Tuesday, March 30, 2010

March 30



House wishes...a soaking tub; a comfy sofa; simple white plates; great music on the stereo; bright colorful accent pieces; new bed linens in a great color for spring

Living in the woodshed, there's not a lot I can do to make room for a tub and/or a sofa.  But I can purchase some lovely white plates and new bed linens for spring!  It's a rainy day and a good day for checking out the sales!!!

Monday, March 29, 2010

March 29



Don't you just want to pull those adorable boots on and go splash around in puddles today?!!!

Sunday, March 28, 2010

March 28


Flower Frogs...couldn't resist playing with the words by adding some flower-bedecked green frogs to the page once I had "finished" it.  They add just the right touch!  I've always been fascinated with flower frogs and have a few.  My favorite one is a glass footed oval one that works beautifully in a shallow pottery bowl.  There's a blog I often look at where the writer always showcases her card stuck in a flower frog--one of those metal spiny round ones.  I think that is a cool idea, to repurpose the flower frog as a way to showcase something other than a flower.  I love the metal one that is shaped like a dog and if I've seen the wire ones anywhere I did not recognize them as flower frogs.  These are items I will continue to look for to add to my collection.  I think I need to find one like the metal cupcake swirl in the upper left corner.  Better yet, maybe I can make my own from some wire and a regular large round metal spiny flower frog as the base!

Friday, March 19, 2010

March 19



Love the "paper pies" from Basic Grey...I think they make a great background for the nest with its beautiful blue eggs and blue feather.  "I AM NESTING" defines what I've been doing at home all week in the studio.  Yesterday I also created a grapevine wreath with a nest and birds--so I've been actually constructing a nest as I am reworking my home "nest".

Thursday, March 18, 2010

March 18

sheep
tulips
primroses
spring


our neighbors will have lambs soon

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

March 17 St. Patrick's Day!!!


OOPS...It's kind of blurry, but I imagine that's how a lot of people will feel by midnight tonight after celebrating with more than enough Guiness!!!

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

March 16


And now, something completely different...the entire background of this page is decorative tape!!!  I was going through my desk this morning and found a basket of tapes--brightly colored flowers, teal measuring tape, diamonds in sage green on beige, and lavender.  This was an easy way to create an interesting background for the bunny which is the focal image.  The tapes are also glossy and that works nicely with the magazine glossy papers.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

March 14


Decorating ideas from a couple of different magazines using some of my favorite--and collected already--objects.  LOVE LOVE LOVE the clock faces just piled up in a bowl.  The other thing that would be fun is to hang them in a garland over a window or in a column to frame a door.  Hanging a small pack basket on the wall for rolling pins is a cool kitchen idea.  I still have my grandmothers' rolling pins and a special one for making cracker crumbs that's all ridges.  Love the DUCK EGGS sign--I have signs all over my place that include names of some of the animals we had here in wildlife rehabilitation days, CAMP TACOMA on a giant arrow, ANTIQUES, and GUINEA PIG (a sign I found beside the road in a ditch in Thorndike).  I also love the idea of using drawer pulls to hang things on the wall.  Dad made a really cool potholder hanger for the kitchen from an old copper door knob, plate, and skeleton key--very cool.  The fan just echoes the roundness of all the clock faces.  As much as I love old fans, I have not yet started collecting them.  And this is not an invitation for anyone to send me theirs!

Saturday, March 13, 2010

March 13

I was up early this morning, just a little after 6.  The paint cans got me thinking about dying Easter eggs. After looking through a stack of magazine images I came up with a stone bunny, a carrot (bunny's gotta eat; this is HARD work), some tulips in a basket to echo the orange of the carrot, spring flowers that I used as a border on the right side of the page, some eggs, chicks, and a clock.  It works for me!  Mr. Rabbit had best be careful to choose eggs that aren't about to hatch into baby chicks!!!

