Saturday's Adventure

Saturday was such a beautiful day and we happened to be at the condo for a spring clean-up which thankfully didn't take that long.  So HWNSNBP and I took a ride to LBI and out to the lighthouse and I was determined to give it my all to walk the 1/4 mile out to the ocean and back.  On the way we encountered this pair.

Are they coming or going?

And this gentleman came shushing up alongside me and I do me shushing his boots along the sand so much so that I really found it annoying and stopped so he could get well past us.

Once we made it to the ocean, HWNSNBP put out the beach towel for me to sit a spell and he did some more shelling.

I motioned to him to walk towards the seagulls that had gathered around him to catch them in flight. I'm pretty sure they thought that he had something to share with them in the plastic bag that he was carrying, but they were wrong.

Walking the 1/4 mile back - a view of the lighthouse and I think you can barely make out those fence posts on the beach.  

There is a large area cordoned off for the Plovers to nest undisturbed.  This sign is on one of the posts to educate those that are visiting of the plight of the plover.

We were lucky enough to actually spot two of them on the way back.  It was low tide and there was no water on the beach side of the jetty making it pretty easy to walk in the wet compacted sand.  Still, these little birds are very quick and small and blend in very well with the surroundings.

Besides the dark ring around their neck, another feature that distinguishes them is the fact that they only have 3 toes that all face forward and no back toe.  We stood in one place and they circled around us stopping once or twice and softly calling to one another.  

Once we got back on the concrete walkway, we noticed this guy on the rocks.  Just look at those long toes!

This was the first time in almost three years (or is it just two?) that I was actually able to walk the beach and do some shelling (but don't tell my doctor).  My neck is still bothering me, but I was determined to not to let it deter me and I was very careful bending down to pick up some treasures.  

Jingle Belles - Let There Be Peace on EARTH (Day) II

We're still recycling over at the Jingle Belles blog this week.  The top portion of this card comes from the paper that was covering a box of Godiva chocolates I received for Christmas.  The bow was trimmed from a Starbuck's gift card holder.  

The sparkles are embedded in the paper and have sort of a holographic quality to them.  I put this on a base of Poppy Parade cardstock and embossed the sentiment in gold EP. 

The band of jewels is new however.  I picked that up at the Dollar Tree recently.  I don't usually go for yellow, but for some reason I grabbed the yellow one and I'm glad I did.

I think it goes well with the orangy-redness of the paper.  

So let's revisit the Jingle Belles and see what other recycling beauties have been added this week. And don't be afraid to jump in and try this challenge.  Have you any packing paper, tissue paper, rescued ribbons, cardboard, buttons, bottle caps?  I'm sure you've got some good "stuff" you can repurpose into a Christmas cards to celebrate Earth Day.

Hello and Thinking of You - PP240 (2)

I mentioned that I had another idea for this color challenge and tonight I got a little extra time to put it on paper.  I just love these Essential by Ellen dies!  So using my Gorgeous Grunge stamp I added some splats in VersaMark and in the paper colors to the papers before I die cut the flowers and leaves just to give them some interest.  The center-most flower was popped up for a little more dimension.  I also added the grunge to the card base and then used another die cut "hello" for my sentiment in a tone-on-tone way.  All I did with that was press it into my VersaMark ink pad before I added it to the card.  Yes, this color combination was a lot of fun to play with.

Also having fun with a bunch of stamp sets to put together this "Thinking of You"/get well card for a male friend.  I feld butterflies and flowers were definitely out, but leaves were fair game.  

I used The Open Sea, Choose Happiness, Butterfly Basics, Wetlands, and Gorgeous Grunge again. And the ink choices were Pistachio Pudding (which is so faint you can barely see it), Crumb Cake, Wild Wasabi, and the sentiment is in Chocolate Chip.  All stamped on a base of Very Vanilla.

Please say a prayer for my cousin's husband who underwent some serious surgery earlier this week. Last I heard everything went well, but he has a long road ahead of him.  

