Mini Scrap Collages 148-154/365

I've got 2-weeks worth of these to post so I'm going to spread them out.

End of June in Photos

The end of the school year is so hectic for us in the office as well as in the classrooms.  The teachers have their end-of-year checklist in addition to trying to maintain order when the students have had enough of school already.  This makes for testy times all around.  We have some, what I call "frequent flyers" that wind up in the office after pushing their teacher to their limit of patience.  So we get extra discipline issues, frazzled teachers and to top off our end-of-year checklist of things that have to get done, there are the class parties and picnics, and staff kickball game, and field day which account for parents in and out of the building, all funneling through the office.  

We do usually get little acknowledgements from some of the students, particularly our 5th graders who are leaving the school, like bakery treats, notepads, travel cups and such.  This year one mom brought us this "Survival Kit" just for the office staff.  

Along with a lovely written thank you note, it contained the "recipe" for this bowl of goodies.  Mints to keep our cool, aspirin for headaches, band-aids for paper cuts, circus animal crackers for minding the 3-ring circus, tissues for good-by tears, etc.  

And my indulgence this time of year - Ranier cherries.

I also treated myself to an end-of-year gift - KOH-I-NOOR Magic Colored Pencils.  The leads are mixed and the pencils are triangular.  Now I just have to figure out how to sharpen them.

We had to shut down the bluebird box in the garden because some House Sparrows invaded the territory and were fighting with the blues.  House Sparrows will kill Bluebirds over nesting space.  That is why we chose to shut down that box.  But HWNSNBP had another box in the garage and we had a pole very near to the house that used to have a very elaborate bird feeder that HWNSNBP made on it.  Sadly, the squirrels had decided to chew that feeder up but we never removed the pole so he put the new box on it.  Within a few days there was interest and now there are 4 eggs in there.  

This is Papa Blue keeping an eye on the box while Mama Blue incubates the eggs.  

At the condo some of our neighbors have a hummingbird feeder that is pretty active at dawn and dusk.  I doubt that I'll be getting any morning pictures, but I was able to snap some one evening. I have not truly identified what kind they are so I won't add that here.  They are very fast and the coloring is very similar for a couple of species.  

Sunset in the back.......

later a moonrise over the water (sans tripod).......

And then in the back again from another angle.

And we got to spend some time with the little guy.  Here Papa is showing him the picture he took of what he found inside the nest box they have in their yard.  It appears to be baby birds, but we're not sure what kind.  

ICAD 2018 - 22-28/61

This week seemed to be a little more abstract.

22/61 - Sky

HWNSNBP had come in at dusk and remarked about the number of lightning bugs, aka fireflies, that were out and so I stepped out and tried to take a picture of them but was unsuccessful.  This is sky through the trees with lightning bug trails.

Mermaid markers and gel pen

23/61 - Castle

Every castle has turrets and a sand castle should probably have turret shells.

Colored pencils and Micron pen

24/61 - Jetsons

So I decided to do a 3-D of Rosie the robot maid the Jetsons had.  I used scraps of card stock and a couple of daisy die cuts for her hat, collar, and apron.  She is stapled to the index card.

Mermaid marker background and cardstock scraps

25/61 - Tangerine

A very abstract interpretation of the segments of a tangerine.

Mermaid marker, Zig brush marker, ballpoint pen

26/61 - Meerkat (Not) 

So I thought I'd use that gem shape again (or the card that I had started with it) to make into meerkat faces and that was just not turning out.  So I opted to make them into colorful pods instead.

Zig brush markers, Micron pen

27/61 - Magic Carpet

This card is completely covered with woven washi tape.  I worked on a teflon mat which made it easy to set and lift the washi tape as I wove it.

28/61 - Garden

We don't have any lupines in our garden but we have had a comeback of the daylilies that the deer have decimated in the past.  

Watercolor pencils and Prima watercolors

Jingle Belles - White Christmas

Our Jingle Belle challenge this time involves cards that are predominately white.  I almost missed this deadline (yet again) as I've been very distracted these last couple of weeks.  Last week was the last week of school for the students and staff and there's always so much that has to be done before they leave for the summer.  It didn't help me that I have a "staycation" scheduled for this week and though I have a list of things that I want to get done, there are still so many distractions.  You know, like when the weather is so nice that you just have to get outside and weed rather than hide out in the stamp cave.  Things like that.  

But I managed to get upstairs and pull this together taking liberty with the shades of white that I was using.  The dove is recycled from a card that we had received from my cousin and his wife who now live in Indiana.  He is a minister and for several years their Christmas cards featured doves and I've saved every one of them.  The ribbons came out of my scrap bag and the wooden snowflake is shinier IRL but I just might have to give it a coat of something a little more glittery before Christmas.

Trust me, it's just the lighting.  There is no gray to that lace.

I think I set a personal record for the time it took for this card.  If I didn't forget that I have a little craft iron upstairs I could have saved some time setting up the iron and ironing board to tidy up that ribbon.  See how distracted I am.  Or would you call it focusing so much on getting something done?

I took a peek and there are some beautiful white creations on the Jingle Belles blog including the gorgeous samples that Lauren and Stephanie provide for inspiration.  They just take my breath away sometimes.  If you feel like getting a little breathless yourself (without too much physical activity involved) click here and you'll get a real treat.

Scribble Picnic - CRUNCHY

CRUNCHY - the sound of biting into many things.  In this case, it is the sound made by the foot of the Chee-toe monster whose toes and feet resemble (and taste like) those infamous crunchy Cheetos snacks which is how, of course, he got his name.

