Winding Down

The
garden
is
winding
down
for
the
season,
although
it
looks
like
we'll
be
flush
in
tomatoes
for
awhile.

It's been
a great
summer!

Refacing Books

THE RULES CLEARLY STATE:
Marking or writing in books is strictly forbidden, and any person so defacing books will be required to
replace them.

This is another matter entirely.

Rescued from the free bin at the library - I've given this previously-scribbled-in novel a new lease on life as an art journal. It's a great place to experiment with colors, mediums and design ideas. No rules, just a lot of, "Hmmm...let's see what this looks like."

The paper in this book is a thick and scrumptious cotton with a bit of a tooth - RAWR! - just right for refacing with pencils, pens, and paints. As I work my way through; sketching away, pasting in doodads, treasures and ephemera, I'm surgically removing every other page with an Xacto knife so the final project will lie flat(ish). I've learned to save re-doing the cover for last, which allows me to take the journal everywhere without the fuss of keeping it nice.

My kinda fun.

Spot o' Tea?

This cute as a button tea pot was a gift from my sis, Marilyn.

It's gotten a lot of use this week as the weather is slowly turning to Fall.

I've always been a staunch Ahmad Lemon Tea fan, but can't get it here anymore. I got adventurous (and a little bit panicky) and tried all kinds of other teas, but nothing hit the spot. Then I discovered Ashby's Lemon Tea and now all is right in the world.

Presenting Their Royal Highnesses

The King and Queen
of Hearts

I popped into the post office to send off a package today and to pick up a book of stamps.

The guys at our super podunk post office always laugh at me because I ask for "pretty stamps" and make them haul out the whole drawer full
so I can choose.
(Don't worry, there's NEVER anyone waiting behind me.)

This gorgeous set just knocked me over! I would make a quilt out of this. I would buy this if it was a poster. I would buy it AND frame it. Hey, maybe it IS a poster!

Using images from 18th-century French playing cards as reference, artist Jeanne Greco created the stamp art. I'll be looking her up, let me tell ya. WOW.

(Added later: Ok, yeah, she's way cool. Take a look at her creations. http://www.caffegrecodesign.com/cgd-homepage.html)

What a happy, unexpected spot - smack dab in a day full of errands!

The Magic of Photoshop

I've been cleaning up some old photos with the help of Photoshop.

Pretty simple stuff really, and I love the instant gratification of a quick, finished product.

While rummaging around one day,
we found this tiny 1x1 inch photo of
my husband's mother tucked in a drawer.

As you can see, it was a mess.

I wanted to clean it up and make it bigger
for the family photo album,
but still keep that old and crumbly quality.

I also re-tinted it with a duotone
to match other old photos in the album.

Cute baby, huh?

Free Black Berry Downloads

We spent a sunny morning downloading blackberries 

into our buckets.

Kerplink.
Kerplank.
Kerplunk.
















The real ripe and juicy ones 

are the cutleaf blackberries 

that grow down by the pond.

They are much larger berries 

and almost taste like blueberries. 

The jam they make is heavenly, especially when you pop open 

a jar in Winter.

The thorns however, 

are fearsome to behold.

..and so it was
time for my new,
snazzy, 
eye-popping
garden gloves 

to finally make
their debut.



(Ok, so what is that stretchy thing on the back of gloves for, anyway?) 

I paid my camera guy (kid) his wages in berry-related goodies today - 

a big hit.  

Cobbler. 

Check. 

Jam. 

Check.
Fresh berries 

over vanilla 

ice cream. 

Check.

Paper Pinwheel Prize Production

...and you agreed to make how many of these?

Actually, this first batch was only about fifty -
just enough to keep it fun.

OK, that may be stretchin' a bit for the last ten.


If you've ever hand crafted paper wonderfulness in quantity, you know it can get pretty daunting by say, oh, about 3 a.m. - at which point you've cycled through your entire iPod library and it begins to dawn on you that the last cuppa coffee at 1 a.m. maybe wasn't such a great idea for steady hand/eye coordination.



These are usually made as prizes, but in this incarnation they are name tags for a local scrapbook store's soiree. The attendee names were added later, in calligraphy, and a pin back was attached.

I used more of that yummy Cosmos Cricket Early Bird paper. The local stores may be totally cleaned out of that stuff by now, with all of my recent projects.

I really like it,
lots.