Hello Bluebird

Hello Bluebird

With your back to me

Stay for a while

Rest in our tree

There's a house on the hill

It's waiting for you

Can't wait to see

What you will do

PP240 - Color Challenge

I saw these colors as I was starting to plan my DIL's birthday card.  I'm afraid I didn't get enough green on there though.  It's her favorite color.  But I think she'll like it.

I used the Spring Flowers EF for the background base of Coastal Cabana.  Then I die cut some of the Handpicked framelits and stamped them with stamps from From the Garden and And Many More.  I fussy cut the flower and leaves before adding it to the label from the Circle Card Thinlit.

The picture is darker than I would like it - the colors are much prettier IRL.  I have another idea for this color combo but I'm not sure when I'll get to that.  Hopefully soon.   

Here is the link to see the other wonderful creations for this challenge.

Recycling - Have I Gone a Bit Too Far?

This card is made of a few things I had in my recycling stash.  The background papers are both wrapping paper from recent birthday gifts as is the blue seam binding ribbon.  The stamped flower was in a pile of stamped images that never made it onto it's original card and the blue flower - well, this is where I ask if I've gone too far - the blue flower was made from ..... a hairnet/covering that I wore on Monday during a medical procedure.  The nurse gave me the strangest look when I said that I wanted to keep it to make something out of it.  She offered me a new one, but I told her that I wanted to repurpose the one that I had used since we celebrate Earth Day this month.  Too far?

Quick, Colorful Thank You's

I needed a small bunch of thank you's last week so I was glad I found what was left of this sheet of colorful striped scrapbook paper.  And as I was going through my box of things to recycle I came across a handful of the flowers that I had punched out of kraft packing paper.  I gathered three for each card and scrunched them up and stapled them in the center. Then I grabbed my bunny dies and ran them through the Big Shot a couple of times.  

So the bunny is popped up over the staples.  (And I did swipe the edges of the bunnies with some Crumb Cake ink but I don't think it's showing in the pictures.)  I just varied the placement of the scrapbook paper and the flower for some variety.

Quick and easy and fun.

Jingle Belles - Let There Be Peace on EARTH (day)

What are you going to do with that?  I often get that question if I'm seen stuffing what some might consider trash into my bag.  And then when I take it home and stash it away it just seems to multiply. 

So when I was picked to be a guest designer for this month's Jingle Belles challenge I was hoping that it might have something to do with recycling so I could jump into - check that, no jumping yet - delve into one of my many boxes of rescued discards and put it to good use. 

My goal on this card was to use as much "rescued" materials as possible and I think I did pretty good. The only recently purchased item is the crocheted lace.

My card base is actually white Bristol board to give it some strength for the weight of the items added to the front.  I covered that with a layer of Bravo Burgundy cardstock (retired) and then used part of a printed paper bag.  The corrugated cardboard under the ornament was part of some packaging and I just swiped some white gesso on it to brighten it up a bit.  The green ribbon is recycled from one of those giftbox stacks from the holidays with a swatch of the crocheted lace over it.  

The ornament - the form of the ornament is actually one of those gold cardboard cake/pie/pastry bases that I meticulously clean off whenever HWNSNBP treats me to one of those little fruit tarts from Wegman's.  I took a scrap of aluminum foil and die cut a circle that would cover the circle of the cardboard and then embossed it.  I just scrunched the foil over the edges adding just a little bit of tacky glue to keep it in place.  The fuzzy stuff is part of one of those brass pot scrubby thingy's which I never used to scrub pots. I had a few of them that I used in a candle arrangement that went south. And I just wrapped a gold foil twist tie around the brass as a "ribbon" treatment.  

The star is die cut from a fast food coffee sleeve, again with some gesso and mounted on the burgundy cardstock.  

HWNSNBP was amazed that I was done with this card relatively quickly the other night, and he couldn't believe all the "stuff" that I recycled, but he's also aware that I only put a dent in what I have up in the stamp cave.  

Well, there's always next week.......

So now I'm heading over to the Jingle Belles blog to see what else has been rescued from the landfills here and abroad!  Click here to join me.  

