Mess, Muddle and Fun

I've never been a photographer.  I take the requisite photos of family and photos of places when we go on trips.  So the challenge from Carolyn Phillips over at Mess, Muddle and Fun got me thinking of photography in a whole different light.  So with that in mind I took a few photos at the weekend cottage this weekend trying to "see" though the camera lense some of the fantastic things that were literally laying there at my feet.

This is part of a log that is laying beside the fire pit.  I found the texture of the moss on the bark very interesting.

In the neighbor's yard I found this scene of a rock on top of a stump with some purple flowers.  Just thought it was very pretty.

Hope you enjoyed my photo.

Thanks for stopping by.

Weekend in Kentucky

This weekend was full of creativity.

First we finished planting the flower bed we started a few weekends ago.

I took a bagful of art supplies not knowing what if anything I wanted to work on.  I ended up making a cute little tag 

I stamped the fairy on white card stock and colored her with Inktense pencils then went over the color

 with a water brush.  Next I cut her out along with a little butterfly.  I inked the edges of the tag and covered the tag with this pretty paper and stuck the fairy and butterfly on.  I just love the quote.   I think she turned out pretty nice.  I am entering this tag in  Simon Says Stamp and Show and Crafts 4 Eternity.

Thanks for stopping by.

Mini Album

Over the last few days I completed a mini photo album.  I am in love with making these little paper covered jewels.  I'm not sure why because I am not much of a picture person but these little albums may just change my mind.  Maybe a new camera for my birthday?

The album was made using Steff Miller's tutorial that I found on Ustream here:
http://m.ustream.tv/recorded/30556715?rmalang=en_US

This is a matchbook style album using two small paper bags.  It such fun to make and fairly easy.  I believe I'll make a few more for gifts.

12 Months in View - Gardening With The Seasons

One of the things we are doing in 12 Months in View is taking a photo of one area whether it be in our own yard or a special place each month preferably at the same time of day and on the same day of the month.  Well, of course this month I'm a little late.   Here are the two photo's so far.  You can see what a difference a month (and a half almost) makes.

March 2013 Front Yard (taken 3/6/2013 at approximately 7:30 am)

April 2013 Front Yard (taken 4/18/2013 at approximately 7:30 am)

The grass has really greened up and the butterfly bush is starting to leaf.  The daffodils are gone but my tulips have bloomed.  And I really need to do some serious weeding. 

Don't you just love the big garden accent (i.e. dish) that my husband decided needed to be placed just there instead of somewhere OUTSIDE the flower bed?  Of course when it was put in I wasn't home so didn't get to weigh in on that particular decision and he just didn't understand why it made me so upset.  We have great TV with over 500 channels don't we?  (I don't watch the television very much)  I will say that we pruned the butterfly bush quite agressively last fall and before that it was quite large and spread out so that it kind of covered up the dish and made it not quite so "out there".  Hopefully the bush will take off and grow more by next month and start to take away that eye sore in my front yard.......LOL.

Thanks for stopping by.

Anything But a Card April Challange

The April Challange at Anything But A Card is to make a something with a water theme.  I choose to make a tag using this cute little girl with her umbrella.

I started by using a stamp, clear embossing ink and added clear embossing powder to the  tag.  Then after heat setting I added Distress Inks in squeezed lemonade, shaded lilac, salty ocean, and peacock feather.  I attached my little girl with umbrella image and added the quote I had printed out.  I used some Inktense pencils to color the little girl and add the illusion of water puddles and some white streaks to signify rain falling using a white colored pencil.  I inked the edges of the tag with walnut stain distress ink.   I added some ribbon and voila....my tag is complete.

Thanks for stopping by.

Butterfly Crafting

For some reason, a lot of my projects have included butterflies.  I thought it might be nice to post them together in one place.  So without further ado here are my butterfly projects.

Tags



I entered this tag in Country View Challange "Butterfly".





Art Canvas



Journal Page for Swap

Altered CD Art

I entered the Altered CD fridge magnet into the Country View Challange "Butterfly"

I believe there are a few more that I just haven't photographed yet.  But I will be sure to find them and add them to this post.

Thanks for stopping by.

Weekend Project

Our mission was to turn a piece of ground at the weekend cottage into a flower bed.  We have owned this cottage for almost 8 years and haven't put one flower in.  I keep wanting to but we just never started the project.

The Target

As you can see this spot in front of the porch is pretty bare.  My idea was to put in a bed that mimicked the curve of the patio.  We also wanted some type of edging.  Also, thought a small bush to anchor the corner of the porch would be just the thing so off to Lowes we went.

Home with our purchases and a digging we went.

There's nothing quite so sexy as a man digging up your new flower bed when he would rather be in watching the Masters.

End of Day one and the bed has been dug out and half of the edging placed and leveled.  We bought a  barberry bush with pretty reddish brown leaves and tiny yellow flowers.  It looks perfect at the corner of the bed.

Day 2 meant going for a few more edging pieces and a bag of mulch for the bush.  We finished the border.  Next weekend we will enrich the soil a little because it is mostly clay and ver compact.  And here is the mission complete......

