Friendship Tag Update

Earlier this month I had shown you my tags for our Friends themed swap

The tags are all delivered now, here they are from Carole in New Zealand

Nathalie in Missouri

Linda in Texas

and Margaret in Switzerland

It certainly was exciting getting art mail from all over, each one so unique and inspiring with lots of extra goodies too!

altered flower press

The blog world is a great place to meet new friends.  The lovely and talented Lynn in Ontario inspires me.   When I saw her altered flower press back in early March, I knew I would be altering mine too at some point.  Since flower pressing season is upon us, here is my first altered flower press…

…the before

various papers, images and trim

along with a little rubber stamping

As soon as I locate my stash of pressed flowers (they are layered with wax paper in a candy box somewhere) I would like to add a pressed flower or two to my collage below

when it stops raining, I will be able to begin collecting flowers and leaves for pressing again this year

There is lots to see on Lynn’s Her Creative Spirit blog, she  has a very nice altered tin tutorial AND an etsy shoppe that you won’t want to miss either!

Layer Love

The lovely and talented Julie Prichard from The Land of Lost Luggage is offering an online painting class beginning 18 May.  I have decided to join the Layer Love train!  This will be my first online class.

For the most part I am self taught.  The only other painting class I ever took was an Art & Soul class  from Misty Mawn.  It was an amazing experience and I learned so much.

Not only is Julie very talented and high spirited, she is one of the nicest, most thoughtful bloggers I know, always taking time to acknowledge visitors.  I am counting the days til 18 May

To find out more about Julie’s Layer Love online class, you can visit her  here.

Disintegration Collaboration….almost time for the big reveal

Counting the days…..You won’t want to miss visiting Seth to see his fabulous bundles of bundles picture update…..here is what he says:

“Disintegration Collaboration – The Reveal. May 1. More then 120 artists. Bundles of bundles. You’ve seen the befores. Now see the afters. Come to The Altered Page for the list of links. And then stay tuned for Part 2. Coming August 1.”

my orange paper lantern has come a long way since February, if you look closely at the photo on the right you can see the tiniest traces of orange and purple still showing

My bundles may have to dry out a bit before I can do my reveal on 1 May

our heat wave is over….. for now…..back to April showers and cooler spring temperatures…..ahhhhhh

bébé orange

Belinda’s theme for Wednesday Stamper this week is the color Orange.  Not a color I often play with….exactly why it’s called a “challenge”   I enjoyed using a doll head image I’ve had for some time now on a flowered peeled tissue background, painted and inked, dyed and stamped paper towel for the neck ruffle and nest under the birdie.

here is my orange skinny

*click for a closer view*

“Orange is the happiest color” ~Frank Sinatra

Wordless Wednesday: Morning Light

Chocolate BonBon + a giveaway

Gothic Arches has the brilliant theme of chocolate…..yummm…..one of my favorite food groups

The sweet little Paper Whimsy girl is holding a copy of a Whitman’s Sampler box of chocolates (one pound net) from back in 1948.  Our friend, Joe Luszcz, gave me the vintage box when we were visiting in Florida earlier this year.  I brought sand dollars and other precious shells home in it.  It is striking in real life, with lots of patina after all these years

“All you need is Love.  But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt.” ~Charles M. Schulz, 1922-2000

*************

The lovely and talented Anne of Bulles Doree is having a beautiful giveaway, be sure and visit her for the details.  It ends Wednesday, 29 April, 10pm French time.

Debby’s Artist Trading Block

Back in March  Debby Harriettha and I traded ATBs using Paper Whimsy images.  Here are some photos of the pretty block she sent to me all the way from Ontario

*pics are clickable for a closer look*

she even decorated the bottom of her chunkie

Here is the chunkie (below) that I sent to Debby

Our local altered arts group is having a one for one ATB swap in July, which should be fun too

Simple Pleasures

each day in our garden there are new surprises

wish you could smell the delicate fragrance of these Wisteria blooms

walking barefoot in the morning dew to pick a few posies…not something I would normally do in April, walk barefoot that is….we’re having a little heat wave with temperatures a good 20 degrees warmer than usual

the lily of the valley are just coming on, white ones first and later some pink

a sure sign that Spring is here,  my sweetie surprised me by putting up our angel fountain...it is just off our back porch….the sound of the water is beautiful….the birds enjoy it too

“Nothing is more memorable than a smell.  One scent can be unexpected, momentary and fleeting, yet conjure up a childhood summer beside a lake in the mountains..” ~Diane Ackerman

never enough flowers, if you missed them here and here…

***April 2011 – I am playing along with Ana’s Friday Archive Dive and entered this post for her “Garden” theme***

She dreamt she was a butterfly

Here is my postcard for SPA’s “butterfly” theme  this week

Butterfly from Dover free samples, Lady from Tallulah’s, Lotus blossoms from a card

“I dreamed I was a butterfly, flitting around in the sky; then I awoke.  Now I wonder: Am I a man who dreamt of being a butterfly, or am I a butterfly dreaming that I am a man?” ~Chuang Tzu, 389-286BC

