A Trip to Oz

Don't know about you, but I get into creative grooves and find it hard to switch gears. Let me explain.  I find that even though the basic techniques are the same, the gears in my head do different things if I am making cards, scrapbooking, journaling, painting, etc. Once I get the gears going on one of type of craft, I seem to find it hard to switch gears easily. If I am making cards, I stay making cards.  If I am on a scrap-journaling kick, I just get into doing that.

Why is that?

Then I have to readjust those brain gears to get into another groove.

Sometimes I can jump back and forth with ferocity but not lately.

Lately my groove has been cards.

I make them for my daughter at college and send them off to her. Since I send several during the week, I like to make a big bunch of them. And seeing I am making so many, I tend to go simple. I like cards that aren't too too busy, because I've done that too and find for me, it just isn't happening.

So today, a couple of cards.They are pretty standard cards, nothing wildly unusual, but I still enjoy them. I used Crafty Secrets Oz set and some  Impression Obsession Wizard of Oz sayings. They are pretty fun sayings whether you are doing it up in Oz style or just doing something else. And I love the images from Craft Secrets. I think they are pretty old versions of the characters we are all familiar with.

I also like white cards- who knows why?

In the card above I started with an image from Craft Secrets which I stamped and colored and cut out. I added it, the saying, and then glued down some blue fabric trim, a piece of grey twine and then a cool gemstone which I had sitting around.  

And for card 2 today, I used a lot of the same theme and images, but a little different card. Again, Crafty Secrets ruby slipper image and another Impression Obsession saying. I started by die cutting 2 ovals (TIm Holtz/Sizzix), sprayed one with Dylusions red ink spray, outlined the smaller one with black Sharpie. I also outlined the piece of paper I stamped the saying on. Then I added the twine and some more of those gemstones.

I made these a couple of weeks ago. Still on the card binge- and although I'm not still making Oz cards, I am doing a lot with die cuts. I'm having so much fun too- so that is all that matters, right?

Here's those stamp sets I used.

What have you been creating a lot of lately?/

My Bucket List-Travel Hopes and Dreams

This week instead of 10 Things Friday I am going give you my current travel bucket list!!!
Plus a little pep talk towards the end of this post!

https://pinterest.com/join/signup/?next=%2Fpin%2F497999671265287678%2F

I am a list writer by nature, and bucket lists are a blast to write.

Might be tough because I guess I could just say I want to go everywhere !

But I won't be so broad.

(these are not in any particular order)

Here we go.

1- Visit all 50 states in the US

2- Visit all the National Parks in the US

3-See  Lavender fields in bloom in the South of France

4-See the tulips blooming in the Netherlands

5-Drive across the USA

6-Visit the coast of the Oregon and Washington state and visit Seattle too

7-Visit Portugal

8-Visit Scotland

9-Visit Greece

10-Go on one of those trips to the Arctic where you get to see the Polar bears

11-Visit Iceland

12-Visit New Zealand

13- Go to the Outback of Australia

14- Visit Palm Springs, CA

15-Visit the Atlantic Provinces of Canada-especially Newfoundland

16-Visit Sicily

17-Visit Latvia

18-Go back to the Outer Banks of North Carolina and rent a house for a week by the beach

19-Visit Charleston, SC

20-Visit Frank lloyd Wright's Falling Water House outside of Pittsburg, PA
Visit the FRank lloyd Wright house in Manchester, NH

21-Go on an African Safari

22-See Machu Pichu

23-Go to Bali or Tahiti or even better Hawaii-wish these places weren't so expensive!

24-Drive down to Key West from the Miami area

25-Go to Madrid

26-Visit the Victoria and Albert Museum in London

27-Visit the MOMA in NYC

28-Drive through Monument Valley

29-Visit the Georgia O'Keefe Museum in Santa Fe, NM

30-See a Mayan ruin

31-Go to Monet homes outside of Paris called (spelling) Giverny

32-Visit Japan

33-Go north of the Arctic circle

34-Visit Finland-the place my grandfather grew up

35-Visit Norwegian fjords and go back to Sweden

36-Visit the Gaspe Peninsula (spelling) in Eastern Quebec

37-Visit Montreal (was there as a kid)

38-Visit Normandy and Brittany

39-Visit Krakow Poland

40-Visit the LaBrea Tar pits in CA and see some fossils

41-Go back to Paris

42- Visit Cornwall

43-Cross the Bosphorus

44-Visit Venice and see St. Mark's square flood

45-Rent a house in Tuscany and visit some of the fabulous walled Italian cities

46-Finish exploring the northeast coast of Spain and southern coast of France

47-Go look at the architecture in Seville

48-Visit Belgium and eat some its chocolate

49- Go on one of those art retreats
50- Take a theme vacation-learn to cook Italian food in Tuscany or photograph nature in Africa
My golden rule-
Travel as much as I can for pleasure!!!
Or work- as long as the work is taking it all in and not being shut up in a convention center!
You never know where an opportunity can take you.

http://youngadventuress.com/2013/04/quit-job-travel.html
Time to get going on some more of these places, don't you think?
Actually, I am lucky, I have traveled quite a bit, but then I'm not sure it is all luck. You have to just do it if you want to do it. I waited until my 40's to really start traveling, took a few trips before that but I was brought up being told that only rich people travel so it was always about going only when you have extra money. But then I had a moment of realization watching people get old and sick and realizing that life isn't infinite  and if you want something, you just got to do it.  But mom, you were wrong! The only rich part about travel is what you become when you do travel. You can travel without having tons of cash- you just need to prioritize your expenses so you can make it work-  you need to be flexible about where you are going, and you can't expect  high class super luxury trips-but who needs that? It is seeing things and tasting new cultures and meeting people and seeing what the world is all about.
Where do you want to go?
Come back soon and see you another day!

