A Winter Weekend

Hi everyone. Depending where you are and when you read this post it might be December 30th or maybe even the 31st.We are really counting down the final hours of 2018, aren't we? 

My last page for this month's Art Journal Journey is the last full spread in my December Journal.  It looks better in the book than it photographed I think, but  I am saying goodbye to a year that was a good one for me.

I started by doing a wet paint stencil just to give the hint of music in blue. Then I added a piece of printed acetate, parts of a die cut clock in some sparkling blue paper, and then some stamped images. 

I want to thank both Bleubeard and Elizabeth for this fun challenge this month at AJJ. 

I'm not much of a New Years Eve revealer, and although I don't know for certain, I think it's going to be a low key evening for my husband and myself. They are saying some measurable snow for part of my state for New Years Eve , and right now where I live is right on the line between snow, ice and rain, so that may be even more reason not to be out and about. How about you? Do you celebrate?

Yesterday the temperatures were milder here so my husband and myself went out on a snowy owl hunt at one of the areas where they have been spotted this winter. We didn't have any luck except for seeing lots of seagulls, but we did get out for a little beach walk with the dogs.

 The wind had picked up but it was still relatively mild (for late December that is)

And I know this info probably doesn't mean much except if you're familiar with this area, but I took these photos at Salisbury Beach State Preserve down in Salisbury, Massachusetts.

 There was a lot of lobster traps washed up onto the beach.

And everytime I come here there are horses. This one wasn't so sure about the waves.

But one of my dogs had plenty to smell, her favorite thing.

The husband and I had a nice afternoon out. It was good to get outside and good to get down by the ocean again for a little bit.

Enjoy what's left of 2018.

And thanks, as always,  for visiting.

It's Still the Season

 Happy Saturday! This year is winding down quickly, isn't it? I'm back to join Bleubeard and Elizabeth with another entry for this month's Tis the Season/Your Favorite Season over at Art Journal Journey.  These are some end pages from my December journal. They both have a winter theme.

Even though I must admit winter is my least favorite season, it is still needed in the cycle of the year. I just wish it wasn't so long, which it is here in New Hampshire.

I alos set up this year in review page with all these journal cards I had in my stash.  It is the season for doing that, isn't it?

Hope everyone has a great weekend. 

Thanks for visiting!

Hope It Was Happy Holiday

I hope everyone who celebrates Christmas had a wonderful holiday. And maybe Santa was good to you also? (And everyone else is doing well, that is if you don't celebrate Christmas.)

 I enjoyed a wonderful holiday with my husband and daughter sharing our family traditions which include making and enjoying a huge Christmas breakfast and eating lots of junk food. We also like to give each other a gift that is a bit of a puzzle.

Here's what I got. Do you know what it is?

It's a bat house which I am quite excited to have. (And I did guess it on my second try) I need to stain (they say black) it and then hang it outside in the spring. We have a huge problem here with local bats dying off from a fungal disease, and the need any help they can get. (For you bat squimers, they do help keep our mosquito population down.) I used to see many over the course of a summer and last summer I saw only 1 or 2. So maybe this will help a little bit.

And here's my husbands. Any ideas?  He didn't guess his at all. 

You put you cell phone in the slot and this amplifies the sound (like one of those old Victrola speakers). It works really well and he used when he called his mother yesterday and is VERY happy with it. 

Plus it's a beautiful piece of artisan work and supports the local crafting community.

Santa was good to me and my husband and my daughter so everyone is happy.

The rest of the weekend was spent visiting my mother 

(I know you love seeing photos of my mom Susi)

and also we had a large extended family brunch on Monday with my in-laws. Both were quite fun. My daughter is taking today off and we are heading out for a bit of sale shopping and to meet my husband  for lunch, and tomorrow, once life gets quiet again, I need to pick up the house. There are gifts that need to be put away and dog toy fluff (the dogs had a fantastic holiday too-they got toys and treats in their stockings) lurking in the less obvious spots that needs to be vacuumed up. I guess I didn't do a great job getting super heavy duty dog toys this year.

Maddie was rather impatient to get her hat off.

.

As you can see it was a good holiday in my house.

I'll finish off this post with the rest of the photos from this spread in my December journal.

Have a wonderful post holiday day!

