Home Sweet Home

I am flying home today. I will be away from my blog for the next eight days. My goal is to have lots of new, quirky things to share with you, upon my return. I hope everyone has a wonderful week and a joyous holiday.

Vacation!

I was more than ready for a vacation. It officially began today:) I am literally saying, "Thank-you, Thank-you, Thank-you". Tomorrow I will be singing the tune, "Home Sweet Home".

Wish Friday

I think Friday has strangely become, Wish Day, for me. I noticed last Friday I was wishing for wings. Today, I wish for creativity. What's your wish today?

Click

If you have ever seen the movie, Click, you will know what I am talking about. If I had a remote, I would have fast-forwarded this week, mainly Monday to Friday evening. Its probably a good thing that the remote did not exist this week!

Journal Pages

This weekend I found a new artist blog that I love, Kelly Kilmer's blog, that you can access on the side of my blog. I noticed that he had created smaller page cutouts that he collaged amongst the larger journal pages. I loved that idea. I usually just rip and tear into my journal and create new openings, but I liked the idea of collaging images on the smaller pages then journaling underneath. Here is my version of the cutouts in my altered journal.

Easy, Fun Recipe

I found this Banana Pop kit by Concord Foods at the grocery store. First you open the bananas, cut in half, put a popsicle stick in the bottom (in the kit), place in freezer to freeze the bananas, once frozen - roll the bananas in chocolate (kit has an easy way to melt the chocolate, just place the bag of chocolate in hot water & its melted) & voila a fun, half-way healthy treat!

The Best Father A Girl Could Ever Ask For

To My Dad:

I wish we were together today, but I hope you know that I love you with all my heart. I often forget to tell you how grateful I am to have been raised by a father like you. A loving, nurturing, kind, healthy father is a rare treasure. I thank-you for being all these things!! I love you. Hope you have a Wonderful Father's Day - from your daughter.

Relief

It feels so good after a long, stressful week to just have time to putt around the art room. Loving Saturday!

My Wish Today

My wish today is for this day to fly by and the weekend to begin. What's your wish today?

Hidden in the Sand

The tip of the bottle was gleaming in the sunlight and just so happened to capture my attention. I loved how this was hidden away and probably gone unnoticed by others.

Happy

We actually have two dogs. This dog embodies the meaning of happy. As soon as you say her name or even walk by her, she is wagging her tail and flopping on her back waiting to have her belly pet. We found her at a farmer's market, the animal shelter had a few dogs present hoping for adoptions. She had been at the shelter 2 months with no adoption. My daughter immediately fell for her. I can't imagine anyone giving her up, much less passing her by at the shelter. She is our gem from the desert.

Traveling Art

My husband and I were driving home and came to an abrupt halt to wait for the train. My husband sighed deeply, irritated by having to wait for the passing train. I immediately dug in my purse for my camera to snap pictures of the graffiti. My husband made a comment that it was "traveling art". I loved that thought. We had a front row seat, at no cost, to observe some traveling art.

Think Monday . . . Think ATC

It felt great to actually complete the ATC challenge on a Monday:) The theme for today's TMTA was summer's solstice (I thought the theme was sun, oops hopefully this still works). I painted the background and used the end of my foam paint brush to make the yellow circles. Then I altered the sun sticker (sticker set by K & C Co.) with paint, markers, and stickles glitter glue (Tim Holtz product). After the paint was dry, I added the stars rub-on images (from 7 Gypsies element sheet) & Voila, a Sun themed ATC for TMTA.

Homemade Pasta

I planned to make my traditional tuna casserole. My husband and I went to the grocery store to buy the ingredients. I wasn't able to find linguine noodles, so my husband suggested that we make our own pasta. I didn't know if this was a good idea and reluctantly agreed. I found an easy, step-by-step recipe for homemade pasta on about.com. The noodles turned out really good, tasty. The tuna casserole was better than ever. If you are looking for something different to eat tonight or a fun activity with the kids, I recommend making your own pasta noodles.

Today

Fun in the Sun & Sprinklers . . . Loving Saturday!

Pink

I took this picture from my car. I loved this pig bumper sticker, cute and unique huh?

Beauty

"Nature often holds up a mirror so we can see more clearly the ongoing processes of growth, renewal, and transformation in our lives" author unknown

New Author Found

I have never read a book by Jodi Picoult prior to now. I have heard of her before, but just never picked up one of her books. When I saw the preview to the movie, My Sister's Keeper, I knew that I had to read this book. I was in tears during the preview.

At the bookstore, the cashier said, "This is a great book and next you need to buy her book, The Pact". I told her that I couldn't wait for the movie (out this month) and she said that she refuses to see the movie because it would ruin the book. I have to say the book is great and I am going to see the movie and buy more Jodi Picoult's books.

Magical

This ATC is for Think Monday. . .Think ATC. I planned to complete this ATC yesterday, but I was just too tired to think of something magical. I love the theme, just proved to be more difficult than I expected. Think about it, what is magical?

Well, this is the conclusion that I came up with today. A fairy holding a bag of wishes and you get to make one wish. What would your wish be today? This is my wish for today: To be standing barefoot in the sand beside the deep, blue ocean with no time constraints. I can already smell the salt air (ahh, thank goodness for an imagination since my feet are firmly planted in the desert).

This ATC was created with 7 gypsies clock image, artchix studio gypsy image, chatterbox inc. paper in the right hand bottom corner, and a wing stamp (one of my favorites) by inkadinkado company.

Waterfall Found

Hours were spent driving, hiking, analyzing maps all to find this waterfall. Actually the hike posted on Saturday was part of this journey. We were hiking a trail, thinking it would lead to the waterfall. We actually ran into some 4 wheelers coming down the trail and they said, "Waterfall?" "There's no waterfall here." So we hiked back to the car (after we already drove for an hour or more trying to find the trail) to drive down the road about five minutes to find a sign that read, "WATERFALL". Here's your sign!! I think even our dog was ready to leave the lengthy trip. It may not be the grandest waterfall, but you would have thought it was by the way we reacted when we finally stumbled across it.

A Celebration

Late last night, we welcomed a dear friend home returning from Iraq. A moment I won't soon forget. I thank God for his safe return & pray for the soldiers that are still fighting for our freedom.

A Lazy Sunday

It was one lazy Sunday. I sat and read for a good part of the morning then my husband and I took a drive to another town to watch the movie, My Life in Ruins, which is a great laugh. One of the men leaving the movie said, "That was so much fun". Once you see the movie, the picture of my flowers will make sense.

Following the movie, we sat at a cafe eating lunch and drinking ice chai and coffee and just basked in the sunlight. I wish everyday could be Sunday.

A Day of Hiking

Tim Holtz Products Found!

At Michaels' Craft Store, I found loads of Tim Holtz's products. If you love the distressed/vintage look in collage, you will love his line of products. I was so happy I almost peed myself (that is my husband's saying - blame him for that line:)

"Ayuh"

From one Mainer to Another - "A-yuh" (Translation - Hello in Downeast Maine)

Smile:)

Doesn't this car just make you smile?

Discovery

It's amazing what new discoveries you can make, if you just travel down a different road. I have driven around this town numerous times and was unaware that these flower sculptures even existed. I just happened to be taking a different street today (to tell the truth, I was a little lost:) My recommendation to you is to take a different route than usual today (just carry a map with you, if your anything like me and my wonderful sense of direction!)