"Wish Friday"

My wish for this Friday is to worry less and embrace peace more.

A White Rainbow

The white rainbow is real. The photo has been altered, but that white rainbow really existed. It was an amazing, beautiful sight over the Atlantic Ocean.

Random

I couldn't help, but to snap a photo of this license plate. I thought it was so befitting of a red, top-down jeep. WAY FUN!

My Antique Bird House

I love finding quirky items that I can use in my art room. I fell in love with this bird house at an antique shop, but I didn't buy it immediately. I just couldn't imagine what I would do with it. So I left the shop, only to return a week later when I thought of a purpose for it. It has become a storage place for all my pieces of fabric, ribbon, and twine. It's one of my favorite things on my art desk, so glad that I found a function for this little antique, bird house.

Think Monday . . . Think ATC

The theme for today's TMTA challenge was Queen or King. Here's my Queen ATC!

Directions/Credits: I first painted the background brown and glued textured paper over half of it. Then I used Tim Holtz' s distress ink pad over the textured paper. Then I glued the images of the castle and the woman (from artchix studio collage sheets) to the background (I ripped up some of the glued paper and placed over the woman. Then, I altered Tim Holtz' s grunge board designs (crown and design below the woman)with paint and gold embossing powder. I glued the designs to the page. I finished with covering the castle with paint and stamping the words far and away (stamp by 7 gypsies) on the bottom.

Journal Page

I love spending the day in the art room.

Instructions/Credits: I painted the background with gesso, glued tissue paper over the dried gesso, then painted over the tissue paper with yellow and blue acrylic paint. I altered the photo in Adobe Photoshop, glued to the page, and altered further with paints and pencils. Then, I stamped the clock image (stamp by Stampin Up) in two different places. On the opposite page, I used Tim Holtz' s masks and painted black over them and wrote the word choices on top with a white pen. To finalize the page, I cut and glued a purse strap to both pages.

Sweet Aromas

Today, my husband and I decided to create a gourmet meal (an attempt anyways). We went through our cookbooks and chose three new recipes (i.e. main meal, side dish, & dessert) from our Food Network cookbooks. We also included one of our all-time favorite foods, sweet potato fries with kosher salt, yum. Then, we made our shopping list and went off to the grocery store together. Upon returning home, we created a tasty meal! If your looking for something different to do on your date night, I highly recommend making the day out of cooking together. Loads of fun:)

"Wish Friday"

My wish this Friday is a little superficial. I figure I can have at least one superficial one, right? My wish is to eat everything that I desire without gaining one pound. It would be so nice to sit down for a meal (or late night snack) and not think about calories, whether my jeans will fit come Saturday, or needing extra time on the treadmill. Just think, eating without guilt or worry:) What's your wish this Friday? Do you have any secret superficial wishes? Mine's not so secret now:)

Photo altered at www.befunky.com.

One of my Favorites

I read art magazines frequently. I always love the section where the artist identifies their favorite art supplies/tools. My favorite art supply, hands down, is UHU glue sticks. This glue is the best for collages. I went through numerous glue mishaps (i.e. wrinkled pages, pages that stuck together & ripped, etc.) until I found the UHU sticks. I fell in love with this glue. I buy at least one stick every time I enter a craft supply store (i.e. Hobby Lobby, etc). I like the large glue sticks with the purple cap, the glue slides on purple to aid in seeing coverage of area and dries clear. In my opinion, best glue ever. Give it a try. What's your favorite art supply?

Sunflower dumpsters

Art found in strange places . . .

Blog in Print

I wanted to have my blog in print, so I first tried printing it page by page. This did not work, take my word for it. So I researched on the web, how to print my blog. This is what I found, a website, http://blogger.sharedbook.com, where you can create your own blog book that is mailed within weeks to you. The first step is to input a blog web address for print. I surprised my Mom for her birthday with her blog in a book, created from the website. Check it out - easy, inexpensive, and a keepsake for you & for those that you gift.

Think Monday . . . Think ATC

The TMTA theme for today is the moon. This is my moon themed ATC . . . sweet dreams!

Directions/Credits: I started by painting the background with blue and gold paint then added a strip of brown paper with decorative edge, then glued 7 gypsies transparency image with Uhu glue. Then, I altered a moon (cut out from a collage sheet/image) with clear embossed powder and markers and glued over the transparency. Then, I wrote the words "sweet dreams" with a white paint marker, which didn't work well on the tan surface, so I wrote over the words with a black fine-point marker. Lastly, I glued a circle image of an angel from artchix studio collage sheet and placed distress stickles (by Tim Holtz) over the image and around the surrounding area.

Harry Potter Movie #6

I went to see the movie, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, last night. My daughter and I read every one of the books. Reading the books together are memories that I will cherish forever. If you loved this book, you will love the movie. Its more about the characters and the transition into the 7th book/movie.

