T stands for ART!!!!

 

We'll start with a recycled photo of some tea... very appropriate as i'm melting here in Tx... 105F today.... No rain or end to the heat in sight.. Oh 20% chance of rain Thursday but i'm not holding my breath... So cheers! To all the Tpartyers!!! 

Please forgive me for another image of the 'Fish Painting' .( I need to think of a name for it) But all this month i have been painting rocks... Every. Single. One.  I counted 200 but if you want to count them let me know.. lol So above is before.. You can see at the very top i got started.. 

And this is where we are at now.. PLEASE tell me you can tell i shaded the rocks... So 39 fish and 200 rocks later this is where we are at.. Now for the sand bars (the brown layers)... 

Now for my Bee Altered Book... i thought i'd remind you where it started... 

This is where i work on my Bee Book... um yeah... Its a work in progress and it looks like a total disaster.. I always take a little break between pages so when this page is done i'll find my desk again.. 

Its a slow process ~ many layers and most of the time i never know what direction the page is going except for the bee part... And sometimes there is an epiphany at the last minute.. I was going to put the shiney Glossy Accents all over the jars then at the last minute i realized i could make it look like drips.. Ah-mazing!! I hope you can see it.

This is a two page spread and this page is still very much a work in progress.. Here i'm trying out images to see what i like.. 

And the last piece of Art... A friend gave me this leather bound sketch book a few years ago and oh my goodness it just felt too precious to mark in.. The size is .. well BIG.. 14"x17".  You know i've been downsizing and my mantra was 'if your not going to use it , it's got to GO! So i did it! 

                           I broke it open! 

First thing i did was break open my fine art paints.. you know the kind i apparently hoard and not use.. (insert eyeroll ) and did swatches on the first page.. I would use these in here and not the $1 bottles of craft paint.. (which is what i'm using on the Fish Painting).. This swatching was fun... 

I have a stash of inspiration pictures i have saved for painting.. and this one was on top of the stack.. It's from a National Geographic magazine... Just something about it appeals to me.. the colors the composition.. i don't know exactly.. Even the woman seems to be made up of simple shapes.. Now i'am not delusional .. i KNOW at my skill level painting the woman's face and hands will be near impossible but i want to give it a go.. If in the end you can tell its a person then i did good... lol

Only one rule in this book... nothing super detailed like the 'Fish Painting'.. loose , loose, loose and FUN... If its not fun why am i doing it..  ? 

And if you made it this far i'll leave you with a photo of my sweetie pie. His favorite past time even at 105 F.... I was his chauffer that day..  Happy happy T day!! I'll be around to visit everyone!!! Hugs! deb
 

Food Wednesday.... Balance..

 

Hubby and i are trying to balance all this yummy food.. Chicken Fried Steak with mashed potatoes and gravy and green beans...  with 

             ... A grilled chicken salad lunch..... 

.... And oatmeal breakfast.... How's your balance?Happy Food Wednesday! I may be running a little late but i'll be around to see your Food posts..! Hugs! deb

T stands for.... a Quickie...

 I'm so sorry to drink and run this week for the T party... Things have been so busy... So just a short, quick post... 

I've been clearing out some space in my craftroom.. Something i've been meaning to do and just procrastinating.. I just have too much stuff... Well hubby is moving in to his shop!! Woohoo!!!  and he could really use another shelving unit.. So all week i've been rearranging things in the craftroom... finding new homes for things (hello Kathy).. throwing some stuff away.. Just reevaluating you know.. I hope you can see my cup of coffee there... I'm happy to report i did get that shelving unit clear! 

We put up plywood all around the shop walls, caulked it in good to keep out any bugs etc... then painted it all white.. 2 coats.. so its nice and bright for him.. 

Now he's moving in!!! and i'm pooped.. He's off playing golf this 4th of July.... Me? I'm going to play in my craftroom.. Amazing how much lighter it feels in there.. Never realized how much all that stuff was weighing on me until it was gone.. Sometimes you can have too much of a good thing..  If you celebrate i hope you had a happy 4th.. and if you don't i hope you have a good week.. I'll be around to visit!! Happy happy T day! Hugs! deb

T stands for Double Nickel Birthday!

 

Hello T party People!!! The celebrating continues over here... We've already celebrated my 33rd Anniversary... Now it's my Double Nickel Birthday as i've affectionately started to call it.. lol  55... Yeah best to put only one candle on THAT cake..lol ! We pretty much celebrated all week... 

Hubs treated me out to a meal at one of favorite restaurants... Fajitas!!!  AND there's my T ticket.. unsweet tea.. Don't faint...I even put rice on my fajita 'cause it's my Birthday!! lol I usually stay away from carbs as much as i can.. 