Draw a Bird Day

Another one of those wacky holidays I like - Draw a Bird Day. 

Pencil on Bristol Board

Mounted on Marina Mist, Night of Navy Base

The sentiment was a happy accident.  I stamped it in Memento Black and then tried to watercolor the boxes with Marina Mist.  The black either wasn't dry or didn't like the water so it ran a bit but I really like the way it turned out.

Did you draw a bird today?  It's not too late!

Jingle Belles - Fa-La-La-La-La Encore

Week two of our musical challenge.  This card was directly inspired by the sentiment - coming from Hark the Herald Angels Sing...........Glory to the Newborn King.

And while I did not struggle so much with the design, boy was it ever difficult to photograph this card.  The base is actually a beautiful shade of purple and all the embossing is done in silver with the silver glitter paper as the backmost  panel which looks pink to me in the picture, but trust me, it's silver.  I added some Illuminate ink around the edges of the stamped panel and then some glitter pen around that.  It just doesn't want to show it's pretty side tonight.  

Okay, time to visit the Jingle Belles and see what I've missed.  You can come too.  Click here.

Saturday Art Adventure

On Saturday I got to meet one of my blogging friends, Lauren of .....all the GOOD blog names were taken.    And.......... she took me on an adventure to a wonderful place called Paper Anthology in Kenvil.  We actually took a techniques class there learning about Ranger products and creating three cards highlighting these techniques like.....

Bokeh

Faux Granite

and this cool Distress Paint background (with my favorite quote!).

It was a great class and a great store to shop in also.  And it was so much fun meeting and spending time with Lauren.  Looks like there may be more adventures to look forward to.

Happy Easter

Pinterest inspired - link to pattern.

Birthday Wrap-Up and Sharing of Their Creativity

As a special birthday present, my choice was to take four special people to tea and HWNSNBP financed the deal.  Unfortunately, my sister could not make it do to work obligations, but my mother, godmother, and cousin B did.  We went to my favorite tearoom, Teaberry's, and had a very enjoyable afternoon.  I made these little favors for them.  (You can find directions here.)

Three of us had the full tea.  My mother opted for just the sandwiches and a pot of tea.  These were our little finger sandwiches and boy, were they tasty.

.

I mentioned earlier this week that HWNSNBP and I visited a candy store last Saturday.  I was saving these for my birthday.  Isn't this the sweetest box?  It's only about 3 1/2" long and inside were........

These specialty truffles.  The pig was a toffee truffle and the ladybug was raspberry chocolate.  They were cute, but I probably wouldn't get them again (a little too expensive for and everyday treat).

Then, even though I explicitly told the ladies NO GIFTS, they didn't listen and I had to make some thank you cards (in the colors to match their favors).  Dziekuje is thank you in Polish which I think the older ladies will appreciate having spoken that when they were growing up. (Those leaves are all the same color, yet they look much different on the center card against that darker background.)

I have to share a special gift that I received by mail from Ireland last week.  I hope Sabrina does not mind me using the picture she took of this gorgeous afghan that she knitted for me.  The weather has not been the greatest here for me to get outside and take a nice picture and look, they have GREEN grass in Ireland already this spring.  Our backyard still looks khaki!

But back to the afghan - I am just in awe of all those lighthouse panels and the anchors in the border are just too perfect.  The colors are gorgeous and I love, love, love it!  I showed the ladies the picture after trying to describe it to them at tea and they were blown away as well.  

And also in the package was a beautiful stamp I can't wait to use and some more of her handiwork - this beautiful tag with lengths of the yarn she used in the afghan........

And another tag that just sparkles with a beautiful beach scene.

Not finished yet - there was also a fantastic card that I immediately fell in love with.  This will be framed and hung in the condo for sure.

I was also graced with three love BRAK cards (Birthday Random Act of Kindness) from Splitcoast members

1crazypenguin

2CuteCats

and 4everstamping

This whole week has been full of visits and cards and well wishes from my family, friends and co-workers and I appreciate each and every one.

