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    T Tuesday: flora and fauna edition

    This Memorial day marks one year since I lost my mom. She was on my mind all day. Half way through my first cup of coffee I made the decision not to be sad but to reflect and remember the good things, The funny memories. The things that make me smile.

    As I walked around the yard watering before it got too hot, I thought about her green thumb. She had flowers galore and a big garden. Houseplants too. I guess I’ve taking after her in that way. I love spending time tending to the garden. Making it beautiful and productive,

    My newly sewn and strung garden bunting made me smile. Mom was no seamstress. In fact she hated sewing. She was so happy when I learned how to sew in school and gladly passed all of her supplies on to 13 yr old me.  I’ve never stopped sewing since!

    After finishing the outdoor chores I headed inside to do a bit of art journaling. I was really feeling inspired by nature.

    The background colors I laid down didn’t scream nature. They were the colors that spoke to me though. Sort of a hard edge along with nature.

    Layers upon layers stacked. This fussy cut stamped birds nest was the perfect way to embrace nature. I used watercolor crayons to color the robin eggs then used diamond glaze over top to add dimension. The addition of the thread help sell the idea of the nest for me.

    I added the skeleton leaf for balance.  As soon as I added the leaf, the words “live gently upon the earth” jumped out at me.  This page made me smile.

    Linking up with Art Journal Journey for Flora and Fauna

    Art Journal Journey
    as well as T stands for Tuesday today.
    Eight days of school left. Whoop, whoop!
    What are you doing today?

     

  • Around home - Blog - Outdoors

    T Tuesday: missed a week edition

    Last week is a whirlwind in my mind. I’m not even sure why I missed T stands for Tuesday but I did. So this week will be a bit of a catching up….again.

    I think we shall start with Mother’s Day.Mothers day sushi

    Take out sushi from our favorite local sushi resturant. We actually had this on Saturday since we spent Sunday at my in-laws house. Since their health isn’t the best right now, I brought the meal. The boys tackled the spring/summer to-do list for their folks. It was a good day. Staying busy  was good so I didn’t dwell on my first Mother’s day without my mom.last concert

    Last week also brought the last choir concert for J. Its an emotional concert for me…even before having a graduating senior. The last two songs are always the same and they are sung by all members of all choirs. Real tear-jerkers. As they sing the seniors come off stage and bring their parents a rose. Pass the tissues please…..

    senior rose

    They also have a fun slide show of highlights and the guess the baby photo of the senior. So awesome! When we got home it was late and I couldn’t bring myself to dig in the storage room for a bud vase especially when the recycling was so close. A wine bottle works well. And bonus it hits the T stands for Tuesday beverage as well. 🙂paint to paper

    Workspace current view…

    I haven’t really had any creative mojo for the past week or so. I’ve put paint to paper but completed nothing.

    Most of this past weekend was spent outdoors. We scrubbed the deck which was long overdue. We decided that once it was scrubbed the weathered barnwood look was quite appealing so we’ve decided to just re-stain the railings.

    Marvin approves. We used some plywood to provide a temporary gate so he could enjoy the a little sun on the deck with us. Of course he has his own personal greenhouse. Cats and boxes…

    Anyway…we were enjoying the sunshine on the deck after long weekend of toil which also included planting in the garden.

    The shed garden doesn’t look like much yet. Once the seeds sprout the space will quickly fill.

    These onions are a funny story. Last fall I dumped this planter box into the shed garden figuring we’d just use the rototiller to mix in potting soil from containers into the garden. As I was pulling weeds, I noticed that this brick of soil was sprouting onion up from underneath. I tipped it back over and had all these green onions that were curling around the edges seeking sun. I tossed it back in the planter box and watered to see what would happen. Now a week or so later they are wonderful.

    After we took the patio set and chiminea out of the shed and set it up we noticed that the chiminea is on its last summer.

    The crack in the terracotta has grown exponentially. We need to be very careful with how we treat it over summer.

    This week is slightly quieter than last…I think.

    What are you doing today?
  • Around home - Art - Blog - Creativity - Outdoors

    T Tuesday: handmade journal edition

    It’s been a weird week…or two weeks. I missed T stands for Tuesday last week. It just wasn’t in the cards to get something posted or even attempt to make the rounds to my fellow Tuesday bloggers…or anywhere else for that matter. So moving on…

    The next weirdness was the crazy weekend blizzard the weather folks were hyping up.  Well there weren’t wrong!! We got 16.2 inches of snow here.

    And guess what…school went on here as scheduled Monday. 

    As I walked in the building this is what I saw to my right. 

    Here’s the drift that reached the roof that was to my left as I walked into the building! Crazy! We have more snow in the forecast for Wednesday. UGH! But then 60°F by the weekend. So weird. Mother Nature has lost her mind!!

    Ok…I know you are tired of hearing me complain so on with the creativity.

    Last week I sat down with an idea in mind. Creating a scrappy, handmade, hand bound journal. After creating my signatures I needed to come up with a sturdy yet pretty way to bind this journal.

    This was my idea. It’s very fine plastic canvas…like needle point size grid. I used a Japanese screw punch to make the holes to stitch my signatures through then glued it to the lace panel with E6000.

    I don’t think I exactly follow the hand binding rules but…don’t care..it’s the way that works for me. I’ve been doing it this same way for over 11 years!

    I decided to use this book cover, covering the inside with scrapbook paper before gluing the lace bound signatures down.

    I’m pleased with this little book. I’m planning to use it for random thoughts and quotes along the way.

    Last weekend…or I guess that would be the previous weekend when we could actually leave the house…Mini-me and I treated ourselves to coffee.

    These Minnesota-isms just don”t seem to get old especially when we have feet of snow on the ground.

    This week holds a solo/ensemble contest for Mini-me and getting ready for the end of the school year wrapping up. I was told that there are 38 school days left. YIKES! That kind of freaks me out. There is so much to do!!!!
    What are you don’t today??