Polar Bears Again

Happy Saturday. Its a dark and snowy one right now. A while back it was freezing rain. Oh well. Its a good morning to be SLOW and LAZY! I'm OK with that.

Its all suppose to move out before too long. We're heading out to my mother-in-laws birthday lunch today- she turned 82 the other day and we're all going down into Portsmouth to eat and do our Christmas Yankee Swap since somehow Christmas came and went.

Should be fun. 

The only other thing on my agenda today is to watch the big football game between the Pats and the Kansas City Chiefs this evening on tv. Its a playoff game and not a certain win for the Pats in any way shape or form. It is also a good time for me to knit-my favorite thing to do while I watch sports on tv with the hubby.  I'm working on another Christmas stocking with my scrap yarn-this one I am making specifically for the hubby.

So here's another polar bear today. I am linking this to Art Journal Journey. This month is hosted by Chrissie and the theme is Winter Wonderland. 

Sorry for the shadows in the photo. There doesn't seem to be enough available daylight for me to snap photos since it is dark when I leave in the morning and usually dusky when I get home. One of these days I should invest in a white box to take indoor photos.

The bear is one of the practice die cuts from my daughter's quilt project. She was sizing the bear on paper to see which size worked best on her quilt squares. This Gelli printed background is on some plain dark blue paper, and I think it really looks  frosty. I stamped some small white snowflakes all over the page and added the winter die cut word. The words all together say "Winter- a polar bear's favorite season."

This close up of the upper left corner had to be digitally lightened enough to see the details, and that of course made the stamp so light you can't see anything.

Thanks for stopping by my blog for a visit!

Stay Warm

Friday-I'm doing my happy dance! This week has been SOOOOOOO busy at work that I am ready to wrap up today and start my weekend. The best news is that its a long weekend with Monday being Martin Luther King Day, and although I don't have any major plans, I am just excited to be able to have an extra day to do whatever I need/want to do. Only around 8 more hours of work until it begins!
And since it is Friday, it is time for a party, Paint Party Friday! Thanks Eva and Kristen for hosting.
And I'm also linking my piece to Art Journal Journey. Thanks Chrissie for hosting and picking this month's theme of Winter Wonderland.

Here's a Gelli print  with a hand cut heart and these great snuggling polar bears. Has anyone been stamping a long time and remember when these adorable bears by Magenta seemed to be everywhere? I dug  mine in out of the bottom of a bin. I'd forgotten about them, but then I was trying to think of things for a winter wonderland theme and I remembered I had them.
It was fun to "find" them again. I think those of you who stop by AJJ might be seeing more from this set.

The white paint on top of the colors in this Gelli print reminds me of frost and that crackly ice on puddles that if you stand on it it breaks with a lot of noise.
Thanks to all of you who stop by!
And
hope you have a good weekend everyone!

Making a Travel Journal-Part 1

 So I've been putting  a travel journal together. Its really in the early stages.
I had this blank cover which I painted and then used a stencil and clear molding paste.  After that dried I added a wash of watered down gold paint over the blue. Then I drilled some holes, but I  realized they weren't going to work. So I taped up the binding edge with some of that aluminum tape you buy at hardware stores.

I then painted the tape (you can't see that here)  and used the end of a paintbrush to give it some wrinkly texture. 

I had some left over pages from a couple of travel journals I've made in past years so I decided I would use them up. The are made of heavy book board like cardboard. So I painted them to give them some background color. I am going to make this a ring binder (like a 3 ring binder) and so I can move pages around when I actual use the journal.

You can see I wasn't too fussy about the paint on my thick pages.

And have I started to add a few details. I will leave the rest of the page blank so there's room to add whatever it is I decide I want to put on the page.

More phone book page scraps too.

 And I  haven't glued this white Native American sun down, nor have I colored it. I was trying it out on this orange page.  It is the sun symbol for the Zia Pueblo people of New Mexico.

Its a really great sun symbol.

I looked up this symbol because I didn't know anything about it except it was Native American sun.

Here's what I found on Wikipedia.

