Soaring and Flying on the Thermals

HI everyone.  Happy Wednesday.

Yesterday the sun came back out,  and it was a nice day. The boat trip out the one of the Channel Islands was on. I was surprised how steep the hills on the island were, but we managed to have a nice work out walk. We also saw some island wildlife as well as lots of dolphins during the boat trip. On the way home there was a giant pod of them, easily up to 1,000 of them. It was amazing, and even the boat people said they had never seen so many dolphins at once. Once I get photos squared away, I'll share some with you.

I am back today with a page for Chris' All Kinds of Weather challenge at Art Journal Journey. I am also linking my page to More Mixed Media where the challenge is anything goes with optional black. And lastly, I am also linking for day 17 at AEDM at Leah's blog.

The weather on my page today is some wind, especially the high level warm thermals the birds like to soar in.

I painted and  spray inked on my paper to make the background. Mr.  Wind is warm today,  as thermals had to be created for the birds. He is a die cut I've had for a long long time. I also die cut the swirls of blue that create those upper level thermals. The 2 birds, which I had hoped would be more like eagles (but somehow their heads just don't cut it) are images I traced, inked and outlined, after I fussy cut the tracings.

Finally I added the word fly. Soar might have been a better choice, but then soaring is a part of flight for some species. 

I also have a tag for Valerie's challenge at Tag Tuesday. This time the theme is anything goes. This is a tag I made quite awhile back, and this photo has been sitting in my computer tag photo file. I used some inking, stamping, a couple of Art By Marlene punch outs. I gave her paper foil wings and a flower too.

Only a couple more days left on our California adventure. I want to apologize again if I haven't made it to your blog on a regular basis, and let me say thanks if you are stopping by mine when I've missed some of yours.

I hope you are having a great week too.  Thanks for visiting.

Thursday Art for Various Challenges

Hi everyone.  Happy Thursday to you.

Today I have several pieces of art to share for a few different challenges. Let me start with this collaged art journal page for Art Journal Journey and Tracey's My Favorite Color is October challenge.

Recently I've started to do some organizing in my happy place. One of my little projects was to clean out a drawer that had many packages of stickers in it. I had stored the stickers in their original packages with one end cut open, and I decided it would be better to organize them in bags by theme, mainly so I could more easily find what I wanted.  That meant taking the stickers out of their original packages.

While taking apart these packages,  I ended up with a whole stack of light weight and printed cardboard pieces (they were the backing in the packages) that would make great great art backgrounds. Most of those pieces are smaller and tag sized, but my page's background today was 5x 7 inches, and it made the perfect piece for this collage. 

I added some die cut leaves (slightly inked for depth), a scrap piece of paper tape, a die cut mushroom that I also doodled on, this deer that I cut out from a piece of printed paper, some plastic acorns and a pumpkin, as well as a few other paper pieces. I also added some cloth ric-rac trim along the bottom, which is slightly cut off. Then I did some stamping. 

Here's a close up. You can see the trim better there.

My next piece of art has a Halloween theme and lots of orange.  I am linking up to More Mixed Media where the theme is anything goes with optional orange.

My page is made on some paint sprayed watercolor paper. I overlaid it with a piece of deli paper that had all these black crows stenciled on it.  The wood paper rectangle in the center of the page is the backside of an invite (to my nieces engagement party back in August), and the cat is a large chipboard sticker I had in my stash. I added a bit of color to him. I also used a bit of old Halloween paper trim and some other stamped images. Finally I added the guinea fowl feather that I picked up on one of my garden visits this summer. On this one visit, the guinea fowl had shed these feathers all over the place and I came home with a pocketful. 

I sure hope the cat in my page hasn't eaten the guinea fowl, but they are pretty tough  (and loud) birds. I like to think of the cat as a protector of the birds, keeping the foxes and coyotes away from them.

In case you aren't familiar with guinea fowl, here's a couple of photos. 

 On my last visit to Bedrock Gardens before they closed for the season, these birds seemed to like my friend and myself. They attached themselves to us for awhile,  hanging out by our feet. We of course were amazed and ended up spending most of our visit watching them. This behavior was even a surprise of the owner who came over to chat with us and said these birds usually don't want to be around anyone. I guess that day we had some guinea fowl magic scent on us. 

Finally today I have an All Hallow's Eve tag for the latest challenge at Tag Tuesday.

Michele is hosting this time.

I made my tag on a small piece of lightweight cardboard (taken out of one of those sticker packages I mentioned in the top of this post). I first used a spider web stencil and some grey paint. After that dried I stamped the words in orange, and the skeleton in black. This TH older stamp is my favorite skeleton I think. He's kind of spooky in that pose.

I also stamped the 2 circular images, and then used a Halloween word stencil to add the words. I finished the page by adding this fun little metal button from a TH set I recently picked up, and by adding the cloth trim along the bottom. 