April Snapshots

So today I have a little of this and a little of that for you.

No art, just chatter.

And a few photos!

I  had a good conference in Waterville Valley yesterday. Plus, I really enjoyed  the change of scenery-being in the southern White Mountains and the National Forest. Ground was about as snow free as here at home and they were still skiing- you could see all the snow up on the ski slopes. Had my phone but didn't take any outside photos, somehow since it was cloudy it just all seemed not particularly photogenic-a lot of grey and brown-plus I was in the conference and came with 2 other co-workers who had things to get back to so I didn't really have any time to be artistic.

Did see this cool osprey workshop though.

Not very good photos but I was a ways back and used my phone to get a couple of quick snaps. I didn't know ospreys had projectile poop-it can fly up to 6 feet-they do it to keep their nests clean. (Bet you really want that info, didn't you?). Researchers also use these solar transponders on them and the ospreys fly all the way to Brazil in the winter and sometimes the young ones don't do a very good job making the trip. 80% never make it there, which seems like a lot but nature has its means.  But they are a success story in repopulating after the DDT years, and this one, who was injured in the Carolina's, now makes her home at the Squam Lake Science Center.

Very cool.

And when I got home it was cloudy but on the warmer side. I decided it was time to do some raking- unfortunately the yard is still very wet and mushy from the melted snow, but I did manage to clean off my big flower garden- and it was really good to get out in the yard and play in the garden a bit- even if it was raking.

You can see what is left of the snow.

Not too much coming up yet though- a few of the perennials are starting to green, a few crocuses are just peeking their tips out of the ground and I do have some rhubarb starting to pop.

I love the contrast of colors here- especially against the mud!

I just hope we are dryer by my vacation (1 week from tomorrow!) so I can get out and do some more gardening!

Can not wait to get dirt under my fingernails!

I also read this book this week-

It started so beautifully written, about a 20 something moving to live in Rome, but then it turned into a diary.  And that part- not poorly written but more like anyone might do if they sat down and dashed out what they had been doing on a day to day basis so years later they could look back and remember that time. I hate to say this, but I got bored with it. It could have been so much more if the author had continued with the lush and richness of the beginning of the book. If she had made a story out of her diary. If she actually created something deeper.

So now I am onto another travel volume- haven't gotten very far into it.

Let's see if this one tickles my fancy more than the last one did.

Think I have rambled on enough for one day.

Can you believe it is already April 11th?

Have a great day!

I'm Taking the Scenic Route

Not going any place to exotic today, but I am heading north to Waterville Valley, NH for a conference. Waterville Valley is one of New Hampshire's premier ski resorts, but I am not skiing. It should be pretty and scenic up in the mountains in an early spring kind of way,probably some snow still on the ground, some mud, bare trees...still it is a change of scenery and I haven't been to Waterville Valley in years. My husband's aunt and uncle used to have a condo here which we occasionally would use about this time of year for a cheap weekend away. Hopefully this environmental education conference will be good.

I made this card by stamping the cool Hero Arts worlds map background stamp. I colored the unit using Copics Markers and then inking the oceans by using a stipple brush to apply turquoise ink. The suitcase is another Hero Arts image that I colored and cut out. The other image is the saying which I believe is from Stamper's Anonymous. I added some October Afternoon rub ons above that.

Finally some Pima little metal embellishments and a Pima wooden airplane embellishment too.

Not the day yesterday was-though cloudy it was in the high sixties- oh so spring like and beautiful- and such a mother nature tease!

Have a great Wednesday.

Big Red Blooms

I need to take a bunch of photos of my recent art, but I did manage to get some photos of this spread, which I particularly like- in all ways- color, images, layout.

Here's how this started, as a couple of gelli prints in my journal.

Then it needed some Dylusion's spray ink and a Prima stencil.

Really like how this stencil works.

These words are an old set from Hero Arts. They are lots of fun. And the lizards- one of my most used all time favorite stamps from Magenta.

The red flowers are another favorite and often used stamp from Stampington. Although the image does not have polka dots when I stamped it it picked up some of the background stencils. Love that.

Cool colors and even a bit of paint texture too.

And it so springy-like the weather we've been having lately.

Finally.  Before it rains at the end of the week.

Hope it stays so I can see some big red blooms in my garden.

Thanks for visiting today.

