• Art - Blog - Creativity

    Feeling the art journal love again

    September 27, 2022 - By 

    It’s taken a while but I’m getting the urge to create at least in my art journal.

    In fact, this was the second page I created on Sunday afternoon.

    While searching through my stash I found some watercolor color experiments. The colors spoke to me in that fall sort of feel.

    The lined page to the left was a shiny paper from junk mail. I didn’t want to cover the lines but at the same time didn’t like the shine. I used some glimmer mists to knock it back.

    Yesterday was a rough day for me. I was very emotional which is not my usual state of being. I’m a very stoic person…I’m Norwegian raised in the mid-west. It takes a lot to crack my shell.

    I did what I like to call a mind dump on my page. I like to write very messy and somewhat layer the words. This makes it difficult to read. This is purposeful. I need to get it out but I don’t want to go back and relive it later when I’m paging through my journal.

    I saved this label from a beer my neighbor shared. (using as my drink reference as well…it’s a twofer) The beer was really interesting. You could taste a hint of orange and copious amounts of honey. I’m not sure I loved it but I did love the label.

    It’s not my favorite page in the journal but it served its purpose.

    Today is a work day of course with some grocery shopping on the way home.

    T stands for Tuesday
    What are you doing today?
  • Art - Blog - Creativity

    Fall vibes

    September 25, 2022 - By 

    I do love Fall. The crisp mornings, the rustle of fallen leaves, flannels, jeans, hoodies…all the pumpkin goodies. The warm colors of autumn are also my favorites. You’ll find them all over my house and in my art.

    I had so much fun pulling together items to layer. Bits of wallpaper, book spine, scrapbook paper, ephemera postcard just to name a few.

    I used some distress oxide to bring the background colors together.

    I then dripped water and blotted to make the cool light spots. Love that look. This is my first distress oxide ink pad, and I know it won’t be my last.

    I’m nearing the end of this journal. Just a few pages left. It’s been a really fun challenge with all the different types and sizes of papers.

    It has gotten quite chunky. Good thing I made the cover with a long wrap around tie to hold the chunkiness in.

    When it’s complete I’ll do a recap at least of my favorite pages.

  • Blog

    Gardening is out, sewing is in

    August 29, 2022 - By 

    It’s that time of year again when the outdoor projects begin to come to an end. The good news is that I have plenty of other interests to keep me busy indoors.

    I’ve been canning when the weather permits. I hate water bath canning on a humid day. And before anyone asks…I do reuse my canning lids. I inspect them thoroughly and get rid of any that I have even the slightest question about…actually I do save them for dry goods storage so they don’t hit the recycle bin immediately. Anyway…I remove the rings from my canned goods after they cool…that way if there ever is an issue I could see the lid pop from spoilage.  I’m not an expert and I’m not telling you that you should do it my way…I just knew if I didn’t explain myself I would get questions and lectures.

    My harvests are dwindling which is fine. We still get our CSA box for a few more weeks.

    My teeny tiny carrots make me smile. I’ve never had much luck growing carrots.

    But this year I think I will get a lot more teeny tiny carrots since I didn’t thin them out. The tall palm frond looking plants in the garden are ginger. I had some ginger root sprouting in the cupboard so I decided to experiment. I think I’ll leave one to overwinter but dig up the rest for use this fall. I’m not expecting success with overwintering but you don’t know until you try.

    Speaking of trying…I’m trying something new with my shed garden. I once again amended the soil with some of our compost…then have been placing the spent plants back on the soil. They have been partially covered with soil from a container that broke. I am looking to do more of a no dig system in this garden. Time will tell.

    As it happens ever end of summer, my urge to sew comes in hot. I’m not sure what it is but it isn’t a want…its a need. So weird.

    Last winter I made 40 or so of these crazy scrappy blocks. I decided that 30 of them with white sashing would make a lovely throw blanket.

    It’s coming along quite nicely. I just have the sashing around the entire outside edge to do.

    Yesterday I worked on creating a scrappy binding. I love adding that to my scrappy quilts. When I commit to scrappiness…its a full commit.

    Today I had the first of my half day work meeting days leading up to the start of school in a week. It was great to see everyone…old friends and new colleagues alike.

    T stands for Tuesday