A Tag and Some Photos

 Hi everyone. 

Today I have a  very brown tag to share with you. I made this one for Valerie's Anything Goes challenge over at Tag Tuesday. I like to make tags as warm ups when I sit down to work on my table.

The background is made with paint, scraps of printed tissue paper and some painted pieces of wax paper pieces that I glued down with some matte medium. 

Then I added some assorted die cuts, a bit of bronze colored metallic paper trim, some yellow plastic pearls, and also some TH quote stickers. I wonder why these 2 people look like they have made fists out of their hands. (The women is suppose to be Mary Poppins holding her umbrella, which I left off, and Burt, holding a kite or bug net, which I also left off.) Yet they are good friends so I can't image they are going to hit the other. I think the lady is saying woman power and maybe the man is hand talker. Smile.

I also want to share some beach photos from when we were on Santa Cruz Island in the Channel Islands National Park in California a week and a half ago. The beach and harbor area were relatively flat and small compared the area that was steep cliffs.

My husband posed with one of the park signs.

I found lots of "treasures" on the beach.

And some of the stones on the beach were quite interesting also. 

And this rock looks like it is frosted in snow, but we know it is not-smile.

This is the dock that the park service boat comes in and out of. There are 2 docking places on Santa Cruz.  We booked the first stop (Scorpion) because the hiking was supposed to be a little bit easier. 

The boat is not back yet in the afternoon for us, since it stayed at the further out stop (Prisoners). That is stating the obvious since you can't see it here.

The islands also have their own unique species of fox.  As there are no predators of them, (except for Golden Eagles and a few Bald Eagles which we didn't see any), they come out during the day also. They definitely know they can find food in the areas where the boat lands and where the camping is located.

And they are tiny too, the size of a small house cat.

Here's some facts about these foxes from the park website that I pasted for you in case you are interested.

Quick and Cool Facts about the Channel Island Fox

• It is the only carnivore unique to California.
• Although the island fox is one of the smallest canids in the world, it is the largest native terrestrial mammal on the Channel Islands.
• The island fox is one-third smaller than its mainland ancestor, the gray fox. At 12 to 13 inches in height and 4 to 5 pounds, the island fox is about the size of a housecat.
• Some individuals have been known to live up to 15 years.
• Unlike nocturnal gray foxes, which hunt exclusively at night to avoid predators, island foxes have no natural predators, allowing them to be active duringdaylight hours with peaks in activity occurring at dusk and dawn.
• Visually, island foxes show signs of dominance or submission through facial expressions and body posture.
• They communicate by barking and sometimes growling.
• Their keen sense of smell plays an important role in the marking of territories. Island foxes are known to scent-mark their territories with a few drops of urine and tend to concentrate scats in particular areas, often conspicuously positioned on well-traveled paths.

That's it for today. Tomorrow I will do a post with more photos from Santa Cruz Island.

I am also linking up my post to Leah's Art Every Day Challenge day 26. 

Hope you have a great start to your weekend.

Happy Thanksgiving to Those who Celebrate Today

 Hi everyone.

To those who celebrate, Happy Thanksgiving. I really love this holiday because other than food, (and food is always a good thing), it is a low pressure celebration.

There is so much to be thankful for also,  including all of you, my blog friends. Even though I haven't actually met most of you, I feel like I know you, and thank you for stopping by and visiting as well as being part of my life.

Today I have a festive fall page to share .

I sprayed the background with a few colors of spray inks. Then I used some yellow mesh paper pieces that I glued down, overlaying them in a collage style. 

The 2 large paper leaves were also glued down and then outlined with a black Stabilo pencil.  I added the vintage turkey image and stamped the autumn tree. Finally I added a piece of washi tape and the quote block, which is stamped on some white paper and then cut into the square.

I am linking up this beautiful fall day piece to Chris' All Kinds of Weather challenge at Art Journal Journey

and also to day 25 of Leah's Art Every Day Month challenge.

