more than a tease …

we couldn’t stand the suspense another minute and decided to show some of the Queen Bee’s stitcheries afterall … the fun of sharing took us over

…  here is a “real” look at what I added to Margaret’s stitchery… more than the tease of my previous blog post

… I added a TAP transfer using a free Paper Whimsy image (sign up for Gale’s newsletters and you too can receive her generous gift of free images) …  I framed the lovely lady with  a piece of vintage fabric from an old embroidered dresser scarf …  pulling the fabric around from the back …  stitching around willy nilly with a few french knots to top it off … this was stitched above the lace and crocheted bits Margaret had added to the bottom of her stitchery… next I added the vintage lace and button to the top … those are some of the threads I used off to the side …

it will be fun to see the stitcheries in stages as they make each stop along their way home

* * * * *

there is a great giveaway that you will not want to miss here …  thanks to Cynnie I did not miss it … Silvia of Studio Sylvia is very talented and so very generous too … you know you want to have a look!

* * * * *

be sure and visit Caterina’s La Dolce Vita for information and photos on her upcoming  Transfer Love online class … you will be Wowed … class begins on Sunday

Margaret’s Stitchery

here we are at the second pass in the Queen Bees Round Robin … Margaret’s fine linen and lace piece arrived here in Virginia … I knew exactly what I wanted to add to it … so I got busy

… it has a bit of a blue and off white theme going on at the moment with three more stops to make before it is returned home to Switzerland

we agreed to only show one another a peek until the completed stitcheries are returned to their owners …

it will make its way to Nathalie in Missouri very soon … she has been busy celebrating being featured on “Etsy Finds” … she may need a little more time to touch back down to earth

Feeling Frui…T

here we are … the last T Tuesday in July … won’t you join us over at Kimmie’s Art in Red Wagons for tea or whatever strikes your fancy …

this  fruit photo is an example … if you double click for the closeup … of how much better our camera does in daylight … I so enjoy seeing things closer than the naked eye will allow … our moon photos on Monday were not as sharp in the close up views … what a difference some Light makes

I am having some fresh fruit salad … a favorite treat … with nothing extra added … well maybe some fresh peppermint and a few edible blossoms … we always add pineapple which gives nice sweetness … the rest is whatever is ripe and in season …

I enjoyed a cup of delicious Yogi Chai tea thanks to the generous Judy of Apron Strings … who recently sent me a box full of recycled tins all the way from Mississippi for altering … when the weather finally cools enough we will get the grill fired up … more about that here

… I also wanted to mention that Marlynn at Honeysuckle Breeze is having a great giveaway … no hoops to jump through … just the generous prize of a free book …

are you signed up for Caterina’s upcoming on line  Transfer Love class … it begins 1 August …

I am and can hardly wait … pop by  here for the details

“Let things come to you” ~Yogi Tea Tag

pie in the sky

some words roll off the tongue so sweetly…

twilight …

sunset …

moonglow …

moonbeams …

moon pie … oh wait …

here she is … the moon in the early morning …

trying to capture the moon is not easy … a tripod and a patient photographer (Mr Magpie) certainly help …

these photos were not altered or retouched in any way … you can click or double click on each for a super closeup too … our camera definitely does better with daylight photos

“When the moon is not full, the stars shine more brightly.” ~Unknown

Balance …

something I work at in my life

another spread in my Britannica Junior journal … such wonderful old paper to work with …

here are some of the supplies that went into making my journal pages … along with some peeled decorated dinner napkin bits … they melt into the pages beautifully when applied with glue stick and create such interesting layers... I pressed the extra thick gesso through a piece of designed brass with my finger … a most valuable tool that is always handy …

this swan princess is an image from the NYPL digital collection … a fantastic free resource

on a recent car trip I jotted “Balance is everything” into my little spiral notebook … one of many thoughts that seem to surface while riding in the car … oftentimes lyrics from a song speak to me or in the silent car with the meditative hum of tires on the road … thoughts and ideas are sparked … I have taken to jotting them down … I tore out the page and glued part of it here in my journal … that was the inspiration for this spread

trying to maintain balance is a steady job … always changing

“There’s no secret to balance.  You just have to feel the waves.” ~Frank Herbert

time to dance and soak up moonbeams again under tonight’s full moon … July’s moon has names like “full thunder moon” … “full buck moon” (thank you Lennie) … “full hay moon” … it is said that during a full moon we are at our highest … naturally accelerated … hmmm

