What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday? The Second Anniversary Edition

So what's on YOUR work desk or table today? Hopefully you remembered the second anniversary of WOYWW or #104 for those who have been playing along with Julia at Stamping Ground since the beginning.

I created WOYW Wendy for the first anniversary and she's still around, although she's been quiet for quite awhile lately. Of course, I had to bring out a rocking horse for your enjoyment and approval. On the table is my monthly or 365 day journal, completed for May. Hiding underneath it is my PIF, ready to go to the next person on the list.

I have now moved my PIF to the sewing machine, where it is right at home.


Now I'm not sure if we're supposed to show our PIFs until they are received, so here is mine after I ran it through several Photoshop filters. If we are allowed to show our PIFs, I will show mine tomorrow and show a few photos I took along the way. Guess I won't be showing my PIF until my recipient receives it.

Thanks for stopping by today. I am still unable (after about a week) to leave a comment on any blog that doesn't have a pop-up window because there is no comment box for me to write in. It is frustrating, because I've tried many things, and have now left a message for Blogger to see if they can help.

Muffins and orphans

Today, after the long and ridiculously hot weekend, I'm back in my much cooler dining room with a few orphans. Orphans, (coined by Nathalie, another Tea Tuesday participant), because nothing matches except the place-mat and napkin which remind me of May flowers. What a perfect way to end the month of May. I'm having green tea from a cup that has no saucer, and and a saucer that has no matching cup. On the royal blue plate are two banana apple (or is that apple banana?) muffins I made yesterday using small cake pans.

Can you believe this year is nearly half over? I sure can't. Be sure to visit Kimmie for the links to other Tea Tuesday participants, although I still can't leave a comment to anyone who doesn't have a pop-up window, regardless what I try. And please stay for a muffin, if you like. I have plenty.

Lest we forget

This poster was created by Virginia Reyes of the Defense Media Activity-San Antonio. All three posters may be found on the www.af.mil website.



This poster was created by Corey Parrish of the Defense Media Activity-San Antonio for Memorial Day, 2011. This one is BIG, and wouldn't reduce, no matter what I tried. So, please click on it to see it in a smaller format.


This poster was created and copyrighted by Ken Chandler. It is available for purchase to military personnel only, but may be downloaded free of charge. I hope it's not very large, because it is huge in preview, but not in my browser.

And let's not forget, while we are having our barbeques and pool parties, celebrating the beginning of summer, even though the calendar doesn't reflect it, that today is a day to REMEMBER those who gave their lives so we could be free and able to live our lives the way we choose.

As an update, I have now been in contact with the last of my friends in Joplin who I hadn't heard from. He told me his home was still standing, although he lives only two blocks from the high school that was totally destroyed a week ago Sunday. He has boarded up his house because there are no windows left. He also has no home phone service or internet, but now has electricity. Also, his truck was destroyed. He is just lucky and thankful to be alive.

As a final update, I am unable to leave a comment to anyone who does NOT have a pop-up comment box. Comment boxes like the one on my blog, are non-existent, so there is no place to leave a comment. Please understand if I can't leave a comment, since I am trying to get to all blogs in a timely manner. This only affects Blogger and not the other blog providers.

Silent Sunday: A walk around my house now that it's finished

Inspiration Avenue: green and purple

I've not made much art lately, so when I decided to join this week's Inspiration Avenue challenge, it was mostly because my friend Stephanie at Dragonfly Design Studios was the host.



In order to make a background, I got out my oil pastels and Twinkling H20 watercolors, along with a paintbrush and some 110 lb cardstock. I should have used watercolor paper, but hindsight is always 20/20.


I started by drawing a few circles in the green and purple families from my box of oil pastels. Although I don't show it here, I also smudged oil pastels into the circles.


I used my only two Twinkling H20s that I have for a bit of sparkle on the pages. The idea was the oil pastels would work as a resist, but they weren't as resistant as I had hoped. I'll cut this background into smaller bits and no one will know it was supposed to be a study in resist.


Not to be deterred, I got out my colored pens and drew/colored an image of a tea cup that I glued to the second background. To keep with the circle feel, I used some purple stickers to write a sentiment.

I may have to play some more with this color theme. I love these two colors together, even though the end result wasn't what I pictured it to be in my head when I started. Thanks for the inspiration, Stephanie.

