T Stands for Trip to Maine

Welcome to my blog today, on my 52nd wedding anniversary!  We took what you could call an anniversary  trip last week, the reason I didn't take part in TSFT.  We visited our son in Maine. We flew to Portland Maine, then rented a car to drive up the coast, and then inland to see our son.  He then took us up in the mountains and to Moosehead Lake, the largest lake in Maine.  Although we tasted lobster rolls for the first time, and visited lighthouses, and stayed on the seashore,  our main mission was to visit with our son.  He has a lovely cabin with a gorgeous view of a pond, wildflowers, and wildlife.  It was the first time for us to see it.   He was an excellent host and tour guide!  He even took us up on the Appalachian Trail, which was on my bucket list. Our son has hiked both ways as a thru hiker and again in sections, for a total of three times.  I had walked it virtually on Walking4Fun which is on my sidebar.  But this made me want to actually set foot on it!

The good news is that I should have enough photos for awhile for T Stands for Tuesday over at Bleubeared & Elizabeths at Altered Book Lover.  Elizabeth is our wonderful hostess for Tuesdays where we post a drink related post.


So today, to begin with I am showing you our first meal on our first day.
I think you can see the corner of my husband's water glass.  But I had to take photo of our appetizer, because it was served with a orchid, and missed getting our drink in!  And then I forgot to take a photo of our scrumptious lobster rolls.  Wonderful buttery soft rolls with large chunks of lobster with a little mayo, and no other fillers.

This is the outside of where we ate in Ducktrap, Maine.

We ate in the little screened in addition in the back on the water.  It was so relaxing listening to the waves and being outside while we ate.

We didn't stop here, but had to get a photo of this giant lobster!  We had seen it on the way, and I wasn't ready with the camera, but made sure to get it on the way back!

This was our view from where we stayed in Belfast Maine on Penobscot Bay, after our visit with our son.

Oh, I did get a drink in a photo!  Every room in this inn has a view of the sea!  First thing I did was walk down to the water's edge!  Lovely view from this chair!

I watched the sailboats and even got some photos of people on kayaks.  Maybe I will find those for next time!

I will save some for another time.  I only took over a hundred photos, and was only gone 6 days! LOL

But I have done some crafting since I came back.  I also wanted to join Art Journal Journey this month for their theme A World of Fantasy. I had asked Elizabeth if I could submit a 12x12  scrapbook page entry, and she said I could.  I do want to get into journaling but right now am behind on my scrapbooking for the year.  So, most of today I worked on this layout.  The fantasy part is that the mural at the Nature center that I am standing in front of in the photo on the layout shows all of theses animals you might see.  My friend and I walked the trails, and we saw plenty of birds, thus the bird in red so it stands out, but  I don't believe we saw anything else.  So, that is the fantasy!  Maybe a stretch.  But it did inspire this layout.  Also, it inspired the title, you know the fairy tale musical, Into the Woods?  The journaling will be on a companion page of another walk with my friend.  Right now, I can't locate those photos!   I am going to link this up at  Art Journal Journey.

I used Heidi Swap  Art Screen ink through a TCW Aspen Trees stencil. Tried to show you the texture.

I used TH letter dies for the title and the animal dies were gifted me. I sponged them with Baha Breeze ink from SU! ( except for the bird)

I inked up a stamp from Lovely as a Tree from SU! with Mossy Meadow and then spritzed with water before stamping on the page.

Thanks for stopping by.  Waving to the T Gang!  I hope you all have a great Tea Day!

Second on the 2nd: Straw Blowing Technique

                                   Phi 4:4  Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.  

Happy Labor Day Weekend to those of you in the states.  Happy Anniversary to me as September 3rd is our 52nd wedding anniversary!  

I am joining Bleubeard and Elizabeth over at Altered Book Lover  to celebrate the Second on the 2nd, where we share a blog post for the second time.  I thought it would be appropriate to share the second post I ever did on my blog for the Second on the 2nd!  But I also still love this technique I shared on April 19th, 2013.  

