Wednesday, August 7, 2019

Love of my life


Today I'm once again joining Gill of Gibby Frogett Craftations this month's host at Art Journal Journey where her theme is Anything With Eyes.  And thanks to my friends Valerie (a design team member) and Tracey, I followed their links to a blog I had not visited before called More Mixed Media.  They have a new monthly theme and this month they want to see something bright.

I call this Love of My Life.



Although this proud beauty neither looks like Bleubeard nor Squiggles, 

s/he represents family.

You can't begin to imagine how many photos I took of this metal plate that were dark like the photo above this one.  When I finally tipped the camera and didn't try to photograph it head on, I got a much better image.

I imagine someone is singing We are family about now.

For this page, I began by spritzing several of my handmade shimmering mists on my 110 lb card stock substrate.   Next, I printed and fussy cut the cat, then attached it to the page.  Finally, I ran a piece of green ribbon rope through the metal plate and affixed it to the back of the page.  I just hope my page is bright enough.

Thanks for joining Bleubeard and me today.  We would love to see you at Art Journal Journey and hope you will check out More Mixed Media, too. 


Several of you asked me to show my Surprise Lilies or Naked Ladies once they bloomed.  They're all the same flower, just go by different names.

Here you can see they have started to bloom on Monday when I went grocery shopping.

Here they are around my rose bush in my flower bed.  I was sure I had cut away all the trees that had shot up over the winter, but it appears I have missed a few.  

They really clash with my Wichita, KS flag.

Here they are as I was leaving.

Tuesday, on my way to vote, I noticed more had bloomed around my flower bed.

They are truly in full bloom now.

Next it was time to head to the voting booth.

I never pass up my right to have my voice heard.  BTW, this is the first time I've used the smudge tool in PhotoShop.

These are our voting booths.  We have to show our IDs, then state and write our name and address after they scan our IDs.  I'm not sure I trust these new voting booths, although we used them in both the primary and general elections in 2016.

I don't know if your U.S. town or city had a primary election this year, since it's an off year (not a year to vote for a president or a congress person), but any time you have the right to vote, you need to exercise that right.  I'm sure we've all seen what happens when apathy sets in.  Let's NOT let that happen to us.


21 thoughtful remarks:

froebelsternchen said...

A wonderful creation dear Elizabeth! Gorgeous!What a special background ...wow! And your garden looks so pretty ! Very interesting about the voting! Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful art and life with us here!
Have a great day and thank you for all the work and support for AJJ and TSFT! You are simply the best!!!

Big hugs, Susi xxx

Valerie-Jael said...

Wonderful page, Elizabeth, such a beautiful cat, and thanks so much for joining us at More Mixed media. Your garden is looking good. Good for you voting, that is so important, and so many people don't bother these days. Have a nice day, Valerie

RO said...

Your garden is looking good! Bleubeard is huggable family and the artwork is looking pretty amazing. Family is always important. Hugs, RO

Gibby Frogett said...

Lovely background using your clever ownmade inks Elizabeth - and what a striking cat - wonderful eyes... a fabulous piece for AJJ :)
I'm humming that song now - and will all day probably :)
Have a lovely day.. Gill x

Words and Pictures said...

That's a wonderful image of the cat, and I love the focussed expression in his eyes. The soft splotches allow him to take the centre stage spot he deserves. Great to see things are blooming in your garden - I love how things change day by day, or almost hour by hour at this time of year.
Alison x

CJ Kennedy said...

You had me at cat. Love the page. The lilies are very pretty. Where I vote at the new fire barn, we have write in, well fill in the little circle ballots as my town is very small. (Population around 9,000) We don't have to show ID but have to check in with the representatives of the League of Women voters. We give our street, house number, and name and s/he checks us off. When done and before we put the ballot through the card reader, we check out at another table with another rep. from the League and repeat the process. Once checked out, we can feed the ballot into the reader under the watchful eye of a police officer. Enjoy your day!

Meggymay said...

I am in love with your page Elizabeth and the wonderful picture of the cat. Our animals were always considered to be members of our family.
By the way that tune is wandering around my head as you suspected it would.
The Lilies in your garden look lovely
It was also interesting to read about your system of voting as well.
Yvonne xx

My name is Erika. said...

