T Stands For New Mug

 

Today you'll find me in my dining room.

I'm celebrating with my new mug I won.  More on that later.

 

Sorry, the lighting in this room is not the best this time of year.

 

I have my metal straw ready for the new mug and a spoon for my salad I made.

 

I broke my croissant top as I was assembling the sandwich.

 

I made tuna salad for the sandwich and a new to me pasta salad that actually incorporated several leftovers from my kitchen, including peas and bell pepper. 

 

Of course, the real star today is the new mug I won.  Last month I called in my pledge for Springfest, 26 at PBS.  The Spice Merchant was offering a gift basket to that night's winner.  As most of you know, I'm a huge fan of, and donator to Public Broadcasting System or PBS.  This mug was part of the basket of goodies, which was valued at $240.00 (USD).

 

Victor Hogstrom, President and CEO of PBS Kansas called our names (Bleubeard and Dr. Elizabeth).  He laughed when he saw our names, then after calling them, made a comment about Bleubeard, but I was so in shock that I had won, I didn't hear what it was.

 

I've shown you mine, now it's your turn to share your T entry this week.  The rules are extremely simple.  Your drink related post may be anything from a photo of a glass, cup, or mug, to an actual drink.  You may choose to share a sketch or a digital, hybrid, or traditional page in your scrapbook, art journal, or altered book, as I have done.  Maybe you'd prefer to share a tag, or wow us with your photography.  You might choose a postcard or decorated card.  You might even draw an image on a used tea bag.  Or perhaps you prefer to review a place you visited, a movie, or book.  It makes no difference as long as it's drink related.  And don't forget that the more unique and outside the box it is, the better we like it.  Please tie it back here, and please link only to your T post, not your entire blog.  When you link, Bleubeard, the T gang, and I will be by to visit.   Bleubeard would also like to remind you that your photos may be taken any time.    

 

I've got a very busy evening, but will be by late tonight or early tomorrow morning to visit.

 

 

 

 

 

Second on the 2nd: Birds

 

As most of you know, whenever possible, I like my Second Look to somehow reflect what our current host at Art Journal Journey is featuring.  That means I had to look for something that reflected Birds as requested by Mia of Craftartista. 

Back in 2016, I was in an international swap with five other artists.  Each had their own theme.  Valarie Tups from Germany, who no longer posts to her blog, requested birds.

   This is the first page.  The bird legs are pen nibs.

This is page 2, the back side of the previous entry.

I started with images from a bird book and turned them into transparencies using packing tape.  I backed the transparencies with words taken from a Thesaurus. 

I even did a bit of stamping.  The egg on the left was a gift from Linda at heARTfully Inspired.

I used pan pastels on the background and gold pigment ink on black card stock for the stamped feathers.

This is page 3.  Valerie likes words on her pages, so I tried to oblige.

I combined three colors of pan pastels, then sprayed them with fixative, which darkened the background more than I anticipated.  I stamped to the left of "Field Notes," and added the names of the birds that are shown on Side 4.

More stamping.  I was surprised that the birds slid around on the background.  I thought it might be because of the fixative I used.   The bird stamps shown on this page were gifted me by Chris at Pear Shaped Crafting, another participant in this swap.

After I mailed the package, I worried that the feathers I used in this spread might be rejected by customs.  I know it's illegal to send them to Australia.

Words on the page.  Somehow I have trouble with that, but forced myself to fit words on most pages I created for Valerie.

This is page 4 and the Audubon accordion booklet I created contains pictures of each of the birds listed on the reverse side.

This is one side of the accordion fold

and this is the other side and the front.  I colored the cards using my handmade shimmering mists.  Please note that Valerie's photos are much better than my scans.

The booklet is held together using velcro.  The book can be accessed from either side by pulling on the glass squares.

The bird image was also gifted me by Linda.  Another real feather tied the pages together.

