Thriving Art

Have you joined  The Flower Challenge?  there is still a wee bit of time for the Blue and yellow flower challenge. After all the holiday bustle I was ready to dig out some flower stamps and have a "play".   Here is the card I ended up with, and am quite pleased with it.  It took me a time to figure out the arrangement after stamping and die cutting the pieces.  I prefer to use 110 lb. card stock because it is a heavy weight, and I can use watercolor techniques on it without too much trouble. I inked the stamps, then spritzed with water, then stamped the images.....and before they were dry I die cut the pieces.  Amazing thing happened, the damp die cuts looked more like they were much thicker, as the edges seemed more bent than a very sharp cut edge......if that makes any sense???  It really doesn't show in the photo though....bummer!  Of course the cs did want to curl a little when it dried........all the more I liked it.........that...

HELLLOOOO  T-GANG,  friends and followers!!  So  Saturdays post  was all about "getting back in the saddle again" and getting back into posting regularly again.  Well, that lasted all about 24 hours.  Sunday I woke up with a head full of .........welllll, a very stuffy head and a cough to go with it.  Yea, all those vitamins and supplements only held it at bay until the holidays were over. I did A LOT of sleeping Sunday off and on and got an other good nights sleep last night, so I feel like I'm in the land of the living today. I even got dressed, put on my shoes and went out to buy some much needed groceries this afternoon. There is SO much yucky stuff going around here, and from what I have heard and read, everywhere else too. Just the season.............and lets not forget the impact of all the weather has too.  My goodness we have had some rain here........ten years of prayers are being answered this year....LOL For the ho...

WOW! It has been a few weeks since my last post, but I'm trying to get "back in the saddle again"as Mr. Gene Autry sang many times.  Gene who???  Well, that does date me more than a little...... It was also sang by Areosmith,  But, in fact, this familiar cowboy song was not created or first performed by Gene. Those credits go to  Ray Whitley  (1901-1979), another early Country Western musician and actor who was inducted into  the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame  in 1981. Now you have had a little country music and cowboy history.....LOL! Coming back to Blogland, after a holiday break, is like coming home from a vacation when your a kid........all your friends continued without you....... I don't really have anything "new", craft wise to share (I'll get to holiday festivities in an other post) I missed A Second Look on the Second this month.......due to the fact it was Mr. O's birthday.  So I was feeling nostalgic this morning and ...

Only a scant few days left in the  Art Journal Journey challenge: Light and Darkness  , so this will be my last entry for this challenge. It has been a very interesting challenge, and if you haven't been over to their blog, NOW would be a great time to go and take a look at all the interpretations of Light and Darkness.  I would give you a few examples.....................but that would spoil it!  This started as an old "mop-up" page of acrylic paint. Tinkerbell is a stamped image I just colored it all black.  The rest is a combination of just about everything on my desk...LOL!.......or maybe it was just an excuse to try out some paint pens I bought "on sale" while Christmas shopping! So Happy New Year to all the AJJ crowd, looking forward to all the great challenges you have up your sleeves for 2017!! check out the challenge HERE

Only 4- 5, depending on where you live, days left in 2016, are you ready for the new year??? It is frosty out this morning so I hope you brought along something warm to drink. I know the  T-gang  are here with their drinks in hand.  My coffee always comes with me in the mornings. I came in here to work on a journal for the new year.  It had been put together and some paint put on the pages over a month ago, then set aside as the holiday grew closer and things started to really get busy around here.  I have it set up, like a planner, with a week spreading across two pages......Monday through Sunday.  Well, the 1st of January is a Sunday hmmmmmmm! Hadn't thought about THAT! So the first day of the first month is on the first page....LOL!  Here are a few pages from my trial run. You can see the 2017 journal under it waiting for a bit more of something.  It started as just a journal, a week on each page, but I wasn't consis...

Twas the week before Christmas,  and all was set just right.  The cards were all made,  and presents taped up tight. So on the sofa I sat by the trees bright lights. Watching Christmas movies, I had taped through the nights. When what to my ears do I hear? my cell phone is ringing ever so clear. My friend is calling me, "Lets do our Christmas lunch my dear" So, the date was all set  and the time was too. But just a bottle of wine  for her wouldn't do. So off to the stores I did fly, look at the people standing in line...oh my! What does my mind remember this day? Oh shoot! I forgot Ronda's birthday. So into the cart things got loaded, checking off the things I had noted. Now everything is wrapped,  for both of these friends, but this is not where the story ends...... Now my memory is old  and starting to fade, I almost forgot  an appointment I made. To the beauty shop I needed to be for...

Well, we are off on a new week................not many left in the year 2016....scary huh? I had this 9" x 12" canvas, that I was never happy with the original work on it.  I finally  just glued some tissue paper and designer paper over the top and started again. I had added the boarders and then sat thinking "what next?" I finally set it aside, but pulled it out last week and finished it.  Still not my favorite..............but way better than it was! Last Tuesday I said I would share my decorations I put up this year.  I really wasn't in the decorating mood and seriously thought about NOT decorating this year, 95% of the time it is just DH and I here.  BUT this year our youngest son and family are coming the weekend after Christmas...New Years weekend.  So I thought I should at least put up a few things.  Now, I'm happy that I did decorate, even though I left over half still in the storage containers....LOL! The dinning room table and fi...