Make a Moo or Two - Flowers

The theme at Make a Moo this week - Flowers.

The first moo is a favorite background paper that I enhanced with colored pencil. The little girl in the photo is my husband's paternal grandmother. Wasn't she a doll?

The second moo is background paper that I made in the Altered Diva class.

Art Supplies!!!

Those words send a little thrill up the spine of an artist don't they?

I've had a successful couple of days where art supplies are concerned. It's probably time to back off on buying and start using. lol

Yesterday my SIL and I went to SCRAP and I found all kinds of neat things (plus a few that I let slip through my fingers and will no doubt regret...). I got everything in the first photo, plus the gorgeous blue tile pieces (12" x 12" sheet) in the second photo, and a calendar with vintage images for only $4. It's thanks to SIL that I've got the leaf and dot tiles, as she spent time digging around in a bucket of glass shards finding them. She also found the brass door knob. They all need to be cleaned up a bit, but I can't wait to use this stuff.



We also went to a neat little yarn shop on that side of town, and there I got some beeswax crayons, as well as a couple of Merino wool squares, and some fantastic felted wool beads! Aren't they colorful? I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to do with them, but after I saw the ones my SIL is making, and finding these for .25 each, I had to have a few! lol


Today I stopped by Michael's and found a few things on the clearance rack for $1, so now I need to sit down and create!

And this is my newest 'follower' (animals just seem to follow me around). We have assumed that this cat is a feral (our neighbor has already had it neutered), and it may be, but it has taken to following me around the yard when I'm out working or just walking about with the other cats. It talks to me when I got out the barn to feed it, and it seems to like being around me. All we need is another cat around here, but living where we do I guess it's inevitable.

I named it Pantera (yes, I know, naming it is the beginning of the end really), but we keep calling it Black Cat. lol Pantera is Italian for panther, and when this cat walks around it looks just like a wild cat.

A taste of fall...

Even though it's only the third week of August we're getting a little taste of fall today.

Last week we had three days of over 100 degree (and extremely humid) weather, today is rainy and windy. Not a heavy downpour, but a steady misty rain that soaks you to the bone in no time flat. Beach rain I call it. lol

It's warm, 67 degrees, but definitely a huddle inside, bake, cook, read, kind of day.

And that is exactly what I've been doing. In between 2 loads each of laundry and dishes (maybe I need to stop cooking so much), cleaning off my 'studio' work space (down to the bare bones), and working on an art piece, I baked banana bread and a chocolate cake (a quick one pan recipe). It will be time to start on dinner soon.

All the cats have been slugs, napping here and there. It's just a slow and easy day for them I guess. Oh to slow down and relax like a cat does......

This morning before the rain started I picked this handful of cherry tomatoes. The tomato vines are loaded but have only begun to show the slightest sign of pink. We got a later start on planting than I had wanted to, but we don't usually pick tomatoes until mid to late September anyway. If the weather holds (which it didn't last year) there's nothing to worry about. If it doesn't, what to do with all those green tomatoes....


And I've been meaning to post these pictures of the vintage cars we viewed a couple of weekends ago at an antique street fair. There weren't nearly as many vehicles as I'd hoped, but the few that were there were spectactular. Today's model of car simply has no personality in my opinion. They're all basically the same. Vintage cars (and for me I mean 30's, 40's and even 50's) had character, a look, personality. I love to look at them.


The license plate on this 1930's car...BD2DABN. lol

Mixed Media Monday - Numbers

The theme this week at MMM - Numbers.

I've named this piece 'Blessings House'.

~Blackberries~Weather~Birds

We spend a serious amount of time and effort here in the NW trying to eradicate blackberry vines. They grow wild. They can take over pretty quickly if left to their own devices. They're basically a nuisance to anyone who has them on their property.

The flip side - the berries. When perfectly ripe they are wonderful. I picked a few this afternoon, all the while thinking of ways to remove even more of the vines from my own property. lol


Over the past week the weather has been a major topic of conversation no matter where we've gone. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, we had temperatures in the low 100's. The humidity was overpowering. It was miserable. Too hot to do anything.

On Saturday night (technically Sunday morning at 1 am), dh and I were still up and I had gone out to the car for something, when a rumble of thunder rolled through and scared the heck out of me. From that point on we had quite a sky show. We sat on the porch and watched several lightening strikes off towards the coast range. Thankfully we didn't hear of any fires or damage from the storm.

I tried to get some pictures of the lightening bolts but was never quick enough. All I managed was this picture of the lightening lighting up the entire sky and earth. It was pretty erie. I took the picture with my little Kodak EasyShare (no flash). I think it turned out kind of cool looking.


The worst of the storm was over in half an hour, but it was certainly exciting while it was happening.

Sunday was relatively quiet, until dusk, when a wind came up out of nowhere and blew through so hard that the barn was rattling. I expected to hear that a funnel cloud had been spotted (rare here, but they do happen when conditions are right). Thankfully it only lasted for a few minutes and then everything was strangely calm again.

This morning we woke to thunder and a serious storm cell moving up the valley. It didn't stay over us for too long, and we've had snippets of rain here and there, which is good. We need the rain, and the cooler weather (nearly 30+ degrees cooler than Saturday) is a welcome relief.

In the midst of it all our bird bath has been busy - bluejays, flickers, goldfinches, robins, all coming in for a drink and bath. The flicker was most interesting to watch. I've never seen one visit the birdbath before. He watched with interest as the jay took a bath. He sat just underneath, drinking from a terra cotta saucer that I have underneath the main bath. When the jay left the flicker jumped up on the potted tree, drank out of the uplight, then jumped onto the birdbath and drank from there before flying away. After he left, two robins came by for a bath, and of course the goldfinches are in it constantly now that I keep the water level a bit lower. Quite the social gathering place. lol

Sunday Postcard Art - Children

I enjoyed doing this challenge so much last week that I decided to have a go again this week. The theme at Sunday Postcard Art is children.

Anyone who visits my blog on a regular basis knows that I love using vintage images in my work. This piece was no exception. The photo of the little girl with her doll and carriage was given to me by a friend.

Wednesday Stamper - Keyholes

The theme at Wednesday Stamper this week is keyholes....

This ATC is what I first had in mind when I saw the theme......collage elements with a stamped acetate overlay (image from Hero Arts). The background and keyhole are actually magazine pictures, the key a sticker.


Then I had an idea for another piece and decided to make it as well....This is a 4 1/2" x 5" card. I designed a keyhole, cut it out of handmade paper (gesso, acrylics, stamped images), added the stamped face and circle image, and edged the piece in metallic acrylics. I decorated the background paper with metallic rub-on color, stamped the images with gold acrylic paint, and added the stamped key.

4x4 Friday - Statues

The theme this week at 4x4 Friday is Statues. The splotchy background image is from Green Pepper Press.