Friday, March 12, 2010

March 12

Here is today's astrology lesson.  AIR:  thinking and communication skills
                                                    WATER:  the ability to feel and intuitively know
I have lots of air and water in my astrological profile.  A preponderance of air suggests a strong emphasis on thought, ideas, and intellectual pursuits of one sort or another, an ability to communicate and express ideas, a life-long student.  Water suggests being in touch with one's feelings and in tune with the environment in ways that aren't easily seen, having a natural feel and sense for the arts, and communicating through art, music, poetry, photography.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

March 11


Underneath all of this is a large blue dollhouse with the rooms labeled.  As I began to pull pictures from magazines and compose the page by layering things over the dollhouse, I spent a lot of time thinking about one's inner life...I love the phrases I chose:  REINVENTING AWARENESS; RADIATING FROM WITHIN; interior monologues; SECRETS; dream; problem solver; Out of the ordinary, into your life; confessions; compromise.  Inner Circle  It's like all of these speak to that inner life that we each have, the inner house where these things live.  Books, travel, art, spirituality--there are representational images for these on this page, each contributing to the development of one's inner life, too.  The chair reminds me that I have to take time to be still, time to be in the moment, time to just BE.  I had to laugh when I found the KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON sign--this was on the tile necklace that Connie was wearing at work the other day.  It's an important message for all of us, every day.   Because I have an inner life, because I take time to be still, I can keep calm and carry on, no matter what comes my way.  

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

March 10



















I love the way I arranged the images on today's page. I am always reminded that "slow and steady wins the race" as represented by the tortoise and the hare.  Clocks are another favorite of mine and they also tie into that theme.  I found the title as it is in a magazine and then put the houses in upside down to echo the word "anything".  The green leaves are underneath everything and bring the promise of spring.

No matter how topsy-turvy my life seems some days, I am indeed ready for anything and able to handle much more than I sometimes think I can.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

March 9

One domino magazine, my Tim Holtz Tonic scissors, a Scotch Permanent GlueStick, and 30 minutes...love the blue shuttered door and the olive couch...blue, brown, orange, olive

Monday, March 8, 2010

Saturday, March 6, 2010

March 6

Grape hyacinths and pansies in luscious purples, a rainbow, and a white ceramic bird...Can you tell that I'm thinking SPRING?!!! The other image on this page is an idea for an Easter card using egg stamps as ornaments--I think the stamps are from Impression Obsession or Outlines--but I'm going to adapt the idea using the two new egg stamps from Memory Box. I think I will stamp each of the images twice, emboss and watercolor or chalk them, and cut them out to pop dot onto a Blossom notecard with a Cool Beans stripey paper edge. I will add some narrow satin ribbons to "hang" them and organza bows in a variety of solid and dotted pinks, greens, or purples. I might also stamp and emboss them on papers from the Gossamer 6X6 pack for a different look. We've got Easter cards to make in class on Monday and my head is swimming with ideas. Looks like this evening will be the workshop time to pull samples together and make up the class packets.

Today is our big WE'RE GOING GREEN event at Your Maine Stamper, so I'm headed into the shop early to set up. This should be a fun day. I'm making cards with anyone who wants to--a St. Patrick's Day shamrock card and an Easter card using the Memory Box Egg Tree stamp. I stamped the tree yesterday and used colored pencil on the eggs and it was okay, but then I added a little dot of Glossy Accents on top of each egg--WOW--the colored popped and they eggs became more 3D egg-like . People are going to LOVE this.

Friday, March 5, 2010

March 5

Today is a writing day. "Make an inspiration board--fuel your creativity with cool pictures and project ideas" are the words I chose from a magazine for today. This book is my inspiration board--I can actually collect a lot more in here to reflect on than I can display anywhere in my living space or my studio space. Cool...

