T Stands for art from friends

 

Please join me at my dining room table where I'm drinking ice water in my PBS Kansas mug I'm so proud of.

I have a bevy of postage stamps to share today, along with some lovely art from friends.

I have to begin with this adorable and clever postcard I nearly misplaced.  I spend an entire day tearing up my kitchen, dining room, and craft room to no avail.  I am so glad I found it,

because Kathy in Ozarks found a way to encase a postcard and secure her art/stamping.  Don't you LOVE that kitty in the rocking chair?  Cats and rockers!  What could be better?

 

The fish is one of a set of four postcard stamps called Coral Reef,

 

as shown here from the USPS web site.

On the postcard side, yes Kathy.  The kitties DID bring me a big smile.  Thank you so very much for thinking of me, Kathy.

Deb sent this envelope, which had been partially opened when I received it.  Deb's stamp is also one of a set of first class stamps

called Western Wear. This image is also from the USPS web site.

My dear friend RO! sent a card and used these postage stamps.

The stamp on the right shows tulips as shown on the USPS web site.

The stamp on the left is an additional ounce stamp that was first issued in 2021.  It's called Brush Rabbit.  This is also copied from the USPS web site.

This is what the USPS web site shared on the Brush Rabbit.

These stamps are on Lisca's package of napkins and ATCs.  The stamp on the right is called Doctors Without Borders Seal.  Here's what the Spanish web site Correos España shared:

Description

The seal commemorates the 50th anniversary of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), an organization founded in 1971 by a group of doctors and journalists. It is a recognition of the medical-humanitarian work he carries out in more than 70 countries, and his continued commitment to the victims of the worst humanitarian crises.

MSF is a chain of humanity, which starts from the support of more than 7 million partners and collaborators who guarantee that 97.2% of the funds are of private origin. This financial independence has been crucial in responding to and testifying to all kinds of emergencies arising from natural disasters, war conflicts or epidemics over the years. More than 45,000 health and non-health professionals work tirelessly to continue suturing wounds, attending deliveries, providing vaccines and saving lives wherever necessary and possible.

This stamp includes an illustration inspired by watercolor made by the designer Montse Lapuyade, a regular collaborator of MSF. It is an adaptation of a photo that Anthony Jean took on February 23, 2020, during the 7th rotation of the Ocean Viking ship, with which the organizations MSF and SOS Mediterranée carried out search and rescue operations for migrants in the Central Mediterranean.

The image captures the moment of relief experienced when survivors, workers on board are told that they have been assigned a safe port: the ship is on its way to Pozzallo (Italy). These people have left behind the nightmare of Libya but for many others throwing themselves into the Mediterranean Sea remains the only option to survive.

The stamp on the left is called Gastronomic Tourism Seal. Festa do pulpo.  According to their site:

Description

Get this seal of gastronomy to open the palate with one of the star dishes of gastronomy: octopus

Spain occupies one of the first positions in terms of tourist destination worldwide. One of the biggest attractions of our country is the excellent gastronomic offer that can be enjoyed in each of the corners of its geography.

One could speak of gastronomic tourism as an important indicator of the quality of the tourist offer of a place. Gastronomy is the reflection of a people, its culture and its identity.

Festa do pulpo. With more than 50 years, the Festa do Pulpo de O Carballiño, receives every year numerous visitors who want to know first-hand this pilgrimage, whose success, without a doubt, starts from one of the most exclusive and oldest gastronomic manifestations of Galicia, the tasting of the Octopus á Feira.

The stamp includes a close-up of the typical wooden dishes where the octopus is served, along with other important elements in its preparation.

Thank you Lisca.  I learned a lot about these stamps as I was searching for them.  We all know how much Lisca likes octopus!  Very appropriate and much appreciated.

These came from Elle's package of napkins and ATCs.  It was easy to tell these are stamps of Queen Elizabeth, after whom I am named.

 

It's time to open Deb's envelope.  Look at all the beautiful goodies she sent,

 

including this adorable ATC or Artist Trading Card.  She also included a very sweet note

and an explanation of how she made the ATC.  I'm not sure if she will show it on her blog, but I don't want to spoil how she created it, in case she does.  Thank you so very much for the beautiful ATC, the card, the very personal message, the butterfly, and the bee.  I am sure you will be seeing those used quite soon.

