn around it. The quote on it is from a TH set.  I had a sheet of pink paper that was stenciled with grey paint, and I used that paper to die cut several hearts. I added one of those hearts. And finally I die cut the bird and used ink and paint to color them in. The details (eye and beak) were colored with a black Sharpie.

    This page (above) is in a Dyluions journal. 

    I decided to add one more page to this post, and it is nothing fancy but is Valentine's Day appropriate. It's on the back of a sheet of music paper in a homemade spring themed journal I am playing in.

    That's all for me. I hope your weekend is starting off or has started off in a good way. 

I'm A Guest Designer

  Hi everyone. Happy first Friday in December. I'm actually writing 2 posts for today since I received the honor of being a guest designer over at Creative Artiste Mixed Media Challenge Blog for December. Thank you ladies for having me again. It is always fun to be a part of the team for a month.

   It was requested that I make a holiday page, so I decided to combine several of my favorite things about Christmas. 😏

    I started by inking my ledger journal page with red ink. I added a bit of washi tape along the left side just to ground my collage items. I'm not sure where the North Pole Tracking slip came from, but I had it in my stash. I started with that, and then I added a berry branch as well as a white poinsettia "flower" from 49 and Market. I dabbed some snow on the berries and although you can't see it, I added some yellow small bead like PIMS to the center of the pointsettia. Then I die cut the Santa in his flying sleigh (Frantic Stamper die), and I added a tag that I made. On the tag I used a bit of a 49 and Market for branch and stamped the quote.

    Then I used silver paper and die cut some snow flakes, and I used black paper and die cut some musical notes and staff (Cornish Heritage Farms). And since my page has snow, and since in my area we always hope for a white Christmas, I took a bit of white acrylic paint and a scrunched up paper towel to add a little dusting of it around my page. 

    You can use any theme for your page at Creative Artiste since their theme is always Anything Goes, but be sure to use at least 3 types of media on your page. 

    Once again, thank you ladies for having me join in for a month. I really appreciate your support, and I love supporting you back also.

    And since my page relates back to winter, I am also joining Sharon's Winter challenge at Art Journal Journey.

   Happy December crafting and I hope everyone has time to take a break and join in at Creative Artiste. ❤

  

 

The Beat Goes On

   Hi everyone. Happy Wednesday. I hope you're having a nice week. It has been  windy once again at my house and also pretty cold. I can't say November has been mild in any way, shape or form.  In fact, look at the dusting of white we had on Sunday. (And I know some of you have already had measurable snow.)  Today without any wind maybe it will feel warmer. I hope. 

   Today I have a new journal page to share with Wendy over at Art Journal Journey. Her theme this month is A Moment in Time.  Since I have more than 3 types of media on my page, I am also linking  up to Creative Artiste Mixed Media Challenge Blog, challenge #121. They're theme is always Anything Goes.

   I made this page back a couple of weeks ago. I was thinking about my Mom a lot that week as it was the anniversary of when she passed, plus we've had so many cloudy, windy or raw days this month that I guess I was feeling a little dark.

   Thinking about my Mom made me think about music as she played the violin, and in music you need to keep time moment by moment  in order to play a piece correctly. Put all this  together and that's where my page came from.

   You can see I lightly inked the background in my ledger journal with grey ink. Then I used a stenciled and a Sharpie to outline some leaves. I painted them yellow and orange. I also stamped this old Penny Black branch with a bird image 3 times. I used a red Sharpie to color the berries on that branch image. 

   I added the clock stickers from my stash. The 3 leaves  in the front are from an old artificial sprig I had. The colors were perfect and they made the page look a little less flat. I die cut the musical notes, the violin and also the cello (or bass).  The conductor is an old Postmodern Design Rubber Stamp. After everything was glued down I used an old Technique Tuesday time quote that spoke to me about the story behind my page. 

  And that's all for me today. Enjoy the rest of your day. 

Art & Photos from Another Walk

   Hi everyone. Happy end of another week.  This past week was busy even though I didn't have much on my calendar. I've been trying to do a few inside cleaning projects that need to be done. However, I can't say I've managed to get very far into my list. I shouldn't have started  by cleaning up my art space because that seems to have turned into a major project. 😉 (But it is much needed.)

  It's time for Nicole's Friday Face Off and also for Gillena's Friday Lunch Break. I also have a journal page for Wendy's A Moment in Time challenge at Art Journal Journey. On my journal page is my face for Nicole's challenge.