A Few Images from the Archives

On this Monday morning thought I would go back in time and pull out some photos of some art from the past, what I was posting in the past on or around April 8th.

Interesting to see what I was thinking and doing back in the past.

April 9, 2009.

April 10, 2009

April 10, 2010

April 5, 2010

April 5, 2011

April 6, 2012

April 4, 2007

April 2, 2008

I have been blogging for 6 years now. Wow. 

I love being able to look back and see where I was and what I was creating and doing.

Where I have traveled to on this journey.

How about your travels?

How long have you been blogging and where have you been during that time?

What a Day!

Yesterday was quite a day. I started some spring cleaning- after a bad allergy attack Thursday night where half my face puffed up and I could barely open one eye-figured it was time to take the curtains down and wash the dust out of them, vac behind the couch and the other furniture...I was going to do all this in a couple of weeks when I was on break but this way it was one less little project to do then.

So as I was doing this I got a phone call from the hubby Dave that he had gotten in an accident. He thought he had totalled his truck when he hit a tree.

What a mess! He hit a tree on the road into his mother's place- it is  a narrow dirt road through the woods- a private road along a lake. He needed to turn her water back on so she could move back in since she shuts her whole house down and moves out for the winter. He brought our dog with him, and the dog gets so excited going into her place that he hopped into Dave's lap and lost control at 20 miles per hour and hit a big old tree right on the edge of the road.

Luckily no one was hurt, him or the dog.

So once we wrapped that up we went and had some lunch and then Dave decided it was going back to his mother's, so we followed him Here's the tree he hit.

You can see the bits and pieces of his truck on the ground.

Then we took a trek down to his mom's place, just to see how the ice on the lake was doing.

It was super cold and windy yesterday, not at all like spring- and only like 31 degrees. You can see the ripples in the small patches of open water.

You can see she still had some snow on her driveway too.

Of course I had to come home and finish my cleaning and hang some curtains.

What a day!

How was your Saturday? Did anything exciting happen to you?

On the Bedside Table

So I have a few interesting items on my bedside table right now.

Let me show you.

There are also 2 different versions of Mad Maps .

(Have you ever seen these? They are great maps-they don't tear, they're waterproof, have scenic road routes all marked. They're normal map size and are easy to carry. Especially in luggage!)

and

Also, this book that has been sitting in my attic since we took a trip to the Black Hills and Wyoming back in 2003.

Can you see a pattern here?

All I'm saying is that summer vacation will be here before we all know it.

(And just to know it will really happen, I heard the phoebe that nests in the rafter's of my husband's workshop, an out building on our property. It is really spring when I hear that scratchy phoebe call- it is so exciting!)

See you again soon.

Blogger's Challenge- or a Gelli Plate Negative Background

This week's Blogger's Challenge is backgrounds. Here is my addition. While playing with my Gelli plate recently I created this negative effect using a flower foam stamp. I did it by rolling layers of color on the Gelli plate and then removing color with a foam stamp. I stamped that image onto another piece of white paper. That created this fun flowery background which I then die cut a piece and made this card.

Quite simple, didn't need to do much to this. 

I die cut the banner (Paper Smooches) and stamped the word ({Paper Smooches). Then I used some bronze Viva Paint pen dots on the corners.

That's it.

Thanks for checking this out and please, feel free to say hi.

10 Things Friday

Something different this week.

Some fun quotes I have come across!

Ready for some positive thinking?

It is FRIDAY after all.

1. http://youngadventuress.com/2013/03/travel-excuses.html

2.

3.

Here's a thought- 

Don't let your dreams be only your dreams.

4.

http://youngadventuress.com/2013/01/goals-for-2013.html

4.

5.

6.

http://quotesloveandlife.com/867/funny-quotes-the-voices-head/
7.

8.


9.

https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS4QdtSkUKvS-DnmKxaDciB0_vUbI_23AJGpSbVe3_Oa3bPBXyQ


10.


Oh yeah- I love this one.

Thanks for stopping by!

Famous Artists, or Wishful Thinking

The start of a journal page. Started by using orange paint and a Crafter's Workshop stencil.

Then I used another Crafter's Workshop stencil with one of the new Dina Wakely silhouettes. That and some bright blue paint.  I put ehr in one direction 3 times on the right and then flipped over the stencil and put her in the opposite direction on the left.

I stamped the words across the bottom. Several time- the stamp is by Postmodern Design.

Then I put a heavy spray of some Dylusions bubblegum spray ink onto the page.

Can always find a use for Bubblegum pink.

And I let it run a bit down the page.

Then I added this washi tape and decided it needed a border. Something big and bold. So I did some doodling and some coloring. I colored with a white pen and some blue Distress Paints and some Copic markers.

I like my border-I think I was pretty clever-Ha-Ha!

And then I decided the border was enough, so I stopped right there.

Anyhow, on the home front...

Our snow is vanishing fast.

I LOVE it!!!!
Far more bare areas now than snow covered areas.
Yeehaw!
Even with 2 cooler days yesterday and Tuesday. Now we're back into the normal which is about 50 degrees. It has been a cold spring.

See you again soon.