I got a real kick out of this card sent by RO!.  She knows how "old school" I really am.  Yes, folks, I still have NO cell phone.

Look at the lovely goodies RO! sent.  I was so happy to see the breast cancer "ribbons."  Breast cancer month is right around the corner, so these will certainly come in handy.  I love the bouquet of posies, too.  Thank you with all my heart, dear RO!.

Now it's time to finish my ice water which is now merely cool and stroke my beautiful gifts before I put them where they belong.

Now it's time to share your own drink experience this week.  Be sure your post has a drink, a drink vessel, or some drink inspired story.  Then link below and PLEASE visit the other T Tuesday participants.  I had to laugh, though because not everyone who linked last week left me, your host, a comment!

 

I sincerely hope we have Chris's napkins by next week.  Please plan to show your napkins, but NOT your ATCs.

Monday Murals: Sound of Summer

 

It's Sunday, which means it's time once again to join Sami at Sami's Colourful World and her Monday Murals.  Even though it's still Sunday in my world, please be aware that Sami's mural link goes live at 11:01 a.m. my time today. 

This mural is called Sound of Summer.  I believe it is intended to represent a cicada. 

I have some detail shots:

This mural was created by Delilah Reed and Maggie Gilmore in 2016. 

It can be found on a door at 2300 East Douglas in Wichita, Kansas (USA).

If you enjoy murals from around the world, please don't forget to visit Monday Murals at Sami's Colourful World.  Thanks for stopping by this weekend. Bleubeard and I are delighted you could join us in our quest to find murals each week.

Class photos

 

It's Thursday and I'm joining Chris at Pearshapedcrafting with her When We Were Young theme at Art Journal Journey. 

Class photos were always a big deal when I was a child.

Everyone was usually on their best behavior and their parents dressed them in their best outfits.  After all, the parents were the recipients of the class photo, so there were bragging rites when friends and family visited and saw the photo.

"Everyone always looked their best for the class photo."

I started by using one of the doilies as a stencil for the background of this originally white 110 lb cardstock page.  I used several brown dye inks.  When dry, I added the beige doily, the class photo which I found in a magazine, and the sentiment which I also stenciled using the doily.  From the looks of the clothes, I would say this was either the 1940s or the 1950s.  I'm a big  collector of old magazines and catalogs, which is why I'm guessing this era.

I'm thrilled you chose to spend a bit of time with Bleubeard and me today.  We hope to see you at Art Journal Journey with your own take on When We Were Young.

July is complete and August already written in (and a commentary)

 

It's time once again to view my monthly calendars.

July is now complete.  I used a lot of glitter pens this month that didn't glitter when I scanned the calendar page.  Feel free to enlarge and read about my boring life.  That "voted early" sticker is larger than I expected.

I thought I had already scanned this, so was surprised when I saw I hadn't.  I don't normally add birthdays and anniversaries before the scan.  I have stickers that represent what children might play with or activities they might participate in when they are young, which is Chris at Pearshapedcrafting's theme this month at Art Journal Journey.  Therefore I will be joining her there.

 

Thanks for visiting.  This is the only place you will find my calendars, since I'm not on any other social media site.

 

Here's a video ad I found on the internet I think should go viral.  I am doing my part to see it does! 

 

 

 

Second on the 2nd: Summer of Love

 

Before we begin, if your Second on the 2nd and your T Tuesday post are the same, please link both places.   

Somehow I thought the T Tuesday post came after the Second on the 2nd post.  Valerie and Kathy helped get my head in gear by posting early.

I like to share a second look based on the guest host at Art Journal Journey, and this month the host is Chris, who many of you know as Pearshapedcrafting.  Her theme is When We Were Young, and I thought this second look would be appropriate.

This is from a post I copied in its entirety from July 9, 2017.  It is aptly called

The Summer of Love

  Today we are headed back to the late 1960s and the Summer of Love.