As I mentioned yesterday, we are off to my sister-in-laws over in Maine. Her husband is a professional chef and baker, so I might just come home weighing about 10 extra pounds. Smile.

Here's my pre-dinner contribution and yesterday's edible art project.

The body is a bacon and cheese dip. The head could be eaten, but it is just cream cheese and chopped pecans. I'm not sure I would ever win any sculpture projects.

Have a wonderful holiday if you celebrate, and if not, have a wonderful day also.

And thank you for visiting my blog too!!!

Wishing on a Star

Hi everyone. Happy Wednesday.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving in the US, and like many people, I have a few things to do today to get ready. Unlike last year when we stayed home, this year we are going over to my sister-in-law's in Maine for the day. I'm excited for some socializing and good food. It is great that we can do that this year since everyone in my husband's family who is coming will be vaccinated, unlike last year when we were invited but decided to stay home because of course no one was vaccinated and we wanted to be safe. I hope by next Thanksgiving we won't have to even think about covid, but I am thankful that all my friends and loved ones are covid-free. And that includes  all my on-line friends too. 

My art journal page today is about cold clear nights like the last few have felt at my house. 

I just noticed how streaky my grey background paint is. Augh! (But too late now to change that.)

I stenciled the numbers with some black paint. The little gold stars were stamped and then painted with a metallic paint pen.

I have a package of pre-cut cloth stars in my stash. I picked out 3 and glued them down. Then I used a silver paint pen to outline them

The moon with the quote in it came from a 6x6 sheet of printed paper. This adorable girl found a seat on a star, and she is pointing to the moon. I think she has a good life philosophy for someone so young.

Finally I added some tiny reflective plastic stars. You can see their pops of color if you look carefully on the background. 

I am also linking to Art Every Day Month, day 24.

I'm keeping this post short today. Thanks for visiting.  I hope your week is going well.

 

Winter Wonderland at Try It On Tuesday

 Hi everyone. 

The last 2 weeks have flown by and our Magical challenge at  Try It On Tuesday is now over.  Thanks to all of you who joined us. And also thanks to Repolainen for being our guest designer.

For the next two weeks our challenge is Winter Wonderland.

The first snow of the year is always a bit exciting, and for this girl, perhaps a big magical too.

My journal page is made using this piece of starry night paper.  The stars  look like falling snow.  I also added a very watered down light wash of white paint to the top of my page. I like how it created more of a feeling of cold and falling snow. I would say looking at my page  that this snow has been accumulating for awhile. I used some white mesh paper as a base to show that.  I also spread some silver glitter glue over the white mesh paper to create a bit of sparkle.  

This adorable little girl is a  Sizzix die.  I didn't want a lot of colors on my page so I kept her white.

The felt snowflake was something I found in the $1 bin at Target a few weeks back after I had completed the rest of my page.  There were four felt snowflakes  in the package, 2 white and 2 red. I thought the red one really popped off of the page.  Not that I have ever seen a red snowflake. Smile. I just liked the surprise of it being red and how it worked on my page. I even dressed it up a bit too.  

Finally I stamped the quote which is from old Technique Tuesday set.

Don't forget to check out the art from the other design team members also. There is a lot of wonderful inspiration that might might help you jump start a winter wonderland piece.

All kinds of art is accepted at Try It on Tuesday, and you have 2 weeks to join this challenge.

I am also linking up my art journal page to Chris' All Kinds of Weather challenge at Art Journal Journey. This winter wonderland scene also definitely works for an art journaling weather challenge.

Lastly,  I am also linking up to day 23 over at Art Every Day Month, hosted by the talented Leah. 

Thanks for visiting my blog.

T Stands for A Late Lunch

 Hi everyone. Happy new week. And a happy T day to those of you who join in at Bleubeard's and Elizabeth's   blog  for T each week. 

I missed stopping by last week for T, but my husband and I had gone to California for 10 days. Boy did that time fly by. 

Before we left I was worried about traveling and covid, but I must say even in a state with WAY more people than in New Hampshire, I felt very safe with all the mask mandates and other precautions. We even had to show proof of vaccination at a few places we visited. There is none of that here in New Hampshire, and we are at our highest levels of covid patients yet in this pandemic.

