Pages and Weather Talk

Happy Friday everyone. It's still very humid and steamy here today, but with the sun out this morning I did manage to squeeze in a shot walk. That feels good because with all this rain lately I am feeling very cooped inside. And they say we are going to have more severe storms this afternoon and then more rain tomorrow. I would hate to be one of the tourists renting a lake house in my area this week because it hasn't been a great week to enjoy the outside for certain.

So today I have some collage pages from my Japan travel journal to share. I am not sure they are really art pages, but you can decide that for yourself.

First of all, there is the side of Japan that is Hello Kitty and other cute things. So I made the spread above with stickers, magazine cut outs, the back of a mini playing card and some postage stamps. I didn't realize until I visited Japan how big they are into Peanuts cartoon characters, especially Snoopy. (I saw a store that was just Snoopy things in Tokyo.) And since Snoopy is a favorite of mine also, I added the big stamped image on the tag. I've had this stamp for years and think it is one of my best (and most used) mark down finds.

 This page is on cloth. I taped down a receipt (pretty cool in Japanese) and added a few postage stamps.  I bought a whole packet of used stamps off of eBay when I came home because they aren't expensive to buy and make great page ephemera.

And another cloth page that I added a map from a tourist booklet I had (in English at that), with a bit of stamping and some postage stamps also.

My studio cleaning is coming along nicely and actually moving quicker than I expected it too. I should say the closet is getting done quicker than I expected. I still have a lot to go through elsewhere in the room. I have so many art supplies. I guess that is good in many ways and unnecessary in other ways.

Wishing you all a great Friday and start to your weekend. And I'm thankful you stopped by to visit.

Practicing for Retirement

That is how my summer feels this year. I have sunk into the land of  domestication. It's been humid and rainy all week and this morning we had a peak of sun so I went out and did some gardening. My vegetable garden is like a jungle and full of budding fruit.

Today I picked my first produce of the season:

3 cucumbers, 1 green zucchini, 1 yellow zucchini and 1 bell and 1 jalapeno pepper.

Looks like tonight I might use the bigger zucchini to make some chocolate zucchini bread for our breakfast tomorrow. The garden is full of potential.

 My tomato plants are as tall as me. They are LOVING this summer's excess amount of humidity.

 And a few peppers are almost ready to pick.

 And there's more zucchini both green and yellow to come.

This week I have been also baking-banana bread and a loaf of sourdough bread and I've started a major studio rearrange and clean out. Well really started it. Last week I moved a couple of things but now I am full on in cleaning mode. The place is in the what a mess stage.

More rain due this afternoon and tomorrow and I hope to make some headway into my cleaning and maybe even manage to take a break with some art.

Or work on the pair of socks I am knitting as last week I found 2 different skeins of sock yarn I forgot I even had.

And lastly I have a page from my Japan travel journal for you. I am linking up to both Chris's challenge at Art Journal Journey and the latest challenge at Try It On Tuesday which is book paper.

This lovely Japanese woman serving up some kind of food came from an advertisement in a Japanese travel magazine I brought home. I made the page by first stamping the background, then adding a piece of origami paper and then my magazine woman. I finished off the page with some metallic tape along the edge. 

That's all for me. Hope everyone is having a fantastic day.

Rainy Sunday

It's a dark and wet morning here in New Hampshire. Glad we just had a couple of beautiful days because today's rain is the start of a whole week of iffy weather.

Today I have another page for Chris' Art for Art Sake challenge over at Art Journal Journey

Here's a page from from my Japan Travel journal. In Japan we saw lots of koi so I made this page to remember that. I started by painting my page the colors of koi and then added some tissue paper stamped koi images. They look  a little more Chinese to me over Japanese, but it's the stamp I had so it's what I used.

Then I stenciled some dots, added a bit of clear plastic Japanese printed letter and an Asian metal fish charm on the right page.

And now for some photos from the opposite side of the world. I've shown you rocky coasts in Newfoundland, but how about a sandy beach. It was a little too cold to actually sunbath, but it was just my husband and myself and 2 other people walking this big beautiful beach.

And there were even sand dunes.

This beach was in an area where a river ran into the ocean.

It was great to walk the beach even if it shoes did fill up with sand. :)

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

Where Did This Week Go?

Wow- it is Friday. Talk about a fast week-at least for me. 

Today I have a little bit of this and that to share with you.

First of all, a few wild horse photos from Japan as I mentioned in yesterday's post.

 While we were in the southern part of the island we visited Cape Toi that is known for its wild horses.  These animals are descendents of farm horses in the area, and when they weren't needed for that anymore, they were released into this area which is now one of Japan's National Parks.  I think they are interesting because they have some traits different from horses we see here in the US.