I knew absolutely nothing about the Summer of Love when I first started thinking about this spread.  Obviously the words came before anything else.  According to Wikipedia:

The Summer of Love was a social phenomenon that occurred during the summer of 1967, when as many as 100,000 people, mostly young people sporting hippie fashions of dress and behavior, converged in San Francisco's neighborhood Haight-Ashbury.

Per the Official 60s Site:

The Summer of Love refers to the summer of 1967, when an unprecedented gathering of as many as 100,000 young people converged on the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco, creating a phenomenon of cultural and political rebellion.

The bus shown above was taken from the internet.  It was parked on Haight Street in the summer of 1967.  For those of you who live in countries other than the U.S., this may be something new for you as it was for me.

 I was amazed that this happened exactly 50 years ago, and there is a big revival of the Summer of Love this year (2017) in San Francisco.  Fifty years later, many are still marveling at the often drug-induced hippies, who came during the summer and mysteriously disappeared in the fall, only to be replaced by street people.

But during that magic summer, the excitement was centered around the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood.  Exciting new music was everywhere and it was often free.  Bands like Jefferson Airplane, Steppenwolf, Big Brother & the Holding Company, Jimi Hendrix, and The Grateful Dead were a big part of the scene, but their names were virtually unknown before that summer.

These are the bands I still listen to, and the reason I have often said I was born a generation too late.

Flower power became important, and those who flocked to the Haight-Ashbury area often carried flowers or wore them.  They were truly opposed to war (the U.S. was being torn apart by what was going on in Vietnam), and this was one of their symbols.

Of course, if you were headed to San Francisco during the Summer of Love,

be sure you wore flowers in your hair.

It's what set you apart from the "establishment."  Trippy.

Materials used include white card stock I colored using shimmering mists through a piece of netting, a picture taken from the internet, three pieces of scrapbook paper, one heart shaped button, a Micron pen, and a bouquet of silk flowers I put together.

Thanks for joining Bleubeard and me today as we looked back at the Summer of Love from 1967.  We are grateful for your visit.

_______________________________________________ 

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.  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.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

This link is for Second on the 2nd, only.

 

 

T Stands For Final Time at DeFazio's

 

Before we begin, if your Second on the 2nd and your T Tuesday post are the same, please link both places.

  This is one of the last time's my friend Sally and I were at DeFazio's.

And this was the last time we were at DeFazio's.  They stayed open during Covid, but reduced their menu to what was on the front and back of the laminated sheet we were given (shown in photo).  No lunch menu and no specials.  Sadly, they went out of business this spring.  You can see Sally and I are both drinking water with lemon.

 

Now it's your turn to provide us with a drink inspired entry.  The only requirement to join is you must include a drink or a reference to a drink, teapot, mug, etc.

 

Here is where you link if you are playing in T Stands For Tuesday, or if your T post is different from your Second Look.

Summer of Love

 

Today we welcome a new host at Art Journal Journey.  Our host is Chris, who many of you know as Pearshapedcrafting.  Her theme this entire month is When We Were Young.

When I think of Chris's youth, I think of the summer of love, which heralds back to 1967.  Therefore, today we are heading to the Summer of Love.

What is more iconic than the Volkswagen Beetle.

This is definitely the Summer of Love.

And of course, we must have a peace symbol.  

For this page, I started by sewing wrapping paper to 110 lb. cardstock.  The paper was so large, I got two backgrounds out of it.  It definitely reminded me of images I have seen from the sixties.  Next, I computer generated the VW and the peace symbol.  I attached them, then added the words using stickers, which were quite fiddly and impossible to keep straight.

 

Chris, Erika, Valerie, Bleubeard, and I are delighted you joined us and hope to see you this month at Art Journal Journey with your own take on When We Were Young.  Yvonne has decided to step down as an administrator.  We wish her the best and welcome her return any time. 

 

We welcome art journal pages that meet the theme requirements, altered book pages, canvases, loose, or stand alone pages including fabric and digital art.  We do not allow cards, 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, you must either provide a translation tool or translate it for us.  Hope to see you soon at Art Journal Journey.