Happy Birthday to my sweet husband!

My husband celebrated his birthday today - on the couch with a migraine! Thankfully towards the end of the day he felt well enough to join us for lobster, potato salad and a homemade chocolate cake - a tried and true recipe from Betty Crocker - 1956 edition!

Love you dude, glad you like your new Wenger!

flowers on my windowsill

This is the new view I have outside my kitchen window - well it's not exactly from this angle - but you get the picture. Last week our lovely pool was finally installed - and it's been a huge hit so far. I think my child is going to grow gills, webs in his feet and turn into a fish or a frog or something. He is totaly in love with this thing! We've gone swimming everyday since it came - and sometimes 2 times a day!

This actually, is the view I have from my kitchen windowsill today.

Yesterday we had some much needed but extremely heavy rain - and a few of these flowers (are they black eyed susan or rudbeckia - can't remember at the moment) were bent over on the ground. I decided they would last longer in a vase - and they certainly made me happy to see them every time I stopped at the kitchen to fill my glass or do a little this or that.

This morning I hit the ground running - with lots of things to do and not much time to do them. I was supposed to go hiking, but a last minute phone call changed that ( hope Harry is better today Karen! ) and I ran around like a chicken getting other things done. We've got company from Massachusetts coming for a few days - projects to complete - and a house to spend a little time cleaning before the company comes - oh my absolutle favorite thing to do, NOT!

After the dreaded cleaning was done I started and finished another project that I'll be teaching at ArtEscape this fall....here's a little sneak peak for you!

Hoping that tomorrow is just as successful as today was! thanks for stopping by - enjoy your TUESDAY!

Christmas in July

Snowmen Photo by Sue Pelletier

I'm knee deep in designing projects for my workshop this fall with Sue Pelletier at ArtEscape in South Portland!

In this workshop (the description on the the ArtEscape website needs to be updated as it was uploaded before Sue and I decided to co-teach this workshop) students will make a joint project with the two of us on Friday night, some LOVELY snowmen with Sue (you can see them in the first photo on this post, and more on her blog here) and a pretty banner and another fun vintage paper project with me on Saturday.

Sunday morning students will have the option to finish up any incomplete projects or make a few new things! Sign up soon before this popular class is SOLD out completely!

If you are from away, this is a beautiful time to visit Maine - and perfect timing too - right before the craziness of the Holidays starts in full swing!

I hope to see you there, and call the studio (207-799-5154) and ask to speak with Catherine or email them at info@artescope.com if you have any questions!

Thanks for stopping by on this lovely and very lazy Sunday! Enjoy what's left of your weekend.

Have a Good Day!

Just a couple of cards today. This was supposed to be a quick card to put in a box that I am sending out in the mail this week - and it ended up being far from that! I had fun with it - so that's all that matters. The papers were scraps from my scrapbox - I love making cards from scraps!

On the inside I stamped a funny saying about a you could tell a good day when no one got bitten, it tickled my fancy!

Of all the people I make cards for - I think my niece enjoys them the most. She always hints at how much she adores the home made cards I make for birthdays and other celebrations - and since her birthday is on Monday I spent some time with this fun card. She loves playing games - so I thought this was fitting for her.

I wish I'd had an aunt to make pretty cards for me when I was 11!

Enjoy your weekend, and thanks for stopping by!

Spotted Canary July Challenge - Inspiration #2

Last week I posted that I was hosting the July Forum Challenge over at Spotted Canary. We've got quite a few paper astists playing along, but I'd like to see some more of you join in. Remember, we're picking one random participant to win a $100 Prize Package donated by the Sponsers of Spotted Canary.

Here's a fun page I finished up this morning using our recent 4th of July photos. My husband and I have been saying a lot lately that our boy is such a good boy - and I'd like to add that we're lucky to have such a kind, funny, considerate, smart, thoughtful and sweet boy as ours.

Here's my sketch again:

Here's my quick page that took forever, LOL.

Thanks for stopping by - hope to see you over on the Spotted Canary Forum!

a Rockin' 4th of July

We had a wonderful 4th of July - it was hot - and so lovely! A bbq with my Uncle around his pool. I've got a cold so I didn't go in - but I really wanted to! My boy spent a lot of time in the water - hope he enjoys our pool as much - and I hope the weather holds out after it is delivered.

After the BBQ we went to the Heritage Days Festival to watch my boy's drum teacher play in a band. It was great - we even enjoyed the fried clams.

