End of September Wrap Up

Finding the most color in this month was easy.

A couple of cards that Rachel asked me to make for her housemates and one extra for my mother's birthday card.  I am in love with the Hero Arts background stamp from their September release.  I embossed the swirls with clear EP on watercolor paper and then added some Color Burst randomly. The leaves are from Unity and they are embossed with black EP and then colored with Color Burst.

We couldn't fish because of the weather on Labor Day weekend so I painted one instead.  This is a 

 a Chilatherina Alleni, also known as Allen's Rainbowfish. A new species found in the Amazon reported by the WWF. 

A little addition to my 3.5 x 5" sketchbook.

The band that played the last concert of the summer at the dock on Pirate's Day was Sounds of the 60's and this is their van.  Very 60's don't you think!

And there were many sunsets that were memorable this month, but this one tonight kind of captured all the colors.  

Good night and good bye September.

Scribble Picnic - RADIO

I'm lucky to work within 10 minutes of my home.  But this gives me very little listening time on the car radio.  I do use another type of radio - a portable two-way radio more commonly known as a walkie-talkie.  It's the main way to get in touch with our school custodian, but the teachers also take one outside for recess, gym class, and daily at dismissal.  I keep it turned on on my desk throughout the day.  Mine has a special setting that allows me to also hear the transmissions from the school bus drivers and the transportation department.  This comes in handy if there's a problem on a bus or if a bus is going to be late.  The biggest problem we have with these radios however is operator error.  They are very easy to use but 1) you have to have them turned on to work, 2) you have to have them set to the correct channel, 3) you have to hold down the button while you are speaking, and 4) you have to have it with you to hear it.  I think a walkie-talkie could come in handy at one of our picnics in case someone wants to do some exploring.  

There was something else that gave me a little inspiration for RADIO. This little guy and his pint-sized Radio Flyer red wagon.  He was keeping us entertained as we were celebrating our 40th anniversary with our kids this weekend.

I was reminded that I have one just like it at home and set it up for a picture outside.  Those are orange and black pansies that we picked up in our travels this weekend.

I'm developing a thing for white pumpkins lately.  Don't know why.  

It's getting late and I need to mosey on over to see what other kinds of RADIOs there will be at the picnic. You can join me by clicking here.  And speaking of joining, if you'd like to join the picnic next week the theme is BLANKET.

Jingle Belles - Tic-Tac-Toe

Leave it up to the Jingle Belles to make a fun game into a fun challenge.  How, exactly, would I like to earn my Tic-Tac-Toe, three in a row?

I showed this to HWNSNBP and after I explained it to him, I mistakenly asked him how it fits.  I won't throw him any further under the bus but will tell you that it's the row across the top.  It's got red, snow in the form of snowflakes, and flowers.  

This is a Unity stamp that's been hiding out in the stamp cave for a looooooonnnnngggggg time and finally saw the light of day.  Kind of a Christmas mandala.

Okay, I'm heading over to the Jingle Belles blog to see all the other winners.  You can come along by clicking here.

Scribble Picnic - WATCH OUT

What do you think of when you hear the words WATCH OUT?  I've been asking family members that for a few days trying to come up with my idea for this week.  There were some good suggestions, but since the news has been full of hurricanes, at least here on the east coast, I decided to do another wind map.  This is about the only pretty thing that comes along with a hurricane.  And something we definitely want to WATCH OUT for if we're planning a picnic.

It took about an hour to do this in my 3.5 x 5 sketchbook with a variety of fine tip markers.  It's actually kind of relaxing.  (Especially when listening to a baseball game in the background.) I loosely follow what has been posted on the Weather NJ site as you can see below.

You can see some others of these that I've done by clicking here.

I just read that Maria has left Puerto Rico totally without electricity and it will take a very long time to get the grid up again.  Our thoughts and prayers are with them all, as well as those still recovering from Harvey and Irma.  New Jersey got a glancing from Jose, but he's still hanging around and may hook up with Maria spawning who knows what!  So we definitely will WATCH OUT.

Now to join the Picnickers and find out what else we all should be WATCHing OUT for!  Click here to join me.  

OOOOOh, I had to come back to add the prompt for next week is RADIO if you would like to join in!

Bird Hijinx

Friday night as the sun was setting.

Also seen admiring the sunset - a lone blue heron.

Even he was surprised by the plop in the water.   

Next morning.  Standing guard - five soldiers in white.

But wait.  Look closer.  (Really - click to make bigger.)  Do you see him?

The soldier on the right did.  

Me thinks he might have been responsible for the plop the night before and decided to high tail it out of there!

Scribble Picnic - BLACK & WHITE

The theme of BLACK & WHITE this week gave me the opportunity to use my new tangle TIE IT UP on a Zentangle tile.  I used the string 094 from Tanglepatterns.com and added three other tangles - Twile, Hibred, and Faux Weave giving those ties some suit textures to keep company with.  

