Happy Holidays!

Hopefully all your ins are outs and everything is in the right place. :)

I'm all ready and waiting to see my girlie!! We are going to see Harry Potter over the holidays as that is a tradition we have always seen them together. I thought maybe this year she wouldn't care, but she is MAKIN me! lol. She is like we always do this together - we have to see them all. So of course we are.

Lots of exciting things brewing and I will tell you all about it in the new year!

And maybe give you a sneak peek before then.

Have a joyful time wherever you are.

Chocolate Cookie Bark

MMMMmmmm and easy peasy.

Melt some white chocolate. Add 2 T peanut butter and stir.

Melt some milk chocolate. (around 6-8 squares of each)

Add some cut up pieces of OREO cookies to both bowls and stir.(8 cookies)

Spread out in drops of both colors. Use knife to swirl.

Done.

The hardest part is stopping myself from eating it ALL.

Yikes.

We can always choose...

A page from my art journal.

Nick Bantock contest entry

This is my entry for a tribute to Nick Bantock contest. He is the author of the Griffin and Sabine books which I loved! Plus more.

There is still time to enter and the rules are here.

Here are some of my close ups. I had so much fun making this!

I had an old library card from the first book and used it. On the front of that are some metal wings and a piece of mica and a cigar tag.

I used some vintage stamps and made a hand done post mark.

A couple puzzle pieces and the number 5.

This piece of paper is tucked into the card and it is a copy of a french letter that I printed on vintage paper and then crumpled to look old.

See my entry here!

Meet Lulabelle!

This is my monster for week 3 of the willowing class. I named her Lulabelle- not sure why- the name just jumped at me.

One thing I liked about this is that it is all made from stuff I had here. All recycled! Buttons, fabric, ribbon, felt - all part of my stash. Glad it came in handy for something :) Even the stuffing! I actually had no polyfil and I wanted her done NOW. So I took a flat pillow and gutted it! hehe.

This is a detail of her tummy. I am so psyched that my simple machine even did these stitches! The heart is an embossed velvet upholstery fabric.

It was nice to be at a sewing machine again.

Willowing week 3

This is the cover of my altered book. I used scrabble tiles and a library card for the tag. Appropriately named "It's only too late if you don't start now"

Then another page spread celebrating all the things in my life...

I liked using old wallpaper with texture for the background - very cool.

Next up is my monstah!!

Willowing week 2

First was to make a background on an old childrens board book. With gesso, stamps, paint and watercolor crayons. Then a transfer of me when I was a child. yeah, that's me with my mouth wide open in my high chair. lol! Same as now right? Always laughing and talking. A good thing I guess.

Then I had to write a letter to my small self and what I would wish for her.

Turns out a lot of things I have and want in my own life!

The next spread was to do a piece that represented the opposite of a traumatic event in your childhood. I didnt have one so to do a time when you were happy. The first things I could think of was my tire swing and playing in the haymow.

The thing that was cool was that I knew I wanted a tree on one page and a barn on the next and when I turned the page and started looking to do the background - there was a tree on one side and a barn on the other!! Very freaky.

So I used kids book pages to make part of the background and the whimsy is of myself since the memories are by myself. That continues now too - I like my alone time.

Once I can get the next videos to load - ugh! I can get started on the next lesson. Looks like we are making a stuffed monster!

Winter has arrived...

Here in the north country...

This is the view out my back patio door.

Willowing week 1

I joined the other 1000 (!!) people in this free class just for fun, but it has been really good!

The first week is an art journal spread where you write all your negative thoughts on one side and then cover them up with layers and then take those thoughts and turn them around to what they are trying to save you from.

On the other page she then shows you how to do a face and there are so many different results! So cool. I put glasses on mine since it is supposed to represent me (although I dont have long flowing hair!)

This is the finished page.

Drawing the portrait and covering up left page with gesso.

Start of the layering...

Layers of paint, stamping, gesso, crayons....

One thing I found out and would recommend is to take a picture. I thought I was done and after I looked at the image I could see things that needed improvement. A different outlook I guess.

See what I mean - this is a series of 3. After I took one, I took another and added more. What a difference! And I didn't do much. So subtle changes can make a big difference.

This was very cool and I look forward to week 2!

Favourite time of year....

Some neat pictures

I got this book at the library recently and it looked interesting....

Not until I started looking through it did I realize how cool it was. This guy has taken all things from nature - leaves, seeds, rocks, twigs etc and made art with them! And then uses the colors from nature for inspiration.

Some of the MANY photos -

A couch made of lily petals,

Chairs from seed pods,

Dresses from leaves,

and feathers.

And tiny little fairy houses and doors.

Check it out! Fairie-Ality Style by David Ellwand.

The Book of Awesome

Some of my favourites:

Sound of scissors cutting construction paper

Green lights all in a row

Getting checked for ID

Getting gas before the price goes up

Drive through parking spaces

For many more check out the book and also the website.

We should all look for the awesomeness in each day. It's there if we look.

Beautiful box for sale

Here's another item from my stash that I have been hoarding....

A great box for storage or display! Found here.

A little getaway.

I have to blog about a getaway I took with Sarah before she started school... we went to the nearest city and took a couple days for shopping.

I decided to treat her to a hotel downtown and then we could make a couple days of it.

I picked the Hotel Belvedere since it was a great price and close to downtown. Plus it looked really cool! It has 20 unique rooms and its like a large bed and breakfast.

This photo is from their website and shows the front and the great patio where we had breakfast. Nice stone wall and plantings everywhere.

When we got there she asked me if I minded being upgraded to a bigger room - huh? NO!

She sent us up to the 2nd floor and we opened our door to this...

EEK! Original fireplace and 12 foot ceilings, bay window, antique furniture with a brass bed, original wood floors and tile in the bathroom and even a little kitchen. It was so cool. The stairs in the above picture went up to a walk in closet. I could live here! What a cool studio apt this would make.

All of the shutters were original and wood and closed and opened. With a great view as well.

All brass keys - a REAL key.

The tile in front of the fireplace.

Radiator.

And a confusing door above the bathroom door. Like WHERE does that go? And how do you get there?

Tile floor on the kitchen and bath.

Sarah thought it was ok (she's more of a modern girl) and she liked the free wifi on each floor - I was in my element and loved it all! I thoroughly recommend it.

Studio Tour

Labour Day Monday I had a nice hour to myself and took myself to this...

I loved the idea of it being a walking tour and all the artists were in one place and all the art looked cool too with a nice variety.

It was really cool! They had the booths all set up on walking paths in the woods and also music and food set up.

I loved all kinds of things, but the painted chairs by Alice Hinther were neat and she had all kinds of jewelry with vintage papers which is right up my alley.

I also thought the rug hooking was really nice. She dies all her own wool and then cuts them and hooks them onto canvases of her own designs. Her name is Loretta Moore (no website)

And this guy blew me away! Jean Pierre Schoss had this giant moose made of recycled metal at the front gate and then tons of other things. I liked the metal flowers and all kinds of objects made of old propane and oil tanks and other metals. Check out his website here.

There were also other metal ornaments, a knife maker - awesome! , jewelry, stained glass, carving, painting and stone sculpture.

I am definitely planning on going back next year when I have more time. Wonderful!

Sundance Studio Tour