   I used  a maple leaf stamp with red ink, some orange ink and a stencil with blue paint to make the background.  The number square is from some older packaging I've kept to use because it was too nice to toss out. Then I added some leaves and clocks, both images from AALL & Create. I added a small crow from a roll of clear tape and also some string that was sitting on my work table. I'm not sure who made the girl's face because she was loose in my stash (I suspect I cut her out of a sheet of paper) and finally I used a TH quote to finish my page.

 

    I believe the new challenge at Creative Artiste Mixed Media Challenge Blog starts today, and I'll be linking a my page up over there also.

   A couple of weeks ago I was out for an appointment. I decided it was such a lovely day I needed to go walking afterwards. I ended up heading to the Urban Forestry Center in Portsmouth (New Hampshire) since I hadn't walked there in well over (if not longer) a year. 

   The dogs and I had a lovely walk, and I thought I'd share some photos from it today. 

   First here's some relaxing views along the trail. Along one side of the Urban Forestry Center is a salt water marsh and river.

 I also had some fun taking some close up photos.  This white fuzz in this next photo at one time was some blooming asters.

I believe these yellow berries are a form of bittersweet. 

Here are some tiny crab apples.

Any guess who's been this hole?

These attractive red berries are winter berry.

These purple berries are poke weed berries, not elderberry, and are poisonous. .

  That's all for me. Have a great rest of your Friday and start to your weekend.

    

Perfectly Imperfect

     Hi everyone. I hope you're having a lovely weekend. 

    Today I have a journal page for Mia's Background challenge at Art Journal Journey Mia challenged us to make our own backgrounds, and for my page, I once again made a  the background  that is also the page.

    My background is made with a lot of layering. I started in my Dina Wakely ledger journal by stamping the green background. I used Hero Arts' Acanthus background stamp. It's such a pretty image, and it even covers up the writing on the ledger page.

   I then took a sheet of Gelli printed deli paper and tore it into pieces. I used matte media to glue those down. I also took some  washi tape (by TH) and added that to the inner edge of my page since it's hard stamping with a large (approximately 6x6 inch) stamp so close to the binding.

   Once that dried I used an old Magenta flower image and white embossing powder. I heat set the powder, and there was my page. I finished by adding the quote (a sticker from a Studio Light quote booklet).  What I like about this page, besides the page itself, is that I could add something to it in the future if I so desire.

  I am also linking this page up to Creative Artiste Mixed Media challenge, challenge #119. The theme there is always anything goes, but you must use at least 3 types of media. 

   Let me also share a few views from one of my last mornings working at the lake. It was a cold morning, but  the smoke coming off the water  made some beautiful views.

    I can't decide which of these first 2 photos  I like better. What do you think?

 Unless you're a lover of cold weather, I hope your weekend isn't chilly enough for smoke to form on the water.   Enjoy!

Happy Weekend to You

     Hi everyone. Happy weekend to you. I hope you're having a wonderful weekend.

     Let me start today's post with a page in my summer journal for Chris' Hot August (Days and Nights) challenge at Art Journal Journey. It's not the most complicated page but for something so simple it has some various media, so I am also linking up to Creative Artiste Mixed Media Challenge. I'm also linking up to Gillena's Sunday Smiles.

    I covered the background paper with some ancient printed paper from back in my scrapbooking days. I rubbed a bit of green ink (TH)  very lightly over the page, especially the edges. I then used a darker pink ink (Versafine Clair) and an Adirondack chair image (?? Not sure who made that stamp). I added a 49 and Market acetate images, and also some cloth sticker clouds from Studio Calico. And finally I stamped the quotes (once again I'm not sure who made these). And that's all there is to that. 😏

   We've been having some lovely weather which was perfect for the niece's wedding yesterday. More about that in some other post.  However, we didn't get to go boating this weekend because of Hurricane Erin churning up the coast, much to my husband's and even my disappointment.  However, I have some other photos from a couple of weeks ago that I thought I'd end this post with. At least looking at photos  I'll get my water time this way. 😀

above- a couple of views of the red shed

below,  a water view of the "old" end of Portsmouth (NH)

I guess it wasn't a big kayaking day

   If you wonder why there is a British flag on this pole. That's because it's flying outside of the Wentworth-Coolidge Mansion where the first governors of this still then colony lived. The house (well most of the house)  in the photo below the flags. It's now a state park.

Here's a few seabirds.

Some lobster boats and a ton of lobster traps at one of the city docks

And finally, a bit of yoga on a paddle board.

Have a super rest of your weekend and start to the new week.