One Last Frida and More

 As the month of August ends so do some monthly challenges and for the theme of Frida at Art Journal Journey I had to create one final journal page before it ended. Thank you to Susi  and Valerie!

 You can see a WIP in this post. I started on a deli print glued to the journal page. This Frida was inspired after googling copy right free Frida images. I pencilled in the face and body shape then painted it white. The features were drawn in with a Med. Pitt pen then I used a combination of colors, paint pens, and acrylics to finish and embellish the image. Tissue paper circles were glued to the background. A dropper was used to apply Higgins Black Magic ink. Flowers were further embellished with water soluble crayons and uni-ball Signo pens. Paint markers were also used to add dots throughout the background. Linking to Art Journal Every day, Art Journal Journey, and Paint Party Friday. Edited in: thanks to a heads up from Joanna (Fiddlesnips) I am also just in the nick of time linking this to the Frida challenge at Gauche Alchemy!

 There is a new sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches:

 Here is my card:

  Products: lg. white note card (Canvas Corp); patterned card stocks (Mediterranean Café Stack- DCWV); Versafine Onyx Black ink (Tsukineko); paper flowers (Recollections, Prima); clear stamp (Sending You set-Papertrey Ink); bakers twine (We R Memory Keepers); flower sequins; rhinestone; Grand Calibur die cut machine and Floral Doily Motifs set (Spellbinders). Linking to Freshly Made Sketches.

 I also managed to get in a project for the Simon Monday Challenge Blog (theme is "witch kraft" ). I was at Hobby Lobby the other day and got these cute pennants on sale along with some Halloween stickers and a few other great buys :)

 The cardboard pennant is 2 1/2" w x 4" long- but if you cut 1/2 " off the top wouldn't these make fun ATCs?

  Products: cardboard pennant (Hobby Lobby); image (ARTchix Studio); patterned paper (the Paper Studio); Versafine Onyx Black ink (Tsukineko); hat sticker (Recollections); spiders/web stickers (the Paper Studio); orange glitter glue; orange wire; black "fun fur" yarn scrap.



  And for something completely different here's a photo of a "sunbow" my friend captured one day while we were on the beach a few weeks ago:

 Have you ever heard of these-or seen one before? This was my first time! It was difficult to capture the rainbow colors surrounding the sun but you get the idea. I believe it occurred because although we were surrounded by nearby dark ominous clouds, the sun shone directly above us. Magical in person. And because my mind is still on beach time , forgive me if I miss replying to some of you or I miss a ? you've had.

 " Creativity is an electric force that defines, shapes, and initiates new ways of being, seeing, and transforming the world."      Laine Goldman

Treat Yourself

 Really, where are these days going??? August is about over which means new themes for some of my favorite monthly challenges. However I am working on squeezing in one more Frida themed journal page for Art Journal Journey. Wasn't able to get it finished but here is the wip:

 

  

 You'll have to come back later this week to see it completed. 

 Today is for T Stands For Tuesday with Bleubeard and Elizabeth and my "t" is "treat". Hubby and I treated ourselves to a movie Fri eve. We saw The Hundred Foot Journey with Helen Mirren. I positively LOVED this feel good movie!! So much so, that I'm going to read the book and get the movie and soundtrack when it is released:) Hubby loved it too. If you've not heard of it, the premise is that an Indian family decides to open up an Indian restaurant in the south of France-just across from a posh Michelin star French restaurant. The actors were very well cast and the whole movie flowed so well. Lots of little laughs throughout but you did have to pay attention-or at least understand a bit of a French and also Indian accent. I guess the food theme put me in the mood to cook because I made this for dinner the next night:

 this is a Cooking Light recipe- Seared Salmon with Corn and Bacon Sauté-YUM! The "T"reat was the two slices of bacon I bought and used because we don't do bacon any more. My Mom stopped by with a bunch of huge peaches - too much for us so I used a few to make a peach pie:

                                                                 another "T"reat!

 As we are still having some really lovely mornings I decided to "T"reat myself to a special breakfast to enjoy outdoors (hubby was still sleeping)

  I made myself an omelette with egg substitute, 2 Tbsp. of fresh organic salsa, and a thin slice of gruyere cheese along with my Starbucks Sumatra blend coffee. Oh what a delight savoring my breakfast while listening to the birds and seeing one of the hummingbirds join me nearby. Life is good.

 I'll be checking in on you to see what you have done to treat YOURSELF recently-you deserve it!

   " If you don't treat yourself like number one then others will treat you like number two."   Unknown

Painting Reality

 Happy almost weekend everyone! And for those of you in the summer season I hope you are enjoying the dog days of summer. I know I am. However, there's always time for some art too.

