Lovely Kit Called "Serendipity"

I won a new kit by random selection just by commenting on the sneak peek of the preview. I liked what I could see and have enjoyed showing off the kit with another photo from the Philbrook gardens and an old tintype from the 1870s. The different photos called for very different looks. The colors are quite luscious.

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Designer Credits:
kit Serendipity by Jennifer Labre
fonts: Boopee (jar), Minya Nouvelle (Maggie)

Seeing the Little Things

This week's scraplift featured a beautiful page with a very dramatic photo. My visit to the Philbrook Museum gardens October 1st gave me opportunities for some strong images. I especially love ones of the shadows of wrought iron railings on the stone stairs. It's the kind of thing I think we see that can easily be overlooked by others. I know many of us scrap these sorts of things; I've called them "unexpected richness."

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Designer Credits:
-lift of "Thanksgiving..." by zalaine
-ArtPlay Palette Autumn Haze by Anna Aspnes
-overlay: GoldPaint Overlays No. 1 by Anna Aspnes
fonts: Jazz LET, Enchanted Prairie Dog

Desert Dreams

The weekly scraplift is not just of a page, but also a concept. It is the term crush and "could be related to a person, or maybe it’s a place or even a thing in your life. " 'Crush' would mean a short lived love; something that doesn't last. Beside a puppy-love or infatuation for another person, it could be a new hobby, a food, an activity/game. Something you're very attracted to at least initially and then the spark burns out. Or you do something so much and then get tired of it."


I had no idea what to scrap. I'm never going to admit to a singer I liked as a preteen and those sorts of things are so long ago I can barely remember anyway. Eventually I thought about a place I love but that I don't go much anymore. That became my theme. I used a favored photo from years ago taken in southwestern New Mexico.

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Designer Credits:
all Anna Aspnes
-background: ArtPlay Palette Autumn Haze
-photo mask: ArtPlay Palette No. 10
-brushes, brad, transfers: ArtPlay Palette Encapsulate
fonts: Enchanted Prairie Dog, GrutchShaded, BlacklightD

Painting the Living Room

Dick has gradually been working on and painting the living room. An interesting quote and photo resulted one day last week. I sure have to smile every time I look at it!

In addition, one of his nicknames for ages has been "the old goat." His father was a painting contractor who had to retire at age 65. He started painting for his church and at home then. We even learned of his having been up on his roof at an advanced age. We took a pretty dim view of all that, but here is his son climbing around at 71.

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Designer Credits:
-background: Subdue by Creations by TinaMarie
-gray paper: Photographed in Black and White by Sue Cummings
-leaves: Gold Leaves No. 1 by Anna Aspnes
-journal strips: Composition by One Little Bird
-doodle: Corinthia by Kitty Designs
-brush: ArtPlay Autumn Haze by Anna Aspnes
-ribbon: Whispering Trees by Creations by TinaMarie
-frame: Dorma by Lydia Designs
fonts: Enchanted Prairie Dog, Dali, Boopee

Drawing #19 - Dance

Moving to a larger size has been quite a challenge. I brought out an old watercolor block with a relatively smooth surface, but the texture is much greater than my sketchbook and took color from acrylic paints more intensely. I've worked the details at the same scale as before so the result has distant and close views that differ significantly. The paper is 12x16 inches which sounds modest but seemed huge at times. This is more mixed media with collage, paint and ink. The result is exciting to me and feels like a real accomplishment. I know the origin of the drawing, but the result is creatures dancing as far as I can see. Please click to get the larger size for a better idea of the original.

Lovely Day with Black Walnuts

I'm working on another of my drawings, but this one is larger and taking more time. I did a pair of pages (a before and after) for a challenge to use the High Pass Sharpen tool. I had not used it before and am finding it very helpful after reducing the size of a page for the web. I think I should have tried a different photo than this sunny back-lit black walnut in Oklahoma. I'm going to put the "before" here as I like it better. Why? Because the sharpening reduced the color in the picture. (After HERE.) This is a very pleasant memory of the light under these trees.