So I was going to bring something CRUNCHY to the picnic this week.   And I did find a recipe for Cheetos cookies which are supposed to taste like a sugar cookie with a sweet cheesy bite.  But I held back for a few reasons:  1) the recipe is in grams (yes I know I can convert it but did I really want to go through the math?), 2) if I bought a bag and did not use them all, who would wind up eating them (someone who thinks he resembles Tweedledum lately), and 3) who would eat them (because although I would definitely try them, I'm not in work this week so there would be no one to share them with as HWNSNBP is not a sweet eater).  Then again, I could have mailed them to the PICNICKERS but I don't have any addresses.  So you have the link to the recipe to try for yourselves.

And now, it's time to see what other CRUNCHY things are going to be shared at the Scribble Picnic this week.  You can check it out by clicking here.  And with the 4th of July being next week, we have a week off and will resume in two weeks with the theme of STARS.

ICAD 2018 - 15-21/61

15/61 - Sea Green

Prima watercolors, Micron marker, and gel pen.

I learned afterwards that the quote is from a member of NIN.  

16/61 - Superhero 

We  weren't home and I could not come up with a superhero other than my husband and did not want to  make a cartoon character out of him so I gathered scraps of what was in my travel bag and made a medal for a superhero.

Posca pens and collagey stuff.

17/61 - Path

I was thinking arteries and veins were the pathway to and from the heart but someone told me this looks like it could be a path in a Dr. Seuss book.

Koi watercolors and Micron pen

18/61 - Suitcase or in this case Suit Case

I made the mistake of looking at the ICAD Facebook page too early in the day and was blown away by the suitcases that were being shared so, not wanting to possibly have that influence me, I went a different route.  A case of playing cards with all four suits showing along.  And I named them Portmanteau Playing Cards as that's another name for suitcase.  (I know, pretty twisted.)

Colored Pencils and Microns

19/61 - Legend

All, or mostly all flowers have legends that go along with them and this is the legend of the tulips.

Zig Clear Color Brush Markers and gel pen

20/61 - Greeetings From

Well, if you follow along you'll know that this doubled as my entry in Scribble Picnic this week for the theme PLUMP.  

Colored pencils and Micron

21/61 - Treasure

Things that I treasure most are people and intangibles.  I am not one for jewels, but this was what I wanted to draw for this challenge.  I actually had the entire card full of those jewel shapes but it was taking so darn long to color them, layering the metallic colored pencil and adding the marker facets that I decided it would be okay to have them partially cover the cloth.  The cloth was another story unto itself.  The color I wanted to use was available in my Mermaid Markers, but that proved to be so fluid that it bled into the jewels (left side about 2/3 way down) so I had to scrap that.  Then I tried the Zig brush markers and there's an oopsy there too, but I spent way too much time on this already so I wasn't going to start over.

Metallic colored pencils, Zig Brush markers, Micron marker

This is a exercise in trying different things out and I like that, but sometimes I wish the quality of the paper were better so the materials that I want to use look better.  I do find that there is even a difference in the quality of index card depending where they've been purchased.  The cards I'm presently using came from a pack I bought at the $Tree and they are, at the same time, porous and waxy in places.  Some people choose to prep their cards with gesso before they start, but I haven't done that so I will continue with these or try to find some of better quality that I might have tucked away somewhere.

If you're following along with these posts, I'll just remind you that you can always start up at any point during ICAD.  There's no formal requirement for anything except that you use an index card for the base of your "creativity".  I won't say art because that puts some people off.  They say "I'm not an artist!"  And that may be true.  I don't consider myself an "artist", but I do know that I'm creative and that most people, if not all are also creative.  You create when you cook or bake.  When you organize things you are creating calm from chaos.  When you write lists - creating.  When you read you are creating images in your head.  When you build something, or plant something you are creating.  

And the things we can use to create are almost limitless.  Magazines, junk mail (you know we all get it), wrapping paper, tissue paper, receipts, hang tags, staples, crayons, ballpoint pens, simple lead pencils, string, twine, ribbon, glue, tape, things you have in your desk or junk drawer.  Brown paper bags.  Bubble wrap.  Don't have paint - tea and coffee will work.  So will Kool Aid or food coloring if you're careful.  Cancelled postage stamps, envelopes from cards and the insides of security envelopes your bills come in.  

Go ahead.  Give it a try.  It doesn't have to take up hours.  It can be a few minutes.  One of my favorite quotes is "Create something every day even if it sucks." If you make your goal to create something and you do that, you have achieved your goal even if it does suck or does not come out the way you wanted it to.  Not everything has to be complicated or perfect.  Enjoy the feeling of accomplishment.  

Scribble Picnic - PLUMP

Here's a hint - don't ever ask my husband to explain what he sees because it's usually what he thinks he should be seeing only he spurts it out before thinking about what he's saying.  For instance, tonight

Me - "Do you know who this is?"

Him - "You and me."

Yes, he's still alive, though I may be referring to him as Tweedledum from now on.

I combined my ICAD and our Scribble Picnic prompt again this week.  The ICAD prompt was "Greetings from" and, as in the title, Scribble Picnic is PLUMP.  So Tweedledee and Tweedledum happened to pop into my head as a good combination of both.  

Two more days of school and then I can relax a little.  I've been working later than normal this week trying to clear things up by Friday as they've moved up completion dates on things we haven't had to do before.  Just what I needed!

So Picnickers, forgive me if I don't get to you until tomorrow.  I'm fading fast here, but I do want to visit.  Scribble Picnic is just a click away.  And should anyone like to join in next week the theme is CRUNCHY.  

Mini Scrap Collages 141 -147/365

I've been using some background paper from paper packs that I bought but hardly ever used and I'm finding it a little more difficult finding scraps in my scrap box to go with them because of it.  But I will keep going.  There's always neutrals.  But be prepared to probably see some whacky color combos in the future.

Happy Father's Day