Another Summer-Like Day!

  Well, we were treated this past Sunday with another gorgeous, sunny, 80 F day! Got back into shorts, tee and flip flops and sat in the sun reading until I had to go in and create the joy of this day in my journal. I chose summery colors and played with stencils for this page.

 Saturday we went to La Morena in Hatboro again - an hour or so away- with our friends for dinner. It never disappoints!

     They were all decorated for Halloween. And there was SO much food at our table!

            We started with nachos and margaritas...and then came the main courses:

                              chimichangas and fajitas-oh my!
the lovely but shy waitresses:) who helped package not just our leftovers, but take out orders for friends and family:

 With food and drinks in tow I am joining  in over at Altered Book Lover for T Stands For Tuesday!

The other week I won a gift card for Altenew - an online shop for stamps, dies, inks, paper crafting supplies! I only recently discovered this site through a blog hop and was captured by their unique stamps. So of course along with the gift card I added a few more items:)

 I was practicing layering the flower and leaf stamps with different inks. And then I made this card:

  I used Distress inks for the colors and Versafine Onyx Black ink for the outlines. Can't wait to play with these flowers some more! Linking to the Simon Wednesday Challenge- anything goes.

 Another journal page:

 Dina Wakley inspired:) The words are hand carved stamps.  Linking to Paint Party Friday at the end of the week. It's a great party you can attend without leaving home- and the variety of art entries is always so inspirational-do have a look!

 Have a happy week, and see ya'll soon:)

" All art, whether it pleases us or not, helps to add color, excitement, joy, or sadness and, most often, a sense of awe to our life experience."    
                                                    Henry O. Dormann

Autumn Winds

 My apologies for not getting to many links at Paint Party Friday last week. We had a three day weekend at the beach with our friends and stayed unplugged.  Thanks to all who took the time to stop by and leave comments-I'll def. be by as many link ups as I can this week:)

   We arrived at Fenwick Island , DE  Friday
  just in time for lunch on the deck with our friends.
  It was 80 F and just gorgeous!  Luckily we did
  bring one set of  summer clothes.

               

 Along with another couple we all went to Fagers Island in nearby Ocean City , MD on the bay for dinner but unfortunately the sun set behind a horizon of clouds. Still beautiful and we all had a great time catching up!

 By the next morning the temp had dropped 30 degrees , it was cold and windy with heavy gusts of wind. The ocean looked completely different:

 but Lynne and I braved a beach walk anyway while Bill and Chad worked outdoors to close and winterize for the season. Lots of good hot coffee hit the spot,

                                  (one of the mugs I used during our stay)

along with a hearty Italian take out dinner from Mancinis-and it was fabulous!

                              (for my T Stands For Tuesday friends)

We also got to enjoy a spectacular sunset!

 Sunday before leaving we bundled up and took one more walk on the beach before heading home:

 I had several layers on under my jacket but HAD to put my feet in the water despite the cold and wind. Hubby has taken to calling me Jasmine girl because I had plucked a sprig and put it in my hair. It smelled heavenly so I just had to:) There were many seagulls and sandpipers, and we came upon lots of shells including large conch shells (some of which we brought home to edge an area by our patio).

 And now to catch up on the art part. I recently made this tag and ATC for the challenge blog  More Than Words ( Oct. mini challenge-use the word 'Boo!') which I'm entering in for the first time:

  Also linking to Moo Mania and More (theme is Halloween Party).

 For Art Journal Journey (Indian summer/golden October-autumn theme) , the Simon Says Monday Challenge(autumn), and Paint Party Friday- a journal page:

 The page began with a deli paper Gelli Plate print onto which I added more stenciling. I then painted the tree and added the printed words, outlining them with charcoal pencil.

 Looking forward to catching up with you throughout this week and weekend. Have a great week!

" All seasons are beautiful for the person who carries happiness within."  
                                                             Horace Friess

                          
                                                                                         

Simply iRESISTible

 Wow another week has flown by and I am very happy to report all has gotten fixed since my last post. The new furnace is a dream but we actually don't need it on at the moment as we are having our true Indian Summer with highs in the upper 70's and -get this-80's F tomorrow!!! Yippee!

 First a bit about the alpacas I shared last week. I have since learned that they will only spit either when they feel threatened or want to show their dominance. An easy way to tell if you need to beware is if they have their ears down/back. Wish I had known sooner:) Looking back at the photos it was very evident which one was going to be a problem:)

 For my T Stands For Tuesday peeps:

 This is a 5" x 5" calendar that came along with the large one I got at the Dollar Store. Perfect to have by my computer. Already starting to fill some things in for 2017:)

 Had some time to play and make a mess in my art room yesterday...

 I made some gesso resist backgrounds for cards. A favorite technique of mine and perfect for the Simon Wednesday Challenge this week which is "Totally Resistible".

 Here are a few of my finished cards:

 I used too many stamps (old ones too) to mention as well as lots of Distress inks. Tags, stickers and embellishments are Recollections. You can see more cards along with a tutorial about the technique in this post. 

