Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Tuesday T Gang ladies and anyone else who stops by. :)

. The snow has finally ended here and now we are cleaning out from this big storm. This is definitely one of the biggest storm we've had in a couple of years.  We got a foot of snow, (30 centimeters) but its hard to tell with all the drifting. Not the fluffiest either, as my arms and shoulders are feeling it from doing some cleaning out today.

 But the dogs loved it.

 Especially Pete.

 Wish I could harness some of that energy and teach him to shovel. That would make my life easier. :)

Next snow is expected on Wednesday. They say it won't be as much as this storm though, but right now, even a dusting is going to be too much.

And Happy Valentine's Day.
 My husband and I don't really celebrate the day, but I like to make something special for him. This year I decided to try making a fancy cake.

I thought this heart cake on this cover was pretty cool. I  had picked up this cookbook last month on markdown and decided to give it a try for Valentine's day.

I did decide to make my heart solid colored rather than rainbow striped. I thought it would be a lot easier since this would be my first attempt at cake carving.

So last Thursday on my snow day home I baked my cake layers. I made 2 white layers and a red/pink layer for my heart.

I chilled the cake and on Saturday morning I  carved according to the instructions.

 Weird how this looks like it is popping out of the cake rather than going into the cake.

Then I frosted my layers and assembled the entire cake except for the final frosting.

Here's my crumb coat. I made  a Swiss meringue buttercream flavored with some strawberry extract.

Then on Sunday I put on my final frosting.

 I'd never piped these frosting roses before and I love them! The only problem was that I didn't have a big enough frosting bag while I piped. I had to fill it several times just to do the top, and so I decided it was easier to just put plain smoother frosting on the sides.

And then I added some strawberries to finish it off.

I think it looks bakery shelf ready. :)

Now I was REALLY curious how the inner heart worked.

OK, so it didn't. 

But the cake was yummy.

So for T for Tuesday, won't you share a slice with me? I'm having a glass of skim milk but I could make you a cup of coffee or tea, or even some ice water if you prefer.

The pink part does kind of look like half a heart here.  So maybe the heart shape wasn't a total bomb.

Stop by Elizabeth's blog, Altered Book Lover to see what the T Gang has been up and maybe even join in yourself.

Have a wonderful Valentine's Day everyone!

Watching the Snow Falling

In the middle of a big snow here in New Hampshire. Its suppose to last until mid day tomorrow-but the wind is going to be picking up and then we keep our fingers crossed that  the power stays on.

 Today I  finished making my cake (will show you on T Day) and I worked on a new journal I am making.

Plus I worked on a few other pages too.

I also took a little nap and lounged by the woodstove reading.

It was all just relaxing. Seem there's been a lot of these kind of days lately. :)

Here's another page for Art Journal Journey. This month Linda is hosting and her fun theme is 50 Shades of Red.

I made my page with lots of scraps off my work table. I stenciled the swallows and free hand painted the hearts, which I then stamped some words into and decorated with a white pen.

This lady looks so sad though. I hope she isn't missing her Valentine or sad because she doesn't have a Valentine.

School's been called off for tomorrow. I don't know if my hubby will have work or not, but I guess we will see in the morning. 

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. And, a good start to the new week too!

I'm grateful you stopped by my blog too.

The Blizzard is Coming

 There's been WAY TOO MUCH snow  around here lately. 

 Back on Tuesday we got about 4 inches, and then on Thursday we got about 8. Saturday we got another inch. And now, the BIG ONE is due to arrive.

We're suppose to get 10-18 inches (25-45 centimeters) starting Sunday (2/12) and going into Monday (2/13) with blizzard winds.

Oh my!

I guess I will need to shovel this deck ONCE AGAIN !
This is before I shoveled it this afternoon.

 I think the dogs are the only ones who actually like all this snow.

I am definitely needing some blue sky and sunshine!

How many days is it until spring arrives?
😎😎😎😎

So I decided to join in on Tag Tuesday which has a new open format. I am joining Chrissie's challenge : book worm. I did a bit of stamping and added a bunch of pieces I had left over from Art Journal Journey's January theme (which was tell me a story). 

I've been a bookworm myself this year so far.  I'm on my 9th book already, which for me is a lot with everything else going on in life.
Of course, this winter has given me a lot of indoor down time which is perfect for reading.
Hopefully we won't lose our power when the big snow arrives because living in the country means you're never the first one to get it back.
😩

I hope your weekend is NOT as snowy as mine, and you have a great Sunday and rest of your weekend.