Merry Christmas

Happy Friday everyone! Winter arrives today. And today we have some warm temperatures and lots and lots of rain coming. All fall it's been cold and we had  snow and now that it is winter we are having a spring like day. Go figure, huh! School wraps up today also for the holidays. We have a half of day and then no more school until January 2. 

I need to finish a bit of wrapping and then this weekend we have some family visits to make. Lots of holiday fun are on my weekend calendar.  And when I get home today I think the first thing on my vacation agenda is a long nap. This time of year it just seems to be dark all the time and add that to all the running around trying to finish up the to do list for both work, home and holiday, a nap sounds like a fantastic way to start my break!

So today I have a few more of my December journal pages to share with you. 

I am linking up to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's challenge over at Art Journal Journey The latest challenge is Tis The Season/Favorite Season. I know I haven't had much variety to post this month.

My pages are a mix of ink,paint, stamped images,  stickers, die cuts, tags, and various paper. 

This will be my last post until after the 25th so I am wishing all of you a fantastic and joyful Christmas.  

Be merry!

And thanks so much for visiting my blog.

Santa's Summer Vacation

Hi everyone. Bleubeard and Elizabeth are hosting over at Art Journal Journey this month with the themes My Favorite Season/Tis the Season. I can't say I've been making much art this month ( I did make a stack of Christmas cards last weekend-hurrah), but I did make a fun spread in my December journal that actually celebrates at least parts of summer.

I had this Santa photo in various sizes and I thought that it would be perfect for a late December page, since by then Santa has finished all his hard work for the year and most likely must be on a fun and relaxing vacation for a little bit. 

I first added some scraps of red striped paper to my pages as well as lots of pieces of this calendar washi tape. I usd a bit of gesso to damped down the red of the striped paper. On the right side I added a stripe of other holiday designed paper. All the paper on this page was leftover scraps  in my scrap box. After I added the Santa photos I glued down som redcloth ric rac trim (even though the glue does show through) and some white felt trip on the right too. Some stamping followed, as well as the little date sticker. I will do do my journaling on the 29th  in the white space on the right hand side.

And this page also happens to work for Try It On Tuesday with their challenge Guess Who's Coming: It's Santa, and I thought I would add a little more inspiration.

And Monday night after work I did a little more holiday baking.

I made 2 loaves of yummy Christmas bread with dried fruit and walnuts. I dusted it in powdered sugar.

Luckily bread can be frozen for a little bit so I won't be tempted to eat it all in a couple of days. No one else in my house will eat it because of the dried fruit in it, which means it is good for me and my taste buds but bad for me and my waistline.

Wishing everyone a wonderful day, and sending big thanks to you  for taking the time to stop by to visit.

T Stands for a Cup of Cheer

Happy Tuesday my friends. It's hard to believe we are already past the middle of the month and we're getting closer to the end of year. Is this month flying right by or what?

Since it is Tuesday again today I have a nice cup of tea to share with you.

Every now and again I want something creamy and rich to drink so I usually keep a can of Trader Joe's Chai Latte mix in my cabinet.

One can costs me around $3.49 or $3.99 at the store (I haven't bought one for  awhile so I don't remember the new price, and I know it just went up in price so it isn't $2.99 anymore), and when I looked online for this photo I found place selling cans for up to $8.00. Eeks. That's someone really trying to make a huge profit.
A can makes lots of cups of chai, so I can be prepared for those chilly evenings when I need something a little spicy and a little sweet.

You can see I was sipping this as I was getting ready to write this post.

And I am using this cute holiday mug.

Even the puppies like their holiday fun.
Here's the other side of the mug before I filled it.

Join us over at  Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog for some T Day fun!

And I'll also share a couple of more pages from my December journal with you.

The only things these 2 pages  share is the white background. I've been filling in the tags as I go and it has worked out well-still.

I'm not sure I'll be able to get on next T Day with it being Christmas, so I am wishing all of you stop by only on Tuesdays and who celebrate this holiday, a very Merry Christmas.
And to everyone, have a great T day.

How's Your Weekend?

Hi everyone. Hope you are enjoying your weekend. Mine hasn't been exciting but it has been great. I'm on my 4th movie ( When Harry Met Sally, Casablanca, Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 and now the African Queen), and managed to get off the couch long enough to get a few little things done. And it was warm enough (for a switch) that I even got in a little walk today.  

