Christmas-and Snow are Coming!!!

 

 Hi Everyone! I am trying to get my holiday cards all done and in the mail. But in the end, if they don't all get out  that's OK because I know I'm not the only one, right? And now we've gotten snow today and a Nor'easter is expected to dump up to 12" of snow Wednesday into Thursday 😠!!! That means not only bad roads, but hubby will need to take my car all week and shopping and errands need to be rearranged. Guess I'll be spending time in my art room 😉

 The above photo is a crop of this page:

 And I actually did this page next to it:

and here they are side by side:

  I used lots of Dina Wakley products including paints, stencils, stamps, collage tissues, Collage Collective papers! Mark making was done with a white Posca pen, a scrap of corrugated cardboard with the ridges painted with black paint, and then of course, some spattering as well.

 For T Stands For Tuesday :

 

 I had gotten a large wall calendar at the $ Store and this 6" x 6" Tea Time calendar came with it! I think this is the third year I've gotten one of these and have reused the pages on journal pages cuz I love these photos. Cheers and happy T day!

 And  here are the last  two  journal pages from a November  6 Day, 6 Prompts Gratitude Challenge on Instagram:

 Day 5 prompt "Family":

and Day 6 "Grateful":

As you can obviously see, I have been highly under the influence of Dina lately😁😂 

Joining in at Art Journal Journey and Paint Party Friday. I'll definitely be around to visit this week and weekend but not sure about the following. I may end up taking a break until the new year.

And so, I will say now that I wish you all a joyous holiday season however and whatever you celebrate! And may the new year bring some normalcy in all our lives with the disappearance of Covid. XO

“Christmas is not just a time for festivity and merry making. It is more than that. It is a time for the contemplation of eternal things. The Christmas spirit is a spirit of giving and forgiving.” J. C. Penney

It's Looking Like Christmas!

 

 How is everyone? Are you all decorating and getting cards done? This is the earliest I have ever had the decorating done-it took me three days (it gets dark so early and I can't do it without the daylight) but it's always worth it! 

 I pretty much keep everything the same year after year. Here are a few more pics:

                           This is on the kitchen table. And above it is a shelf:

 I have a very eclectic mix of new, vintage, and handmade sprinkled throughout the house. That Santa hanging on the first knob is a hand painted starfish from an uncle of our BFFS. He's been gone quite a number of years but we treasure all the things he gifted us with over the years.

Moving into the den area:

  One of the two corner cabinets hubby built. And next to it is this very old small table hubby refinished:

      I got the snow globes years ago from Macys. Hubby made the clock, and I made the tree. I made lots of those trees in different themes and colors and gave them as gifts over the years. And this is my handmade ornaments tree that holds ornaments from swaps and exchanges past years. I cherish this tree which sits on a vintage small roll top desk!:

The main tree is in the next (sitting)room:

and then into the front living room:

     My main Santa collection

 And the nutcrackers:

 They sit on a beautiful antique cabinet we bought from a neighbor up the street some years ago when they were having  a yard sale and we got it SO cheap:):) Our front door is to the left, and on the right you can get a glimpse of the way I decorate the windows with garlands. There are other tables and decorations but I won't overload this post with pics of everything else😉

 Time to have dinner and a drink to link with T Stands For Tuesday:

 

 I had been dying to try this vegan Irish stew for quite awhile and finally made it. It is my "almost vegan" Irish stew because I did not have vegan stout - only a regular dark stout to put in the stew. It was absolutely delicious and a hit with not only my hubby but also our son and DIL! And the warm garlic bread and Cabernet Sauvignon and/or water choices went perfectly with it. I also introduced a new to them vegetable- parsnips😁 Cheers!

 For Tag Tuesday (Christmas or Anything Goes), and Try It On Tuesday (Sparkly Christmas) I made this:

 I used a wood veneer tag (I got a bunch of these freebie sample tags from Home Depot) and decoupaged a napkin onto it. The German scrap is vintage- a small box of a variety of designs I got at a flea market. It has a beautiful gold shimmer which I had a difficult time capturing. The felt die cut angel, dimensional peace sticker are from Michael's, and the hand died ribbon came from an online shop no longer in business.

And for Art Journal Journey(The Meaning Of/Anything Goes) with guest host Tracey this month, the Simon Says Monday Blog Challenge (favorite technique), and Paint Party Friday:

  A mixed media page with lots of layers!! I love using many products to build up layers and get messy! I used Dina Wakley paints in Marine, Turquoise, Evergreen, and Lime. The word stencil and Curly Frond stencil, and image are also Dina Wakley. I added some mark making with a pencil, white Posca pen, black acrylic paint, and a black Fude Ball pen. Now this represents the meaning of... play... don't you think?

 OK, now I have GOT to get going on Christmas cards if they are to arrive on time to their destinations. Have a super week ahead!

