More Bees

 Hi everyone. Happy Friday.  It's almost the weekend. That means the weather here in New Hampshire has (once again) high chances for rain and storms. It seems this summer our weather is stuck in a pattern of a couple of sunny days and then several rainy or high storm possible days will follow. 

My post's theme today is bees. I have a tag for Pinky's Hot Colors challenge at Tag Tuesday. It has some faces for Nicole's Friday Face Off , and it also works for Gillena's Friday Lunch Break . 

I inked my tag with some hot colored inks. The sun is an Art By Marlene punch out, and the flowers and bees are some die cuts. I finished my tag by creating a border and adding a TH quote sticker.

And while I'm on a bee theme for the day, let me add another page from my bee journal. There's a really clear face  for Friday Face off on this page. And since bees fly, this page also works for Alison's  Come Fly with Me  at Art Journal Journey.

I started with a purple inked background  that I then stenciled a design onto with some yellow paint.  And don't you love this big bee and flower photo I cut out of a bee supply catalogue? 

I also added some yellow plastic gemstones to make the page feel brighter ass well as a punch out quote from an Art By Marlene book.

This next photo is not lightened at all so the purple looks darker than it really is. But you can see the quote better here, even if it has a white background not blue.

And here's a few bee photos from the last time I checked out my hives. I can see where the cliche "Busy as a Bee" comes from.

This hive has so many bees and so much honey I've needed to add an extra box onto  the top called the honey super.

And how about this cool close up with the bees heads in the comb. They are definitely busy bees.

I'm still worried about my other box of bees that doesn't have very many bees in it, and lately I'm trying to figure out if there's anything I should do. The bad part about this information quest is I keep getting a lot of conflicting answers.  

That's all for me today. Have a fantastic start to your weekend.

Let It Bee

Hi everyone. Happy middle of the week to you.

Today I have a page for 2 challenges. First of all I am joining Matilde at Art Journal Journey. Her challenge this month is All About Numbers.  You can see the clock which is hopefully not ticking down the time that we have pollinators like bees on left on our planet.

I am also joining Sparkles monthly challenge with this page. This month they want art with No Stamping Allowed.  I didn't use any rubber stamps on this page, but hopefully the paper bee postage stamp doesn't disqualify me-smile.

This page is in my bee journal where I have some art pages as well as where I'm  keeping info about my 2 hives of honey bees  this year.

I made my page with a sheet of printed paper for the background. I cut the large sunflower and the bee postage stamp out of a sheet of printed Graphic45 paper.  I also added a few bits of deli paper that I used to paint on, and I liked the gold pops here and there-although sadly it doesn't really show up in the photo as I would have hoped. I also added some gold metallic paper flower trim and some scrape hexagons from when I die cut some honey comb for a different page. And finally I added a few little confetti bits which don't do much in the photo but do add texture to the actual page.

I also have a tag for Wendy's Circle challenge at Tag Tuesday I'm sad I missed the nautical theme from the last challenge as I love making nautical art, but I wasn't home to make any tags for it. Keeping to this post's bee theme, here's my latest tag.

I made this tag by inking my background, tracing some circles, stamping some images and finishing it off with some little confetti circles and a stamped and cut out quote.

And I hope no one is squirmy because I'll also show you my latest hive photos.

First my Italian bees. They are doing great.  And in this next photo you can see that there are more babies on the way.

And I am also happy to report the few of my Saskatraz bees that survived the shipping journey are still holding on. I was crushed when about 90-95% of them arrived dead, and it was too late in the season to get a replacement package (but I did get reimbursed.)

However I'm rooting for the few that were left, so I put them into my second hive with hopes they'd make it.

With these low numbers they are not yet out of the woods (especially come fall), but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Hope you have a great day.

Black and White

 Hi everyone. Happy middle of your week. And happy last day of August. Wow, this month flew!

Today I  want to share a tag for Sandie's challenge at Tag Tuesday. Sandie asks us to make a tag that is black and white  with just a tiny spot of color.

I made my tag by stamping a white cardstock tag with some black images. Then I added the TH gentlemen and the quote.

Originally I used a strip of washi tape that was white with a small red design on it. Then I realized it was too much color, so I added some black and white tape over it. It was an easy fix. For my pop of color I added this tiny little bright foam grapefruit image. 

And since August is wrapping up, let me share my last round of photos from TurnPark Art Space. I visited some other interesting places that I will share with you in later posts also.

TurnPark Art Space  had a couple of small indoor galleries. Here's a few pieces, starting with these 2 sided heads.

And then in the other gallery, they had some of these abstract mixed media pieces that I very much enjoyed.

The shadow on this next piece is as interesting as the piece itself.

And there you have it.