"The Zia Indians of New Mexico regard the Sun as a sacred symbol. Their symbol, a red circle with groups of rays pointing in four directions, is painted on ceremonial vases, drawn on the ground around campfires, and used to introduce newborns to the Sun. Four is the sacred number of the Zia and can be found repeated in the four points radiating from the circle. The number four is embodied in:

• the four points of the compass (north, south, east and west);
• the four seasons of the year (spring, summer, autumn and winter);
• the four periods of each day (morning, noon, evening and night);
• the four seasons of life (childhood, youth, middle years and old age); and
• the four sacred obligations one must develop (a strong body, a clear mind, a pure spirit, and a devotion to the welfare of others), according to the Zia's belief."

If you are not familiar with the state of New Mexico's flag this is it.

This Zia sun symbol really makes a bold statement, even in its simplicity I think.

You might now be able to guess where I am going.

I'm off with my daughter (that is really exciting!) at the end of February when I have a week off from school. We're going  to visit some friends in Taos, New Mexico.

And I'm sure I will have more to show you in my journal and more to tell you about my trip some other day.

I hope your journey through today is excellent.

Because its Cold

Hump day is here! I've got another journal page for Art Journal Journey . This month our hostess is Chrissie and the theme is winter wonderland. What's more winter wonderland than a fun ride in horse drawn sleigh? Maybe its just my fantasy view of winter since I've never ridden in a horse drawn sleigh through fields of snow. But it sounds like a really good time if you could snuggle with your honey and the wind isn't whipping and the temperatures are just cold enough but not too cold.
Makes me want to rewatch Dr. Zhivago because don't they ride a troika through the snow in that film? Or am I thinking of something else?
I'm sure horse people would say my harness is inadequate, but due to my lack of experience with sleighs and horses this is what you get. This page is made with a bunch of painting, a bit of stamping and spraying, and some die cut letters. The snow is some snow paste I had picked up last fall and I am really loving using for these challenges.  I did spray the snow with some glitter spray but due to that winter light you can't tell at all.
So some of you asked what kind of cutting machine was in a photo back on Monday's post (Hope this Post doesn't make you yawn or drool). Its a Scan and Cut by Brother Sewing Machines. I splurged on myself and bought it several years ago after they first came out off of Amazon. They were a little pricey but I love how they let me use my own images (no cartridges to buy) and how I can manipulate those images and then save those manipulations.  I am not a spokesman for Brother,and I not getting paid to show you and tell you about the machine.  I showed my daughter (who is big into traditional quilting) how to use it so she could take her bear image and enlarge it, then save and then cut multiple bears on one block of fabric. It saved her a lot of time (once we got everything set) cutting out 20 bears and it let her enlarge her image to fit her 12 x 12 quilt block.

Do I like my Scan and Cut? Yes. Is it a 100% perfect machine, no. I think the interface took a bit of learning to get the knack of, and although it cuts quickly, it takes time to go through all the sizing, designing and other pre-cutting processes. The sheets aren't the stickiest also, so you have to end up using a glue stick to hold your paper or cloth down on the cutting sheet. I am finally at a point I can go through it a lot quicker than at first, but there's still some trial and error. I use it frequently, not all of the time, but I think I have gotten my money's worth and I would recommend it to anyone who does a fair amount quilting or paper cutting and has $300 or so to burn. Julie Fei-Fan Balzer shows tons of techniques with the machine on her blog, many of which I have never tried, but I have used it to cut my own stencils, cut out multiple copies of an image, resize an image and make   die cuts from my own sketches. I think they now have a newer model out ( at least the Brother ad emails tell me so).
Anyhow, I have written enough. You might be sick of reading me or not, but I must go get dressed and leave for work!
Thanks for stopping by!