Now It Is Cold

What a strange week this has been. Two snow storms (and more coming this weekend), a spring like day and now a bitterly cold and windy day. I'm glad its the weekend even if I had 2 snow days this week. I've been enjoying being home having art, baking and reading time. Kind of like a mini vacation!:)

So I have another journal page for Art Journal Journey and Linda's fun challenge of 50 Shades of Red.

I included flowers and insects on my page today just so it wouldn't be anything like winter. :)

I started with a red painted background. I then stamped those cool hearts, added the fold tape, the stamped  Asian person, and finally used up a few die cuts laying around on my work table. I added some black stickers and the bee rub on, and finally added the heart and the stamped phrase.

So I think I'm in for pretty quiet weekend coming up. My daughter is leaving for a little Florida vacation. I'm working on making a new journal and I'm into another new reading  book. Plus I am experimenting on cake sculpting to make a Valentine's cake for my hubby.

Hope you plan on doing something fun and have a great weekend.

I've Join the Craze

So for something new this year, I decided I would start keeping a calendar/planner type journal. Of course I can't use it just as it they way it was made. I have to change it all up and make it personalized.

I started by putting in all these tabs. 

And I covered up the January title page with this magazine page and some tape.

I picked out this journal because it not only has  calendar pages, but it has lots of pages you can write on or decorate.

I added the graph paper over the journal page on the left because I want every left page to be a little different. Kind of whatever the week seems to be saying or speaking to me about. I added the tag of a bunch of daffodils I picked up at Trader Joe's.

You can see here I added some printed paper on my journaling left side. And lots of stickers. The round ones cam out of the back of a book I was reading. I was so inspired I just added some more.

And this journal is also a good place to add tickets by taping them in.

In the back there are some blank pages and I am keeping some lists. Books I read, places I hope to go, movies I watched, things I baked.

The kind of lists you always want to have at the end of the year!

And some weeks I've just been writing little notes to myself.

And I can do little monthly wrap up if I want to also.

Its always good to try something new I say.

I bet you might say the same thing too.

Waiting to hear if we have school tomorrow. I can't believe we will since this is a nor'easter coming in. Lots of places have already canceled tonight, and I'm hoping we will hear tonight too.

I can only wait and see.
addendum-right after I posted I got the call. No school tomorrow.:)  

Hope you have some sun where you are!

A Little Bit Old Fashion

Hi everyone. Tuesday we had a snow day. It was just messy but luckily there was no school. Then they say we have a warmer day on tap for Wednesday, before a second but much bigger storm comes on Thursday. I am guessing if the weather people are correct we won't be having school Thursday since they are saying maybe even a foot (30 centimeters) of snow.

What  week! The long range forecast says more snow Saturday and then again Sunday night. 

But that's still too many days off to really know what to believe..

So Linda has picked a fantastic theme over at Art Journal Journey. Its 50 shades of red, so here's my take.
And I just found out that there is a new theme at Moo Mania. It's music. And since I have some music on my page I am going to add this to their link up also. 

I had this great piece of red plaid paper. Then I use some other paper scraps from my scrap bin. I also added the stamped woman, some German gold paper, a little paint, some plastic hearts, and a molded paper clay tag.

So I still  have a few photos from  last Saturday's road trip to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library that I didn't yet show you. If you missed the first post yu can check it out here Road Trip Saturday .

Today its all about JFK's wife, first lady Jackie Bouvier Kennedy (later Onassis).

Sorry about the glare on some of the photos-,museum lighting.

 A couple of her outfits.

Very classic early 1960's.

One of her painted closet doors from the White House. Its trompe l'oeil style.

And they even had a scrapbook she made back in her college days.

And here's some jewelry she was gifted when visiting Mexico as first lady.

And if that's not a nice gift, how about this gifted gold purse from Morocco?

Maybe a little over the top for day to day use though! :)

And this is a table seating arrangement for some state affair. I think it would make a great journal page background.  Or maybe a stamped image.

So hope its not as wintery where you are as it is here.

Thanks for visiting today.

T is for Superbowl Sunday from a Patriots Fan's Viewpoint

(WARNING for you any out there Pats haters- this is my Patriot's side Superbowl story .)

Happy T Day everyone one. A big welcome to the T Gang ladies here at my blog today.

So this past Sunday night it was the Superbowl here in the US. Some of you may be familiar with it, but if you aren't, it was the final game of the (American)  football season between the 2 remaining teams after the rounds of already played play off games. The winner of the Superbowl is the national champion. This year the Superbowl teams were the New England Patriots and the Atlanta Falcons.