Photos from Joplin, MO you won't see on the networks

I've battled high winds, hail, thunder, lightening, and rain for the past day and night, so turned my computer off. When I finally turned it back on a couple of hours ago, I found these images from one of my friends, who took these photos with her cell phone. All photos are from St. John's, but I have no idea how she got access to the building.


This is one of the side yards at St. John's Regional Medical Center. I doubt there are any windows left in the building.




Above you can see part of the administration building and how the windows are blown out of the inner offices.


This is one of the waiting rooms.


This is the outdoor cafeteria. It just goes to show the quirky nature of tornadoes. The iron railing is twisted like a piece of licorice, several of the concrete columns around the building are rubble, but the wooden fence, gate, and trees in this court yard are standing and undamaged.


More destruction.


Not only did the tornado take or uproot everything, the rain entering through the windows and ceilings kept the building in water most of yesterday, allowing the mold to grow among the mud and debris. At this point, structural engineers are determining if the building is safe. This hospital may never recover.


Of course, it was probably one of the safer places to be last Sunday. Note the trees are barren in the above photo, but there are leaves in the one two images up.



You wouldn't have been safe if you stood in this chair's path. I was told this is not a rotated photo. Instead, the chair is lodged in the wall.

I appreciate my friend sending these photos. The destruction is unreal, and that is just the building! Imagine all the lives that were affected in this hospital.

Breakfast (tea) at the kitchen table

Before I begin today, I want to say how deeply sorry I am to learn about all the destruction in Joplin, MO., where I lived in one of its suburbs before moving to Wichita. I have several friends who still live in and around Joplin, so I hope they are all OK. Sunday was a very sad day.


Today I am having Brisbane Breakfast flavored black Tea which came all the way from Australia from Gayle at Bliss and Gesso. Unfortunately, Gayle is on vacation this week, so she won't be joining us for tea.


A few weeks ago (yes, I NEVER forget a comment, Julia) I was asked about drinking my tea with milk/cream. Since I'm such a big fan of 1/2 and 1/2 for my coffee, I decided to use it in my tea today,


which I'm enjoying at my kitchen table this dark and early Tuesday morning. I'm especially for of this new tea infuser, which I found recently. It's a spoon and infuser all in one. Please enlarge for a better view.

Please join my tea drinking blogging friends by visiting Kimmie today. Kimmie keeps the links and I promise that these gals will keep you entertained all day.

Silent Sunday: Hands and Feet (mine are unadorned as usual)

My second color round robin exchange

For my second monthly color exchange, I made pages for Marilyn of My Dapper Dog. Now that Marilyn has received her pages, I can show them to you. You may have to click on the first picture that is too big for the screen. If you double click, you will get a very large screen. To help you see the side that is beyond the screen, I added page 1 so you can see it by itself.

Marilyn's colors were Aqua, Chocolate, and Ivory (Titan Buff). She sent each of us a sample of what she wanted in the way of layout, along with suggested color and brand choices. She also asked that all three colors be used in each spread. So, although my aquas varied based on what color paint, dye, or ink I used, I tried to stay true to form.



This is page 4 (on the left) and page 1 of the first spread I created. On the left, I started with an aqua paint, then added stenciled Titan Buff paint. Over that I placed three strips of leopard fabric, then an image of a Greek sporting the word "logic."


For page 1, I started with aqua pigment ink, then added various book page, over which I placed the three men. Although not originally planned, I liked the "contradiction" definition to the side of the men. After I had the page finished and scanned, I felt it still needed something, so I added the mica chip.


The inside two pages are totally different styles. They should be fine, though, since I understood that Marilyn was going to stack the pages and sew them into a hand bound book, so they wouldn't be next to each other. On the left, I began by painting the page with fabric paint. Then I spread bubble wrap with Titan Buff fluid acrylic for the next layer. I stamped a tea bag, but the image, which was supposed to be a lady and a heart in a tag, didn't come out very good. It just goes to show I'm not good at stamping. I also added my favorite bird stamp to the tea bag, then added a piece of brown/beige fabric to the top and bottom of the spread.

The right side has stars (stenciled through punchinella), more bubble wrap paint, rubber stamped images, and turquoise hearts with silver trim I turned to brown.


I thought I was going to get some plaster paper from Marilyn, so I started with a tri-fold spread to accommodate the plaster paper. When it got too late to get the paper, I painted the excess folds in Titan Buff and decorated them with various decorations and ephemera.