… glad you stopped by today …

harmony

finally some time to play in one of my journals … it started with a lady and a tea cup

… then the word “Escape” popped up from a magazine … “perfection” was part of a printed out quote on my work table

… I so enjoy creating with no finished product in mind … just using what is handy … letting the pages flow

… a piece of pink and green diamond scrapbook paper helped set the color scheme …  scraps of paper …  gesso … Caran d’ache Neocolor II watercolor crayons and some rubber stamping

a fun surprise when I looked very closely at the right hand page … left corner … the drawings from Dover say “Work with good material” … Love that

“The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.” ~Anna Quindlen

Carole’s Stitchery

our QB5 (QueenBee5) group is doing a stitchery round robin … Carole’s stitchery was already so beautiful when it arrived from New Zealand

… we decided to tease one another showing only snippets of what we added … we will have a big reveal after the stitcheries make their way around the globe

… Nathalie … Carole’s stitchery is winging its way to you

merry wanderer of the night

here is my interpretation of the new Wednesday Stamper Midsummer Night’s Dream theme for the next two weeks

for my card I used two unmounted stamps … I did a quick and easy collage using a perfect fairy image … swan stamped on tissue paper … cutting that  out and fiddling with the words took the longest

…  my art cave/room is upstairs and it is quite warm up there … here is a quote from Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream that inspired me

“I am that merry wanderer of the night.” ~Puck’s answer when the fairy asks him if he is “that shrewd and knavish sprite called Robin Goodfellow.”

Tea and Time

thank you for all of your sweet and thoughtful comments while I was away … being unplugged was different … it felt like much longer actually … helping move our son was a lot of work especially in the heat …

… time is such a precious commodity … I really do appreciate you spending some of yours here with me

… here is a peek at some of the treasures we picked up at a favorite antique shop on the way down to Blacksburg … they were having a going out of business sale

… rhinestones speak to me so much more than diamonds ever have

… the fellow with the swan was “Made in Japan” … the little cloth tape measure still works like a charm …

… since my favorite kombucha tea is off the market for a bit of fine tuning of their recipe … we tried another tasty brand that we picked up in Floyd … it really hits the spot on a hot humid day

“Time is free, but it’s priceless.  You can’t own it, but you can use it.  You can’t keep it, but you can spend it.  Once you’ve lost it you can never get it back.” ~Harvey MacKay

so glad you stopped by for (T)ea … won’t you join us over at Kimmie’s Art in Red Wagons and see what the other T Tuesday posters are up to

royal signet … break

“the ROYAL SIGNET, and a more expensive version called the SENIOR SIGNET, were produced only for a short time … and so was the other depression-era ROYAL, the JUNIOR, which was a simplified version of their regular portable” ~blurb that came with typewriter

this beauty came from Black Shutter Antiques back in December 2003 … my friend Pat had an antique booth there around that time … we finally gave it some TLC and a long over due clean up …

wanted to let you know I am

oxoxoxo

gypsy journey continued …

my journal finally has a cover … a piece of an old old quilt … a TAP transfer and piece of map fabric (thank you Heidi) … a rusty old key with a vintage flower spray stitched on …

signatures in place …

fabric from Kim Gibson’s recent natural dye demo for the inside covers and book ties …

just so happens it matches the green grass on the caravan transfer on my front cover perfectly … a happy accident …

it is such fun turning the pages …

again and again

the wonderful blue writing on the left is a piece from my Color Paper Swap partner Patricia … she is a most amazing artist … I used other bits from all of the wonderful goodies she sent me too

I am looking forward to making another journal soon … there are so many things to try and do

my swan TAP transfer image is from the NYPL digital collection … … tissue papers … torn map and bits of netting

Carole has a new on line class in the works … can’t wait … there is actually still time to join in her “Open Your Door” journal class … you know you want to!

