I'm Back!

 

 Well hello peeps! Hope everyone is doing well. Hubby and I finally made it to our last scheduled trip to Cape May (the earlier 2 had to be cancelled -you know why 😔). We weren't sure at all what to expect or how things would go as far as dining, etc. but we needed to get away no matter - and it was really wonderful, and we felt quite comfortable too! I will say we found it the most crowded we had ever seen  the center pedestrian square (which is like any town's Main Street) this time of year! People were on top of each other- in the outdoor dining places, in the stores, and in the surrounding streets. SO, we got away from it as quickly as we could, and then stayed away! After over 25 years of going to CM we didn't need to be in the center touristy area of shops and dining😉

 We also celebrated our anniversary there and were pleasantly surprised that evening we went out to a newer(to us) favorite place. More on that in another post.

 

 The water came up higher than we'd ever seen but it wasn't that cold. It was the high winds though and the cold air that was a bit challenging at times. To the left of the yellow house is the motel we stay at. They did such a super job regarding cleanliness and all the Covid rules!

 After some beach time we walked to have an early dinner at Ocean View Restaurant where we typically go for breakfast. But we have found their lunch and dinner food to be fantastic as well. And so here is my ticket back in to T Stands For Tuesday:

 Yes, we did eat indoors even though there was plenty of space outdoors. But it was windy- and I'm always cold so thankfully restaurants got approval to again allow indoor dining at 25% capacity. I had a chicken Caesar wrap which came with fries, a dill pickle and coleslaw. My drink choice- water. Hubby had coffee and a turkey club sandwich(look at all the fries on his plate- and he ate every bit!!) Of course I had to take half of my wrap with me and ate it that evening. Cheers to the gang-can't wait to catch up with everyone!

 

 And now for the art part.

 This journal page in the Dina Wakley Blue Edition Media Journal was made for the last Instagram "Year Of Gratitude" Challenge hosted by Dina and Ranger Ink. The prompt was "I am grateful for reflection". I USED to be quite a perfectionist regarding pretty much everything. I am so glad I grew out of that-because man, that was a lot of work I imposed upon myself! 

 

 Another page in the Blue Journal- this time on a burlap page. I used Dina Wakley stencils and gloss sprays on the page. I made three tags similar to this one to add to my pages. These textured tags were inspired by tags I saw on another artist's Instagram feed. I used dictionary text on the tag before adding the modeling paste, gloss sprays, and stamping. That bit of black mesh was lying on my art table so I just plopped it behind the tag. Joining in at Art Journal Journey (theme is "texture" hosted this month by Jo), Tag Tuesday(theme is "book pages"), and Try It On Tuesday (Use Your Scraps).

 I'm also getting back to Paint Party Friday later in the week.  Looking forward to seeing all you've been up to lately!

I thought this quote to be so appropriate since we are enjoying very warm, summer-like weather right now (as in 82 F as I'm typing this)- and I for one couldn't be happier about it😁

" Happily we bask in this warm September sun, which illuminates all creatures..."

                                                          Henry David Thoreau

Last Post For This Summer

 

 It is hard for me to believe that Autumn arrives next Tuesday-but I am determined to get one last bit of summer fun in before it ends😏

 Things wedding related have been taking up much of my time so not a lot of art has been getting done but that's OK by me as wedding stuff is fun too!

 Recently my future DIL's mother hosted a gathering of the bridal party girls at a local winery. We had a great time and the winery was completely on top of the Covid rules so we were very comfortable. And, it was outdoors. So here's my ticket to T Stands For Tuesday with a few pics:

                                                      me and my soon to be daughter💗

                                             me, friend Lynn(matron of honor),Laura, (mother of the bride), Kyra (the bride to be), and her sister Paige(maid of honor). Two of the girls are not pictured.

 A really wonderful cheese plate was ordered along with the wine and Laura made a large gift bag for each of us filled with a picnic lunch, game sheets , personalized drinking glasses and snacks. We had such a fun time!

                                                              Cheers!

  Two pages I did in one of my two junk journals - French on the left, German on the right using images and bits from my ephemera and vintage button stash. I believe the German word means "wishing". I'm going to join in at Try It on Tuesday as they have a new theme of "use your scraps".

