It's Been Awhile!

 

 How is everyone? Haven't posted in awhile because hubby and I finally got to the beach - Cape May, NJ for about a week😁 We stayed at our usual place and this was our view from the third floor. The weather was gorgeous- sunny and warm throughout our stay. We enjoyed daily walks on the beach and I'd sit and relax while hubby would go for a run. We also spent time poolside but only my feet dangled a few minutes in both the pool and ocean water because both were very cold yet!

 Hubby and I took time to drive across town to Cape May Point to see the lighthouse and walk through the lovely state park there:

 

 There were many "birders" along with families enjoying the beautiful grounds. I was happy to see an abundance of white swans in the lakes.

 Back on the beach near our motel we saw two birders with their expensive cameras quite fascinated by something near the water's edge so we went over to have a look ourselves once they moved on and this is what we saw:

We had never seen anything like it! There were two of them- both had their legs tagged, and we found out they are American Oystercatchers. Very cool!

 And for the peeps at T Stands For Tuesday I'll share the dinner we had our first evening in Cape May. We went to a favorite place - Hemingway's:

   We split a Caesar salad (truly one of THE best!) which came with fresh warm bread. Our drink choices were both water and J Lohr cabernet sauvignon. And we both also chose the same entrees:

 

 Perfectly prepared crab cakes (no fillers) with a red pepper sauce, green beans and risotto. Delicious.

Cheers to the T gang-I'm really looking forward to catching up with everyone again!

 In my last post I shared pics of the growing nest of eggs in my geranium hanging plant. Before we left for vacation:

 I was half afraid to look when we got back, but there was nothing to worry about:

 Five baby finches! I don't know whatever happened to the sixth (cowbird egg). And then just the other day this was the last pic I got as they all had flown from the nest just hours later:

 What a joy to see.

Now for the art part! This is the card I made for my Mom for Mother's day and I will share it with the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge (use dies and/or punches);

 White notecard, envie and cardstock (Recollections); Versafine Onyx Black ink; assorted alcohol markers; sentiment (Papertrey Ink); Mandy's Flowers stamp and die sets, enamel heart stickers (Simon Says Stamp shop); Stickles glitter glue (Ranger).

 While away I took a break from social media, my phone, and even art making but I did manage a few journal pages before I went and since I've returned. I will share these pages with Art Journal Journey (language), and Paint Party Friday:

 Aah, the language of flowers... Pages done in the Dina Wakley kraft journal. I used her paints, stencils, Gloss sprays, Collage Collective, chipboard flower, and stamps. Doodling and spatters done with Posca pens. Asemic writing done with a black Fude Ball pen.

And one more spread in the same journal:

 The language of friendship 😂

 Dina Wakley paints, collage words tissue paper; Tim Holtz Paper Dolls, Snarky Small Talk stickers, Chit Chat stickers; Fude Ball pen; Stabilo All pencil, white Posca pen.

Thanks for popping in. Happy to be visiting you all again!

"Stay Alert, and doors will open. You can never know when and where a magic door will open for you,
so pay attention, stay watchful, and never give up hope."    Jonathan Lockwood Huie

T Stands For Lehigh Valley TRASH Pact

 

 

 I'm going to begin today's post with a few photos from the other Saturday when we not only cleaned up trash from a local park but we helped our daughter in love Kyra celebrate the first year since the inception of Lehigh Valley Trash Pact, a volunteer organization formed and created by Kyra. I have a bit about it along with links here in this post.

 These photos are courtesy of our friend Lynn. Her photography business website: Lynn Ashley Photo LLC 

                                       Bill and I doing our part

                              Kyra's sister Paige with her dog Doug helping out

                                Kyra made sure there were plenty of gloves, trash bags and more available to anyone that came to help:

 I took this shot of Kyra with Todd on the left and her grandmother on the right. Kyra provided snacks as well as water and coffee (on the right side of the table - my ticket for T Stands For Tuesday 😁!) Our friend Lynn designed the logo for the organization and  merchandise being sold. Oh, and besides everything else, Kyra supplied every volunteer with a printed T shirt! She truly has her heart and soul in this 💚 There were a large number of volunteers of all ages that came to support the organization and park clean up. It was a great time had by all! One more photo (courtesy of Todd):

 And now on to the art!

First up is a junk journal page for the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge (theme is "Feminine"):

 The postage stamps are recycled from an envelope. Botanical collage tissue and sentiment sticker are Tim Holtz. The bee is from a napkin.

 For Art Journal Journey (theme this month is "Language" with guest host Elle) and for Try It On Tuesday (theme is "Inspired By a Song"):

aaah, the language of love!  The song 'Love Hurts' by Nazareth was the inspiration for my page. You can have a listen here:

 For the page I used a Dina Wakley Faces Collage Paper, Scribble Sticks, and her  Block Alphas stamp set. I added some extra scribbles with a black Fude Ball pen, and for the dimensional teardrop I used Paper Glaze.

 This page was done on one of the dark denim pages in the Dina Wakley Blue Edition Media Journal:

Dina Wakley stencils, stamps, and Collage paper - Words. Joining Paint Party Friday!

Have a wonderful week- and a beautiful and happy Mother's Day Sunday here in the US 💐

•  “By being yourself, you put something wonderful in the world that was not there before.”                  Edwin Elliot