 A gelli print deli paper was glued onto the page. You can see this paper and others on my pages here. Printed copyright free images of Frida; trimmed. I added a gelli print dress to one and stencilled it with embossing paste (Dreamweaver Stencils) mixed with several gold acrylic paints. Images were outlined on the page for placement then removed so I could stencil areas of the background using a wall stencil by Momenta (purchased at AC Moore). The stencil on the dress was purchased at Hobby Lobby but I no longer have the packet with the info. Once all was dry I glued the images down and words down, smudged edges with charcoal pencil. The page was further embellished with some doodling using Signo uni-ball pens in black and red, and stickers from Mrs. Grossman's, Paper House Productions, and Frances Meyer Inc.

 Linking to these fabulous places: Art Journal Every Day; Art Journal Journey (Frida theme); Mix It Monthly (Crazy dresses theme); Mixed Media Monthly (use stencils and paste); and Paint Party Friday!

PS- Mixed Media Monthly is a new challenge blog with a new theme -and prizes - each month. Please DO check them out-the DT projects are really gorgeous!!

 Up next is a page from my Draw Your Awesome Year Journal (class info at top of sidebar):

 

 This was from a drawing lesson about using photographs of flowers and incorporating several techniques to sketch them. I painted them with my Peerless watercolors. This is the second page I did using this lesson (you can see the first page here) because I do love flowers and the techniques used to help me draw better images! I actually think I could fill a book doing just these :) However, I need to keep practicing and working on other lessons in order to grow.

 Thanks so much for stopping by, and for leaving your encouraging comments! I'll be making the rounds to visit you soon.

 Oh, if you are interested in healthy and yummy recipes check out my "Recipes" page at the top where I have links to photos and the recipes for you to copy. Generally I have been posting them in Tuesday posts.

                                    "I paint flowers so they will not die. "   Frida Kahlo

A New Art Journal,Tea, and More

  It's "T" uesday again and time to join Bleubeard and Elizabeth for "T Stands for Tuesday". You don't have to drink tea or coffee- but it's nice to share a cuppa/glass/mug of something while visiting the linked up participants:) We share art, families, books, drinks -pretty much anything your heart desires! Please consider joining in-we'd love to come visit you too and Elizabeth always has enough to share with her guests.

 I needed a new art journal so I got this Canson 7"w x 10" h. mixed media journal-a new size for me-and guess what- the perfect size for using up the deli paper prints made from the 8" x 10" gelli plate! As I've said before I am determined to use as many of my prints as I can because I am dying to make more! So I began gluing some down onto the blank pages. I enjoyed a bottle of Honest Tea green tea with a hint of honey -nice and refreshing on a really warm day.

 Here are some of the pages I covered:

 A few weeks ago I shared this collage of our cat birds and nest:

  The eggs hatched just before we went on vacation:

  And when we got home again they were already gone. So, I plucked the nest and used it to decorate the center of my bistro table:

  The Simon Monday Challenge Blog theme for this week is "anything goes" so I'm sharing this card I made recently:

 Products used: lg white note card (canvas Corp); white card stock (the Paper Studio); patterned paper (Stampington and Co.); washi tape (Recollections); clear stamp (Stampabilities); Versafine Onyx Black ink (Tsukineko); digital collage image (Paper Whimsy); paper flowers (the Paper Studio); fancy button (Dress It Up); Grand Calibur die cut machine, Labels 8 dies, Big Scalloped Circles Lg dies (Spellbinders; Stickles gold glitter glue (Ranger).

 And lastly another yummy,tasty and healthy summer side:

                                                              Grilled Zucchini Sticks     (RECIPE AT END OF POST)

 These are flavored with a chipotle blend seasoning and I loved these so much I made them twice in a week-just for myself :) Hubby did try one but he will still only eat zucchini in cake! Sorry, that will have to wait until I get tired of making these.


          "Trade your expectation for appreciation and the world changes instantly."  Tony Robbins 


                                             

                                                        Grilled Zucchini Sticks (serves 2)

 2 med sized zucchini, peeled and cut into even sized sticks     2 or 3  tsp olive oil

 1- 1/2 Tbsp chipotle seasoning         gallon size plastic bag

   Add all ingredients into the plastic bag and move around to coat the zucchini. Place on a grill plate in a single layer onto a hot grill. Turn to grill remaining sides. Note-I made the original recipe in the oven as directed the first time but much preferred  a HOT grill so they wouldn't get so soft as zucchini contains a lot of water.

                                                        

Back To Reality...

 After a really fabulous 11 days at the beach and being unplugged it actually feels good to be connecting and arting again. I'm still editing photos but you can see a few in my last post. I had every intention of getting through more of my drawing lessons from the Draw Your Awesome Life class but with good friends and perfect weather I just couldn't bring myself to do any of it. However, I'm ready now!