It's looking quite wintery. 

The little stream by part of the road had some ice on it.

Guess it is December and we've had a lot of cold weather so the wintery look is expected.

And I have another December journal spread  to share with you. Today's spread is for the Look Who's Coming: It's Santa over at Try It On Tuesday.

 There's a bit of Mr. Claus on each side. 

On the left I used some holiday paper, a glassine envelope that I decorated and placed a tag inside which I will journal on, and finally I added some red paint rings. On the left I used those same painted rings, some holiday postage stamps and a vintage Santa face image.

This challenge has been up for only a few days so you still have lots of time to join us for some holiday fun.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend. 

Happy Friday

Hi everyone. The weekend is almost here.  I have no plans this weekend which makes me very excited. I've been having a lot of fun lately but I need a little recharge time before we reach the holidays (which is hard to believe) next weekend.  Plus my house is a mess, the laundry pile is practically taller than me, I have a few gifts to wrap up and packages to prepare to mail and my art studio is calling my name. Loudly. (Maybe I can even get my Christmas cards made, finally. If not, they are going to be New Years cards.)

And I have a lazy urge to sit in front of the tv for a bit and watch an old holiday movie, which I have yet to do this year.
These are not complaints but my excitement for some me time!

Do you have any fun weekend plans?

Today I have another spread from my December journal. 

This is a double page spread for 2 days from this month. 

I began by covering both pages with some music printed tissue paper. On the left is a printed image of the cover of some music for Frosty the Snowman.  Then I added a couple of stamped tickets which I fussy cut out afterwards, as well as soe holiday paper tape and some shiny red star stickers. I matched the right page with the music tissue paper, washi tape, shiny red star stickers and stamped ticket. But then I added 2 journal tags I had as well as numbers for those days.
I am so happy with Elizabeth's Tis the Season part of her theme over at Art Journal Journey because this journal fits so well. (Even if I'm not making lots of different season pages)
That's all for me today. Thanks so much for stopping by to visit.

Maybe Today

Hi everyone. I haven't been able to find a lot of art time lately, so I apologize for showing you more of this one project and nothing new. I am glad I made this journal last month. My idea of making it early and leaving tags to write on has worked out well for me. 

My top spread was made mostly by glueing things down, including scraps of paper and some tags, as well as some red cloth ric-rac trim. These handsome nutcrackers are stickers that came in a package of tags for using on presents. I guess they are meant to decorate the packages but I liked them too much and decided to use them here rather than on a gift. I had picked them up a couple of years ago on the after holiday markdowns.

And this second photo is more of a journal spread.  I use a scrap of some paper which I had and liked, and then I added 2 tags going in opposite directions on the left. I added the quote from a sheet of holiday quotes I had and I added the TH found relative. I love this lady. I think she is very independent and has had an interesting life.  She looks full of confidence, but not arrogance, don't you think?
Then I added some paint rings and some musical washi tape and well as some musical tissue paper to mark the 5th day of month.

I am going to link my pages up to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's Favorite Season/Tis the Season challenge at Art Journal Journey.
Hope everyone is having a good week! And thanks for visiting my blog.

Happy Weekend

Hi everyone. It is a very cold Saturday morning here, but the sky is clear and the woodstove is blazing so I'm not complaining. Today I have 2 pages from my December journal to link up to some various challenges.

First of all here are my pages from yesterday and that for today before I have filled them in. I made the left side by first glueing down a scrap of  holiday paper. Then I added a journal card I had, a wreath sticker I also had in my stash, as well as a TH quote and the sparkly number 7. I did buy a couple of sheets of sparkle stickers letter and number stickers for the holidays back when Hobby Lobby was having them on sale 50% off before Thanksgiving.

On the left I used 2 poinsettia stickers I had. One I used whole and the other I cut in half. Then I added a couple of TH quotes and a sparkle number sticker. Then I added the TH man with his Christmas tree.

Moo Mania has the theme of TREES right now and I think this man with his Christmas tree works for that challenge. And also technically the poinsettia flowers too, since poinsettias are not actually flowers but small trees or shrubs. Some of their leaves turn color and they look like flowers.