OK, that's a lot of art for today. Hope your day is going well, or went well if you read this at night. And as always, thanks for visiting my blog.

 

Friday Art and Troll #4

Hi everyone. Happy end of another work week.

Today I have some art to share as well as one more troll from the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens.

My first page is from my owl book, and I will be linking it up to 2 challenges. First of all I am linking to More Mixed Media. This month it is anything goes with optional orange. 

I am also linking up to Tracey's My Favorite Color is October over at Art Journal Journey.

I stenciled the background bars directly onto the grey chipboard without doing anything else to the background. Then I added some die cut pieces, slightly modified. The 2 clouds were painted acetate, left over from a page I made back in August.  I added the paper leaves, an owl sticker,a small pumpkin embellishment, and finally I stamped the quote.

I'm sticking with the owl theme in my tag for the latest challenge at Tag Tuesday. This time Pinky is hosting and her theme is purple and orange.

I love that Lynne Perrella woman with her owl. She is stamped on a purple inked background. I also stamped a few other items onto the background, and added some ephemera, including the row of orange plastic dots to make my tag fit this latest challenge.  The field trip sticker I added is a very washed out orange.  I this piece is orange and purple enough, but I did make a very orange and purple Halloween tag I'll share next week.

Today I have troll number 4 to share with you.  After walking even deeper into the forest at the Maine Botanical Gardens, following the map, we came across Soren, the troll for the branches of the tree. (This troll also works with my tag's stamp today.)

Don't you just love his hair? 

It was a lot of fun finding these trolls. Plus it was great to walk in the forest on some beautiful trails. 

I'll share the last troll with you on Sunday, since tomorrow I have already pre-scheduled my monthly book post.

Have a wonderful start to your weekend.

Childhood

 Hi everyone. Happy middle of the week. And Happy middle of the month too. I do love September weather and wish it would last. Although they do say rain and more humidity today, the last few days have been perfect. It's been back to walking and some fun outdoor projects for me.

Today I have a vintage page for Wendy's challenge at Art Journal Journey. I am also linking up to More Mixed Media with another page as there challenge is Anything Goes with Optional Brown. 

My journal page began with some watercolor paper that I used to clean up some brown paint on. I then added 2 old dictionary pages that have a vintage aged yellow effect. Those pages may be a bit brittle for everyday use, but they do work perfect for Wendy's challenge at AJJ. I used some modeling paste and stencil around some of the edges, and once that dried I took a yellow and also a brown ink pad to lightly color my texture design. Now my brown ink pad looks slightly shredded as the modeling paste dried with lots of rough bits. Note to myself, sand the dried texture paste a bit next time before rubbing an ink pad on it. 

I then cut out the vintage image from an old children's book I have. I framed it on my page with some bronze foiled paper trim, 3 crepe paper leaves. Finally I added the metal clock and a stamped quote block.

There you have it.  

Thanks so much for visiting!

Vintage Brown

Hi everyone. Hope your weekend is going or went well.

I've been busy with my daughter home, but today it has been mostly cloudy. I am glad for that because it made it a relaxing day. Much needed I must admit. Smile.

 I have a short post with a journal page that I want to share at Art Journal Journey  for Wendy's vintage theme, and I also want to share at More Mixed Media whose theme this month is Anything Goes with Optional Brown.

I started my page by attaching a piece of brown paper from an old 2 ring binder. I then painted the rest of the background and the edge of the binder paper a tan color. Once dry, I  used some brown paint and a honeycomb stencil on my page.

I rough stamped some bee images and honeycomb.  I also added a strip of printed paper and a vintage image I cut out of a page of vintage images. A little white gesso created a space for my quote, which I stamped.  Lastly, I added this tiny brass bee charm I had in my stash.

And that's my  page.

Thanks for visiting, 

The Mushroom Man

 Hi everyone.  Happy middle of the week. August is turning into a busy month for me. I'm posting this Tuesday night because this week, even though I thought it was going to be relatively quiet, has become as busy as last week.  Maddie came down with conjunctivitis in both eyes which has so far required 2 vet trips. Pete also has been picking a spot on his skin which has gotten hairless and scabby so first thing in the morning I need to bring him to the vet.   I checked out my calendar, and I see the next couple of weeks have lots of days filled in also. It will be mostly fun things ( as long as I can stop visiting the vet's office), but I'm not sure if I want so much to do. Maybe a quieter month would slow time down. Ha-ha-I wish!

With all the rain this summer, mushrooms are growing everywhere. They inspired to make this page in my garden journal.

I am linking page page up to More Mixed Media where this month's challenge is Anything Goes with Optional Brights. And I am also linking up to Neet's TYPE challenge at Art Journal Journey

This is not a very complicated piece. It started with a page from a 1970's illustrated science dictionary which you can see on the left side of the photo.  I salvaged this book back in my teaching days when one of my fellow educators was cleaning out her storage closet. She put a huge pile to trash in the hall (which is how they wanted us to do it), and I went through it and grabbed a couple of things I though would make good art materials.  This science dictionary was one of them.