 Not long ago my pkg. of new Dina Wakley products arrived from Joggles- in two days!! They were having an anniversary special so along with my order came 4 free rolls of Ranger washi tape 😄

 The only disappointment was that the new black and white text collage tissue was sold out so I got the plain tissue and...

 stamped my own collage tissues using the new stamp set and black ink!

and here the complete page of which I shared a crop of it at the top of this post:

  

  Dark denim page in the Dina Wakley Media Journal Blue Edition. Products: Dina Wakley- Collage Collective, Curly Fronds mask and stencil set, Be Willing stamp set. Other- white gesso, white Posca pen, Jet Black Archival ink.  

Happy to be joining in at Art Journal Journey (theme is "texture"), and Paint Party Friday.

 And that's all I got folks!

                    "Wine is the divine juice of September"     Voltaire

Time Flies!

 

 It's been two weeks since I last posted-yikes- and it's now September! Time certainly is flying by quickly now that more appointments are being made for my Mom. I'm pretty well caught up with mine thank goodness. Wedding plans for our son are moving along nicely but now I am busy making appts. for a dress alteration (now that I got my dress and shoes-yay!), hair and makeup trial, bridal shower happenings, and trying to see what we can arrange for a rehearsal dinner.  

 In between I am making a bit of time for art whenever I can, AND watching the Tour De France!! 

And as I have had France on my mind so much I got inspired to make a special French pastry so grab a cuppa your favorite beverage and have one of these won't you?

 

Chocolate Croissants- YUM 😋

 Cheers to the T Stands For Tuesday gang!

 Journal page:

 I created this page for the August Dina Wakley/Ranger Year of Gratitude Challenge.The prompt was "I am grateful for the kindness of strangers". Black acrylic paint; Numbers stamp from Darkroom Door; white Posca pen. Dina Wakley- media Journal, Collage Collective, Collage Tissue, washi tape, stencil, Ocean Scribble stick, Magenta paint; Archival Jet Black ink; alphabet stamp set - Inkadinkado.

 Another journal page- this one meant for the Sept. Art Journal Journey challenge "texture" chosen by guest host Jo :

 I love the texture of this heavy watercolor paper in the Dina Wakley Media Journal- Blue edition! Background was done using her new Curly Frond stencil along with a coffee stain stencil(unknown) and Aloe Gloss Spray. The photo is from a magazine. I distressed it by using sandpaper over it and a Signo white uni-ball pen to age it a bit and get rid of the gloss sheen. 

 Detail of the photo:

 I also added some stamping to the background using Heliotrope pigment ink, a text stamp(unknown), and a stamp of numbers from Darkroom Door. I had come across this beautiful quote recently and knew I had to create a page around it.

 The theme over at Try It On Tuesday is "neat and tidy" so I'll share this birthday card with that theme in mind, and also for the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge "stamp it":

 A shame you can't see the glitter on the frame on the card and on the butterflies on the card and the stamped envie😞. Patterned card stock- DCWV; ivory card stock and envelope-Canvas Corp; butterfly stamp - Magenta; sentiment stamp-unknown; Archival Jet Black ink; alcohol markers; Stickles Diamond Glitter Glue- Ranger

 Joining in at Paint Party Friday as well. Hope your September is off to a great start!

PS: my first time using the new blogger interface and I really do like it- especially that now I can add emojis using my desktop PC to post😉

" September days have the warmth of summer in their briefer hours, but in their lengthening evenings a prophetic breath of autumn."     Rowland E Robinson 

This and That

 Wow, August is almost over already...where has the summer been going? These next two weeks are going to fly by for me as most days I have some appointment to go to -just yearly appts. and check ups now that offices are open-and in addition I have several appointments to take my Mom to. So I may be a bit late getting to everyone over at T Stands For Tuesday tomorrow as the appointments begin ;)

 I posted this journal page over on IG but wanted to share it here too because I do love the way it turned out! I'll join in one last time this week at Try It On Tuesday for the theme of Words and Numbers:

Products:
Dina Wakley Media Journal, paints- Magenta, Tangerine, Elephant; stamps- Good Idea set, and Always Flowers set; Scribble Sticks- set 2; Darkroom Door stamp set- Number Medley, stencil-Circles; Jet Black Archival ink; Black Marabu Art Spray; Wendy Vecchi Brick Wall stencil; Black Fude Ball pen. Hexagon "stencil" is a cut out scrapbook cardstock I used as a stencil.

 For T Stands for Tuesday this week I will share our meals from our dinner out with friends the other week. The Limeport Inn is a lovely old restaurant with excellent food and service. We hope one day to be able to go and eat inside near the fireplace.

