Art Journaling, Molly, and Fruity Deliciousness

I made this from a stamp Valerie picked up at a craft expo she and Dawn went to in August. I was going to join them and a friend, but I came down with the Shingles a couple of days before the expo. I may have cried a little.

But the girls made up for missing it by bringing home lots of crafty goodness for all of us to play with! Valerie picked up several of these beauties and I immediately stamped all of them. This one is now in my mish-mash art journal. Note the crackled background, it's another cool stamp Valerie picked up while she was there.

This reminds me, joining the Journal52 Facebook group has brought such crafty joy! We're on week 37 and my journal is getting nice and fat. I encourage you to look up this group on Facebook. Lots of encouraging, talented crafters hang out there; it's become a bright spot in my crafting life.

I played around with clear copier labels and, according to Dawn, it was a success! It's her new favorite craft of mine. So, of course, she got to keep them. I covered the ones I stamped with books with Glue and Seal first and stamped a few without the coating. I wanted to see what difference it would make. I discovered the uncoated ones wouldn't dry, but I managed to make it work. They're great for art journaling and mixed media projects. I'll definitely be making more.

See those little wooden flowers and leaves? They came in this plain wooden holder, but I fancied it up. We used half-off coupons for 2 rolls of Tim Holtz's tissue paper, something that's always been out of my price-range. I thought, what is the big deal about his tissue paper? I use regular printed tissue paper all the time and I love it. Well, I discovered I've been missing out on something pretty fantastic all this time. I'm still glad we waited for such great coupons, but I'm telling you, go buy some, now. It's stronger than regular tissue paper and is more sturdy when decoupaging. But how it reacted to the ink I spritzed on it impressed me the most. Just look at those yummy colors all coming together so perfectly! I'm searching for tiny things to display on the little shelves and will be hanging it in my craft studio. I think I have a few nekkid inches somewhere on the walls.

Punk or princess? Molly says she is versatile.

This was my daughters' August birthday pie. I'm kind of freaking out about being the mom of 32-year old women, but my pride in them overrides it all. I wouldn't mind having one of these pies for my birthday if they can't manage a Texas Sheet Cake. (Which is seriously asking a lot. It's difficult to top my sister's prowess at making a slice of delicious chocolate heaven. Speaking of Heaven, I sure do miss her, dang it.)

Two New Things & An Expo!

On our way to someplace else, Dawn and I came across a rummage sale at a church. We hadn't seen one of those in eons, so we thought we'd check it out. It was good and junky and we made out like bandits. My favorite find was this wooden footstool. I'd been looking for one to put under my craft desk out in my studio, and when we spotted it, I knew it was going home with me. I sanded it a little to get rid of a few splinters and intended to paint it, but it was in such good shape I went ahead and started using it as-is. I'll eventually do something creative with it, but in the meantime, practically speaking, it's perfect.

I often come across recipes on Pinterest and tuck them away in one of my folders. But when I followed a link to Happy Slip's recipe for rice-cooker mac and cheese, I made it on the spot. It turned out even better than I thought it would be! Seriously, it's a must try.

My life-long friend and I are attending this expo next month. We're soooooooo excited!!!

Molly

My new favorite photo of Molly.

Watercolor and Mixed Media

These are the watercolors I still can't believe I did for our craft swap. I really like how they turned out.

I stenciled these glassine bags to wrap them in.

I also stenciled a shadow-like image on each one.

There was a lot of ink left on the stencil, so I pressed it onto white cardstock and will use the prints for future projects. The craft swap was a lot of fun and I received some wonderful art in return.

I Can Paint!

I don't know where this painting thing came from, but I'll take it! (Color photos coming soon.)

Beautiful Phenomenon

The waters of the Monterey Bay, California, never looked so emerald green! In all my years of living here, this is the first time the ocean was so green. One of my science-y on-line friends explained it this way, "COCCOLITHOPHORES! Little unicell algae with bright white calcium carbonate plates. Looks like Caribbean shallow water with carbonate sand. Yay!"

It was a lovely sight to behold.

We had a beautifully peaceful family time today seeing that my sister's ashes were tucked into place. The deer were out and about and the smell of the ocean filled the air, just the type of day Martha would have loved. Her niche is very close to their little chapel. The cemetery is right next door to a golf course where deer run free, and with no sense of the city about you. It's lovely. Our family will be forever grateful to our friend Janis for making this day possible.