A Surprise Weekend!

  I want to thank those of you who left comments on this past week's post and for the anniversary wishes. I never had the chance to respond or visit anyone BECAUSE MY HUBBY TOTALLY SURPRISED ME WITH  A 4 DAY ANNIVERSARY GET AWAY HERE :

  It truly was the surprise of a lifetime because Bill doesn't do these things-at least up until now! He hand made a framed card which he presented to me last Fri AM once I got up. I was laughing at him because he was giving me a card a day early and I was preparing for the morning grocery shopping. He had me turn over the card and that's where it said what he had planned and that I needed to get packing. Guess who was laughing now:) I was so beside myself I don't know how I managed to get myself and bags together. He arranged for our son Todd to stay at the house and dog sit knowing I'd be worried about Annie.

   Cape May- a quaint Victorian seaside town full of "Painted Ladies" filled with vintage furnishings. As you come into the main street of town you suddenly feel like you're really in another era. We were sitting at an outdoor restaurant for a late lunch and I sat there still not believing what was transpiring and where I was and what he had done. I'll share a few pics once I have them all together and edited. It was a gorgeous, warm and sunny four days in a place we used to call our second home because we went  so often. The last time we were there though was 12 yrs ago (when we got our Annie). Thank you Bill for a very special 30th anniversay. XO

  Here's the card I made for him:

  Products: 5 x 7" white card, printed papers from Valentines Scrap Pack (Canvas Corp), Vintage Photo and Black Soot Distress inks (Ranger), alphabet/number sets (PSX).

  I returned home to find this lovely pkg. from Aimee who hosts  "Glue It Tuesdays" on her blog Artsyville :

 and inside was a wonderful, vibrant assortment of washi tapes!! I had won a set as part of Aimee's generous giveaways of her new tapes presented in lots of creative ways thru a blog hop:

 I had a bit of time to play around with the tapes the other day:

          Here I put strips of the tapes on cardstock then used a variety of punches for some fun bits.

 For this tag I simply decorated a formica chip sample ( the kind you get free at a home improvement store).

 

                                                          A quick and easy greeting card.

 And here are two patterned note cards I simply added a bit of washi for some added pizazz:

 Thanks so much Aimee; I love these tapes! If you wish to purchase them you can find them at Aimee's shop.


 Lastly is a canvas I made last week again using techniques from the Wabi-Sabi Art Workshop book by Serena Barton (chapters one and three) and another Keith Harkin song- "Take It Away Boys".

 The canvas board was prepped by using both a palette knife and a sea sponge to apply a thick coat of Golden Light Molding Paste, creating a rough base for the scene:

  WIP:

  A coat of My Studio Vanilla was painted on the dried surface. Americana Pineapple acrylic was added on the upper third. Some of it was wiped back with a paper towel. Several drops of Adirondack Butterscotch reinker was added and brushed over the lower area. I wrote some of the lyrics in pencil.

The Open Road   (5" x 7")

  Adirondack alcohol inks in Stream, Citrus, and Watermelon were dropped and blotted to form the trees. I mixed my own concoction of reinker glaze using a drop of Adirondack Watermelon, Burnt Orange and Ranger Distress Tea Dye along with Golden Acrylic Glazing Liquid and lightly brushed it in areas and wiped away. The edges of the canvas were sponged with Distress Tea Dye ink.

 This will be another busy weekend as the Celtic Classic festival will be in town for three days. Woohoo!!! This is one big party I never miss! I will be filling up on all things Celtic-food, Guinness, jewelry, clothing, gift items, Highland games, Border Collie events, Parade of Tartans, bagpipe competition, fiddle competition, a haggis eating contest(yuck!),  Irish dancing and of course lots of Celtic bands and music! Believe it or not this is a free event-you only pay for the food and drink :) We're expecting perfect weather too. And, it's walking distance from our home :)

  Of course, in between I will be visiting blogs linked up to these challenges : Paint Party Friday, Simon Says Wednesday Challenge (who's theme this week is "anything goes"), Show and Tell Saturday, Creative Every Day, Mandarin Orange Monday, Glue It Tuesday. Happy weekend!

“The moments of happiness we enjoy take us by surprise. It is not that we seize them, but that they seize us.”
                                                                                         Ashley Montagu