 And for Art Journal Journey (theme is Indian Summer/Golden October/ Autumn); Moo Mania and More! (theme is drips and splatters); and later this week Paint Party Friday I have this journal page to share:

 Definitely inspired by Dina Wakley:) The large leaf stencil in the background is Balzer Designs from The Crafters Workshop.

 Thanks for stopping by-see you soon! Leaving you with the quote I wrote on the silhouette:

         " The most beautiful thing you can wear is confidence."    Blake Lively

Reconnected-Properly-YAY!

 Hello lovelies! What a week it was. It began with internet troubles big time. The plumber (also a friend) came to replace some pipes in the main bathroom as hubby is renovating and redoing the flooring. OLD house= OLD pipes= more work than anticipated. OK. Let's get this done right. (Hubby at work below)

 Next day had someone come in for annual furnace maintenance - to find out  we CANNOT run the furnace  because of cracks leaking carbon monoxide! Yup, need a new gas furnace ASAP. It IS over 30 years old so it's not too big a surprise, but...cha ching $$! We are expecting our first frost and still need to schedule installation now that we've chosen the furnace. I'm cold already.
 So, we can use the shower in our main bath even though everything else is torn apart. And we can use the toilet and sink in the half bath. Until I went to flush the toilet and heard leaking in the tank-WHAT??? I am NOT about to resort to using a bucket to go in. Thankfully hubby knew what it was and repaired a seal in the tank making it good again. He's definitely a keeper:)
 Finally got through to Verizon and within one day we were sent a new router at no charge. Set it up and all is well now with internet connection:) Other minor issues came up the remainder of last week so hubby and I said out loud "OK, we surrender." Just wondering what the universe was trying to tell us.... Enough of all that though, let's have some fun here!

 A few more Cape May photos:

 First stop after settling in we went for lunch at this very well known establishment - a place where most everyone goes to experience. All the years we have been going to CM and we never ate there thinking it was a typical tourist trap. We LOVED it!! Yes a bit pricey but we had so much GOOD food and we got two meals out of it. Definitely worth it all around.

 One of the more unusual things we did was visit an alpaca farm-which we just stumbled upon on a drive:

 we visited the shop before wandering over to the alpacas. Glad I did because the owner was very knowledgeable and even gave me carrots to feed them:) Some of the wares :

Meet the alpacas:

These were all females. This particular one was very pushy. And after I gave her a carrot -she spit at me-hmph!! Hubby was hysterical because it's the first time any animal didn't love me as I love them. And yes I was a bit shocked! The others were all SO very sweet though:

Photos courtesy of hubby. I could have stayed all day! As it is I ran out of carrots before visiting the males.

 Now for some art, and if you're still with me thank you!!

      Got out my stash of Halloween supplies again and made some ATCS.
If anyone wants one let me know-but just USA addresses this time. Let me know if you have a preference -first come first served.

 Along with an autumn inspired journal page:

  Background is a napkin. I splattered it with an olive green ink and white ink. Image is from Paper Whimsy which was trimmed with a round punch and glued to a paper doily.

Joining the following places with this post. Please do stop in and would love to see you link something up too!  Art Journal Journey ( theme is Indian Summer/Golden October/Autumn); Moo Mania (theme is drips and splatters); Paint Party Friday; Simon Wednesday Challenge (Halloween Inspiration Board); Try It On Tuesday (theme is scary and spooky); and T Stands For Tuesday.

" Be loyal to what you love, be true to the earth, fight your enemies with passion and laughter."
                                                    Edward Abbey

Attempting To Stay Connected

 If I haven't been visiting, or posting, or answering emails it is because we are now having MAJOR problems with internet. I may or may not get to complete this post and publish it. And I may not be able to link up anywhere but I'm giving it a go. I do hope to have it resolved in the next few days.

 Now that it's October and autumn weather has officially arrived I thought I'd start on some Halloween cards. My first card was inspired by this sketch

 Gotta love the Tim Holtz bird stamps, dies and accessories! Tag, stickers and twine from Recollections. Joining Freshly Made Sketches along with the Simon Wednesday Challenge (anything goes).

 For T Stands For Tuesday I have a few funny things to share I found in a shop during our recent trip to Cape May:

       I thought the masks (made from bamboo roots) were pretty cool!

 And here are a few fun kitchen towels I photographed:

 I found this coffee mug there too (no I didn't buy any of these items I'm showing-I was good:)

 The movie Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children is now showing. Anyone see it? Please tell me what you thought. I belonged to the Paper Whimsy forum back in the day and Gale Blair (owner of the forum and shoppe) had many clever swaps. Yes, one of them was reading this very book and creating 4" x 4" pages for a swap. This was back in 2011-2012! Each week we 'talked' about a chapter. There were 18 participants and the art was incredible but I can only share mine as I didn't get anyone's permission:

 And after revisiting the art and reading the book again I was inspired to make a journal page using my digital/paper collage piece:

Joining Paint Party Friday later this week! Missed everyone and hope to be able to visit this week. Wish me luck with internet.
Edit:  as of tonight-Fri. Oct 7 I set up new router sent by Verizon and connection seems to be improved. Time will tell if I need to upgrade speed service too...

" When you've exhausted all possibilities remember this- you haven't."   Thomas Edison