I took these photos because when we look back at them, I want to remember that masks were a big part of the trip. Of course I am waiting for the day when masks go away and covid isn't such an issue.

We spent a lot of our time doing outside things. It also helped that there was warmer weather than New Hampshire so we were able to do quite a bit of outside dining.

Like this wonderful late lunch, early dinner we had one day in the town of Cambria.

I had this delicious roasted veggie quiche with a salad. My drink (my ticket for T day) was this fruity ice tea. 

This green building was the restaurant where we stopped to eat. It had come highly recommended from a couple we had spoken with earlier in the trip, and even though we didn't plan stopping here it just ended up this was when it was time for food. I recognized the name and so we decided to give it a try. We were not disappointed.

The little garden area around the patio seating made it a wonderful place to sit and enjoy the meal too.

The restaurant also had a yummy looking bakery counter. My husband and I each got a dessert to go. Since we had such a late lunch, our dinner was our yummy sweet in our hotel room later that night.

I'd never tried an olallieberry before, so I went for this giant pie slice. It tasted like a cross between a raspberry and blackberry. My pie was delicious, but I could have used a scoop of ice cream. Smile.

I am sure I will bore you with more travel meal photos in the next few weeks-smile.

I hope everyone (who celebrates) has a wonderful Thanksgiving this week. And to everyone, have a wonderful week ahead.  Happy T day too.

I am linking up my post to day 22 of AEDM also.

As usual, thanks for visiting. 

The Autumn Sun and Dolphins

Happy Sunday everyone. 

Today I have another journal page for Chris' All Kinds of Weather challenge at Art Journal Journey and also for day 21 (already!) at Leah's Art Every Day Month challenge. 

My page today feels like late November in New Hampshire. The trees are mostly bare by now, except for a few of the brown oak leaves hanging on. The colors of sky can be really pretty and noticeable at this time of year since there are no leaves for those colors to compete with.  And it has gotten chilly. I've needed my winter jacket, hats and mitten during my morning walk. Brr.

I've often though that most months have at least one color associated with them, and for November in New Hampshire, it would be shades of brown, grey and black, except for the sky and sun that is.

My page started with me cleaning off some brushes. Then I stenciled the sun, the bare trees and also the deer.

 I did doodle in some details on the deer, and I added a stamped quote. 

Not the most complicated page I've ever made, but I like the peacefulness of it. 

And how about a few trip photos? I was able to get some  of my trip photos off my camera. 

One of the highlights ( well everything was a highlight except some of the LA traffic) of our vacation was a day trip out to Santa Cruz Island, which is one of the Islands in Channel Island National Park. We took the National Park tour boat out in the morning and then back in the afternoon. During the day we took a "ranger" (actually a volunteer) lead hike and did some exploring on our own. I'll show you photos and tell you more about that in another post.

On the boat on the way back that afternoon, we came across a super pod of dolphins. The naturalist on the boat said he thought there were upwards of 1000 dolphins in this super pod. They were all around the boat, and everywhere you looked were lots of dolphins. 

I've seen a few dolphins before, but never a super pod like that. Even the boat naturalist hadn't seen one before, and he was very excited. I think the 50 or so people on the boat all really enjoyed this lucky event.

 

They always look like they are having so much fun, don't they?

These photos haven't been touched, and I must admit I took probably well over 100 photos. Many didn't come out and were showing only water, but it was really exciting to see the dolphin "show".  Especially since it was dolphins in nature. I am guessing there was a lot of fish in the area to eat, but they are also curious creatures. I think in some ways they were checking us out on the boat as well. And maybe showing off too-smile.

In this next photo you can see part of Santa Cruz Island and some of the evening fog that was moving in on its higher elevations. 

Our boat followed them around for quite awhile. Then they went swimming and leaping off towards open ocean, and we headed on our way into shore.

I hope you're having a wonderful weekend.

Thanks for visiting.