This is page 5.  I had some really lovely and rather expensive folded wrapping paper that I wanted to use for the background.  The folds had caused creases in the wrapping paper, so instead of trying to cut it exactly to size (I'm not very good at exact when it comes to paper), I simply folded it over card stock at the fold and used the same background for both page 5 and page 6.  After reading Valerie's blog today, I see this page held special meaning to her.

I tried for a bit of humor here, since I borrowed my friend Kathy's dies for this project. 

The cat was one Kathy had given me earlier, so I added some rub-n-buff to the cat to make it a bit different color from the cage.

This is page 6, and you can see I continued the wrapping paper background here.

It's impossible to tell, but this peacock is very dimensional.  There are several layers to it, but they simply don't show up on the scan.

Again, Valerie loves words, and this reads "Shake your tail feathers," although it's rather difficult to read because of the transparent letters.

This is page 7, and surely you knew I would include a bit of my wonky sewing.

The back layer is some of my hand dyed silk, the transparent eggs were also from Linda.  The "branch" is a stirrer stick I dyed using a furniture touch-up pen.  Dyed cheesecloth became the "nest."

I found the white die cut bird in my stash.  I colored it using Staz-on and alcohol.  My feeble attempt at stamping was hit and miss on the page.

I received permission from Valerie to show the completed tag and here it is in the pocket, something I forgot to scan.  This photo is from Valerie's blog, so please don't pin it without her permission.

This is page 8 and also the last page I created.

I had these beautiful birds in my stash that I had printed out when I had color ink in my printer, and simply had to use them.  The die cut cat was another that had been given me by my friend Kathy and was meant to tie the pages together.

I fear I could have done a better job on this page, because it is really lacking in something.

This is the front of the tag I created  for Valerie.  Our tags take the place of sign-in pages in altered books.

This is the back before I added my personal information.  The die cut oval was a gift, and the "brads" were stickles.  I used the ONE die I owned at the time to create the tag that I colored using Staz-on and alcohol.

Here is a portion of the competed tag with fibers and three silver feathers attached.

Thanks ever so much for visiting today.  I hope you enjoyed the swap pages I made for Valerie, whose theme is birds.

______________________________________________________________

Now it's time to share your own Second on the 2nd.  The rules are quite simple and everyone is welcome to join the fun look back.  All you have to do is bring back a post that you are especially proud of, or perhaps one you shared before anyone knew your blog existed.  It could even be one that holds special meaning.  Any post, any genre, any artistic endeavor is acceptable, as long as it's been published sometime in the past.  Then link below (direct links only, please) and Bleubeard and I, along with other Second on the 2nd friends, will be by to visit.  This link will be good until Monday May 4 at 4:00 p.m. my time.    

 

 

 

 

 

Swan Love

 

I want to begin by thanking Gillena, whose blog is Lunch Break, for hosting Art Journal Journey in April. I had planned to play more, but time got in the way.  For a first time host, she did an excellent job and we will definitely be inviting her to host again next year.

We now introduce a new host as we do each month.  This month our host is one of the administrators of Art Journal Journey, my dear friend Mia who can be found at Craftartista.  Mia's theme for May is Birds. 

I call this Swan Love.  I love swans, especially black swans, but these are commemorated on a postage stamp issued in 1997 by the United Stages Postal Service (USPS).  A bit of asemic writing sits behind the word "Love," while the two birds form a heart.

 

Detail of the postage stamp is below.

 

Have you heard that swans mate for life?  There are six distinct types of swans:  Mute, Trumpeter, Tundra, Whooper, Bewick’s, and Australian black swans.  Most stay monogamous for life.  However according to Birdfact:  

Swans in general are known as monogamous birds, with different species all exhibiting loyal and faithful bonds with their chosen mate. However, despite the formation of lifelong bonds, divorce and promiscuity are observed in a small percentage of pairings each year. 

Some widowed swans die of a broken heart, while others look for a new mate.  The primary reason for divorce is the inability to conceive/reproduce.

According to A-Z Animals, female swans are known as pens and male swans are known as cobs. 