ABAA: Tea with Aunt Rosina

Awfully Big Art Adventure is using a photograph from the  1880′s,  provided by the lovely Jaqi, this month’s guest challenger.  This beautiful lady was Jaqi’s great aunt Rosina Douglas who owned a bakery in Boldon, England.    She must have had great self control, just look at how slender she is.  Here is the beautiful ‘before’ picture.  Can you find the parrot?  For the mega closeup of the photo, visit ABAA here.

here is the arch I created to honor Auntie Rosina

It took quite a bit of time to find the background I had in mind, a sweet English cottage, along with fiddling with the teapot (I actually found an 1800′s vintage teapot image, transfer ware, I colored it blue).  At one point my husband and I had a good laugh as the teapot looked huge in delicate Rowina’s hand!  I tweaked it until I was happy with the size.   Thank you Jaqi, Linda and Rosie for a wonderful challenge!

Pink Saturday: Plant a Tree

These photos were taken at the Florida Botanical Gardens in  Largo, Florida

*photos may be clicked for a closer look*

for more information on this reclamation project, click here

Yesterday was Arbor Day, but any/every day is a good day to plant a tree, don’t you think ~*~ Happy Pink Saturday

A Month in London by Sandy Mastroni

Here is a little peek at what arrived in the mail yesterday….I treated myself to this print by artist, Sandy Mastroni.

You know how one click can lead to another and another, well, I found myself at Sandy’s blog and this pretty face really spoke to me.  I adore everything about her, just look at her “crown”!   The original was drawn on a book page with a paragraph that talks about traveling to London and Paris.  I have the fondest memories of my adventures in those cities and I Love nature too, so you can see why I just had to have her.

Sandy also included these two gorgeous greeting cards most suitable for framing as well!

I Love that the mermaid is reading the book “Gift from the Sea”

I took the book by the same name to Sanibel Island in February  after my husband rescued it after looking through it, suggesting I may actually want to “read” the book.   I had thought it the perfect size for altering and it had such a great title too…he is so wise sometimes.

It is a timeless book, written by Anne Morrow Lindbergh back in 1955.  It is amazingly relevant to women today.  I highly recommend reading it.

Here is a quote from the book:

“I mean to lead a simple life, to choose a simple shell I can carry easily – like a hermit crab.  But I do not.  I find that my frame of life does not foster simplicity.” ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Sandy really got me going here!  These art pieces are such an amazing treat! Be sure and visit her etsy shoppe to see lots of wonderful original and tempting creations.  Her pillows are out of this world too!

My first Junk Journal

Linda and Nathalie made me do it   They both have created amazing journals out of cereal boxes and more!  I got so excited when I saw their junk journals, I just had to give it a whirl.

Mine started with a Calcium Chew box, it looked just the right size for my first journal, approximately 4.25 x 5.25 inches (10,8 x 13,3 cm)

The panel on the left that I stitched on and embellished with bling and white gel pen is from the inside of a Yogi Tea box

Since I collect (another word for can’t throw away) paper, cardboard packaging and ephemera, it was not hard to find bits of this and that to punch and insert into my journal.  I am not a big gadget girl, but the Crop-a-dile was perfect for this project with lots of hole punching…punches like butta.  That is a tool I would not want to be without.

The twist ties are temporary, this is a work in progress.  I know I have the perfect rings here somewhere.  I saw some nice white ones when I was cleaning up a few weeks ago…happens to me alot when I rearrange things!

here are a few of the papers I used: old blank note card, flash card, ledger paper, computer punch card, cardboard from tea box, vellum papers torn from spiral notebook, light cardboard packaging from craft supplies, calendar pages, book text, puzzle pages, postcards from mail, small gift bag (as a pocket), piece of roadmap, cardstock….things keep popping up that say put me in the junk journal!

I think this will be fun to  keep in the car for jotting notes and such in.

Be sure and visit Nathalie and Linda to see what they’ve created.

Pretty Paper Hearts #24: The Critic

Finally I felt up to getting busy on my journal for Patricia’s Inner Critic challenge.  I have had lots of time to “think” about creating while my back was healing.  I had done the harlequin grunge background pages several weeks ago (there is a link for a great tutorial).  I used different colors and my pages turned out so dark I wasn’t sure if I would use them right away.

As it turned out the topic of Inner Critic fit on these pages perfectly.  I was pleased with how the Milky Way White Galaxy Marker worked on the pages.  I did dry brush some gesso to lighten them just a little.

The heart is a pocket that I will be making different affirmation tags for….this topic is a work in progress

Now I am anxious to get busy on Challenge #25: The Awakening

“Each time we face our fear, we gain strength, courage and confidence in the doing” ~Unknown

spring has sprung

with rabbits frolicking amongst the hypertufas

I can not mention hypertufas without thinking of a dear friend, especially today on her birthday

~*Happy Happy Birthday to you Dear Lennie*~

pink Dogwood

a muddy birdbath…..a sure sign that Robin Redbreasts are building their nests near by….they pack mud inside the nests with their bottoms making it nice and smooth and ready for their lovely blue eggs

no chemicals on this lawn (yes it’s ours )

our Kwanzan Cherry in all its glory

and a quote for the Queen of Quotes Lennie

“It’s important to follow your wishing heart” ~Lisa Loeb