Here's how Wikipedia describes them:

Euphorbia pulcherrima is a shrub or small tree, typically reaching a height of 0.6–4 metres (2–13 ft). The plant bears dark green dentate  leaves that measure 7–16 centimetres (2.8–6.3 in) in length. The colored bracts—which are most often flaming red but can be orange, pale green, cream, pink, white, or marbled—are often mistaken for flower petals because of their groupings and colors, but are actually leaves.^[5][6] The colors of the bracts are created through photoperiodism, meaning that they require darkness (12 hours at a time for at least five days in a row) to change color. At the same time, the plants require abundant light during the day for the brightest color.^[7]

 

And next I made a tag for the Hearth and Home challenge at Tag Tuesday The fireplace and fire are stamped images, which I did some coloring to and added in the firebox insert color to give the image a lot more depth. . I doodled in the candles and the holly on the fireplace mantel, made my stripy wallpaper and added the wreath sticker as well s the stamped word.

I thought this theme would work well on a December journal page, so I made my tag (and  added it also) to fit on my rather plain day 26 which you can see below. I also added the bit of paper doily under part of the tag just to give it a little more coziness. And the tag and paper doily really finish off the page.

And both of these spreads from my December journal fit in with Bleubeard and Elizabeth's T'is the Season challenge at Art Journal Journey

This is a busy weekend for me. I went shopping last night with my daughter and believe I am just about finished picking up my holiday gifts. Hurrah!!! For once my husband was the easiest to buy for and my daughter the hardest. I can't remember when that was ever true.  

 Today  is cookie baking day since I have my work/ science department get together tonight and it is pot-luck, so I will bring some cookies for dessert.  Being so cold it is actually a good day to bake and I have a couple of new recipes I think I might give a try. Let's see how ambitious I actually get. (smile).

Wishing you all a wonderful december weekend, and see you for T on Monday or Tuesday.

I 

More December Journal

Happy Thursday everyone. I thought I would share some pages from my December journal today. This is my layout for today on the right. The left side of the spread is purposely left blank so I could add any extra bits or extra writing from today or or another day where I need more space.

I began my page with a scrap of music printed tissue paper. Then I had this sheet music cover from an old version of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer which I added. The tag is for my daily write in. And I had a couple of retro deer stickers to add, as well as a couple of postmark stamped images. And there you go.  This is my fun holiday page.

And these are my first 2 pages before I filled them in. The left side is made with a piece of vintage looking paper, another tag for my daily scribble and a bit of paper tape.  The right side needed to be covered with gesso first, and then I added a bit of paint and some scraps of  paper. I added the journaling paper strip, a stamped and cut out banner and a bit of decorated bordered sticker. Then I finally added these 2 adorable TH children, all dressed and ready for winter.

I hoping to get some more of my pages photographed this weekend when I can do it in more daylight. I notice there's a bit of shadow of the right. I guess that's what happens when you try to photograph under artificial lights.

I am linking up to Art Journal Journey today also. The latest theme is Tis the Season/My Favorite Season.

This week is flying right by-it's already Thursday. Hope your week is going well.

A Sleigh Ride

Hi everyone. Today I have a page for you from a December journal I am making and using. I wanted a journal that I could record holiday happenings, but  I don't have time on a daily basis to make  pages. So I decided to get a jump start on this idea and I made a journal, leaving lots of white or some other place to jot down my daily adventures.

I had this old watercolor journal on hand, with just a couple of pages I doodled on. Those pages were easy to fix by using gesso on them, but all the other pages were still fresh and crisp.

Here is my page for December 20. I used some paper scraps, a TH stamped image, and Impression Obsession quote stamps, a few stickers and a bit of snowman tape.

I am linking this up to Try It On Tuesday for their latest Winter Wonderland challenge. And this page also fits Bleubeard and Elizabeth's challenge over at Art Journal Journey Their challenge is My favorite Season or Tis the Season, and although I can't say winter is my favorite season (though a sleigh ride might be  lot of fun) , but it does work for Tis the Season.
Valerie also suggested I join in the More Mixed Media Challenge.  This month is anything goes with optional white. This page definitely works. 

Now that is it December I've started using my journal and I am finding that for me, my idea has worked out great. I can squeeze in 5 minutes to record my day. When the month wraps up I will have a great end of the year wrap up journal. Plus, it has helped me use of some of the older stickers and papers in my stash!

I will show you more another day.

Thanks for visiting.