I don't know what is worse-apathy or uninformed voters. I'm with you on voting. I wonder what you are voting for...is it local or state? We never seem to have elections in the summer here. And your lilies are gorgeous. I have never heard or seen these before but they are really interesting and I can see why they are named what they are. And lastly, (I am in backwards mode today), loving the family page. That is a really cool background! And of course love the kitty. Animals are often better family than people can be, and they are certainly family! happy Wednesday, hugs-Erika

Divers and Sundry said...

I love your Bleubeard tribute. Mother had surprise lilies in clumps in flowerbeds in the backyard. They bring back fond memories when I see them :)

Yes, vote! We do have local elections coming up. I _always_ vote. I'm in a blue city in a solidly red state, so I feel like my votes for national offices don't count. But I vote anyway.

Sandra Cox said...

Good for you for voting, dear Elizabeth.
Those lilies are just blooming their hearts out, aren't they?
I love, love, love your piece. Purrfect.

Cindy McMath said...

Wonderful cat page Elizabeth - I thought it was a stamp! I love the background too. Looks like you received lots of lovely things for your tea anniversary - such fun!

Anne (cornucopia) said...

Beautiful cat artwork Elizabeth. I love it! Those Lily flowers are beautiful. I don't think I've seen that type of flower before.

In CT, we have to show a picture ID to vote, then they put a check mark next to our name and address, on the master list that they have. A few years ago we changed over to paper ballots where you use a special marker to mark it, then the paper ballot gets fed into and scanned by a machine.

I used to think voting was important, and that it mattered, but based on what I've seen happen at the Federal level over the past 20 or so years, I don't think so anymore. I try to keep my political views to myself, because I'm in the blogsphere for pleasant reasons, and at this point, the US is polarized 50/50, so if one says anything, one is likely to alienate 50% of the blog readers. And I don't want to do that. And I think my view of things is not what the 50/50 division thinks, so even more reason to keep my viewpoint to myself. (So I guess it's more like the US is polarized 49.9% / 49.9% and only 0.2% of us see things the way I do.)

Caty said...

Woowww Your Art page is Gorgeous Elizabeth !! I loove it, love the wonderful background and the precious cat, lovely eyes, full of mistery!! How much I love catssss ! ( remember our dear Lulú )
Your lilies are so beautiful, fantastic your garden! Votations are very necessary of course, either we don´t like to go, better by internet, at home! I hope we won´t have another votation this year!
I wish you a v ery nice Thursday, and send you big big hugs,
Caty

Felix the Crafty Cat said...

Hi Elizabeth, thought I'd pop over to see what you're up to. Loving the journal page and I bet Bleubeard loves it too. Great to see your garden coming to life. Happy creative week too. Angela xXx

Susan Kane said...

Your lilies in the shade! Oh, so beautiful. A shade tree is not in our area. We have eucalyptus and olive trees near us, with some CA live oak as well.

Do you ever sell your creations?

Rita said...

Yes! Family--two legged and four legged--are everything. :)

Linda Manning Findley said...

Oh, love that background "E" and yes our kitties are family and mine thinks she rules the roost ... 😉

Lowcarb team member said...

A beautiful cat.
Your garden flowers look lovely, such a nice colour.
Well done on voting.

Most important - enjoy the rest of the week.

All the best Jan

pearshapedcrafting said...

What a beautiful page Elizabeth! That background is wonderful and of course I agree - cats are family! Hugs, Chrisxx

Jeanie said...

I can see why this handsome cat would represent the love of your life and family -- even if it's not the same resemblance. We do love them, don't we? Powerfully!

We didn't have an election in our area. Usually they put the ballot issues that will be hard to get through on August when no one is around but I guess there wasn't anything special. Oh, and by the way, no colors clash in a garden!

Rike said...

"We are family" cats are the best members of a family :)) A wonderful page, Elizabeth! I like your photos of Bleubeard and Squiggles on your sidebar, so cute!
Your Surprise Lilies (Naked Ladies) are magical blooms without leaves, I have never seen before!
Any time you have the right to vote, then vote!
Hugs, Rike