I find that Tanglepatterns.com is a good resource for tangles.  There is an alphabetic listing of tangles there to choose from.  The step-outs for the tangles are easily found and make for good practice. There are also strings featured (strings are the line that is drawn on the tile to give you the spaces to add the tangles to).  I find tangling very relaxing...... when I'm not in a hurry.

I'm going to find out what else is BLACK & WHITE about this picnic.  You can join me by clicking here.  And should you wish to join in next week, the theme is WATCH OUT!

Jingle Belles - A Caroling We Will Go

I love Christmas carols.  Some more than others.  And I do have a couple of few sentiments and stamp sets that would fit perfectly with this theme.  However, this is what jumped off the shelf tonight for the Jingle Belles caroling theme - the Fa-la-la-la-llama.  

I had to do some, uh hum, straightening up before I could get started, and whilst I was doing so, I found two notecards from IKEA that I thought I could use.  This one pictured with the stripes, and another one with polka dots.  So I set out to create two cards.  You're only seeing one though.

The notecards have a bit of a glossy finish to them and when I stamped the sentiment onto them I found the ink wasn't drying so I sprinkled some clear EP on them and took out the heat gun.  The black ink promptly turned gray and looked okay on this one, but the other one was half gray and half black.  I'm not sure why that happened, but I couldn't use the second one (at least not tonight - I probably can cover over it for another project in the future).  

And then, since I hadn't really learned the lesson about the finish of this card, I decided that I would use a gel pen to add a line of sparkle down the left side of the stripes.  I should've realized that it wouldn't dry and it smeared a bit but I was able to cover over that mess with some silver ribbon.

The trees weren't even in my plan until this point.  I couldn't see that llama just standing there wrapped up in Christmas tree lights without a tree, or two, or three.  

Now I realize that he doesn't have enough lights for all those trees!  Maybe that's why he looks that way.  It will be fun to see who gets this one.  

Time to check out what all the other carolers have added to the play list.  You can join me by clicking here.  

Two September Weekends

Last Saturday (Sept. 2nd) it was very fallishly cool, and before the rain (from Harvey) came along in the afternoon, we were able to observe, from the balcony, the annual 5K race in Barnegat.  They hang the flag from the firetruck at the starting point.  On warmer days, they have set up the hose to spray the runners as they return, but that wasn't going to happen this day.  Over on the dock they had a DJ set up and it was nice just bopping to the music and people watching.  

We heard them mention that the entries had grown over the years to over 300 runners.  God bless them!

We got a last minute invitation to stop by and visit with the "kids".  The little guy is looking just a tad bit goofy here as he was finished with his lunch and fading fast as it was naptime, but he did manage a little smile or two more before we left which melted our hearts.  

This Saturday (Sept. 9th) we left from home a little early in the morning, but not too early as we were able to stop by Delicious Orchards and pick up some apples.  They were getting ready for their Apple Fest and I think we were lucky that the crowd hadn't begun to arrive yet.  There was a field of sunflowers as we pulled in that I had to get a picture of.  Funny thing is that when we were pulling out, we realized that it wasn't a field of sunflowers at all, just an border along the driveway.  In any case, it was beautiful.

Inside, as we were checking out, we noticed a display set up of honeybees.  They were enclosed in a glass case, but it was pretty interesting getting a look at them being busy.

From there we dropped off our stuff at the condo and took a ride to get some lunch.  We even managed to get a bike ride in over on LBI and then some fishing back in Barnegat, before the sunset.

The sun is setting farther to the left of us now and soon we won't have such a great view, but until then I will relish every one of them.

We Remember

And an army of angels came and lifted them up into the heart of God.

9-11-01

Cards - Yes, I Still Make Cards

I know you wouldn't know it the past month or so.  I've been involved with other things to the point where I haven't spent much time in the stamp cave.  But.........I needed two anniversary cards for this weekend and I will admit that I cheated a bit because I had all the elements already die cut, but tell me who wouldn't love a pair of flamingos and some flowers to celebrate their anniversary!

And, I also needed two thank you cards for two lovely co-workers who brought in a bouquet of flowers for myself and my office mate on Wednesday - just to thank us for all we do during the summer and for the "hot dog" luncheon we had organized for the staff's first day back the day before. 

I quickly stamped and colored these little flower-clad owls from Unity, then used a NBUS (Never-Before-Used-Schtuff) die that I had to have after seeing this card.  

Sheesh!  Four cards in one night - I must have been motivated.

Scribble Picnic - TIE IT UP

Way past my bedtime and school (with children) starts tomorrow so I will have a short visit to the picnic tonight.  The theme is TIE IT UP and the first thing I thought of was to do a tangle.  I have the step-outs to what I'm calling TIE IT UP.  I see that next week's theme is BLACK and WHITE so I will attempt to use this tangle and possibly a few others on a Zentangle tile.

I'm looking forward to seeing what else was TIEd UP for the Picnic this week.  Join me in checking it out by clicking here.