Thanks for stopping by.

Spring has Sprung in WV

No art to post today but I do have a couple of pretty blossoms and flowers in my yard.

First are the blossoms on my Weeping Cherry Tree.  They are so pretty.

Next are some purple petunias.  I mislabeled them as pansies.  Oh, well I was right with the "P".....

Can't wait for the Redbuds to bloom.  I hope that they are out this weekend.  The trip to the weekend cottage is beautiful in the spring when they are in full bloom. 

This is a photo from last year so you understand what I'm talking about.  This was taken along the Interstate Highway 64 on the way home last year.  They are along both sides of the road in big stands.  When they are in full bloom it is a beautiful drive.

Altered CD Art -12 Months in View

12 Months in View Going Green Challenge
The challenge by Joanna and Bernice was to alter an old CD.  The examples were so fun that I really wanted to make one but I just couldn't get started.  Until today!  When I got home from work today, I had a package from Dubai waiting.  I was so excited that I couldn't wait to tear it open.  However , I was extremely careful because of those marvelous stamps.

The package contained the two art swap pages from the Milliande Art Community for Women March Art Page Swap. The package was from Lorrie Takada and had the beautiful journal pages along with some great goodies.  One of the things in the goodie bag was a beautiful paper napkin.  It got those creative juices flowing and I was itching to get started.

Here is the final product

I added a magnet to the back and here it is on the fridge.....

Now I have so many ideas floating in my brain so there are definitely more of these beauties in my future.  Hmmmm guess what everyone is getting for birthday this year?

Thanks for stopping by.

Trip to Mom and Dad's

I don't have anything to show as far as journaling today but I did want to share some of the photographs that I took of the beautiful scenery in the mountains of West Virginia.  I just wish there were more things in bloom in the pictures.  Usually this time of the season, the trees are in full leaf and the Redbuds are in bloom.

Here is a map of my route from Huntington to Petersburg.  Petersburg is in the mountains close to the eastern panhandle of West Virginia and I live on the most Western tip of the state.

 I think there are a total of 5 mountains - 2 lane roads- that I drive over.  It is a gorgeous drive once I get off the interstate and even though the trip takes approximately 4 1/2 hours from door to door, I usually enjoy it.

Here is a picture of one of the mountain views.  Even though the temperature was in the mid 60s, there was still snow on the mountain top.

This part of the country has some very interesting rock formations and I stopped to take a few photos that I just love.

This rock formation has a small cave that you can access through the water but believe me this water is ice cold.  The stream that runs here is fed by the water coming off the mountains from the snow melting.  It doesn't ever get very warm so not sure if I would like to swim into the cave even in the heat of summer.

This rock formation has a slow moving pool of water on the same stream as the previous picutre.  All the rock formations are vertically inclined. 

The next photo is of Seneca Rocks.  If you look in the area of the saddle shaped area where there is no rock, there used to be a large rock that stood there that was shaped like an Indian's head. 

A popular romance of the Rocks — "The Betrothal of Snow Bird, Princess of the Seneca Indians" — was written in 1932 by Harry Malcolm Wade.^[13] West Virginia writer J. Lawrence Smith provides the following short summary of the story:

"Princess Snow Bird, who had grown to maidenhood in the shadow of the rocks and scaled their heights many times, proposed a contest to her father, [Chief] Bald Eagle. She would climb to the crest of the rocks as prospective suitors followed. The first to take her hand would become her mate. Bald Eagle agreed, and at the end of the climb, of seven suitors, only one remained, the others having turned back from fear or fallen to their deaths. From their lofty perch, Snow Bird and her future mate surveyed the surrounding realm of the Seneca that would be theirs to rule one day."^[

I found this picture online that shows the Indian or "Sentinel"  in place from 1975 before it finally fell over.

My father has painted these rock formations many times and I have two that hang in my office at work now.  It is one of my favorite places.

I also saw some sheep and coudn't resist taking a couple of pictures of them.  In West Virginia the cow is king but in this part of the state there are a lot of sheep herds.

 Well, that is all the trip pictures for today.  Might share a few again tomorrow.  Thanks for stopping by.

12 Months in View April Fools

It's April 1st.  April Fools day.  I don't think you are supposed to prank yourself however, when I was sitting at work at my desk I happened to look down and imagine my surprise when I saw this:

Yes, I have on two different socks.......

Now to today's challenge.  Using Lime green, Lemon and Bluebell blue make a page, a layout, a tag, whatever you will based on any of the inspiration you have found on this blog post.
I shamelessly used some ideas from Bernice's page.  Here is what I came up with:

I used a pallet knife to smear on the lime green.  When that was dry I again used the pallet knife to add the blue.  I used my yellow Dylusion spray ink to make some nice drippage.  I spayed a couple of quick burst of the new white Dylusion spray ink and then I used a stencil that looks like honeycomb to put some red paint on the page using my fingers.  I then added a couple of different stamps with black archival ink.  Using a black Pitt pen I used my left hand (I am right handed) to put some random marks in the main area of the page.  I stamped the date and words.

I am quite pleased with the finished product.  Thanks for visiting.