I Love Backgrounds-Even if They Are Just Backgrounds

 Monday again-already! I had a nice relaxing weekend-and my house got cleaned which it really needed! Even got my clothes changed over( I pulled out all the winter things)-and I finally cleaned up all the piles in my bedroom that that process entails!
Today I am taking the day off from work because my husband needs to go back to the specialist about his kidney issues, and I am going as the second set of ears and also because he says I am much better at speaking doctor talk than he is. Keep your fingers crossed we get some good news!

So recently I broke down and bought the BIG Gelli plate, the one I have been looking at and thinking I would like for quite a while. My local craft store is going out of business  (oh no, that leaves only the big box stores...) and I figured I might as well pick it up while I could get it without paying shipping costs. 

So the other day I finally tried it, and I will say, I wish I had just broken down and paid for this first off. I love the big size. 

I tired printing on some brown work paper. I though I could use this as pieces in a background since this paper is so light weight it would never work for a background itself.

 I think it will work.

And I played with this Dyan Reavely leaf stencil on a piece of map paper. I used a striped textured paint  roller to run over the wet paint and it came out looking kind of like a wood block print.

 And I like  those leaves in black onto top of a printed background.

 Birds!

I tried something different. I left the edge of the stencil as a box on the page and I like the way it looks.

 And over printing with gold paint and a mask.

And I even printed onto some tissue paper that some shoes had come in.
I like the wrinkles in it.

 Pages for Halloween.

 Pages that look like a nice warm blanket for this cold day.

Pages I can use for Christmas.

Pages and pages and pages!

So much fun!

Hope it wasn't too boring of a post.

And hope your week starts off in a good way!

Happy Page!

I'm back on-line again! Funny how we used to live just fine without the internet, and cell phones too, and now when they go down we feel so lost and frustrated.

But I am glad to be back and that it wasn't too big of a hassle to get it working!

So I had this paper that I cleaned off a brush that was thick with yellow paint, and decided because it was so happy and cheerful I would make a joyful page on it. I cut the house from a deli-wrap I had Gelli printed, and then I doodled with pen, marker and paint. Then I stamped this fun little flowers and this happy little saying. And I added this heart which I free hand cut out.

I am linking this page to Art Journal Journey. This month's theme is architecture and it is being hosted by Sheila.

So we're into some very chilly and late fall weather this weekend. Brrr. The leaves are starting to fall too, oh my. I'd say we are at just about peak color though, but with the wind and cold I think we're going to have lots of bare trees before you know it.

Last night the hubby and I went to see the new Tom Hanks/Steven Spielberg  movie, Bridge of Spies.  I liked it. I had some questions after the movie, but because it was a movie about the lawyer and the events in his life, it didn't go into those world events in all that much depth. It didn't talk about the actual spying, and I wanted to know more about when the Berlin Wall was built, and about life in Berlin at that time. But I guess those are other stories, and I will say, a well made movie should make you think.

So I leave you today with a few more photos from last Monday when I went on road trip with my daughter (and the 2 dogs riding along too) along the Currier and Ives Byway in Central New Hampshire. Because Monday was so warm and  late summer like, and today is so cold, it seems so long ago.

Enjoy what's left of your weekend!

Floor Plan

Happy Friday everyone. Man this was a fast week! I could have used some better karma, seems like I am being preyed upon by the downers, including a modem that died so I have no internet at home. The new one is suppose to arrive today though. Hopefully it does.

Th other bit of good news was that I had posted this photo and scheduled it for today so I could quickly write the post at work. 

I am connecting this page to both Paint Party Friday and also to Art Journal Journey. 

This page started as a an dictionary page which was glued and painted. Then I used a cathedral floor plan stencil and some light molding paste to create the pop up plan. I inked it over with black so it would stand out more. The building image is stamped on a heavy plastic wrapper some art supply came in, and then I used an ancient Postmodern Design stamp set to add the architecture words. The crows are a die cut from Memory Box image. I cut them off  of the tree they were attached to, and I used that leftover tree to create the little branches bow at the top of the page.