Now I live in the 6 state area known as New England, and I am a Pats fan. Here, this game was a huge deal. There were billboards up and signs on businesses and homes wishing the Pats good luck.

My husband and I were invited over to our friend's Sherry and Keith's home for dinner and the game. Not a big crowd, just the four of us. They live about 5 minutes away from us and we've watched the Superbowl with them before. 

So before the game really got going we had dinner.

Keith made this fantastic chili with turkey and veggies. I had mine with a glass of prosecco, because we were starting to celebrate a victory. Of course we didn't know whether the Pats would win or not, but they were the favorites by a 3 point spread. And as a fan, you've got to be optimistic!

By the end of the first half the score was awful for us Pats fans. Atlanta had 21 points to our 3. The commentators were even saying it was going to be hard for the Pats to come back at this point.

We were all in a state of disbelief, because even though we thought Atlanta might be ahead, we didn't expect it to be that big of difference.

Atlanta looked good and the Pats looked terrible.

By the end of the third quarter, Atlanta was still ahead 28-9. We were seriously subdued. The commentators again said there was no way the Pats could catch up. They even were predicting that Atlanta's quarterback would be the most valuable player.
 I had brought a cake over for dessert (store bought at Costco), and we all decided we might as well eat that  because at this point, there wasn't much else  to be excited about.

Noticed the prosecco was gone and I (as well as everyone else) was drinking water.

And then, it was the fourth and final quarter. All of a sudden, New England turned it on. The Pats started scoring. We got louder.  My friend Sherry couldn't watch. She got up and cleaned. Broke a couple of glasses right around the turn around time. As the quarter went on and the Pats were scoring, we told her to go break a few more glasses. She kept pacing saying her stomach couldn't take this. It was too stressful.

(OK, a little  dramatic, but, it was funny).

So New England kept moving forward. Score. Stop the Falcons on their drive, and then the Pats scored again. The Pats had momentum in their corner and they were showing the commentators that yes they could come back from the point deficit.

We were shocked and thrilled, but the game ended in a 28-28 tie.
First Superbowl to ever end in a tie.

Overtime began. You can't have a tie in a Championship game. Somebody has to be the National Champion.

We were on the edge of our seats waiting for a little mistake which would turn the ball over to Atlanta. But the tide had turned. The Pats won the toss and got the ball first, which is huge because they get to move towards the goal for a score. Its not a guarantee though. Any little mistake and Atlanta could get the ball. And score.
They had done it earlier in the game. They are a good team.

And then

the Pats

scored.

I guess all you need to do is get the ball over the touchdown line to score.

It was wild.

Well as wild as 4 people can make it
(Keith, Sherry , Me and my husband Dave)

The Pats had won the game 34-28!

Time to open a new bottle of  prosecco and toast!

Pardon my lingering excitement. I don't mean to bore you.

Now for non-football followers, this game is sweet for several reasons. I won't bore you with those, but needless to say, it was a HUGE win.
And if you rooted for Atlanta, they are an awesome team.
Monday at work most of us walked around in that weird state of being too tired but still so excited. It was a wild finish to the game. Probably even more memorable then the Pat's last Superbowl win 2 years before. And that  one was still being talked about.
Being a late ending game, and then being so wound up, I don't think anyone who watched the game got much sleep Sunday night.
Even the kids at school were in the same state of mind.  That and the fact we have some bad weather coming in and they are all hoping for a Tuesday snow day.
But as I write this Monday evening, that information is yet to be decided.

So I am linking up to T for Tuesday at Elizabeth's Blog. Stop by and link up your drink related post.
Thanks for stopping by to visit.

Road Trip Saturday

 It was a cold but a beautiful sunny Saturday here in my neck of the woods. A good day to go exploring, especially since I just got a new car this past week. :) 

My 11 year old VW has 243,000 miles on it (391071 kilometeres), and my hubby was sick of driving his gas  guzzling truck all the time, so I got a new set of wheels and he is going to drive my old car for awhile. 

My new car is already dirty from having to drive in the snow the other day to work.

Anyhow I wanted to take the new vehicle on a good long ride, so the 3 of us set off on a road trip.

It was too cold for a beach walk, and lots of places we thought of visiting were still closed for the winter. No one seemed interested in art other than me, so we chose to visit another presidential library down in Boston. We're all a little nerdy.

It was a great places to visit.

The views of Boston Harbor were amazing.  Too bad it was too cold to walk around the outside of the building, but this shot was taken inside through this huge glass atrium.

As you can see.

They set the stage with some items from the time period-1960.