“The best way of life is to be, simply be” ~Yogi Tea Tag

dyeing to play

indigo … cochineal … Osage orange … these were some of the natural dyes that the talented  Kim Gibson gave a talk on … followed by a hands on demo last week …

being a big fan of the color blue … indigo especially intrigued me … it is perfect for over dying fabrics giving them a common thread … if I had taken notes I would have some proper technical terms here … but you get the idea

it is always special when you can spend time with passionate people … someone who Loves what they do … Kim is a very talented and generous  artist … full of information and inspiration

at first I thought I would just watch and listen … then realized it would be silly to miss the chance to play …. luckily since the gathering was held in our local fabric store … there was plenty of cotton to buy … I used white and off white for each of the pieces I am showing here

I took a good yard or so of dyed fabric pieces home in plastic baggies to dry

tying a couple of loose knots made these great patterns above

and the Osage orange strip of fabric didn’t thrill me quite as much until I scrunched and squeezed  one piece of the deep indigo around it before drying it  … I learned a lot and had a great time in the process … Kim Gibson teaches fiber arts classes at our local G Street Fabric stores

a couple of days later I needed some watermelon red wool for a project so I thought I would give dying with Kool-Aid a whirl …

I have wanted to try it ever since I saw Dot’s beautiful array of Kool-Aid dyed wool roving … still sorry I did not snap a picture of that … but you know how it is when you get in the room with lots of creative people … the energy levels are high and it is all very exciting … that’s my excuse and I’m stickin to it

… while Kool-Aid is not exactly “natural” in my view … you can do the dying in a regular kitchen pot

it was quick and easy and silly me buying just one package of the mix (we never were big Kool-Aid drinkers at all what with all those names we couldn’t pronounce in the ingredient list) … be sure you use unsweetened

the pale color yarn on the left was an afterthought … but as you can see the pieces put in the pot before it … sucked most of the color out already … playing with dye and fabric is chuck full of wonderful surprises

Jasmine Tea

there were some unexpected guests today for tea

… the first visitor was a fuzzy bumblebee

I have a confession to make … I found the bee laying on the path in the garden … he was a goner … I put him in a safe place … not sure why … but then I had the idea to pose him on our blooming Jasmine … you know … giving him one last photo op

when what to my surprise just off to the left …

observing me was a young praying mantis … not as willing a photo subject as the bee … hopping here and there

… wish you could smell these Arabian Jasmine blossoms

I did manage to click off a few photos before she fled the scene … some days you just don’t know who will drop by for tea … so glad you did …

the pink papers are pieces of cardstock I painted with beet juice

if you would like to check in on the other T Tuesday posters … be sure to visit Kimmie’s Art in Red Wagons sidebar here

* * * * *

I was invited to have my ‘Go Ask Alice’ postcard included on the Lewis Carroll Society of Brazil blog … thank you very much Adriana

what a lovely honor … blogging truly is a bridge that spans all across the globe!

Dress Up – July…Put on Your Party Dress

my dress this month is not at all what I had originally envisioned … stamped with three different rubber stamps

* someone said they had been looking for wire clip hangers … they can be found here *

“ART Helps Me Breathe” is one of my all time favorite stamps …

the bling on the bodice is a clip on earring from my India collection box … I ordered the  little bells  here a while ago

part of me wants to edge the bodice with ink … might just leave it alone for now … enough fiddling already

here are my dresses from January through June …

be sure and pop by Margaret’s blog this month to see the many imaginative and creative dresses from all over the globe

it’s a boy …

on this day … on a scorching hot hot hot Saturday back in 1988 our youngest son arrived … such a precious bundle …

born in his room …  we were finally brave enough to have a home birth with child #3 … everything about it was wonderful and just right

now he stands handsome and tall …

making good sense of this life’s journey …

~*Happy Happy Birthday Big Boy … it’s All Good*~

“You are a child of the universe, no less than the moon and stars…” ~ Max Ehrmann

WS: Gone Fishing

the theme at Wednesday Stamper for the next two weeks is “Gone Fishing”

I decided to doodle an ATC starting with a fish stamp

have a visit here and here for some wonderful doodling inspiration

Also … our local stamp store has a neat “blow fish” stamp that they have used in a nice card here