T for 2

I thought this week I would make a journal page for   T Stands for Green Tea .  Its Tuesday and like these 2 little birds, warming up with a cup of warm tea this morning sounds wonderful.
Stop by Elizabeth's blog ( http://alteredbooklover.blogspot.com/) to see all the other entries to this fun challenge.
My photo is not the greatest photo as the red border goes around 3 sides of this piece and a bit of it got cut off. I used a Gelli print for the background, framed it out with some strips from an old phone book, cut out the cup and heart, painted the birds, and did a little stamping and doodling.
Not much else new here. The phone kept ringing off the hook last night with political surveyors (that's what happens when you live in the first in the national presidential primary state-eegads!) .At 6:15 I am off to work, wondering how much snow we'll get this evening (they say 1-3 inches), and there is too much going on at work keeping me too busy. I really wish I could be home painting and playing. But all is good as it is.
Hope the same is true with you.

Hope This Post Doesn't Make You Yawn-Or Drool- A Little Creative Peak

It was great weekend for me. It was pretty low key and quiet, with lots of play time. I finished knitting my pink Christmas stocking and started another one. I Gelli printed, helped my daughter pick out fabrics and work out some details for a quilt she is making, baked cookies and pop-overs, and made a big pot of stew. Having such an arty and creative weekend makes me feel good, even if it is Monday and another work week begins, which isn't all that exciting of a thought on this morning.

So first, let me feed you.

I used up some red, white and green chocolate candies left over from Christmas to make these cookies. Since I've been teaching cell division at school I thought they looked like mitosis cookies, but it was easy to cleave them into 2. And they tasted yummy. They've been devoured and are all gone--thank goodness!

Saturday morning the hubby took my daughter and myself out for brunch at this little hole-in-the-wall restaurant near us. They have the most delicious and HUGE breakfasts. An added plus is they aren't very expensive!  I had hash and eggs, since it was lunch time by the time we managed to get there. 

I didn't need to eat the rest of the day after this.

And Sunday as it poured rain all day, I made some stew and popovers.

Now let me show you the other creative endeavors.

 My daughter cutting fabric bears for her quilt.

I made some Gelli prints.

I printed on some old patterned and colored paper in my stash. I was happy to use up some less than thrilling sheets of paper.  Here's a few close ups.

They look much more exiting in my photos than in real life.  Ha-ha.
That was my weekend in a nutshell. How was yours?
I appreciate you stopping by and putting up with my babbling.
Hope to see you again soon!

A Little More Winter

Today we are having heavy rains, and it is relatively warm, for January that is. At least it is better than if it was cold and this was snow. Although Mother Nature did sneak a little in Friday night that the the weather person never told us about.

So today I have another journal page for Art Journal Journey. This month's theme is Winter Wonderland and our hostess is Chrissie.

The background on this page is a piece of 12x12 designed paper that I trimmed down. I painted the mountain in black and silver paint.  Along the bottom I added some white and silver, along with some die cut trees in black paper because I wanted this to look like night. Then I added a quick spray of white to be the falling snow. Finally I added a hand cut heart and a stamped phrase.

Some of you may not want to see my snowy artsy photos, but yesterday morning it was pretty outside from the light snow fall we were surprised with Friday night.

I trekked out around the yard and snapped some in my gardens.

And its not a great shot, but can  you see what was out at my bird feeder last night? This cute little opossum was having a little dinner.

That's all for me! Thanks for visiting. And also-

I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Blog Headers

Yahoo-Friday has arrived. I don't know about your week by mine has gone pretty fast. Still, I am looking forward to the weekend. No big plans  except I am am planning on having a Gelli printing session. My background paper stash has shrunk to about nothing so it is time to take out the Gelli plate and replenish. That is a pretty exciting plan to me.

Happy Paint Party Friday this week.Thanks to Kristen and Eva for hosting.

So a few weeks ago I had a thought that I'd make a bunch of blog headers for 2016 so I could change my virtual welcome mats each month.  Here's the latest two  I have made.

The owl page is made with lots of paints, along with a bit of stamping and die cutting. Here's a better view of the texture in background made by layering, molding past and stencils. Its not bold but does give the  page some actual depth which doesn't really show up that clearly in the first photo.

My favorite part of the page is the moon. I  think moon is a pretty interesting object anyhow, but what I like is about my page how it seems to glow.