Thank you all for making my birthday a very memorable one.

Jingle Belles - Fa-La-La-La-La

This challenge was to make a card that was influenced by Christmas music (did the title give it away?).  And the card that I made has two possible inspirations......

Too easy?  Give up?  

Jingle Bells or Silver Bells - it fits both since I didn't have any traditional bells and had to use those jingle bell die cuts.  

The card base is Brushed Silver and the white panel is embossed with a music folder.  I raided my ribbon scrap bag for some of the ribbons and found the braided one in my stash of not yet used stuff. I originally had silver cord in mind to use for hanging the bells but it was elastic cord and a little too unwieldy for trying to glue in straight lines so I opted for some strips of silver textured scrapbook paper - sliced thin but not as thin as salami.  The music paper is from a paper pack I was gifted for Christmas (thank you again L) and the greenery were die cuts.  I originally thought I was going to add a red bow, but then decided on the silver ribbon to match the strips I had added to that wide ribbon under the circle. Much better choice I think.

Hmmm, now I have to give some thought about what I can do for the next week.

Take a look over here at the Jingle Belles blog to see what other lovely creations have been posted.

March Calendar and Tangle Wrap-Up

How serendipitous it was that something actually came in the mail with a flying pig on it just before March arrived.  You'd be amazed at the number of catalogs that we receive.  And from the most bizarre places sometimes.  I put a catalog in the Aftercare Program mailbox and didn't even realize, until the girl who runs the program told me, that it was a catalog for bongs and pipes....to a school address.  We also get liquor catalogs but those are usually only around the holidays.  

I realized after transferring these pictures of my tangle journal that I have not yet done the pencil shading on just about all of them.  Truth be told, I fell a little behind on this due to some neck and shoulder issues I'm having right now.  Seems I've been overcompensating for my lower back and hurting my upper back.  I have to rearrange my work space at work more ergonomically and an injection will be taking place in the next week or so for the inflammation.  Oh, and I've started PT again.  It's a good thing that I like the people there because it certainly puts a large dent in my creative time having to go.

On with the tangles....

March 1 - Envy (molussus)

March 2 - Sevaw (Emily Chen)

March 3 - Wisdom Knot (Sandra Strait)

March 4 - Vano (Hanneke Sieben)

March 5 - Unbatz (Sandy Hunter)

March 6 - Teenas (Adele Bruno)

March 7 - Pendrills (Ellen Wolters)

March 8 - Chebucto (Ellen Wolters)

March 9 - Whirlee (Ellen Wolters video)

March 10 - Pin Bowl (Davide Hunter)

March 11 - Myko (Maria Mason)

March 12 - Weave (Helen Williams)

March 13 - B'twined (Pegi Shargel)

March 14 - Rysa (Linda Farmer)

March 15 - Spoolies (Hanny Waldburges)

March 16 - Garlic Cloves (Jacquelien Bredencord)

March 17 - Sh-Rock (Diane Lechance)

March 18 - Tizzy (Hanny Waldburges)

March 19 - Window Grilles (Mei Hua Teng - DAMY)

March 20 - Goltago (Lianne Woods)

March 21 - Diamond Drops (Janice Sherlock)

March 22 - Dream Dancer (Christine Reyas)

March 23 - Ish (Anya Lothrop)

March 24 - Moonlite (Anne Marks)

March 25 - Omen (Gael Shepherd)

March 26 - Keystone (Dennie York)

March 27 - Balo (Hsin-Ya Hsu)

March 28 - Flux (Maria Thomas' version) official Zentangle

March 29 - Flux (Rick Robert's version) official Zentangle

March 30 - Lacee (Susan Hodel)

March 31 - Looplopp (Ksenija Tojisarljeric)(and I think that's the way I felt when I did this because it's so NOT RIGHT)

Note to self:  When you're eyelids are drooping it's time to put the pen down!

I've included the names of the tangles along with their creator's names (or those that had the step outs).  If you google their names (the tangle or the artist) I'm sure you can find more information.