Please remember we welcome art journal pages that meet the theme requirements, altered book pages, canvases, loose, or stand alone pages including fabric and digital art.  I (and the administrators) cannot leave comments on Facebook, TicTok, or Instagram entries.  We do not allow cards!!!  Period! We also don't allow tags, index cards, ATCs, or ATCoins, unless they are part of a journal page, and as much as we don't want to, will be forced to delete your entry.  Please remember if your blog is not in English, we ask that you translate it for us since the translation tool doesn't work on some blogs, including mine.  Finally, we do not allow back-links to any journal page published prior to the start date of this month's challenge. Hope to see you and your Birds inspired art soon at Art Journal Journey.

 

Thank you beyond belief for visiting today. Bleubeard and I would love to see you at Art Journal Journey with your own interpretation of Birds.

  

Ode to a tree

 

It has been a harrowing two days in my world.  First there was the golf ball sized hail that managed to do a lot of damage to the exterior and roof of my home.  There was also the torrential rain that didn't seem to stop.  Thankfully my basement didn't flood.  Then the tornado sirens went off.  Yes, a tornado was close by, but thankfully to the south of me.  Bleubeard headed to the basement, but Squiggles and I decided to watch the weather on my favorite local TV station instead.  While I was doing that, a streak of lightening hit very close to my house and knocked out the electricity.  I (and my neighbors) sat without any electricity for nearly two days until it could be restored.  Welcome to spring in Kansas!  At least you know why I haven't been around to visit.

Today I'm joining Gillena, whose blog is Lunch Break.  Her theme is Trees are Awesome, Aren't They?    

I call this Ode to a tree.  This is a mixed media entry with details below.

From left to right, I started with leftover vintage sheet music.  Next was a lovely lavender page that I messed up trying to stamp bunnies on it.  To hide my mistake, I added a piece of security envelope.  Then I stamped the tree on a piece of old book page.  I used another book page to stamp the leaf.  On the far right, I spent a lot of time dripping my handmade spray mists onto a sheet of cardstock, then messed up when I tried to stamp an image onto the piece.  When I added them all together, the failures were far less noticeable.

 

Thank you for joining Bleubeard and me for this final Art Journal Journey entry in April. 

 

 

 

 

T Stands For Various

 

 I nearly forgot today was T Tuesday.  I am spending the day with my friend Joseph who took a personal day from work.  We will be out and about, but will also be visiting The Spice Merchant.  I will be by to visit later tonight.

The last time I was at The Spice Merchant, I took this overall photo of various mugs.  There was no specific theme, although I did see a few that had hearts. 

 

Now it's your turn.  The rules are extremely simple.  Your drink related post may be anything from a photo of a glass, cup, or mug, to an actual drink.  You may choose to share a sketch or a digital, hybrid, or traditional page in your scrapbook, art journal, or altered book.  Maybe you'd prefer to share a tag, or wow us with your photography.  You might choose a postcard or decorated card.  Or perhaps you prefer to review a place you visited, a movie, or book.  It makes no difference as long as it's drink related.  And don't forget that the more unique and outside the box it is, the better we like it.  Please tie it back here, and please link only to your T post, not your entire blog.  When you link, Bleubeard, the T gang, and I will be by to visit.   Bleubeard would also like to remind you that your photos may be taken any time, even months ago, if you choose. 

 

 

Once were lost

 

They once were lost, but now they're found.  I'm talking about my lost files and folders.  I finally found them.  Because I'm often shaky, I transferred ALL my files and folders to a single folder.  

  However, as you can see, 

   they are now all back where they belong. 

 

The top image is a spread of Africa, the middle image is a spread of Cuba, both from my 7 Continents altered book, and the bottom image is a quiltlet made from fabric I dyed using various kitchen ingredients and sewed with variegated thread.

Thanks for visiting today.  Your visit is especially welcome and I am grateful you stopped by.  Bleubeard is, too!