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Designer Credits:
-background, brads, confetti: The Gift by Fei-fei's Stuff
-pale paper, photo mask, tree stamp (recolored): Family Ties by Fei-fei's Stuff
-journaling block, word art: Sketchbook Artistry No. 1 by Sue Cummings
font: Catriel

Lucky Number 13

The weekly lift has a different twist. There isn't a page to scraplift but there are examples of what others have done on using numbers in a page. Lots of ideas were given but as soon as I saw "your favorite number" I knew I had to do a new page on the number 13. It may be a little startling to see a photo mask used as a design element with no photo, just the black shape. This was also a good excuse to use one of my newly purchased bright green papers. (And the number or word 13 appears thirteen times.)

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Designer Credits:
all Anna Aspnes
-background: MonoBlendz Lima Paperie
-border (blended), brush: ArtPlay Palette Barren Sunrise
-photo mask (without photo): ArtPlay Palette Encapsulate
-line brush: ArtPlay Palette No. 10
-leaf: MultiMedia Leaves No. 2
-white line transfer: ArtPlay Palette Autumn Haze
fonts: Chiller, Dali, Minya Nouvelle, iNked God, Girls are Weird, HansHand

Drawing #18 - Troubled Water

My new drawing could as easily be called "Rocky Surf" as it was inspired by our sighting of Surf and Black Scoters on Saturday. The water was relatively calm when we saw them, but we've seen them in rough surf along rock jetties on the New Jersey coast in other Novembers when things were quite different. I've again used a bit of collage and acrylic paints. The gray color is a paint called iridescent pewter. It imparted a sheen even where nearly transparent. The scan did a fair job of reproduction, but the sheen is a bit elusive.

Neighbor's Alien Halloween

The next door neighbors always have nice Halloween decorations but the house beyond always has something more extreme. This year it wasn't a large display. Perhaps the aliens took them over. Too bad I didn't get any night photos of the lights on the spaceship! They are gone now, but it was fun while it lasted.

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Designer Credits:
-background, accent mark, button, journaling card, paint: Terra Toni by Maya de Groot
-splats: Split Splat 2 by Creations by TinaMarie
-stitching: A Hopping Halloween Collab Kit
fonts: Harlow Solid Italic, Jazz LET, Catriel 

Last Lovely Day?

Yesterday was such a beautiful day, sunny with a high just about 60! We each had things to do in the morning, but in the afternoon we went out to enjoy what might be the last warm day of the year. We saw some good birds and found there was still some fall color to enjoy despite snow the day before.

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Designer Credits:
-papers: Italian Coffee Blends by Creations by TinaMarie
-stitching: All Stitched by Kitty Designs
-word art: Wordart-Sweet+Simple by Sue Cummings
fonts: Staccato222 BT, Boopee

A Philbrook Moment

I participated in a chat and associated scraplift the other day. Hadn't done that in about a year I think. It was fun and the design we were using seemed perfect for one of my photos from the Philbrook Museum in Tulsa. I always take lots of photos when we visit the gardens there. Four of us went  this time and I like the resulting page with the other three. It isn't a design I would ever have dreamed up on my own, but it is excellent.

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Designer Credits:
(chat) lift of "Wanderlust" by kalesmom4ever
-Whispering Trees by Creations by TinaMarie
-butterfly: Bits & Pieces 2 by Sue Cummings
-zigzag paper: Terra Toni by Maya de Groot
-light green circle: Sweater Weather by One Little Bird
fonts: Girls are Weird, Casablanca, Kastler

Drawing #17 - Velvet Pathway

More multi-media with paint and paper. The paper came from an elementary school reader that was my mother's. The title appeared without planning in the scrap of paper. It seemed to influence the drawing too. All the media are pretty spontaneous as I'm using them, so coordinate with the zen aspect with which I began.

GSO for Ethel!

I just learned that my Memories of Ethel was selected as a Gallery Standout or GSO. I am so tickled and know Ethel would have LOVED it! (see the GSOs HERE)

Memories of Ethel

This month's color challenge isn't about the colors, but about what we're thankful for and whatever colors that entails. I've used a photo I scrapped before -- but not like this! I love the photo and how it captures some of Ethel's irrepressible spirit. She wasn't always easy, but she was special. I've always been glad I got to take her on a birding trip to New Mexico when her bad knee limited her ability to participate in a normal birding tour. We had a great time! The photo was taken in New England (I think) a while later. Next year will see the 100th anniversary of her birth. Amazing!