 I combined several challenges to create this page including Art Journal Journey-for this month's challenge of Frida kahlo; Mix It Monthly-for this month's theme of Crazy Dresses; and the Simon Monday Challenge for the theme this week "Scratched Up-embrace imperfection and get grungy". I'm also linking to Art Journal Every Day and Paint Party Friday.

 I was fortunate to get to a special exhibit showcasing Frida's art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art back in 2008. This exhibition was brought in to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of the birth of this Mexican artist (1907-1954). The art was incredible to be able to see up close and there were over 100 photos of Frida and her circle from her personal collection. Truly a memorable experience.

 For the background I layered on a thick coat of gesso with a palette knife then made marks into it. Once dry the DTP technique was used using Distress ink pads (Ranger) in assorted colors. Frida and butterfly images are from ARTchix Studio. I made the dress from a gelli print paper and stamped the pens (Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Collection-Artful Artifacts over it. Edges of image were sponged with black ink before gluing to the pg. Flowers, fabric bit and gold glitter glue(Ranger) were added to embellish. Rubber stamp (Hero Arts International Skyline) was stamped along the bottom. Quote(Stamp Camp) was stamped on white card stock and cut apart. Once glued in place I smudged charcoal pencil around the words and image for depth.

 While at the beach I did mange to watch the video for the August calendar as prompted by JoAnne Sharpe's DYAY class and get most of it finished before I got home:

 The small wings and title are all glittery but I just couldn't capture it. It's a shame because this spread looks so much better in person. The prompt was to use butterflies, fireflies and dragonflies- or any other flying things like bees- for our dates to write in. Linking this to Kate Crane's Calendar Project.

 One last challenge piece is this card:

                       I'm linking this to the Simon Wednesday challenge for the theme of "summer".

 It will be so fun catching up with you and seeing what you all have been up to lately. Please do visit these challenge blogs (some offer great prizes!), be inspired, and join in-you are welcome anytime!

                "Find ecstasy in life; the mere sense of living is joy enough."   Emily Dickenson

Beach Therapy

 

 We are home once again after an AMAZING 11 days in Fenwick Island, DE with our friends! The weather was perfect the whole time and the laughter and fun never stopped. And for the first time we went on a little sight seeing trip to nearby Berlin, MD one day- a charming and quaint Victorian town. Once I get pics organized and edited I'll share the town where Runaway Bride and Tuck Everlasting was filmed.

 I have missed you all but I kept my promise to myself to disconnect from the phone and PC (outside of deleting emails each AM, and watching my online calendar lesson for Aug.-the only art I did!) so I have LOTS of catching up to do.

 

 Each year for our big beach trip I like to make a little something for the girls. This year I made fabric starfish using summery batik fabrics. These were inspired by my friend Becky Shander and her article and projects "Stars of the Ocean" in Sew Somerset Summer 2014, pgs. 82-85.

 We only ate out one night (everyone took turns making the meals) but I just have to share part of our dining experience in Bethany Beach, DE at Sedona restaurant because it was an unforgettable dinner:

 This was only some of all we had including salads and bread. The menu changes a bit so unfortunately I cannot make you drool with the descriptions of these dishes. Hubby proclaimed we were having food o's!

 This was our lobster night - a tradition Trina has had in her family for many summers at the beach- and we have taken it on now:)

 We began on the deck with champagne (what else do you have with lobsters?) and corn on the cob while Lobster Queen Trina prepared the main course (A few yrs ago I made the crown she is wearing-complete with a moving lobster toy. Lynne was also given a crown for her expertise in cracking and dismantling lobsters :) Our wonderful friends and beach house hosts Lynne and Chad are in the bottom rt. photo. I am joining back in with Bleubeard and Elizabeth for T Stands for Tuesday!

 One more art project:

  Had to take some time away from cleaning, laundry and errands to make a bit of art for several challenges including  Mixed Media Mojo (tags); Mixed Media Monthly (stencils and paste); Mix It Monthly (crazy dresses) and Simon Monday Challenge Blog (scratched up-embrace imperfection and get grungy). Would love for you to play along!

 The tag was first stencil embossed using a word stencil (The Crafters Workshop) and coarse pumice gel (Golden). Several ink sprays were used after the tag was completely dry. Edges of collage images, words (ARTchix Studio) and tag were sponged with Black Soot Distress ink (Ranger). Image was embellished with Gold Stickles glitter glue (Ranger). Paint dots added with black paint marker(Deco Color Marvy Uchida). White dots added with white gel pen (uni-ball Signo). Foam tape was used to adhere words and image. Asst. fibers from my stash.

  Looking forward to catching up with everyone!

              "By the deep sea, and music in its roar: I love not man the less, but Nature more."