The toaster and one of the coffee pots in the top photo were just like we had in my house when I was growing up. We also had the exact radio in the middle and the alarm clock in the middle.

 A dress from the campaign and below, the Fitzgerald family bible that JFK used during his inauguration. 

 One of his briefing files and a replica of his desk.

 And his notes from the famous speech he made in Berlin-when it was West Berlin.

And a replica of the election results board from the 1960 election.

So many things to see. 

Hope you enjoyed my views today. I took some other photos, but you'll have to wait for those.  

I enjoyed driving my car, and now, I'm planning on an art Sunday and going to watch the big game with some friends who live nearby. 

Go Pats!

Hearts and Flowers

Happy weekend everyone. Hope you have something interesting or fun on your agenda for the weekend. Or maybe nothing at all on your agenda-which can be really good too. :)

I didn't have a lot of art time this past week with new classes at school and other things going on,

but I did want to participate with an entry to  Try It On Tuesday. The latest theme is hearts and flowers, so that's what I have to show you.

I am also linking up to Art Journal Journey, where the theme this month is 50 shades of red, hosted by Linda. I think its a great theme for February with Valentine's Day and just the general lack of color outside (at least here in my neck of the woods). Red is so warm and vibrate it puts life back into even the coldest days. I think you can call pink a shade of red, because it is red with lots of white added to it. 

If not, then I am sure I will find out. :)

My page is very traditional and romantic. I doodled and painted the heart, used lots of tissue paper and stamped images, as well as making these hand cut and painted leaves. The flowers are molded using some paper clay, and I added some little bits and bobs to finish off the page.

So I got to go back to college today and attend a symposium about various ocean research projects. It was a mix of biology, chemistry, geology and engineering. I really enjoyed it. What a great change from being in a high school classroom. I needed some real science  for a change! 

Not sure what I am doing this weekend, BUT Sunday evening is the Superbowl. Its always exciting when you local team is playing.  

Enjoy your weekend.

Happy Ground Hog Day

Its February 2 today, which means it is time for Second on the Second over at Elizabeth's blog.

Here's a post from back in 2011 called Travel Journal. 

Before my husband had his end stage kidney failure, we used to go away during my February school break. Its been 2 years now since he found out he had his anti-GBM disease which wiped out his kidneys,
 so now with dialysis 3 times a week its hard for us to plan any trips together.
But back in 2011 we flew in and out of Las Vegas. The main goal of our trip was to visit Death Valley over in California.  Its about a 2 - 21/2 hour drive from Las Vegas.
I really enjoyed this National Park. We spent 4 days there and stayed in a cabin at the main visitors area of the park. We did lots of light hiking and saw some amazing desert sites.
Here's a few views of my travel journal from that post.

I really loved the wide open spaces of Death Valley. When we left and drove back to spend 2 days in Las Vegas, it felt a little too crowded for me. I'm not really a big Vegas kind of gal anyhow, but I really wanted to go see the Beatles Cirque du Soleil show. It was an excellent show and the perfect way to celebrate my birthday, which happened to be the same day. If I ever do this trip again-I am just going to stay out at Death Valley National Park.

And February 2 is also Ground Hog Day here in the US. I didn't know but it is something celebrated by Pennsylvania Germans (Dutch). According to Wikipedia:

In southeastern Pennsylvania, Groundhog Lodges (Grundsow Lodges) celebrate the holiday with fersommlinge,^[2] social events in which food is served, speeches are made, and one or more g'spiel (plays or skits) are performed for entertainment. The Pennsylvania German dialect is the only language spoken at the event, and those who speak English pay a penalty, usually in the form of a nickel, dime, or quarter per word spoken, with the money put into a bowl in the center of the table.^[3]
The celebration began as a Pennsylvania German custom in southeastern and central Pennsylvania in the 18th and 19th centuries. It has its origins in ancient European weather lore, in which a badger or a sacred bear is the prognosticator, as opposed to a groundhog.^[7] It also bears similarities to the Pagan festival of Imbolc (the seasonal turning point of the Celtic calendar, which is celebrated on February 2 and also involves weather prognostication^[8]), and to St. Swithun's Day on July 15.
The largest one is celebrated in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. If Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow, then  we shall have 6 more weeks of winter, but if he emerges and doesn't see it, then spring is just around the corner, Of course what is more vague than saying just around the corner.

Anyhow, I have never been to a groundhog day celebration but it is just fun to see what happens if Mr. Groundhog sees his shadow. 
So have a happy groundhog day! Don't forget to stop by             and add your own second on the second post. And thanks for stopping by my blog.