 I then rubbed a bit of brown ink on it just so that the page made more of a background and didn't look quite like I just stuck it on some paper. On the right, where the page didn't reach, I added some of this honeycomb duct tape I had.

On a red journaling card from my stash (that is ATC sized), I stamped a definition multiple times as well as some little mushrooms. I colored the mushrooms.  I recently picked up this fun Mr. Mushroom stamp in his coat with those cute big ears  (from Pink Ink), and I thought he worked perfect here.  I stamped him on white paper, colored him in and after fussy cutting, added him to my page.  Finally I stamped the quote words. You can see there is type on the old book page, the definition stamped words as well as my stamped quote words. And you probably don't need any explanation about the bright colors.

And how about just a  few interesting fungi photos from my morning walks over the last couple of weeks.

Have a great Wednesday.

Summer Days

Happy new week everyone.  I hope you had a nice weekend. 

I thought I'd wrap up the weekend ( as this is posting Sunday night) by sharing another page for Alison's Countryside challenge at Art Journal Journey.

I am also linking up to More Mixed Media and their challenge of Anything Goes with Optional Pastel.

My page today is from my garden journal, and that book is getting really full.  You can even make out on the right hand edge of this image  how the page is dropping off. I really had to press on it to try to get it flat enough to photograph it. It is also why the white trim seems to be going upward on the right hand side. 

This burlap page in my journal (a Dina Wakely bound journal) is stained from painting on the backside, but I like the stain as I think it makes it more vintage looking.  I glued down a page from an old almanac I had in my stash to make a printed background. It was already old and yellowed so I didn't need to do anything to it.

I die cut the flowers and leaves with light purple paper and then inked them. I also added some black dots to center of the flowers. I stamped the ticket image on some discolored acetate which is why it has a whitish look. I then added some white metallic paper trim (yes, I have been into using my metallic trims and images lately) and some pink plastic dot trim also. I chose this lady from TH found relatives. I thought she looked ready for a garden party in that big hat. Although  she is not dressed for June of 1956 as it says on the almanac, perhaps it is one of those dress up time period parties.

Finally I stamped my quote which is from one of our Art Journal Journey host's stamp collections.  Our host is Alison from Words and Pictures, and I do love the quotes you use in your stamps Alison. I am also linking up this page at Art Journal Journey for the Summer Countryside challenge.

And how about a few flowers and other countryside views from  my last visit to Bedrock Gardens?

The owners of the property live in the house you can see on the right, and these next couple of photos are from their private garden. We get just a glimpse through an opening in the hedge.

And that is all they let us see.  Back to the public part of the gardens for the rest of my photos.

It is fun to see how this garden changes every time I go back.  It's made me look at my own garden in different ways also. I knew it changed as the summer went on,  but I now I can recognize some of those changes and can figure out how to work with them.

I hope you have a wonderful start to the new week.

 

In the Garden

Hi everyone. It is already Friday.  Wow. Another week is almost in the books already. My husband says the boat is going into the water this weekend. I will not hold my breath, but he has been as busy as my bees cleaning it for the past couple of weeks. My daughter is even coming home for a day for this years maiden voyage, so let's hope he actually finishes it. 

Today I am linking my page to 2 challenges.

I am joining More Mixed Media, where this month's challenge is anything goes with optional purple.

And I am also linking up to Art Journal Journey and Mia's butterfly challenge.

My page today began with me tearing some colored paper into scraps and then using matte medium to attach them along the top and bottom of my page. I left the middle open, so I gave that a spray with a couple of different colored inks.

I then took a stencil and some gesso and made the white dots. 

Once the gesso dried, I added the big  flowers which are clear acetate stickers. I love how they blend right in to the background. That reminds me a lot of how it is when you look at a big garden from a distance, and all you see are pops of color everywhere and only some details are clear.

The butterfly is fussy cut from some printed paper, and then I stamped the  quote. Not the most complex page I have ever made, but I was surprised by how much I like it. Without the quote this page would make cool fabric.

I thought I would also share some more flowers in bloom in my garden this past week. 

Hope you are not getting tired of flowers.

I have roses! They are early this year, but like most of my plants this year, they are just going crazy. This spring's weather must have been just perfect for them. I've never had so many blooming at once.

The grape vine has flower buds which will open soon also.

And my peonies are coming out. I've never had so many flowers blooming on this plant. (Sorry Elizabeth. I hope this doesn't make you too sad.) Glad I took this photo early in the week as we had some rain and I had to go stake my blooms. At least you don't need to see the stakes in these photos.

It is always sad to see some flowers like irises finish blooming since you know you have to wait so long for them to bloom again. Of course, it is just as exciting when new flowers bloom.

Happy Friday. 

Have a wonderful start to your weekend!