This second page is made with some scrap paper and some magazine cut outs which I collaged in my black Dylusion's journal. Then I added a few die cut letters and numbers that were sitting on my work table, along with some glitter spray. The bits of glitter look like little stars in the night sky.

Guess I have some astronomy going on in the back recesses of my brain.

I am also linking this page up to Try It On Tuesday (TIOT) since the latest challenge is numbers and letters, and I have a few on this page!

You'll be seeing these on my blog in the future as new months arrive!
Hope you have a great weekend, and thanks for visiting!

Being a Kid

Here's my latest piece for Art Journal Journey. This month the theme is Winter Wonderland hosted by Chrissie.

I went playful on this piece. I had been cleaning off a snow stencil and there was some pink paint out on my table, so I decided to stencil pink snow on the blank page.  Then that lead me to the idea of a pink snowman, and the rest of it you can see right here. You can just barely make out the sparkles on the snowman's body if you look in his bottom ball, but if the winter light was better you'd be able to see how I added some white dry glitter to him and how he sparkles in the light.

Pink snow is magical after all.

I love how the pink snow on the bottom of this page dripped and blopped and came out looking kind of like pink frosting. Maybe its time to bake a pink frosted cake! I actually got asked the other day to make a small wedding cake for a friend's daughter's wedding.  Not sure I will do it, a wedding is a lot of pressure, but its just nice being asked.

I finally caught up with last weekend's opening episode of Downton Abbey and I've got some episodes left to Indian Summer which I am also watching. The book reading is coming along just fine, art is keeping me sane and work is the usual too busy...I guess I am really back into the swing of life now that the holidays are really over.

Thanks for visiting today-and let me know if you see any pink snowmen around.

Cheers

A little splash of yellow sunshine and a spring bloom. Maybe I should have named this page wishes rather than cheers.
This page started with paint and stencils. Then I added some die cuts, a flower cut out of a post card and finally the stamped image. I love this couple. What a great stamp. I believe it is an image from Paper Bag Studios. Remember them? I looked them up and they are still around, but in my neck of the woods I haven't heard much about them in a long time.
Wednesday is here. Not a very exciting week. Just going to work and coming home and batting down the hatches to hold in the heat. But we are suppose to see a little bit of a warming trend as the week goes on, and maybe even see some light snow or rain this weekend. Good weather to play in the studio and snuggle on the couch with tea and my latest read.

It is helping me get a little excited for an  adventure I've planned.
Have a great day everybody and thanks for stopping by my blog.

Frosted Windowpanes

BRRRR! My windowpanes are certainly frosted this morning. How I'd much rather crawl back into bed or sip a big cup of tea next to the wood stove than to have to head out into my car!

So I have a chilly journal page for you today. I am linking this page to Art Journal Journey. This month's theme is Winter Wonderland. Chrissie, our hostess, picked an appropriate topic for sure!

So I had this 12x12 piece of paper with icicles on it which I used as my background. I then tore up this red striped paper and made an abstract window frame. This paper reminds me of a scarf which is one I reason I used it.

Then I added white snowflakes (stenciled with paint), some tape, a fabric snowflake, a stamped image and a plastic snowflake to finish it off.

And since it is a chilly morning, the kind for a thick hand knitted sweater, thought I'd also show you some bits of the Christmas stocking I am knitting.

 I love knitting Christmas stockings with scraps of yarn and designing my own patterns as I go. Last year I made 3, and I am going to finish this one off soon.  I am not making them for anyone in particular, just knitting for the love of knitting.

 Lots of bright colors, and this one has a lot of pink in it. Its a great exercise in playing not only with color combinations but also how those colors work with different patterns.

 Here's  2 of the 3 I made last year. We used 2 of them during Christmas 2014. The middle red and white one I also knitted several years ago.  I made the red and blue one on the right for my dog. What a lucky pup she is to have a hand made stocking!

And finally since is is Tuesday, I have a digital piece I made for Elizabeth's weekly post T Stands for Tuesday.

Have a great day!