We went to a favorite Antique/FleaMkt down town and at the very last minute we found some crystal tucked away in a corner.. I've collected Swarovski crystal most of my adult life.. After some research when i got home i found out the little bird is actually Swarovski but the other two i could not find.. We paid a good price for them and the other two look to be well made.. .and that SNAIL is so stinking cute!!!  They will all be nice additions to my collection.. I even treated myself to a documentary type movie... Deep In The Heart. Here's a link where you can see a trailer and get more info.. Its about wildlife conservation in TX and the host is Matthew McConaughey ! Reason enough to go right?!Hubby let me go to that one by myself! lol 

My birthday was ANOTHER opportunity to drag hubby to an Art Show...lol Hey i'm a cheap date... It's free!! So much pretty art here. I'll show you just a few.. 

Blue Ribbon winner!  All the info tag said was Mixed Media... I could see some gold flake in there..It was under a thick layer of some clear coat.. resin maybe.. Really pretty.. 

There was so much amazing art i would not have wanted to be a judge... Some were so realistic they looked like photographs.. 

This one above is a water color... just beautiful.. 

They had sculptures too... All the pieces were made especially for this competition..  There was to be a people's choice award and those artists would be invited back for a special showing of their art.. 

After a little arm twisting hubby chose this one ... ( i think because he knew i liked it)

And i chose this one... I just loved the bright colors.. which were even brighter in person.. The owl was done in acrylic and the cactus  in oil.. I have some art of my own to show if you can hang in a bit longer... 

I made a  few PostCards... I meant it to look like seaglass... I think for whatever reason the blue one was more successful..  I used acrylic paint.. 

.... And then Glossy Accents to give them the 'seaglass' look... I did put them in an envelope as the bug on top was not fastened down good enough.. 

And finally I've started working on a new page in my Bee Altered Book... If enough people would like i  could give you a flip through.. This is my first Altered Book... I never thought i would enjoy it so much... But it just allows my imagination to take flight.. Thank you so much if you've managed to make it to the end.. I'll be around to visit!! Happy happy T day! Hugs! deb
 

T stands for ... SunFlowers, Spiders, and Topiaries, ......

 

Volunteer , wild SunFlowers that is... They've just sprung up in a few places around my dirt yard and i've decided to leave them.. . The other day hubby poured some water on a few of them from the melted ice in his cooler  and we were rewarded with the first bloom!!               

They've come up in the most convenient places, even lined the driveway in a nice straight line.. like i planted them there myself.. lol We'll see what happens... Pictures to follow if they bloom nicely.. 

Speaking of Spiders... this 'little' chap was guarding my front door this week... He seems to have since moved on..  I wish he had stayed honestly.. He's a good bug eater.. As long as he understands his place is outside.. we're all good... 

There's been plenty of time for crafting and painting rocks... I'll leave these for someone to find on one of my walks.. I have a story to tell about painted rocks if anyone cares to hear it let me know. Its a little too long for a multi subject T post.. It will have to have one on its own i think.. lol 

Time for an old project... First time i've ever made a clay face... Looking forward to play with clay some more.. 

This leads to my ticket for T... my coffee mug keeping me company while i glue on petals to a paper mache ball.. 

Drill a hole in the ball... just big enough to fit a cinnamon stick.. 

                           Ta Daaaaaa !!!!!

I think it turned out cute...  I won't be making another one.. BUT i have quite a few petals leftover.. I don't know about sending them over seas but they are pretty light so anyone in the US that would like the leftover petals I'd be happy to send them to you ... first come first serve.. just let me know.. I'd like to see what you make with them.. 

I've been working on my ATC's for the Tparty Anniversay Swap.. And i used all mediums new to me.. ofcourse...loll.. I used yupo paper and alcohol inks and i don't have much experience with embossing ink and powders.. that gave me alot of trouble but i managed a few of them that were passable at least.. I don't think the embossing powder liked the Yupo paper. Even after using a 'no stick powder bag' the embossing powder still stuck to the Yupo paper terribly.. So i had to take a paintbrush and brush off the excess powder... which is a pain in the a**.....  Also any tips on getting the sticky off my stamp would be appreciated!.. 

So much fun working on such a small scale... I hope your joining in the ATC swap... I'm looking forward to seeing what you make! Happy happy T day everyone!! Thank you for stopping by to visit. It means alot to me! Hugs! deb

T stands for Coincidence ...

 

I have quite a lot of art to show you but i thought i should wrap up our Anniversary first..  If you visited last week you know it was our 33rd Anniversary... Well we celebrated like we do most years... Dinner and a movie...But the day began with flowers... A most auspicious beginning don't you agree? 