 Although you can't touch them, you can walk up near to them. This gives you a scale that they are a fairly small horse- at least height wise.

And look at this beautiful view (similar to many views) from this park.

I made this tag for my travel journal using some craft supplies and a photo that I cut out the horses.

I also want to show you the fabulous surprise I received in the mail the other day.

Look at this fabulous quiltlet I received from Elizabeth at Altered Book Lover. I think it is gorgeous. I love the Japanese theme.

And it is 2 sided, so there is more to enjoy.

I also think this rust dyed fabric is pretty cool.

Thank you my friend for this wonderful gift.

Yesterday I was out most of the day and when I got home  I decided to work on my drawing journal out on my screen porch as it was such a gorgeous day.

I love my crazy cartoon car drawing, even if the tires sit a little weird. 

OK, I chattered on enough. Wishing you all a great weekend!

All Over the Planet

Hi everyone. Today I have some art from my Japan travel journal and then some photos from my recent journey to Newfoundland, Canada. 

Yup today I am all over the world.  But from the comfort of my couch as I write this. :)

First an art page from my Japan travel journal which I will be linking up to Art Journal Journey and Chris' challenge of Art for Art's Sake.

My page is a collage of origami paper, a transparency, a couple of images cut out from a brochure I picked up and also this green beetle sticker that we were given someplace on the journey. I think it was when we went to see the wild horses, which I don't believe I showed you any photos. Promise I will do that another day.

I photographed this so it is purposefully a little darker in the bottom left so that the images on the transparency show up better.

And I also wanted to show you some photos from the western Newfoundland coast which I took last week.  This coast is a gorgeous but a barren place and it has to be a tough place during the winter cold, never mind there's no trees to break the wind.

These first few photos have a fishing theme. Seafood is on the menu everyplace we went, and I ate a lot of cod (fish and chips), shrimp and scallops. You can tell it is a huge part of the economy here. Boats, lobster and crab traps are everywhere along the coast. 

 Yup, there's a tiny piece of an iceberg in this photo above.

These little villages have an unique charm I think.

Ever since I read the book , The Shipping News, I've wanted to see this place.

Think I need to reread the book since Annie Proulx actually lived in a small town along the coast while she wrote this novel. We actually visited that town and I wonder how the book compares to how I saw it.

But enough from me today. Thanks for visiting my blog and hope you are having or have a fantastic day.

The Marriage Tree

Hi everyone. Happy Friday. I can't believe this week is winding down already but the good news for me is the heat is suppose to break today. 

I have one more page this week for Art Journal Journey. Chris over at Pear Shaped Crafting is our lovely hostess this month with a theme of Art for Art's Sake. I have this spread from my Japan travel journal of the marriage trees at a shrine which I thought was a great symbolic image. 

I made the base of the page with some watercolor crayons and then I painted the leaves with acrylic paints and used a black Stabilo pencil to add a few details.

I showed you this image before and I thought I would repost it. These are the actual marriage trees at the Emperor's Shrine in Tokyo.

I simplified my journal pages and left out the shrine the in background. I also took a few liberties with my trees but that's the beauty of art.

You won't be hearing from me for a bit since I am off with my husband on a summer adventure. This is the first bigger trip we are able to make since his kidney transplant, and we are both excited to get away together. Newfoundland, Canada, here we come.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Sweets for You

Hi everyone. Hope everyone is having a nice Thursday so far.  I am waking up slowly this morning since yesterday was a busy day at my mother-in-laws place on the lake for the 4th of July celebrations. The heat (it was 95 degrees F/ 35 degrees C at 10:30 in the morning), the swimming, the socializing and getting home late has left me wiped out. We didn't even hang around for the fireworks last night, but I don't know if I would have been able to stay awake through them anyhow.

So I have another page for Chris's challenge, Art for Art's Sake, at Art Journal Journey. Once again  I have a page from my Japan travel journal. This one was hard to photograph only because my book has gotten so thick, 

This is the wrapper from a chocolate bar I bought and brought home. It was yummy. I didn't know Japan had such a good chocolate. But it was just kind of boring to put just the wrapper on the page, so I turned it into a temple using golden tape and a couple stamped maneki good luck cats. Then I stamped the couple on white paper, colored them and cut them out an added them. I bet they love the chocolate shrine as much as I do. :)

And let me show you a pie I made to take to the July 4th celebrations.

I had a lot of fun making this,even if the stars kind of moved around a bit while baking. It tasted delicious on such a hot day and I used up the strawberries I picked last week. Sorry I can't send you a piece but there is only a sliver of it left.

Hope everyone is staying cool and enjoying their week.