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Designer Credits:
by Anna Aspnes
-background: ArtsyBlendz Snow Paperie No. 2
-photo mask: ArtPaly Palette No. 10
-large brush, black flower: ArtPlay Palette Encapsulate
-small brush, red flower: ArtPlay Palette Barren Sunrise
-word art: ArtPlay Palette Encapsulate by Dido Designs
font: Pea Beth

Look out for winter?

We have a challenge based on a curious sort of Christmas card. I stayed with the basic theme of a tree image and the original colors of grays with a touch of red. I used a photo at my sister's from last Dec. 9th and did an edge effect (Find All in PSP). It really made me think of Ezra Pound's irreverent poem, "Winter Is Icumen In" and so it is titled. I am so NOT ready for this to happen and am really glad we missed the big storm on the east coast. Nevertheless, I like my result.

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Designer Credits:
-background: Photographed in Black and White by Sue Cummings
-border: Slightly Edged 1 by Merkeley Designs
-notepaper, postcard: Recollection by Joanne Brisebois
-overlay: Shimmer by Kitty Designs
-leaves: MultiMedia Leaves No. 2 by Anna Aspnes
-bird brush, bead: ArtPlay Palette Barren Sunrise by Anna Aspnes
-frame: ArtPlay Palette Encapsulate by Anna Aspnes
my photo altered with an Edge Effect
fonts: Cardinal, Catriel

Amazed by Hazelnuts

I had no idea how a hazelnut grew, but they are part of fantastic shapes. My brother-in-law has a small tree in his garden and there were nuts still in the husks that had turned brown and looked beautiful. They were beginning to fall off the tree. This husk was stiff but brittle. Always some fascinating new thing! I've used a photo in a Member Spotlight scraplift challenge.

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Designer Credits:
lift of "Innocent Beauty" by dlhoffer
http://ozone.oscraps.com/gallery/data/500/InnocentBeautyFnl.jpg
-kit: Terra Toni by Maya de Groot
-paper strip: BackPackers - set 5 by Maya de Groot
fonts: Kunstler Script, Ligurino
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Here's a photo of a cluster (of two) that had already fallen but not been eaten by the squirrels. Such a fabulous thing!

Drawing #16 - Irresistible

In this new drawing I used some color from acrylic paints. They were applied dry with a sponge or paper towel. Without added water, they dry flat. There is one small piece of paper added too. Guess that really makes it multi-media. I've called it Irresistible as I believe everything is rushing into the red center.

Fall Blooming Bushes

Last week we were delighted with bushes in Lake View that were in full bloom even though their leaves were turning color. The flowers looked much paler and prettier up close. We had frost Saturday morning, but not a freeze, so they're probably still fine. I used some photos of them for my first challenge for November, this one a copycat or template challenge.

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Designer Credits:
template by Elisa (EHStudios) for Nov. Copycat Challenge based on "Play Is The Exultation Of The Possible" by Lorileigh
-background, most papers: A Hopping Halloween Collab Kit by the Lilypod & Oscraps
-darker gray and brown papers: All Hallow's Night, Leora Sanford Designs
-glitter element: The Silver Flakes by Kitty Designs
-swirls (blended): ArtPlay Palette Encapsulate Dido Designs collab with Anna Aspnes 
-brush: ArtPlay Palette Barren Sunrise by Anna Aspnes
fonts: Enchanted Prairie Dog, Kings of Pacifica, Minya Nouvelle

Flowers for a Birthday

Today is my BIL's birthday and I created a digital "card" for him featuring the hibiscus that he gave Dick last year. You'll see the first bloom on Oct. 26 of the current phase of blooming. It has since had a second bloom and has lots of buds yet to come. We think it is gorgeous. It is still residing in our indoor porch upstairs, but that is an unheated space and at some point we have to close it off. Then the plant will spend the winter indoors getting what sun it can.

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Designer Credits:
Golden Memories by Retro Designs (I don't think I've used this rich red background before!)
-word art: ArtPlay Palette Encapsulate by Anna Aspnes
fonts: Pea Aimee, Pea Anderson