Sky

"There is one spectacle grander than the sea, that is the sky; there is one spectacle grander than the sky, that is the interior of the soul." by Victor Hugo

"Wish Friday"

For this "Wish Friday", my wish is to become a better blogger:) I found this book, Blogging for Bliss, by Tara Frey at Barnes and Noble. I happened to walk by a stand of books and noticed the title & started thumbing through it. I knew immediately that I had to have it. I plan to study, study, study blogging and hopefully my wish will come true. What's your wish this Friday?

Santa Fe, New Mexico

If God is in the details, he must have smiled upon Santa Fe, New Mexico. This is one of my favorite places. Art is everywhere you look & it smells like sage & lavender. One of the locals told us that they serve pancakes on the plaza for the 4th of July & everywhere you look people are carrying and eating pancakes. The uniqueness of this tradition sums up this area. If money were no object, this is where I would reside.

Fun & Quirky

Loved the name, a mechanic creating masterpieces:)

Taos, New Mexico

first sign going into Taos (actually an ad for tshirt store)
St. Francisco de Asis Church, statue within the corridor
statue in one of the small plazas
part of the view on the ride to Taos

I fell in love with Taos. It was breathtaking. The view is amazing. The town is filled with art galleries, sculptures, and full of charm. This is one of the gems of New Mexico. If you ever take a trip to this area, its worth the drive to Taos.

TMTA - Fly

This ATC is for Think Monday. . . Think ATC. This is an ATC that I created a few years back that I swapped with someone. I kept a picture of it & thought if was befitting for today's theme, fly. The title of this ATC was "Emerging".

Completed Art Journal

It felt so good to finish my art journal. It is always a rewarding experience. I thought it would be a great way to finish with wishes for the future.

Credits: The clock is a mask by Tim Holtz and the photograph was altered on the website, www.befunky.com.

Friends Journal #2

My friend and I decided to exchange travel journals. It has been so much fun and far more personal than email. We swap every month, the first of the month. We live hours from each other and this is how we keep in touch. I highly recommend it for friends that are separated by distance. This is our second friends journal.

The cover of the journal: I bought a blank book at Barnes & Noble Bookstore. I ripped off parts of the cover and left parts of it because it was a slick surface and I could use Tim Holtz's alcohol inks on it. On the parts without the alcohol inks, I used Tim Holtz's one step crackle paint (this worked really well, very easy to use). The letters (of course) are Tim Holtz's grunge board. The photographs were altered, utilizing the website, www.befunky.com, and the blue photograph was framed by K&C mat board, die cut and 7 gypsies black/white tape, and the sticker "together" by daisyd's company. Lastly, the time stamp is from Stampin' Up! and I think that gives credit to everybody:)

Wish Friday

I almost forgot that I had decided Friday was for wishes. It's ironic how I became aware that it was "Wish Friday". I happened to be fantasizing about being able to stay at home instead of having to leave the house for another day of work and it dawned on me that today was "Wish Friday".

My wish for this Friday would be to swap lives for (let's say) 30 days with a stay-at-home mom. I'm fairly certain that a month of staying at home taking care of children would probably help me see that going to work is not necessarily a bad thing:)

Recommended Read

I picked up this book, The Lost Recipe for Happiness by Barbara O' Neal, during vacation. I recommend it, if you are interested in an easy, quick, and enjoyable read. I already have this author's next scheduled book release (found on Amazon.com) in my calendar for December of this year.

Great Discovery

If you look on the side of my blog, one of the followers has an altered photograph for their profile picture. She used the website, befunky.com. What an awesome discovery! The photo with this post is from befunky.com. There are so many options to alter photos and its easy and the best part- its free!! Go check it out and set aside lots of time because once you start, you just can't stop.

Reflections on Vacation

Here are 10 things I love about the State of Maine:

#1 Lobster

#2 the Ocean
#3 The Food (I thought this category deserved 3 pictures. These are my favorite foods in Maine. The pizza is from Finelli's in Ellsworth, the oboy-doughboy (believe the term was coined by this restaurant) in Bass Harbor, and last (but not least) strawberry tarts at Frank's Bakery in Bangor - try the blueberry and raspberry tarts, the berries are native to Maine).



#4 4th of July celebration


#5 Green, green, green (beautiful in the summer - definitely the time to visit Maine)

#6 Charming bookstores (this bookstore actually has a Scottie dog as a mascot, adorable dog - store in Ellsworth Maine)



#7 Architecture of homes and buildings


#8 Simplicity


#9 The sense or feeling of being "home".


#10 Spending time with family & friends




If you are planning a vacation, visit Maine in the summer months and enjoy:)