                                          

                 Straw Blowing Technique 

      I have learned another new technique that I would like to share: Straw Blowing.

For this  card:   I cut a piece of glossy paper the size I needed.

I dropped three drops  of one color of  re-inker.

Then I blew on the drops of ink through a straw, indifferent directions.

I repeated this process two more times with two other colors.

I blotted off excess, then rubbed with a tissue.

When it was completely dry,  I  stamped with a silhouette stamp, ( Hero Arts) using Black Memento Ink.

I used these colors: SU! Pool Party, Lucky Limeade, and Island Indigo.

I hope you like this technique as much as I do! 

I was challenged to do this technique on Splitcoaststampers, post #3853.

They provided links to tutorials also. 

I hope you enjoyed seeing the straw blowing technique again, a reminder to me to use it again. It is pretty. Thank you for stopping by! 

Craft Ready Space & WOYWW # 482

            Phi 4:4  Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.  

Good Morning WOYWW Deskers!  I have been missing  from Julia's Blog Hop over at Stamping Ground for a few weeks.  We just got back from a week's vacation to Maine.  I didn't even know what day it was until I got my email  that Kelly had posted for WOYWW!  Thank you, Kelly!  So, this is what my desk and craft area look like.  When you don't craft, it stays clean.  I had cleaned it up before leaving and it is still just like I left it!  But, soon, it will be messy as I will begin to scrap some of our photos.

I can't tell you how much I love my glass mat!  The best part is that area on the mat is always clear for crafting.  I may have all kinds of things laying around it, but my crafting area on the mat is clear for me.  And it works fabulous for scrapbooking because of how large it is.  24 by 14 inches!

This is where my laptop usually is, and also in top left is my Selphy Cannon photo printer. 

My mixed media corner and cutting and die center.

Cards on top of the shelf are what we made at a recent FSJ (Fun Stampers Journey) workshop. 

It was so nice to come back to a clean space; all ready for me to start crafting!
Thanks for stopping by!  It will be nice to see your spaces again and see what you are doing!  Have a great week!

T Stands for Technique

          Phi 4:4  Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.  

Welcome to my Blog. Today I am joining the Tea Gang over at Altered Book Lover, where we all celebrate T Stands For Tuesday with a drink related post.  But first, I wanted to show you a twist on an old technique that Lydia over at  SplitcoastStampers showed us.   And then we were challenged on the Mix-ability Challenge to let our shaving cream oxidize before making our prints.  

Step one:  put shaving cream on plate.  Step two:  drop some re-inker ink into the mix and swirl around.  

I used SU! Bermuda Bay, Emerald Envy and Dapper Denim re-inkers.

Step Three:  Have patience.  Leave for several hours.  So I did the first two steps and then left home all day.  

Here is the plate of shaving cream with ink on it, and how it looked when I got home.  I wish I had thought to take a photo before to show you the difference.

 

By the time I came back I had forgotten about the process.  I just happen to go into my craft room and saw the plate.  Wow, it had little bubbles all over it.  I just started making prints and couldn't quit!

I got a couple of dozen prints!  I made one card so far.  This was the darkest and the first print off the plate.  Notice all the bubbles?

Now for the drink related part of the post:

I thought this was prefect for the Tea Gang!

Took a photo at the end, when I remembered!  We only sit there about 2 1/2 hours and visit! :)  My purse even made it in the photo. 

Just in case you want to know my favorite color!  

Thank you for stopping by!  I enjoy doing these posts for the tea party every Tuesday!

Oh, Elizabeth so glad you got your ATCs and liked them.

DTGD & TSFT & WOYWW 480

             Phi 4:4  Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.  

T Stands for totally done with my DTGD Cards!  And here is the proof!  As promised last week, I am showing them to you.  I have already mailed out 7 of them!  And some of the others were made with someone special in mind.