And with nary a second thought i dragged hubby to the Art Museum... This time of year the National Ceramic Competition is going on.. Most are too abstract for our taste and i daresay we walk around shaking out heads in wonder that such things grace the museum.. (It also gives me a ridiculous amount of hope that one day something of mine may be in there...) 

But somethings caught my eye and they were even T party related!

                   Won't you have a spot of T? 

I wish i had taken more photos but it only occurred to me to take pictures near the end.. There are three bunnies here holding a vessel. We really loved this one.. but it did not even receive a merit award.. 

Nor did this one... i thought it was beautifully detailed.. Watermelon Koi.. lol There is a docent that follows you around... (a little unnerving honestly)  so you can ask questions or throw herself between you and a piece of art if you intend to harm it... So we asked if we had missed the Winning Piece and she said she didn't think this competition was like that all they gave out was Merit Awards... 

Well after being dragged around the Art Museum for an hour... Hubby was rewarded with Red Lobster... So don't feel too bad for him.. I didn't take one stinking picture!!! sigh... But then he was persuaded to stop at the second hand bookstore!  Now that hubby is a reader i didn't have to 'persuade' too hard.. And he SCORED!  For those of you who don't know hubby NEVER read... I think in all our years he had read two books.. Then came heart surgery....oh three years ago now and he had to slow down for awhile.. And he started reading the few Clive Cussler books in my collection.. and loved them ( as i knew he would if he would ever pick up a dang book...lol) So now he is on the look out for more.. That day we scored... guess how many... come on guess!!!! 

33!!! Thirty three books for 33 years of marriage! Now isn't that a coincidence?! 

The whole day ended with a fabulous movie! We thoroughly enjoyed it. Its been getting so so reviews ... Is it the best in the franchise... no. Is it entertaining ... yes... Great to see the old actors that started the franchise too.. I can still remember the very first movie and the very first time i heard the T rex roar... It was so loud! I was at the edge of my seat with my mouth open...lol Amazing.. 

If you made it this far I'll leave you with a Hubby shop update... The walls have been foamed! And now he starts the process of putting in electrical and putting plywood over the insulation on the walls... Lookin' good! So next week Art? Its a date! See you then! I'll be around to visit you T party animals!! Happy T day! Hugs! deb
 

I've Been Playing...

 

..........with magnets... so prepare yourself for a picture heavy post... I will try to keep my words to a minimum... But i will tell you that hubby and i are celebrating our 33rd Anniversary today and tomorrow.. Two days? Its a long story better left for another time.. I have told it on here but quite a long while ago now... Our Anniversary started with REAL eggs this morning and toast !! And ofcourse my coffee ticket to the T party.. 

A close up of the some of the magnets i've made recently... using bottle caps.. The raven ones have a clear dome on them and the butterflies have Glossy Accents on top of them.. 

My sweet hubby who knows me all too well once found one of the magnetic signs people put on their vehicles along side the road... and ofcourse he picked it up for me.. I used my paper punch to punch out magnets... worked like a charm.. Not a strong magnet... If i wanted my magnets to hold up anything i'd have to use a stronger magnet but just to look pretty on my frig it works like a charm! 

Then there's this guy.. I found the image in a catalog and the magnet was in the packaging of the filter for our frig.

           Cut to size... a little glue and TaDaaa!

And finally a little serendipity ... Did you know that the caps off my single serving water bottles fits perfectly inside my large gallon jug water bottle cap?? Wow! Then i just glue the magnet to that.. and decorate the front... 

First i punch the image out and then glue it to a punched circle of cardstock... 

I wasn't satisfied with the sturdiness so i punch a circle of chipboard and added that.. Glue it all together and i put it under a book so they would dry flat.. 

I made a bunch... What you can't see is the shiney finish of Glossy Accents on top.. They really turned out nice.. If you made it this far i have to ask ... Did you see the planetary alignment this morning? I'm up early to go for my walk so i saw it in all its glory. It was magnificent.. All this month you can go outside just before First Light.. In my central time zone thats about 5:45 am.. Look to the East ... You can see 5 planets all in a row! Starting with Mercury then Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.. They are so bright you can't miss them.. AND they are in order.. That won't happen again for another 20 years! Shoot i'll be 75! Let me know if you take a look.. I think i read you can only see it in the Northern Hemisphere.. I didn't get to see Mercury as its low in the horizon and a house was in the way... So much for keeping the words to a minimum.. lol  I hope your having a wonderful T day. Thanks for visiting and i'll be around to see what your up to.. Hugs! deb

PS.. Did you learn the order of the planets in school? We memorized a little saying to help us remember them in order.. 'My Very Earthy Mother Just Served Us Nine Pies'... ofcourse we don't get to use 'Pies' anymore since Pluto lost its planetary status..