" Creativity, which is the expression of our originality, helps us stay mindful that what we bring to  the world is completely original and cannot be compared."   Brené Brown

Rolling Into December

 

 Hola! Hard to believe it is the last day of November. Since very early this morning it has been dark and raining -  sometimes very heavily with some thunder as well-and it's 62 F outside!! 

Update- we had severe thunderstorms, the temp went up to 65, and we had tornado warnings between 3 and 5PM!!! Thankfully no tornadoes occurred and as things dissipated the whole sky cast a beautiful soft pink hue through all our windows. I hope these warmer temps are an indication of our coming winter months 😊 

 Here is how I prefer to see snow and cold:

On cards!

 These are meant for the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge (Anything Goes), and the Try It On Tuesday Challenge (Winter Wonderland). I began by spritzing watered down acrylic white paint on the kraft cards. Then I went to my Christmas craft bin to pull out some images. The Snoopy is recycled from an older Christmas card and the glittery snowmen are Royal Langnickel Rub Ons. I added the ribbon from American Crafts, snowflake stickers from Nicole, embossing paste, and Tim Holtz Small Talk Occasions Stickers.

 

 For the T Stands For Tuesday link up I will share this peach cake I made the other day. I am constantly baking as my hubby has to have sweets every day-two or three times a day! If I do eat any, I will have one small piece like this and then that is it. He eats the rest unless our son and DIL come over. Good thing he is so active with exercise, weight lifting, bike riding, and running 😁 

 At the top of this post is a journal page from the Dina Wakley Blue Media Journal. The denim and burlap pages can sometimes be a challenge but so far I have been able to come up with something on occasion.

 Here are two more pages I did for an Instagram 6 day gratitude challenge with a prompt each day. I shared two of the days in my last post. Here are two more:

 The prompt for day 2 was "Friends". 

 and the prompt for day 3 was "home".

 As you can see I am plugging through the pages in the two Dina Wakley Journals I have, along with using her stamps, (the large "home" stamp however is Paperbag Studios), scribble sticks, washi tape, collage tissue, and some bits and bobs from my stash. 

That's it from me today. Once I learn of the new challenges at Art Journal Journey and Tag Tuesday I hope to jump in for next week!  Until then you can also find me joining Paint Party Friday:)

 Happy week to all!

"Every one of us has an essential contribution to make, and we can do so only by taking the risk of being uniquely our own selves."   Carol S. Pearson

Thanksgiving and Gratitude

 

 Hello friends! Hope this past week was a good one for everyone. This Thursday is Thanksgiving Day in the US - a time when many families would normally gather in big groups for  a Thanksgiving feast with turkey as the center of the meal. HOWEVER, with all the increases of Covid 19, lockdowns, etc. this will be a very different holiday. Although I will make a turkey (not my choice but hubby is given one to bring home from his work place), stuffing and pumpkin pie - that will be all. And it will not be for a group. It is what it is, right? And we all want to keep well.

 Starting with T Stands For Tuesday I am excited to share these photos:

 Did you guess what it is? 

 It's the Boston Brown Bread Muffin recipe Erika generously shared after some of our requests when she shared her photo of the muffins and raved about  the recipe on her blog last week!

I couldn't wait to make it and had all the ingredients on hand (except the rye flour but as we don't care for rye so much I substituted white flour) and I made it the lazy way baking in a 7" x 11" baking dish. It's the way I make most muffin recipes anymore unless I'm baking for guests 😁. This is so delicious and moist that hubby had the equivalent of 3 muffins in one sitting! Thank you Erika for a super recipe!

 The art part:

 This journal page on denim in the Dina Wakley Blue Media Journal is for two challenges. One is for Art Journal Journey with the theme of "Birds", and the other is a gratitude art challenge on Instagram-6 prompts, 6 days, 6 artists sharing videos. This is day 4 for the prompt "Gather". I am so grateful to be able to enjoy the gatherings of the birds at my feeders and water bath. They bring me limitless joy.

 This is another page I created for the IG challenge- the first day (Fri Nov.20), for the prompt "warmth", and I will also join the new theme at Try It On Tuesday (winter wonderland):

 Most of you know I do NOT like winter and am constantly cold so I am very grateful for warm clothing, hats and scarves!

 This is a fabric page in one of my junk journals. Another little cluster on a tiny black playing card that was part of happy mail sent to me. I added the threads and fabric scrap behind it and the washi tape heart on top. I actually did a bit of hand stitching with red embroidery thread too:).

Sharing this post with Paint Party Friday as usual😊

 So grateful for all my friends near and far.  Happy Thanksgiving to those celebrating. Enjoy, and keep well!