I am going to keep this short as I have too much on my agenda I need to get done before the kids roll in today. Have a great weekend everyone, and hopefully by tomorrow morning (even better by tonight) I will be back up on-line!

Currier and Ives Byway-Part 1

I hope today is a better day than yesterday ended up being, Work was crazy busy...too much so. Everybody needed something, at the same time! And my husband didn't have such a good doctor's appointment so we don't know if he'll be able to have his kidney transplant or not-at least in the near future.

So last night when I went to post I was rather in a blah mood. Instead of showing you some art, I decided to show you some photos from my past Monday road trip with my daughter, when the sky was blue (not raining like yesterday) and the air was warm and we were all having fun!
We were checking out a scenic byway my daughter works on at her job as an assistant planner.

This byway runs through 5 little towns in central New Hampshire.

We saw some historical sites.

Checked out a dam.

Saw a covered bridge, or 2.

Now who put a parking spot at the end of this bridge view? Wouldn't it have been perfect with the train car and signal if that car was not there?

And we went to an apple orchard, but we didn't take a horse carriage ride.

But we did see this beautiful view.

And had a little snack.

Warm apple crisp and ice cream.

YUM!

There were even some Vikings in their ship-ha-ha!

Can you see the window right in the middle of this chimney?  Wonder if that effects the way the chimney performs?

And I saved one of the best for last!

I've got more to show you some other day! Hope your day is going well, and hope mine does too!

Spooky Pages

One thing I can say is that when you don't work Monday it makes Tuesday come awfully fast.

But that is a good thing! Yesterday we had gorgeous weather, and it was the perfect day to go for a scenic ride with my daughter. We had  a blast, and hopefully tonight I will get a chance to unload the photos off my camera so I can show you.

 A couple more pages from my Halloween journal. Simple pages.  Not a lot of  fuss pages. 

This upper piece was a map page in the book I am using. All I did was add the paint, the die cut bony hands and a  plastic sticker word. I think it is just enough spooky though.

 This page was covered with some interesting paper I had. Then I used some pre-made images I had. I did cut the tree branch. Then I stamped this fun little saying.

But I do have a few photos from the beginning of my weekend when I went to Portland, Maine for a couple of hockey games.

Wall art and ceiling lights in a Mexican restaurant we had dinner in.

And when we parked the car on the top of the parking garage, I discovered it had a fantastic view-even if it was a rainy  and almost dark hour in the evening.

That's all for me today! I'm off and back to work to go!

Thanks for stopping by.

Ruins

Good Monday to all of you. Another week is starting up, already! And we are almost into the middle of October, already too!

Here's another architecture page I am linking up to Art Journal Journey. This month is the guest host is Sheila at Orange Esmeralda.  This page is different from my usual pages. I felt like I was back scrap booking when I made it. Instead of a photo I added these 3 awesome stamped images from Crafty Individuals.  I also used this stone ornament stamp that I had. 

I made the background by spray inking the page. When I sprayed the silver it just left some blobs, which ran to form this tree like image on the left hand side of the page.  I used a crackle stamp to add a bit of texture to the spray spots. I decided just to leave the background simple so the black and white stamped images would really pop off the page. I added a  couple of small die cut images that were laying around on my work space.

I think ruins are some of the most interesting architecture around. 

Not that we have a lot of them here, not like some places in the world.

So yesterday I was pretty lazy, but I did manage to take a walk. It was a gorgeous afternoon. The leaves are really pretty right now.

I think today I am off to take a fall foliage road trip with my daughter. Once she wakes up I will know better if she is still up to it.

I haven't take a leaf peeper trip for a long time! Looking forward to it so I hope she still wants to go.
Got to do something fun since we don't get that many Monday holidays.

Hope your week is starting off in a good way!

Thanks for stopping by!