My Mom does NOT like to have her picture taken - it took about 10 shots to get this one....

I wish this one hadn't come out blurry. I have a new camera that has a view finder on the front - love that feature but don't like anything else about it! It makes trying to take pictures like this so much easier. That mop on my head is really causing me to loose my patience! I'm trying to grow my hair out - and the only way it looks remotely presentable is when I put it in pig tails like this.

My silly boy!

Thanks for stopping by, I hope to have something crafty to post tomorrow! Enjoy the rest of your day.

Happy 4th of July!

As we celebrate our independance on this beautiful 4th of July I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday enjoying your freedom! Do something Patriotic today!

Thanks for stopping by, enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Belated Birthday's aren't so bad!

My birthday was last week - I turned 44. I don't really feel 44 - except when I'm really tired and recuperating from a whirlwhind trip to places like Cleveland - kind of like I am right now. That's why I only posted once this week. I slept until 8:30 today and fell asleep on the couch last night.

I've never been to Cleveland. The people are so nice, I really enjoyed them - and we had Lebanese food one night. That was awesome, I can't wait to make some BaBa Ganoush. Now I'm wishing I had grown some eggplant in my garden.

Anyway, back to my birthday. . . For less than one month every year my husband and I are the same age. He's older than me the rest of the time, I don't let him forget that either. We celebrated my birthday last week with dinner at Little Tokyo and had Gelato Fiasco for dessert. I've had a lot going on - as have my friends so I didn't have a chance to get together with them for a birthday lunch until today - and it was well worth the wait! We met at Little Tokyo for delicious japanese food - and then Gelato Fiasco for dessert, I'm sure you can tell by now that these are my favorite places to dine in my town.

Karen gave me the sweetest, tiniest jointed Frozen Charlottes that she found on a recent antiqueing trip - simply adorable. I think the smallest one is about 1" tall. She knows I love them - it was totally sweet and thoughtful of her - along with the other things she gave me.

Look at this beautiful quilt Kelley made for me. Kelley is an awesome quilter - and these colors will be perfect in my studio.

Karen and I with the quilts that Kelley made for us - Karen's birthday was last month.

Here's my little guy with Kelley - he loves Little Tokyo as much as I do.

Belated Birthdays, they're not so bad!! Celebrating Half Birthday's is a good idea too - a decision we all made today. Having a half Birthday means you get to celebrate your birth 2 times a year! Really - just an excuse to eat lunch out and make (and receive) presents from your best buds! It's a great idea!

Anyway, thanks for stopping by......hope you can celebrate your birthday - or half birthday real soon!

Hosting the July Challenge at the Spotted Canary

Thought I'd share a quick project I made today, it's for the July Sketch Challenge I'm hosting over at the Spotted Canary. The sketch is of a quick card that can be made - but you could also make a scrapbook page or other craft project.

Here's the card I finished up today - just a quick card to celebrate the 4th of July. Even though the sketch shows a snowflake - kind of a winter / Christmas theme - you could use a symbol to depict any holiday - or even just a bird or butterfly for a generic anyday card.

The challenge is open to any registered member of Spotted Canary. We'll be drawing a winner at random - so if you are a new crafter or an old one like me - you are eligible to win $100. worth of supplies from the Sponsers of the Spotted Canary!

To be eligible you must upload your project to the Spotted Canary Creative Gallery and link it on the July Sketch Challenge thread.

Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful, safe and fun 4th of July weekend!

Hybrid 4th of July Inspiration

I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again - I'm a traditional scrapbooker in that I love the feel, texture and dimension that I can get when I work with paper, ribbon and whatever else I can find to throw on my page.

Working solely in digital doesn't allow me to get my fingers dirty - but I also love playing with my computer. I don't know who discovered hybrid scrapbooking - but they are awesome - and it's the perfect solution to my dilemma of wanting to play with paper AND my computer!

Usually I edit my photos and create my journaling on my computer. But, I did some different things on this 4th of July page I created for Spotted Canary.

Look at the background paper, the one with the checks on it - now LOOK really close - you can see that it's really a photo that I did some fun things to in Photoshop Elements 7. Now, look at the photo in the center of the page - the one of the fireworks - it's the same photo that I used to make my patterned paper - the one with the checks on it in the background behind the photos.