 Hubby and I shared a Caesar salad - and even sharing it was a huge plate full for both of us-and oh so good! Our friends shared a roasted beet, arugula, goat's cheese salad- the one I was tempted to get:) Bill had a German beer and the rest of us had Cabernet Sauvignon.

 And for something other than my usual choice of fish of some kind I chose the Chicken Marsala and it was divine with the perfectly made sauce and bites of crab, mushrooms and asparagus on top of the tender chicken breasts which had a mound of mashed potatoes underneath.

  Hubby's choice- Chicken Parmesan! Wendy had a pasta dish,  her hubby had the meatloaf-and we all agreed our meals were wonderful. The portions were so large we each took a doggie bag home and enjoyed a second full meal the next day:) Cheers!

 The new theme over at the Simon Says Monday Challenge is "Grunge It Up", and this month's theme at Art Journal Journey is "Pockets and Tags".There is a new two week challenge at Try It On Tuesday (Splashes and Splatters) I'll join in the three with this journal page:

 Products: Manila tag, Jet Black Archival ink- Ranger Ink; Paper dolls, Snarky Small Talk, mini stapler- Tim Holtz. Gloss sprays- Lime, Fuschia, Lemon; Collage Collective; Media Journal Blue edition; Mini Favorites, Fractured Circles stencils-all Dina Wakley. Faux stitching stamp- Whimsy Stamps. Marabu Black Art Spray.

 And that's all for this week folks! Joining in at Paint Party Friday also. Wishing you a happy and safe week ahead!

"It is not the magnitude of our actions but the amount of love that is put into them that matters."

                                                        Mother Teresa

Gloss Spray Play!

 Hi Peeps! How is everyone? We've continued to bake in heat and humidity here with only relief early AM or after sunset. Hubby's had the week off so it's been nice to sit out late with a glass of wine. Needless to say it was a staycation which should have been the beach vacation. But it was still nice just to relax, meet with a couple for outdoor dining  one day, and meet with friends for outdoor swimming and grilling another day. We also ventured out to a shopping center for the first time as hubby needed to get a shirt and order a vest for our son's wedding late October. Despite all the Covid rules and distancing it actually felt good to walk about a few stores (each individual storefront is outside) including Barnes and Noble:) No crowds either so we felt comfortable. Have you gone out or met with friends or family?

 OK, on to my photo for T Stands For Tuesday and then the art play!

 For one of our dinners I made shrimp scampi along with a new quinoa salad recipe I made-and it was divine with it's tropical notes - mango, lime and unsweetened coconut shaves - along with pumpkin seeds, red pepper, and some red onion. The recipe was in our newspaper and I just knew it would be good! We chose a Pinot Noir (we don't follow wine pairing rules) and it went quite nicely with our meal. Cheers!

 I had lots of fun (and quite messy!) two days playing with my Dina Wakley/Ranger Ink Gloss Sprays after watching the online class:
 Playing with abstract flower painting using the sprays:

 This one done on watercolor page in the original Dina Wakley Media Journal.

I also practiced one on a scrap of heavy cardstock:

and then on a tag which I then added to a journal page (the page background had been done quite awhile ago with many layers):

Tag was glued to page. I added stenciling using Tim Holtz Honeycomb stencil and Fossilized Amber Distress Oxide ink to blend it into the page. Bees are from a napkin. A scrap of distressed corrugated cardboard and a Tim Holtz sentiment sticker finished it off.
Joining in at Art Journal Journey (theme is Pockets and tags); Try It On Tuesday (Words or Numbers); and the Simon Says Monday Challenge (Summer Memories). Summer flowers, summer bees, enjoying the simple things.

 A bit more gloss spray play:

My very wonky gloss spray faces on a scrap paper using the stem of Night Gloss Spray to draw them.They are meant to be abstract- you don't have a choice - because the amount of paint that comes out of the stem as you draw is very unpredictable.  I def. need more practice-;)

And a favorite of mine- puddling, moving, scraping the sprays around for abstract backgrounds!!:

 The three of these (although I cropped them square) were done on Dina Wakley's loose cotton rag watercolor sheets. Do you have a favorite? I used all Gloss Sprays in many colors so I won't list them but if you have a ? about a color just ask.

 It's a given that I will also be joining in at Paint Party Friday too:) Have a super week everyone!

" Flowers are the music of the ground. From Earth's lips spoken without sound."   Edwin Curran