On the left, I started with two brown and one aqua pieces. Next I added the ribbon and finally the coffee images. For the center spread, with titan buff as the background, I created a simple spread using brown ribbon and aqua and ivory scalloped circles I cut from a Martha Stewart punch.


For the far right side, I started with a sheet of background paper, over which I added a tape transfer of Shakespeare (why it is discolored in the scan above this photo), a row of rick rack, some stamping, and a bird cut from a MS punch.


On the left, I started with Teddy Bear Brown paint, then added Titan Buff which I think darkened the Buff a bit too much since I added it before the brown paint was dry. But I was stuck with the color, because I had already created the back side. To the background paint, I added three embellishments. The large scallop circles were painted aqua, over which I added aged dictionary pages that had taken on that aged ivory-ish patina. Fish brads completed the spread.

The middle page, another one I colored using Titan Buff, got an aqua ribbon and the same Teddy Bear Brown painted scalloped circles.


The final page, also in Titan Buff, is a continuation of the chocolate colored rectangle from the first page on the reverse side. To that I added a primitive figure in brown and ivory, over which I placed a piece of ribbon.


For the tag, I once again started with aqua, this time scrapbook paper, over which I added more scrapbook paper, part of a vintage book page, and one of the coffee images. To that I added brown fibers.


This is the back with my swap information on it. I hope I met Marilyn's expectations. I was just saddened that I was unable to work with the plaster paper, which sounded so very interesting.

Tea on the post

I set my tea cup on the post. I plan to celebrate by drinking pure Assam Indian tea from the Brahmaputra Valley in my heart mug. It is from Taylors of Harrogate (England), and I got it while I was in California.


No matter how much I tried to get a good picture of the tea, about all I got was the gold band around the mug and the hearts.


No matter which way I photographed this mug, it was all to celebrate my new post and porch.

Be sure to stop by Kimmie's today and have some tea (coffee, hot chocolate, lemonade, diet soda, or whatever drink you prefer) with all the Tea Tuesday participants. They lead interesting lives that are sure to keep you entertained. Happy Tuesday Tea everyone.

Continuing scrappy journal pages

Before I begin, this was supposed to post on Thursday, and I think it did since it was a scheduled post, then Blogger acted all weird and I lost the post. I never realized it was gone until Saturday, either. And all of your comments you left before the big Blogger blowup on the post I left on Wednesday, were deleted before I could visit or comment. For that I apologize.

Also, before I begin, here are a couple of giveaways you might enjoy.

Amy is giving away a $30.00 gift certificate to Skybluepink. This is one super giveaway, since I would love to win this one. Like any blog giveaway I send you to or recommend, Amy expects nothing in return for entering her giveaway, which runs through Friday, May 20.

Celebrating her 500th post, Christine Clemmensen is having a super giveaway of her book "Scraps." Three people will be chosen to win one of these, and Christine is including a handmade gift, handmade postcards, and ephemera for collages. I won't be entering this one, because I won Scraps when the publisher had a contest a few months ago. Christine's giveaway runs through June 17.


Now back to the post Blogger ate and is STILL eating. While attempting to post, I lost this post again because I had to sign into my account. I've never had that happen before. Since I am really tired of writing out what is on the pages, I am now going to let you just look and enjoy (unless there is something I don't normally use).

The center pages (pages 20 and 21) are here for reference. If you missed the first group, they are here. These were made for Annette's journal.


Pages 22 and 23. Page 23 has a picture of cherries and a metallic cherry chocolate wrap.


Pages 24 and 25. Page 25 is a translucent logarithm chart.


Pages 26 and 27.


Pages 28 and 29. Page 29 is shorter than the rest of the pages.


Pages 30 and 31. Page 30 is plain because I liked the design and didn't want to cover it. Page 31 has wallpaper sewn over a to-do list.


Pages 32 and 33. I picked the image on page 33 especially for Annette.


Pages 34 and 35.

Pages 36 and 37. For page 36 I used a DaVinci image. Page 37 has a secret writing area,


with a hidden sticker. There is plenty of room to write on this page.


Pages 38 and 39. In the pocket of page 38 is a decorated tag. I picked the cat in the basket image used on page 39 especially for Annette, too.


Page 40 is the final page in the first set of pages known as a signature. The DaVinci image is sewn over a paint chip, all sewn onto a sheet of black paper.

I can only hope Blogger takes this post. As you can tell, I got tired of trying to post it.