42 cards done for 40 challenges: 23 birthday cards, 8 encouragement cards, 4 sympathy cards, 1 anniversary card, 1 Valentine, 1 Congrats card and 4 Christmas cards! 

 I learned several different new techniques, and got to get my Gelli plate out and play and make various backgrounds, played with my oxides, and my alcohol inks!  These are things I guess I have to be challenged to play with!  Otherwise they sit there ignored!  I had a week of fun!

And this is my desk for WOYWW over at Julias Stamping Ground..  It is a mess, and I hope I am not showing too much because I have been working on a special project for someone.  Did you notice  what I did, I sprayed ink and got it on my wood ink pad/marker/refill storage!  Ink comes off of my mat, off my desk, but I can't get it off the wood.  Anyone have any ideas?

For the tea gang over at Bleubeard & Elizabeths's at Altered Book Lover in honor of T Stands for Tuesday, here is my drink related part of my post.  

My hubby bought this for me; it was on sale or something.  Anyway, it is really good, the only problem is getting that straw off and poking it into that drink! LOL  Who invented that anyway! And then there is hardly anything in it!  One of them we poured into our cup and it was   half a cup!  So, I think they are  for little toddlers or something!  Ten came in a package, and I could drink them all in one day! LOL  Anyway, hubby was buying me something special and I have enjoyed getting one out of the fridge every now and then.

Thank you for stopping by.  Have a great week!

Getting Dirty & Inky and What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday #479

             Phi 4:4  "Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice."

Welcome to my Blog!  I am getting very inky  taking part in Dare To Get Dirty Challenges this week on Splitcoaststampers.  This is a week long party of challenges that the Dirty Dozen hosts for us Fan Club members on Splitcoast.  They do this every year and it is so fun!  I usually use supplies and items that I have forgotten about, because of the challenges.  I learn new techniques, and just enjoy myself in general!  Hubby helps out a lot during this time as far as dishes, and meals.  We think up easy ones ahead of time.  That is what I am doing.  Here is what my desk looks like, and also a couple of photos of what it looked like when I was doing prints with my Gelli Plate.  Oh, why am I showing you this?  Because on Wednesday's we show our desks and hook up over at Stamping Ground.  You can check out  other desks out as well as show your own.

Having my morning tea as well as finishing yesterday's challenges, because there are 6 more today!

Love the prints I got off of the plate with the green paints, just kept putting more paper on!  Then did one with the purples, but I like the green tones better.

As you can see, I had a mess!  But it certainly was fun! 

Thank you for stopping by.  (I will show you all the cards next week.  I think there will be over 40 cards when done!  So, stay tuned.)
Happy WOYWW!

T Stands for "The Art Park"

           Phi 4:4  Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.


It is almost Tuesday again, and I am joining the Tea Gang over at T Stands for Tuesday hosted by Bleubeard & Elizabeth at Altered Book Lover!  As you know we recently moved to the other side of our town, so I am getting to know this side.  I still take wrong streets and end up going the long way to the doctor or a store, because of course,  we got all new on this side. So, that is how I found The Art Park!
I never knew it existed.  And you notice it right away with all those colorful pianos!  And I am thinking, what a great way to use old pianos that can't be used any longer!

 Love all those instruments in that piano!

Aren't these great?  I love all the bright colors!

I want to go to school there!

And it even has a library!

How could I live in this town most of my life and have never seen this?

And since I am supposed to have a drink related post, here is the first teapot I ever bought; the one that started it all.  I bought this back in 1995 in Estes Park, Colorado.   My collection grew quickly from that point on, until I had to tell people quit giving me teapots!  LOL  They take up too much room!

 And here I am having tea with my granddaughter back in 2007 in Estes Park, with yet another teapot that I bought there on that trip! . When she was younger, we were always having tea parties.
The whole family stayed in this cabin for a week, like a mini family reunion. 

Thank you for stopping by today.  I love reading your comments.  I just feel like I am getting to know the Tea Gang, even though most of you are many miles away.  Have a great Tea Tuesday!