" Wear gratitude like a cloak, and it will feed every corner of your life."   Rumi

Thankful

 

 Another busy week for me- how about you? Finished clean up of outside things and then since hubby was off Friday we decided to do some thorough cleaning and polishing of wood furniture along with the much needed cleaning of a few downstairs windows. Feels good to have gotten it all done even though I would have preferred being in the art room😁

On Sunday (thankfully AFTER dinner was done!) we lost power due to a crazy windy storm that brought down power lines and trees. Glad we keep candles and flashlights of various sizes in working order. We finally got our power back around 5AM this morning. Thankfully it wasn't a cold day and night so we didn't suffer without the heat. 

 Speaking of grateful, I am also so very grateful that we were able to have our son's wedding festivities last month because now again Covid 19 has reared its nasty head with a vengeance! That means restrictions are heavily increasing most everywhere and who knows if it could lead to a lockdown here😖

 And that segs me into T Stands For Tuesday with two photos of the amazing food we had at the wedding  rehearsal dinner. I worked with the manager at Prime Steakhouse to choose the menu and such. We also had a private room and area. Everyone that worked there was so nice and accommodating, and everything was consistently being cleaned and sanitized. And the food- divine!! So much so that everyone ate everything served and all said how good everything was which made us happy to have chosen this place.

There was a chicken, vegetarian, and steak choice. I had the Chicken Gratella with blue cheese and a balsamic reduction along with roasted potatoes on the side. We were all served salads as well as fresh rolls, veggies, and desserts but these were the only pics I thought to take.

                   And this was the pasta primavera meal.

Cheers to the Tuesday gang!

 At the top of my post are side by side pages I did in a junk journal gifted to me by Patty S. Here is another page I just did in the journal:

 The little collage cluster on the black card was one of a handful of bits also gifted to me- by a lovely lady from across the pond I met on IG. I added some recycled dryer sheet under it and glued on the black threads that were sitting on my desk.

And here are two pages from a second junk journal gifted to me because of another lovely IG connection:

 The flower was a practice painting I had done using Dina Wakley Gloss sprays.

 And on this fabric page I used a scrap of handmade paper along with a clip art image. I am so thankful for the community of people I have never met in person but have connected with through blogging or social media!

 Finally, a simple journal page which is meant for  Try It On Tuesday (Traditional Christmas Colors), The Simon Says Monday Blog Challenge (Happy Holidays), and Art Journal Journey (Birds):

 

 Products: manila tag; Dina Wakley Black media Journal; large sentiment and patterned cardstock from old Basic Gray papers; washi tapes (Recollections); Tim Holtz Seasonal Chit Chat Stickers; glittery foam snowflake (Nicole); the snowman image was recycled from an old Christmas card.

 Linking with Paint Party Friday as well. I'll be around to visit throughout the week. Keep well! XO

" He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has."               Epictetus

 

Wedding(Part2) and Art

 

 Hi Peeps! Hope this week finds you all well. We have been experiencing the most gorgeous, warm (65-76 F degrees) and sunny days since last Wednesday and I am in heaven!! We still have Swiss Chard in the garden, and my hanging baskets and pots of geraniums are still blooming and quite beautiful😀 This is truly our Indian Summer!

 Before heading to more wedding photos I'll share this tag on a burlap journal page meant for Tag Tuesday for the theme of "texture":

My cluster tag inspiration is from both Dina Wakley and Megan Whisner Quinlan- both of whom have been sharing lots of art and videos on Instagram. I did lots of stamping and painting of images in the evenings and then cutting them while enjoying the sunshine outside in the afternoons. I also layed down lines of washi tapes on thin papers to collage with. You can see here what I did:

                  Lots of fussy cutting!

 Now for some more wedding photos- these are from the reception at the barn house at Barn Swallow Farm:

           The sweetheart table for the bride and groom.

 This table was on the left walking in and it held personalized lidded mason jars for each of the guests.

   Across from the table above was this decorated table with personal photos strung up.

The venue was filled with twinkling lights from floor to ceiling and it was just stunning!

Besides this hors d'oeuvres table there were hot hors d'oeuvres being served. Sadly I did not try one thing as Bill and I were busy greeting people before dinner.

                         The cake table setting.

This is the laser cut wood piece Kyra ordered from Etsy. It came from someone in Europe!

The cake was made to look like birch tree logs as they have a love of camping and visiting state parks. It was a deep dark chocolate and SO good! (No, there was NO smooshing of cake in the faces😉)

 And that's all we have for now. Hope I didn't bore you too much. I will join T Stands For Tuesday with this segment of pics- (the yet empty mason jar drinking glasses in the second pic, and I'm sure you'll find glimpses of glasses in other photos as well). Cheers!

 This last journal page is for Art Journal Journey (theme is birds), and Paint Party Friday:

 I started with the Collage Collective bird collage clipping. I then extended paint, drips, words and text paper pieces over and around the clip art to blend it better onto the page. 

 Enjoy your week everyone. Til next time...

" And I'm taking in the Indian summer. I'm soaking it up in my mind. And I'm pretending like it's paradise".       Van Morrison