Now that I look around my living space, I see all sorts of inspirational vignettes. The white pottery on the blue hutch. My Ode to Edgar Allan Poe. Vintage linens, a nightdress used as a curtain, little coats and jackets for a small child. Pottery birds. Columns. Birds' nests. Shoe molds. Red Riding Hood collectibles. Yellow pottery grouped on a shelf. Lucille's cast iron barn and farm animals. Alan's framed photographs. Cows. Sheep. Squirrels. Acorns. My stained glass pieces hanging in the big window with a collection of fishing flies in the chain. my Gratitude Wreath. Brown pottery in and on a display box in the kitchen. The old blue potting bench filled with Damariscotta pottery and other blue plates, mugs, bowls. Stars. Rabbits. The collection on the top of the radiator. Multiple collections and arrangements in the Hoosier cupboard. Jewelry boxes stacked up with the black cat. Lime green pottery with Andrew's paintings. My grandmother's wash bench and old baskets. Aunt Grace's apple basket filled with pine cones. Tinted photographs of Portland Head Light. My upside down bird tree. Hummel figurines with other ceramic children. There's something everywhere I look...

Thursday, March 4, 2010

March 4

I LOVE working in my March journal. Today's page is about collections, my collections. Mason Jars in shades of blue, including one of my grandmother's jars. Shaving brushes and moustache cups, including one of my grandfather's. Toys from my childhood. Whisk brooms and dustpans; other assorted brushes. Aprons, white ones that I use for curtains in my studio and bright ones for the kitchen. Tins and tins and more tins of buttons. Baby shoes, christening gowns, little jackets. Fabric pieces from my sister's quilting stash. Vintage rhinestone jewelry, both mine and Gail's. Barn signs. All of these images came from a FLEA MARKET STYLE magazine. It is always surprising to me how my pages come together when I just start pulling pictures from magazines and gluing them down. Every picture somehow tells more of my own story.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

March 3

I love the patina that older objects acquire, that bit of tarnish or rust, the worn finish from use. Silverware, an old clock in a chipped paint case, a scale, a lantern, a fan, a silver tray with white candles and a single blue hydrangea blossom...the ball of twine in the milk glass dish, its roundness echoing the clock and scale dials, the pendulum. I added the directions for making linen name tags so I wouldn't lose them, a neat idea for a special occasion. The other idea on this page that I'm going to use is to put old papers in a clock case behind the pendulum. I bought a gingerbread mantel clock case at an auction recently and a box of clock parts at another auction. I think I can make an interesting "sculpture" using old paper and the clock parts inside and outside the clock case.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

March 2

Mellow Yellow--the perfect page for what looks like a sunny day! Yellow is my mom's favorite color. All of her favorite things are some shade of yellow--her car, the house, the upholstery in the livingroom, most of the wall colors and draperies, bed linens and towels, etc. I love all the shades of yellow in this collection. Pears, lemon slices, lemon-iced and rind-topped cupcakes that look good enough to eat...the Popsicle advertising piece...calla lilies...a yellow vintagey kitchen...all those buckets of paint. I especially love the LIFE JACKETS sign--I think Dad should make up one of these to put down by the pumphouse where we dock the canoes. Dad is a sign-maker; there are signs all over the place: marking the trails in the woods; labeling buildings; naming the roads; signage for crossings of deer, ducks, chipmunks, squirrels; parking signs for the John Deere; name signs left from wildlife rehabilitation days cover doors on the barn, the fawn names are in my kitchen (the former fawn pen). I think you get the idea. One of my favorites is on the old maple tree: BEWARE FALLING LIMBS. When it's really icy, out comes the AND HOW THE BONES DO BREAK sign. Hopefully those days are past us!!!

Monday, March 1, 2010

Monday, March 1, and a new journal

I've started a new journal for March. It's 5 1/2 by 7 1/2. It has a pretty springy two-tone green cover that I will decorate at some point. This book is more of an inspiration journal--a place to collect images, colors, ideas, things that might spark my own creativity. This page is an homage to potting sheds, or the "puttering shed". I have a fondness for sheds of all types. I envision a studio that looks more like a shed than a regular building. I've saved at least two copies of this article from Better Homes & Gardens. I also love the fabric-covered mailboxes, most of which are now covered up by other images. Reminds me to think about using fabric in unexpected ways. There's a glass of colored pencils in spring blues and greens, the great bird on the green telephone (like one I used to have in my bedroom growing up only mine was harvest gold), and another bird pendant as inspiration for my own jewelry using glass slides. So far, so good!