It came out really cool, if you want the complete instructions on how I created this page, the background photo and get the supply list, you can find all of these here (and more great inspiration) - at the Spotted Canary site.

Just in case you were wondering, the star on the top center row of photos is really a lemon tart decorated with blueberries and rasperries - and it was delicious!

In other Spotted Canary news, I'll be hosting the July Challenge over in the Challenge section of the Spotted Canary Forum - I hope you'll fly on over and play along - it's going to be fun. Check back for the details of the Challenge on July 1st - or just check the forum.

I've got a busy two or three days so I don't think I will have a chance to post until the end of the week. I hope you had a great weekend - THANKS for stopping by!

Art is in the Cards Cracked Up Swap

I finally finished my ATC's for the cracked swap. Here's what they looked like the other day when I first posted about them....Something wasn't quite right - so I decided the ribbon didn't work and they needed some stitching. Though, a couple made it through with stitching on them.

I love how the Tim Holtz Clear Rock Candy looks on the first layer of the stamp, I used a couple of thick coats to get a nice thick cracked look. But, before I did that, I stamped the image from Inkadinkado 2 times for each ATC on white cardstock. For the base layer I added some color with a light blue ink pad and then liberally brushed them with a couple of coats Clear Rock Candy and let them dry. For the second layer I colored them with Copic Markers and cut each image in half before I glued them to the Clear Rock Candy layer.

When the Rock Candy Crackle was dry I collaged the image onto vintage papers and added an ATC stamp to the back. I printed the saying on white card stock, and sprayed it a with brown and blue Tattered Angels. When I had all these elements together, I stitched each card and added the trading information on the back and I was done.....

I'm pleased with the way my Cracked Up ATC came out. You can see some of the other ATC's here at the new Arts in the Cards blog....

thanks for stopping by - I hope you are enjoying your summer so far and enjoy your weekend!

Vintage Holiday Frenzy

Wednesday I drove to to Topsfield to meet with Sue Pelletier, and Catherine Bickford from Art Escape for a planning strategy for the workshop we'll be having this November!

I'm really excited - the projects we've got lined up are going to knock your socks off. A fun, collaborative project for Friday night, and then 3 projects on Saturday and then finishing up any unfinished projects on Sunday. It's going to be so much fun, but space is limited - so I suggest you sign up early if you want to come.

Here's Sue with some of her snowmen - they were on the cover of Cloth, Paper Scissors last year. I love them! I have a little snowman collection, I may have to commission her to make me one to add to my collection!

Here I am getting a little silly, but hey - I can't help it I was having a great time.

THANKS for stopping by, enjoy your weekend.

Introducing College Diva at the New England Bloggers Carnival

The New England Bloggers are celebrating the beginning of summer with a blog carnival introducing our readers to someone who is a New England Blogger. You can join in if you are a blogger and from New England. There is link-up to all the participants is at the bottom. I hope you get a chance to visit some and maybe make a new bloggy friend.

I discovered a lovely Mixed Media artist in Kathryn Antyr of College Diva. She’s a lovely college artist from New Hampshire! You should check out some of the photos she’s taken of her Ikebana flower arrangements, VERY beautiful! You’ll definitely be inspired by Kathryn’s blog!

Thanks for stopping by, hope you enjoy the rest of the stops on this Carnival!

The Road to Happiness....

is through making art.....

Well for me, that's partially true - the other part of the road is the happiness that my family brings me.

I've had this page sitting on my desk - moving it from here to there since last Thursday. First I wanted to find the perfect picture - then I ran out of printer ink and photo paper - then I got too busy to work on it.

I wish I had a shirt that says artGirl - but I don't. I stamped this on my shirt with a tiny little stamp I picked up from RedLead a while back. I wish they were closer - MUCH closer.

It was a busy weekend around here - a couple of thunderstorms here and there - a lovely evening out at Soakology in Portland to treat my husband for Father's Day - and an awesome dinner on Sunday with my family.

Thanks for stopping by.... enjoy your day!

He was Cracking up on the inside...

Work in progress....the stamp is from Inkadinkado.

Need to finish up and get them in the mail to my swap sisters. The theme for this swap was Cracked - hence the title he was cracking up on the inside, LOL. Some of the ATC's I've gotten so far are very cool!

Sorry this is short and sweet, I've got a million things to do today - and it's the LAST day of school, let the summer fun begin!! Thanks for stopping by - enjoy your day....it's almost the weekend!