Wishing everyone a great end of this month and start to (do dare I even write it) September. 

Music

Hi everyone. It's already Thursday.  My week has been relatively quiet but going well. How about yours?

Today I have another tag for Sandie's music challenge over at Tag Tuesday.

I started this tag by using the top of a wide mouthed bottle to stamp some big green dots. Once that paint dried I stamped the music sheet over them.

The musical instruments are from an older TH stamp sheet. Funny, I had no interest in these stamps when they first came out, but then one day a year or 2 ago I saw the set on a markdown. They were under $10, and I decided I would pick them up. I have actually used them a lot,  so they were definitely worth getting. The quotes are from an old set from Technique Tuesday. I added some painted and outlined dots, as well as some cut out musical notes that I had on an older piece of vellum. Finally I added the tiny TH couple and a metallic paper heart.

Keeping this short today. Hope all is well with you. 

Thanks for visiting.

Dimples

Hi everyone. Yesterday's BIG dumping of snow ended up just being a dumping. That is good news. Even though no snow would have been better; less snow is better than more snow. We are supposed to have a storm free day today, and I am going to head out and run errands. That used to be such a chore, but now running errands is exciting. I know for those of you in lock down, you can't even do that.   The refrigerator is looking a bit empty right now. Sounds like Friday there could be a little more snow, and maybe even Sunday. Of course the weather folks aren't always accurate for long term forecasting, so let's see what actually happens. 

Today I wanted to share my tag for the latest challenge at Tag Tuesday.  This time Wendy is hosting, and she is asking for photographs (or part of one) to be included on your tag.

What struck me about this old photo is the dimples and the thick head of hair this girl has. And yes, the crown bottom should have been cut to look like it is actually on her head, but I didn't notice that until now. She's a cutie though, even with crown not quite right.

My background is inked  and stamped. I smudged some pink paint dots so it looks more like a fabric trim rather than paint  (which is what I planned on doing-really), and I added this stitched cloth circular piece (I know they have names, but I don't know what) and threaded button as they add some nice pop to this tag. 

I am keeping this post short because I must admit I am having a hard time writing it. Here's why.

Mr. Pete loves my morning breakfast shake, and he is trying to get my attention in hopes of licking the glass. 

You can see him eyeing it in the last photo. 

Smile. 

Thanks for visiting!

 

September 2

Hi everyone. I'm here today with lots of art, both old and new.

Let me start with my second look for Second on the Second over at Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog. I am taking you back to September of 2009 today. It's hard to believe how different things were then from now. My daughter was still in high school,  and she was just starting her college applications. Now she is soon to be 29 years old. It does seem like a long time ago but in other ways, just like yesterday.

At that time I made some digital postcards using some photos I had taken on our summer vacation to Northern California. and southern Oregon.. There's another difference. No Corona in 2009 which meant  you could actually go somewhere for a few days.

Here's the link to the original post. More Virtual Art.

And I also made a ladybug (or ladybird) tag to share over at Tag Tuesday.

I used a very old stamp set to make my tag, so old I can't even remember who made them. They are clear stamps and I don't have the paper info with them anymore.  I love the ladybug at her dresser.

And finally, I have another page for Jo's TEXTURE challenge at Art Journal Journey.

My garden journal has these white burlap pages, and I used one to make this page.

I used different die cuts that I fished out of my box of leftovers.  Not only is there the burlap cloth texture, but there are different types of paper  and layering of these assorted die cuts. And I added theTH found relative to pull it all together. 

That is all for me today.

Hope your month is starting off in a good way!

Holding My Breath

Hi everyone. 

The news about my mother wasn't very good yesterday. She was still on oxygen  and so far,  not in the ICU, (and I hope she still is not in the ICU today), but a scan of her lungs showed more  diseased area. The hardest things for me are the thoughts of a loved one going through this horrible disease, and then not being able to be there. I'm still holding my breath because with this disease, you just don't know. And I must say my mother is a tough woman. Thanks to you for all the good thoughts, energy and prayers. 

But I must say Happy Earth Day to everyone, and especially a big happy birthday to Elizabeth. Yesterday I baked you all a pound cake, well actually 2. So we can celebrate once someone supplies the birthday candles. Smile.

 The bowl is not copper although the reflection of light makes it look that way.

I had 3 soft avocados, and since I was feeling down, I baked.   Like art, it is a relaxing thing to do that takes my mind off life. I seem to be baking around once a week, and it makes me happy to do that.

I've been making a lot of tags when I've had art time in the last few weeks, and since the newest challenge at Tag Tuesday is Anything Goes, I thought I would share a couple that I made in the last few weeks.

First for Elizabeth's birthday.

 And I believe she is more of  a cat person, so here is a second tag.

That's all for me today.  Hope your week is going well.